14 DAY TRIAL // If you thought laptops couldn't be famous, this piece of news will change your mind. It appears the machine that was used by American president Bill Clinton to send the first-ever US presidential email has been sold at an online auction for the impressive sum of $60,667 / €43,923.
The laptop was used back in 1998 and is a Toshiba Satellite that Clinton borrowed to email astronaut John Glenn, who was orbiting Earth aboard the space shuttle discovery, reports NDTV. Oh, those were the days!
Originally, the laptop, which was sold with accessories and documentation, belonged to White House physician Robert Darling. He was kind enough to lend the Satellite to Clinton, after the president got word from NASA, Glenn wanted to exchange emails with him.
RR Auction Vice President, Booby Livingston, said the laptop is a “remarkable collection that represents the dawn of a new age, combining America’s greatest technological achievements space travel and the internet.”
Glenn was actually a US senator before he went on to pursue his dream of becoming an astronaut, thus becoming the American space traveler to orbit Earth.
Glenn was on a nine-day mission with Discovery in November 1998 when he send word out asking if we could swap emails with Clinton, who was visiting family and friends in his home state of Arkansas.
“This is certainly a first for me, writing to a president from space, and it may be a first time for you receiving an email directly from an orbiting spacecraft,” wrote Glenn in one of the famous emails.
In an interview in 2000, Bill Clinton said he never really used emails due to security concerns, but he made an exception in that case. He also mentioned he sent out messages to US marines and sailors out on the sea during Christmas time.
The Toshiba laptop was sold by Darling in 2000, but before doing so the physicist made sure to make a record of the historic email exchange between the US president and the astronaut, by copying the information of the internal floppy disk.
The Boston auction house didn't reveal the name of the person purchasing the famous laptop, but did disclose the device was sold for $60,667 / €43,923.