The first Hasselblad camera flown in Space has sold for $275,000 at RR Auction, beating an estimate of $100,000 by 175%.

It was flown aboard the Mercury-Atlas 8 and Mercury-Atlas 9 missions, which took place in 1962 and 1963 respectively and were largely focused on training and earth observation.

Hasselblad cameras are still used on manned NASA missions today

The partnership between NASA and Hasselblad continues to this day, making this modified 500c fitted with a Ziess 80mm lens the first year model in an enduring partnership.

It was accompanied by painstakingly assembled documentation and letters of provenance from astronaut Gordon Cooper, who writes: "This Hasselblad camera was flown on MA-9 and used by me to obtain a number of good shots of the earth.

"During the mission, I conducted many experiments, including taking numerous photographs of the Earth from inside the spacecraft.

"I took the photographs with a Hasselblad camera. The serial number on the camera body is TV 45279. I used an 80 mm Carl Zeiss lens, which has serial number 2823801."

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