List of Apollo lunar sample displays

Apollo 17 Goodwill message

This is a list of lunar sample displays from the Apollo program that were distributed through the United States and around the world. They include samples from the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 missions conducted by NASA in 1969 and 1972.

The Apollo 11 mission to the surface of the Moon returned a few dozen pounds/kilos of lunar material (mainly rock and dust), and the US put about 0.05 grams in small display cases and gave one apiece to the 50 U.S. states, to the nations of the world, and to political entities like the U.S. territories under administration.[1] This was done again with an Apollo 17 sample (Lunar basalt 70017).[1] There are a few samples from Apollo 15 on display.

United States

Listing
Giftee	Apollo 11	Apollo 17	Apollo 15
Alabama	Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery[2]
Alaska	Alaska State Museum, Juneau[2][3]
American Samoa	Jean P. Haydon Museum, Pago Pago[3]	-
Arizona	Arizona Historical Society, Tucson[3]	University of Arizona Mineral Museum, Tucson[2]
Arkansas	Arkansas Museum of Discovery, Little Rock[4]
California	San Diego Air & Space Museum, San Diego[4]
Colorado	Colorado State Capitol[3]	Colorado School of Mines Geology Museum, Golden[2]
Connecticut	Museum of Connecticut History, Hartford[2][3]
Delaware	Unknown - stolen in 1977[3]	Delaware Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs[2]
District of Columbia	District of Columbia Office of Public Records[3]	-
Florida	Museum of Florida History, Tallahassee[2][3]
Georgia	Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta[3]	Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta[2]	Tellus Science Museum, Cartersville[5]
Guam	Guam Museum, Hagatna[3]	-
Hawaii	Hawaii State Archives[6]
Idaho	Idaho State Historical Society, Boise[2][3]
Illinois	Illinois State Museum, Springfield[2][3]
Indiana	Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis[2][3]
Iowa	State Historical Museum, Des Moines[2][3]
Kansas	Kansas Museum of History, Topeka[2][3]	Kenneth Spencer Research Library, Lawrence[2]
Kentucky	Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort[2][3]
Louisiana	Louisiana Art and Science Museum, Baton Rouge[7]	Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans[8]
Maine	Maine State Museum, Augusta[2][3]
Maryland	Maryland State Archives, Annapolis[2][3]
Massachusetts	Museum of Science, Boston[2][3]
Michigan	Michigan Historical Museum, Lansing[3]	Unknown - missing since 1972[9]	Calvin University, Grand Rapids[10]
Minnesota	Minnesota Historical Society, Saint Paul[2][3]
Mississippi	Department of Archives and History, Jackson[2][3]
Missouri	Missouri State Museum, Jefferson City[2][3]
Montana	Montana Historical Society, Helena[2][3]
Nebraska	University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln[2][3]
Nevada	Nevada State Museum, Carson City[2][3]
New Hampshire	McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, Concord[2][3][11]
New Jersey	New Jersey State Museum, Trenton[3]	Unknown - missing since 1976[12][13]
New Mexico	Palace of Governors, Santa Fe[3]	Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell[2]
New York	Unknown[12]	New York State Museum, Albany[14]
North Carolina	North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh[15]	North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh[15][16][17]
North Dakota	State Historical Society, Bismarck[2][3]
Ohio	Ohio History Center, Columbus[3]
Oklahoma	Oklahoma History Center, Oklahoma City[2][3]
Oregon	Oregon State Capitol, Salem[3]	Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland[2]
Pennsylvania	State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg[2][3]
Puerto Rico	La Fortaleza, San Juan[3]	-
Rhode Island	State Library, Providence[3]	State Archives, Providence[2]
South Carolina	South Carolina State Museum, Columbia[3]
South Dakota	South Dakota State Historical Society, Pierre[3]	W.H. Over Museum, Vermillion[2]
Tennessee	Tennessee State Museum, Nashville[3]	Pink Palace Museum, Memphis[2]
Texas	Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock[3]	Texas State History Museum, Austin[2]
Utah	Clark Planetarium, Salt Lake City[3]	Natural History Museum of Utah, Salt Lake City[2]
Vermont	Vermont Historical Society, Barre[2][3]
Virginia	Library of Virginia, Richmond[3]	Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond[2]
Washington	Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma[2][3]
West Virginia	West Virginia State Museum, Charleston[3][2]
Wisconsin	Wisconsin Historical Museum, Madison[3][2]
Wyoming	Wyoming State Capitol, Cheyenne[3]	Wyoming State Museum, Cheyenne[2]

International

The display cases included a lunar sample and small flag of the respective political entity that had been to the Moon and back. Approximately 135 displays were gifted to nations of the world at that time, so nations created since then are not included and some displays have been inherited from past nations

Listing
Giftee	Apollo 11	Apollo 17	Apollo 15
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Argentina	Galileo Galilei planetarium, Buenos Aires[3]
Australia	National Archives of Australia, Canberra[3]	National Museum of Australia, Canberra[2]
Austria	Technisches Museum Wien, Vienna[3]	Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna[2]
Bangladesh	Bangabandhu Military Museum[18]
Barbados
Belgium	Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences, Brussels
Bhutan
Bolivia		Planetario Max Schreier, La Paz[2]
Botswana
Brazil	Unknown[4]	Bagé
Bulgaria		National Museum of Natural History, Sofia[2]
Burma		National Museum of Myanmar (Yangon)
Burundi
Cameroon
Canada	Unknown[4]	Canada Science and Technology Museum
Cambodia		National Museum of Cambodia[19]
Central African Republic
Ceylon (Sri Lanka)	Colombo
Chad
Chile	Eduardo Frei Montalva's Historic House Museum, Santiago[3]	Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santiago[2]
China	Unknown	Beijing Planetarium, Beijing[fn 1]
Colombia	Bogotá Planetarium, Bogotá[2][3]
Congo (Brazzaville)
Congo (Kinshasa)
Costa Rica	Museo Nacional de Costa Rica, San Jose[2][3]
Cuba
Cyprus
Czechoslovakia	Vojenský historický ústav, Prague[3][23]
Dahomey
Denmark	Natural History Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen[2][3]
Dominican Republic	Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Santo Domingo[2][3]
Ecuador
Egypt	Egyptian Geological Museum, Cairo[24]
El Salvador		MUNA, Zona Rosa[2]
Equatorial Guinea
Ethiopia
Finland	Urho Kekkonen Museum Tamminiemi, Helsinki[3]	GTK, Otaniemi[2]
France	Muséum d'histoire naturelle, Nantes[2]	Palais de la Découverte, Paris[2]
Gabon
Gambia
Germany	Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Frankfurt[3]	Deutsches Museum, Munich[2]	Technik Museum, Speyer[25]
Ghana
Greece
Guatemala	Ministry of Culture and Sport, Guatemala City[3]
Guyana		National Museum of Guyana, Georgetown[2]
Haiti
Honduras	Unknown[4]	Tegucigalpa
Hungary	Magyar Természettudományi Múzeum, Budapest[2][3]
Iceland		The Exploration Museum, Húsavík
India		Parliament Museum, New Delhi[2]
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland	Dunsink[fn 2]	National Museum of Ireland
Israel	Israel State Archives, Jerusalem[27][28]	Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv (presumed)[28]
Italy		Museo Nazionale Della Scienza E Della Tecnologia "Leonardo da Vinci", Milan[2]
Jamaica
Japan	National Museum, Tokyo[2][3]
Jordan
Kenya
Korea	National Museum of Korea, Seoul[3]	National Science Museum, Daejeon[2]
Kuwait
Laos	Royal Palace Museum, Luang Prabang
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein	Schatzkammer Liechtenstein, Vaduz[29]
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia	Natural History Museum, Putrajaya[3]
Maldives	National Museum, Male[3]
Mali
Malta	Gozo Museum
Mauritania
Mauritius	National History Museum, Mahebourg
Mexico	Universum, Museo de las Ciencias, Mexico City[2][3]
Monaco
Mongolia
Morocco
Muscat and Oman
Nauru
Nepal	National Museum of Nepal, Kathmandu[2][3]
Netherlands (Dutch)	National Museum of the History of Science and Medicine, Leiden[2][3]
New Zealand	Museum of New Zealand[2][3]
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway	Trondheim Science Museum	Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo
Pakistan
Panama
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland	Olsztyńskie Planetarium i Obserwatorium Astronomiczne, Olsztyn[2][3]
Portugal
Romania	Muzeul Naţional de Istorie a României, Bucharest[3]
Rwanda		Kandt House Museum of Natural History, Kigali[2]
San Marino
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Sierra Leone	Sierra Leone National Museum, Freetown[30][31]
Singapore	Singapore Science Centre[2][3]
Solomon Islands		National Museum[2]
Somalia
South Africa	Old Parliament Bldg., Cape Town[3]	Transvaal Museum, Pretoria[2]
Southern Yemen
Soviet Union	Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, Moscow[3]
Spain		Museo Naval, Madrid[2]
Sudan
Swaziland
Sweden		National Museum of Science and Technology, Stockholm[2]
Switzerland	Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich[3]	Swiss Museum of Transport, Lucerne[2]
Syria
Taiwan	National Museum of Natural Science, Taichung[3]
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey		Natural History Museum, Ankara[2]
Uganda
United Kingdom	Waiting area, 10 Downing Street, London[32]	Natural History Museum, London[33]
Upper Volta
Uruguay	Boiso Lanza Air Base[2][3]
Vatican City	Vatican Museum[3]	Vatican Observatory[2]
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Yugoslavia	Museum of Yugoslav History, Belgrad[2][3]
Zambia.
United Nations

Footnotes

1. The Apollo 17 luna sample was brought to China by National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski in May 1978 as a gift to Hua Guofeng, paramount leader of China. According to reports from Chinese media, the 1.14-gram lunar sample was divided into two halves: one was sent to scientists in China Academy of Sciences for research, from which around 40 scientific papers were published; another, 0.5-gram weight, was preserved in Beijing Planetarium.[20][21][22]
2. Kept at Dunsink Observatory until that was damaged in a 1977 fire, after which it is presumed to have been among the debris dumped in the adjacent landfill site.[26]

See also

• Apollo 11 goodwill messages (Messages by nations left on the Moon)
• Stolen and missing Moon rocks

References

1. "Search for States' Missing Apollo 11 Moon Rocks Continues".
2. Apollo 17 lunar displays
3. Apollo 11 lunar displays
4. Pearlman, Robert (1999–2012). "Where today are the Apollo 11 goodwill lunar sample displays?". collectspace.com. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
5. Atlanta Journal-Constitution
6. "50th Anniversary of Apollo 11 and Man's First Landing on the Moon". ags.hawaii.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
7. "The case of Louisiana's missing moon rocks partially solved; hunt for second 'Goodwill' moon rock continues". 4 August 2018.
8. "Louisiana's missing moon rock found by Florida man recycling wooden plaques into gun stock". 28 September 2021.
9. "That time NASA gave Michigan a piece of the moon and it wound up in a garage". Michigan Radio. 2017-08-09. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
10. [1]WOOD-TV
11. New Hampshire Apollo 17 Moon Rock
12. Beckerman, Jim. "The Strange Afterlife of the Apollo 11 Moon Rocks". North Jersey Media Group. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
13. Young, Elise (2011-01-29). "Investigators scour N.J. in search of missing Apollo 17 moon rocks". nj. Retrieved 2022-03-01.
14. Ahern, Sean (December 3, 2009). "The dark side of the moon rock". spotlightnews.com. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2012. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
15. Price, Jay (July 28, 2010). "State's elusive moon rock soon to become a big star". News & Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina: McClatchey. Archived from the original on July 30, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
16. Price, Jay (July 28, 2010). "North Carolina's moon rock to shine again in state museum". News & Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina: McClatchey. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
17. "(article)". EARTH Magazine: 49. March 2011.
18. Bangabandhu Military Museum
19. "Apollo moon rock rediscovered in Cambodia debuts on display". Collect Space. 20 June 2018. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
20. "月岩 (Moon rock)". 北京天文馆 (Beijing Planetarium). 14 April 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
21. "探月计划之历程揭秘 中国探月事业40年记". 人民网. 29 February 2004. Archived from the original on 31 October 2004. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
22. 赛先生 (17 December 2020). ""嫦娥五号"带回2千克多的月壤，终于不再用0.5克来发论文了". 新浪科技. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
23. "Vojenský Historický Ústav Praha". Retrieved 21 November 2017.
24. "Where Today are the Apollo 17 Goodwill Moon Rocks? | collectSPACE".
25. "The Moon". Technik Museum Speyer, Germany. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
26. "€3.8m treasure hunt under way in Finglas dump". Retrieved 26 February 2016.
27. "Moon rocks and Israeli flag which visited the Moon, inside wooden casing". Israel State Archives. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
28. Fuchs, Nina (30 June 2019). "צפו: אבנים מהירח ודגל ישראל שהיה במשימת אפולו 11 (Watch: Moon rocks and Israeli flag carried on Apollo 11)". Ynet. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
29. "Schatzkammer Liechtenstein". Retrieved 21 November 2017.
30. Basu, Paul. "Moon Dust Accession Number: SLNM.1970.11.01". Sierra Leone Heritage.org. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
31. Basu, Paul. "Moon Dust Accession Number: SLNM.1974.01.12". Sierra Leone Heritage.org. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
32. Cornock, David (30 December 2015). "Wales plea over Apollo 11 moon dust gift". BBC News. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
33. "Moon rock". Natural History Museum. Retrieved 11 May 2015.

External links

• Lunar Sample Display locations (in .pdf)
• Collect Space - Moonrock list
• Kentucky's Goodwill Moon rock display in the Kentucky Historical Society's objects catalog