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Alaska reclaims missing moon rocks since 1973

By Dan Joling
Published December 7, 2012 1:09am ET
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Alaska reclaims missing moon rocks since 1973
Alaska State Museum curator of collections Steve Henrikson shows a plaque containing an Alaska flag below moon rocks encased in acrylic glass on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, at Anchorage School District offices in Anchorage, Alaska. President Richard Nixon presented the display to Alaska Gov. Keith Miller in 1969 after the Apollo 11 moon mission. The display disappeared from a museum after an arson fire in 1973 but was returned to the state Wednesday after settlement of a lawsuit. (AP Photo/Dan Joling) | Dan Joling

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A display of moon rocks that disappeared from an Alaska museum after an arson fire nearly four decades ago has been returned to the state following the settlement of a lawsuit by a man who claimed he rescued the rocks from the rubble.

State and federal officials at a news conference Thursday displayed the returned relic — tiny moon rocks encased in a golf ball-size acrylic glass ball and mounted on a walnut plaque above a small Alaska flag that traveled to the moon aboard Apollo 11.

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