Five missing moon rocks discovered in storage in Minnesota

Ars Technica » Scientific Method 2012-11-28

The moon rocks recovered in Minnesota. We know the whereabouts of precious few samples.
National Guard

The National Guard discovered a handful of previously missing moon rocks in Minnesota on Monday, according to Mother Nature Network. But the five fragments recovered are only a few of the 270 rocks distributed as goodwill presents among American and international leaders—many are still missing.

Following both the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 missions, the US distributed moon rock samples from the trips to its states and other nations. From Apollo 17 alone, President Nixon handed out 175 one-gram chunks cut from lunar basalt 70017 to each of the 50 states plus 135 other nations. The rocks were embedded in plastic and presented along with souvenir flags that also made the trip to the moon and back, tailored to the recipient state or country. More than a hundred more moon rocks from the Apollo 11 mission were distributed in a similar fashion, five of which were the ones found in Minnesota.

NASA stopped keeping records of the gifts once they had been presented. Predictably, several political entities immediately lost track of them. Others claim to have no records of receiving the rocks at all. Some have been stolen or destroyed, but other rocks have turned up in odd places. In January, The New York Times reported on a moon rock given to West Virginia in 1972—it eventually resurfaced in 2010 in the basement of a retired dentist.

Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments