This lunar rock that you can touch
formed 3.8 billion years ago when lava
came up through cracks in the surface of
the Moon and formed a broad lava plain.
Then about 100 or 125 million years ago,
it was exposed onto the surface
probably by a crater impact. In 1972, on
the Apollo 17 mission, astronaut Jack Schmitt
was the only professional
geologist sent to the moon.
Schmitt noticed the rock because it
wasn't very far from the Lunar Module and it was big.
The rock weighed originally 18 pounds. Then
they stored it in a rock box, which is an
aluminum container that's sealed very
tightly, then placed it in the Ascent stage
on the Lunar Module and then launched
from the surface of the Moon to join the
Command/Service Module in lunar orbit.
The piece we have came to the museum in 1976.
It's the first rock that was put on
display for the public to touch.
All the other touchable displays throughout the
world
are cut from that same rock. Because it was so large, you could take a little piece
of it, and still have a lot left over for
science.
I think people are really interested in
seeing and touching the Moon Rock,
because it's a piece of another world.
It traveled 240,000 miles to get here
and it's 3.8 billion years old.
