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Is it legal to own, buy, or sell Apollo mission moon rocks and lunar samples?
Is it legal to own, buy, or sell Apollo mission moon rocks and lunar samples?
published
28 February 2026
NASA has severe penalties for those who dare to deal in astromaterials.
[a close-up of two gloved hands holding a tube full of grey rocky dust in a clean room]
- A close-up of an Apollo 17 lunar core sample being taken out of its tube for the first time since it was collected by Apollo astronauts in December 1972 at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
(Image credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz)
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If you ever happen to see an eager seller on ebay or Craigslist offering authentic moon rocks or lunar dust hauled back during the glory days of the Apollo moon landing missions, it's probably best to view that sale with extreme skepticism as any NASA astromaterials are not exactly available on the open market, and there are serious legal ramifications to anyone caught peddling these precious objects.
One of the most notorious and brazen cases of astromaterials theft took place in 2002, when three NASA interns, Thad Roberts, Tiffany Fowler, and Shae Saur stole 17 pounds (8 kilograms) of moon rocks worth nearly $21 million from a safe at the Johnson Space Center. The heist used a combo of tampered cameras, neoprene body suits, and official NASA badges to pull off the cape . But selling Apollo treasures on the black market proved to be not so easy, and the culprits finally put them up for sale on the Mineralogy Club of Antwerp's online site. Tampa Division FBI agents acted as interested buyers that met at an Orlando-area hotel where the thieves were nabbed and the moon rocks recovered. Roberts, as the mastermind, received an 8-year prison sentence while the others were given house arrest.
NASA's Lunar Sample Laboratory Facilityis located in Building 31N at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. It opened in 1979 to provide a non-contaminating, permanent repository environment for NASA's precious lunar sample collection.
Inside the secure enclosure, geologic astromaterials returned from the moon by six Apollo lunar surface exploration missions spanning the years between 1969 and 1972 are held with all related data records. A total of 842 pounds (382 kilograms) of moon rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust came back to Earth. Apollo 17's mission alone returned a whopping 243 pounds (110.4 kg) of lunar regolith and rock samples.
Folks working at the Lunar Sample Laboratoryare extremely careful about what they can say and not say relating to this subject. Try as we might, we were unable to obtain any direct comment laying out the laws regarding those types of transactions. NASA and the Johnson Space Center have exacting records of each lunar sample and have carefully catalogued everything that has been aboard any Apollo capsule ever to splash down in Earth's oceans. Pristine lunar samples are stored and handled in stainless steel glove cabinets, separated by triple layers of gloves, and purged by high-purity nitrogen gas to reduce sample degradation.
[two men in white clean suits stand next to a sealed glass box containing dark grey rocks of various sizes]
*Ryan Zeigler, Apollo sample curator, describes moon rocks collected during the moon landings in the Lunar Curation Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center Tuesday, May 17, 2022 in Houston. (Image credit: Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)*
So to answer the basic question of buying and selling of Apollo materials returned from the moon, the obvious answer is that no, it is absolutely not legal in any circumstance under severe penalty of law. It is a serious Federal crime that carries with it prison time and costly fines. Apollo moon rocks are NASA and U.S. government property which cannot be sold or exchanged to any private citizen, not even astronauts themselves. Lunar meteorites don’t apply since they have dropped to Earth naturally and were not transported by government-employed astronauts.
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Here are the three federal statutes that apply to Apollo astromaterial trafficking:
- 18 U.S.C. § 641 – Theft of Government Property Moon rocks gathered by intrepid astronauts are federal property belonging to NASA. This law makes it a felony to steal, convert, or embezzle any U.S. government-owned property.
- 18 U.S.C. § 668 – Theft of Cultural Heritage or Major Artwork Even though they’re considered scientific in nature, lunar samples can be labeled as objects of historical and cultural significance. This specific law prohibits theft from any museum or government institution and also bans possession or sale of these stolen heritage items.
- 18 U.S.C. § 2314 & § 2315 – Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property If those stolen items are worth more than $5,000 (such as moon rocks/lunar dust) move across state lines, additional federal charges for trafficking stolen property apply.
[an astronaut in a bulky space suit stands next to a large boulder on a grey, grainy surface]
*Apollo astronaut Harrison Hagan Schmitt takes rock samples from the surface of the moon during America's last lunar landing mission of the 20th century during Apollo 17 in December 1972. (Image credit: NASA/Space Frontiers/Getty Images)*
Although NASA guards these invaluable items under the most rigorous security measures, it is still the agency's policy to allow public access to lunar samples from the Apollo Program by providing loans to approved individuals or groups in the United States and foreign countries.
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