Initial estimates for dust, cockroaches and souvenirs are set at $400,000 (32,322,400) (Photo: Reuters)

Cockroach carcasses and Apollo 11 dust extracted from the stomach were auctioned off.

The moon dust was likely brought to Earth in 1969 by Apollo 11 astronauts. A rare item for sale is the result of NASA’s biological tests for dangerous “moon worms.”

The Boston auction will sell one-of-a-kind items as part of a collection of King, President and Moon items.

Initial estimates for dust, roaches and memorabilia are pegged at $400,000 (£322,400).

The auction is run by RR Auction, an American company specializing in space souvenirs. Moon dust consumed by cockroaches is one of the main venues for the “Remarkable Rarities” auction, which opens for bidding on May 26 and runs through June 23.

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“I’m more interested in this Apollo 11 science experiment, in which cockroaches received lunar material from Apollo 11,” said Bobby Livingstone, executive vice president of RR Auction.

“This is the material from the moon that was seeded by the cockroaches during the destructive inspection. This month’s dust was eaten by cockroaches, and that’s their waste,” he added.

The collection also includes the signatures of Babilus and Henry VIII. Other features of the 50-item auction include the 1943 German Enigma car worth $275,000 and the $5,000 bill signed by Elon Musk listed at $5,000.

Where did the cockroach come from?

Before the first manned mission from Mars to the Moon, scientists were not entirely convinced that astronauts would return potentially life-threatening microorganisms, or “lunar bubbles,” to Earth.

As a result, the Apollo 11 crew and everything that returned with them were quarantined for 21 days after returning to Earth.

Inside the Lunar Receiver Laboratory, built by NASA to isolate lunar humans and space matter, astronauts undergo a medical exam and various invertebrates, from fish to mice to cockroaches, are exposed to lunar rocks and dust. How did they react?

These tests were assigned approximately 22 kilograms of moon rock extracted during the Apollo 11 mission.

No animals or astronauts showed any signs of adverse effects on the moon rock, but the space agency, Marion Brooks, an insectologist at the University of St. Paul, studied cockroaches exposed to moon dust.

Brooks worked with a group of cockroaches that ate raw moondust and ordinary foods on an “average” diet, but found no signs that the lunar soil was toxic or dangerous to them.