The National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) has typically drawn a hard line around moon dust, claiming that all lunar material is there’s regardless of who is in possession of it.
Enter, Laura Murray Cicco of Tennessee who has filed suit in Kansas federal court seeking declaratory judgement that the a vial of moondust gifted to her by Neil Armstrong, is her property.
Murray choose to file in Kansas because of a 2016 case in Wichita which saw a federal judge rule in favor of a collector who bought a bag of moon dust for $1.8 million which had accidentally been put up for auction by the government. The attorney in that case, Chris McHugh, is also representing Cicco.
While NASA has not sought possession of the moon dust yet, the lawsuit is preemptive in anticipation that they might.
The vial of moon dust was gifted to Cicco when she was 10 from her mother. It came with a note from Armstrong who had been a friend of Cicco’s father.
The note read, “To Laura Ann Murray — Best of luck — Neil Armstrong Apollo 11.”
While NASA is yet to respond, its stated position from a 2014 case, Davis v. United States, is “that private persons cannot own lunar material.”
