On August 1, Jim Gooding announced that he had accepted a challenging job managing research at Enron. This abrupt transition has left the Curator's Office in temporary disarray, partly because Jim was so good at what he did. We have divided up the activities and with the help of everyone are continuing to try to provide the expected high level of professional service to the community. Dale Browne is acting Branch Chief, while Chuck Meyer is acting Lunar Sample Curator and Eileen Stansberry is mission lead. It is thought that JSC may hire a Mars Curator sometime soon to continue to advocate for Mars Sample Return and advanced curation at JSC.

We have recently prepared and delivered to the Smithsonian, four new displays of lunar samples. They will be opening a new, improved hall of minerals, that will include first class displays of lunar samples. Be sure to visit. We would like to hear your impression.

Lunar Prospector is scheduled to take off next month. It is one of the first Discovery missions, done much more cheaply than in the past. They will map the whole Moon for Th and several other elements. We wish them success.