[Rockhounds] Moon Rocks for Sale

[Axel Emmermann]

Hi Kitty,

My part in the events is usually downplayed... It has so from the beginning, for various reasons.
Some of those boil down to embarrassment of several persons and agencies, another reason was "my personal safety".... 
Sony had bought the movie script that Roberts wrote while in jail. Guess who was going to produce that movie... Kevin Spacey. Wow, bad choice 😉
Somehow I don't think that this movie is going to be made anytime soon. LOL.
Losing moonrocks is no drama... we'll be going back to the moon eventually and lunar samples will become "common". Much more of a drama is that the original footage of the first moon landing got lost. I was told that every image you see of that landing is a copy or even a copy of a copy. 
That IS a historic event of which the footage cannot be replaced.

Aloha
Axel
   

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht-----
Van: Rockhounds <rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com> Namens Kitty
Verzonden: woensdag 31 oktober 2018 22:00
Aan: larryrush at att.net; rockhounds at rockhounds.drizzle.com
Onderwerp: Re: [Rockhounds] Moon Rocks for Sale


In 1969 Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong brought rocks back from the moon, and President Nixon presented one moon rock to the 50 governors of each of the states.  What the governors did with the moon rocks, was up to them.

Here's a link to an article about a man who is trying to find all 50 of the rocks that were given to the state governors, followed by one on Wikipedia about missing moon rocks.  On the Wikipedia one, take a look at the section titled "Theft of NASA rocks" and you'll read about our own Axel Emmermann who was instrumental in getting back the stolen NASA moon rocks in 2002  (I don't think the article gives enough credit to Axel !).

https://www.npr.org/2018/09/22/650698261/retired-nasa-agent-aims-to-account-for-all-50-moon-rocks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_and_missing_Moon_rocks

Aloha, Kitty


On 10/31/2018 4:29 AM, larryrush at att.net wrote:

> With this interesting theme of Moon Rocks, I guess it's time I told my 
> little story as well....
>
> Some years ago, I was approached by an individual (let's call him Ed) 
> who wanted me to verify that the rock in his possession was indeed a moon rock.
> Intrigued, I invited him to my house, with his prized possession. He 
> explained that a close relative was employed by NASA and was an 
> officially close and personal supporter for the astronauts.
> Indeed, he produced strong evidence to that effect. (I have to be a 
> bit vague in this whole essay, since I am still leery of the 
> liabilities for him, and me).
>
> It seems the astronaut gave this rock to Ed's close relative as a gift 
> before leaving NASA. The relative bequeathed it to Ed., telling him it 
> was a moon rock.
> I certainly was not any kind of expert on lunar rocks, and after 
> looking the piece over for quite a while, and doing what basic tests I 
> could , proved that point to him and myself!
> But, my background in Petrology was enough to make me curious, as this 
> rock, like many terrestrial ones, had features that could have been 
> lunar in nature.
> I tried to do some research on that flight, where it landed, and the 
> rocks there, but that was not very helpful.
>
> I took some photos, and after more conversation, I told him that I 
> didn't know where it came from, but it  possibly came from an area in 
> the US where the astronauts had been training.
> Mostly, I tried to convince Ed that the security surrounding lunar 
> material would certainly make it very difficult for anyone to steal a 
> good-sized chunk of it. Also, it was a crime for him to have it, if it was real.
> At about that time, I got a bit nervous myself, even to be a witness  
> or to be involved in a possible federal crime. I could have referred 
> him to a Yale University prof. nearby, but didn't want to get in any 
> deeper than I already was.
>
> I didn't want to incriminate him (or me!), so he left with not much 
> help from me. I resolved to forget the whole episode, and not to 
> repeat it to anyone, until now.
> I have never heard from him again, and haven't heard of any new 
> stealing news, and the astronaut is dead, so I think it's safe to 
> assume that Ed got the message, and stored his "Moon Rock" away, along 
> with his interesting story!
> It might make a good story for his grand-children, but I'm sure it 
> would be fiction!
>
>
> Larry Rush
>
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