Armstrong's moon-purse set for $4m bid-off

The bag Neil Armstrong used to carry home lunar samples from the Apollo 11 mission could fetch up to $4m at auction next month. Auction house Sotheby's says the bag, which carried a half-kilo of material from the Moon to Earth, is one of the few artifacts from the mission that can be purchased by members of the general public …

[Winkypop]

One owner, only used on a Sunday

Many miles though...

July 20, 1969 = Sunday

[Drew Scott]

Cheque, please....

[Dave 126]

Moon dust - nasty stuff.

I enjoyed the following podcast from the public Australian broadcaster ABC:

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/scienceshow/chinese-missions-to-study-lunar-dust/8425898

"The dust is like fine sand, but with sharp edges. Despite being the biggest environmental hazard, organisers of the Apollo missions took little account of the dust. It was a real problem causing batteries to overheat. It pierced space suits, and clogged equipment. The Chinese have already deployed 3 robotic missions to the Moon. Brian O’Brien, a professor of space science who helped astronauts prepared for the Apollo missions says the Chang’e 3 rover Yutu which landed in 2013 moved 100m on its first day, but hasn’t moved since, due to the effects of lunar dust. Studies of lunar dust will now be a priority for future"

The IT angle is that Prof O'Brien had to dig out his old computer tapes of the data from his lunar experiments cos NASA had lost theirs.

[John Mangan]

RE: "Moon dust - nasty stuff."

Arthur C. clarke - A Fall of Moondust.

I think I'm due a re-read.

[allthecoolshortnamesweretaken]

"... was instead lumped into a lot of items the US Marshall's service set for auction in 2015."

Wait, what? And was Jack Carter involved in any way?

[User McUser]

the (by now empty) lunar sample bag

Oh, I bet there are a few specs of lunar regolith somewhere in there. Anyone who's ever taken a bag or backpack to the beach knows that you'll be cleaning the sand out of it forever.