posted 02-20-2012 05:11 AM               

Some moon rocks have gone astray at times of revolution or political transition. The US national archives show that a rock was presented to the late Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, but Gutheinz believes it was sold after his execution.

Then there is the mysterious tale of how - after a fire at an observatory in Dublin - Ireland's Apollo 11 moon rock ended up lying in a rubbish dump, after apparently being thrown out with the rest of the debris...

posted 02-22-2012 11:49 AM               

Part explanation for the disposal into landfill was the unfortunate very close geographical proximity of Dunsink Observatory to Dunsink Municipal Dump. It would be interesting to know the cause of the 1977 fire and whether this was possibly an act of arson covering an act of theft.

posted 02-22-2012 02:57 PM               

The article explores the possibility of arson which is definitely plausible given the day, 01:20 time of fire, rapid onset of fire, and presence of unidentified individuals in the vicinity at 00:55.

The article also alludes to expected trouble from vandalism and malicious damage. Dunsink Observatory was built in a rural location in 1785 but found itself sandwiched between the Dublin housing estates of Cabra and Finglas that sprung up in the 1950s/1960s. New neighbours also included a traveller camp and municipal dump. In the late 1970s the observatory unfortunately found itself in the middle of a high youth population in two economically depressed areas that were regularly subject to gang fights, crime and vandalism.

posted 02-24-2012 12:07 AM               

Following the destruction of the Meridian Room in the blaze, the 200kg 8ft Solid Brass 1808 Ramsden Transit Circle Telescope was removed from the ruins to an outhouse for storage from whence it was stolen in Nov 1981 and never recovered.

posted 02-25-2012 05:17 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by YankeeClipper:
...some local knowledge of the area's history of criminality suggests that there may be an entirely different ending to this story!

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posted 02-25-2012 03:06 PM               

It is worth considering that the building in which they were housed was almost 200 years old with multiple access points via windows/doors/shutters. Security measures were limited and rudimentary by today's standards. The grounds were isolated, not well lit, contained blind spots, and were quite accessible from the fields to the rear. These vulnerabilities would not have been difficult to exploit by passing vandals or a determined criminal. Public open nights would have afforded the opportunity to case the buildings in advance.

Simple human error from one of the director's children could have resulted in an unsecured door/window that night. The Apollo 11 exhibit would have been a potentially lucrative, highly portable, and easy steal for both an opportunistic or professional thief. A fire could have been deliberately set out of sheer malice or to destroy forensic evidence.

That part of North Dublin in the late 1970s suffered from continual random acts of vandalism, graffiti, arson, handbag thefts, car thefts, domestic/commercial burglaries, bank/post office raids etc. Suspects ranged from juvenile delinquents, junkies, career criminals to paramilitaries. Anything not nailed down and flak-jacketed was fair game. Dunsink Observatory was basically a sitting duck, as the subsequent 1981 theft of the Transit Circle for scrap metal value proved.

The sad reality is that the exhibit could have been destroyed by an electrical fire, torched by kids, stolen and tossed in the dump, stolen and fenced for drugs, or stolen and sold to a collector. Perceptions of the exhibit would have ranged from novelty to treasure. Think of the multiple robberies of the Beit Art Collection from Russborough House in Wicklow for a guide to how such treasures were handled by Dublin's criminal fraternity.

posted 02-25-2012 03:16 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by YankeeClipper:
The fate of Ireland's Apollo 11 Goodwill Moon Rock...

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The term "goodwill moon rock" describes the slices of an actual rock collected by Apollo 17 and dedicated to the world's children while on the moon.

quote:

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I just think that while the conventional narrative may be a great media story, it overlooks the social context of the time and the possibility that this artifact survives somewhere to this day.

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posted 02-25-2012 07:00 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
the Apollo 11 lunar sample displays are not "goodwill moon rocks."

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quote:

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I recall reading that Ireland's government reported to the U.S. government that the sample display was indeed accidentally discarded ...

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My concern is two-fold:

• The cause of the fire was never determined. Therefore, arson can not be definitively ruled out. There was a high index of suspicion regarding the blaze, especially held by the Director of Dunsink Observatory. If arson were the cause, it would suggest the presence of unauthorised individual(s) and raise the possibility of theft.

• There doesn't appear to have been any positive identification of any remains of the artifact. It's unlikely anything would have survived such an intense fire, but it seems no serious effort was made to find it. Without any remains, one can not definitively conclude the artifact was in fact actually onsite during the fire. According to Dr. Ian Elliott, a Dunsink Observatory researcher in 1977:

  It was only afterwards that we realised that the bit of Apollo 11 Moon rock could not be found.

  It was gathered up with all of the other debris and dumped in the municipal dump which was conveniently just across the road.

  If we'd had any perception of the rock's value, perhaps all of the debris would have been sifted by archaeologists and it might have been found.

posted 05-24-2012 06:45 AM               

It's been a long, strange trip for what appears to be several tiny chips of lunar rock that found their way into a casino mogul's hands after being collected by the first men on the moon.

If they're real, they were plucked from the lunar surface by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, given by then-President Richard Nixon to former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, pilfered by a Costa Rican mercenary soldier-turned Contra rebel, traded to a Baptist missionary for unknown items, then sold to a flamboyant Las Vegas casino owner who squirreled them away in a safety deposit box.

Now, more than 2.5 years after Bob Stupak's death, an attorney for his estate has sent to NASA officials in Houston a tabletop display featuring the four gray chips the size of grains of rice. They're magnified in a Lucite dome about as big around as a U.S. 50-cent piece set with a small blue and white Nicaraguan flag. Combined, the chips weigh 0.05 grams.

posted 08-17-2012 10:51 AM               

Alaska's historic moon rocks, collected by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969, are back in NASA's custody.

Now, Alaska State Museums Curator Bob Banghart says he'd like to see them back in an Alaska museum.

"They belong to the state of Alaska, and they belong in the museum's collection," said Banghart, who has been following the case of the moon rocks for years.

...Coleman Anderson sued the state, claiming he owned the rocks and wanted to be declared the legitimate owner. The Alaska Attorney General's Office, representing the museum, is disputing the claim.

...Assistant Attorney General Neil Slotnick represents the museum in the case. He was unavailable Thursday but presented a summary of the case to the Board of Education recently.

Slotnick said that Anderson's claim of how he came to possess the moon rocks did not convey ownership of the rocks.

"He claimed that after the fire he found the plaque in the rubble and debris at the museum site, and that he saved it from destruction," Slotnick said.

Whether that account holds sway with the court will be decided later, but Slotnick said the state was successful in getting a court order to force Anderson to turn the moon rocks over to NASA for verification and safekeeping until eventual ownership is established.

Anderson first objected, saying the rocks were overseas, but did comply with the order, Slotnick said.

posted 11-26-2012 06:37 PM               

The Minnesota National Guard said Monday it found a few small fragments of the moon’s surface in storage in a state building in St. Paul. They’ll be turned over to the state Historical Society on Wednesday.

posted 12-07-2012 05:52 PM               

A display of moon rocks that disappeared from an Alaska museum after an arson fire nearly four decades ago has been returned to the state following the settlement of a lawsuit by a man who claimed he rescued the rocks from the rubble.

posted 12-18-2012 03:56 AM               

The state's rarely-displayed fragment will be on view in the Albany museum's (New York State Museum) lobby from Wednesday through Feb. 10.