'Moon dust' from Apollo 11 mission that was sold for $995 now worth $4 million as it heads to auction

Talk about an astronomical return on investment. A sample of 'moon dust' from the Apollo 11 landing that was mistakenly sold on a government website for $995 is going up for sale for up to $4million.

It is a simple, square white bag that traveled to the moon in 1969 on Apollo 11 and carried back to Earth the first sample of lunar material ever collected.

That bag, owned by Chicago-area lawyer Nancy Lee Carlson, could fetch up to $4million when it goes on the auction block at Sotheby's New York in July.

The bag - which contains remnants of moon dust and is labelled 'LUNAR SAMPLE RETURN' - is a collection pouch used by astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, during the Apollo 11 mission.

The bag was used to hold rocks and dust from the lunar region known as the Sea of Tranquility, the Daily Mail reported.

Scheduled for July 20, the 48th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the auction will be the first legal sale of such an artefact from the mission, Jim Hull, head of exhibits and artefacts at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), said in a telephone interview on Friday.

While there are legal restrictions on sales of material from moon missions, including lunar rocks and dust, it is believed some items have been sold on the black market.

The bag wound up at Sotheby's after a roundabout journey that included an attempt by NASA to get it back from its current owner.

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands on the moon on July 20, 1969, with Neil Armstrong reflected. Photo / Getty

Apollo 11 blasted off on July 16, 1969, with three astronauts aboard. Four days later, Armstrong and astronaut Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin flew the spacecraft Eagle down to the moon's surface. As part of the mission, the astronauts gathered lunar samples.

After nearly 22 hours on the moon, Armstrong and Aldrin returned to the lunar module, lifted off and rejoined Michael Collins in the Columbia spacecraft for the journey back to Earth. They landed on July 24 and received a hero's welcome.

'Moon dust' was captured by Neil Armstrong in the Contingency Lunar Sample Return Bag and somehow ended up being sold on a government website. Photo / Getty

But the collection pouch got mixed up with other sample bags that were never used to hold lunar materials, Hull said.

At one point, the bag was seized the US Department of Justice during an investigation, and then mistakenly auctioned off to its current owner, Chicago-area attorney Nancy Lee Carlson.