State Papers: Priceless moon rock donated to Ireland destroyed in fire

Members of the Apollo 11 crew, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin Eugene Aldrin.

A priceless piece of moon rock donated to Ireland following a Nasa mission, was destroyed in a fire, newly-released records show.

Documents from the National Archives detail the embarrassing affair, which saw the rock travel 380,000km to Earth before spending three years in a government basement and ultimately being lost in an accidental fire at Dunsink Observatory.