“No other set of geologic samples has ever been investigated so extensively,” geologist (and later Apollo 17 astronaut) Harrison Schmitt and colleagues wrote in the introduction to the conference proceedings.
Researchers studying those rocks agreed not to publish their findings before getting together to discuss them at the first Lunar Science Conference, which was held in Houston in January 1970.Īstronauts from Apollo 16 used this rake to collect samples of the moon’s surface in 1972. When nothing happened, seven kilograms or so of the Apollo 11 rocks were parceled out to laboratories around the world, as far from Houston as Tokyo and Canberra, Australia. Scientists watched to make sure that none of the test species died or developed mutations, and that nothing grew in the moon grains themselves.
ROCK POCKET MOUSE GENETICS LAB PLUS
There, samples were placed into secure chambers with mice, fish, birds, oysters, shrimp, cockroaches, houseflies, flatworms and single-celled organisms, plus 33 species of plants and seedlings. Those early samples were collected by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, who scooped about 21.5 kilograms of moon rocks and dirt into storage boxes.įrom that first collection, about 700 grams went to a biological test lab. When the very first samples were brought to Earth with Apollo 11 in 1969, quarantine control officers transported the samples directly to a pristine lab to make sure they posed no threat. No one knew whether anything lived on the moon, or if potential moon life would be toxic to earthlings. Researchers wanted to keep the samples safe from earthly contamination and keep Earth life safe from the samples. When the lunar samples first arrived on Earth, they were flown to Houston and quarantined for weeks (as were the astronauts). The structure is hurricane-resistant, and the pristine sample lab is one story above ground level to avoid flooding. Keeping with NASA’s hypercareful approach, nearly 15 percent of that lot is stored in a vault at the White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces, N.M., a roughly 1,300-kilometer drive from Houston.ĭesigners also constructed this boxy, beige building in Houston, which opened in 1979, with certain disasters in mind. Even with all that sharing, upward of 80 percent of the original haul is still untouched. Since those first bits of moon arrived, NASA has sent about 50,000 individual samples to 500 research labs in more than 15 countries. Science News astronomy writer Lisa Grossman went behind the scenes at NASA’s pristine sample lab at Johnson Space Center in Houston this spring and saw moon rocks up close - or as close as non-astronauts can get. In fact, NASA is opening a cache of untouched samples for new studies on this 50th anniversary of the JApollo 11 moon landing. “One of the biggest misconceptions is that the Apollo samples aren’t being studied anymore, and that the Apollo samples only tell us about the moon,” says Ryan Zeigler, Apollo sample curator at the Johnson Space Center. The rocks have revealed the rough ages of all the rocky planets’ surfaces and informed debate about whether an ancient reshuffling of the outer planets caused a bombardment of meteorites on Earth ( SN Online: 9/12/16). Those priceless samples are still offering fresh details about how the moon - and the entire solar system - formed and evolved. “You get used to it, but it takes practice.”Īll this effort is to protect the 382 kilograms of rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust lifted from the moon during the six Apollo landings from 1969 through 1972. “You do lose quite a bit of dexterity,” she says.
To pick up an Apollo rock, Krysher must either use stainless steel tweezers or slide her fingers into a third set of gloves made of Teflon.
But even Krysher and the lucky few can’t touch the samples directly. Only five people in the world get to routinely handle these precious pebbles, sample processor Charis Krysher tells me. The only way to reach the samples is by sticking already-gloved hands into another set of gloves that wave from the cabinets like zombie arms. Inside the clean room, I face another barrier: The rocks are stored in secure, pressurized cabinets - like big terrariums - filled with pure nitrogen. See all the articles, plus our 1969 coverage of Apollo 11, here. This story is part of a special report celebrating humans’ enduring fascination with the moon and exploring the many ways it affects life on Earth. Special Report: Moonstruck 50 years after Apollo 11, lunar science still surprises and delights
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