NASA requested the return of moondust and cockroach samples that were scheduled to be sold in a private auction.
The space agency contacted a Boston-based auction house to stop the sale of moondust that was collected by astronauts.
The Washington Post reported that NASA sent some samples from the moon to the University of Minnesota to see if the moon dust had any harmful organisms.
In a letter dated June 15, a lawyer for NASA stated that the samples, which included a small amount of dust from the Moon, remain in the possession of the federal government.
The motley bunch of goods, which the auction house advertised as a one-of-a-kind Apollo rarity, was expected to fetch an impressive US$400,000 at auction.
There was a newspaper clipping about the work ofMarionBrooks. The auction is referred to as the rr auction.
The black moon solar eclipse looks amazing.
According to the letter, "all Apollo samples, as stipulated in this collection of items, belong to NASA and no person, university, or other entity has ever been given permission to keep them after analysis, destruction, or other use for any purpose, especially for sale or individual display"
NASA requested that the auction house stop accepting bids for the lot and stop selling items from the Apollo 11 lunar soil experiment.
The moondust in the auction lot is only a small part of what the astronauts collected when they landed on the moon.
The UM scientists analyzed how exposure to the dust affected insects, aquatic life, and microbes, and received about 4.5 pounds of that.
According to an article published in 1970 in the journal Minnesota Science, some animals were inoculated with dust, some received portions mixed with their food or water, and others walked or crawled through the dust spread around their containers.
The cockroach specimens. (RR Auction)
The UM entomologist who fed the dust to the roaches was the original owner of the dust sample.
According to an article published 6 October 1969 in the Minneapolis Tribune (now the Star Tribune) and reproduced in the auction listing online, the roaches were fed a half-and-half diet with equal amounts of regular food and lunar soil.
According to the Minnesota Science article, the animals in the experiments didn't suffer any harm from the lunar dust.
After her mother's death in 2007, her daughter sold the samples, which were displayed in her home. The current sale is being conducted on behalf of an anonymous consignor.
An attorney for the auction house told The Washington Post that they are working with NASA.
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The original article was published by Live Science. The original article can be found here.
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