A Space.com story reported in a Feb. 19, 2013 article in the Huffington Post relates the tale of a legal battle for the ownership of the so-called “lunar bibles,” copies of the Bible on microfilm that were flown to the moon during the Apollo missions over 40 years ago.
The court battle, which has been going on for two years but has only be recently made public, pits C.L. Mersch, the author of an account of how the lunar bibles were put together and flown, and the Texas Department of Aging and Disability, which is acting on behalf of John Stout, a scientist and chaplain who arranged for the Bibles to be flown. Stout and his wife are now wards of the State of Texas.
Mersch claims that she was given the bibles to sell on behalf of the Stout couple. Texas DADS claims that it is acting to protect the financial interests of the Stouts. At stake could be hundreds of thousands of dollars. A lunar bible not owned by Mersh was recently sold at auction for over $56,000.
Mersch’s book relates the story of the Apollo Prayer League and its efforts to take the word of God to the moon and back. “Apostles of Apollo” is also a meditation on the spiritual side of the Apollo program in particular and space exploration in general.
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