Joseph Gutheinz facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Joseph Gutheinz
Born	(1955-08-13) August 13, 1955 (age 69)
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, teacher, writer, and former officer in the Army intelligence. He also served as an Army pilot and a Federal law enforcement officer. He is best known for starting the "Moon Rock Project." This project helps find missing Moon rock samples from the Apollo missions.

Joseph Gutheinz's Life and Work

Joseph and Lori Gutheinz

Joseph Gutheinz comes from a family dedicated to service. His father was a high-ranking officer in the US Marines and fought in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. His mother, Rita O’Leary Gutheinz, also served in the Marine Corps.

Joseph Gutheinz has earned six college degrees and holds many teaching and law licenses. He has been a lawyer since 1996. He has also taught at several colleges and universities, including the University of Phoenix. He was appointed by the Governor of Texas to serve as a Commissioner on the Texas Commission on Fire Protection. He also runs his own law firm, Gutheinz Law Firm, LLP, where two of his sons, who are also Army veterans, work with him.

Working for NASA

Joseph Gutheinz during the Omniplan Investigation

Joseph Gutheinz worked for the NASA Office of Inspector General. This office investigates crimes and fraud related to NASA. He led several important investigations.

One big case was the Omniplan investigation. Omniplan was a company that worked for NASA. Gutheinz found out that Omniplan was making false claims to NASA. They were pretending to lease equipment from companies that were actually owned by Omniplan's owner. Gutheinz put together a team of 25 agents from different agencies to investigate. This led to seven companies being shut down. It was one of the biggest cases in NASA's history at that time.

Gutheinz also investigated an astronaut impersonator named Jerry Alan Whittredge and helped arrest him. He also looked into problems with the Russian space program, including a fire and a collision on the Mir space station.

Operation Lunar Eclipse: Finding Moon Rocks

Joseph Gutheinz and Ross Perot

Joseph Gutheinz led a secret operation called "Operation Lunar Eclipse." This was a sting operation to get back a missing Moon rock from Honduras. This rock was a special gift from the Apollo 17 mission. Someone offered to sell it for $5 million. Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot provided the money to help get the rock back.

The operation involved agents from NASA, the US Postal Service, and US Customs. At first, the goal was to catch people selling fake Moon rocks. But when they found out the Honduras rock was real, Gutheinz realized many gifted Moon rocks were missing. He had asked NASA to look into this before. In 2011, an audit confirmed that many Moon samples were not properly accounted for.

Awards for Public Service

Exceptional Service Medal

Joseph Gutheinz has received many awards for his work for the government. These include the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. This award is given for outstanding service to NASA. He also received an award from the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency.

He was praised by the United States Attorney's Office and the Director of the FBI for leading the Omniplan investigation. He also received an award for his work on the Mir Space Station fire and collision. He was recognized by the Department of Transportation for his work on airport safety. He also graduated at the top of his class from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center.

Aviation Safety and Security

Technical drawing of STS-71 docked to Mir

Joseph Gutheinz is very interested in making air travel safer. His interest started when he was a student pilot and saw a friend die in a helicopter crash. He has worked as a special agent for the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and the Department of Transportation, focusing on aviation security. He also advised a group that worked for airline passenger rights.

He believes NASA should be more open about its operations. After leaving NASA, he spoke out about how NASA handled the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. He has also criticized the lack of rules for hot air balloon pilots 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 helped find missing Moon rocks. These rocks were from the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 missions.

Finding Missing Moon Rocks

Gutheinz and his students have helped find 79 missing Moon rocks and plaques. These include rocks that were kept by former governors of Colorado, West Virginia, and Missouri. In 2013, a TV show called Lost and Found featured Gutheinz and his student Sandra Shelton, showing how they recovered the West Virginia Moon rock.

Cyprus's Moon Rock

In 2009, a reporter became interested in Gutheinz's project. With Gutheinz's help, they found more missing Moon rocks. Gutheinz discovered that the Cyprus Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rock was with the child of a deceased American diplomat. He asked for the rock to be returned. In 2010, NASA took possession of the rock.

Canada's Moon Rock

In 2002, Gutheinz's students began looking for Canada's Apollo 17 Moon Rock. They found that it had been missing for decades. They tracked it down to a storage facility 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. It is now on display at the Canadian Science and Technology Museum.

Other Moon Rock Efforts

In 2012, Gutheinz traveled to Texas to check on a Moon rock being sold online for $300,000. He has also criticized NASA for how it handles loaned Moon rocks. He believes that some temporary owners do not keep America's Apollo-era Moon samples secure enough.

On Television and in Film

Joseph Gutheinz has appeared on several TV shows and in a documentary. In 2013, he was on 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, called 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 sting operation from 1998.

See also