The Declining Interest in Space Exploration Leads to Loss of Valuable Pieces of History

During the 1960’s and the 1970’s space exploration was on the lips of mankind, anxious to see if travel on the moon would be possible. The space race between the United States and the Soviet Union had the scientists scrabbling to see who could reach it first, while Americans sat eagerly on the edge of their seats with anticipation. Space technology was booming and the NASA budget at that time reflects that. During the mid-60’s, NASA space budget was a massive approximation between 2.5 and 5 billion dollars, which would equal about approximately 25 to 34 billion dollars (with modern inflation applied) (NASA, 2009). The Apollo program was designed to reach space first and be the first to put a man on the moon. The Soviet Union beat the United States into space through their launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957, but the United States were the first on the moon with Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969.

In 1972, NASA launched Apollo 17 for a lunar landing to gather information and samples from the Moon to bring back to Earth. Apollo 17 is a significant mission for many reasons and one being that is was the last mission to put man on the Moon. However, it is significant for another, less known reason, and that would be the collection and distribution of the Goodwill Moon Rocks. One of the samples of rock brought back from the Moon, sample #70017, was divided to be distributed by President Richard Nixon. President Nixon divided the sample into 135 pieces, “each rock, encased in Lucite, and was mounted to a plaque with the recipient’s flag also flown to the Moon (CollectSPACE, 2009).” Each sample was given to the foreign heads of state for each of the 135 countries. The idea behind this was that these treasures from the Moon would be placed in museums, planetarium, or other facilities that would be accessible to the public for observation and preservation, but this has not been the case. President Nixon wanted the world to be able to share in the accomplishment of reaching the Moon and wanted all nations celebrate in this step for all of mankind.

Tragically that could not be farther from the truth. The interest in space exploration has seen a steady declined since the Apollo missions. The once massive NASA budget of 25 to 34 billion dollars as dwindled down to approximately 15 billion dollars. The nail-biting excitement of the mid to late sixties no longer exists today. Of the 135 moon rocks that were distributed, only approximately a dozen have known whereabouts (CollectSPACE, 2009). Most have been lost or stolen over the years with the exception of a few high profile cases. In 1998, a senior special agent with NASA’s Office of Inspector General, Joseph Gutheinz Jr., led an undercover operation with the hope of locating some of the missing moon rocks (Geotimes, 2004). Senior special agent Gutheinz operated a bogus estate sale company title John’s Estate Sale and place an add in the USA Today entitled “Moon Rocks Wanted” with the hopes that someone who was illegally in possession of one of the rocks would contact him. Sure enough, Senior special agent Gutheinz was contacted by a seller who want $5 million dollars for the moon rock. After a lengthy investigation into the authenticity of the moon rock, Senior special agent Gutheinz was able to seize the moon rock on behalf of the United States (Geotimes, 2004). On February 28, 2004, the Honduran moon rock was presented to its rightful owner, Honduran President Ricardo Maduro (Geotimes, 2004).

While the Honduran moon rock was safely recovered, there are still many more left in poorly secured areas or missing entirely. The Goodwill Moon Rock of Romania was presented to Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and is believed to have been one of the possessions in his estate that were auctioned in 1998. It is unknown at this time whether the Goodwill Moon Rock was one of those possession auctioned off at that time and the buyers list from that auction is confidential. According to Bucharest Business Week, in an article written by Sonya Rabbitte, the moon rock was held at the National History Museum of Bucharest and displayed as part of a two-part exhibition of the late dictator’s possessions (1998). The disheartening part of the whole article is the manner in which the moon rock is referred.

But the days of pride in the President are long gone, and now you'll find the exhibition carefully labeled and stored away in the Museum. In retrospect some of the more valuable gifts seem comical... A plaque bearing a sample of moon rock collected by the crew of Apollo 11 was presented by Richard Nixon during his presidency (Rabbitte, 1998).

What was given as a symbol of the greatest success for mankind at that time, is now being viewed as a past comical gift. Something that was held as such an achievement for mankind is being lost in time. The United States is the one who made this amazing achievement, and yet is still cutting the NASA budget almost in half from what it was then. How can we expect those of foreign countries to pay anymore respect to those missions and the accomplishments when as a country we to devalue the space program? Without a serious change in the mentality surrounding the importance of the space programs, the Goodwill Moon Rocks will not be the only pieces of history that will be lost.

As I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come — but we believe not too long into the future — I'd like to just [say] what I believe history will record — that America's challenge of today has forged man's destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Taurus-Littrow, we leave as we came and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind. Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17. – Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 Commander. Last man to walk on the moon, December 14, 1972 (Wikipedia, 2009).

CollectSPACE (2009). The history of the Goodwill moon rock. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://www.collectspace.com/resources/moonrocks_goodwill.html

Gutheinz, Jr., J.D., J. (2004, November 1). In Search of the Goodwill Moon Rocks: A Personal Account. GeoTimes.

NASA (2009). Budget Documents, Strategic Plans and Performance Reports. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/index.html

Rabbitte, S. (1998, February 23). Spring cleaning Ceausescu's store. Bucharest Business Week.

Wikipedia (2009). Apollo 17. Retrieved April 1, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17