Grandma Raided in NASA Sting For Trying to Sell Moon Rock
NASA officials recovered a tiny piece of a moon rock in a raid targeting a 74-year-old woman who tried to sell it at a California Denny’s restaurant.
The raid was the result of a five month investigation into the missing lunar material that netted a “speck of lunar dust smaller than a grain of rice.”
The woman was not charged for possessing or trying to sell the material that she claims was given to her husband by NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong. She told the Associated Press she was trying to sell the rock for $1.7 million along with some other space memorabilia in her collection to raise money for her children’s inheritance and to pay for her son’s mounting medical bills.
The U.S. government considers any piece of the moon to be government property, even though NASA hasn’t kept very close tabs on the samples they’ve recovered and have even given many pieces away as gifts with the understanding that they could not be sold for profit. The woman was not charged or arrested during the raid that she described as “upsetting”. She is, however, planning to take legal action against the government.
Keep this in mind the next time you purchase an “authentic piece of the moon!” off of eBay.
[via Huffington Post]