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Cosmosphere suspects space artifacts stolen
Cosmosphere suspects space artifacts stolen
BY TIM POTTER The Wichita Eagle The Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center -- one of the nation's largest space museums -- has discovered that more than 100 items are missing from its collection. It appears the items were taken from storage and sold without the Cosmosphere's approval or knowledge, the head of the Hutchinson museum said Thursday. The losses were discovered six to eight weeks ago in what began as a routine internal audit, said Jeff Ollenburger, the Cosmosphere's president and chief executive. The FBI will investigate the possible theft, said Jeff Lanza, spokesman for the FBI regional office in Kansas City, Mo. The missing items could include government property belonging to NASA, he said. Ollenburger said he could not comment on who might have taken the items or how or when they were sold. But, he said, "to the best of my knowledge, no current employees are a part of this investigation." No one has been disciplined or fired over the missing items, he said. Officials are conducting an ongoing inventory to provide a precise accounting of the missing items. "We don't know the full scope yet," Ollenburger said. But the losses could amount to more than 100 items out of a total collection of about 12,000 pieces, he said. "There is a significant market for this in private hands, the values of which change depending on the buyer's interest," he said. The dollar amounts involved with the missing items, he said, "are potentially very substantial." The missing pieces represent a wide range of years and space programs, he said. Some of the items went into space. He said the items could include space gloves and other personal items, small tools and hardware. An astronaut's glove could command at least a few thousand dollars from a collector, said Robert Pearlman, editor of collectSPACE.com, a resource for space memorabilia collectors and space historians. The Cosmosphere loss "is certainly going to grab the attention of a lot of collectors," Pearlman said. A conservative estimate of the international space artifact market would be 20,000 to 25,000 serious collectors, he said. Over the years, he said, the Cosmosphere has developed a friendly relationship with collectors because it shares information about restoration of space artifacts. Collectors buy through different venues, including online auction and sales sites. EBay, for example, offers space memorabilia and autographs. If collectors eventually learned that something they bought was wrongly taken from the Cosmosphere, Pearlman said, he wouldn't be surprised if they turned the items over to the museum and took up their grievances with whoever sold the items. Generally, the most important space items are held and controlled by the Smithsonian or NASA and loaned to institutions like the Cosmosphere, Ollenburger said. But some people working in the space program have legally acquired items that are sold to collectors, he said. The Cosmosphere referred the matter to the U.S. attorney's office in Wichita about two weeks ago. In a statement Thursday, the Cosmosphere said, "We have turned over all our audit documentation to the authorities and are cooperating with them as they pursue the investigation further." None of the missing items was on display; they all apparently were in storage facilities at the Cosmosphere or off-site in Hutchinson. The investigation will not affect current exhibits, education programs, building operations or restoration of the Gemini 6 and Gemini 10 space capsules, Cosmosphere officials said. Peter Golkin, spokesman for the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., said apparently none of the missing items were on loan from the Smithsonian. Ollenburger said he is confident that the Cosmosphere's security measures are adequate and said no security changes have been made as a result of the losses. "But we're always concerned with the integrity of the collection and are constantly evaluating that," he said. "We take our role very seriously when it comes to protecting this history." Trish Oakley, the Cosmosphere's marketing director, said the museum draws about 285,000 visitors a year from every state and dozens of countries, making it one of the state's top tourist destinations. As news of the Cosmosphere losses spread Thursday, Ollenburger said he heard from a number of people in the space and museum industry. "They feel bad that something like this happened," he said, "and they are wishing us the best of luck." |
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