As the new administration decorates the White House’s Oval Office, it was determined that a lunar rock no longer needs to be present. The rock from the last Apollo mission, labeled “Lunar Sample 76015,143.” was provided to the Biden administration back in 2021 to remind him of U.S. efforts to return to the Moon.
The inscription on the Moon rock reads:
Apollo 17 astronaut Ronald Evans and moonwalkers Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan, the last humans to set foot on the Moon, chipped this sample from a large boulder at the base of the North Massif in the Taurus-Littrow Valley, 3 km (almost 2 miles) from the Lunar Module. This 332 gram piece of the Moon (less than a pound), which was collected in 1972, is a 3.9-billion-year-old sample formed during the last large impact event on the nearside of the Moon, the Imbrium Impact Basin, which is 1,145 km or 711.5 miles in diameter.
The irregular sample surfaces contain tiny craters created as micrometeorite impacts have sand-blasted the rock over millions of years. The flat, sawn sides were created in NASA’s Lunar Curation Laboratory when slices were cut for scientific research. This ongoing research is imperative as we continue to learn about our planet and the Moon, and prepare for future missions to the cislunar orbit and beyond.
So does this mean the Moon is out, or did it not match the new drapes? Or is President Trump hoping to add his own Moon rock to his office after a successful Artemis mission?
It is not clear where the Moon stands in the current priorities of this White House given its ongoing efforts to push NASA employees into retirement or resignation, end scientific meetings, and eliminate all efforts at diversity at the agency.
Maybe Mars is the new target, but even that seems further off as Elon Musk burrows into government programs he know nothing about while the latest Starship disintegrated over the Caribbean.
Space missions take focus, which seems to be elsewhere at the moment.
Maybe the rock should stay in the Oval Office for the time being to remind the current administration what our country can do when it has a president with a vision that brings everyone together to accomplish an amazing task.
Our Awesome Universe 