+ 1970 News Releases (7.6 Mb PDF file) - NASA

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MANNEDSPACECRER
, Texas
483-5111 70-33
March 16, 1970
Houston_ Texas---The vial of Apollo 11 lunar material which was
stolen and subsequently recovered in Los Angeles, California_ was
returned Monday to the NASA Lunar Receiving Laboratory at Houston,
Texas.
The material, about 2 grams of fine material returned in man's
first landing on the Moon, will be examined by scientists at the Manned
Spacecraft Center to confirm the material, in fact, is the sample released
to the University of California Los Angeles several months ago. Dr.
George Wetherill of UCLA, a principal investigator for NASA, reported
the sample was taken from a fund raising dinner in a Los Angeles
department store on February 28.
The sample vial was subsequently recovered less than 48-hours later
when Los Angeles police were informed by an anonymous caller that they
would find the vial in a mailbox in Los Angeles.
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