
A Russian rocket that broke records by travelling at more than 4,900mph is set to go under the hammer - and could fetch £50,000 at auction

The titanium and stainless steel 'HFL Kholod ' measures 40ft long and weighs 5.5 tonnes - and was designed to revolutionise space travel and explore the prospect of high-speed flight.

The rocket once broke the air speed record for an unmanned vehicle with a speed of Mach 6.47 - 4,925mph, which is 20 times the top limit of an F1 car.

Scroll down for video

High octane: The 'HFL Kholod ' rocket once broke the air speed record for an unmanned vehicle with a speed of Mach 6.47 - 4,925mph

For sale: The titanium and stainless steel could fetch up to £50,000 when it goes under the hammer at an auction house in West Sussex

The rocket has been fully disabled for safety purposes - the workings of the scramjet technology have been removed and are held by NASA

It was one of the first projects Russia and America worked on together following the end of the Cold War.

Six experimental scramjets - supersonic combustion ramjets engines which is still cutting edge technology in high-speed flight - were developed by the Central Institute for Aviation Motors (CIAM) and NASA

The unnamed owner of this rocket is from the Czech Republic and he bought it from the collection of Alexander Roudakov , one of the scientists involved in the project.

He has now decided to sell it at Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst, West Sussex, after reading about the unusual sale there of a complete diplodocus skeleton in 2013.

The rocket has been fully disabled for safety purposes. The workings of the scramjet technology have been removed and are held by NASA.

Pioneering: The rocket was one of the first projects Russia and America worked on together following the end of the Cold War - an example of one of the rockets is shown above

Sound investment: The rocket was designed to revolutionise space travel and explore the prospect of high-speed flight. Auctioneer Lindsay Hoadley gives the rocket a final clean

Blast off: The Russians started developing the HFL in the 1970s and the first flight took place in 1991, achieving Mach 3.6 - 2,740mph. Auctioneer Rupert Werff is pictured straddling the machine

Rupert van der Werff, from Summers Place Auctions, said: 'It's a pretty whopping thing, it weighs 5.5 tonnes, and that's unfuelled.

'It really is quite something. It's a rocket, but it's also a scramjet - a very high speed form of jet engine - which is pretty cutting edge and seen as the future of travelling hyper-sonically.'

The Russians started developing the HFL in the 1970s and the first flight took place in 1991, achieving Mach 3.6 - 2,740mph.

When the Americans came onboard it became the fastest machine ever to run within the world's atmosphere, achieving a speed of Mach 6.47 in 1994.

The rocket was based on a Soviet SA5 missile with four solid fuel booster rockets attached to it and the scramjet attached to the nose.

For the scramjet to start working the rocket had to be travelling at Mach 5 or more, so the boosters would fire for four seconds, then the SA5 for 40, by which point the rocket would reach a sufficient speed for the scramjet to work.

The unnamed owner of this rocket is from the Czech Republic and he bought it from the collection of Alexander Roudakov , one of the scientists involved in the project

When the Americans came onboard it became the fastest machine ever to run within the world's atmosphere, achieving a speed of Mach 6.47 in 1994

The rocket was based on a Soviet SA5 missile with four solid fuel booster rockets attached to it and the scramjet attached to the nose

The record was eventually beaten in 2001 by another scramjet, the X-43A, which was built by NASA. The X-43 still holds the title of fastest aircraft on record at Mach 9.6, which is almost 7,000mph.

Five of the Kholod rockets have survived. Of the other four, one is still at the Sary Shagan test range in Kazakhstan, one is at the CIAM, one belongs to a private collector in Dubai and one was sold at auction in London last year for £38,000.

Mr van der Werff said they expect this one one to go for much more.

He ' This was built by the Russians in conjunction with NASA. The Russians were much more advanced than the Americans in the way of scramjets but in the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed, NASA came in and helped the project along so it could get to its first flight.

'It's basically a large surface missile with four solid fuel booster rockets attached to it and then the scramjet is a tiny thing that sits on the front of this.

The rocket's air speed record was eventually beaten in 2001 by another scramjet, the X-43A, which was built by NASA

Auctioneer Rupert van der Werff described the rocket as looking 'quite cool' adding that it is 'exactly like what you would get if you asked a child to draw a rocket'

The owner of the rocket has decided to sell it at Summers Place Auctions in Billingshurst, West Sussex, after reading about the unusual sale there of a complete diplodocus skeleton in 2013

'The booster rockets would fall off after four seconds, the liquid fuel rocket burns for another 40 seconds and the record for the scramjet running is 27 seconds, so it's an awful lot of money, time and effort for a just over a minute of bang.

'They were tested in Kazakhstan, but they only flew two of them. This one hasn't been flown, which is why it's in such good condition.

'It has been disabled and the workings of the scramjet are still with NASA, it's pretty top secret technology, so people won't be able to actually fire it.

'But who wouldn't want one? It's quite cool and it does look exactly like what you would get if you asked a child to draw a rocket.

'It's the ultimate impress-your-friends item. You've got your fast car and your swimming pool, but I bet you haven't got one of these.

'If you have the space it would be great to display it and would make a wonderful conversation piece.'

The rocket will be auctioned at Summers Place Auctions on June 23.



