spacetoday.net: Court sets value of moon rocks

Posted: Thu, Aug 7, 2003, 10:36 AM ET (1436 GMT)
A federal court decided Wednesday that a collection of lunar rocks stolen by four people last year is worth $5 million. The valuation, the first time a dollar value has been attached to samples returned by the Apollo missions, was part of the sentencing phase of two people who pleaded guilty to the theft. The court, in consultation with prosecution and defense attorneys, determined that it cost taxpayers $50,800 a gram in 1973 dollars to retrieve the samples during the six Apollo lunar landings. The 101.5 grams of lunar samples stored in a safe stolen from the Johnson Space Center last summer are thus valued at $5.1 million, although in current dollars that value increases to $21 million. The court in Orlando used the $5.1 million value when sentencing Shae Saur and Tiffany Fowler; who had earlier pled guilty to participating in the theft. Each received three years probation, the first 180 days of which is to be served under house arrest. The two other people involved in the theft, Gordon McWhorter and Thad Roberts, are scheduled to be sentenced in late August and September, respectively.