Since 1970 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has lost 517 Moon rocks, meteorite samples and other “astromaterials.”  Some were loaned to researchers but never returned, while others were given as gifts to dignitaries, and still others were stolen. Some of the Moon rocks have wound up in the homes of former governors and the memorabilia of President Bill Clinton from his time as governor of Arkansas. One rock, stolen in Honduras, was reclaimed by a federal agent in a sting operation in which NASA ran an ad in USA Today offering to buy Moon rocks.

 

The worst incident occurred in 2002 when a researcher at the Johnson Space Center stole 218 lunar and meteorite samples. Fortunately, all were recovered.

 

Still missing are 18 pieces of the Moon lost by a researcher who died in 2010.

 

According to a report by NASA’s inspector general, “NASA’s current astromaterials collection includes approximately 140,000 lunar samples, 18,000 meteorite samples, and over 1,000 samples each of Genesis, Stardust, and cosmic dust.” Genesis and Stardust were spacecraft whose missions were to collect solar wind samples and comet and asteroid samples, respectively.

-David Wallechinsky

 

NASA Searches for Loot That Traveled from Space to Another Void (by Manny Fernandez, New York Times)

NASA Has Lost Hundreds of Its Moon Rocks, New Report Says (by Denise Chow, Space.com)