Joseph Gutheinz facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Joseph Gutheinz
Born	(1955-08-13) August 13, 1955 (age 70)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Monterey Peninsula College California State University, Sacramento University of Southern California South Texas College of Law
Occupation	Educator, attorney, author, retired law enforcement officer

Joseph Richard Gutheinz (born August 13, 1955) is an American lawyer, college teacher, and former government officer. He is well-known for creating the "Moon Rock Project." This project works to find missing Moon rocks that were brought back to Earth by the Apollo missions.

Joseph Gutheinz's Early Life and Work

Joseph and Lori Gutheinz

Joseph Gutheinz's father was a high-ranking officer in the US Marines. His mother also served in the Marine Corps.

Joseph Gutheinz has earned several college degrees from different universities, including California State University, Sacramento, and the University of Southern California. He has been a lawyer since 1996. He also teaches at the University of Phoenix. He has served on important state groups, like the Texas Commission on Fire Protection.

He also started his own law firm, Gutheinz Law Firm, LLP, in Friendswood, Texas. Two of his sons, who are also Army veterans, work with him at the firm.

Investigating Cases for NASA

Joseph Gutheinz during the Omniplan Investigation

Joseph Gutheinz worked as a special agent for the NASA Office of Inspector General. This office investigates crimes and problems within NASA.

He led a big investigation called the Omniplan task force. This team found out that a company working for NASA, called Omniplan, was making false claims. The investigation involved 25 agents from many different agencies. It led to the closure of several companies and was a very important case for NASA at the time.

Gutheinz also worked on other important cases. He investigated a company called Rockwell, which led to a legal settlement. He also investigated and arrested someone who was pretending to be an astronaut. He even looked into problems with the Russian space program, including a fire and a crash on the Mir space station.

Operation Lunar Eclipse: Finding a Missing Moon Rock

Joseph Gutheinz and Ross Perot

Joseph Gutheinz led a secret operation called "Operation Lunar Eclipse." This mission aimed to get back a special Moon rock that was given to Honduras after the Apollo 17 mission. Someone offered to sell this Moon rock for $5 million. A Texas billionaire named H. Ross Perot helped provide the money needed to get the rock back.

During this operation, Gutheinz found out that many of the Moon rocks and lunar dust samples given as gifts by past US presidents were not being properly tracked. He had asked NASA to look into this before. Later, an audit by NASA showed that many loaned Moon samples were also not being properly accounted for.

Awards for Government Service

Joseph Gutheinz has received many awards for his work in government. These include:

• The NASA Exceptional Service Medal.
• An award for his career achievements from the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency.
• A NASA award for his investigation of the Russian Mir Space Station fire and collision.
• Special praise from the FBI and the US Attorney's Office for leading the Omniplan investigation.
• An award for his work on the Lockheed-Martin investigation.
• An award for his work on the Denver Airport and pilot safety programs.
• An award for graduating first in his class at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

Focus on Aviation Safety

Technical rendition of STS-71 docked to Mir

Joseph Gutheinz has often spoken out about making air travel safer. His interest in aviation safety started when he saw a friend die in a helicopter crash during flight school. He continued this work as a special agent for different government agencies, including the FAA and NASA.

He believes NASA should be more open about its operations. After leaving NASA, he shared his concerns about how NASA handled the Columbia space shuttle disaster. He has also pointed out problems with how air balloon pilots are regulated and how foreign-owned aircraft are registered.

The Moon Rock Project

Joseph Gutheinz started "The Moon Rock Project" at the University of Phoenix. In this project, his graduate students in criminal justice help investigate and find missing Moon rocks. These include samples from Apollo 11 and Apollo 17.

Finding Moon Rocks Held by Governors

Gutheinz and his students have helped find 79 missing Moon rocks and plaques. Some of these were kept by former governors, including Governor John Vanderhoof of Colorado, Governor Arch Moore, Jr. of West Virginia, and Governor Kit Bond of Missouri. A TV show called Lost and Found even featured Gutheinz and his student Sandra Shelton, showing how they helped recover the West Virginia Moon rock.

Cyprus's Missing Moon Rock

In 2009, a reporter became interested in Gutheinz's Moon Rock Project. With Gutheinz's help, they found more missing Moon rocks. Gutheinz discovered that the Moon rock given to Cyprus had been taken or destroyed during conflicts in the 1970s. However, he later found out that the rock was with the child of a deceased American diplomat who had worked in Cyprus. Gutheinz asked for the rock to be returned, and in 2010, NASA took possession of it.

Canada's Apollo 17 Moon Rock

In 2002, Gutheinz asked his students to find Canada's Apollo 17 Moon Rock. They found that the rock and its plaque were missing and believed to have been stolen years ago. His students eventually tracked the Moon rock to a storage area at the Canadian Museum of Nature. In 2009, Gutheinz and his students encouraged Canada to display the Canadian Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rock for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11. The rock was then moved to the Canadian Science and Technology Museum and put on display.

Other Moon Rock Discoveries

In 2012, Gutheinz traveled to Buffalo, Texas, to check on a Moon rock that was being sold online for $300,000. He has also criticized NASA for how it handles loaned Moon rocks and the lack of security for some of these valuable samples.

The Moon Rock Project in Pop Culture

Because of his many years of searching for missing Moon rocks, Joseph Gutheinz has earned the nickname "The Moon Rock Hunter." His students first gave him this nickname as a fun play on "The Crocodile Hunter."

Two documentaries have been made about his investigations: Moon for Sale (2007) and Lunarcy! (2012). The Spanish press has even called him the "Van Helsing of Luna Traffickers" for his hunt for General Francisco Franco's Spanish Apollo 11 Moon Rock.

Television and Film Appearances

Joseph Gutheinz has appeared on several television shows:

• In 2013, he and Sandra Shelton were on an episode of Unbelievable Mysteries on the OWN Network.
• In 2014, he appeared on Lost History with Brad Meltzer on the History Channel.
• In 2015, a documentary about him and his students, Missing Moon Rocks, won an Emmy Award.
• From 2016 to 2019, Gutheinz was in fourteen episodes of NASA's Unexplained Files on the Science Channel.

He is also acting in a movie called Operation Lunar Eclipse, which is about his undercover operation from 1998. The movie has been filmed in places like Kennedy Space Center and Washington D.C.

See also