More than 40 years after the first moon landing, NASA has recovered shards of moon dust taken from its laboratories. The moon dust was about to be sold at auction.
But the recovery of the wedge of tape speckled with lunar glass has sparked an argument over whether it had been stolen from of the Johnson Space Centre in Texas or taken openly as a memento by the first man to touch moon dust with his bare hands.
The United States Attorney's Office used the term "smuggled" and "stolen" when it announced the recovery of "lunar material" - tiny pieces of moon dust which had settled on the film cartridge of a camera used by astronauts on the surface of the moon during the Apollo 11 Mission in July 1969.
But the man responsible, former NASA photographic technician Terry Slezak, begs to differ. Slezak was given the job of processing the film from a camera used by Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong.
Armstrong's Camera was Dropped on the Moon
Armstrong's lunar EVA 70 mm film magazine was covered in dust when he accidentally dropped it onto the surface of the moon, something Slezak did not know when he began the task of making what was called a "quick print", shown to astronauts while their memories on detail were fresh.
In a 2009 interview conducted as part of NASA's Johnson Space Centre Oral History Project, Slezak recalled the incident: "When I pulled it out, it was all covered in this black material - looked like lampblack almost - it was really dark black with little bright speckly things, which turned out to be little bits of glass from the lunar surface. So everybody said, 'What is that?' I said, 'It's moon dust. That's the only place it's been.'"
Slezak removed the dust from his fingertips using transparent adhesive tape, a small wedge of which he attached to a poster signed by the astronauts and given to him by colleagues: "I added the little piece of Scotch tape with the moon dust on it. I thought that would be kind of neat," he told the New York Times.
Moon Dust Sold to Memorabilia Website
No one questioned Slezak three decades later when he put the moon dust-bearing poster up for sale. It was purchased by a German collector Florian Noller. Noller, who runs one of the biggest memorabilia website, then removed the dust-laden transparent adhesive tape swatch and divided it into smaller portions.
He attached a certificate of authenticity which stated: "I certify that the tape swatch mounted ... contains authentic moon dust from the Sea of Tranquility on the moon. I acquired the original source artefact - a poster board with an Apollo 11 moon dust swatch attached - from Superior Space Auction Fall 2001 Sale where it had been consigned by the original recipient Mr Terry Slezak. I have mounted on the "The Dust" presentation certificate. The remaining dust swatch and original poster board are in my possession."
Noller sold the smaller tape strips, one of which was bought by a German collector who has since died. It was the man's widow who put the strip up for sale with Regency-Superior Auctions in St. Louis, one of the largest auctioneers of space and aviation memorabilia in the world. It was this sale which came to the attention of the US Attorney's Office.
Widow Agrees to Return Moon Dust to NASA
The company co-operated when contacted and the material withdrawn from sale: "Upon learning that the material had been stolen from NASA years earlier, she immediately and graciously agreed to relinquish it back to the American people," the NASA statement said.
US Attorney Richard Callahan added when he later saw the dust: "It wasn't much to look at, but I will never be that close to the moon again!"
