<p>The spherical Vostok 3KA-2 Space Capsule went under the hammer yesterday at Sotheby's for USD 2.88 million, the lower end of the USD 2-10 million range expected by the auction house.<br /><br />Winning bidder Evgeny Yurchenko, chairman of the AS Popov investment fund, said he was buying the scorched machine to return it to its homeland.<br /><br />The battered craft has serious historical credentials as the model used for the final dummy run before Gagarin left on his mission. It was used to carry a small dog, Zvezdochka, and a life-sized human dummy into orbit and back.<br /><br />Their successful journey meant Gagarin's first human space flight could go ahead.<br />"The Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule is a historic artifact of the Soviet space program," Yurchenko said in a statement. "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."<br /><br />Yurchenko said he hoped the Vostok would "take its rightful place in one of the national museums devoted to the history of the formation of the Russian space program."(AFP)<br /></p>
<p>The spherical Vostok 3KA-2 Space Capsule went under the hammer yesterday at Sotheby's for USD 2.88 million, the lower end of the USD 2-10 million range expected by the auction house.<br /><br />Winning bidder Evgeny Yurchenko, chairman of the AS Popov investment fund, said he was buying the scorched machine to return it to its homeland.<br /><br />The battered craft has serious historical credentials as the model used for the final dummy run before Gagarin left on his mission. It was used to carry a small dog, Zvezdochka, and a life-sized human dummy into orbit and back.<br /><br />Their successful journey meant Gagarin's first human space flight could go ahead.<br />"The Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule is a historic artifact of the Soviet space program," Yurchenko said in a statement. "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."<br /><br />Yurchenko said he hoped the Vostok would "take its rightful place in one of the national museums devoted to the history of the formation of the Russian space program."(AFP)<br /></p>