Moon Rock Worth $5 Million Stolen

Ok all you conspiracists and space junkies, what can possibly be done with a moon rock? Why would someone steal this speck of rock (size of a raisin) and for what purposes? who would want to buy a stolen moon rock? It can't be too important, since the museum had it in a plastic case with no security. Or is it? you tell me, i would have no interest in a moon rock if i ever saw or met one.

Moon Rock Believed Worth About $5 Million Stolen From Malta Museum
A tiny moon rock believed to be worth about $5 million was stolen from a museum in Malta, 30 years after President Richard Nixon donated it to the Mediterranean island nation.
The theft from the Museum of Natural History in Mdina was discovered Tuesday during a routine check, officials said. A protective cover of plastic had been forced open to take the rock, which was the size of a raisin.

The rock was picked up in a lunar valley named Taurus-Littrow during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, the last of the Apollo moon-landing missions. It was one of many moon samples given to nations of the world by the United States.

"The problem the thieves have is what to do with it," Joseph Richard Gutheinz, a retired NASA agent who helped recover the Honduras rock, wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "They can try to sell it to private collectors or if they're sufficiently dumb, at an auction house."

There are no surveillance cameras and no custodians at the Museum of Natural History because of insufficient funding. The only attendant is the ticket-seller.

Originally posted by worldwatcher
Ok all you conspiracists and space junkies, what can possibly be done with a moon rock? Why would someone steal this speck of rock (size of a raisin) and for what purposes? who would want to buy a stolen moon rock? It can't be too important, since the museum had it in a plastic case with no security. Or is it? you tell me, i would have no interest in a moon rock if i ever saw or met one.

According to some (not me) the rock would actually be worthless becuase we never went to the moon in the first place.

Maybe the thief was from the ICR and wants to prove that the moon is only a few thousand years old.

For novelty purposes perhaps? Or for the historic significance? Or for the fact that it was a gift given to a nation by the USA celebrating this?

interesting, I was hoping for something more exciting...like moon dust cures cancer, new fuel source, or shows proof of life....something to that effect. oh well, i would buy it but not for anything like the supposed value of it.