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US law forbids private citizens from possessing any of the 842 pounds of moon rocks collected by astronauts and brought back to Earth.
Nevertheless, the allure of moon rocks is strong enough to have created a black market where moon rock fragments and dust are sold for astronomical prices.
One way to obtain a moon rock is by purchasing a plaque that the US government sometimes gives to famous people and to politicians from other countries. They contain tiny slivers of moon rock. Some of these gifts have drifted into the collectors’ market. A 1998 CNN article, “Customs agents seize 4-billion-year-old moon rock,” reported that a Florida man was arrested for trying to sell a “fingernail-sized moon rock, weighing barely more than a gram” for $5 million. The rock was originally given to the Honduran government in 1973 by then-President Richard Nixon:
Customs agents, postal inspectors and NASA launched “Operation Lunar Eclipse” in September with an advertisement in USA Today seeking moon rocks, officials said.A Florida man identified as Alan Rosen called to offer a moon rock for sale. He told undercover agents he had bought the rock from the retired Honduran military officer, officials said. Agents viewed the rock at a suburban Miami bank and seized it on November 18, officials said.
Walter Cronkite got one of these plaques in 2004. Now that he is dead, I wonder where it will end up?
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The US government law forbids private citizens from possessing moon rocks? Are kidding me!! Im sitting here in god dam shock!! FREEDOM? my fuckin ass!
There is a reason America treats its 842 pounds of moon rocks and dust as a National treasure, because that may be all that we acquire in our lifetime, and by the state owning it more people are able to study and observe the meager amount we have. Mankind has already lost many of these moon rock literally in the mail, in lab tests gone bad, through fire, and theft. We have had a few recovered such as the Goodwill Moon Rocks given to Cyprus, Colorado and New Mexico, but this isn’t the trend.
Sincerely,
Joe Gutheinz
NASA Retired
The government doesn’t want anyone having those rocks because it a hoax; The rocks didn’t come from moon, period.
Dude, please tell me in which you’re going to publish a lot more.
I’ve always wanted a moon rock, but I guess now that dream has gone down the drain…sort of.