Can I hold a piece of the Moon?
Possibly. Some museums let you touch Moon rock, and lunar meteorites, pieces of the Moon that fell to Earth, are sometimes shown in schools and museums.
Holding a piece of the Moon sounds impossible, but there are ways it can happen.
Apollo Moon rocks. The rocks brought back by Apollo astronauts are mostly kept in special laboratories. But a few museums around the world display Moon rocks, and some let visitors touch a small, polished piece. One famous touchable Moon rock is in a museum in Washington, DC, in the United States, where millions of visitors have touched it.
Loan kits. In some countries, including the UK, schools and groups can borrow sets of real Moon samples and meteorites, sealed in clear blocks. You cannot touch the rock directly, but you can hold the block and look closely at a real piece of the Moon.
Lunar meteorites. Sometimes, a big space rock hits the Moon and blasts pieces into space. A few of those pieces travel to Earth and land as meteorites. Several hundred lunar meteorites have been found, mostly in deserts and Antarctica. Small pieces are in museum collections, and some are owned by collectors.
Moon rock usually looks grey, often speckled white and dark. Some lunar meteorites are made of pale rock from the Moon's bright highlands. If you get the chance to hold one, remember it came from about 384,000 kilometres away!