An auction of space collectibles at RR Auction did well especially for Apollo 15 astronaut David Scott : Joystick sets record price for space collectibles – AFP/Phys.Org

The price of space junk inched closer to the moon on Friday after a hand controller from the Apollo 15 mission sold at auction for $610,063—an apparent new record.

The joystick assembly from the fourth US manned lunar landing was snapped up by an online bidder whose identity was not disclosed by RR Auction, a Massachusetts auction house specializing in rare collectibles. 

Robert Pearlman at collectSpace writes about the auction: Astronaut’s joystick used for Apollo moon landing tops half a million at auction – collectSPACE.

The Apollo 15 joystick controller and the crewman optical alignment sight (COAS) from the same spacecraft topped the sale’s results. The COAS, which was used by Scott to make star sightings and to align the lunar module with the moon’s horizon, sold for $126,180.

Both artifacts were removed from the lunar module Falcon at end of the lander’s use, prior to its intentional crash into the lunar surface. Scott and his crewmates, Jim Irwin and Al Worden, returned to Earth aboard the command module Endeavour.

Flown lunar module rotational hand controller, used
by Dave Scott and flown to the lunar surface on board
Apollo 15’s Lunar Module Falcon.