Precious Treasures on Earth

by Laurie Carrillo

The “well-being” of our Lunar Rocks, one of the precious treasures on Earth, is a responsibility held by the Office of Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation of the ARES Office within the Space and Life Sciences Directorate at Johnson Space Center.  Though the majority of the samples are held here at Johnson Space Center, about 114 pounds of the Moon was transferred to a vault at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas in 1976.  Recent events placed a series of new demands on the security of these lunar samples:  1) By October, Brooks was scheduled to become a city-owned base and is significantly reducing the amount of security at the base, 2) In July 2002, a safe containing lunar samples from every Apollo mission was discovered missing from JSC and 3) On September 11, 2001, our country experienced the worst terrorist attack in history.  The JSC Curation team was forced to ensure the safety of the lunar rocks to a higher degree of security than had been needed in before.  A new state-of-the-art facility was built at the White Sands Test Facility led by Jack Warren/Lockheed Martin, Lisa Vidonic/Lockheed Martin, Justin Kerr/NASA, and Richard Von Wolff/NASA.  This was completed and received its Operation Readiness Review.  As of September 20, 2002, the White Sands facility was ready to receive the samples from Brooks. Chuck Meyer/NASA, Carol Schwarz/ Lockheed Martin, Andrea Mosie/Lockheed Martin and Maria Murphy/MEI did extensive work to develop a safe and effective plan to move the Moon rocks.  Mark Valentine/NASA and Lisa Coleman/ DYN designed the packing configuration that was used to effectively protect and prevent damage to the Moon rocks and furniture.  The Brooks team was responsive and assisted the JSC team as they arrived at Brooks.  The JSC team including Ron Bastien, Terry Parker and J. R. Sanchez (all of Lockheed Martin) loaded all of the cabinets and Moon rocks into trucks in San Antonio, TX.  Dave Reece/ Three-Way Transportation effectively provided the trucks necessary for the lunar samples to be moved.  Through a rigorous Risk Management Plan overseen by Cliff Kraus/SAIC, all risks involved with transporting the sample from San Antonio, TX to Las Cruces, NM were investigated and minimized.  Instrument Sensor Technology Accelerometers, loaned to JSC from Robert Orens of JPL, were placed on the truck to keep a log of the vibration events the samples experienced.  Through the extensive contingency plans that were created for the move, the move team was prepared for every situation they faced and utilized its predefined procedures successfully.  Sandy Ogden/NASA successfully led the transportation team of the mission.  A NASA security team led by Jack Mays/NASA escorted the trucks. Back home at JSC, Laurie Carrillo/JSC developed and directed an ATOMS (ARES Transporting Our Moon Safely) Mission Control, using it to keep watch on the weather as Hurricane Isidore posed a possible threat during the hours prior to the transport. Along with Mike Trenchard and Steve Waltz lending their weather tracking expertise, we maintained communication with the drivers across West Texas, and tracked the truck with its advanced QualComm tracking system as the lunar rocks traveled through West Texas.  Gary Lofgren, Carl Allen, Nancy Robertson, and Eileen Stansberry oversaw all activities.  Because of the fine work of the NASA, Johnson Space Center, ARES, the Astromaterials Acquisition and Curation Team, and all other contributing parties, the lunar samples were safely secured in the vault at the White Sands Test Facility.