From Neil Armstrong to Richard Nixon to Alaska to a reality show skipper, the curious path of Alaska’s moon rocks

Part of a continuing weekly series on Alaska history by local historian David Reamer. Have a question about Anchorage or Alaska history or an idea for a future article? Go to the form at the bottom of this story.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped onto the moon. In the wake of those nationally televised steps, a proud nation leaped into celebration. Americans had won the space race. The moment was especially significant for Alaskans, as the preparation, moon landing, and return of the Apollo 11 mission were the first live satellite broadcasts in the state.

The astronauts left several items behind on the moon, including the camera that captured Armstrong’s first steps, an American flag, a plaque, tools, bags of human waste, and an Apollo 1 mission patch to honor the three astronauts who died in a 1967 launch rehearsal fire. The Apollo 11 crew needed room to bring back the nearly 50 pounds of lunar regolith, fragments, and core samples — moon rocks, in other words.

At a glance, most of the moon rock samples are unassuming, if expensively obtained: tiny, gray flecks of stone. Yet, they are priceless, both as scientific specimens and historical relics. Still, there was a time, in the optimistic high after Apollo 11, when some observers believed moon rocks would become common. National columnist Don Oakley wrote, “If the present Apollo schedule of a moon landing every four months is adhered to, scientists fear they will soon be inundated with lunar material.” But glory fades, and the last crewed mission to the moon, Apollo 17. came in 1972. The supply of moon rocks never approached, let alone surpassed, demand.

In the United States, it’s illegal for individuals to own any of the rocks from the moon missions. Despite this barrier, many supposed moon rocks have been sold in the decades since 1969. There are hundreds of online sales listings for “moon rocks.” These products are either lunar meteorite fragments, material ejected from the moon that landed on Earth, or fakes, the latter being the most common. Some moon rocks were presented to Walter Cronkite and the Apollo astronauts, but those samples remain the property of NASA and must be publicly displayed rather than personally kept.

Beginning in 1969, President Richard Nixon distributed moon rock samples to every state and 135 countries. In 1973, another set of lunar sample displays from the Apollo 17 mission were distributed the same way. The Apollo 17 moon rock displays are collectively known as the Goodwill Moon Rocks, as their fragments were chipped from a piece of lunar basalt called the Goodwill Rock.

The Apollo 11 display featured several lunar fragments encased in acrylic on a stand with a small flag that also made the trip to the moon. Nixon presented the Alaska display in late 1969 to Gov. Keith Miller. From there, the moon rocks traveled around the state as a featured display item at the 1970 Alaska State Fair, museums, the Chugiak Gem and Mineral Society, and even the occasional science fair.

The Air Progress Museum opened in 1967, part of the Alaska Purchase centennial festivities. Located off International Airport Road in Anchorage, it was taken over by the state in 1969 when it became the Alaska Transportation Museum. The original exhibits focused on aviation, including a plane flown by Robert “Bob” Reeve. With the rebranding, the museum’s scope expanded to include transportation of all kinds, including motorcycles, sleds, snowmachines, railroad cars and kayaks. And by 1972, the collection included the Apollo 11 moon rocks.

A visit to the Alaska Transportation Museum was not quite like visiting a modern museum now. The presentation was less polished and more scattered. For example, the moon rocks were next to airplane models assembled by children. In 1973, Anchorage Daily Times writer Cathy Allen described the museum as “A tourist spot that looks more like a parking lot for aged planes and trains.” There were also fewer anti-theft features. Museum director and curator Phil Redden, the only boss the museum ever had, told the Daily Times in 1972, “We’ve tried to make the museum a personal place. We haven’t roped off exhibits because we want people to get close and appreciate these things. We’d appreciate it if people return the favor and not abuse the exhibits.”

The museum may have simply not been able to afford exhibit ropes. Funding was uncertain and insufficient for the entirety of its brief existence. Unfortunately, cost-cutting meant the facility had fire extinguishers but no sprinkler system. On Sept. 6, 1973, an unknown arsonist set the building on fire. Employees first spotted the flames rising from an airplane cockpit, but it was too late for extinguishers. By the time firefighters arrived, most of the damage was already done. Redden said, “An old cloth-covered airplane has to be the most flammable thing on Earth. Once one of them catches on fire she will almost burn under water.” He estimated the damage at $500,000, roughly $3.3 million in 2023 dollars, though the actual cost was incalculable.

The fire was extensive and thought to have destroyed or damaged nearly every exhibit inside the building. A glass case and a couple of engines were among the few surviving pieces. Amid the devastation and confusion, the moon rocks disappeared.

The fire and local apathy for a rebuilt facility ended the museum’s run in Anchorage. Redden was fired in January 1974, and funding for the site was eliminated. Nearly three years later, the salvaged exhibits were transferred to the Palmer fairgrounds, eventually forming the basis of a reborn museum, now the Museum of Alaska Transportation & Industry. The unrelated Alaska Aviation Museum in Anchorage opened in 1988.

Alaska was far from the only place with difficulty holding onto its moon rocks. Due to term limits, New Mexico Gov. David Cargo did not run for reelection in 1970. On his way out, he stripped his office and the governor’s mansion of many valuables, including a grand piano and the Apollo 11 lunar samples. The piano was notably installed at his private home. Said Cargo on the moon rocks, “I can do whatever I want to with them. The president gave them to me.” Under pressure, Cargo reluctantly donated them to the Museum of New Mexico. To the end, he claimed the rocks were his, though a museum representative noted the display stated, “Presented to the people of the state of New Mexico by Richard Nixon.”

On Sept. 22, 1977, a man broke into a case at the Delaware State Museum and ripped the acrylic ball holding that state’s Apollo 11 lunar fragments from its display. The police there did not interview witnesses or dust for fingerprints, and there were no security cameras. The crime has shockingly not been solved. The Apollo 11 moon rocks for New York have similarly been missing for decades.

In many other states, the moon rocks were rediscovered only after years of poor record-keeping, in forgotten cabinets (Hawaii), storage facilities (Minnesota), and desk drawers (North Carolina). In a few instances, state moon rocks entered private possession through unknown means only to be returned years later, as in Louisiana and West Virginia. The Colorado Apollo 17 moon rocks were discovered in 2010, in the possession of former Gov. John Vanderhoof, who displayed them in his home. Vanderhoof told reporters, “It’s right here, just sitting right here. It was put in with a bunch of stuff I had, I guess.” As of now, only the Delaware and New York Apollo 11 displays are missing from the state moon rocks.

The moon rocks given to leaders outside the country have been more susceptible to loss, theft, and black-market sales. Roughly two-thirds of the 270 Apollo 11 and 17 moon rocks given to countries are unaccounted for. Rumors abound of underground exchanges involving millions of dollars. Most notoriously, the Honduran Goodwill Moon Rock went missing in the 1990s and was rediscovered in Florida thanks to a federal interagency sting and $5 million borrowed from Ross Perot.

Decades passed without any notice of the missing Alaska Apollo 11 moon rocks. Soon after being fired from the Alaska Transportation Museum, Phil Redden moved back to South Dakota, where he was born and grew up. He died there in 1998. Nearly everyone forgot about the display until press coverage in 2010 reawakened Alaskans to the mystery.

On Dec. 20, 2010, Arthur Coleman Anderson sued the state of Alaska and the state museums for the title to the moon rocks. The news coverage had perhaps awakened him to the moon rocks’ potential value. In 1973, Anderson just so happened to be Redden’s stepson or foster son. Sources differ. Anderson was also a captain in the first season of the Alaska reality show “Deadliest Catch,” which is one of many pieces of evidence suggesting that Alaska is actually one small town with connections everywhere.

Per Anderson’s lawsuit, he was looking through the remains of the museum when he “discovered the Plaque, which was coated by a thick layer of melted materials. Plaintiff thought it was ‘cool’ and that he might be able to clean it up and turn it into a neat souvenir.” His lawyer argued that the state had abandoned ownership by allowing garbage removal crews to dispose of the museum debris. Anderson then offered to sell the moon rocks back to Alaska once the title was cleared.

Anderson’s version of events was unconvincing. As assistant U.S. attorney James Barkeley said at the time, “Coleman told a yarn about how he had picked up these moon rocks in pieces, and they were horribly disfigured. The flag of Alaska that was flown to the moon and back had been shriveled up. The base was detached from the rest of the plaque. There had been some melting and some other physical damage. He was kind enough ... to have polished it with a toothbrush and to have otherwise taken very good care of it, restoring it to, apparently, almost intact condition.”

Forced by a court order, Anderson turned over the moon rocks for testing. Rather than remade or restored, the display looked precisely as it had 40 years prior. Barkeley said the results “conclusively showed what Coleman Anderson had testified under oath at his deposition was dubious, at best. To say that the plaque, taken apart or rendered into pieces, the flag partially melted, and the other damage as described was then, somehow, so precisely reassembled that none of that physical damage was apparent and that the relative positioning of all the objects that made the plaque were identical, defied logic.”

The state also produced testimony from witnesses who, after the 1973 fire, saw the moon rocks in an undamaged case, one of the very few exhibits to escape harm. Alaska State Museum chief curator Bob Banghart said, “We think they were removed undamaged by Redden and put in a locked cabinet in his office and then taken to his house under the auspices of safekeeping. We don’t know how Mr. Anderson acquired them and through what process.”

Anderson’s case crumbled, and he agreed to hand over the display to the state with all existing or potential legal issues dismissed. The moon rocks are now proudly displayed in the Alaska State Museum in Juneau. From the moon to Neil Armstrong to Richard Nixon to Alaska to a reality show skipper, and finally home in Juneau, history in Alaska sometimes leaves the craziest paths.

Key sources:

Allen, Cathy. “Museum may Lose Spot, Cash.” Anchorage Daily Times, August 30, 1973, 2.

Arthur C. Anderson v. the State of Alaska et al. 3AN-10-1298 (Superior Court, 2010).

Dunham, Mike. “Long-missing Apollo Moon Rocks Return to Alaska.” Anchorage Daily News, December 7, 2012, A-3.

Hayden, Chip. “Airport Museum Gutted by Fire.” Anchorage Daily News, September 7, 1973, 1, 2.

“Key to Piano Problem Now Sought by Cargo.” Albuquerque Journal, February 7, 1971, A-1, A-2.

“Moon Rocks Presented to Museum by Cargo.” Albuquerque Tribune, February 10, 1971, A-1.

“Museum Official Fires Curator.” Anchorage Daily Times, January 23, 1974, 2.

Oakley, Don. “Too Many Moon Rocks.” Anchorage Daily Times, October 24, 1969, 4.

O’Malley, Julia. “Moon Rocks: From Space to Center Stage in Court.” Anchorage Daily News, July 3, 2011, A-1, A-5.

Pearlman, Robert Z. “Alaska Reclaims Its Missing Moon Rocks.” Space, December 13, 2012.

“Phil L. Redden obituary.” Anchorage Daily News, August 3, 1998, B-5.

Stein, Patricia. “Unique Exhibits Tell History of Travel.” Anchorage Daily Times, September 14, 1972, 15.

Wyatt, Kristen. “Moon Rubble Found with Ex-governor.” Durango Herald, June 2, 2010.