Goodwill Moon Rock: Where is Arkansas's 5 Million Dollar treasure?

Goodwill Moon Rock: Where is Arkansas's 5 million Dollar treasure?

It seems as if the State of Arkansas has lost one of its most priceless treasures! As a former student from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and now a graduate student at the University of Phoenix, I have been tasked with locating the Arkansas Goodwill Moon Rock.

Between 1973 and 1974, After the Apollo 17 mission to the moon, President Richard Nixon presented 50 states and 135 nations of the world with Moon Rocks as gesture of Goodwill. America recovered 842 pounds of moon rocks on six manned missions, and Apollo 17 was the last manned mission to the moon.

On March 21, 1973 President Nixon sent letters which accompanied the samples transferred to the heads of States. According to the National Achieves the letter read:

The Apollo lunar landing program conducted by the United States has been brought to a successful conclusion. Men from the planet Earth have reached the first milestone in space. But as we stretch for the stars, we know that we stand also upon the shoulders of many men of many nations here on our own planet. In the deepest sense our exploration of the moon was truly an international effort.

It is for this reason that, on behalf of the people of the United States I present this flag, which was carried to the moon, to the State, and its fragment of the moon obtained during the final lunar mission of the Apollo program.

If people of many nations can act together to achieve the dreams of humanity in space, then surely we can act together to accomplish humanity's dream of peace here on earth. It was in this spirit that the United States of America went to the moon, and it is in this spirit that we look forward to sharing what we have done and what we have learned with all mankind.

This global mission to track down these moon rocks started around 2002 lead by former NASA Special Agent Joseph Gutheinz, now an instructor at the University of Phoenix. Many of Gutheniz students have found that these gifts are missing, lost, have been stolen or destroyed.

In 1998 Gutheinz was the lead investigator in Operation Lunar Eclipse, a sting operation to uncover fake rocks. During this operation Gutheinz was offered 5 million for the real Honduras Goodwill Moon Rock. Eventually the rock was recovered and returned to Honduras.

This topic is so distinctive because this month marked the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 12 mission to the moon, which returned to earth on November 24, 1969. I also worked on the team which uncovered that the Cyprus Goodwill moon rock was never presented to the country. The rock was given to the US ambassador to Cyprus; however, in 1974 during a war the US ambassador to Cyprus was killed. It is thought that the missing rock may still be in the possession of the diplomat's relatives.

My investigation into the Apollo 17 Arkansas Goodwill started by contacting the Governor's Offices which I have yet to hear a response from. Then I contacted the National Achieves and Records Administration (NARA), Arkansas Historic Museum, Arkansas Aerospace Education Center, and the Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Sciences which had no clue about any of this. How can you run a space center and not have a clue about these moon rocks. None of Arkansas officials responded to the inquiries into the Arkansas Goodwill Moon Rocks.

There was one very helpful lady by the name of Elizabeth Danley at the Arkansas State Library of found article from the Arkansas Gazette from February 15, 1973 that reports a visit from Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt and Ronald Evans of Apollo 17 in which they gave former Governor Dale Bumpers this gift! If this is so where is this gift now?

How can the Governor, other state officials, and even museums not care about such a timeless event in the nation's history? These invaluable treasures are worth 3 to 5million on the black market. If the State officials are this careless about this national treasure, now wonder why the State is in such a budget crisis!

As a result of the investigation, the Apollo 17 Arkansas Goodwill moon rock remains unaccounted for and almost unheard of. We hope to one day return to the moon, but if not these small treasures are all we have!