50 Years Later, NASA Just Handed Scientists Untouched Apollo Moon Rocks

D-brief
By Korey Haynes
Mar 12, 2019 9:15 PMOct 15, 2019 3:12 PM
astronaut on lunar surface
The most recent Moon samples collected came from Apollo 17 in 1972. (Credits: NASA/Eugene A. Cernan)

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For nearly half a century, three small rocks have sat quietly, waiting for a world that could appreciate them. The astronauts who picked up these rocks on the moon’s surface didn’t know them to be any more special than the hundreds of pounds of other rocks they collected. But NASA, confident that science would advance, preserved them in their pristine state, hoping to discover new things not available with 1970s technology.

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