Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 13 sepTember 2018

Moon rock hunter closes in on tracking down missing stones

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST covered moon gems in a
Associated Press database.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Many of the Apollo 11 rocks
strange thing happened have turned up in some un-
after Neil Armstrong and expected places: with ex-
the Apollo 11 crew returned governors in West Virginia
from the moon with lunar and Colorado, in a military-
rocks: Many of the memen- artifact storage building
tos given to every U.S. state in Minnesota and with a
vanished. Now, after years former crab boat captain
of sleuthing, a former NASA from TV's "Deadliest Catch"
investigator is closing in in Alaska.
on his goal of locating the In New York, officials that
whereabouts of all 50. oversee the state museum
In recent weeks, two of the have no record of that
rocks that disappeared af- state's Apollo 11 rock. In
ter the 1969 mission were Delaware, the sample was
located in Louisiana and stolen from its state muse-
Utah, leaving only New um on Sept. 22, 1977. Police
York and Delaware with were contacted, but it was
unaccounted-for souvenirs. never found.
Attorney and moon rock The U.S. Virgin Islands ter-
hunter Joseph Gutheinz ritory, meanwhile, cannot
says it "blows his mind," that confirm that they ever re-
the rocks were not carefully ceived a goodwill rock,
chronicled and saved by though the University of the
some of the states that re- Virgin Islands later received
ceived them. Apollo 11 rocks for scientific
But he is hopeful the last research, said chief conser-
two can be located before vator Julio Encarnacion III.
the 50th anniversary of the In other states, though
Apollo 11 mission next sum- Gutheinz has recently hit
mer. paydirt. The Advocate
"It's a tangible piece of newspaper in Baton Rouge
history," he said. "Neil Arm- located Louisiana's Apol-
strong's first mission ... was In this Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, photo, shows moon rocks encased in acrylic and mounted on lo 11 moon rock in early
to reach down and grab a wooden plaque at the Clark Planetarium, in Salt Lake City. August after a call from
some rocks and dust in Associated Press Gutheinz.
case they needed to make In Utah, the division of state
an emergency takeoff." state flag. Some were the rocks. the black market. Authen- history had no record of
President Richard Nixon's placed in museums, while "I think part of it was, we tic moon rocks are con- the sample, but The Associ-
administration presented others went on display in honestly believed that go- sidered national treasures ated Press confirmed it was
the tiny lunar samples to state capitols. But almost ing back to the moon was and cannot legally be sold in storage at Salt Lake City's
all 50 states and 135 coun- no state entered them going to be a regular oc- in the U.S., he said. Clark Planetarium.
tries, but few were officially into archival records, and currence," Gutheinz said. He became aware while Officials there may bring it
recorded and most disap- Gutheinz said many lost But there were only five at NASA that the gifts to out as part of celebrations
peared, Gutheinz said. track of them. more journeys before the the states were missing, but recognizing the Apollo
Each state got a tiny sam- When Gutheinz started last manned moon land- only began his hunt after 11 anniversary next year,
ple encased in acrylic and leading the effort to find ing, Apollo 17, in 1972. leaving the agency. something Gutheinz hopes
mounted on a wooden them in 2002, he estimates Of the Apollo 11 rocks Now a lawyer in the Hous- to see everywhere.
plaque, along with the 40 states had lost track of given to other countries, ton area, he's also a col- "The people of the world
about 70 percent remain lege instructor who's enlist- deserve this," he said. "They
unaccounted for, he said. ed the help of his students. deserve to see something
The U.S. government also The record their findings of that our astronauts accom-
sent out a second set of the whereabouts of the dis- plished and be a part it."q
goodwill moon rocks to the
states and other nations
after the Apollo 17 mission,
and many of those are
missing as well, he said.
NASA did not track their
whereabouts after giving
them to the Nixon adminis-
tration for distribution, said
chief historian Bill Barry, but
added the space agency
would be happy to see
them located.
In this Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018, photo, Lindsie Smit holds moon Gutheinz began his career This Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, photo shows a plate mounted
rocks encased in acrylic and mounted on a wooden plaque at as an investigator for NASA, on a wooden plaque that holds moon rocks encased in acrylic
the Clark Planetarium, in Salt Lake City. where he found illicit sellers at the Clark Planetarium, in Salt Lake City.
Associated Press Associated Press
asking millions for rocks on