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Junkyard Owner Saves Lunar Rover Prototype (vice.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the one-piece-of-junk-for-a-man-one-saved-treasure-for-mankind dept.

An anonymous reader writes: On Tuesday, Slashdot users learned that a man in Alabama sold a lunar rover prototype for scrap metal. We now learn that the junkyard owner has saved this important piece of scientific history. The man claims that, upon receiving the prototype at his scrap facility, he set it aside because he knew exactly what it was.

4 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Why did NASA lie about it being destroyed? by ArylAkamov · · Score: 4, Interesting

    According to the article NASA knew exactly where it was, that it was not destroyed and had even come to inspect it.

    "NASA knew it was still available. In my mind, they tried to play a trickery game. They wanted me to loan it to them, but I think they just wanted to get it into their possession. They offered me [perks], they offered me everything but cash," the junkyard owner said. "NASA told me when they came out to inspect it that they had looked for it for 25 years. It is the von Braun, the first and last they made. I was told it is the rarest of all the units."

    So what's the deal?

    1. Re:Why did NASA lie about it being destroyed? by erice · · Score: 5, Interesting

      According to the article NASA knew exactly where it was, that it was not destroyed and had even come to inspect it.

      "NASA knew it was still available. In my mind, they tried to play a trickery game. They wanted me to loan it to them, but I think they just wanted to get it into their possession. They offered me [perks], they offered me everything but cash," the junkyard owner said. "NASA told me when they came out to inspect it that they had looked for it for 25 years. It is the von Braun, the first and last they made. I was told it is the rarest of all the units."

      So what's the deal?

      I imagine it went something like this:

      NASA Rep: That's GREAT! You've done your country a great service by preserving this priceless artifact. When shall we pick it up?
      Junk Yard Owner: Now hold on a minute! This ain't free. I want to be paid.
      NASA Rep: OK. How much do you want?
      Junk Yard Owner: $BIGNUM
      NASA Rep: This is a side project. We don't have that kind of budget.
      Junk Yard Owner: This is a limited time offer! If you don't pay $BIGNUM by X, I will melt it down! Then what will your superiors say?
      NASA Rep: My superiors barely approve of me spending time on this. I think it is important but there is no way I can get the money you ask.
      Junk Yard Owner: I'm serious! I'll melt it down!
      NASA Rep: Well, then I guess we're done here.

      [Time X + Delta]
      NASA PR: A priceless artifact of the Apollo program has been melted down.

      [Time X + Delta + Y]
      Junk Yard Owner: I did not melt it down. NASA just has to pay me.

    2. Re:Why did NASA lie about it being destroyed? by marciot · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They offered me [perks], they offered me everything but cash

      The deal is that thanks to Congress NASA has no budget. They are scrambling to put together a bake sale to raise money for buying the rover, but it's hard to get aerospace engineers to bake anything that someone else would want to buy and eat.

  2. Re:Sure. by reboot246 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Except back then in Alabama everybody knew about it. We kept track of everything space related, even prototypes. Von Braun lived in Alabama!!!! Huntsville was the very heart of the space program. Still is! We're pretty well-informed down here.

    I was born in 1953, grew up about 16 miles from the junkyard (60 miles from Huntsville), and I would have recognized the damned thing. I'd recognize nearly anything related to the space program from that era. Most everybody I know would.