Lunar Bible Legacy: A NASA Hero's Final Battle in a Texas Court

HOUSTON, TX – December 29, 2025 – He was a decorated WWII artillery captain, a NASA information scientist who helped organize the data that put men on the moon, and a chaplain who provided spiritual counsel to astronauts. But the most enduring legacy of Reverend John M. Stout—landing the first Holy Bible on the lunar surface—is now overshadowed by his tragic final years and a legal battle that has trapped millions of dollars in priceless historical artifacts in a courthouse safe for over fifteen years.

A new book, Undaunted, by author Carol Mersch, has cast a fresh spotlight on the extraordinary life and devastating end of a man whose faith reached for the heavens, only to see his legacy grounded by a terrestrial and bureaucratic quagmire. The story reveals a stark contrast between a life of celebrated achievement and a lonely death in the custody of the state, raising profound questions about elder rights and the preservation of history.

A Mission of Faith to the Final Frontier

John Maxwell Stout was a figure forged by the defining events of the 20th century. After serving as an artillery captain in the Pacific during World War II, an injury led to his discharge as a Disabled Veteran. In 1962, his unique skills brought him to NASA, where he worked as a senior information scientist for a subcontractor, playing a crucial role in the data management systems for the Apollo program.

However, Stout’s mission was twofold. He accepted the post on the condition that he could also serve as an unofficial chaplain to the astronauts and staff at the Manned Spacecraft Center. In the wake of the devastating Apollo 1 fire in 1967, which claimed the lives of three astronauts, Stout co-founded the Apollo Prayer League. The organization, which grew to 40,000 members worldwide, was dedicated to praying for the safety of the space missions.

It was a wish from one of the deceased Apollo 1 astronauts, Ed White, to carry a Bible to the moon that fueled Stout's most ambitious project. Overcoming NASA’s strict weight limitations, Stout worked with the National Cash Register Company to shrink the entire 1,245-page King James Bible onto a tiny piece of microfilm. After a failed attempt on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, his vision was finally realized. On February 5, 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell carried a container of these 'Lunar Bibles' to the moon's surface aboard the lunar module Antares. They became the first scriptures and the first published book to reach another celestial world.

The State Intervenes

Nearly four decades after that celestial achievement, Stout’s life took a tragic and bewildering turn. In October 2010, the Texas Department of Aging & Disability Services (DADS) intervened in the lives of Rev. Stout, then 88, and his wife Helen, 86. Acting on reports, allegedly from the couple's adopted son, that they were suffering from dementia and giving away valuable assets, the state declared them incapacitated. They were made wards of the state, removed from their home, and placed in a Medicaid nursing home.

State agents seized their possessions, discovering a treasure trove of space memorabilia, including the invaluable Lunar Bibles. For years, the Stouts were kept in near-total isolation, deprived of contact with friends and their church community. The state’s actions were later challenged when 2014 tax filings revealed the artifacts were not personal property but assets of Faith Presbyterian Church, the non-profit parent organization of the Apollo Prayer League, where Stout had served as director. As church property, the assets were legally exempt from state seizure.

DADS eventually dismissed its own case in April 2017, but the victory was a hollow one. It came only after both Helen and John Stout had passed away in state-supervised care, never regaining control of their lives or their legacy. The intervention, intended to protect them, had effectively imprisoned them for their final years.

A Celestial Legacy in Courtroom Limbo

The legal battle did not end with the Stouts' deaths or the state's withdrawal. The fight over who owns the 'Lunar Bibles' and other artifacts has dragged on, now entering its 16th year in a Chambers County, Texas, probate court. The case is a complex web of claims. Author Carol Mersch, a friend of astronaut Edgar Mitchell, maintains that Stout legally gifted her several of the Bibles years before the state's intervention, a claim an Oklahoma judge upheld in a related case. Faith Presbyterian Church, through its publisher, asserts its ownership over the collection as the parent body of the Apollo Prayer League. Meanwhile, the estate remains unsettled.

The stakes are immense. Complete, certified Lunar Bibles have fetched prices upwards of $75,000 at auction, and even small fragments are highly valued by collectors. The entire collection seized from Stout is estimated to be worth millions. Yet, reports indicate these fragile, historically significant artifacts are languishing and potentially deteriorating in the courthouse safe as the legal process remains stalled, with no judicial action in over two years.

For now, the legacy of Rev. John Stout is one of paradox. The microfilm Bibles, symbols of a faith powerful enough to touch the moon, remain trapped on Earth, ensnared in a legal system that has so far failed to honor the final wishes of the man who sent them there. The story of the Apollo Prayer League is one of monumental success, but the story of its founder's final chapter is a cautionary tale of vulnerability and justice delayed.