A moon rock gifted to Ireland following NASA's Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was destroyed in a fire at Dublin's Dunsink Observatory in 1977. Newly uncovered documents reveal years of mishandling of the artefact before its tragic loss. Thankfully, Ireland received a second piece of lunar material in 1973, which is now held by the National Museum of Ireland.
A piece of moon rock gifted to Ireland following NASA's historic Apollo 11 mission in 1969 was tragically destroyed in a fire, newly uncovered documents from Ireland 's National Archives reveal.The rock, which had traveled almost 240,000 miles from the moon to Earth, was presented to then-President Éamon de Valera in 1970 by U.S. Ambassador J.G. Moore.
'Study of rock and soil samples from the moon continues to yield useful information about the early history of the moon, the Earth and the inner solar system,' NASA explains on its website.'Recent computer models indicate that the moon could have been formed from the debris resulting from the Earth being struck a glancing blow by a planetary body about the size of Mars.'This dramatic formation event likely occurred some 4.4 billion years ago.
Apollo 11 Moon Rock Ireland Fire National Archives
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