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KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) – NASA is seeking a dismissal of a federal lawsuit by a woman who is considering seizing a vial of moon dust that she says was offered to her by astronaut Neil Armstrong.
Laura Cicco filed the case in Kansas in June, asking the court to make a declaratory judgment that she owned the lunar dust she had received from Armstrong, a friend of her 10-year-old father. She cites cases in the past where NASA has seized similar artifacts related to the moon because she claims the government owns all the lunar materials, reported the Kansas City Star.
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The space agency has filed a motion at the end of August to dismiss the lawsuit for various legal reasons, saying it's a hypothetical question because the agency has not not attempted to confiscate the artifact, which is kept in a secret location in Kansas.
In an answer this week, Cicco's lawyer, Christopher McHugh, said that NASA could officially say that she had no interest in the artifact and that the trial would end.
"It seems that the government is of the opinion that the threat against Mrs. Cicco is not" immediate or real "until NASA is at her door with a mandate," he said.
NASA also argued that the lawsuit should not have been brought in Kansas because none of the events occurred in the state.
"The events behind the claim in this case took place on the moon," wrote McHugh. "Although the place has its appeal, I will have to take a walk."
Although Cicco lives in Tennessee, the lawsuit was filed in Kansas because his federal court has experience with lunar material.
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In 2005, Max Ary, former director of the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, was convicted of selling museum property for his personal gain.
Space objects seized by the federal government included a bag used by Armstrong to collect dust on the moon. This bag and other souvenirs were auctioned before being seized by NASA.
The lawyer who bought the souvenirs at the auction filed a lawsuit in Wichita Federal Court and NASA lost. Last year, the lawyer resold the auction bag for $ 1.8 million.
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Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com
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