You can now buy moondust from NASA’s Apollo 11 mission for $400,000, but it hides a disgusting secret

Moon dust collected by Apollo 11 astronauts in 1969 has just been auctioned off.

The lunar dust comes from Neil Armstong’s famous Nasa mission, which made him the first human to stand on the lunar surface.

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The sample might sound exciting, but it hides a pretty disgusting space secret.

If you’re not a fan of cockroaches, you might see the moondust differently as it was once eaten by the creatures.

This was part of an experiment to see if the lunar dust had a negative impact on them.

During the first mission to the moon, scientists feared that the astronauts would encounter positional substances or bring contamination back to Earth.

The three cockroaches that ate the moondust were then killed and judged.

Scientists removed the dust from their stomachs and found no evidence the sample was toxic.

RR Auction is now auctioning off the moondust as part of its Remarkable Rarities auction.

Bidding started this week on May 26th and will last until June 23rd, so there is plenty of time to place a bid.

However, the starting bid was $10,000 (£7,918) and auction experts believe the Moon pattern will eventually sell for $400,000 (£317,000).

RR Auction Executive Vice President Bobby Livingston told collectSPACE, “Whenever we represent something from Apollo 11, obviously it’s exciting because it’s the most important mission, but when you get something like roaches being fed lunar material , it just shows how diverse the Apollo program was.

He added: “For any of us who was 12 or 13 and had a science class, that’s not ‘gross’ at all. That’s incredible.”

The lucky buyers will receive the tiny lunar dust sample and the carcasses of the three cockroaches that ate them.