My Grandmother's Moon Rock
July 20, 2005 marks 36 years since man landed on the moon. So in honor, I’m letting you in on a little secret. I’ve got a piece of the moon. Now, I know what you’re thinking, "how is that possible?" Well, it is, maybe.
My grandmother, Ethel Clark, died in March of 2004. One of her possessions that she passed on to me, is her moon rock. Several years before she died, in some conversation that I don’t remember, she said, "I’ve got a moon rock." Of course I said, "you’ve got a moon rock?" I was a little bit skeptical, but I thought it might be possible. She went back, opened up a drawer in her bedroom and brought out a rock.
So how did my grandmother come to be the owner of a piece of lunar material? Well, throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, she worked in the commissary at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Her specific job was to make desserts. Her specialty was carrot and coconut cakes. So during those years, my grandmother made desserts eaten by Dr. Von Braun and the Apollo astronauts who made their way through building 4200.
She said she was given the rock, "after one of them trips to the moon." I don’t know who and she didn’t remember, but some astronaut gave my grandmother this rock and said he had brought it back from the moon. Did he give in to her in exchange for the desserts she had made? Was some astronaut getting a laugh at the expense of my grandmother? Who knows.
After she gave me the rock, I did some checking. I Googled and Yahooed moon rocks. It seems that all of the rocks collected on the moon are cataloged and stored at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Rocks are loaned out to be put on display around the world.
So it seems that it would be highly unlikely that the rock I have actually came from the moon. Although, it doesn’t look like any rock I’ve ever seen around here.
Is it a real moon rock? Maybe, maybe not. But until I get more specific evidence to the contrary, I’m going by what my grandmother told me. I’ve got a piece of the moon and it’s sitting on my kitchen counter.
My grandmother, Ethel Clark, died in March of 2004. One of her possessions that she passed on to me, is her moon rock. Several years before she died, in some conversation that I don’t remember, she said, "I’ve got a moon rock." Of course I said, "you’ve got a moon rock?" I was a little bit skeptical, but I thought it might be possible. She went back, opened up a drawer in her bedroom and brought out a rock.
So how did my grandmother come to be the owner of a piece of lunar material? Well, throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, she worked in the commissary at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Her specific job was to make desserts. Her specialty was carrot and coconut cakes. So during those years, my grandmother made desserts eaten by Dr. Von Braun and the Apollo astronauts who made their way through building 4200.
She said she was given the rock, "after one of them trips to the moon." I don’t know who and she didn’t remember, but some astronaut gave my grandmother this rock and said he had brought it back from the moon. Did he give in to her in exchange for the desserts she had made? Was some astronaut getting a laugh at the expense of my grandmother? Who knows.
After she gave me the rock, I did some checking. I Googled and Yahooed moon rocks. It seems that all of the rocks collected on the moon are cataloged and stored at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Rocks are loaned out to be put on display around the world.
So it seems that it would be highly unlikely that the rock I have actually came from the moon. Although, it doesn’t look like any rock I’ve ever seen around here.
Is it a real moon rock? Maybe, maybe not. But until I get more specific evidence to the contrary, I’m going by what my grandmother told me. I’ve got a piece of the moon and it’s sitting on my kitchen counter.
posted by Carson Clark @ 8:44 PM
1 Comments:
At 9:13 AM,
Murphy Jacobs said…
Well, you could put it in a plastic display box with a label saying "My grandmother's Moon Rock" and let it impress/amuse people.
I wonder if some person with a sense of humor found a town called "moon" or "moon-something" and picked up the rock there?
Post a Comment
<< Home