Apollo 11 lunar sample display on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Apollo 11 lunar sample display is a commemorative podium style plaque display consisting of four dust particle specimens (dubbed " Moon rocks"), the recipient's flag and two small metal plates attached with descriptive messages. The
The Apollo 11 lunar sample display is a commemorative podium style plaque display consisting of four dust particle specimens (dubbed " Moon rocks"), the recipient's flag and two small metal plates attached with descriptive messages. The Apollo 11
Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, ...
plaques were given as gifts in 1970 by President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
to 135 countries, the 50 states of the United States and its territories, and the United Nations.
History and description
With the exception of Venezuela, whose actual flag was not flown to the Moon on Apollo 11, the wording on the plaque (with the appropriate name filled in) was:Fate
The ''New York Times'' reported in 2012 that gifts of moon rocks were not well tracked or managed by NASA. Within the US, public gifts require legislation to be transferred, but other nations set their own laws. Some samples of lunar dust soil from the Apollo 11 and lunar basalt 70017 from the later Apollo 17 missions have been reported missing. Since 2005 entities and people have made concerted efforts to find the displays. Joseph Gutheinz, a former NASA Office of Inspector General special agent and a professor who teaches an online course at the University of Phoenix, had his students try to locate the displays.Robert Pearlman
Robert Zane Pearlman (born January 14, 1976) is an American space historian and the founder and editor of collectSPACE, a website devoted to news and information concerning space exploration and space-related artifacts and memorabilia, especial ...
of collectSPACE
collectSPACE is an online publication and community for space history enthusiasts featuring articles and photos about space artifacts and memorabilia, information on past, current, and upcoming space events, space history collecting resources, an ...
has also tracked the displays.
See also
* Apollo 17 lunar sample display *List of Apollo lunar sample displays
This is a list of lunar sample displays from the Apollo program that were distributed through the United States and around the world. They include samples from the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 missions conducted by NASA in 1969 and 1972.
The Apollo ...
References
{{The Moon Apollo program lunar sample displays Apollo 11 Lunar samples Foreign relations of the United States