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Author
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Topic: Moonrocks
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Dirk
Member Posts: 933
From: Belgium
Registered: Jul 2003
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posted 06-19-2004 06:13 PM
   
The six moonlandings brought back several hundreds (maybe 1000 ?) kg moonrocks.
After 30 year are they still examine these rocks and were are they ?Dirk
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Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 06-20-2004 03:44 AM
Hallo DIRK,The Apollo landings brought back 382 kilograms (842 pounds) of lunar rocks and core samples and these were distributed over 3 NASA centers in order not to loose everything at once in case of a natural disaster … The best known place where some of the se rocks reside is the Lunar Sample Building at JSC in Houston, Texas … Beste groeten uit België !
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-20-2004 03:52 AM
Last week, the Christian Science Monitor published an article on the current whereabouts of moon rocks, with a special focus on the "goodwill" Apollo 17 gifted fragments. They interviewed NASA's Lunar Curator Gary Lofgren as well as former NASA Special Agent and sometimes cS contributor Joseph Gutheinz and yours truly: http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0617/p14s02-stss.html |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 06-20-2004 08:25 AM
Great Robert ... I've just read the article 'diagonally' and it doesn't mention all the NASA centers where the Moonrocks were brought to ... SO I'll make a guess, trying to disperse them over USA ;
1. JSC - Houston TEXAS
2. ARC - Mofett Field CALIFORNIA
3. MSC - Huntsville ALABAMA any corrections welcomed ! |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 06-20-2004 09:24 AM
The Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility (Building 31N constructed in 1979) at Johnson Space Center is the chief repository for the majority of Apollo samples, where they are stored in dry nitrogen to keep them moisture-free.From "25 Years of Curating Rocks" by Judy Allton: quote:
Lurking in the background was a concern that the lunar samples were vulnerable to natural disaster or military actions. A small fire and several ceiling water leaks in the pristine [JSC Lunar Sample] lab were reminders of this vulnerability. Not wishing to have "all the eggs in one basket", especially if the basket were subject to hurricanes, small portions of the lunar sample collection were placed in three separate vaults at JSC while awaiting the completion of a remote storage facility at Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio. One night in 1976 14% of the collection was secretly moved, with police escort, to San Antonio aboard a specially-modified, smooth-riding passenger bus and placed in the renovated bunker.
Two years ago, NASA moved the Brooks' collection to a new facility at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. [This message has been edited by Robert Pearlman (edited June 20, 2004).] | |
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