The Mystery of the 'Only Camera To Come Back From the Moon'

Daniel_Stuckey writes: "After a furious bidding war in Vienna on Saturday, a Japanese camera collector has bought a Hasselblad camera for $910,000 in a record-setting auction of what's been widely called the 'only camera to come back from the moon.' But contrary to claims repeated across the Internet on Monday, this isn't the only camera to come back from the moon. In fact, some think it may have never landed on the moon at all. And because of rules surrounding most NASA property, its sale may actually violate U.S. law. One thing we know: the 70mm Hasselblad 500 is one of fourteen cutting-edge cameras that astronauts used in orbit around the moon and on the lunar surface during the Apollo program. All of the images we have from those moon missions were taken by these machines, which were either mounted inside the command module that circled the moon or were attached to space suits at the chest. This particular camera was, reports the Verge, among many other sources, 'used on the moon during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971,' and 'is special in the fact that it's returned to Earth.' That's because astronauts were often instructed to jettison their cameras on the lunar surface in order to save precious kilograms during the return trip."

Not jettisoned

[TheRealQuestor]

They weren't jettisoned because of weight, they weren't allowed off the moon my the race of glass tower building aliens. This one was sneeked off

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[TheRealQuestor]

damn forgot my /snark tag :(

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[AK Marc]

It's implied.

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[FatdogHaiku]

It's implied.

Damn, I went and inferred it...

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[AK Marc]

The reader can only infer. The writer can only imply. So you did the right thing, don't feel bad.

Our first act on the moon

[hessian]

Let's litter.

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[nitehawk214]

You are worried about cameras?

There are on the moon. [youtube.com]

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[nitehawk214]

Failed link, that was supposed to be "There are bags of shit on the moon."

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[Teancum]

Considering that astronauts literally left their shit all over the place [youtube.com], litter like a slightly used camera is no big deal at all. Dumping radioactive waste [wikipedia.org] on the Moon in the form of RTGs that are still pumping out energy even today should give extra brownie points. It should be pointed out that other countries [wikipedia.org] have also dumped trash on the Moon, not to mention other worlds in the Solar System too.

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[DNS-and-BIND]

I love the subtext of this comment - assuming without thinking that the same environmentalism that will save the Earth somehow has any application whatsoever on other planets - particularly those with zero habitability or possibility of ever becoming so. This is what political extremism does to your brain, people.

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[Teancum]

This is what political extremism does to your brain, people.

Funny thing is, I agree with you. All I was merely pointing out is that there is a whole bunch of stuff up in space already, and if you are so paranoid about some astronaut leaving some camera on the Moon as somehow destroying nature, there is much more that you could show too that would really send the environmentalist activists into a real panic mode.

Too many people ignorantly watch science fiction films and TV shows thinking that is real science, yet think real activities on the surface of the Moon neve

Re:Our first act on the moon

[FatdogHaiku]

Let's litter.

Hey, someone has to think of the future space archaeologists!

Re:Our first act on the moon

[VortexCortex]

Let's litter.

Hey, someone has to think of the future space archaeologists!

"It seems our hive minds were not intelligently designed, but began on a distant moon emerging from strange complex life forms as fecal bacteria from their anus."

ANUS

[hessian]

"It seems our hive minds were not intelligently designed, but began on a distant moon emerging from strange complex life forms as fecal bacteria from their anus."

Which would lead them to:

http://www.anus.com/ [anus.com]

And then they'd know all they need to know about humanity.

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[bkmoore]

Let's litter.

If someone dropped a vintage Hasselblad camera in my back yard and left, I wouldn't be one to complain.

_Only_ camera?

[Nanoda]

Sure. 'cept of course the one on Surveyor 3 [wikipedia.org] that Apollo 12 brought back. The one that famously (but, I now see, apparently controversially) had viable bacteria [wikipedia.org] in it after 2.5 years on the moon.

Cameras left behind ...

[PPH]

... with film?

The selfies taken by the creatures from Apollo 18 [wikipedia.org] should be entertaining. But nothing more unusual than what you'd find on /b/.

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[Handover Phist]

Nothing is more unusual than what you'd find on /b/.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[CodeBuster]

Any such attempt would be so expensive as to be practically impossible. However, even if it were done there would be no buyers. The Apollo artifacts left on the moon remain the property of NASA and by extension the US Government and no reputable collector, or at least none with the bankroll necessary to pay what the items would be worth if they were legitimately sold into private hands, deals in stolen property.

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[jythie]

On the other hand, one thing art thieves have discovered over the years is that offloading known works of art is actually very difficult and it is not unusual to dump them after years of failed attempts to find a buyer. There is a big market for fairly unknown art/fossil sales, but the really big ticket material is VERY challenging to offload.

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[Half-pint HAL]

That's why proper art thieves always steal to order.

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[CodeBuster]

You're a moron if you think that selling stolen art is easy or especially lucrative. It's not. Most art theft is a crime of opportunity with very low fencing value compared to jewelry, gemstones, precious metals or wine. Indeed, art is usually stolen for personal reasons, not for resale. Rarely a piece(s) of art will be stolen by thieves hired to target specific works on behalf of clients who want them badly but are unable to buy them, either because they cannot afford them or they're just not for sale. How

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[Splab]

Team America - World Police.

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[S.O.B.]

F*CK YEAH!

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[nospam007]

"The Apollo artifacts left on the moon remain the property of NASA and by extension the US Government "

Or it could be considered an abandoned ship, so even without a letter of marque it could be considered a prize for the taker.

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[Registered Coward v2]

"The Apollo artifacts left on the moon remain the property of NASA and by extension the US Government "

Or it could be considered an abandoned ship, so even without a letter of marque it could be considered a prize for the taker.

First of all, a prize applies to the capture of vessels from an enemy during conflict, so it would not be applicable here. As for salvage, state owned vessels are exempt from ,maritime salvage conventions unless the state relinquishes its claim; which the US clearly has not. That exemption is why Spain was able to recover coins salvaged from a vessel that sank several centuries ago.

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[drinkypoo]

Or it could be considered an abandoned ship, so even without a letter of marque it could be considered a prize for the taker.

We're whalers on the moon! Except, a spacecraft is not a seagoing vessel, and therefore it's not subject to maritime law. So WTF are you on about?

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[Jack Griffin]

Expensive this year, and probably the next 20 or so, but sooner or later it will become viable, and the longer it takes the more valuable it becomes. And if you think there is no market for one of the greatest artifacts in human civilisation then you seem to have a very naive understanding of art collection.

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:The moon landing was a hoax!

[VortexCortex]

If we didn't go to the moon, then how do you explain all the cheese?

Often?

[ghmh]

The way they wrote that, it makes it seem like astronauts are up there jettisoning their camera gear every other day.

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[Lumpy]

Actually yes, each camera had exactly 1 frame of film in it. you took a photo, pulled the back and threw the camera away. By the time we were ready for Apollow 18 they invented fitting more than 1 frame of film in a camera at NASA, this is why skylab was not riddled with discarded cameras.

Nonsense

[mholve]

Like all Hasselblad V cameras, the rear features a detachable magazine, which in turns holds the film; either 120 or 70mm. An internal darkslide allows you to change magazines mid-roll if you wanted to (say if switching from color to black and white film or for changing to a slower/faster ISO film).

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[micahraleigh]

This camera really belonged to someone. As I recall certain people within NASA allowed this fellow (an astronaut, I think) to keep it. NASA also gives other things stickers, honorary coins, salaries, etc. to its employees, by the way, which tax payers have lost all claims on.

Eventually the Obama administration confiscated it under its general policy of confiscating everything it can get away with (dinosaur bones, archeological relics from other countries, lots and lots of gold coins) because -unlike the

Even more curious than the moon thing...

[seven of five]

Back then, they took pictures with plastic film coated with a thin layer of silver-based chemicals [wikipedia.org]. No electronics at all. I kid you not.

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[Lumpy]

BAH! nest thing you will tell us outlandish stories on how they did not have internet and could not post selfies or photos of what they were eating.

Any moon dust on or in it?

[blackanvil]

If it actually made it to the moon's surface (which I see is contested), I wonder if any of the notoriously insidious moon-dust still clings to or made it inside of the device. It might be worth a thorough disassembly and cleaning to see.

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[RandomUsername99]

Well *I* saw a documentary that said that these cameras were really Federal Reserve Bank mini chemtrails planes dispatched by the Illuminati filled with MMR vaccines designed to give the moon babies of the Area 51 aliens space autism... ...they ARE very socially awkward...

Most people that were interested in tempting someone back to their place to play with butt toys would just try and woo them with a couple of strong drinks and some sweet talk, instead of the creepy abduction/space roofies crap that they se

Mystery?

[Chelloveck]

So... What's mysterious here? Legally controversial, maybe. And poorly documented, thus potentially fraudulent. But something billed as "The Mystery of the 'Only Camera To Come Back From The Moon'" ought to involve conspiracy or spies or something, not just an incomplete chain of custody.