Since January 20, 2021, a piece of the Moon has resided in the Oval Office, a testament to past achievements and a beacon for future ambitions in space exploration. NASA has loaned a genuine Moon Rock to the White House, placing lunar history right at the heart of American leadership.
This lunar sample, officially designated Lunar Sample 76015,143, is more than just a rock; it’s a 3.9-billion-year-old fragment chipped from a large boulder in the Taurus-Littrow Valley during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Astronauts Ronald Evans, Harrison Schmitt, and Eugene Cernan, the last humans to walk on the Moon, collected this 332-gram piece of lunar geology. This rock provides a tangible link to the last time humans explored the lunar surface.
A lunar sample, a moon rock collected during the Apollo 17 mission, displayed in the Oval Office. This rock symbolizes American ambition in space exploration and serves as a tangible reminder of lunar geology.
The moon rock itself is a fragment from the Imbrium Impact Basin, a massive 711.5-mile wide crater formed by a colossal impact event on the near side of the Moon. Its surface tells a story of cosmic history, with tiny craters formed by millions of years of micrometeorite impacts. Smooth, sawn sides are a result of careful preparation in NASA’s Lunar Curation Laboratory, where slices were taken for ongoing scientific research.
Studying moon rocks like this sample is crucial for expanding our understanding of both the Moon and Earth. These lunar samples provide invaluable insights into planetary formation and the history of our solar system. As NASA embarks on new missions to the Moon and beyond, this moon rock in the Oval Office serves as a constant reminder of the scientific legacy and the ongoing pursuit of space exploration.
