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– After 60 years of space exploration, NASA could do a better job of tracking its history, federal investigators have found.
The NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG), the independent investigation arm of the space agency, recently completed an audit of NASA's historic property and, in the wake of several high profile losses, has recommended that the agency adopt a more effective approach to identifying and managing its space artifacts.
"NASA's processes for the making of personal property have been improved over the past six decades. OIG reported.
Further, said investigators, the OIG 's efforts to recover artifacts have escaped NASA' s control has been "thwarted" by the space agency "poor record keeping and lack of established processes.
The OIG is being held as part of NASA's historic holdings as an extension to an eight-year assessment of the agency's aging infrastructure and facilities. NASA has had a vested interest in recovering but has been relinquished by the agency.
In this case dating back to 2015, a U.S. Air Force historian saw what he believed to be a lunar rover prototype in a residential backyard in Alabama. After reporting to NASA, the case was referred to the OIG, which learned that the rover was amenable to returning the moon buggy to NASA.
"The OIG requested NASA asserts ownership of the rover and, if appropriate, make plans to accept it as a donation," the audit reports. "However, after waiting for a decision by the agency, the rover to a scrap metal company."
The vehicle's new owner rejected NASA's eventual offer to buy the four-wheeled buggy and had it auctioned for an undisclosed sum.
In another example cited by the OIG, NASA's failure to be active in the marketplace. at a public auction. The poch had been on loan to a museum, but an inventory error has been made to the contrary and has been overseen by the US Marshals Office.
The Apollo 11 moon dust-stained bag sold for $ 1.8 million in 2017.
"In the past, the OIG has not yet had the right to have the right to use the property."
In addition to other concerns, the OIG found NASA's past actions of giving away or disposing of artifacts added confusion to the efforts to recover federal property.
During the early Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs of the 1960s, for example, astronauts were allowed to take over memories of flown spacecraft. Decades later, when those same astronauts began selling off their collections, the lack of any paperwork led to a confrontation between the OIG and the NASA veterans. To resolve the issue, Congress had affirmed the astronauts' title to their mementos.
But even that 2012 law open questions. An employee who has been tasked with preparing for the astronauts is one of the most important instructors at the end of the Apollo program, including one to the Apollo 11 crew to the moon. The employee instead took the artifacts home and years at auction.
"When NASA learned of the sale, it sought the return of the controllers," the OIG said. "[But] after three years, NASA discontinued its pursuit of the items. "
The OIG report acknowledges that NASA has made improvements to its policies – for example, in the way that it managed the provision of artifacts at the end of the space shuttle in 2011 – but recommended the agency develop more comprehensive procedures for maintaining its heritage assets , including deciding whether or not it is the most effective owner and the space of the historical property.
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