Project Moon Harvest

Farmers, children, and strollers through the countryside of western Iowa are being urged by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to turn in any strange‐looking rocks they may find to their local county agent or Soil Conservation Office. The organized search for moon fragments that may have fallen to earth after having been knocked off the lunar surface by meteors is centered in western Iowa, according to NASA, because the area is “remarkably free of native stones since underlying rocks are covered by a thick, ancient blanket of fine windblown material”. Accordingly, the Iowans of Pottawattamie, Monona, Shelby, Harrison, and Crawford Counties are being requested (largely through the medium of a touring NASA “Spacemobile”) to look for such fragments—especially during spring plowing, when any stone turned up in that region is a curiosity.