Outer space obviously sells.

Nearly 300 space enthusiasts and collectors from 17 different countries bid by telephone or in person in New York April 8, spending upwards of $1 million in an auction of mainly American and Russian items left over from the "Space Race" era.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration had authorized the Bonhams auction house in New York to auction off space gear and other memorabilia mainly spanning the period from the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 -- which delivered the first Earth men to the Lunar surface -- to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975, the first collaborative space mission between the United States and what was then the Soviet Union.

An emblem that flew with NASA astronauts on the 1969 Apollo moon flight and a check list from the historic mission were the top-selling items in a sale of space memorabilia, according to a story by Reuters.

"Space exploration interests people globally, of all ages and all walks of life," Cassandra Hatton, senior space specialist for Bonhams, said in a statement.

The Apollo 11 data checklist sheet, with entries by crew member Buzz Aldrin while on the moon, blasted over its $45,000 pre-auction estimate to sell for $68,750.

The event's other top-seller, the emblem showing an eagle with an olive branch above the moon's surface and was identical to those worn on the spacesuits of the Apollo 11 crew -- and signed by astronauts Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins -- commanded a final sale price of $62,500, which was a little more than the starting price.

Then, the sale of an American flag carried by Aldrin during the historic moon mission, doubled its starting estimate, finally landing at $47,500.

Other popular items included a silver spacesuit from the Mercury Era, which marked the start of U.S. space exploration, that commanded a final price of $43,750, five times its pre-sale estimate, and a rare Russian Strizh spacesuit, which was designed for use in Russia's own space shuttle program, which was cancelled in 1993 upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union.