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| This disk encloses lunar rock and soil samples, collected during missions to the Moon in the early 1970s. It was loaned to the Museum by the Science and Technologies Facilities Council during the summer of 2009. It formed part of our summer exhibition, 'Once in a Blue Moon', celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the first Apollo lunar landing.
These specimensare amongst nearly 400 kilogrammes of lunar rock and soil, collected by NASA’s Apollo astronauts and brought back to Earth for study. Remarkably, the rock fragments have been ‘frozen’ in time for nearly four billion years. They are all quite similar to much younger rocks found on Earth. They show that the Moon formed from melted rock thrown out into space, following a collision between the early Earth and another planet. |  |  |
Moon Rock | | |
 | | Anorthosite from the Descartes Highlands. Apollo 16 mission, April 1972. The pale rock, known as ‘anorthosite’, is found in the lunar highlands. The highlands are the brighter, paler, heavily cratered areas of the Moon’s surface. This rock made up the original crust of the Moon. |
 | | Basalt from Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains). Apollo 15 mission, July-August 1971. Basalt represents cooled, solidified lava. Lunar basalt forms the darker, flatter, less cratered areas of the Moon’s surface - the lunar ‘seas’ or ‘maria’. The lava is thought to have erupted and flowed over the surface of Moon following giant meteorite impacts. |
 | | Breccia from Mare Imbrium. Apollo 15 mission, July-August 1971. Breccia forms by the smashing up and mixing of older rocks. Lunar breccias are the result of meteorite impacts. |
Lunar Soil | | Lunar soils are made up of tiny pieces of moon rock and meteorites, and cover much of the surface of the Moon. |
 | | Highland soil from Mare Imbrium. Apollo 15 mission, July-August 1971. |
 | | ‘Orange soil’, originally thought to indicate water on the Moon. From Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity), Apollo 17 mission, December 1972. |
 | | Mare soil from the Taurus-Littrow Valley. Apollo 17 mission, December 1972. |
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