Lunar Sample 15058,188 (024)
This Apollo 15
lunar sample (moon rock) was
collected by Astronaut James Irwin at Station 8
adjacent to the lunar module landing site. This rock weighs 109 grams.
It is a fragment of the original rock which weighed 2,672 grams when returned
to earth. The sample is a mare basalt. Lunar basalts are very old, about
3,300,000,000 years, older than 98% of all earth surface rocks. Scientific
research is being conducted on the balance of this sample at NASA's Johnson Space
Center and at other research centers in the United States and certain
foreign nations under a continuing program of investigation involving lunar
samples collected during the Apollo Program.