The Honduras lunar sample displays are two

commemorative plaque A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, or in other places referred to as a historical marker, historic marker, or historic plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other ...

s consisting of small fragments of Moon specimen brought back with the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...

and

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...

lunar missions and given in the 1970s to the people of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

by United States President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

as goodwill gifts.

Description

Apollo 11

Apollo 17

History

The Honduras Apollo 17 "goodwill Moon rocks" plaque display came into the possession of retired colonel Roberto Agurcia Ugarte; it is unclear how Ugarte obtained it. Ugarte put the plaque up for sale, covering the stars of the Honduras flag to conceal the plaque's origin. Alan Rosen, a Florida fruit distributor, purchased it from Ugarte for what he claims was $50,000 in 1996. In 1998 Rosen attempted to sell the rock and was caught in a sting operation, Operation Lunar Eclipse; U.S. Government agents recovered the rock. A lawsuit filed against Rosen, ''United States v. One Lucite Ball Containing Lunar Material (One Moon Rock) and One Ten Inch by Fourteen Inch Wooden Plaque'',Miami, Florida #01-0116-CIV-JORDAN was settled in 2003. Rosen forfeited the Honduras Apollo 17 lunar sample plaque display, which was presented in 2004 to Honduran President

Ricardo Maduro Ricardo Rodolfo Maduro Joest (born 20 April 1946 in Panama) is a Honduran politician who served as President of Honduras from 2002 to 2006. A member of the National Party, Maduro was previously chairman of the Central Bank of Honduras. He grad ...

. The Honduras Apollo 17 goodwill Moon rock plaque, of as 2012, is on display in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

at Centro Interactivo Chiminike. According to

Robert Pearlman Robert Zane Pearlman (born January 14, 1976) is an American space historian and the founder and editor of collectSPACE, a website devoted to news and information concerning space exploration and space-related artifacts and memorabilia, especiall ...

, the whereabouts of the Honduras Apollo 11 goodwill lunar display are unknown.

References

Bibliographic information

External links

{{The Moon Stolen and missing Moon rocks Honduras–United States relations Science and technology in Honduras