23 Jul '18 23:15>
https://www.sciencealert.com/nearly-all-of-nasa-s-moon-rocks-have-never-been-studied-by-scientists
I can say I touched one. When I worked at Goddard I found out the guy living next door where we lived in Alexandria Va and I got to talking and we found out we both worked at Goddard (pretty amazing for sure for two people randomly living next door to each other would be working in the same place 50 miles away).
So he turned out to be the dude who sliced up the moon rocks to be analysed by the scientists, his job title was 'geological technician' and I was an Apollo tech, so he invited me to the lab where they did that work.
There was a vault holding the moon rocks and it would not have been out of place at fort Knox, massive affair.
So they invited me inside and I was in awe.
So he picks up a moon rock and hands it to me.
I am like a bit shaking, and I said, why would you let me hold this rock in my bare hands?
He said the outside of the rocks were contaminated the moment the boxes were open and Earth air got on the surfaces but that didn't matter since they used a diamond saw in a cleanroom and sawed up slices to be analyzed so the contamination of the outer surface didn't matter.
What an amazing day that was for me! I saw ALL of the rocks that had been collected by 1971.
I can say I touched one. When I worked at Goddard I found out the guy living next door where we lived in Alexandria Va and I got to talking and we found out we both worked at Goddard (pretty amazing for sure for two people randomly living next door to each other would be working in the same place 50 miles away).
So he turned out to be the dude who sliced up the moon rocks to be analysed by the scientists, his job title was 'geological technician' and I was an Apollo tech, so he invited me to the lab where they did that work.
There was a vault holding the moon rocks and it would not have been out of place at fort Knox, massive affair.
So they invited me inside and I was in awe.
So he picks up a moon rock and hands it to me.
I am like a bit shaking, and I said, why would you let me hold this rock in my bare hands?
He said the outside of the rocks were contaminated the moment the boxes were open and Earth air got on the surfaces but that didn't matter since they used a diamond saw in a cleanroom and sawed up slices to be analyzed so the contamination of the outer surface didn't matter.
What an amazing day that was for me! I saw ALL of the rocks that had been collected by 1971.