Space shuttle Discovery has completed its last mission, and was given a sweet send-off with Star Trek's own James T Kirk (William Shatner) imitating the opening voiceover for his show and announcing that the Discovery had boldly gone and done what no spacecraft had done before.

This was very generous, as none of the shuttle's crew has ever talked with or fought aliens with perfect English on strange purple-lit planets. But they've got a lot of studying done.

Star Trek has certainly had its influence on collectibles as we've mentioned, including Shatner's own Trek uniform, which sold for just under $45,000 last year - whilst Spock's ears have been bought for much less, making them an unusual but possibly lucrative investment.

But now, as the battles between museums to house the retiring spacecraft conclude, we have yet to see the true value of collectibles from the space shuttle era.

The prices can be surprisingly high, perhaps reflecting a generation who remembered the early shuttle flights even if they didn't remember the moon landings.

An early shuttle model based on initial design concepts at the Manned Spacecraft Centre led by Dr Faget brought $23,180 in 2009, whilst Commander John Young's Flown Flight Suit Patches from Columbia's first mission sold for a whopping $56,762.

But that was before the shuttles came to rest - now shuttle collectibles are a whole new fronter.