Today a major piece of Star Trek history became available to the highest bidder. The Shuttlecraft Galileo from the original Star Trek series is up for auction. There is also a group that is trying to acquire the shuttle with plans to restore it and put it on display for the fans. More info below.
Shuttle Galileo Goes Up For Action
Today the original Shuttle Galileo went up for auction. Memorabilia from the original Star Trek is very rare and even though this item is not in the best condition some experts think it could sell for as $100,000 by the time bidding closes on Thursday June 28th. The auction is being conducted on behalf of owner Lynn Miller by Kiko Auctions of Canton, Ohio (where the Shuttle currently resides) You can place your bid online right now, if you have that kind of money.
As noted the current state of the Shuttle is pretty poor. It appears to have been left outdoors (in Ohio) for most of the last couple of decades. That being said, most of the original components are still in tact, including the nacelles. Nevertheless, Galileo is definitely in need of a restoration.
Starfleet Shuttle for sale – needs a little work – less than 100 million miles
The Shuttle Galileo was originally created for the first season episode "The Galileo Seven." The prop was used for exterior shots, with the interior shots shot on a separate set. It was designed by Matt Jeffries, who also designed the USS Enterprise. And the actual shuttle prop (which is somewhat smaller scale than the shuttle set) was built by the AMT model shop. Although the Galileo was "destroyed" in the episode, the prop returned for subsequent episodes that required a shuttle exterior shot.
Shuttle Galileo in "Star Trek"
Following the cancellation of the series the shuttle was first donated to the Braille Institute where it was used as a plaything for the students. It was later sold and over the decades fell into disrepair but in 1986 it was restored and displayed at a 20th anniversary convention in Los Angeles. Once again the shuttle was stored in the open and again deteriorated until 1989 when it was purchased by Lynn Miller of Akron, Ohio who planned to restore it and display it at the National Air & Space Museum. A restoration project began in 1991 (see video below) but was never completed. And unfortunately in the years since this partial restoration, the shuttle again was stored outdoors resulting in the current condition.
Video from last Galileo restoration in 1991
If you want this piece of Star Trek history, it can be yours if you are the highest bidder. Try your luck at Kiko Auctions (via Proxibid.com). Remember, when you bid there is also an extra 15% buyers premium to pay to the auctioneers.
Group wants to share Galileo with the fans
Actual original models and memorabilia from the original Star Trek are very rare. Usually when items like this shuttle are put up for auction they are snatched by a rich collector and disappear into their private collections. While there are some interesting pieces of Trek history on display with the touring Star Trek: The Exhibition, most of what CBS/Paramount auctioned off in 2006 is not available for fans to see. Some items (like the Enterprise D and DS9 model purchased by billionaire Paul Allen) were shown at his Science Fiction Museum in Seattle, but are not currently on display. For the Galileo, a couple of collectors are trying to ensure this piece of Star Trek history can be shared with the fans and finds a permanent home where it can be displayed.
USS Enterprise model from feature films sold at auction in 2006 for $240,000 – not seen since
Alec Peters, founder of Propworx, has teamed up with fellow collector Adam Schneider to bid on the Galileo. They have formed the Galileo Restoration Group. Peters and Schneider’s goal, if they win the auction, is to restore the shuttle and then tour it around to conventions and events and then eventually find a permanent home for Galileo at a museum.
They are using their own funds to bid in the auction, but plan on going to Kickstarter to get fans to get involved in funding the restoration. Galileo Restoration have also teamed up with Star Trek fan club STARFLEET, who will also help out with the restoration phase. Like with all Kickstarter campaigns, there will be various perks for those who help out. The entire process (again if they win the auction) will also be documented and reported online so supporters can keep track of progress.
Peters tells TrekMovie that he is already putting together a team of professionals who are prepared to restore Galileo to its original condition. TrekMovie has also talked to Emmy-winning Star Trek designer Doug Drexler, who says that he and fellow Trek vet Mike Okuda are interested in helping out the Galileo Restoration team, or anyone who commits to sharing Galileo.
Hopefully this team doesn’t get outbid and wins the auction so that Galileo can be shared with the fans.
For more on this effort (and on the history of the Galileo), visit galileorestoration.com.
Galileo Restoration Project Banner
Correction: Article updated to note Enterprise D model had been displayed after it was sold at auction
What a shame; hope the Galileo gets the love it deserves.
I could imagine a used shuttle salesman’s pitch: “She’ll make point five past warp speed. May not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, kid… ”
;-D
As for the ST auction; It’s a shame that some of these works of art (and they are art) are snatched up never to be seen again.
They should contact these guys:
http://www.syfy.com/hollywoodtreasure
Who’s gonna pay $100,000 for that piece of junk? Seriously, the restoration costs alone will probably be more expensive than building a new one from scratch.
Good point RDR.
That thing is done.
Storing a plywood prop outdoors??? Sorry, but the folks who did that are clueless idiots!
As for what’s left…even most of that is NOT original material. Worth a hundred bucks maybe, if that.
The only part of the shuttlecraft that is most likely reusable is the frame. The shell and floor would probably be too damaged.
Someone with the right know-how, materials (and obviously money and time) could build one from scratch for under $20,000.
Hey AP!!!
Why have I had to start signing in here to make a comment for the past week or two (on both my home and work computers)??? Why the change?
@6 Anthony Thompson
these are probably the same idiots that deconstructed the original big E, chucked her in a box and forgot about her for years.
In the words of the great Alan Partridge “Sub-human scum”
probably not the words I would use but hey, you get the gist.
:)
What remains that is original after the 1986 and 1991 restorations? I’m not clear on that.
What the hell did they do to it? Leave it to rot in the rain on the farm with all the animals! They should be prosecuted.
Except for replacing the exterior in the 1980s, and replacing the interior in the 1990’s, it’s the original prop!
Shame on this Lynn Miller person who has left this outdoors for twenty years in freaking upper Midwest weather to get ruined — what was he/she thinking? And this clown is now going to collect $100K? Wow, that seems like rewarding ineptitude and to Trek fans, this is damn near malfeasance.
If I were Lynn Miller, I would never show my face in public again at a Trek convention. This just shows a horrible neglect and disregard for Trek history, with the added insult on being able to cash in oh his/her unforgivably behavior.
If you are reading these boards, shame on you, Lynn Miller!
Damned IDIOT, Miller!!!
It looks like the original skin is still there, just the frame has been replaced.
People have paid more for items in my opinion that are worth less. This was a item that was used by the original TOS cast in several episodes. It is a one of a kind item, building a replica is just not the same as a original item.
This should be restored and displayed at NASA or the Smithsonian.
Looking at the video, it looks like the engines are still original, and no doubt the frame. But not much else.
Hopefully the next owner will show some respect and store it properly. It belongs in a museum.
Damn. High bid is $19,500.00.
I’d say that the most valuable thing about it now is knowledge of how the original was made.
It would be cool to see the dimensions, structure, and BOM open sourced and uploaded online so folks who are so inclined could build their own.
It’s another great design from Matt Jefferies.
Someone should give this to Rick Dale from “American Restoration” – that dude can restore peace in the middle east!
#15.
The problem is, repairing it would require so much work, and so many new parts, the resulting finished product wouldn’t truly be the original anyway. So someone might as well just build one from scratch.
#’s 13 and 14.
I totally agree. What a travesty this is. Just like (and as bad) as what happened to some of the models (in particular the Enterprise D) at the Star Trek Experience when it closed down.
I can only hope that the props, models, costumes etc. that were auctioned off a few years ago are in good care.
I’d hate to see the refit Enterprise, or the Deep Space Nine models get banged up, broken, stained, or smashed.
Yeesh!
I say, put “Galileo” on the USS Intrepid (in NYC) with the BA Concorde and the USS Enterprise orbiter. Let them pay for the restoration, as they will charge visitors for these as extras to the rest of the exhibit.
Two space shuttles with nearly identical heritage: One real, one fictitious, blah, blah.
Never happen.
Good to see that the original Galileo shuttlecraft still exists. This is going to be like the restoration of the original General Lee of the Dukes of Hazzard.
# 16
I agree with you, T’Cal.
Ideally, it should be restored and put in the Smithsonian; preferably near the original Enterprise (the 11 ft. TOS shooting model).
As Indiana Jones would say, “It belongs in a museum!” ;-)
Unless you know the intimate details of Lynn Miller’s life over the past two decades, who are you to be judging them so harshly? Get some damned facts before you break out the torches and pitchforks…
I seriously doubt they intended to let the Galileo rot on purpose. It’s a large heavy prop, requiring a flat bed to even transport, and indoor storage is often expensive. Considering many thought the thing had been destroyed a decade ago, it’s reappearance is a miracle.
Sure a replica could be built, but it wouldn’t be the original.
The large Nostromo model from Alien was in bad shape after years under a tarp in someone’s backyard. It’s currently being restored…
http://www.propstore.com/nostromo.htm
@9
If you refer to the original TOS Enterprise model, Paramount had it until they donated it to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum circa 1976. Aside from a weekend display at a local college circa 1972, it was never in the hands of anyone else.
#25.
“I seriously doubt they intended to let the Galileo rot on purpose. It’s a large heavy prop, requiring a flat bed to even transport, and indoor storage is often expensive. Considering many thought the thing had been destroyed a decade ago, it’s reappearance is a miracle.”
Sure, but that is exactly why people need to think these things through before they make such a purchase. The person who bought the Galileo obviously didn’t think far enough ahead. He/she had to know that a lot of indoor space would be needed for the shuttlecraft. He/she also should have known the huge expense in repairing the thing.
He/she was clearly in over their head when they bought it. He/she obviously gave up on it due to logistics and/or money. Obviously didn’t know how much money, work and materials the shuttlecraft needed to be repaired to it’s originial condition.
It’s had 15 new exteriors and there’s nothing inside it anyway. but still it’s original!! £100 grand?? More like £100 quid! Some people like to hope. i’ve got a 30 year old original yardbrush, it’s had 15 new handles and 12 new brushheads but it’s still original! Just ask Del Boy.
Will it start?
@20 I agree! How great of an episode would that make?
@25. “Unless you know the intimate details of Lynn Miller’s life over the past two decades, who are you to be judging them so harshly? Get some damned facts before you break out the torches and pitchforks…”
What a crock. At a minimum, Lynn Miller, for a few hundred dollars at Home Depot you could cover it with two layers of heavy gage outdoor heavy plastic wrap. You will still get some cracks and buckling after years of temperature change, but you would at least keep water, critters and much of the sun damage out. I mean, shit. take some franking responsibility for it. Leaving it out in the elements to rot away to its present state is just a travesty.
And if you think this Lynn Miller has some great excuses why he/she let this rot outdoors for 21 years, I’d be interested in hearing them? 21 years is unacceptable — it is going to take a whopper of an excuse for me to show some compassion for letting the Galileo rot for 21 years outdoors. And it reflects pretty bad on his/her character that they have now lined up an auction house and are trying to get $100K for the nearly ruined Galileo.
Perhaps if it was ruined, and he/she felt bad about it, and were donating it to a Trek group — well, in that case I would cut he/she some slack. But profiteering over the demise of this famous prop…NO, THAT IS UNNACCEPTABLE!!!!!
I’ll say it again: shame on you, Lynn Miller!
I don’t know her story, but neither do you. ;)
@33. Well I see her “cashing out” on this now that it is nearly destroyed. That is what really bothers me here, dude. Regardless of whether she had some excuses or not, she let it go to crap and is now, from my POV, going to collect perhaps $100K. Yea, that really pisses me off. If she gave a crap about Trek and felt bad about the neglect, she would be donating it to this “Quest to Save Galileo” instead of trying to profit from her piss-poor care of one of Trek’s greatest historical relics.
Trigger’s broom – 10 new heads and five new handles, but it’s the same broom
MJ showing their usual class of jumping on someone and judging them without knowing them.
Why does the hate flow within them so freely?
Because they hate themselves.
Sad really.
–
Interesting story.
Hope someone show the shuttle some love.
But will it be “profiteering” if whoever owns in charges admission to see it once it’s display ready?
@33
A move worthy of a Ferengi to be sure. But without knowing more about the long and twisted tale behind Galileo’s strange journey, I don’t feel comfortable in passing judgement on them just yet.
Does anybody know what became of the TNG shuttle and pod?
35. Rod
“them”? “they”? Are you implying that MJ is more than one person? Twins perhaps, both evil? : D
As part of the restoration, an interior should be constructed within the Shuttlecraft that matches, as much as is possible the interiors depicted on TOS.
$100,000 for a hunk of rotting plywood?. Interesting!
Private collectors should be shot. KNOWLEDGE, sir, should be free to all!
I’ve got an idea. Hey Bob’O, why don’t you ask JJ to “aquire it” for use in the new movies. That way, the restoration can easily be paid for by the movie studio and restored by Hollywood professionals (pocket change for them, a business expense). It can then be used in the movies as a shoutout to the fans, and then after the movies are done, it can be donated to whatever museum they find.
I bid 1,000,000 quatloos!
Why do I get the feeling the prop is going to end up smoking meat at Harcourt’s House of Rib?
Ribs, even.
I’d expected it to have been decommissioned long ago. Just imagine all the ensigns who lost their virginity in that thing…
Show me the CarFax™
…a couple of gauze pads, ball bearings and some WD-40, that sucker would be up and running.
All it needs is a new Finnegan Switch.
If I had the money to buy this and restore it, I’d bid on this in a New York minute. Sure, it’s no longer entirely original, but it’s still a major piece of Trek. I’d restore it and loan (not donate) it to a museum where it could be displayed properly.
Bidding ends on my Birthday…just saying. No need to wrap it.
#45:
Meh. I heard Spock blew the engine.
#47 (and to add to my #46)…
…But I heard she had a good mechanic fixer’ up.
@47 No need to wrap it… that’s what the previous owner thought!