The Space Collection · Complete
From a stone axeto low Earth orbit.
One collection for humanity’s reach into space: real meteorites from three worlds, Apollo and cosmonaut artifacts signed by the people who flew, and the museum’s own mascot, in orbit.
The whole collection is here: every artifact, with all of its photographs, exactly as Christian entrusted them to the museum.
- 11
- Artifacts
- 47
- Photographs
- 8
- Signed provenances
Provenance
Signed by the heroes
who made the history.
Not reproductions. The astronauts who reached the Moon, the cosmonauts who reached space first, and the artist who drew them: their own signatures, held in the collection.
- Buzz Aldrin✦
- Neil Armstrong✦
- Frank Borman✦
- Michael Collins✦
- Yuri Gagarin✦
- Scott Parazynski✦
- Norman Rockwell✦
- Valentina Tereshkova✦
Meteorite · Mars
Mars Meteorite
Like the crater of the Moon, the surface of Mars was also shocked by major impacts. This ejected rock traveled through interplanetary space before it hit the Earth. What an epic space journey! Scientists recognize Martian meteorites mostly through the study of the rare gases and other isotopes they contain, which they compare with data collected by orbiting spacecraft and Martian rovers sent to the Red Planet. We have here a Martian shergottite, NWA 6963 from Morocco. Shergottites are one of the three families of Martian meteorites. Fewer than 300 full Martian meteorites have been found so far in the world. Interestingly, Martian meteorites are not red as you might have expected. The red colour comes from the dust on the surface that has undergone a rusting process, with iron being oxidized. When the exploration rover Curiosity drilled the Martian surface, the rocks were a greyish colour.
Meteorite · The Moon
Lunar Meteorite
The lunar meteorite here is just incredible when you think that it has been ejected from the Moon by the impact of an asteroid, which happens because the Moon has nearly no atmosphere for protection. This piece of the Moon has most probably traveled for tens of thousands of years in orbit around the Earth before striking it. This Bechar 003 lunar meteorite comes from Algeria and weighs a remarkable 11.85 grams. What a special feeling to own a piece of the Moon!
Meteorite · Asteroid Vesta
Vesta Meteorite
This is one of the rarest meteorites at The Little Museum of the World. Called NWA 14183 Howardite, it comes from Vesta, one of the brightest asteroids of the belt between Mars and Jupiter. Numerous fragments of Vesta were ejected by collisions one and two billion years ago that left two enormous craters across much of its southern hemisphere. The particularity of this piece is a 3-dimensional vein, without alteration, revealed when it burst at very low altitude or on hitting the ground. Its cracked black crust is magnificent, a little marvel of a meteorite!
Artifact · Axe Head & Detonator
The shock of time
A huge Draa lower-Paleolithic axe head from Morocco, more than 300,000 years old, set beside a space-flown squib / detonator from a Russian rocket found around the Baikonur Cosmodrome, showing the amazing arc of human development, from the Acheulean age to now.
Rare Book · The original American edition, signed by astronauts
Jules Verne: From the Earth to the Moon
Signed by Michael Collins, Frank Borman & Scott Parazynski
First US edition of "From the Earth to the Moon" by Jules Verne (1874), signed by astronauts Michael Collins (Gemini 10, Apollo 11), Frank Borman (Gemini 7 and Apollo 8) and Scott Parazynski (STS-66, STS-86, STS-95, STS-100, STS-120).
Apollo 11 · Autographs
Armstrong, Collins & Aldrin
Signatures of all three Apollo 11 astronauts · art signed Norman Rockwell
A superb frame with the signatures of the three Apollo 11 astronauts (Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin) next to a signed limited edition of celebrated American artist Norman Rockwell's "Space Pioneers" print.
Cosmonaut Memorabilia
Gagarin & Tereshkova, first man and first woman in space
Signed items · Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova
Commemorative frame of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, and the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova. It includes a card signed by both cosmonauts, a flown metal fragment from Vostok 1's hatch (obtained from Oleg Ivanovsky, Sputnik's flight director), and a set of stamps signed by Gagarin.
Signed Model · Apollo 11
LM-5: Lunar Module Eagle
Signed by Buzz Aldrin · “APOLLO XI” · 50th Anniversary 1969–2019
A Lunar Module Eagle (LM-5) model (1/48) created for the 50th anniversary of its landing on the Moon. The spacecraft that served as the crewed lunar lander of Apollo 11, signed by Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon.
Mascot · In Orbit
Boopy in Space
Photo of Boopy in space, taken inside the Cupola observation module of the ISS on November 22, 2021, by Soyuz MS-19 / ISS 66 commander Anton Shkaplerov with a Nikon D5 camera.
Artwork · Signed
Boopy Flag
Flown aboard Soyuz MS-20 · signed by cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin
Boopy's flag (symbol of Peace, hope and strength for children around the world) flown aboard Soyuz MS-20, and signed and stamped by cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.
Mascot · Physical
The original Boopy who flew to the ISS
The Boopy toy who flew to the International Space Station: lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Progress MS-18 cargo spaceship on October 27, 2021, and returning aboard Soyuz MS-19 to land in the steppes of Kazakhstan on March 30, 2022 with commander Anton Shkaplerov, cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov, and American astronaut Mark Vande Hei.
The whole collection
Every piece, at The Little Museum of the World,
on its way on-chain.
This collection is being prepared for the museum’s digital edition, the same custodianship model as the Boopy Genesis drop, extended to the artifacts that trace our reach for space.
