Five small fragments of the moon, which were collected at
Tranquility Base 40 years ago and gifted to the people of
Minnesota, have been found by the National Guard. The small
lunar stones, which are better described as dust and pebbles
rather than moon rocks, were discovered as they were originally
presented: embedded inside an acrylic button and mounted to a
wooden podium with a Minnesota state flag that also flew to the
moon in 1969. "The Apollo 11 moon rocks were found amongst
military artifacts in a storage area at the Veterans Service
Building in St. Paul," said Army Maj. Blane Iffert, the former
state historian for the Minnesota National Guard. The Minnesota
moon rocks are one of about 185 such lunar sample displays that
were presented to each of the states, United States' territories
and to foreign nations as a goodwill gesture following the
return of the Apollo 11 crew, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and
Michael Collins. Space news from NBCNews.com Teen's space
mission fueled by social media Science edi