Bonhams to auction Soviet space suits

NEW YORK, March 4 (Itar-Tass) -- The Bonhams auction house plans a
space history sale devoted to the 50th anniversary of the first manned
space flight by Yuri Gagarin and the main lot is expected to be the space
suit of Soviet Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov in the historic joint Soviet-US
Soyuz-Apollo flight in July 1975.
Bonhams told Tass Leonov's space suit is valued at 100 to 150 thousand
dollars. Another space suit belonging to Cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov who
worked on the Russian Mir space station in 1990 is valued at 60-80
thousand dollars.
Gagarin flew to space on the first manned mission in the world on
April 12, 1961 and the auction is scheduled for May 5.
Last month Sotheby's said it would also commemorate Gagarin's flight
by auctioning in New York the last test flight capsule that blasted off
before the first man in space accomplished his historic mission.
The test capsule, Vostok 3KA-2, still scorched from re-entry, will be
sold at Sotheby's in New York on April 12.
Sotheby's estimates it will fetch between $2 million to $10 million.
The owner, who wished to remain anonymous, bought it privately from Russia
several years ago.
"Not only are there no other examples outside of Russia of the world's
first spacecraft, this capsule was pivotal in space history as providing
the green light for Gagarin's spectacular achievement," David Redden, the
head of Sotheby's special projects department, said in a statement.
In the final test flight the capsule carried a life-size cosmonaut
mannequin.