NASA stops selling Apollo 11 moon dust

NASA stops selling Apollo 11 moon dust: The moon rock was fed to cockroaches in an experiment to see if it contained any pathogens that threatened terrestrial life. As a result, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has asked Boston-based RR Auction to stop selling it. The moon rock collect during the 1969 Apollo 11 mission.

In a letter to the auctioneer, a NASA lawyer claimed that the material still belonged to the federal government.

The experiment’s materials, including a vial containing around 40 milligrams of lunar dust and three cockroach corpses, were removed from the auction block on Thursday because they were projected to fetch at least $400,000 (almost Rs. 3 crores).

No person, institution, or other organization has ever been granted authority to preserve Apollo materials after examination, destruction, or another usage for any purpose, notably for sale or private exhibition, according to a letter from NASA dated June 15.

“We are demanding that you cease facilitating the sale of any goods. Including the Apollo 11 Lunar Soil Experiment (the cockroaches, slides, and post-destructive testing specimen),” NASA said.

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In another letter dated June 22, NASA’s legal counsel requested that RR Auction cooperates with the material’s current owner to restore it to the federal government.

More than 47 pounds (21.3 kilos) of lunar rock return to Earth during the Apollo 11 mission. Some give to fish, insects, and other tiny animals to check whether they would kill them.

NASA stops selling Apollo 11 moon dust

Entomologist Marion Brooks dissected and analyzed the moon-dust-fed cockroaches when they deliver to the University of Minnesota.

For a piece in October 1969, Brooks, who passed away in 2007, told the Minneapolis Tribune, “I discovered no indication of infectious organisms”. Moreover, according to the paper, she didn’t discover proof that the lunar material was harmful or had any other negative impacts on the insects.

However, Brooks kept the moon rock and the cockroaches instead of returning them to NASA. Her daughter sold them in 2010. And a consignor who RR withheld their identity is now offering them for sale once again.

According to Mark Zaid, an attorney with RR Sale. It is common for a third party to assert ownership of anything that is up for auction.

Zaid said that while they have been inconsistent, “NASA has a track record of investigating topics linked to the early space projects.” According to NASA’s admission. It was unaware of the earlier cockroach experiment item sale when it wrote one of its letters.

According to Zaid, we have already collaborated with NASA. And always assist the US government when it makes claims to property. We aim to behave responsibly and legally at all times,

RR Auction is now hanging onto the property, but eventually. The consignor will have to negotiate a deal with NASA, according to him.