New details have been unearthed about a small fragment of the moon gifted to Ireland by the United States in 1970. Unfortunately, for Apollo 11 lunar samplesthemselves.
four moon The pebbles are embedded in a single Plexiglas sphere and mounted on a wooden podium alongside the small Irish flag that flew during NASA’s first moon landing, one of 135 such displays of goodwill made by the United States to foreign countries in the aftermath of the moon landing. Apollo 11 Mission carried out in 1969. Prepared for additional monitors United Nations, Vatican City, 50 U.S. states and U.S. territories.
Although many of these displays have disappeared missing during this periodThe fate of Ireland’s Apollo 11 displays has been known for decades. Unfortunately it was destroyed in a fire on 3 October 1977 which destroyed the Dunsink Observatory in Dublin, in which 0.002 oz (0.05 g) of the observatory was destroyed. Apollo 11 Moon Dust On display.
By all accounts, little remains of the fire after it was transported to a landfill in nearby Finglas, where it remains buried today.
“Confidential” documents recently released by Ireland’s National Archives do not dispute the results or add more details, but instead reveal how the observatory’s lunar display was carried out.
A memorandum from 1984 reads: “On the advice of the Department for Education, this article was delivered to the Institute for Advanced Study, Dublin, on 4 September 1973 for display at Dunsink Observatory”. PA Media Quoteis a UK-based multimedia news agency that published news about the documents. “The moon rock has been sitting in the department’s basement for three and a half years due to uncertainty about the best place to display it.”
Originally presented to then Irish President Eamon de Valera in 1970 by US Ambassador JG Moore. Apollo 11 Goodwill Moon Rock remained in limbo until 1973, when it was learned that the United States intended to gift the country a second lunar sample, this one from Apollo 17In December 1972, the sixth and final moon landing took place.
“It was felt that some embarrassment would be caused if the first piece had not been exhibited,” the memo’s author wrote, explaining why the Apollo 11 gift was given to Dunsink.
As for Ireland’s Apollo 17 Goodwill moon rock, it was originally placed in the living room of Aras an Uachtarain, the president’s official residence and main workplace. It was later loaned to Aer Lingus for display at the airline’s 1976 Young Scientists exhibition.
this Apollo 17 sampleUnlike the Apollo 11 display, this one features a 0.04-ounce (1.142-gram) stone cut from a rock and mounted on a wooden sign. Aras an Uachtarain was put on permanent display, but was later ruled out given that the residence was only open to invited guests.
“The museum collections best suited to display it are geological or mineralogical collections— [but] this [National] The museum does not have space for a geological exhibition, so the moon rocks must be stored, which does not meet the requirements,” one of the documents reads.
Instead, it was decided to transfer the Apollo 17 display to Aer Rianta, the operator of the country’s main airport, for public display beginning in October 1975. This was only temporary, however, as eight years later the moon rocks were returned to the government Geological Survey for display.
Ireland’s Apollo 17 Goodwill moon rock display is underway today National Museum of Ireland Exhibitionand a collection of meteorites, as well as plates from Ireland cosmic rays Experiments taken to the moon Apollo 16 and 17.
irish Apollo 11 lunar samples This wasn’t the only exhibit lost in the fire. A similar moon rock-topped podium presented to the people of Alaska was thought to have been destroyed in a fire in Anchorage in 1973 until a captain on a reality TV show revealed he owned it 40 years later. Federal authorities stepped in and Apollo 11 samples sent back for display 2012 at the Alaska State Museum in Juneau.
Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 lunar sample display is the only work ( Apollo 12 The moon rock display was given to China (the only known exception), and the Apollo collection of moon rocks was to be released from U.S. property. The remainder of the 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of lunar material brought back to Earth by six NASA missions is considered a natural treasure, with samples provided through loans for scientific research, museum display and educational outreach.
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