The space auction where a Sputnik model goes for $269,000

For only $269,000, you can buy a full-scale model of the Sputnik-1 satellite, made by the USSR to test the very first satellite humans launched into space. It’s still operational, with live transmitters, 59 years later. On the catalog of the Bonhams auction house in midtown Manhattan, where the Space History Sale took place on Wednesday, the estimated price is $10,000 to $15,000. But in no time, the price is flying higher than Sputnik did.

“13. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19!” shouts auctioneer Tim McNab. He looks like the bouncer of a high-end nightclub in Miami Beach: suntanned, in a blue suit and sunglasses with orange-tinted lenses, even though we’re in an underground room. “Still bidding. On the books!”