Posts: 640 From: Dublin, Ireland Registered: Mar 2011
posted 07-06-2018 11:33 AM
According to a New York Times article from October 1976 it didn't take long for people to lose interest in the Apollo 11 and 17 moon rocks - Once‐Celebrated Moon Rocks Are Has‐Beens
Following on the subject of people's perceptions of what is important and valuable, you also have to love how the world's oldest republic - la Repubblica di San Marino - had their $5 million moon rocks insured for only a mere €520 each!
YankeeClipper Member
Posts: 640 From: Dublin, Ireland Registered: Mar 2011
posted 07-08-2018 12:39 AM
Some additional sifting through the archives of The Irish Times revealed the following.
Apollo 11:
On page 12 of The Irish Times, dated 11 April 1970, there is a photograph of Irish President Éamon de Valera inspecting the flown Apollo 11 Irish flag and lunar fragment which was presented to him at Áras an Uachtaráin by US Ambassador John D. J. Moore as a gift to the people of Ireland from US President Nixon.
De Valera was a mathematician and teacher, who established the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) in 1940, so he was keenly interested in the achievements of the US Apollo Program.
On page 6 of The Irish Times, dated 4 October 1977, the fate of the Apollo 11 plaque was announced thus:
...a piece of moon rock from an Apollo Mission which had been presented to President de Valera was lost.
Despite the scale of the fire and damage caused to the Meridian Room of Dunsink Observatory, the Apollo 11 plaque was not overlooked or forgotten in the immediate aftermath.
Apollo 17:
Gene Cernan, John Young, and their wives arrived in Dublin on 2 September 1973 and attended a formal reception that night at Deerfield — the US Ambassador's official residence in the Phoenix Park.
The previously posted photograph of Cernan, Young, Moore, and Childers, taken by Pat Langan, appeared on page 6 of The Irish Times, dated 6 September 1973. The Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rock presentation ceremony occurred on 5 September 1973 at President Childers' official residence, Áras an Uachtaráin, in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.
Cernan and Young also attended the closing banquet of the FAI Congress in the Burlington Hotel, Dublin on 7 September 1973.
quote:Originally posted by dom: I think we know the full story now...
Not quite. I really hope Gene didn't have the moon rock in his bag because the following article by Lionel Fleming was on page 13 of The Irish Times, dated 5 September 1973:
Astronaut Lost His Luggage Between London And Dublin
Gene complained that his luggage had been mislaid. Gene's luggage eventually arrived in Dublin on a later flight, but Barbara's did not.
I can only imagine the lost baggage claim form for that!
mode1charlie Member
Posts: 1501 From: Honolulu, HI Registered: Sep 2010
posted 07-30-2018 10:00 PM
New article on the search for New York's missing Apollo 11 moon rock (the whereabouts of the Apollo 17 rock is known and presumably secure).
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54764 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 08-05-2018 03:53 AM
Louisiana's Apollo 11 moon rock display has been located in storage at the Lousiana Art & Science Museum in Baton Rouge. The state's Apollo 17 goodwill moon rock remains missing.
[Elizabeth Weinstein, the museum's chief curator] said, at some point the moon rocks were removed from their original mounting, which includes a plaque with a small Louisiana flag that also went to the moon and the rocks' official authentication from NASA.
Museum officials recently restored the rocks to their original plaque and hope to have them back on view by July 20, 2019, the 50th anniversary of when Armstrong took "one small step."
As for the piece of the Apollo 17 moon rock that was given to Louisiana, Weinstein had no idea where it might be. There is no record of its presentation or exhibit in The Advocate’s archives. The Louisiana State Museum and state archives and governor’s office had no record of it, though the governor's office said it is still looking.
spaced out Member
Posts: 3221 From: Paris, France Registered: Aug 2003
posted 09-03-2018 08:10 AM
Seeing the fire that has destroyed the National Museum of Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, I wondered if either Brazil's Apollo 11 moon rock or Apollo 17 Goodwill moon rock were held there.
Looking at the tables in the Resources section it seems that the Apollo 17 rock was in a different museum but the location of the Apollo 11 rock was not identified. Hope it wasn't part of the collection, although admittedly compared to other material in the collection it would be far from the most significant loss.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54764 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-12-2018 12:38 PM
The Apollo 11 lunar sample display presented to Utah has been located by the Associated Press.
In Utah, the division of state history had no record of the sample, but The Associated Press confirmed it was in storage at Salt Lake City's Clark Planetarium.
Officials there may bring it out as part of celebrations recognizing the Apollo 11 anniversary next year...
That leaves just New York and the stolen sample from Delaware as the remaining two states for which Apollo 11 displays are absent.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54764 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
A long lost piece of the moon belonging to the state of Louisiana may have remained missing — if not also been discarded or destroyed — had the plaque on which it was mounted not attracted the eye of a Florida gun collector.
The man, who was looking for wood samples to use in the repair or replacement of his damaged gunstocks, purchased the Apollo 17 goodwill moon rock display without realizing what it was. The buyer, who requested to remain anonymous but resides in Merritt Island, near Cape Canaveral, said that he had likely purchased the plaque at a garage sale sometime over the past 15 years.
Jurg Bolli Member
Posts: 1259 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Nov 2000
posted 09-27-2021 06:54 PM
That is one crazy story.
ejectr Member
Posts: 2046 From: Killingly, CT Registered: Mar 2002
posted 09-28-2021 10:36 AM
Reading all this, I can't believe these moon rocks have been treated with such nonchalance.
Twelve people in the history of mankind have been fortunate to walk on it and bring us back pieces of what they saw. And this is how it's treated?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54764 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
It took 50 years, but a moon rock intended as a goodwill gift from the United States to the people of Cyprus is finally being presented to the east Mediterranean island nation.
The lunar sample, encased in an acrylic ball and mounted to a wooden plaque, will be officially handed over during a ceremony at the presidential palace in Nicosia on Friday (Dec. 16). To celebrate the occasion, the U.S. Embassy arranged for the moon rock to be displayed by the Cyprus Space Exploration Organization (CSEO) as part of an exhibit open through Sunday.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54764 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
New details about the small pieces of the moon gifted by the United States to Ireland in 1970 have now been unearthed. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Apollo 11 lunar samples, themselves.
The four moon pebbles, which were embedded in a single lucite ball and mounted to a wooden podium together with a small flag of Ireland that was flown on NASA's first lunar landing, was one of 135 such goodwill presentations that the U.S. made to foreign countries following the Apollo 11 mission in 1969.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 54764 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 06-25-2025 01:54 PM
A fun and mostly-accurate video from Half as Interesting — complete with a surprise (to me, too!) cameo...
posted 07-06-2018 11:33 AM
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