The new owner of the camera is Japanese businessman Terukazu Fujisawa

Mar 25, 2014 07:36 GMT  ·  By

A historic Hasselblad 500 camera that traveled to the moon and back and was used during the Apollo 15 mission, in 1971, was auctioned over the weekend in Vienna.

According to the Verge, the old camera sold for a whopping $758,489 (€548,279). However, the winner also had to pay a premium for auctioneers' expenses, which brought the camera's total price to $910,000, or €660,000.

The bidding started at €80,000 ($110,000), and previous predictions estimated that the camera would go for around €200,000 ($270,000), but it eventually fetched a much higher sum.

This piece of photographic history was sold together with a 200-exposure silver film magazine and a special NASA Biogon 3.5/60mm lens.

Vienna auctioneers Galerie Westlicht mention that the new owner of the camera is a Japanese businessman called Terukazu Fujisawa, who runs Yodobashi Camera retail chain.

“Jim Irwin took exactly 299 pictures with this Hasselblad 500 EL DATA CAMERA HEDC during his 3 days stay on the lunar surface and 96 more on the way to the moon and back again,” Westlicht said, as cited by Photography Blog.

Although this is not the first Hasselblad camera taken into space, it's special because it reached the moon and returned back to Earth, whereas cameras used in other missions were left on the moon’s surface due to their bulk and weight.