Space travel buffs have been collecting items that were flown into space for years. The demand for items that have been to outer space increased with the sale of the world’s most expensive M&M candy. Strangely enough, it was not a package or several pieces. It was one single brown M&M flown on board Paul Allen’s privately funded “SpaceShipOne”. The entire 2004 expedition went without government funding and had an estimated cost of $25 million.
The most expensive M&M sold for $1500 and joined other items like a toothbrush used by astronaut Buzz Aldrin during the Apollo 11 mission (worth $23,000) and autographed pictures, medals and flags that have all left the earth’s atmosphere. Papers from the 1960s Gemini mission that contained information about the astronauts’ urine measuring system sold for $1,100, proving that some people will collect just about anything.
Some serious collectors may frown upon items like the expensive M&M, referring to them as spectacles rather than collectibles. This disapproval did nothing to stop collectors from snatching up this piece of expensive candy at auction.
Space collectibles are also fetching more attention since the recent arrest of astronaut Capt. Lisa Nowak. But you won’t find her shampoo bottle up for auction on eBay; “flown” items have to actually enter outer space before they become interesting to collectors.
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