After World War II the powers of the world began a race to outer space, as Russia and the United States shifted their military efforts to an arms race of technology. As cosmoneaughts and astronauts left earth’s atmostphere they brought back with them the first images of Earth taken from orbit. The first earthlings to take a photograph of our planet did so on the Hasselblad 500c, the first camera ever used in space, it sold this week at an auction for $281,250.

A Boston based auction agency auctioned the Hasselblad camera to a private collector from the United Kingdom last Thursday in a package that included the Hasselblad camera body and Zeiss lens for $281,250.

Wally Schirra, brought the Hasselblad camera into space in 1962, as a part of the Mercury Atlas mission to orbit Earth. The mission made him the fifth man in space and the first one to bring a camera. In order for the camera to function in space, special adjustments and precautions had to be made. It was painted heavily in black to reduce reflections to a minimum and was equipped with 100- exposure film containers.

NASA admitted they were impressed with the Swedish camera maker, admitting they paid $400 dollars for one after – a large sum for 1962. The Hasselblad camera was increasingly popular in the 1960’s and was chosen by astronauts because of its superior engineering, craftsmanship and picture quality. The Hasselblad camera at the time was the zenith of image capturing and forever changed our views of Earth.

Astronaut Gordon Cooper, who was also believed to have operated the camera upon the Mercury Atlas 9 mission, sold the camera to an enthusiast he believed would take care of the camera with the utmost integrity. He believed the camera would have sold for $50,000 to $100,000.

Hasselblad Camera’s are still around today and are available for purchase online.