It spent all its money on whiskey and beer

November 22, 2015 9:47 AM

Remember the prototype lunar rover that was believed to be scrapped but was recovered by a junkyard owner? It just failed to sell at auction, and could be yours if you have an amount of money more than $30000 burning a hole in your pocket.
posted by Artw (10 comments total)

Sounds like the seller has a grossly overinflated sense of the thing's value. Garriott bought a lander and a rover from the Russians for $68,500 and those are actual flown space hardware sitting on the lunar surface.
posted by Doc Ezra at 10:10 AM on November 22, 2015

I knew funding for NASA was bad, but sheesh.
posted by adept256 at 10:13 AM on November 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

I knew funding for NASA was bad, but sheesh.

Yeah, if the online bid of $250,000 was legit, this dude's reserve is so far out of bounds there's no way NASA could afford to buy it.
posted by Doc Ezra at 10:19 AM on November 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

That is a huge hunk of junk. Overinflated estimate of value indeed.
posted by Windopaene at 11:36 AM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

Although with a little TLC, this would be a sweet Burning Man ride.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 1:46 PM on November 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

Am I reading it right in that the "priceless" label and entire valuation was pulled out of nowhere by a vice article?
posted by Karaage at 2:12 PM on November 22, 2015

I hear Elon Musk is thinking of buying it, better bid now Wired readers!
posted by benzenedream at 2:55 PM on November 22, 2015

Slow clap for that title.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 5:06 PM on November 22, 2015 [2 favorites]

That's not a NASA auction, but NASA does auction stuff through GSA occasionally, like these solid gold plates that have probably flown in space. And also Dell desktops and stuff.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 8:39 PM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]

*twitch*
posted by Mezentian at 5:12 AM on November 23, 2015