[CPProt.net] Moon rocks stolen from car. The lunar samples for classroom use were not properly secured

[Museum Security and Cultural Property Protection (Ton Cremers)]

Moon rocks stolen from car
The lunar samples for classroom use were not properly secured
BY A.J. HOSTETLER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, January 18, 2006


NASA moon rocks that were used in classroom programs were snatched in
Virginia Beach from an instructor's car that lacked required safeguards.

Federal law prohibits private ownership of lunar samples brought back by the
Apollo missions, and they cannot be legally sold.

It's the first such theft for the space agency's 28-year-old educational
outreach program, in which contractors assigned to NASA centers visit
classrooms and give teacher workshops and lectures to the public.

It's also the first theft of NASA moon rocks since the FBI sting in 2002
that nabbed a group of interns trying to sell the haul from a 600-pound safe
they stole from Johnson Space Center. They had tried to sell a rare Martian
meteorite and 53 moon rocks over the Internet.

The educational samples swiped in Virginia Beach were stored in two Lucite
disks -- one holding three moon rocks and three soil samples weighing a
little more than a paper clip, and the other six meteorite samples.

Educational contractors must follow strict guidelines to borrow NASA's moon
rocks. They are not to leave the samples unattended and may display the
samples only at NASA-approved locations. When not in use, the samples are to
be secured in a vault or safe.

The theft of a projector and a silver suitcase containing the samples from a
car parked among the many apartment buildings near Oceana Naval Air Station
was reported to police on Jan. 10 at 3:24 a.m. NASA's Office of Inspector
General was notified later that day and is also investigating.

NASA insists that lunar samples transported by car must be locked in a safe
that is welded to the vehicle, according to Louis Parker, exhibit manager
for NASA's Johnson Space Center. Most of the Apollo moon rocks, more than
800 pounds collected by astronauts from 1969 through 1972, are still held at
the Houston center.

Parker said he did not know whether the samples were taken from the NASA
customized vehicle or the instructor's personal car.

The instructor is one of three assigned to the Langley Research Center in
Hampton. Officials would not release the instructor's name.

The stolen samples are uninsured and have no official monetary value,
according to Parker. If the moon rocks have been removed from their
containers, they lose their scientific value, he said.

"That's why we make the folks adhere to the stringent security
requirements," he said.

A reward of $1,000 is being offered for information leading to an arrest.

"If the thieves think that they can sell these samples for a lot of money, I
think that they will be disappointed because any collector of space rocks
will know that these are stolen and thus impossible to show or resell," said
astronomer Ken Wilson of the Science Museum of Virginia.


Contact staff writer A.J. Hostetler at ahostetler at timesdispatch.com or (804)
649-6355.

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