Ten tiny Bibles—each the size of a postage stamp—are now the subject of a big ownership dispute between an author from Tulsa, Oklahoma and the state of Texas.
These were the 10 microfilm Bibles that were launched into space, eight of which were carried in a pouch by astronaut Edgar Mitchell who landed on the surface of the moon on Feb. 5, 1971 during NASA's Apollo 14 mission, according to Fox News.
The Bibles are so small that the text can only be viewed through a microscope, except for two words: "HOLY BIBLE," which can be read by the naked eye at the top of the slide.
Mitchell, the lunar module pilot of that mission, passed away at the age of 85 on Feb. 4, 2016, on the eve of the 45th anniversary of his lunar landing. He accomplished the mission together with Apollo 14 commander Alan Shepard, Jr., the first American in space. Mitchell was the sixth man to walk on the moon.
The Bibles that are being contested by Oklahoma author Carol Mersch and the state of Texas are being kept inside a courthouse in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Sending the scriptures to the moon was the original idea of astronaut Ed White, who planned to take a small Bible with him to the moon on the Apollo 1 mission, according to Mersch, Tulsa World reported.
However, while preparing for the flight, White and two other astronauts died on Jan. 27, 1967, when the Apollo I rocket caught fire on the launchpad at Cape Canaveral.
The Rev. John Stout, a NASA chaplain, took up the cause and formed the Apollo Prayer League to pursue White's plan to send Bibles to the moon in honor of White, Mersch said.
Hundreds of tiny Bibles were carried by the astronauts in the Apollo 13 mission, but the Bibles never made it to the moon following an explosion during the flight that forced the crew to abort the mission.
Stout then asked Mitchell to take the Bibles with him in the Apollo 14 mission, which made it to the moon.
Returning to Earth, Mitchell brought the Bibles back and turned them over to Stout and the Apollo Prayer League.
Stout and the League then gave some of the Bibles to museums and certain individuals.
When the Apollo program ended, Stout took some of the Bibles with him.
In 2009, Mersch befriended Stout who allegedly gave her the tiny Bibles.
When Stout died in December 2014, his son Jonathan claimed ownership of the Bibles. He was supported by the state of Texas.
Texas' attorneys have accused Mersch of cheating Stout out of the Bibles. However, Mersch said in a recent interview that the thought that she would "steal an elderly couple's priceless artifacts for personal gain is unconscionable."
"The idea of America taking the Bibles to the moon, it was an incredible adventure," said Mersch, a NASA buff who wrote "The Apostles of Apollo," published in 2013.
The "first lunar Bibles" eventually found their way at the Tulsa County courthouse, awaiting a May 3 hearing over who owns them — Texas or Mersch. The details of the complicated legal battles are explained here.
