Heads of state commonly give gifts to other countries as gestures of good will. These gifts normally represent something important to the country giving them. With that in mind, it is not surprising that one of the most common gifts given by the United States during the 1970’s was rocks or dirt from the moon that was attained during one of the missions.

Having a piece of the moon itself is an important symbol for many of the amazing accomplishments of scientific research, and what can be achieved when people put their mind to it.

According to an an audit performed by NASA in 2011, there are at least 517 ‘astromaterial samples’ that were given out over the years, many  as gifts and others to allow scientific research that are now unaccounted for.

Of the 270 moon rocks that were given out to various states and countries by President Richard Nixon, 160 are reported as missing.

One recently discovered example of this was reported on by PA News Agency. They reported that a moon rock that was given to Ireland as a diplomatic gift was destroyed in a fire in 1977. The rock was gifted in 1969, and the government wasn’t sure what to do with it, so it sat in storage for years. When the US decided to donate another moon rock as a gift in 1973, Ireland put it on display. As is reported in PA News Agency:

“It was decided to give the Moon rock to Dunsink when it became known that a second gift was to be made by the US Government and it was thought that some embarrassment would be caused if the first piece was not already on display.”

Oddly enough, if it had remained in storage, it likely would not have been destroyed. The second sample that they were later gifted is still safely in their hands though, so at least that one hasn’t been lost…yet.

There are many reasons why these seemingly invaluable are often lost. Some are undoubtedly just put in storage, but without proper documentation, so nobody knows where they are. Others are lost in accidents. Still others were used by researchers, but not in a way that allowed the sample to be preserved. There is also undoubtedly a number of them that were sold or stolen by unscrupulous people looking to make a profit.

Whatever the cause, it is odd how many of these rocks have been lost. Fortunately, future missions to the lunar surface are being planned so there will undoubtedly be more samples brought back home to Earth.

Hopefully people will take care of them this time.

I had no idea that many moon rocks existed on Earth.

If you liked that story, check out this one about a 72-year-old woman was told by her life insurance company that her policy was worthless because she’d paid for 40 years. 🙁