:Apollo 11 lunar sample display
{{Short description|1970 commemorative gifts}}
File:Hawaii Apollo 11-9in display.jpg
File:Hawaii Apollo 11-7in display.jpg
The Apollo 11 lunar sample display is a commemorative podium style plaque display consisting of four dust particle specimens (dubbed "Moon rocks"), the recipient's flag and two small metal plates attached with descriptive messages. The Apollo 11 plaques were given as gifts in 1970 by President Richard Nixon to 135 countries, the 50 states of the United States and its territories, and the United Nations.
History and description
{{Apollo 11 lunar sample display}} With the exception of Venezuela, whose actual flag was not flown to the Moon on Apollo 11, the wording on the plaque (with the appropriate name filled in) was:
{{quote|"Presented to the people of _____ by Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America.
"This flag of your state was carried to the Moon and back by Apollo 11 and this fragment of the Moon's surface was brought to Earth by the crew of that first manned lunar landing."}}
Fate
{{Further|Stolen and missing Moon rocks|List of Apollo lunar sample displays}}
The New York Times reported in 2012 that gifts of moon rocks were not well tracked or managed by NASA.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/science/space/nasa-tackles-problem-of-missing-moon-rocks.html |title=NASA Searches for Loot That Traveled From Space to Another Void |first1=Manny |last1=Fernandez |work=The New York Times |date=January 21, 2012 |location=Houston, Texas |access-date=November 3, 2012}} Within the US, public gifts require legislation to be transferred, but other nations set their own laws. Some samples of lunar dust soil from the Apollo 11 and lunar basalt 70017 from the later Apollo 17 missions have been reported missing.{{cite web |url=http://www.collectspace.com/resources/moonrocks_goodwill.html |title=Where today are the Apollo 17 goodwill lunar sample displays |publisher=CollectSPACE|first1=Robert |last1=Pearlman |author-link=Robert Pearlman |access-date= 2023-02-06}} Since 2005 entities and people have made concerted efforts to find the displays.{{cite news |url=https://www.foxnews.com/science/houston-lawyer-on-quest-for-missing-moon-rocks |title=Houston lawyer on quest for missing moon rocks |agency=Associated Press |via=Fox News |date=May 14, 2012 |location=Buffalo, Texas |access-date=November 3, 2012}}{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9812/07/moon.rock |title=Customs agents seize 4 billion year old moon rock |date=December 7, 1998 |website=cnn.com |publisher=CNN |access-date=November 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000917184021/http://www.cnn.com/US/9812/07/moon.rock/ |archive-date= September 17, 2000}}{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-feb-07-la-na-moon-rock-20120208-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |title=Finding lost moon rocks is his mission |date=February 7, 2012 |first1=Molly |last1=Hennessy-Fiske |access-date=November 3, 2012}} Joseph Gutheinz, a former NASA Office of Inspector General special agent and a professor{{cite news |url=http://article.wn.com/view/2012/05/14/One_mans_quest_to_find_missing_moon_rocks/ |title=One man's quest to find missing moon rocks |date=2012-05-14 |location=Buffalo, Texas |work=Detroit Free Press |access-date=November 3, 2012}} who teaches an online course at the University of Phoenix,{{cite news|url=http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/jul/08/moon-rock-discovery-a-false-alarm/ |title=Moon rock discovery a false alarm: Apollo 17 keepsake still missing after all. |work=Columbia Daily Tribune |first1=Janese |last1=Silvey |date=July 8, 2010 |accessdate=November 4, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120321165650/http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2010/jul/08/moon-rock-discovery-a-false-alarm/ |archivedate=March 21, 2012 }} had his students try to locate the displays. Robert Pearlman of collectSPACE has also tracked the displays.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Lunar sample displays}}
{{Project Apollo}}
{{The Moon}}