2011 Review: The most valuable space collectible to sell at auction

In April, on the 50th anniversary of the first man in space, the Vostok 3KA-2 capsule became the world's most expensive piece of space memorabilia.

The test capsule, sent up to orbit three weeks before Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, sold at Sotheby's New York for $2.9m.

Carrying a dog named Zvezdochka (who survived) and a life size dummy (ejected into the Soviet countryside and now housed at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington), the 2.5m diameter capsule completed a single orbit of the Earth on March 25, 1961.

New owner, Russian space collector Evgeny Yurchenko, commented following the auction: "The Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule is a historic artefact of the Soviet space programme.

"Until now, the Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule was the only one of its kind outside of Russia, and with the support and participation of Sotheby's I will be able to bring it home."

It's been a year of strong space sales.

Earlier this month, an Apollo 13 check list sold for a record $388,375. This was against a pre-sale estimate of just $25,000.

Vostok
Safe for dogs and humans

And in October, a photograph signed by all 12 men to have walked on the moon made $27,000 (£16,860) at auction: a 30.19% increase on the £12,950 ($20,240) value stated by the industry's PFC40 Autograph Index.

You can take advantage of this demand for space memorabilia right now.

We have a photo signed by a member of each of the six Apollo lunar-landing missions available for just £4,950 (approx. $8,175).

As with all our stock items, you will also receive our personal lifetime guarantee of authenticity.

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