[meteorite-list] Apollo 11 Moon Dust Stolen From Sweden Museum

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:08:22 2004
Message-ID: <200209080407.VAA10712_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=518&ncid=732&e=10&u=/ap/20020907/ap_on_re_eu/sweden_moon_dust

Moon Dust Stolen From Sweden Museum
Associated Press
September 7, 2002

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) - Four grains of moon dust brought to Earth
by the first manned lunar mission were stolen from a space exhibit
in Sweden, a museum official said Saturday.

The dust was collected by astronauts during the Apollo 11 mission
in 1969 and presented to Sweden as a gift by President Nixon a year
later.

The Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm displayed the
four .04-inch particles in a coin-sized capsule inside a stainless
steel cylinder capped with a glass plate, museum spokesman Goeran
Adenskog said.

Museum staff noticed Tuesday morning that someone had smashed the
glass plate and removed the capsule, Adenskog said.

"We don't think it has any commercial value when the moon dust has
been taken out of its context. Without documentation it is very
difficult for a layman to determine whether its moon dust or earth
dust," Adenskog said.

Police were notified but had dropped the investigation for lack of
clues, he said.

Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became
the first men to walk on the moon on July 20, 1969.
Received on Sun 08 Sep 2002 12:07:32 AM PDT