1 00:00:00,200 --> 00:00:27,600 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of iHeartRadio. Welcome back to 2 00:00:27,680 --> 00:00:31,320 Speaker 1: the show, fellow Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always so 3 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:35,520 Speaker 1: much for tuning in. Who's that regular man on the moon? 4 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:40,560 Speaker 1: Why it's none other than our super producer, mister Max Williams. 5 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 2: Max Moonman Williams. Yes, a lunar tic if ever there was. 6 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:49,160 Speaker 2: You are Noel Brown. Yeah, I've never been to the Moon. 7 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 2: I don't even think it's real, to be honest. 8 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 1: And I am Ben Bollen. Oh thanks, who. 9 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:58,240 Speaker 2: Very much believes in the reality of the moon. If 10 00:00:58,240 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 2: I'm not mistaken. 11 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 1: Oh gosh. You know, everybody has these childhood dreams of 12 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: what they will be when they grow up, and once 13 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: upon a time, true story, nol I aspired to be 14 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:12,480 Speaker 1: the first werewolf on the moon. 15 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:17,279 Speaker 2: Figure it out. Yeah, how are you planning on getting 16 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 2: getting like anthropy, getting the bite? How are you going 17 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:21,800 Speaker 2: to expose yourself to this malady? 18 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,039 Speaker 1: Well, that's what they would call a sunk cost, that 19 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:29,000 Speaker 1: malign in particular. The idea was if you're always on 20 00:01:29,080 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 1: the moon, then you're not, you know, vulnerable to the 21 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: various downfalls of like anthropy. But you'll riddle me this, 22 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: what do we get when we cross an aspiring astronaut 23 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:48,440 Speaker 1: whirlwind summer fleeting, shout out to our research associate, the 24 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:52,600 Speaker 1: one and only Jordan, and a safe full of priceless 25 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: moon rocks. 26 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 2: What do we get? We get ridiculous history, Ben, I 27 00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 2: think you know that. And can I also just say 28 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 2: that I do believe that the moon exists. I just 29 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:12,359 Speaker 2: had to make that mention because I recently met a 30 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:14,919 Speaker 2: fellow who said he did not believe that the moon existed, 31 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 2: not that the moon landing was faked, but that the 32 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:22,120 Speaker 2: moon itself is entirely a fraud perpetrated on the people 33 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 2: of Earth. 34 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:25,960 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, by whom who knows? 35 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:31,119 Speaker 1: They Ah capital they capital t They. 36 00:02:31,080 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 2: Already got it. We got we got a wild ride 37 00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:36,040 Speaker 2: for you today, folks. Combines some elements of a heist. 38 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 2: You know, we love a heist, some history, some science fact. 39 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 2: Maybe a little science fiction will sprinkling there just for 40 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 2: the hell of it. But man, Jordan really found us 41 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,720 Speaker 2: a dinger, as they said in the nineteen twenties. 42 00:02:49,360 --> 00:02:55,919 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, twenty three, scould do on you, Jordan Research Associate. God, 43 00:02:56,000 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 1: that guy's a legend. I love hanging out with him. 44 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 1: Jordan has introduced us to a guy named Thad Roberts. Now, 45 00:03:04,280 --> 00:03:09,400 Speaker 1: Thad is very good at physics, and Thad is also 46 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: super in love with his girlfriend and he really wants 47 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 1: to impress her. He borrows a jeep, he wears a 48 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: scuba suit. He gets sort of into indus shenanigans. And 49 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,280 Speaker 1: this is also a story about moon rocks. 50 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, it is that and his uh which you might 51 00:03:33,200 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 2: call a ragtag crew of interns. Jr. Jordan rentag our 52 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:40,040 Speaker 2: Boy describes them as horny interns. We'll get to that 53 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 2: pulled off what should have been the perfect caper for 54 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 2: this our space age, and it does involve stealing and 55 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:53,400 Speaker 2: attempting to fence lunar rocks, which triggered a man hunt 56 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 2: skiing operation and ended up with some serious jail times. 57 00:03:57,640 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 2: So strap in no pun intended for sex on the Moon. 58 00:04:02,280 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 2: A tale of romance, ambition, federal charges, and geology. It's 59 00:04:06,720 --> 00:04:08,560 Speaker 2: gonna rock your very ridiculous world. 60 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 3: Get it rock. That was George's joke. I thought that 61 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:12,480 Speaker 3: was cool. 62 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 1: There are only two ways to get rocks from the moon, okay, 63 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:21,920 Speaker 1: and only one of those ways is legal. Either they 64 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:26,240 Speaker 1: come to you on Earth or you go to them 65 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: via something like the Apollo program and purposely pick them up. 66 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:36,880 Speaker 1: So with that former definition, scientists here on Earth, without 67 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 1: leaving the planet, have collected something north of two two 68 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 1: hundred and fifty pounds worth of lunar material that just 69 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:50,159 Speaker 1: sort of crashed on Earth's surface at some point in 70 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:53,920 Speaker 1: time as meteorites. And most of these things are going 71 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: to be recovered from Antarctica, Northern Africa, deserts in western Asia, 72 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 1: or what you would call the Middle. 73 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:08,760 Speaker 2: East remote mainly inhospitable regions. The rest were obtained that 74 00:05:08,880 --> 00:05:11,360 Speaker 2: second way, which we'll call the hard way, from the 75 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:15,240 Speaker 2: surface of the very real Moon itself. The first and 76 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:18,160 Speaker 2: biggest batch were recovered during like you said, Ben America's 77 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:21,440 Speaker 2: Apollo program. And how appropriate that I am joined in 78 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:24,520 Speaker 2: my podcast studio by none other than my very sweet 79 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 2: little space boy, Apollo, the toy poodle. So Apollo gives 80 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:31,320 Speaker 2: you a little puppy wave. They were the astronauts that 81 00:05:31,440 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 2: is able to bring back a whopping twenty two hundred 82 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 2: samples weighing in at eight hundred and forty two pounds 83 00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 2: over the course of six missions between the years nineteen 84 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:46,040 Speaker 2: sixty nine and nineteen seventy two, and these Moon fragments, 85 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:51,720 Speaker 2: which span the geological spectrum from various sizes and grades 86 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:55,640 Speaker 2: of material rocks to pebbles to sand to dust, are 87 00:05:55,760 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 2: stored very gingerly in controlled, highly controlled situations, including nitrogen 88 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:06,359 Speaker 2: filled cabinets at NASA's Lunar Curation Lab, which is a 89 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 2: thing in order to avoid contamination and oxidization from Earth's atmosphere, 90 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:16,960 Speaker 2: not to mention to potentially contain some space germs that 91 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 2: people were real worried about for a while, but more 92 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 2: on that later. 93 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 3: Yeah. 94 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, and the oxidation, as we'll see, is the primary concern. 95 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,600 Speaker 1: Note again, what we're saying here, folks, Again, it's two 96 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:36,480 Speaker 1: and fifty pounds worth of moon stuff that landed on Earth, 97 00:06:37,279 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: and it's eight hundred and forty two pounds of stuff 98 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:48,000 Speaker 1: humans provably brought back from the Apollo program. The largest 99 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: moon rock ever recovered from the Apollo missions is a 100 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:57,360 Speaker 1: twenty six pound chonky boy, so chonky that we call 101 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:02,600 Speaker 1: it Big Mulley, named in honor of the geology team 102 00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:08,479 Speaker 1: leader of Apollo sixteen, Bill Muhlberger. There's another money to 103 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: his friends, no doubt, Well, Big Mulley to his friends. 104 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 2: Yeah. 105 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: There is also the Genesis Rock, which is believed to 106 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 1: be one of the oldest things humans know about from 107 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: the surface of the Moon. It's somewhere between four and 108 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 1: five billion years old, which we acknowledge is a heck 109 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: of a margin. 110 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, and let's not forget about the Soviets. They went 111 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,080 Speaker 2: up there too. They actually sent a dog up there, 112 00:07:38,160 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 2: quite cruelly, poor little Laika, who didn't make it. Back. 113 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 2: In the early seventies, a trio of unmanned Soviet robotic 114 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 2: probes Douglas thankfully brought back ten point six ounces of 115 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:54,000 Speaker 2: material over the course of three missions. Not nearly as impressive. 116 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 2: No shade on the Soviets. They were definitely, you know, 117 00:07:56,840 --> 00:07:58,880 Speaker 2: in the space race, but this is not quite the 118 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 2: hall that the emission brought back. More recently, in the 119 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 2: twenty twenties, we've got China entering the Chat with two 120 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 2: Unmann probes, bringing back around eight pounds of lunar material, 121 00:08:10,040 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 2: including the very first from the story to Dark Side 122 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 2: of the Moon, famous by the Pink Floyd album. Of note, 123 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,200 Speaker 2: of course, it's the only place that was made famous 124 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 2: by that's not true. But the US, as we've mentioned, 125 00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 2: and as was probably pretty clear by now, possesses the 126 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:29,560 Speaker 2: vast majority of all this moon stuff. And for the 127 00:08:29,600 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 2: purposes of this episode, we're gonna mainly be staying in 128 00:08:32,920 --> 00:08:34,439 Speaker 2: the US. 129 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:37,760 Speaker 1: Yes, because we will get in trouble if we mentioned 130 00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 1: the Soviet or Chinese lunar possessions also like a gata space, 131 00:08:43,400 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: but didn't get to the moon, because getting to the 132 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:52,800 Speaker 1: Moon is very, very difficult, Max, if you could give 133 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: us some difficult music, something that gives us a sense 134 00:08:57,400 --> 00:08:59,079 Speaker 1: of epic adventure. 135 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 2: Perfect perhaps a little adversity, a little bit of tension there, 136 00:09:07,040 --> 00:09:07,559 Speaker 2: I love. 137 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:14,239 Speaker 1: It, yeah, perfectly. So getting to the Moon is already 138 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:20,079 Speaker 1: a crazy endeavor. It is two hundred and thirty eight thousand, 139 00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 1: nine hundred miles from the Earth to the lunar surface 140 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 1: and back, and both of those points, point A and 141 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:33,960 Speaker 1: point z are moving the entire time, right. 142 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:36,640 Speaker 2: And if you hear from people in your day to 143 00:09:36,720 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 2: day lives who maybe are skeptical about the moon landing 144 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:42,720 Speaker 2: being real, something that we've covered at length on stuff 145 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,679 Speaker 2: that don't want you to know, a lot of the 146 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 2: reasoning behind that is the absolute mammoth task that is 147 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 2: going to and from the Moon, the logistics of it 148 00:09:53,640 --> 00:09:59,559 Speaker 2: being bonkers, and what was available and possible in the 149 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 2: nineteen sixties. It just seems sometimes on first glance that 150 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 2: this was a way tall order for the technology of 151 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:08,800 Speaker 2: the time. And I do come down the side of 152 00:10:08,880 --> 00:10:10,679 Speaker 2: you know, the moon landing was real, just for the record, 153 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:11,559 Speaker 2: but just putting that. 154 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:15,720 Speaker 1: Out there, all right, Well, it's good to dream, Brony. 155 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:21,400 Speaker 1: We all know the moon landings were real. There is 156 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: provable evidence you can see with a proper telescope, right, 157 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:31,760 Speaker 1: a consumer level telescope, as Noel said, check out stuff 158 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: they don't want you to know. We dive in depth 159 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: to that. And what's interesting about what you're saying here, Nol, 160 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: is that if we look back in the nineteen sixties, 161 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:46,800 Speaker 1: the boffins already had a very good grasp of what 162 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 1: we would call germ theory, the danger of pathogens, the 163 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 1: danger of bacteria, micro organisms, viruses. So the eggheads are asking, 164 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:01,839 Speaker 1: the moonheads are asking, what what if we land on 165 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:06,920 Speaker 1: the lunar surface and we run into an outbreak situation? 166 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:12,520 Speaker 1: What if we find something small that hitches the ride 167 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:17,320 Speaker 1: back to Earth and gets released in the ecosystem and 168 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:19,559 Speaker 1: it's an alien invasive species. 169 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:22,280 Speaker 2: And this is maybe the sprinkling of science fiction that 170 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:26,520 Speaker 2: we promised this idea of a moon plague, these alien 171 00:11:26,600 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 2: pathogens brought back to your point, Ben, hitching a ride 172 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:34,120 Speaker 2: on the old Space Shuttle back to Earth, potentially causing 173 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:40,080 Speaker 2: some sort of catastrophic, potentially even extinction level event. The 174 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:44,080 Speaker 2: idea of back contamination was the same reason that the 175 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:46,319 Speaker 2: astronauts in the first three Apollo missions were kept in 176 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 2: quarantine for three weeks upon their return. NASA spent quite 177 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:55,080 Speaker 2: a bit of money on this real or imagined problem, 178 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:59,080 Speaker 2: around seven point eight million or eighty million adjusted for inflation, 179 00:11:59,440 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 2: in the form of eighty six thousand square foot lunar 180 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,440 Speaker 2: receiving laboratory at the Johnson Space Center there in Houston, 181 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 2: as a place to quarantine the materials and the astronauts. 182 00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:11,960 Speaker 2: This is also where the samples were processed in study, 183 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 2: and one somewhat ethically dubious experiment that was carried out 184 00:12:17,040 --> 00:12:22,920 Speaker 2: there involved feeding grains of lunar dust to mice, quail, quail, 185 00:12:23,160 --> 00:12:26,080 Speaker 2: interesting and other life forms who were then monitored for 186 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:27,880 Speaker 2: any ill effects. 187 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: Thankfully, Yeah, everything worked out, you know, uh, people, right, 188 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:39,439 Speaker 1: everything's great. Scientists were in fact astonished at good results, 189 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:44,320 Speaker 1: and they said, look, if you put plants in lunar soil, 190 00:12:44,840 --> 00:12:50,000 Speaker 1: they they grow better, they thrive better than they would 191 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:54,320 Speaker 1: in earth soil. However, we're still very concerned about this 192 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:58,560 Speaker 1: idea of back contamination. So if you're a worker at 193 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:02,920 Speaker 1: the lunar receiving laboratory at the Johnson Space Center, you 194 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,320 Speaker 1: have to do the whole twelve monkeys thing. You have 195 00:13:06,440 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 1: to be decontaminated. You got to strip off all your 196 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: lab clothes, you got a shower, and then you can't 197 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:17,240 Speaker 1: put on your clothing right after your shower. Instead, you 198 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:22,560 Speaker 1: have to walk naked as atom through an ultraviolet lightmath 199 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,160 Speaker 1: and then you get to put on your street duds 200 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: and exit. Ultimately, all of this effort was let's see 201 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: it this way, it was a an error on the 202 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:39,040 Speaker 1: side of caution. It turned out there was no chemical 203 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:44,839 Speaker 1: evidence of life in any form from these lunar samples, 204 00:13:44,880 --> 00:13:50,600 Speaker 1: so there was no insidious germ, microbe, bacteria, or virus. 205 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:54,000 Speaker 2: And I think we all aren't particularly mad at the 206 00:13:54,040 --> 00:13:56,280 Speaker 2: idea of airing on the side of caution. There were 207 00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:59,680 Speaker 2: a lot of unknowns in these early days, so good 208 00:13:59,679 --> 00:14:01,559 Speaker 2: on you science for looking out for the rest of 209 00:14:01,640 --> 00:14:11,440 Speaker 2: us here back on Earth. Man Jordan headlined this next 210 00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:15,439 Speaker 2: section with a fabulous phrase, which is protect the rocks 211 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 2: at all costs. The other challenge for NASA at this 212 00:14:18,120 --> 00:14:22,520 Speaker 2: time was protecting those rocks at all costs from deterioration. 213 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 2: These are very important artifacts, very valuable artifacts, very rare 214 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:30,640 Speaker 2: deterioration that is due to the oxygen and Earth's atmosphere. 215 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 2: As we mentioned, oxidization is the enemy of the Moon rock, 216 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:37,040 Speaker 2: the humble Moon rock. Exposure to air would cause these 217 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 2: rocks to instantly start to deteriorate through that process of oxidization, 218 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,160 Speaker 2: which would both damage the rock and make it much 219 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 2: less scientifically viable, if not entirely useless, because it was 220 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:52,720 Speaker 2: effectively contaminated at that point. Yeah. Yeah, because to the 221 00:14:52,720 --> 00:14:55,160 Speaker 2: moon rocks, the Earth's atmosphere is the alien bit, right, 222 00:14:55,440 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 2: I like that. 223 00:14:56,120 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, because the idea here is that the oxidization and 224 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 1: would break down the chemical components, right, the overall mixtape 225 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: of whatever lunar material means, It would break it down 226 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: into an earthly thing, just a collection of stuff you 227 00:15:15,000 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: can find on the planet today, So. 228 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:19,760 Speaker 2: Wouldn't be special anymore. 229 00:15:19,920 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 1: Right, It's not Christmas every if it's Christmas every day. 230 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 1: Decided to say so. They want to keep these samples 231 00:15:27,480 --> 00:15:33,720 Speaker 1: chemically identical right control for variables chemically identical to what 232 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:36,760 Speaker 1: they were when they were on the moon. So they 233 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:43,280 Speaker 1: put in this quite strict, robust procedure for recovery. Let's 234 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: say we're all astronauts, folks, you, Max, Noel and yours truly, 235 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: we are at the moon. We are trying to get 236 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: our moon stuff. And then we get the orders from 237 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: mission control and misig Control tells us the following. They say, look, 238 00:16:04,440 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: you got to take your fiberglass bag out with you 239 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,720 Speaker 1: on your moon walk, and then you've got to put 240 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:13,320 Speaker 1: your stuff in there. And then you've got to take 241 00:16:13,360 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: your fiberglass bag and you've got to put it in 242 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: a vacuum sealed metal container. And if we are the 243 00:16:22,240 --> 00:16:27,160 Speaker 1: astronauts talking to Michig Control, we're going to be complaining. 244 00:16:27,440 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: We'll say this smells like gunpowder. This is a weird vibe. 245 00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:36,920 Speaker 2: I'm picturing these vacuum steel containers again, just with a 246 00:16:36,960 --> 00:16:40,400 Speaker 2: sprinkling of sci fi as being those kind of cylinder 247 00:16:40,560 --> 00:16:43,200 Speaker 2: type things that almost look like a giant thermos with 248 00:16:43,280 --> 00:16:46,359 Speaker 2: the twisty top on it, and it makes it really satisfying, 249 00:16:47,560 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 2: you know, when you close it perhaps some dry ice 250 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 2: type steam comes out, you know, I love it. 251 00:16:54,280 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: Yeah, this is also the reason they are reporting this 252 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: smell or us in this scenario, shout out the quizzard. 253 00:17:03,400 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: We're reporting this smell of gunpowder in the spacecraft because 254 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:12,879 Speaker 1: the moon dust is on our suits and it is 255 00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:17,119 Speaker 1: oxidizing when exposed to an earth like atmosphere. 256 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 2: Can't save all the particles. We're gonna lose that dust 257 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:23,120 Speaker 2: to oxidization. But they did the best they could. 258 00:17:23,560 --> 00:17:26,639 Speaker 1: And I love that you're pointing out that that awesome 259 00:17:26,840 --> 00:17:31,639 Speaker 1: pH thermos idea with a canister, because there is a 260 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:36,359 Speaker 1: bigger canister at plate. We could say when this lunar 261 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:40,480 Speaker 1: material makes it back here to Tea, the fancy name 262 00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:45,520 Speaker 1: for Earth. So instead of having a giant thermos, which 263 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:51,000 Speaker 1: would be an awesome idea, I'm laughing. I'm picturing a 264 00:17:51,119 --> 00:17:55,640 Speaker 1: gigantic thermos somewhere in a space center, all right. So 265 00:17:56,040 --> 00:18:00,880 Speaker 1: instead of building a giant thermos, there are clean rooms 266 00:18:01,560 --> 00:18:05,240 Speaker 1: that essentially function the same way. They are some of 267 00:18:05,280 --> 00:18:10,600 Speaker 1: the strictest clean rooms in the world. They have a 268 00:18:10,760 --> 00:18:15,479 Speaker 1: small army of air filters, and these air filters ensure 269 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: the room contains no more than get this folks one 270 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:25,920 Speaker 1: hundred particles larger than zero point five microns per cubic 271 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:30,000 Speaker 1: feet of air. No offense to anybody living in the 272 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:34,919 Speaker 1: fanciest place imaginable. This room is cleaner than your house. 273 00:18:35,280 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean in comparison, typical indoor air might 274 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 2: have as many as a million particles per cubic foot, 275 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:48,720 Speaker 2: likely more so for this clean room. Folks entering or 276 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:53,119 Speaker 2: required to wear contamination suits or decontamination suits rather. But 277 00:18:53,280 --> 00:18:57,280 Speaker 2: even with these added precautions, the samples are still not 278 00:18:57,480 --> 00:19:02,040 Speaker 2: handled directly. Researchers prepared the rocks in a vacuum sealed 279 00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 2: cabinet through those kind of gloves you might see in 280 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,919 Speaker 2: like a movie like Outbreak, you know, or You're through 281 00:19:07,960 --> 00:19:14,880 Speaker 2: the Yeah, of course, multi layered gloves. High purity nitrogen 282 00:19:15,160 --> 00:19:18,080 Speaker 2: is then pumped in to keep the samples completely free 283 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 2: of moisture. Some of the practices are a little less 284 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:27,240 Speaker 2: high tech. They used some very uh commercially available like 285 00:19:27,520 --> 00:19:32,240 Speaker 2: kitchen gadgets actually to slice these rocks. To bisect them, 286 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:36,240 Speaker 2: a Hobart Deli meat slicing machine a little bit modded 287 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:39,919 Speaker 2: out outfitted with a diamond edged blade. 288 00:19:41,119 --> 00:19:44,520 Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by Hobart Deli meat 289 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 1: slicer pay extra for the diamond. Also, I think Nolan 290 00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:53,080 Speaker 1: and I just forgot we are an audio podcast because folks, 291 00:19:53,160 --> 00:19:57,120 Speaker 1: when we when we were agreeing about the gloves, we 292 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: were talking about the glass in case that has you 293 00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:05,800 Speaker 1: put gloves on yourself up to your forearms or wearing 294 00:20:05,840 --> 00:20:10,400 Speaker 1: your suit obviously, and then you put those gloves into 295 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:16,639 Speaker 1: series vapatures that have their own gloves built into the container. 296 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,439 Speaker 1: I just didn't want us to miss that because we 297 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:21,640 Speaker 1: are an audio well well. 298 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:23,960 Speaker 2: And the visual that you missed maybe was Ben and 299 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 2: I both reaching our arms out and wiggling our fingers 300 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:30,160 Speaker 2: at each other. That's the visual. There another low five 301 00:20:30,240 --> 00:20:32,479 Speaker 2: technique I guess you could call it would be just 302 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 2: cracking them open with the old rock hammer. 303 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:39,359 Speaker 1: You getting situations, you know what I mean. And this 304 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:44,199 Speaker 1: is the issue here. NASA went through a lot of 305 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 1: a lot of headaches, a lot of bureaucratic hoops to 306 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:53,400 Speaker 1: construct this facility and to establish these procedures, which, by 307 00:20:53,440 --> 00:20:58,359 Speaker 1: the way, would later inform our friends in Soviet Russia 308 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:03,440 Speaker 1: and in China. NASA built the way to encounter this stuff. 309 00:21:03,960 --> 00:21:06,480 Speaker 2: Can I just say I think it's incredible that they 310 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:09,399 Speaker 2: you know, with all this money, they did not even 311 00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 2: need to invent a new thing because Hobart already did 312 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 2: it with their meat slicer. They were just like, Noah, 313 00:21:14,520 --> 00:21:16,359 Speaker 2: it just needs a different blade. Have you? Are you 314 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:20,840 Speaker 2: aware been of the audio commentary for the DVD of 315 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:24,600 Speaker 2: the seminal nineteen nineties apocalyptic space movie Armageddon. 316 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,000 Speaker 1: I am lightly aware. I have not listened to it. 317 00:21:28,119 --> 00:21:30,960 Speaker 2: Well, I've only heard clips. But the one that always 318 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:35,119 Speaker 2: makes the news's the internet, I guess is Ben Affleck 319 00:21:35,240 --> 00:21:39,360 Speaker 2: did his own audio commentary. And you may remember famous 320 00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:43,240 Speaker 2: scene where the space boffins kind of face off with 321 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,960 Speaker 2: the drill guys, you know, the burly rough and tumbled 322 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 2: the drill team headed up by what's his name Bruce Willis, 323 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:56,240 Speaker 2: and Bruce Willis just dresses them down, saying you don't 324 00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:59,879 Speaker 2: know a thing about drilling, and you know you did 325 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 2: it all wrong, this, that, and the other. When they're 326 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 2: presented with the space drill that the NASA guys have 327 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,560 Speaker 2: come up with, and he's just like, Ben Affleck just 328 00:22:08,600 --> 00:22:13,240 Speaker 2: finds this whole scenario completely implausible and says he said 329 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:16,159 Speaker 2: to the director Jerry Bruckheimer, wouldn't it be easier to 330 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 2: train astronauts to drill than to train drillers to be astronauts, 331 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,040 Speaker 2: and Jerry Bruckheimer's response, shut the fuck up. 332 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:26,280 Speaker 3: Yes, I remember that clip. 333 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:32,040 Speaker 1: Also, our Bruce Willis character here is probably gonna be 334 00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:36,679 Speaker 1: the first lunar sample curator, a real job assigned to 335 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 1: a gentleman named Elbert, a King, a dot king. He 336 00:22:43,119 --> 00:22:46,359 Speaker 1: gets this first batch of moon rocks. He's supposed to 337 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:51,240 Speaker 1: curate these lunar samples. He is not impressed. In nineteen 338 00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:55,439 Speaker 1: eighty nine, he says, the moment was truly history, but 339 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:59,040 Speaker 1: there was little we could observe or say. We counted 340 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:02,520 Speaker 1: the rocks, we described the size. 341 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,600 Speaker 2: And shape of each piece. Put him down. 342 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:09,720 Speaker 1: But they look like lumps of charcoal in the bottom 343 00:23:09,880 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: of a backyard barbecue grill. So Elbert Elbert is being 344 00:23:16,119 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: a bit of a buskill. He's super not impressed. But 345 00:23:19,960 --> 00:23:25,320 Speaker 1: this is super big for history, because since nineteen seventy nine, 346 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 1: the majority of what we can call American moon rocks 347 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:35,040 Speaker 1: have been stored at the Lunar Sample Laboratory facility over 348 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: at the Johnson Space Center out in Houston. 349 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 2: I do think it's funny to make the distinction of like, 350 00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 2: you know, American versus Russian versus Chinese moon rocks, because 351 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:46,439 Speaker 2: they're all moon rocks, y'all, and the moon doesn't belong 352 00:23:46,560 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 2: to any of us. 353 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:49,880 Speaker 3: That's right. I was despite that. 354 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:51,119 Speaker 2: Flag we planted, you know. 355 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:55,399 Speaker 1: Oh oh, come on, fellow vex loologist in the crowd. 356 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,159 Speaker 1: Study years of flags. It's fun to put a flag 357 00:23:59,240 --> 00:23:59,800 Speaker 1: on things. 358 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:01,800 Speaker 2: Everybody likes to put a flag on things, you know. 359 00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 2: But I'm just saying I think there were. It is 360 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,960 Speaker 2: widely understood that no one, there's no there's no there's 361 00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:12,480 Speaker 2: no coling DIBs on the moon, right yeah. 362 00:24:12,680 --> 00:24:18,440 Speaker 1: Right there. You're referring specifically to the Moon Treaty from 363 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:23,359 Speaker 1: the United Nations, or sometimes called the Moon Agreement. It 364 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:28,480 Speaker 1: was created on December eighteenth, nineteen seventy nine. Which is 365 00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:32,840 Speaker 1: why eighty four percent or about six hundred pounds for 366 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 1: everybody keeping note here, eighty four percent or six hundred 367 00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:43,200 Speaker 1: pounds of quote unquote American moon rocks have been stored 368 00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: at this place in Houston. It's supposed to be like 369 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:53,160 Speaker 1: a doomsday vault. It can withstand one thousand years of 370 00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:57,919 Speaker 1: being underwater. But this is where we get to the 371 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:03,000 Speaker 1: reason this episode is two part series. Noel, riddle me this. 372 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:09,320 Speaker 1: Where are the remaining sixteen percent of these American moon rocks? 373 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:13,160 Speaker 2: I'm so glad you asked, Ben. In the nineteen seventies, 374 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:16,680 Speaker 2: NASA adopted the don't put all your eggs in one 375 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 2: basket approach, which I think we all can get behind. 376 00:25:20,600 --> 00:25:23,879 Speaker 2: It's good to diversify, and secretly moved a one hundred 377 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:26,920 Speaker 2: and fifty pound portion of this collection to another installation 378 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:30,199 Speaker 2: for safe keeping in the dead of night. Since two 379 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:33,000 Speaker 2: thousand and two, they've been stored at the White Sands 380 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:35,840 Speaker 2: Test Facility in New Mexico, which you may be familiar 381 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:39,960 Speaker 2: with from discussions of nuclear tests. Isn't that right, Ben, 382 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 2: am I remembering the correct details from history on the 383 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:44,640 Speaker 2: White Sands Test Facility. 384 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 3: You nailed it. 385 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: You nailed it out there in New Mexico. 386 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:48,000 Speaker 3: Yeah. 387 00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:52,080 Speaker 1: So, over the years, samples of these rocks have been 388 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:56,280 Speaker 1: sort of farmed out or contracted out to a bunch 389 00:25:56,359 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: of research teams across the planet. And these research teams 390 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:07,119 Speaker 1: are equal eggheads and boffins themselves. They're studying everything they 391 00:26:07,119 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 1: can learn about these samples. Some of them have also 392 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 1: been put into museums. Hashtag Indiana Jones it belongs in 393 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,680 Speaker 1: a museum you know you can find Yeah, you can 394 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:25,360 Speaker 1: find them displayed in the American Museum of Natural History 395 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,399 Speaker 1: in New York, which I know we both love. You 396 00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:31,440 Speaker 1: can find them in the Houston Museum of Natural Science. 397 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:37,880 Speaker 1: And another thing that we always recommend the Griffith Observatory 398 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,000 Speaker 1: out there in Los Angeles. 399 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:41,160 Speaker 3: Gosh, I love that place. 400 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 2: I love it too, And they've got a really cool 401 00:26:43,560 --> 00:26:47,679 Speaker 2: pendulum that kind of helps you visualize the rotation of 402 00:26:47,800 --> 00:26:50,800 Speaker 2: the Earth. They have a Tesla coil out there that 403 00:26:50,920 --> 00:26:54,600 Speaker 2: was featured in one of the Og Frankenstein films, and 404 00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,760 Speaker 2: a really really cool old school classic planetarium show that 405 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:03,360 Speaker 2: is often given by aspiring actors. Really give it, they're 406 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 2: all and you got to love that. It's also just 407 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:07,960 Speaker 2: a great hike up from the park at the foot 408 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,879 Speaker 2: of that climb up and up to the observatory itself. 409 00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:12,360 Speaker 2: It's a really wonderful place, big fan. 410 00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,679 Speaker 1: And we also have a pretty great planetarium here in 411 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 1: our fair metropolis of Atlanta, Georgia. Please note, the folks 412 00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:29,000 Speaker 1: narrating the planetarium over at Fern Bank are not aspiring actors. 413 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:34,439 Speaker 1: They are aspiring astronomers, and they're very weird people. We 414 00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:39,240 Speaker 1: say that with great affection. Look, if you're traveling through 415 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:45,399 Speaker 1: one of these museums, you will see very small lunar fragments. 416 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:48,200 Speaker 1: They're going to be in vacuum cases. They're going to 417 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:53,480 Speaker 1: be embedded in resin. If you go to the Smithsodian 418 00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,400 Speaker 1: National Air and Space Museum in Washington, d C. Well, 419 00:27:57,400 --> 00:28:01,680 Speaker 1: you still can which is free. While you still can't, 420 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: you're going to see one of the few moon rocks 421 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:10,359 Speaker 1: on the planet that people can touch. You can walk 422 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:13,560 Speaker 1: up to it and you can put your finger upon 423 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 1: a thing from space. 424 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:20,879 Speaker 2: Indeed, we were talking about the Apollo scientist Farouk el Baz, 425 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 2: who is inspired by his childhood pilgrimage to Mecca, the 426 00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:28,440 Speaker 2: holy place where he himself was able to lay hands 427 00:28:28,480 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 2: on a listen. I mean, I don't know. Moonrocks to 428 00:28:31,040 --> 00:28:33,639 Speaker 2: some might be considered a sacred relic, but in this case, 429 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:36,840 Speaker 2: it was the blackstone. There at Mecca, the most important 430 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:40,760 Speaker 2: site to the Islamic faith. It is believed to have 431 00:28:40,880 --> 00:28:44,760 Speaker 2: been sent down from the heavens, which I don't know. 432 00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 2: It's kind of poetic. There's a poetic parallel there. I mean, 433 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:50,360 Speaker 2: in a way, moon rocks are sent down from the heavens. 434 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:51,440 Speaker 2: I'm behind this. 435 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:57,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, And this is why for many of us, fellow 436 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:03,360 Speaker 1: fans of space in space stuff, the idea of stealing 437 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:09,200 Speaker 1: a moon rock might seem heinous, might seem blasphemous. 438 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:14,920 Speaker 2: D it's a bit of like a national treasure type heights. 439 00:29:15,120 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 2: You know, we're gonna steal the what is it, the 440 00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:20,360 Speaker 2: Declaration of Independence? What do they steal? That's all right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, No, 441 00:29:20,440 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 2: you're very right, Ben, there is something a little bit blasphemous, 442 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:27,360 Speaker 2: especially if you subscribe, as l Boz seems to have 443 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 2: to this notion of moon rocks in some way being 444 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 2: of the heavens, of the celestial bodies, and something that 445 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:38,480 Speaker 2: deserves a little more respect than our earthly rocks. 446 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:43,640 Speaker 1: And this is where we encounter the great crime. Shout 447 00:29:43,680 --> 00:29:47,000 Speaker 1: out to our fellow rude dudes at ridiculous crime. If 448 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:51,800 Speaker 1: you like us, you'll love them, all right. So there's 449 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: this guy named Richard, and this guy named Richard becomes. 450 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:03,240 Speaker 2: Oh yeah that yeah, blame blame old Tricky Dicky for 451 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 2: a handful of things, including perhaps the moonrock heist. At 452 00:30:06,880 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 2: the very least it happened on his watch. 453 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:14,520 Speaker 1: Yeah, So moon rocks have gone missing, and a lot 454 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:20,440 Speaker 1: of this is due to the presidential administration of Tricky Dick. 455 00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:25,280 Speaker 1: As he said, Noel or Richard Nixon. He was in office. 456 00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,560 Speaker 1: He was potised during all of the Apollo mission landings. 457 00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 1: And given that the moon rocks are technically property of 458 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 1: the US government, our buddy President Nixon has the final 459 00:30:39,680 --> 00:30:44,000 Speaker 1: say over how they can or cannot be distributed. So 460 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: during his administration, our buddy Nixon puts out these orders, 461 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:54,840 Speaker 1: and he orders fragments of the rocks from Apollo eleven 462 00:30:55,000 --> 00:31:01,320 Speaker 1: and Apollo seventeen, specifically to be gifted to represents of 463 00:31:01,440 --> 00:31:05,720 Speaker 1: each of the fifty states of the United States. And 464 00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:10,880 Speaker 1: then he also gifts these two hundreds of foreign dignitaries 465 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:12,280 Speaker 1: around the world. 466 00:31:12,600 --> 00:31:14,720 Speaker 3: They called the goodwilled moon rocks. 467 00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:17,040 Speaker 2: It's like getting a piece of the Berlin Wall at 468 00:31:17,040 --> 00:31:19,959 Speaker 2: a gift shop or something fantasier than that. There's a 469 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 2: finite supply of both technically, but I'm also a little 470 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 2: skeptical as to whether those pieces they sell us fridge 471 00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:29,160 Speaker 2: magnets are in fact from the wall. So of the 472 00:31:29,200 --> 00:31:31,200 Speaker 2: two hundred and seventy, like you said, Ben, so called 473 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,360 Speaker 2: goodwill moon rocks that were given away under Nixon's watch, 474 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:44,560 Speaker 2: around one hundred and eighty remain unaccounted for. That's right. 475 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:51,920 Speaker 2: Two thirds are just gone, like Kaiser SoSE in the Nights, lost, stolen, missing. 476 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, and these are also by the way, folks, these 477 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 1: are very small samples. They're less than a gram, So 478 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:04,000 Speaker 1: we're not defending the fact that they are lost. We 479 00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:08,320 Speaker 1: are telling you they are easy to lose, right totally. 480 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:11,520 Speaker 2: I mean, I guess I don't quite understand is there 481 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:15,240 Speaker 2: an issue here? These were given as like little keepsakes. 482 00:32:15,880 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 2: There was no like tracking as to what the dignitaries 483 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 2: did with them after the fact, right where they supposed 484 00:32:21,280 --> 00:32:24,520 Speaker 2: to check in periodically as to whether whether their moon 485 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:26,520 Speaker 2: rock still was on their mantle or they made it 486 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:27,760 Speaker 2: into a keychain or something. 487 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:33,720 Speaker 1: Right, yeah, how do you track it? That's a pretty 488 00:32:33,720 --> 00:32:37,840 Speaker 1: good point, honestly, And it's interesting to look at the 489 00:32:37,880 --> 00:32:41,880 Speaker 1: Soviet version of the matter, which we may do in 490 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:45,400 Speaker 1: a later episode, perhaps on stuff they don't want you 491 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:45,720 Speaker 1: to do. 492 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:48,840 Speaker 2: I guess it was up to the origin countries of 493 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:51,400 Speaker 2: the dignitaries as to how they would be. It was 494 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:55,840 Speaker 2: more maybe I'm over simplifying it or you know, being hyperbolic. 495 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:58,320 Speaker 2: It wasn't like they were meant to be the They 496 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:00,880 Speaker 2: were meant to be a gift to those countries, and 497 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:02,960 Speaker 2: then it was up to the dignitaries and said countries 498 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,280 Speaker 2: to decide how they might be displayed, whether or not 499 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:08,280 Speaker 2: they were worthy of that, et cetera. So we'll get 500 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:11,160 Speaker 2: into a little rundown of some of the tails, at 501 00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:14,080 Speaker 2: least the interesting ones of those missing moon rocks around 502 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:14,440 Speaker 2: the world. 503 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:20,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, but also it was Nixon, and Nixon was not 504 00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 1: above greasing the wheels of geopolitics, you know what I mean. 505 00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,920 Speaker 1: So he was sliding some stuff on the side. We 506 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:35,160 Speaker 1: actually we know in retrospect how many estimated pieces old 507 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:39,600 Speaker 1: Boy gave away, but he probably did a lot of 508 00:33:39,640 --> 00:33:44,120 Speaker 1: stuff off the books. And luckily we know folks like 509 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: Joseph Guntais, who has made it a mission to get 510 00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 1: these lunar rocks, lunar material, we should say, these small 511 00:33:56,360 --> 00:34:01,520 Speaker 1: shards from the moon back to US management. And he's 512 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:05,360 Speaker 1: not playing around. He founded something called the Moon Rock Project, 513 00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:08,279 Speaker 1: and he's an ex intelligence officer. 514 00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:11,240 Speaker 2: Absolutely he always gets his man. And we haven't gotten 515 00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:13,640 Speaker 2: to the point that maybe I've glazed over a little 516 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:18,680 Speaker 2: bit the monetary value of these items. These are not 517 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 2: you know, paltry little trinkets. These things have you know, 518 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:28,520 Speaker 2: cash money value to them, and we're going to get 519 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 2: to that. To date, he and his associates have tracked 520 00:34:31,640 --> 00:34:34,680 Speaker 2: down seventy nine of the missing rocks, and I guess 521 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:37,600 Speaker 2: my earlier point, many of which were just found willy 522 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:41,000 Speaker 2: nilly in like memory boxes, the pro personal possessions of 523 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 2: public officials who either forgot they had them, one of 524 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:47,680 Speaker 2: the most precious substances on the planet, as Jordan points out, 525 00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:51,600 Speaker 2: or believed that they were the rightful owners, or so 526 00:34:51,680 --> 00:34:54,840 Speaker 2: they claimed. So Ireland, here's a case of moonrock on 527 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,000 Speaker 2: display at Ireland was accidentally thrown away after a nineteen 528 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:00,800 Speaker 2: seventy seven fire at the observatory where it was held. 529 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:03,200 Speaker 2: The lunar sample was caught up amid the rubble and 530 00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:05,920 Speaker 2: taken to a local landfill, where it apparently remains to 531 00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:10,480 Speaker 2: this day. The investigator we mentioned gun Fights, gut Thigns. 532 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,800 Speaker 2: Gut Tigns, has described it as a pot of gold 533 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:15,720 Speaker 2: under a dump. You know, this reminds me that it reminds 534 00:35:15,760 --> 00:35:19,560 Speaker 2: me of that guy that I guess bitcoin hard. He 535 00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:23,000 Speaker 2: finally gave that search up after much ado trying to 536 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,600 Speaker 2: buy the dump and everything. Apparently it was like a 537 00:35:26,680 --> 00:35:30,480 Speaker 2: billion dollars is worth essentially by today's value of bitcoin. 538 00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 2: I want to talk about Malta. I know you're a 539 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:33,399 Speaker 2: big Malta head. 540 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:34,919 Speaker 3: Are you a multi ball? 541 00:35:35,520 --> 00:35:36,000 Speaker 2: Of course? 542 00:35:37,040 --> 00:35:40,759 Speaker 1: So shout out to Joe by the way, he's got 543 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:44,640 Speaker 1: a very Indiana Jones approach. This is last time I'll 544 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,879 Speaker 1: say it. Wait, this is the second time I'll say it. 545 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:51,720 Speaker 1: I'll say it one more time in this series, Indiana Jones, 546 00:35:52,239 --> 00:35:54,080 Speaker 1: it belongs in a museum. 547 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:57,680 Speaker 2: You know what's funny. I was one of my favorite podcasts, 548 00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,560 Speaker 2: blank Check with Griffin and David recently did all of 549 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:06,000 Speaker 2: Stephen Spielberg's kind of mid to later career films. They 550 00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:09,400 Speaker 2: do filmographies, and they did all the Indiana Jones movies, 551 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:11,200 Speaker 2: and they kind of pointed out how that whole it 552 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:14,520 Speaker 2: belongs in a museum. Attitude kind of falls by the 553 00:36:14,520 --> 00:36:19,759 Speaker 2: wayside in terms of in these motivations as the series progresses, 554 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,279 Speaker 2: he seems a lot less interested as time goes on 555 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:27,399 Speaker 2: in the whole, like you know, preserving things for posterity 556 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,319 Speaker 2: and the greater good of the nation and science a 557 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,200 Speaker 2: little more focused on like making that money. 558 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:36,840 Speaker 3: And with that we do have. 559 00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:42,279 Speaker 1: To say the Spielberg Indiana jones films are actually pretty good. 560 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:44,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's even the bad ones. 561 00:36:45,560 --> 00:36:47,759 Speaker 1: What's the what's the one you don't care for? 562 00:36:47,920 --> 00:36:50,680 Speaker 2: Well, the Crystal Skull, I think is pretty universally considered 563 00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:53,520 Speaker 2: to be the worst one. The most recent one about 564 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:58,240 Speaker 2: the what's it called antikathera mechanism situation dial of Destiny. 565 00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,080 Speaker 2: People were a little iffy on that one, but I 566 00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:03,879 Speaker 2: think it's more beloved than the Crystal Skull. People were 567 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:08,000 Speaker 2: just really mad about Shiaha both swinging from vines like 568 00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:09,960 Speaker 2: a like an orangutan. 569 00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:13,360 Speaker 1: What's your favorite Indiana Jonesville? 570 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:16,080 Speaker 2: I think my favorite is the Last Crusade. I really 571 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:18,960 Speaker 2: dig the relationship with the father son relationship in that one. 572 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:23,080 Speaker 2: I think it's it's really nice. 573 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:29,600 Speaker 1: They named the dog Indiana very well done. So it's 574 00:37:29,719 --> 00:37:34,880 Speaker 1: May eighteenth, two thousand and four. Malta has a goodwill 575 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:39,920 Speaker 1: moon rock from the Nixon administration. This moon rock is 576 00:37:40,000 --> 00:37:45,120 Speaker 1: stolen from their Museum of Natural History. Their Museum of 577 00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:49,359 Speaker 1: Natural History, as are pal Josh Clark can confirm, has 578 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:55,960 Speaker 1: no security cameras. It has no real security like custodians 579 00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:58,840 Speaker 1: even I think they had one janitor at the time, 580 00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:02,200 Speaker 1: but they had a lot of budget cuts, funding shortages. 581 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:08,400 Speaker 1: Whomever this thief may be, they left behind the plaque 582 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:13,880 Speaker 1: and the Maltese flag that the Apollo astronauts had taken 583 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:15,279 Speaker 1: to the Moon with them. 584 00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:17,160 Speaker 3: So this is where our. 585 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:21,799 Speaker 1: NASA investigator Joe comes in and he says, look at 586 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:25,160 Speaker 1: this he got He's so irritated at this point. He says, 587 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:30,120 Speaker 1: only an amateur would just steal the rock, because if 588 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,200 Speaker 1: we are trying to sell it on the black market, 589 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:36,400 Speaker 1: you would want the full set, you'd want the plaque, 590 00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:41,319 Speaker 1: you'd want the flag. This would authenticate this thing that 591 00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:44,440 Speaker 1: a lot of people who have not been to the 592 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:50,600 Speaker 1: Moon would otherwise assume is just regular rock and dirt 593 00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:54,719 Speaker 1: from Earth. And so our buddy Joe goes back and 594 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:58,520 Speaker 1: forth with the authorities in Malta and he says, look, 595 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:02,399 Speaker 1: just tell them, whomever it may be, just tell them, 596 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: no questions, ask drop off our little shard of moon rock. 597 00:39:08,719 --> 00:39:12,080 Speaker 2: Just give it back. It belongs in a museum. I'm 598 00:39:12,080 --> 00:39:15,000 Speaker 2: not going I said, you said you wouldn't say so, 599 00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:17,960 Speaker 2: I wasn't going to say, yeah, this is perfect. 600 00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:22,840 Speaker 1: And as we record today August twenty fifth, twenty twenty five, 601 00:39:23,400 --> 00:39:27,920 Speaker 1: the missing Malta Goodwill moon rock has yet to be recovered. 602 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:31,359 Speaker 2: Can I just say, I don't know that we didn't 603 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:33,799 Speaker 2: really line this up, and it seems to be the 604 00:39:33,800 --> 00:39:36,440 Speaker 2: way that this is going. It seems like part one 605 00:39:36,480 --> 00:39:38,239 Speaker 2: here is going to be kind of the history of 606 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:41,359 Speaker 2: moon rocks and the distribution of them and the sort 607 00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:44,440 Speaker 2: of international affairs of it all. And this is its 608 00:39:44,480 --> 00:39:46,919 Speaker 2: own little mini heighst or at the very least, the 609 00:39:47,200 --> 00:39:52,399 Speaker 2: an Mia situation due to the incompetence, let's just say, 610 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:55,560 Speaker 2: of old Tricky Dicky. So lest you be irritated that 611 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,719 Speaker 2: we don't give you the promised heist, heist and the 612 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:01,439 Speaker 2: sex on the moon's off, that's all going to happen 613 00:40:01,440 --> 00:40:03,880 Speaker 2: in part two. And I think it's an absolutely banger 614 00:40:03,920 --> 00:40:05,000 Speaker 2: of a place to break. 615 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:09,000 Speaker 1: This, absolutely agreed. We also want to tell you two 616 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:13,080 Speaker 1: things before we end some more. As you said, incompetence, 617 00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:18,040 Speaker 1: Spain while we're in Europe, let's stay in Spain. Spain 618 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:21,879 Speaker 1: had a moon rock from Apollo eleven, and it went 619 00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:26,640 Speaker 1: missing because it was gifted to a guy you'll recognize 620 00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:29,320 Speaker 1: from earlier, Francisco Franco. 621 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:31,880 Speaker 2: Not a good dude, not a good dude. 622 00:40:32,200 --> 00:40:35,279 Speaker 1: What did Norm McDonald say. The more I learn about 623 00:40:35,320 --> 00:40:36,719 Speaker 1: this guy, the less I like him. 624 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:39,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, that does track a dict to a bit of 625 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:41,879 Speaker 2: a dictator and a bit of a dick. It's current 626 00:40:41,880 --> 00:40:46,200 Speaker 2: whereabouts are unknown. Franco's grandson did claim, however, the family 627 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:49,080 Speaker 2: never intended to sell it, and suggested that it was 628 00:40:49,280 --> 00:40:50,880 Speaker 2: just likely a bit of an oopsie and that it 629 00:40:50,960 --> 00:40:53,760 Speaker 2: was lost. He said, as my mother is a woman 630 00:40:53,840 --> 00:40:57,120 Speaker 2: with many things in many houses weird flex but okay 631 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:00,839 Speaker 2: in a move or redecorating a room in the end 632 00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:04,520 Speaker 2: it must have gotten lost. Are bad but also sorry 633 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:05,120 Speaker 2: not sorry? 634 00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:06,279 Speaker 3: Is the vibe bad? 635 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:09,880 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, walk Walk Walk said that in two thousand 636 00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:12,280 Speaker 2: and nine in an interview with El Mundo. 637 00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:18,320 Speaker 1: Yes, and look, our guy has been searching for leads 638 00:41:18,440 --> 00:41:23,960 Speaker 1: on this. Maybe he thinks, uh, private collector in Switzerland, 639 00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:27,120 Speaker 1: where there are a lot of people who collect a 640 00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:32,440 Speaker 1: lot of weird things. He got a nickname, Joe did 641 00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:36,400 Speaker 1: in the Spanish press and they said, Joseph Gunties is 642 00:41:36,600 --> 00:41:40,120 Speaker 1: the van helsing of Luna traffickers. 643 00:41:40,640 --> 00:41:44,279 Speaker 2: Now that's interesting, the van helsing, because that implies to 644 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 2: your earlier point, where wolfism or vampirism or some other 645 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:52,160 Speaker 2: kind of ism. I would have called him maybe more 646 00:41:52,200 --> 00:41:54,759 Speaker 2: the Sherlock Holmes of Moon Rockery. 647 00:41:54,880 --> 00:41:57,160 Speaker 1: Right with his deer hunter or deer stalker. 648 00:41:57,400 --> 00:42:01,400 Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, and his pipe and his cocaine. Dude, have 649 00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:03,880 Speaker 2: I told you this. I've been recently listening to the 650 00:42:04,160 --> 00:42:08,239 Speaker 2: entire works of Arthur Conan Doyle's Lock Holmes. It's a lot, 651 00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:11,759 Speaker 2: by the way, and it's read by Stephen Frye, who 652 00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:16,080 Speaker 2: we love from comedy and you know Britain. Sherlock Holmes 653 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:20,160 Speaker 2: did a lot of drugs. Yes, he was like shooting 654 00:42:20,280 --> 00:42:25,000 Speaker 2: up morphine between his toes and snorting that cocaine. I mean, 655 00:42:25,080 --> 00:42:27,520 Speaker 2: I had no idea. And I think the thing that 656 00:42:27,560 --> 00:42:29,799 Speaker 2: I'm most tickled by every time it happens. It must 657 00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:32,760 Speaker 2: just be an anachronistic expression of the time when someone 658 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:35,920 Speaker 2: talks about somebody exclaiming something they refer to it as 659 00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:40,040 Speaker 2: he ejaculated. Yes, and I just I'm a child. It 660 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:42,400 Speaker 2: makes me titter every time I hear it. 661 00:42:44,120 --> 00:42:49,200 Speaker 1: I have encountered something similar re listening to Like I've 662 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:52,920 Speaker 1: read Blood Meritigan by Cormack McCarthy, so he would. 663 00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:56,360 Speaker 2: Say that that is exactly the kind of anachronistic biblical language. 664 00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:56,680 Speaker 2: He loves. 665 00:42:56,800 --> 00:43:01,640 Speaker 1: Hearing it in an audiobook version made me laugh aloud 666 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:05,839 Speaker 1: to the point where the folks on the plane had 667 00:43:06,000 --> 00:43:11,080 Speaker 1: questions about me, but those questions were answered. We made 668 00:43:11,120 --> 00:43:13,799 Speaker 1: it back to the States. We're gonna end part one 669 00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:18,120 Speaker 1: of Sex on the Moon and the Great Moon Heist 670 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:21,840 Speaker 1: on a happy note. So back in the nineteen nineties, 671 00:43:22,480 --> 00:43:27,240 Speaker 1: there's this guy named Alan Rosen, and he's a business 672 00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:31,400 Speaker 1: dude in Florida, and he goes to the black market 673 00:43:31,880 --> 00:43:36,560 Speaker 1: and he somehow has possession of the goodwill moon Rock 674 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:41,960 Speaker 1: gifted to the nation of Honduras from the Apollo seventeen mission, 675 00:43:42,360 --> 00:43:46,200 Speaker 1: and he says, this is going to be sold for 676 00:43:46,719 --> 00:43:52,719 Speaker 1: five million dollars. And Uncle Sam did not like it 677 00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:56,680 Speaker 1: so much so that we set up a steamed operation 678 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:00,520 Speaker 1: in a burst of creativity. Get this, he named it 679 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:05,960 Speaker 1: Operation Lunar Eclipse. A tad on the nose, A tad 680 00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:06,640 Speaker 1: on the nose. 681 00:44:06,880 --> 00:44:09,239 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I get it, I get it, you know, 682 00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:11,400 Speaker 2: But isn't that usually the case with these kind of 683 00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:16,800 Speaker 2: operations that doesn't seem like creativity is always the strong 684 00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:20,560 Speaker 2: suit of them. What name these types of stings? You know? 685 00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:24,919 Speaker 1: I still fantasize about the idea of having a job 686 00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:29,399 Speaker 1: where you are the person who just names secret operations. 687 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:34,359 Speaker 1: It feels so cool. It's like it's like the world 688 00:44:34,440 --> 00:44:37,960 Speaker 1: of automotive, right, Like what if your job is just 689 00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:39,280 Speaker 1: the name vehicles? 690 00:44:40,360 --> 00:44:40,520 Speaker 2: Right? 691 00:44:40,880 --> 00:44:43,240 Speaker 3: Like, how do you do that? Anyway? 692 00:44:43,440 --> 00:44:44,719 Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, I mean I think a lot of it's 693 00:44:44,760 --> 00:44:48,280 Speaker 2: done by committee. So Operation Munroch did yield some results 694 00:44:48,400 --> 00:44:53,360 Speaker 2: and that the rock in question was recovered, and the 695 00:44:53,480 --> 00:44:56,600 Speaker 2: origin of how it was you know, received, or how 696 00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:58,720 Speaker 2: it got its way to Rosen was that he purchased 697 00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:04,160 Speaker 2: it from the retur hired Honduran colonel Roberto Ugorcia Ugarte, 698 00:45:04,239 --> 00:45:08,200 Speaker 2: who sold it to Rosen after disguising its origin. He 699 00:45:08,360 --> 00:45:12,280 Speaker 2: was a little dishonest about how he came upon this moonrock, 700 00:45:12,360 --> 00:45:16,879 Speaker 2: so Joseph Gundhines posing undercover. God, this guy is such 701 00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:19,719 Speaker 2: a cool mm hm. He led the ops with the 702 00:45:19,760 --> 00:45:24,280 Speaker 2: support from agencies including the US Postal Inspection Service never forget, 703 00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:29,640 Speaker 2: never forget or underestimate, Rather the US Postal Inspection Service 704 00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:33,280 Speaker 2: as well as Customs. They also had funding. You remember 705 00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:36,879 Speaker 2: remember Ross Perot. I haven't heard that name in a minute. 706 00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:40,440 Speaker 2: Forgot He had a first initial h ross Perot, well 707 00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:43,440 Speaker 2: weird little guy, weird little dude who ran for president 708 00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:47,879 Speaker 2: and was famously mocked on sn L I believe by 709 00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:51,840 Speaker 2: Dana Carvey, who was the ross Perot the HS for 710 00:45:52,120 --> 00:45:55,200 Speaker 2: Henry by the way, important important de So after a 711 00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:57,680 Speaker 2: five year legal battle, the Moonrock was in fact returned 712 00:45:57,719 --> 00:45:59,520 Speaker 2: to Honduras in two thousand and four and is now 713 00:46:00,080 --> 00:46:06,080 Speaker 2: at the Centro Interactivo Chiminike in Tagusigalpa. Which is one 714 00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:08,720 Speaker 2: of my favorite names of a place. 715 00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:12,880 Speaker 3: That's what you're gonna say when you show up. 716 00:46:13,880 --> 00:46:16,080 Speaker 1: You're gonna walk in and you're gonna say, this is 717 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:19,640 Speaker 1: one of my favorite names of a place to Goosy Gappa. 718 00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:23,920 Speaker 2: Does it get much better? Well, it's it's just as silly, 719 00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:25,680 Speaker 2: silly as it to Goosy Galpa. 720 00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:29,160 Speaker 3: What could be better than this? We'll tell you right now. 721 00:46:29,560 --> 00:46:32,480 Speaker 1: It's going to be part two of our continuing series 722 00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:39,640 Speaker 1: of ridiculous heist involving lunar material. Now, the exploration of 723 00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:45,080 Speaker 1: the Solar System goes back and forth, right, but it's 724 00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:50,480 Speaker 1: a very human endeavor. It's incredibly important for anybody who 725 00:46:50,719 --> 00:46:55,080 Speaker 1: would like to argue that space exploration is somehow a 726 00:46:55,239 --> 00:47:00,400 Speaker 1: waste of time. Please remember that this applied science getting 727 00:47:00,560 --> 00:47:06,160 Speaker 1: folks into orbit and indeed to the moon. It provides 728 00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:09,800 Speaker 1: a lot of scientific breakthroughs that help your life today, 729 00:47:10,160 --> 00:47:15,160 Speaker 1: things like velcro or tang or pens that right upside dout. 730 00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:18,480 Speaker 1: And so with this we're going to call the today. 731 00:47:18,840 --> 00:47:22,319 Speaker 1: We've got to also call our pal Joe and get 732 00:47:22,440 --> 00:47:24,880 Speaker 1: up to date with him on the Moon Rock search. 733 00:47:26,080 --> 00:47:31,279 Speaker 1: We're gonna save our Indiana Jones references for episode two. 734 00:47:31,520 --> 00:47:33,600 Speaker 1: For now, we want to give a big thanks to 735 00:47:33,719 --> 00:47:39,680 Speaker 1: our research associate Jordan Runta or super producer Max Williams. Noel, 736 00:47:39,800 --> 00:47:43,239 Speaker 1: do we have a good nickname or a moniker for Jordan. 737 00:47:43,239 --> 00:47:46,440 Speaker 2: Well, he's Jordan's Smoking moon Rocks in the Boondocks run Talk. 738 00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:48,560 Speaker 3: I like the rhyme for sure. 739 00:47:49,080 --> 00:47:52,040 Speaker 2: It's not mine. It's from the rapper Shad the god 740 00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:55,200 Speaker 2: in the song moon Rocks, in the parlance of hip 741 00:47:55,239 --> 00:47:59,040 Speaker 2: hop culture, is referred to a particular strain a very 742 00:47:59,239 --> 00:48:01,400 Speaker 2: very very highly potent marijuana. 743 00:48:01,719 --> 00:48:03,919 Speaker 3: No Ah, I've learned so much. 744 00:48:04,680 --> 00:48:08,600 Speaker 1: Also thanks to Eve's Jeff Goat, Chris vossiotis here in 745 00:48:08,719 --> 00:48:13,040 Speaker 1: spirit thanks to aj Bahama's Jacobs. We've got some guests 746 00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:15,560 Speaker 1: coming up do we want to brag a little bit 747 00:48:15,600 --> 00:48:16,040 Speaker 1: about them? 748 00:48:16,360 --> 00:48:20,200 Speaker 2: I think we must. We do have a returning guest 749 00:48:20,239 --> 00:48:26,120 Speaker 2: appearance from Ridiculous History alum Rachel Biggs Spinach Lance talking 750 00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:29,160 Speaker 2: about some underwater explosions, which I'm quite excited about. 751 00:48:29,960 --> 00:48:36,400 Speaker 1: Yes, and we are contractually required to say, with great reluctance, 752 00:48:36,840 --> 00:48:40,040 Speaker 1: shout out to Jonathan Strickland, aka the Twister. 753 00:48:40,400 --> 00:48:42,960 Speaker 2: He would have loved this episode. My boy's always high 754 00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:45,320 Speaker 2: on moon rocks. I'm kidding, He's never touched the stuff. 755 00:48:45,520 --> 00:48:47,839 Speaker 2: He's probably allergic. He would probably kill him. 756 00:48:47,880 --> 00:48:51,399 Speaker 3: And still he's stealing moon rocks right now. 757 00:48:51,800 --> 00:48:53,560 Speaker 2: I know it's true. He is much more of a 758 00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:57,800 Speaker 2: despicable me type, steal the moon and all the rocks 759 00:48:57,960 --> 00:48:59,880 Speaker 2: type figure than smoking them. 760 00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:07,239 Speaker 1: So with great thanks, we are going to continue on 761 00:49:07,560 --> 00:49:12,600 Speaker 1: our exploration of moon Heist. We hope that you will 762 00:49:12,800 --> 00:49:16,200 Speaker 1: join us very soon. Unless you are the Quist No, yeah, 763 00:49:16,360 --> 00:49:17,480 Speaker 1: we will see you next time. 764 00:49:17,560 --> 00:49:28,160 Speaker 2: Folks. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 765 00:49:28,200 --> 00:49:31,280 Speaker 2: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.