‘Pre-Yuri’ Russian Space Capsule Fetches $2.9 Million

April 15, 2011 — It flew to space carrying a life-size mannequin dubbed Ivan and a dog named Zvezdochka. And now, 50 years later, it will finally be returning to where it began its journey. During an auction at Sotheby’s on Tuesday, the Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule that helped ensure the safety of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on his journey to space sold for nearly $2.9 million. The new owner, Evgeny Yurchenko, chairman of the investment fund AS Popov, said he intended to return the capsule to Russia. “The Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule is a historic artifact of the Soviet space program,” said Yurchenko in a statement. “Its successful return to Earth from space gave the green light for Gagarin’s spectacular achievement.” Yurchenko said it was particularly meaningful to buy the space capsule on April 12, 2011, the 50th anniversary of the first manned flight into space. “I hope that Vostok will take its rightful place in one of the national museums devoted to the history of the formation of the Russian space program.” Vostok was the Soviet Union’s first program to put a man in space, and was conceived and overseen by the architect of the Soviet Space Program, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. Five Vostok-type capsules were launched in 1960-61. While two were destroyed, the spacecraft that launched on August 19, carrying the dogs Belka and Strelka, demonstrated that living creatures could be returned safely to earth from orbit. In 1961, Korolev focused his attention on adapting the Vostok model to carry a human passenger. Even after a successful test of the new design on March 9, 1961, Korolev conducted a final “dress rehearsal” before putting a cosmonaut’s life in jeopardy. Vostok 3KA-2 blasted into space on March 25, carrying the mannequin and dog. After completing one orbit, the capsule safely reentered the earth’s atmosphere and landed near the city of Izhevsk, with the mannequin ejecting prior to landing as planned and the dog returning safely. Twenty days later, Gagarin orbited the earth in an earth in an exact twin of this capsule, the Vostok 3KA-3, later renamed Vostok 1. The Ivanovich mannequin has been on exhibition at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum since 1997, after being purchased at Sotheby’s New York in 1993. The Vostok 1 model that carried Gagarin is on permanent display in Russian rocket maker Rkk Energia's Museum near Moscow.

The Soviet space capsule, the Vostok 3KA-2, sold for nearly $2.9 million. Photo credit: AFP Photo The Ivanovich mannequin is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Photo credit: Smithsonian

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