Featured Object: Apollo 11 Moon Rock
Apollo 11 moon rock currently on display at the AZ Heritage Center in Tempe.
50 years ago on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 lunar module landed on the moon! Part of the Apollo 11 mission, as designated by President Richard Nixon, was to gather several geological specimens to create displays that would then be gifted to 135 different countries, the US states and provinces, and the United Nations. The lunar sample display included a small 9 x 11 inch podium, an acrylic button containing small particles of moon soil, and each country or state's flag.
Arizona's moon rock is part of the AMMNRE collection and is currently on loan to the Arizona Historical Society, on display in the Natural History Gallery.
The text reads: "Presented to the people of the state of Arizona by Richard Nixon, President of the United States of America. This flag of your state was carried to the moon and back by Apollo 11, and this flagment of the moon's surface was brought to Earth by the crew of that first manned lunar landing."