Apollo samples
Apollo samples are the 382 kilograms of Moon rock and soil collected by astronauts between 1969 and 1972.
Between July 1969 and December 1972, six NASA Apollo missions landed astronauts on the Moon: Apollo 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17. They brought back 2,196 samples weighing a total of about 382 kilograms, including rocks, soils, drill cores and pebbles. These are the Apollo samples.
They transformed planetary science. They showed the Moon is about 4.5 billion years old, that its dark maria are basalt lavas mostly 3.1 to 3.9 billion years old, and that its bright highlands are made of anorthosite, which led to the magma ocean idea. Impact melts dated near 3.9 billion years helped inspire the idea of a late heavy bombardment, now debated.
Apollo samples also made it possible to identify lunar meteorites, because their chemistry, isotopes and minerals could be matched. Some Apollo samples were deliberately kept sealed for decades, and were opened only in 2019 to 2022 for study with modern techniques.
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Level: Explorer Ages 10 and up