The $344,000 movie item: Academy buys ship from Kubrick’s ‘2001’

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Saturday bought the Aries 1B Trans-Lunar Space Shuttle from “2001: A Space Odyssey” at Premiere Props’ Hollywood Extravaganza Auction for $344,000.

According to the auction house, the space shuttle is valuable because it’s one of the few props left from the 1968 film. Director Stanley Kubrick reportedly destroyed almost all of the props, sets, models and costumes so that they could not be used in other productions.

In the film, the model was used to transport Dr. Heywood R. Floyd (William Sylvester) from the International Space Station to the moon.

The spaceship model belonged to an art teacher who stored the prop for more than 40 years at his studio in Hertfordshire, England.

Bill Kramer, managing director of the Academy Museum and External Affairs, told The Times this month that the organization’s new facility is scheduled to break ground in late spring or early summer.

The museum, designed by architect Renzo Piano, is scheduled to open at the site of the Wilshire May Co. building at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue in 2017.

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