NASA Sells Gold Recovered from Space

A photo of the gold displayed by an American auction site

 NASA Sells Gold Recovered from Space

The US General Services Administration is holding an auction to sell some surplus materials and belongings belonging to the US space agency NASA, including gold plates recovered from space.

According to the General Services Administration (GSA) website, the 24-karat gold plates are among the most sought-after items in the auction, which began on January 15 and will end on January 22.

According to the administration, these gold plates were stored in a spacecraft for 69 months in space and attracted a total of seven bids. The highest bid so far has reached $160,000, weighing over 6 kilograms. No further information about the plates has been disclosed, according to Business Insider.

Press sources suggest that the gold originated from the LDEF satellite, which orbited Earth between 1984 and 1990 to study the effects of various materials and elements in space. The satellite returned to Earth 25 years ago, specifically on January 12, 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia.