Auction camera NASA, astronaut was sued

Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:14 pm

WASHINGTON - NASA sued a former astronaut who uses a camera in the mission of Apollo 14 and sell their images in the video to the auction.

"Edgar Mitchell, who uses video equipment to record the lunar surface, is accused of illegally having a camera and try to sell it to his advantage. NASA knows that the NASA - Bonhams auction house in England plans to sell the camera in which there are data sets, they've sold it last March, "according to NASA's lawsuit, as reported by Mail Online, Saturday (07/02/2011).

Goods are labeled "Camera Films from Surface Moon ', which comes from Apollo 14. Description of the item says a lot of footage directly from the collection of pilot Edgar Mitchell that were predicted sale value between $ 60 thousand to 80 thousand.

Mitchell is a module pilot on Apollo 14 moon, which was launched with a mission for nine days in tehun 1971 under the command of Alan Shepard. He is the sixth person who walked on the moon, now he has retired and running a website that sells the original image that has been signed. He had been making headlines in the past because of his belief that states the existence of extraterrestrial life.

"All the equipment and property used for NASA operations remain the property of NASA unless explicitly released or transferred to another party," the lawsuit said the U.S. government (NASA), which confirms that NASA does not have a record by giving the camera to Mitchell.

In the lawsuit also stated, the U.S. government has made repeated requests to Mitchell and his attorney to return the camera, but got no response.

Mitchell's lawyer, Donald Jacobson, admitted NASA's management statement and acknowledge and agree that Mitchell camera ownership has aged 40 years.

"The auction house has now pulled the camera from the sale in order to wait for further discussions between NASA and the sender," said a spokesman for auction house Bonhams.

The U.S. government also asked the court to stop Mitchell in the process of buying and selling the camera to anyone.