Bill Handel

Bill Handel

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Woman Sues NASA Over Moon Dust

A lawsuit has been filed under the US District Court of Kansas, after a woman decided to sue NASA over a small vial of moon dust.

The woman claims that when she was ten, her mom gifted her the vial along with one of her father's business cards.

"Astronaut Neil Armstrong gifted the vial of lunar dust at issue to Laura Ann Murray, now Laura Murray Cicco, when she was a child, and she is the rightful and legal owner of the vial and its contents. Therefore, she requests judgement declaring her the rightful and legal owner of the vial and its contents, and vesting title in her name," according to the court documents.

On the back of her father's business card that was included with the vial, a message reads "To Laura Ann Murray - Best of Luck - Neil Armstrong Apollo 11."

The woman said her father, Tom Murray, was friends with Armstrong when they were both in the military.

But a 2012 law states that astronauts have full rights to any of the artifacts collected in space.

"A United States astronaut who participated in any of the Mercury, Gemini, or Apollo programs through the completion of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, who received an artifact during his participation in any such program, shall have full ownership of and clear title to such artifact," according to the law, passed in 2012. But it "does not include lunar rocks and other lunar material."

An expert has studied the note on the back of the business card, and believes the signature is real.


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