Moon Rock

Part of Hall of the Universe.

A rock specimen of a dark gray color and pitted surface.

The Museum has four Moon rocks, the most on display in the United States except for the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. All four were collected by astronauts during the Apollo lunar missions in the 1970s.

Small pieces of the Moon sometimes reach Earth as meteorites. "Lunar meteorites" are identical in composition to the handpicked moon rocks, but come from different locations and perhaps even from the far side of the Moon, which never faces Earth.