|
Author
|
Topic: Challenger debris on eBay
|
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2474
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
|
posted 10-13-2007 05:15 AM
   
Here is a guy who thinks he has a piece of the Challenger for sale.260170385787: Space Shuttle Challenger Debris I have sent him a note stating that if it is real he is in for big trouble and if not, than it is in very poor taste to be trying to make money on the deaths of others. Others of you may want to do the same. |
dsenechal
Member Posts: 539
From:
Registered: Dec 2002
|
posted 10-13-2007 07:03 AM
It seems to me that given the vast number of launches during the past 50+ years, that piece could be from almost anything. Challenger? There's always that chance, but it's not very likely, and there's no way to prove it (I have my doubts about that Spanish treasure chest as well). As an aside, I'd be interested in the credentials of the museum curator who identified the piece. Dave |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3161
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 10-13-2007 07:58 AM
I suggest a quick report to NASA's OIG with the link to and info. on the sale - real or not, what this person is doing is illegal. It's a quick thing to send in a message online to NASA. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-13-2007 09:52 AM
I was alerted to this auction yesterday and send the following e-mail to the seller: All material from the wreckage of space shuttle Challenger remains the property of the U.S. government. It is illegal to sell or own. You must surrender it to NASA to be (a) identified and (b) if authentic, placed into storage with the remainder of the Challenger debris in Florida. You can read further about this here: Note to collectors: Challenger off limits Please confirm receipt of this e-mail, cancel the auction, and contact me if you need assistance in contacting your local NASA center. The seller has yet to respond (or close the auction). If it is still active on Monday, I will call our contacts at NASA's OIG. |
Lunar rock nut
Member Posts: 911
From: Oklahoma city, Oklahoma U.S.A.
Registered: Feb 2007
|
posted 10-13-2007 01:23 PM
I sent the seller a message appealing for him to do the right thing and contact Robert for assistance. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-14-2007 09:48 PM
The seller has ended the auction and has contacted me for assistance contacting NASA. |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3161
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 10-14-2007 09:59 PM
Thanks Robert, I would recommend suggesting to the seller that they recontact the 'museum curator' who advised them, so that they also know the law regarding items like this. |
Lunar rock nut
Member Posts: 911
From: Oklahoma city, Oklahoma U.S.A.
Registered: Feb 2007
|
posted 10-15-2007 07:27 AM
Glad to see he complied. As he is a new ebay member I doubt he was aware of the implications of what he was doing. I would think he will come out of this with a feeling that he has now done something unique. Kudos to him for not becoming defensive and rude. |
R.Glueck
Member Posts: 115
From: Winterport, Maine, USA
Registered: Jul 2004
|
posted 10-20-2007 10:18 PM
Not to go against the train of thought in this thread, since I agree with the proper disposition of "Challenger" and "Columbia" debris, but those teachers who were in the "TIS" program, all received items from the "Challenger" as a gift from NASA. These are "pieces" of the doomed shuttle obtained legally, and are the property of those to whom they were gifted.I just thought I should make a foot note on this distinction. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-20-2007 10:39 PM
quote:
Originally posted by R.Glueck:
Teachers who were in the "TIS" program, all received times from the "Challenger" as a gift from NASA. These are "pieces" of the doomed shuttle obtained legally, and are the property of those to whom they were gifted.
I am aware that recovered personal items were returned to the STS-51L and STS-107 crew members' families, and that flags/patches that were on-board Challenger and Columbia have been loaned/presented to museums for public display, but I have not heard before of any pieces of the Challenger wreckage being given away. When you mention "teachers," are you referring only to the ten finalists? At least a couple of them are collectSPACE readers and I could contact them for further details. |
R.Glueck
Member Posts: 115
From: Winterport, Maine, USA
Registered: Jul 2004
|
posted 10-21-2007 09:15 AM
I am talking about Teacher in Space finalists, who received the shuttle items PRIOR to the launch, when everything was still positive and Christa McAuliffe was yet to be named. To the best of my knowledge, and I'm pretty certain of this, nothing from the post-explosion debris has been given to anyone, or any organization.
|
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-21-2007 03:24 PM
It is legal to own pieces of Challenger that flew as part of the orbiter prior to the accident, so long as they were obtained/gifted legally, which is the category that the teacher finalists' items would fall into. The important distinction is that after the accident, NASA never relinquished ownership of any of the wreckage, with the one exception of the crew's personal items that were returned to the families and flags that were recovered and are now on display at a few museums (e.g. National Air and Space Museum, Frontiers of Flight). |
Novaspace
Member Posts: 434
From: Tucson, AZ USA
Registered: Sep 2004
|
posted 10-21-2007 06:10 PM
From Bob Foerster, TIS finalist from Indiana: All the TIS ambassadors (114) received a space shuttle tile for educational purposes at the national conference held in June of 1985, that had been flown on a mission on the various orbiters that had flown up through 1985. These tiles were removed as routine service from a vehicle due to small damage upon re-entry. Mine came from Discovery and had a small theaded hole for a heat sensor. Kids love to see/hold it as do adults. This was part of a duffel bag full of educational materials that each ambassador received to use for educational purposes.If my memory serves me right, (twenty years ago!), we all signed a legal document that the tile remained NASA property and was not to be sold nor used for financial gain. At the time, the value was established at $10,000 per tile. As far as the other comments in the email, to my knowledge, no wreckage or artifacts were distributed to anyone. If family members received something, I am not aware of that. |
Max Q
Member Posts: 399
From: Whyalla South Australia
Registered: Mar 2007
|
posted 10-21-2007 09:41 PM
I was wondering how international law looked at the ownership of space artifacts pieces of Space Shuttle debris, chunks of Skylab, even pieces of Apollo hardware left abandoned on the Moon. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 10-21-2007 10:19 PM
The Smithsonian was assigned ownership of the U.S. equipment left on the Moon. NASA relinquished ownership of most of the Skylab debris (as I understand it, there was one particular item they wanted returned, a school-bus sized film vault, but it was never recovered) but retains title on the Challenger and Columbia debris. I would imagine that international law would treat the latter with the same respect it treats any government-owned material and would cooperate with its return to the United States. |
jeffbassett
Member Posts: 109
From: Toledo
Registered: Feb 2005
|
posted 10-25-2007 09:06 AM
UN treaty on space debris states that any country that recovers the item should return it to the originating country. The governing body may then after inspection keep it or relinquish it back on their decision to do so. |
advertisement