Ex-Lt. Gov. Hammargren’s Apollo spacecraft mock-up to be auctioned next week

Want to buy a spaceship?

There aren’t a lot of Apollo spacecraft in private hands, but on Wednesday, the Apollo Command Module that has been a fixture in former Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren’s Las Vegas backyard will go on auction, along with about 20 other items from the eclectic collection he’s been gathering for nearly 40 years.

The spaceship is presumed to be a 1960s Apollo Command Module Block 1 mock-up. St. Louis-based auction company Regency-Superior estimates it has a value of $400,000 to $600,000. Minimum bid is $200,000.

Several dozen full-scale and properly weighted mock-ups were created to test flight systems. The retired neurosurgeon acquired it in the mid-1970s, after the Apollo program ended.

The live, online auction is set to take place at 10 a.m. Nevada time from the auction houses’ St. Louis office.

Hammargren has also put several other items up for auction, including a 1940s Pratt &Whitney R-4360 WASP Major Engine, a letter from Howard Hughes discussing the sale of the Silver Slipper casino, and Russian space art, including a 1995 oil painting by Russian Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, the first man to walk in space.

The items from Hammargren’s collection will be among thousands of flight- and space-related items in the auction.

“We are the largest auctioneers of space-related material,” said Regency-Superior spokeswoman Penney Kols. “Our company was one of the first to auction space-related items. We auction items for several former astronauts.”

Hammargren had previously hoped several of the items set to be auctioned would end up at the planned Henderson Space and Technology Center. In a May 7, 2012, Review-Journal article he cited one of Leonov’s military uniforms and several other items that could be displayed in the center. He added that he couldn’t afford to give the items outright to the nonprofit working on the center, which still hasn’t announced a groundbreaking date.

Neither Hammargren nor representatives of the Henderson center project could be reached for comment on the change of plans. The center’s website lapsed earlier this month.

“The spacecraft is among other items that have been enjoyed by thousands of guests to my home, which I have dubbed the ‘Hammargren Home of Nevada History,’” Hammargren stated in a press release from Regency-Superior.

“For years I have welcomed schoolchildren and the public to enjoy the collection. However, since my retirement from neurosurgery a few years ago I’ve had to cut back on the tours and events. I hope that the Apollo mock-up and the other items Regency-Superior is featuring in their Wednesday auction will be able to bring as much joy to others as they have me.”

Contact F. Andrew Taylor at ataylor@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4532.