Florida: Gun collector solves the mystery of Louisiana’s missing moon rock

A Florida man who acquired the plaque to use the wood for gun repairs has returned a missing moon rock donated to the state of Louisiana by NASA following the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

The Florida guy, who requested concealment, claimed he regularly purchases plaque at garage sales and thrift stores in order to utilize the wood for gunstock repairs, and he was recently searching through one of his boxes of signs when he came upon an unexpected object.

The stone on the sign was unusual, and the writing on the metal plate conveyed the story, “This fragment is a portion of rock from Taurus Littrow Valley of the Moon. It was part of a larger rock composed of many particles of different shapes and sizes, a symbol of the unity of human endeavor and mankind’s hope for a future of peace and harmony.”

The granite was recovered by astronauts on the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, and NASA gave it to the state of Louisiana once it arrived on the ground.

According to the Florida guy, he bought the item at a garage sale somewhere in the last 15 years.

He told the media, “I can’t even tell you how long I owned it for.”

“I’m not even sure how much I paid for it. I buy plaques because I take the wood from the plaques and I send it over to my gunstock guy and he makes grips for my Colts and so forth.”

When the individual called the governor’s office in Louisiana, he was told to contact the Louisiana State Museum.

The guy explained, “They wanted me to mail it out to them.”

“I said, ‘I’m not mailing this thing out to you. I will hand-deliver it,’ and with that said, that is what I did.”

The guy hand-delivered the moon rock plaque as promised, according to the Louisiana State Museum.

Steven Maklansky claimed, the Louisiana State Museum’s temporary director, “He did indeed hand over the moon rock to the museum.”

“We did take possession of the rock.”

Researchers are unsure how the plaque landed up for sale in Florida, according to Maklansky.

“I think it is an extraordinary piece of Louisiana history. Obviously then, Louisiana State Museum would be a fitting venue for it to be held for posterity and also offered for public display,” he said. “We’re excited to take possession of this piece and to share it with our audiences.”

The rock was the state of Louisiana’s second and last moon sample presentation. The first, from the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, had been thought to be lost for decades before being found in 2018 in Baton Rouge’s Louisiana Art and Science Museum.

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