Rare Bag Of Moon Dust Back In Hands Of Inverness Woman

A rare bag of moon dust collected during NASA's first lunar mission is back in the hands of an Inverness woman after the space agency returned the extraterrestrial rock and soil samples to her Monday following a federal judge's order last week, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Nancy Lee Carlson picked up the bag — a collection of lunar specimens taken by the Apollo 11 astronauts during their 1969 moon landing — on Monday, Feb. 27, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston after it was determined she was the legal owner of the one-of-a kind "national treasure," the Chicago Tribune reports. It's the first time a private citizen has been awarded ownership of a lunar object that had been sold by the government, the report added.

Carlson, a corporate lawyer and collector of space artifacts, originally came in to possession of the dish-size bag when she bought it at a U.S. Marshal Service auction in 2015, the Chronicle reports. The bag's suggested opening bid was $20,000, but Carlson's bid of $995 was high enough to win the auction, the report added.

The law enforcement agency had seized the bag from the president of a Kansas space museum who was convicted in 2006 of profiting off the sale of stolen museum items, the report stated. At the time, government officials weren't aware of the bag's significance, and NASA wasn't notified about it, the report added.

It wasn't until Carlson, at the recommendation of The Field Museum, had experts at the Johnson Space examine her auction purpose that anyone realized just how important the contents of the specially designed, 11.5-inch, embroidered, zippered bag were, according to the Tribune.

Once scientists discovered the bag's contents were covered in microscopic moon dust and rock particles, officials claimed Carlson's purchase was actually government property, starting the legal battle that Carlson eventually won.

Although NASA and Carlson consider the case closed, a future compromise might be in the offing that could satisfy both sides. The space agency has asked Carlson if she will let the bag be displayed, a request that she would consider.

"Given that this bag is really a national treasure, I don't think it's possible for Ms. Carlson to just keep the bag at home," Christopher McHugh, Carlson's lawyer, told the Chronicle on Friday. "That's not going to happen. But I do think a transfer of ownership has to happen."

More via the Houston Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin conducts experiments during the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969 (photo by Neil Armstrong | NASA | Wikimedia Commons)

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