[FPSPACE] Re: Apollo awards / Moon rocks

[Robert Pearlman]

on 9/29/00 2:44 AM, M.Wade@iaea.org at M.Wade@iaea.org wrote:

> Does anyone know if any of these found their way onto the market? Are
> there genuine moon rocks being sold out there?

Excerpted from Rep. Souder's document: "Apollo Exploration Act--Questions
and Answers"

> The fact of the matter is that NASA has already transferred moon rocks for
> commemorative purposes, with far fewer restrictions than are contained in this
> bill. A number of the Apollo crews made `goodwill tours' of foreign nations,
> during which lunar samples were presented to heads of state by the astronauts
> as a commemoration. Although these were ostensibly presented as gifts to each
> country rather than to the individuals, we are not aware of any restrictions
> placed on these rocks. In fact, at least one of these samples, presented to
> the `People of Honduras,' found its way into private hands. We are unable to
> find `any' accounting for the whereabouts of the samples that were presented
> to foreign countries. NASA officials at the time of the missions said they
> could make available 150 to 200 presentation samples--a number which makes the
> 32 samples here look very modest indeed.
> 
> In addition, the Apollo 11 crew recently presented a rock to President Clinton
> for commemorative purposes. Although NASA goes to great lengths to specify
> that that rock is `on loan,' White House Spokesman Barry Toiv said `I have a
> feeling it will be here awhile.' President Clinton put the rock by his desk in
> the Oval Office. 

-- 
Robert Pearlman
editor, collectSPACE
http://www.collectspace.com/