NASA equipment, artifacts stolen

BREVARD COUNTY, F.L. (WHDH) -- It was the stuff of newsreels, the stuff of legend; and now some of it just looks like a lot of old stuff in a storage yard. Artifact dealer Billy Collins was in the process of selling it to a European museum.

"Large pieces, large panels. It was parts of a Saturn rocket eight foot high, 12 foot wide,” said Collins.

Tuesday morning, it was gone - tons of it.

"It had to be at least 4 people to pick it up and put it on a truck and that would have been a little bit stressful,” said Collins.

It was all at one time surplus equipment from the golden age of space flight; NASA got rid of it all years ago.

Those artifacts came from a collection that was originally kept on Merritt Island, spread out over several acres. Now that lot is vacant, and the collection is all over the world.

And now, it's likely on its way to a scrap yard, to be sold for a few cents a pound.

You see, the thieves likely think it's just a bunch of useless old metal. They don't know that legends like John Glenn once touched it.

Collins is in a race to intercept the rocket parts and equipment before it's sold for scrap.

"I’m trying to see this stuff get saved because it's part of the history going back to the 60's, 70's.. It's irreplaceable stuff."