Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon rock_(IMG_5547a)

            The Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon rock presented to the UK.

A small fragment (approx. 1.14 gram) of Lunar Sample 70017.

Ilmenite Basalt 
High-Ti mare Basalt

Natural History Museum, London

......................................

Following the last Apollo mission to the Moon, the United States of America presented to each of the 50 US States, US Territories, and 135 countries worldwide a small fragment of Moon rock as a goodwill gift. This photograph, taken in May 2023 in the 'Treasures Gallery' at the Natural History Museum in London, shows the Apollo 17 'Goodwill rock' presentation that was given to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1973.

In preparing the Goodwill presentations, each small fragment of Moon rock, weighing approximately 1.14 grams, was enclosed in an acrylic lucite ball and attached to a wooden commemorative plaque together with a flag of the state, territory or country that had  been flown to the Moon on the Apollo 17 mission.
 
The small fragments of Moon rock used in the Goodwill presentations were originally part of a much larger rock, Lunar Sample 70017. The rock originally weighed 2957 grams and was 18 x 14 x 10 cm in size. It was one of the last rocks collected from the Moon by Apollo astronauts, and was picked up on 14 December 1972 from the area near to the Lunar Module, in the Taurus-Littrow valley, by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt.

After return to Earth, the 2957 gram Lunar Sample 70017 was cut up for analysis. A piece weighing 220 grams, labelled 70017,10  was further divided into around 190 small chips for the Goodwill Rock presentations. 

Lunar Sample 70017 is a vesicular, medium-grained high-titanium basalt, also known as Ilmenite basalt. It is about 3.7 to 3.8 billion years old and had been exposed on the lunar surface for about 200 million years.

Rocks from the Taurus-Littrow valley are mostly basalts, having formed from molten lava that originated from deep within the Moon. Basalts consist primarily of the minerals plagioclase and pyroxene, Analysis shows Lunar Sample 70017 contains around 49 - 58% Pyroxene and 20 - 26% Plagioclase. The Apollo 17 basalts generally contain large amounts of the element Titanium, which is contained in the mineral Ilmenite. Sample 70017 is typical of the other basalts also returned from the Taurus-Littrow valley by the Apollo 17 astronauts.

Taken on: May 24, 2023

Tags:

moon rock

lunar sample

Lunar Sample 70017

lunar

lunar rock

Apollo 17 moon rock

Apollo 17

Taurus-Littrow

Ilmenite basalt

High-Ti mare basalt

Goodwill rock

Goodwill moon rock

UK Goodwill moon rock

basalt

igneous rock

Moon

Union Jack

Union flag

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Sets appears in: • Moon rocks

Groups appears in: • Space Exploration

Camera: Canon EOS 1100D, f/4.5, 1/60 sec, 33mm, ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 1100D
Lens:	EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 III
Aperture:	f/4.5
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	33mm
ISO:	800
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	On, Fired
Exposure Program:	Program AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 18.0 (Windows)
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