Moon rock donated to Ireland by Apollo astronauts was destroyed by fire A priceless piece of Moon rock donated to Ireland following a Nasa mission was destroyed in a fire, newly released records show.
Confidential documents from April 1984 show Irish officials were unsure where to display the specimen until the US offered to donate a second piece of lunar rock to Ireland in 1973, following another successful Apollo mission.
A memo discussing the original Moon rock notes: “This piece was given on September 4 1973, on the advice of the Department of Education, to the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies for display at the Dunsink Observatory.
Documents from the National Archives in Dublin detail the embarrassing affair, which saw the rock travel 380,000km (236,121 miles) to Earth before spending three years in a government basement and ultimately being lost in an accidental fire at Dunsink Observatory.
“It was decided to give the Moon rock to Dunsink when it became known that a second gift was to be made by the US Government and it was thought that some embarrassment would be caused if the first piece was not already on display.”.
