page_title: Stolen and missing Moon rocks
section_title: North Carolina
hierarchical_section_title: Stolen and missing Moon rocks / Recovered gifted rocks / United States / North Carolina
caption_attribution_description: English: plaques containing lunar sample, flags, and mission patches returned from Apollo 17 and presented to the State of North Carolina by NASA
context_page_description: Of the 270 Apollo 11 Moon rocks and the Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rocks that were given to the nations of the world by the Nixon Administration, approximately 180 are unaccounted for. Many of these rocks that are accounted for have been locked away in storage for decades. The location of the rocks has been tracked by researchers and hobbyists because of their rarity and the difficulty of obtaining more. Moon rocks have been subjects of theft and forgery as well.
context_section_description: Professor Christopher Brown, Director of the N.C. Space Grant and professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill turned the Moon rock over, along with related items, to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences where it is planned for permanent display in the Fall of 2011 when the museum expansion is completed.  Brown obtained the rock from a colleague in 2003 who found it in a desk drawer at the state Commerce Department.  Brown's colleague received permission to lend the artifact to Brown who used it in presentations on space and space-related science to students over the next several years.
caption: North Carolina's Goodwill Moon Rock along with other Apollo 17 flown items on temporary display at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences during a special event on the launch of STS-133
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