The US is trying to return sold at auction bag from under the lunar soil – BBC

A small white cloth bag with a zipper, which is July 20, 1969 was used in the mission “Apollo 11,” astronaut Neil Armstrong for the carriage of the lunar soil, it proved to be the subject of two lawsuits. In the course of the first in the history of mankind lunar mission is in it were taken samples of the planet companion rocks on Earth

<-.! Place 8151131, / science / 2016/03 / 31_a_8151131.shtml, nm2015 / v2 / article / incut, incut2_link ->

Under normal circumstances, one would expect that the importance of such an emergency bag is nowadays stored in the museum. Instead, he became the subject of several lawsuits

One -. By Nancy Lee Carlson from Illinois, which bought the historic bag at the government auction, the other – from the US Attorney’s Office for the district of Kansas, which tends to return the artifact to NASA

«Moon bag is a rare artifact, if not a national treasure” -. said Acting US Attorney for the State of Kansas, Thomas Bill (Thomas Beall) and assistant United States Attorney Annette Gurney (Annette Gurney).

34 years later after the bag has been used, 18 December 2003, during the execution of a search warrant, he was found in the garage of founder and former director Kansas cosmosphere and space center Max Ary (Max Ary).

The bag, which NASA has long released from the lunar rocks, still had the small dust of the earth satellite spots.

The artifact, which is then said to be in a legitimate personal collection Ara, was confiscated along with other items to make up for the amount of $ 132,274 that the former director of Kansas cosmosphere and space center had to pay in compensation. (Ary, who insisted on his innocence and now is the director of Stafford Space Museum in Oklahoma, was also sentenced to three years in prison.) However, US prosecutors asked a federal judge to postpone the final order of forfeiture until the bag has not been formally identified as the moon. <- place 9716243, / science / 2016/07 / 28_a_9716243.shtml, nm2015 / v2 / article / incut, incut3_link ->

Soon the artifact was transferred to the United States marshals Service auction house Gaston & amp; Sheehan. Located in Texas auction firm described the 11.5-inch (29 cm) bag containing the remains of lunar dust, but have not been able to determine exactly whether it was used in the mission “Apollo 11».

Three times bag was included in the list of auction lots in April, August and October, 2014. The initial cost of his was $ 42.5 thousand., But each time he did not attract the attention of buyers. Then, 17 February 2015, Nancy Lee Carlson, a lawyer from Inverness, Illinois, received a bag at a rate of only $ 995.

In NASA learned that the “Apollo 11″ bag was sold without notice or permission when Carlson sent him in relation to the NASA Johnson Space center in Houston for authentication. Testing is not only to determine the authenticity of lunar dust, but also the fact that it belongs to the first moon landing in history.

«There was no certainty as to NASA from the scientific point of view is not checked a bag, which has been identified like the moon, lost and subsequently sold at auction Gaston & amp; Sheehan », – writes Bill and Gurney

Prior to contact with NASA Carlson was not aware of the confiscation of the bag or put up for auction.. Now, knowing what had happened, NASA decided that the sale was a mistake. Gurney, acting on behalf of the government, tried to settle with Carlson, offering to reimburse the bag cost, which she gave him at the auction, and pay an additional $ 1,000 “in gratitude for their help in returning the bag” and “to make up for any inconvenience that it You may have caused. »

Carlson rejected the offer of the government in protest against what she described in a letter as” an unreasonable seizure of her personal property. ” Soon, 27 June, she filed a lawsuit in federal court in Illinois against NASA’s, to secure the return of the bag, and compensation for damages.

A little over a month later, on Wednesday, August 3, Bill and Gurney sued . Ary, asking the court to overturn the earlier seizure and announce the sale of illegal artifact

«NASA has been deprived of the opportunity to express their interest in the moon bag – wrote two attorneys. – If NASA has been given notice of the seizure, the moon bag would never have got the state auction »

<-.! Place 8295761, / science ™ / 2016/06 / 12_a_8295761.shtml, nm2015 / v2 / article / incut , incut4_link ->

«Now the identification of the bag is picked. Failure to advance to notify NASA can be corrected by the recognition of the sale null and void “, – they said

Interestingly, earlier Max Ary accused of hundreds of missing space artifacts and memorabilia, most of which were on loan transferred. from NASA in Kansas center when Ary led them. It is known that a similar bag with samples of lunar rocks from the expedition “Apollo 17″ Ary sold in 2001 at an auction for $ 24 thousand. However, later, the bag was found by the Government during the investigation.

The loss of priceless artifacts, such as the alien soil or meteorites, it has become a problem for NASA. As of 2011, the department transferred for temporary use for educational and scientific purposes more than 26 thousand. Artefacts. About 20% of the samples, granted for research only American scientists were transferred to other laboratories or even ceased to exist. Also, more than a hundred samples were returned to NASA after their temporary owners have died, left the science or moved to other places. The most scandalous Uther are missing 18 lunar samples for research scientists to one in 2010, and the theft of 218 moon rocks from Space Center in Houston in 2012. To improve the control of alien material inspection recommended that NASA make contracts for the transfer of samples and monitor their fate every year.