NASA Moon Rocks Go Missing
This is kind of pathetic. Many of the moon rocks that NASA astronauts brought back to the Earth as a result of the Apollo program have either been lost forever or have gone missing, only to be found years later. Why some would be dropped in the mail is beyond me, but hopefully they’ll develop a better method of inventory as soon as possible. Or else it might provide a good excuse to go back to the moon to get more.
Last month, NASA’s inspector general, Paul K. Martin, determined that 517 moon rocks and other astromaterial samples that were lent between 1970 and 2010 had been lost or stolen. A report issued by Mr. Martin’s office found that 11 of the 59 researchers in the Houston and Washington areas who were audited could not account for all of the samples NASA had lent them, or the agency found other discrepancies, including researchers who had items that according to agency records either did not exist or had been lent to others. The space agency had also failed to update its records for 12 researchers who had died, retired or relocated, in some instances without returning the samples. One researcher, the report noted, still had lunar samples he had borrowed 35 years earlier though he never conducted research on them.
