Russian businessman splurges $3 million to bring back Vostok 3KA-2
April 12th commemorated the 50th anniversary of man’s first flight into space. And, one of the most important piece of space artifacts, the Vostok 3KA-2 capsule, went on sale on the same day at the auction house Sotheby’s in New York. The Soviet capsule is identical in design to Vostok 1, that later carried Yuri Gagarin into space on April 12, 1961. The Vostok 3KA-2 capsule successfully completed its test flight with a dog named Zvezdochka, and a life-sized human dummy into orbit. The spherical spacecraft was estimated to fetch between $2 million and $10 million, and it was finally auctioned off for $2.88 million to a Russian businessman, Evgeny Yurchenko, chairman of the AS Popov investment fund.
The tycoon said he was buying the scorched machine to return it to its homeland. Yurchenko said he hoped to devote the Vostok capsule to one of the national museums devoted to the history of the formation of the Russian space program.
Via: Passion Investor
