NASA plans to open moon rock samples sealed since Apollo missions
Samples will be opened, sent to scientists over the next year
A stainless steel bin is opened to show individually tagged and sealed lunar samples collected during Apollo 16 inside a pressurized nitrogen-filled case holding the samples from that mission in the lunar lab of the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
HOUSTON – For the first time in decades, NASA is about to open some pristine samples of moon rocks and dirt collected by Apollo astronauts.
Hundreds of pounds of moon rocks are locked up at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Lab workers are preparing to give some of the samples to scientists for study. Nine U.S. research teams will get a sliver of the lunar loot to examine.
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Next month marks the 50th anniversary of the first Apollo moon landing, but sample curator Ryan Zeigler says the timing is a coincidence.
His job is to preserve what the 12 moonwalkers brought back from 1969 through 1972 -- lunar samples totaling 842 pounds.
Some samples will be opened and sent to the scientists over the next year.
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Collected during Apollo 17, a 3.5 billion year old basalt rock known as "The Children of the World" or "The Goodwill Sample" is displayed in the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. It was used for to make samples that were gifted to every country on earth. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)A regolith breccia rock of sintered lunar soil, dating 3.2 billion years old and collected by Apollo 15, is displayed in a pressurized nitrogen-filled case inside the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)Collected during Apollo 15, a 3.5 billion years old basalt rock similar to rocks formed around Hawaii, is displayed in a pressurized nitrogen-filled examination case inside the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. For the first time in decades, NASA is about to open some of the pristine samples and let geologists take a crack at them with 21st-century technology. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)Collected during Apollo 16, an anorthosite sample believed to be the oldest rock collected during the moon missions is displayed in the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. Scientists also believe it to be from the original crust of the moon just after it cooled. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)Two separate 2 inch foil pans hold lunar dirt, from the last shovel full collected by Neil Armstrong on the Apollo 11, in the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)The "Genesis Rock," a 4.4 billion-year-old anorthosite sample approximately 2 inches in length, brought back by Apollo 15 and used to determine the moon was formed by a giant impact, is lit inside a pressurized nitrogen-filled examination case in the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)Jeremy Kent, Apollo sample curation processor, tugs to open the 1978 U.S. federal bank vault that protects the entrance to the lunar sample vault inside the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. The door requires two separate combinations, held by two separate people, to open. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)Pressurized nitrogen-filled cases hold lunar samples collected from Apollo 11, left, and Apollo 12, right, with NASA's Apollo sample curator Ryan Zeigler in the background, inside the lunar sample vault in the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. The restricted lab is home to hundreds of pounds of moon rocks collected by Apollo astronauts close to a half-century ago. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)Jeremy Kent, Apollo curation processor, works with lunar samples within a sealed, nitrogen-pressurized examination case inside the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. The samples are always kept inside a nitrogen environment to prevent decay and degradation, even as they are moved between the lab and the storage vault. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)Ryan Zeigler, Apollo sample curator, left, stands next to a nitrogen-filled case displaying various lunar samples collected during Apollo missions 15, 16 and 17, inside the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)A stainless steel bin is opened to show individually tagged and sealed lunar samples collected during Apollo 16 inside a pressurized nitrogen-filled case holding the samples from that mission in the lunar lab of the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)The Genesis Rock, foreground, a 4.4 billion year old anorthosite rock, approximately 2 inches in length, brought back by Apollo 15 and used to determine the moon was formed by a giant impact, sits under glass inside a pressurized nitrogen-filled examination case as Lacey Costello, an Apollo sample curation processor, works with other samples on the outside of the case inside the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
Collected during Apollo 17, a 3.5 billion year old basalt rock known as "The Children of the World" or "The Goodwill Sample" is displayed in the lunar lab at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. It was used for to make samples that were gifted to every country on earth. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
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