The Apollo 17 Moon Rock on display at the San Diego Air & Space Museum

Apollo 17 returned 741 rock, dust, and core samples weighing 244.7 pounds. There was a total 2200 samples from all 6 U.S. lunar landing missions weighing a total of 842 pounds. NASA owns all of the lunar material returned to Earth, and all of it is considered a National Treasure.

The moon rock on display in the Space: Our Greatest Adventure special exhibition at the San Diego Air & Space Museum was collected by the astronauts of Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the moon in 1972. Apollo 17 landed as planned in the Taurus-Littrow valley, on the eastern edge of Mare Serenitatis of the moon. Its main geologic mission was to explore evidence of the ancient volcanic activity of the basin, and to examine the ancient rocks in the lunar highlands, in an attempt to determine whether there was evidence as to the way the moon was formed.

To learn more about the moon rocks collected during the six Apollo lunar landings, and how those rocks were collected and transported back to Earth, visit our informative online exhibit at: https://sandiegoairandspace.org/collection/item/apollo-17-moon-rock