Lunar samples collected by NASA astronauts during the Apollo Moon landings have a curious habit of being destroyed, stolen, or lost. In a bunch of newly released documents from Ireland, the story of one ill-fated moon rock has been revealed in new detail.
Documents from the National Archives in Dublin explain that one of the lunar rocks given to Ireland as part of a diplomatic gift from the US was destroyed in a fire at Dunsink Observatory in 1977. The fate of Ireland’s Apollo 11 display has been known for decades, but newly released reports seen by the PA News Agency reveal fresh details of the story.
The lunar sample, obtained by the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, was given to Irish President Éamon de Valera by US Ambassador John DJ Moore in 1970. The new documents show Irish officials were unsure what to do with the artifact, so it sat in a dusty basement for three years.
It was not until 1973, when the US donated a second lunar rock to Ireland following their final successful Moon landing with Apollo 17, that the Irish government took steps to put it on display.
“It was decided to give the Moon rock to Dunsink when it became known that a second gift was to be made by the US Government and it was thought that some embarrassment would be caused if the first piece was not already on display,” said the document, as per PA.
While the second sample remains in safe hands to this day, the first rock was destroyed by an accidental fire at the Irish astronomical observatory.
“The first piece was destroyed during a fire at Dunsink on October 3 1977,” it adds.
As unfortunate as this may seem, it is far from the only lunar sample to disappear.
An audit by NASA in 2011 found that at least 517 of their “astromaterial samples” were lost or stolen between 1970 and June 2010, including hundreds of lunar samples. The report concluded: “NASA lacks sufficient controls over its loans of moon rocks and other astromaterials, which increases the risk that these unique resources may be lost.”
Nefarious researchers, absent-minded archivists, and unknown agents in the US were to blame for many of the losses, but dozens of these moon rocks have vanished overseas. Between 1970 and 1973, US President Richard Nixon dished out small samples of lunar material to 135 countries, as well as 50 US states, as a “goodwill” gesture.
Out of the 270 moon rocks given as gifts to different countries, an estimated 160 are missing. This includes those given to Libya’s Mymammar Gaddafari, the brutal dictator of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu, and an array of other shady characters from history.
Although some collections have been recovered, the moon rocks of dozens of countries and US states remain at large.
