Where Today are the Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rocks?

Prior to the end of their third and final moonwalk, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt paused to make a special dedication:

Eugene Cernan: Houston, before we close out our [moonwalk], we understand that there are young people in Houston today who have been effectively touring our country, young people from countries all over the world, respectively, touring our country. They had the opportunity to watch the launch of Apollo 17; hopefully had an opportunity to meet some of our young people in our country. And we'd like to say first of all, welcome, we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Second of all, I think probably one of the most significant things we can think about when we think about Apollo is that it has opened for us -- "for us" being the world -- a challenge of the future. The door is now cracked, but the promise of the future lies in the young people, not just in America, but the young people all over the world learning to live and learning to work together. In order to remind all the people of the world in so many countries throughout the world that this is what we all are striving for in the future, Jack has picked up a very significant rock, typical of what we have here in the valley of Taurus-Littrow.

It's a rock composed of many fragments, of many sizes, and many shapes, probably from all parts of the Moon, perhaps billions of years old. But fragments of all sizes and shapes -- and even colors -- that have grown together to become a cohesive rock, outlasting the nature of space, sort of living together in a very coherent, very peaceful manner. When we return this rock or some of the others like it to Houston, we'd like to share a piece of this rock with so many of the countries throughout the world. We hope that this will be a symbol of what our feelings are, what the feelings of the Apollo Program are, and a symbol of mankind: that we can live in peace and harmony in the future.

Harrison Schmitt: A portion of [this] rock will be sent to a representative agency or museum in each of the countries represented by the young people in Houston today, and we hope that they -- that rock and the students themselves -- will carry with them our good wishes, not only for the new year coming up but also for themselves, their countries, and all mankind in the future.

Three months after Apollo 17 returned home in December 1972, then-U.S. President Richard Nixon ordered the distribution of fragments from the rock that Cernan and Schmitt collected, since labeled sample 70017, to 135 foreign heads of state, the 50 U.S. states and its provinces. Each rock, encased in an acrylic button, was mounted to a plaque with intended recepient's flag, also flown to the Moon.

A letter, signed by President Nixon, accompanied the samples that were transferred to foreign heads of state. Dated March 21, 1973, it read as follows (as reproduced from the National Archives):

The Apollo lunar landing program conducted by the United States has been brought to a successful conclusion. Men from the planet Earth have reached the first milestone in space. But as we stretch for the stars, we know that we stand also upon the shoulders of many men of many nations here on our own planet. In the deepest sense our exploration of the moon was truly an international effort.

It is for this reason that, on behalf of the people of the United States I present this flag, which was carried to the moon, to the State, and its fragment of the moon obtained during the final lunar mission of the Apollo program.

If people of many nations can act together to achieve the dreams of humanity in space, then surely we can act together to accomplish humanity's dream of peace here on earth. It was in this spirit that the Untied States of America went to the moon, and it is in this spirit that we look forward to sharing what we have done and what we have learned with all mankind.

Distribution of the Goodwill rock

Once gifted, each of the goodwill moon rock samples became the property of the recepient entity and therefore was no longer subject to being tracked by NASA. All other lunar samples' locations are well documented by the U.S. space agency to this day (with exception to similarly gifted Apollo 11 lunar sample displays).

As property of the nation or state, the goodwill rocks are now subject to the laws for public gifts as set by that country. In most cases, as in the United States, public gifts cannot be legally transferred to individual ownership without the passage of additional legislation.

Since 2002, collectSPACE has attempted to locate the current whereabouts of all the goodwill moon rocks. The following chart details those efforts.

Special gratitude is extended to former NASA Office of Inspector General special agent Joseph Gutheinz, who today as a professor at the University of Phoenix, Arizona, has challenged his students to locate the goodwill moon rocks.

Do you know the current status of a fragment of Sample 70017? Write us at moonrocks@collectspace.com

No.	Nation / State	Location / Status	Photo	Located By
291	China	Beijing Planetarium, Beijing (displayed without its plaque or flag, only half of the moon rock sample is on exhibit; the other half was repurposed by China's space program for study)		X. Zeng Photo: CCTV
294	Afghanistan
295	Argentina
296	Australia	National Museum of Australia, Canberra, in storage		M. Dinn K. Dougherty Photo: T. Rodwell
297	Austria	Meteorite Hall, Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna		H. Raab
298	Bahamas	Government House, Nassau		L. Wong
299	Bahrain	Bahrain National Museum, Manama (unconfirmed)		B. Scribbins
300	Barbados	Barbados Museum & Historical Society		T. Sterling/ Associated Press
301	Belgium	Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences, Brussels		T. Sterling/ Associated Press
302	Bolivia	Planetario Max Schreier, Universidad Mayor de San Andres, La Paz		G. Pereira
303	Brazil	Museu dom Diogo de Souza, Bagé (in September 2002, the museum briefly considered offering the moon rock for sale)		C. Grossmann
304	Canada	Canadian Museum of Nature, in storage at its research and collections facility in Gatineau, Quebec		K. Glover M. Picard I. Danforth
305	Chad
306	Taiwan
307	Colombia	El Planetario de Bogotá, Bogota		J. Russo Photo: F. Ballesteros
308	Costa Rica	Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, San Jose (in storage)		T. Sterling/ Associated Press
309	Dahomey
310	Denmark	Geological Museum, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen		J. Kieffer-Olsen
311	Dominican Republic	Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santo Domingo		E. Garcia
312	Ecuador
313	Egypt	Egyptian Geological Museum, Cairo		T. Sterling/ Associated Press
314	Congo Republic
315	El Salvador	Museo Nacional de Antropologia (MUNA), Zona Rosa (reference)		C. Tamacas
316	Finland	Mineralogical Museum of the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK), Otaniemi, Espoo		K. Kinnunen
317	Gabon
318	W. Germany	Deutsches Museum, Munich		H. Raab
319	Solomon Islands	Soloman Islands National Museum		G. Arndt
320	Guatemala
321	Guyana	National Museum of Guyana, Georgetown		D. Clay-Jordan Photo: F. Dogterom
322	Haiti
323	Honduras	Acquired illegally and then smuggled into the U.S. in 1995; offered for sale for $5 million to undercover NASA agent and confiscated in 1998; returned to Honduras and now displayed at Centro Interactivo de Enseñanza Chiminike in Tegucigalpa		J. Gutheinz
324	Iceland	In storage at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History in Garðabær. Previously on display the The Exploration Museum in Hœsav’k from 2014 to 2015.		Ö. Örlygsson
325	India	Parliament Museum, New Delhi		D. Dasgupta/ Outlook
326	Indonesia
327	Iran
328	Ireland	National Museum of Ireland, Museum of Natural History, Dublin		J. Gutheinz
329	Israel
330	Italy	Museo Nazionale Della Scienza E Della Tecnologia "Leonardo da Vinci", Milan		T. Sterling/ Associated Press
331	Ivory Coast
332	Jamaica	As of 2013, on display at the National Archives in Spanish Town		P. Lahti
333	Japan	National Museum, Tokyo		T. Sterling/ Associated Press
334	Jordan
335	Khmer Republic (Cambodia)	National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh		M. Davis
336	Korea	National Science Museum, Daejeon		Seo Sanghyeon
337	Lebanon
338	Liberia
339	Luxembourg	National Museum of Natural History, Luxembourg City		P. Buchholz
340	Malta	Reported stolen 5/2004; National Museum of Natural History, Mdina
341	Mexico	Universum, Museo de las Ciencias, Mexico City		R. Zúñiga
342	Netherlands	National Museum of the History of Science and Medicine in Leiden		E. Laan
343	New Zealand	Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
344	Nicaragua
345	Niger
346	Nigeria
347	Norway	Geological Museum, Natural History Museum, Oslo		T. Sterling/ Associated Press K. Persen
348	Pakistan	In the reserve collection at the National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi		M. Constantine
349	Panama
350	Paraguay	Instituto de Historia y Museo Militar, Asunción		J. Russo
351	Peru	Biblioteca Municipal de Lima (reference)		E. Ray L. Caballero
352	Philippines
353	Portugal
354	Qatar
355	Saudi Arabia
356	South Africa	Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, Pretoria; on display without wooden plaque or flown flag		L. McMullen L. Fehmerling
357	Spain	Museo Naval, Madrid since 2007; previously in a private collection		P. Jauregui C. Keller
358	Swaziland
359	Switzerland	Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne		A. Teche
360	Tanzania
361	Thailand
362	Togo
363	Tunisia
364	Turkey	Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) Natural History Museum, Ankara		A. Link
365	United Kingdom	Treasures Cadogan Gallery, Natural History Museum, London		D. Gethings
366	Uruguay	Previously on display at the Aeronautical Museum in Montevideo; moved in 2011 to the Captain Boiso Lanza Air Base for safe keeping.		C. Alustiza
367	Venezuela
368	VietNam
369	Zambia
370	Algeria
371	Bhutan
372	Botswana
373	Bulgaria	National Museum of Natural History, Sofia		L. Estébanez
374	Burma	National Museum, Yangon (Myanmar)		S. Farrell
375	Cameroon
376	Central African Republic
377	Mozambique
378	Cyprus	In the wake of a 1973 coup, retained by U.S. Embassy in Cyprus; reported in 2003 by son of U.S. diplomat to be in his custody. In May 2010, recovered by NASA Office of Inspector General. Scheduled for presentation to the people of Cyprus at a Dec. 16, 2022 ceremony at the presidential palace in Nicosia.
379	Czechoslovakia	Held in the Archive of Prague Castle, Prague, Czech Republic (source)		V. Cerny Photo: NOVA TV
380	Equatorial Guinea
381	Ethiopia
382	Fiji
383	France	Palais de la Découverte, Paris		T. Sterling/ Associated Press
384	Gambia
385	Ghana
386	Guinea Republic
387	Hungary	Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum (Hungarian Natural History Museum), Budapest		E. Ray M. Janosi
388	Kenya
389	Kuwait
390	Laos	"Haw Kham" Royal Palace Museum, Luang Prabang		T. Brattstrom Photo: D. Smirnov
391	Lesotho
392	Libya
393	Madagascar
394	Malawi
395	Malaysia
396	Maldives
397	Mali
398	Mauritania
399	Mauritius
400	Morocco
401	Nepal	National Museum of Nepal, Kathmandu		T. Sterling/ Associated Press Photo: E. Denny
402	Oman
403	Poland
404	Romania	Reported among auctioned possessions of dictator Ceausescu
405	Rwanda	Museum of Environment, Kibuye (previously at the Kandt House Museum of Natural History, Kigali)		C. Evans L. Fehmerling
406	Senegal
407	Sierra Leone	Sierra Leone National Museum in Freetown		R. Pearlman
408	Singapore	Singapore Science Centre		C. Baaijens
409	Somali
410	Sri Lanka	Colombo National Museum, Colombo (in storage)		K. Ratnatunga
411	Sudan
412	Trinidad and Tobago
413	USSR
414	United Arab Emirates	Al Ain National Museum, Al Ain, Emirate of Abu Dhabi		F. Leuband
415	Upper Volta
416	Yemen
417	Yugoslavia	Museum of Yugoslav History, Belgrad, Serbia		J. Igor
418	Zaire
420	Bangladesh
421	Liechtenstein	On public display in the exhibition "The Principality, the World and Outer Space" at the Treasure Chamber of the Principality of Liechtenstein, Vaduz		A. Stammherr
422	Monaco
423	Nauru
424	San Marino	Museo di Stato, Città di San Marino (beginning June 2017)		L. Salvatori/RTV
425	Tonga
426	Vatican	Headquarters of the Vatican Observatory, Papal Gardens, Castel Gandolfo		G. Consolmagno I. Danforth Mgr. P. Wells K. Horn
427	West Samoa
428	Chile	Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago		C. Gómez
429	Sweden	National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm		T. Johnson P. Holmgren

239	Alabama	On permanent display at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery (as of February 2014)		J. Malovets J. Hardin
240	Alaska	Alaska State Museum, Juneau		J. Brooks
241	Arizona	Held in the collection of the University of Arizona Mineral Museum, Tucson		J. Malovets
242	Arkansas	Rediscovered in Sept. 2011 by an archivist at the Arkansas Studies Institute in Little Rock among former President Bill Clinton's gubernatorial papers. Now found, the moon rock is on display at the Museum of Discovery, Little Rock (since January 2012).		M. Hodges S. Wire
243	California	San Diego Air and Space Museum, San Diego (previously in storage as a result of damage to its plaque in 1978 museum fire)		J. Gutheinz
244	Colorado	Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum, Golden Discovered in June 2010 in the possession of former governor John Vanderhoof, who was in office when it was presented to the state.		R. Griffis KMGH-TV
245	Connecticut	Museum of Connecticut History, State Library, Hartford		Y. Yeomans
246	Delaware	In a climate-controlled storeroom as part of the Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs' collection		L. Marianiello P. George/DFM News
247	Florida	Museum of Florida History, Tallahassee (in storage)		R. Griffis K. Friedman
248	Georgia	Fernbank Science Center, Atlanta		M. Jetzer
249	Hawaii	Rediscovered after a routine gift inventory inside a cabinet in the Executive Chambers on the fifth floor of the Hawai'i State Capitol, Honolulu		J. Gutheinz W. Hoover/ Honolulu Advertiser
250	Idaho	Idaho State Historical Society, Boise		J. Newton
251	Illinois	Illinois State Museum, Springfield		L. Moore
252	Indiana	Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis (in storage)		J. McGauley
253	Iowa	State Historical Museum, Des Moines		J. Sahagun
254	Kansas	Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas, Lawrence		E. Ray
255	Kentucky	Challenger Learning Center of Kentucky, Hazard (as of February 2015; on loan from the Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort)		B. Officer
256	Louisiana	Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans (currently in archives) Recovered in November 2020 after being purchased for its wooden plaque by a Florida gun collector at a garage sale sometime in the past 15 years.
257	Maine	Maine State Museum, Augusta		K. Larkin
258	Maryland	State Archives, Annapolis		J. Betancourt-Castano
259	Massachusetts	Museum of Science, Boston		J. Gutheinz C. Kirdahy
260	Michigan
261	Minnesota	Minnesota Historical Society, MN150 exhibit, St. Paul		J. Milella Photo: Minnesota Historical Society
262	Mississippi	Department of Archives and History, Jackson (in storage)		I. Washington
263	Missouri	Discovered in Dec. 2010 among Senator Kit Bond's Washington, D.C. archives and subsequently presented to Gov. Jay Nixon. Now in the custody of the Missouri State Museum, State Capitol Building, Jefferson City
264	Montana	Montana Historical Society, Helena		A. Egbeyemi
265	Nebraska	Lost in the governor's mansion for a number of years. Found by Diane Nelson, former Gov. Ben Nelson's wife, while the mansion was undergoing renovations. Now on public display at the Ralph Mueller Planetarium at the University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln.		J. Dunn
266	Nevada	Nevada State Museum, Carson City (in storage).		E. Schwartz
267	New Hampshire	McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, Concord		S. Ubele
268	New Jersey
269	New Mexico	Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell		F. French
270	New York	New York State Museum, Albany (in storage, plaque and acrylic-encased moon rock held separately)		L. Moore
271	North Carolina	Nature Research Center, Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh. Earlier: Held in a desk drawer at the Department of Commerce and then from 2003 to 2010 in the custody of State University professor Christopher Brown.		C. Tacker Photo: NCSU
272	North Dakota	North Dakota Heritage Center & State Museum, Bismarck		P. Depweg R. Dates S. Silengo and M. Halvorson/ Historical Society
273	Ohio
274	Oklahoma	Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City		R. Niang-Casey
275	Oregon	Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, permanent exhibit in the Earth Science Hall		L. Erickson
276	Pennsylvania	Planetarium, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg		M. Wilkins
277	Rhode Island	State Archives (in storage), Providence		T. Evans R.G. Stearn
278	South Carolina
279	South Dakota	W.H. Over Museum, Vermillion		D. Brosz
280	Tennessee	Pink Palace Museum Sharpe Planetarium, Memphis		D. Cesarino
281	Texas	The Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum, Austin		K. Aurisch
282	Utah	Utah Museum of Natural History, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City		D.M. King
283	Vermont	in the collection of the Vermont Historical Society, Barre		M. Guice
284	Virginia	Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond		N. Shull
285	Washington	Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma		T. Lee
286	West Virginia	Located in June 2010 in the possession of retired dentist Robert Conner of Morgantown, who received it a decade ago with his late brother Troy's estate. Though the details of how it passed hands are not exactly clear, former Governor Arch A. Moore Jr., who took receipt of the moon rock while in office, was also affiliated with Troy's law firm. Moore told the Associated Press he may have given it to Troy "to observe." Now on display on the upper level of the West Virginia State Museum at The Culture Center in Charleston.		S. Shelton
287	Wisconsin	Wisconsin Historical Museum, Madison (in storage)		E. Ray
288	Wyoming	Wyoming State Museum, Cheyenne		Y. Molina
289	Puerto Rico