MIAMI (AP).- Former astronaut Edgar Mitchell says a camera he brought back from the 1971 Apollo 14 moon mission was given to him by NASA despite the space agency’s lawsuit seeking its return, according to court papers filed by Mitchell’s attorney. Mitchell lawyer Donald Jacobson wants the NASA case dismissed, contending that a four-year statute of limitations has long since run and that there are no records to disprove his contention that the camera was a gift. “Dr. Edgar Mitchell is an American hero,” Jacobson wrote in the papers filed late Tuesday. “Dr. Mitchell knows he received the camera as a gift, and all the government can say is that it doesn’t know one way or the other.” NASA sued Mitchell earlier this month in federal court after the camera — technically known as a 16mm Data Acquisition Camera — surfaced as part of a proposed auction of space-related items. NASA contends the device remains the agency’s property and is demanding its return.