Apollo 17 Moon Rock
Apollo 17 Moon Rock
Lunar sample - number 74255,14. It was collected in December 1972 during Apollo 17, the last crewed mission to the Moon. Astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Gene Cernan collected this sample by prying it from a large fractured boulder near the rim of Shorty Crater.Each sample of Moon rock collected on the Apollo missions was given a unique identity number, in this case 74255. The 14, reveals that the small fragment we currently display is part 14 of a larger rock (74255) that was broken up for scientific investigation once it was returned to Earth. The first digit (7) is used for any rock collected on Apollo 17, with the rest of the digits relating to location of discovery and size of the specimen.
The Moon rock weighs 67.553 grams. Lunar sample 74255 is designated as a high-titanium basalt, Type C – a vesicular1, porphyritic2, coarse-grained basalt with abundant ilmenite (a titanium-iron oxide mineral). The crystallisation age of 74255 puts it to about 3.8 billion years old, with an exposure age of around 17 million years – it was found on the edge of a crater that is thought to be around 19 million years old.
1 Vesicular - a rock pitted with many cavities on its surface and inside.
2 Porphyritic - a rock with distinctly different sizes of crystals within it.
All images:
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![Moon Rock - Apollo 17 sample 74255,14 - Credit: National Space Centre/NASA]()
Moon Rock - Apollo 17 sample 74255,14 - Credit: National Space Centre/NASA -
![Moon Rock - Apollo 17 sample 74255,14 - Credit: National Space Centre/NASA]()
Moon Rock - Apollo 17 sample 74255,14 - Credit: National Space Centre/NASA -
![Moon Rock - Apollo 17 sample 74255,14 - Credit: National Space Centre/NASA]()
Moon Rock - Apollo 17 sample 74255,14 - Credit: National Space Centre/NASA -
![Shorty Crater with Lunar Rover alongside. The large fractured boulder behind and to the right of the Rover is where this Moon Rock sample was collected from - Credit: NASA]()
Shorty Crater with Lunar Rover alongside. The large fractured boulder behind and to the right of the Rover is where this Moon Rock sample was collected from - Credit: NASA -
![NASA photograph AS17-137-20990. Moon rock sample 74255 was taken from the large fractured boulder near the top of the picture - Credit: NASA]()
NASA photograph AS17-137-20990. Moon rock sample 74255 was taken from the large fractured boulder near the top of the picture - Credit: NASA -
![Area where Moon Rock sample 74255 was collected from has been highlighted in this image - Credit: NASA]()
Area where Moon Rock sample 74255 was collected from has been highlighted in this image - Credit: NASA -
![Moon Rock sample 74255 before being broken up for research. The piece on display at the National Space Centre was originally part of this larger rock - Credit: NASA]()
Moon Rock sample 74255 before being broken up for research. The piece on display at the National Space Centre was originally part of this larger rock - Credit: NASA -
![Moon Rock sample 74255 after it was broken up for research purposes. The piece on display at the National Space Centre is number 14 (top left) - Credit: NASA]()
Moon Rock sample 74255 after it was broken up for research purposes. The piece on display at the National Space Centre is number 14 (top left) - Credit: NASA
Video
Audio
Our Curator discusses the famous orange soil find on Apollo 17
More information
Object number
L2001-34
Location
Rocket Tower Level 4
Curator's comments
One of the crown jewels in our collection, the Moon rock is one of only a handful on public display in the UK
Has this object been into space?
Yes
Dimension - Dimension, Value, Measurement unit
Width: 5cm
Length: 7cm
Depth: 5cm
Weight: 67.553g
Material
Basalt
Ilmenite
Materials & techniques note
High titanium basalt
Associated Person
Gene Cernan
Harrison Schmitt
Associated Place
The Moon
Credit Line
Moon Rock on loan from NASA
On Display Status
On display
Copyright and Photos
Photography is shared via the license below.
However, some objects on this website are on loan to the National Space Centre and are being shared through the permission of their owners.
Commercial use of images from this website is not allowed without additional permissions being granted. To request permission to use images for purposes not covered in the license below, please contact [email protected]
Individual objects on loan to the National Space Centre may have additional copyright permissions, so advice should always be sought before use.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
