Vostok ZKA-2 capsule sold.

[willedoo]

The Vostok ZKA-2 capsule, predecessor to Uri Gagarin's Zka-3 (Vostok 1) has been auctioned to coincide with the 50th' anniversary of manned space flight & is to retrn to Russia.

 

As translated:-

 

The capsule of Vostok ZKA-2 space ship, launched in the network of last testing of security and life support systems prior to Yuri Gagarin’s flight, has been sold by auction in New York, BFM.ru reports. The amount of transaction was $2,882,500.

 

The capsule of Vostok ZKA-2 space ship has placed a dog called Zvezdochka and dummy man called Ivan Ivanovich by the specialists into orbit on March 25th 1961. After two hours of flight the capsule has successfully landed at the distance of 1000 km from Moscow. Yuri Gagarin’s flight has been performed 18 days after the launch of Vostok ZKA-2 space ship’s capsule which is the exact copy of capsule used by the first Soviet astronaut during his flight.

 

Sotheby's auction was dedicated to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight.

 

Ex-CEO of Svyazinvest, active chairman of investment fund named after A.S.Popov, Evgeny Yurchenko has won the auction. According to Yurchenko, he bought the capsule in order to return it in Russia. It will be demonstrated in one of museums dedicated to the history of Russian space program.