NASA says it has caught a woman selling a piece of the moon on the black market. Joann Davis, 74, claimed that the little piece of moon rock, smaller than a grain of rice, was owned by her late husband. She said astronaut Neil Armstrong gave the little piece of rock to her late husband when he was an engineer at a NASA contractor during the Apollo era. But authorities believe the rock was stolen since Armstrong said he didn’t give away moon rocks.

Davis said she decided to sell the moon rock to raise funds to treat her sick son and will leave the rest to her grandchildren. The woman tried to sell the stone for $1.7 million, using the black market to find interested buyers. But she was caught in the act selling a national property, against the law. A sting operation caught her at a Denny’s restaurant as she was about to sell the stone.

Davis agreed to sell the stone to a NASA agent, whom she met at the restaurant. When the old woman brought out the rock, NASA investigators went out. Such was Davis' surprise, she was not even able to control her bladder!

"I have a real moral problem with what's happened here in California," said Joseph Guteinz, former NASA investigator.

"I've always taken the position that no one should own an Apollo-era moon rock. They belong to the people. But if we did such a poor job of safeguarding (lunar samples,) I cannot fault that person."

After five months, no charges have been filed against Davis. Though Armstrong claimed that he hasn’t given away pieces of rocks, there are still no proofs to be shown. She probably got the stone from someone else.

Stolen and Missing Moon Stones

There are 180 unaccounted-for moon rocks from a total of 270 brought back by the Apollo astronauts from 1969 to 1972. There also fakes in circulation. The sting operation, Operation Lunar Eclipse, is intended to track the missing rocks down.

Moon rocks were scattered all over the world. In Alaska, Coleman Anderson, a crab fishing captain, rescued moon rocks when the Alaska Transportation Museum was destroyed by a fire in 1973. After a year, he appealed to court that he is the rightful owner since he rescued the stones.

Missing moon rocks also have been reported in New Jersey, Ireland, Romania, Cyprus and Spain.

Click on "START" to see photos of the Moon and its rocks.

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