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In New York yesterday, April 13th, Sotheby’s sold the Vostok 3KA-2 Space Capsule that was launched 50 years ago on March 25, 1961. The sale was part of the celebration of the first Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, to ever travel to outer space. Evgeny Yurchenko bought the craft to put on display in Russia.

Mr. Yurchenko said to the press, “The Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule is a historic artifact of the Soviet space program. Its successful return to Earth from space gave the green light for Gagarin’s spectacular achievement. Until now, the Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule was the only one of its kind outside of Russia, and with the support and participation of Sotheby’s I will be able to bring it home. It was especially meaningful to do so on April 12, 2011, the 50th anniversary of the first manned flight into space. I hope that Vostok will take its rightful place in one of the national museums devoted to the history of the formation of the Russian space program.”

The piece achieved a price tag of $2,882,500, which helped to give the biannual auction of Russian Art a push in the right direction. Along with the capsule, there were other highlights such as Henryk Siemiradzki’s ‘The Sword Dance’ which reached a price of $2,098,500 making a new record for the artist at auction. The sale in total achieved a total of $16,089,390.

Posted by, Lauren Guzniczak.