The first Hasselblad camera body and Zeiss lens taken into space more than a half-century ago has been sold at auction for $275,000.
The camera was reportedly purchased by astronaut Wally Schirra at a Houston photo supply shop in 1962 and carried into orbit aboard the Mercury-Atlas 8 and 9 missions. It was sold Thursday by Boston-based RR Auction to a private collector in the United Kingdom who wished to remain anonymous.
Schirra brought it to NASA for mission use preparation, and it was modified with the installation of a 100-exposure film container and an aiming device mounted on the side.
Bobby Livingston, RR's executive vice president, called it the camera that "would forever change our view of Earth."
It was sold by a collector who bought it from astronaut Gordon Cooper.
