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Title: Mistakenly Sold NASA Command Trailer Goes On Sale

Link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/08/08/0...

alternative_right quotes a report from The Register: Space fans looking to
camp out in style have a chance to pick up an Airstream trailer that once
served as the Convoy Command Vehicle for NASA's Space Shuttle operations at
Edwards Air Force Base -- if they have a couple hundred thousand to spare,
that is. "This is the NASA 025 Command Vehicle," current owner Jonathan
Kitzen says of the once-silver, now paint-daubed and otherwise unassuming
Airstream trailer. "NASA 025 was designed to land crewed missions at Edwards
Air Force Base. [Airstream] informed me that this was, in their, words, 'the
only NASA Airstream ever sold,' and the others [001-024] were all crushed or
in museums. The sister crew vehicle (a 28-ft with one rear axle) is sitting
at Kennedy museum [the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex]. All the rest
are gone, except for this one." Kitzen picked up the vehicle in 2022 up after
spotting it on a government surplus auction site, where it had been listed
with few details and at a very low starting price. As for how the rare
vehicle ended up for sale in the first place, Kitzen says he was told it was
a mistake. "Apparently there was some miscommunication when the vehicle was
decommissioned," he claims in the sale listing. "It should have been offered
to museums but the sales team did not know what it was. They were told it was
just a 'NASA vehicle,' they did not know it had any special status or
history. To the sellers they thought it was just a van that could have been
for moving laundry around the base. It was an accidental (yet valid) sale.
"When I pulled up to Vandenberg Air Force Base after getting my NASA
contractor badge I was greeted by the senior asset manager," Kitzen
continues. "'We didn't know what we were selling!' were the first words out
of her mouth. 'We didn't advertise it or offer it up to museums, the phone
has exploded. Nobody told us what it was!'" [...] The listing on vehicle sale
site Hemmings.com has an asking price of $199,000, though with no offers yet
submitted. A listing on eBay with a $50,000 minimum bid and $290,000 buy-it-
now price ended in May with no takers.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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