At a Glance

The agency lost a moon rover prototype that was eventually sold to a junkyard.An Apollo 11 collection bag containing moon dust particles was lost and sold at auction for $1.8 million.

NASAlost priceless historical artifacts over the yearsbecause of poor record-keeping and a lack of follow-through, a new report said.

The audit conducted by the Office of the Inspector General said the agency such as"an Apollo 11 lunar collection bag that contained lunar dust particles" and a moon rover prototype that was sold to a junkyard because "NASA does not have adequate processes in place to identify or manage its heritage assets."

"A significant amount of historic personal property has been lost, misplacedor taken by former employees and contractors due to the agency’s lack of adequate procedures," the report noted.

The report also said the rover was spotted by an Air Force historianin an Alabama neighborhood. The owner expressed an interest in returning the rover to the agency once NASA became aware of the rover's whereabouts. However, after waiting about four months to hear back from the agency, the owner sold the rover to a scrap metal company.

"NASA officials subsequently offered to buy the rover, but the scrap yard owner refused and, realizing its historical value, sold the vehicle at auction for an undisclosed sum," the report said.

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The inspector general cited a lack of follow-through for the loss of the invaluable artifact.

As for the bag containing lunar dustcollected during the Apollo 11 mission to the moon, the agency was again cited for shoddy record-keeping.

According to the report, the collection bag was"seized by the Federal Bureau of Investigation from the home of a former chief executive officer for the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center during a criminal investigation" and sold at a U.S. Marshals Service auction.

Apparently, the bag and other items were on loan from NASA whenMax Ary sold the bag for his own personal profit.

Nancy Lee Carlson bought the bag for $995 and approached NASAto authenticate it. Once the agency realized what it was, it attempted to repossess the item through the court system.

The courts found that while the original auction should never have taken place, Carlson was legally entitled to the bag. She eventually auctioned off the bagfor $1.8 million.

Many other artifactsdating back to theMercury, Gemini and Apollo space missions of the 1960s and 1970s remain unaccounted for, including space suits and mission logs.

The report noted that record-keeping has improved since the end of the space shuttle missions but said the agency needs to "improve its processes for keeping track of historical artifacts."