posted 06-18-2021 12:31 PM               

A 2012 law confirmed that the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts had title to any artifacts they received or retained in the course of their missions. The law defined "artifact" as:

...any expendable item utilized in missions for the Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo programs through the completion of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project not expressly required to be returned to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at the completion of the mission and other expendable, disposable, or personal- use items utilized by such astronaut during participation in any such program. The term includes personal logs, checklists, flight manuals, prototype and proof test articles used in training, and disposable flight hardware salvaged from jettisoned lunar modules. The term does not include lunar rocks and other lunar material.