NEW YORK—Romantics wax poetic about full moons and stargazing. To others, outer space

Fallen Stars While it is against the law to sell lunar rocks returned by NASA’s Apollo missions, the items can be obtained in rare circumstances. Robert A. Haag of Tucson, Arizona, a dealer in meteorites, legally owns a fragment of lunar material. In an interview with Omni magazine in 1993, Haag estimates the rock’s value at roughly $20,000 a carat. (Among the items for sale on his Web site, www.meteoriteman.com, is a 661-pound Gibeon iron meteorite for $150,000.) In 2003, a stolen NASA safe containing tiny samples of lunar and Martian material was recovered. At the time, the space agency estimated the contents’ value at about $1 million per 10 ounces of material.

brings to mind lunar trajectory notes and NASA emblems—especially now, as October marks the 50th anniversary of Sputnik’s launch. “I collect because I’m fascinated by the inherent historic interest in these documents and artifacts,” says Ray Katz, 50, of www.museumofspacetravel.com. “And I love to share my enthusiasm for space history by showing them to my friends.”

“Historic appeal is just one facet,” says George Lowry of New York’s Swann Galleries. “We see collectors of maps, autographs and pop culture who enjoy space memorabilia,” he says. Prices can vary widely: In Swann’s recent Space Exploration sale, a flown lunar navigational chart sold for $16,000, while a signed Apollo 10 Snoopy doll went for $550.

Swann remains the only traditional player in an arena that once saw Sotheby’s and Christie’s auctioning items such as Soviet space suits and even moon rocks for six-figure sums. In 2001, for example, Christie’s New York sold four framed space suit emblems worn by astronaut James Irwin during the Apollo 15 Lunar Mission for $358,000, against the lot’s high estimate of $300,000. As this kind of material has grown harder to obtain, the dynamic duo bowed out.

Today, space buffs also can turn to Regency-Superior Gallery of Beverly Hills, Aurora Auctions of Bell Canyon, California, as well as online destinations www.farthestreaches.com and www.collectspace.com for goods from the personal caches of heroes like Buzz Aldrin. “Anything brought into space by an astronaut, especially if it was contraband, is really popular,” says Lowry. In spring, Swann sold a signed envelope ($9,000) taken onboard Apollo 15 by its crew. “I like things that bear evidence of being used by real people,” says Katz. “I own the flight suit that Charlie Duke switched into after he returned from the moon, but I also love leafing through flight plans that have handwritten notes all over them. I like the feeling of being placed close to these amazing historic events.”