€4m moon rock lands in dump debris

It may be a case of sheer, unadulterated “lunar-cy”, but an out of this world find worth as much as €4m could be buried in one of the country’s largest rubbish dumps.

A new investigation into the disappearance of 184 moon rock segments from the US Apollo 11 and 17 missions 43 and 40 years ago has claimed one of the valuable items may be lost inside Dublin’s Dunsink dump — a facility better known as a graveyard for useless items and used nappies.

The BBC has reported that, as part of a major public relations exercise, then president Richard Nixon sent pieces of the rocks to all US states and 135 foreign nations, including Ireland, following the return of what would be the final moon landing mission.