With the successful landing of Blue Ghost on the moon recently and NASAs Artemis program scheduled to land humans on the moon again in 2027 the subject has been on my mind.
In July 20, 1969 the first humans landed on the moon in the Apollo 11 lander called Eagle. About 47.5 pounds (21.55 kilograms for the imperial impaired) of moon rocks and dust samples were collected and returned to earth four days later. Landing on the moon was a huge event and dominated the news. Contrast to now and most people aren't even aware of the Artemis program and the return of people to the moon and a planned permanent base there. Anyway when Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins returned to earth they filled out a customs form for the lunar samples. I think it was more of a publicity stunt than a strict legal requirement but it was another item that kept the mission in the news.
A souvenir copy of the form was sold and I was lucky enough to have scored one some time back. I plan to frame it and hang it in my home office. Thought some of you might be interested to see it.
Back in 2002, about 200 Moon rocks were stolen from the Johnson Space Center by interns Thad Roberts and Tiffany Fowler. Some of the samples have been recovered but most have not. Roberts, Fowler and two others were convicted and sentenced to prison.
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Nice , good to see some people not taking things seriously.