Moon rock on Joe Biden's desk raises hopes for lunar return

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- A moon rock that President Joe Biden has placed in the Oval Office came from the last Apollo mission in 1972, raising hopes that he will support a new lunar landing program already underway.

The White House said the moon rock was part of Biden's goal to have the office reflect the best of American accomplishments.

Astronauts chipped the rock from a large boulder at the base of the North Massif mountain in the Imbrium Impact Basin. The stone's official name is Lunar Sample 76015,143, which refers to NASA's generic numbering system for more than 840 pounds of rock retrieved during Apollo missions.

Scientists were pleased with the testament to science and space exploration. Ellen Stofan, director of the National Air and Space Museum, posted a message of gratitude on Twitter for Biden's choice of the moon rock.

"Look at what we can do together as a country when we are united," said Stofan, a former NASA chief scientist whom Washington insiders believe is a front-runner for the NASA administrator job.

The rock is nearly 4 billion years old -- older than the oldest intact rock on Earth, said Tim Swindle, a professor of lunar and planetary studies at the University of Arizona. It came from the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Astronaut Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, the only geologist to visit the moon, chipped the sample during the Apollo 17 mission from an area on the near side in which the last major asteroid impact occurred.

"Science can't tell us what society should do, but can tell us how the world works and what will happen if we do certain things," Swindle, who is also director of the Tucson-based Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, said in an email.

"It's refreshing to see an appreciation of that," he added.

"Rocks like this provide a window into what was happening at a time when we have no record on Earth," Swindle said. "There were a lot of asteroids hitting the moon, and almost certainly its next-door neighbor the Earth, at that time."

Swindle has studied moon rocks, notably for the release of gases trapped in them that indicates what the lunar environment was like when they were collected.

"One of my favorite uses is applying techniques that didn't exist at the time we brought the samples back ... to ask questions [about the history of the moon] that were too audacious for 1972," Swindle said.

NASA said the rock on loan to the Oval Office is "in symbolic recognition of earlier generations' ambitions and accomplishments, and support for America's current moon to Mars exploration approach."

The Trump administration had charged NASA with returning astronauts to the moon by 2024 -- a goal that is unlikely because Congress hasn't fully funded NASA's requests for the lunar missions.

Apollo 11: Big moments in historic mission to moon 50 years ago

NASA named these three astronauts as the prime crew of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission in May 1969 in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Posing from left to right, are Neil A. Armstrong, commander; Michael Collins, command module pilot; and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

The Apollo 11 crew from left to right, Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin, conduct a crew compartment fit and functional check of the equipment and storage locations in their command module at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. on June 10, 1969. Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

The transporter moves the Apollo 11 Saturn V into place at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center on May 20, 1969. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

On July 16, 1969, Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins lifted off from Cape Canaveral in the mammoth Saturn V rocket on their way to the moon during the Apollo 11 mission. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

Vice President Spiro Agnew and former President Lyndon B. Johnson (C) view the liftoff of Apollo 11 from the Kennedy Space Center at 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

The Saturn V rocket lifts off en route to the moon. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

The American flag heralded the launch of Apollo 11 at 9:32 a.m. EDT. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

The Apollo 11 Saturn V rocket climbs toward orbit after liftoff from Pad 39A. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

This interior view of the Apollo 11 lunar module shows Aldrin during the lunar landing mission. This picture was taken by Armstrong on July 20, 1969. File Photo by Neil Armstrong/NASA | License Photo

The lunar module Eagle is shown in lunar orbit on July 20, 1969 prior to its descent to the surface of the moon. At 1:28 p.m. EDT the day before, the module went into orbit around the moon. The long "rod-like" protrusions under the legs are lunar surface sensing probes. Upon contact with the lunar surface, the probes sent a signal to the crew to shut down the descent engine. File Photo by Michael Collins/NASA | License Photo

The lunar module ascent stage, with astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin aboard, is photographed from the command and service modules in lunar orbit on July 20, 1969. Collins, command module pilot, remained with the command module in lunar orbit while Armstrong and Aldrin explored the moon's surface. This photo shows the lunar module approaching from below. The coordinates of the center of the lunar terrain are 102 degrees east longitude and 1 degree north latitude. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

The command and service modules are photographed from the lunar module in lunar orbit on July 20, 1969. The lunar surface below is in the north central Sea of Fertility. The coordinates of the center of the picture are 51 degrees east longitude and 1 degree north latitude. About half of the crater Taruntius G is visible in the lower left corner of the picture. Part of Taruntius H can be seen at lower right. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

Armstrong descends the ladder of the lunar module prior to making the first step by man onto another celestial body. This view is a black-and-white reproduction taken from a telecast by the Apollo 11 lunar surface camera. The black bar running through the center of the picture is an anomaly in the television ground data system at the Goldstone Tracking Station. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

Aldrin descends the steps of the lunar module ladder as he prepares to walk on the moon. This photo was taken by Armstrong with a 70mm lunar surface camera. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

The Earth rise is seen from the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

A close-up view of an astronaut's bootprint in the lunar soil during the Apollo 11 moonwalk. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near a leg of the lunar module. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

The deployment of the U.S. flag on the surface of the moon by Armstrong (L) and Aldrin is captured on film. The picture was taken from film exposed by the 16mm Data Acquisition Camera, which was mounted in the lunar module. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

Aldrin poses for a photo beside the deployed U.S. flag. File Photo by Neil Armstrong/NASA | License Photo

Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module. File Photo by Neil Armstrong/NASA | License Photo

Pararescueman prepare to pick up the astronauts after they splashed down at 12:50 p.m. on July 24, 1969, 900 miles southwest of Hawaii and 12 nautical miles from the USS Hornet, where they would board. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

Pararescueman Lt. Clancy Hatleberg closes the spacecraft hatch as astronauts Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin await a helicopter pickup from their life raft. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

NASA and Manned Spacecraft Center officials join flight controllers in the Mission Operations Control Room of the Mission Control Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on July 24, 1969 in celebrating the successful conclusion of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission. Identifiable in the picture, starting in foreground, are Robert R. Gilruth, MSC director; George M. Low, manager, Apollo Spacecraft Program, MSC; Christopher C. Kraft Jr., MSC director of flight pperation; U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Samuel C. Phillips (with glasses, looking downward), Apollo program director, Office of Manned Space Flight, NASA headquarters; and George E. Mueller (with glasses, looking toward left), associate administrator, Office of Manned Space Flight, NASA headquarters. Former astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. is standing behind Low. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

Donned in biological isolation garments, the Apollo 11 crew members, Aldrin, Armstrong (waving), and Collins exit the recovery pick-up helicopter to board the USS Hornet aircraft carrier after splashdown on July 24, 1969. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

President Richard M. Nixon was in the central Pacific recovery area to welcome the Apollo 11 astronauts aboard the USS Hornet. Already confined to the Mobile Quarantine Facility are, from left to right, Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin. The three crew men would remain in the MQF until they arrive at the Manned Spacecraft Center's Lunar Receiving Laboratory. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo