Moon rocks once fascinated, now forgotten

James Moldenhauer North Las Vegas

6 years ago

In this Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018, photo, shows moon rocks encased in acrylic and mounted on a wooden plaque at the Clark Planetarium, in Salt Lake City. A former NASA investigator who has spent more than a decade tracking missing moon rocks is closing in on his goal of finding all 50 lunar samples gifted to U.S. states after Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon. In recent weeks, two more of the moon rocks that dropped off the radar after the 1969 Apollo 11 mission have been located in Louisiana and Utah. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A recent article in Friday’s Review-Journal (“His goal: Track down 50 states’ moon rocks”) clearly demonstrates why mankind has not returned to the moon after nearly 50 years. No one really cares. After each state was presented with the most significant and meaningful artifact to which they have ever been entrusted, about 40 states had lost track of the lunar samples at some point or other. Two samples are still missing. More than mere trivial mementos or souvenirs, these rocks and dust represent mankind’s greatest peacetime technological achievement. But no one really cares.