NASA: Give us back our moondust and cockroaches
has asked Boston-based RR Auction to halt the sale of moon dust collected during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that had subsequently been fed to cockroaches during an experiment to determine if the lunar rock contained any sort of pathogen that posed a threat to terrestrial life.The material from the experiment, including a vial with about 40 milligrams of moon dust and threecarcasses, was expected to sell for at least $400,000, but has been pulled from the auction block, RR said Thursday.
"All Apollo samples, as stipulated in this collection of items, belong to NASA and no person, university, or other entity has ever been given permission to keep them after analysis, destruction, or other use for any purpose, especially for sale or individual display," said NASA's letter dated June 15.
It went on:"We are requesting that you no longer facilitate the sale of any and all items containing the Apollo 11 Lunar Soil Experiment by immediately stopping theThis April 2022 handout photograph provided by RR Auction shows moon dust in a vial from the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, which was pulled from an auction listing after NASA said the dust, and some cockroaches that were fed the dust, are property of the federal government.
In another letter dated June 22, NASA's lawyer asked RR Auction to work with the current owner of the material to return it to the federal government.back to Earth. Some was fed to insects, fish and other small creatures to see if it would kill them.were brought to the University of Minnesota where entomologist Marion Brooks dissected and studied them.
"I found no evidence of infectious agents," Brooks, who died in 2007, told the Minneapolis Tribune for an October 1969 story. She found no evidence that the moon material was toxic or caused any other ill effects in the insects, according to the article.
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NASA: Give us back our moon dust and cockroachesMOON DUST & ROACHES - NASA wants its moon dust and cockroaches back. The space agency has asked Boston-based RR Auction to halt the sale of moon dust collected during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission that had subsequently been fed to cockroaches.
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