“Finders keepers. Law of the sea. Salvage rights and all that.
I would have kept it.”
Probably not legally arguable. If property of the government, such as a few German tanks found in a river were still property of the German government (note, the Third Reich built the tanks, not the present German govt), then pieces of the space craft would also be property of the government.
It was a disposable part of the aircraft. The govt. never intended to recover it. No different than you throwing something away, I find it and decide to keep it for myself.
I have to disagree, tanks and aircraft are expected to land, drive back into base, etc. This part was expected to drop into the ocean and be non-recoverable. When I was in the US Navy, it was common to throw aluminum and steel parts that were no longer serviceable or repairable over the side of the ship (such as bolts that had stripped threads, or a pump shaft that was sheared in half). If a Navy sailor threw something like that over the side and somebody found it later, it wouldn’t be reasonable for the Navy go tell them, “Hey, that’s US Government property and we gotta have that back!” This Apollo 16 part has the same status as a spent shell casing. NASA disposed of it in the sea, nobody ever had a reasonable expectation to see it ever again, and they lost rights to it as soon as it hit the water.
The part from Apollo 16 also wouldn’t be used in any kind of crash/mishap investigation, to NASA couldn’t take that tack, either.
Probably not legally arguable. If property of the government, such as a few German tanks found in a river were still property of the German government (note, the Third Reich built the tanks, not the present German govt), then pieces of the space craft would also be property of the government.