Observing Moon Rocks
 Is there day and night on the Moon and how long is it?
Why is it that length?
 Yes. Day and night takes about one month on the moon.
 The Moon takes about one month to completely rotate
on its axis.
 Review: What are maria and highlands?
 President Kennedy:
 “I believe this nation should commit itself, before this
decade is out, to landing a man on the Moon and
returning him safely to the Earth.”
 The US was determined to beat Russia to the Moon.
 July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first
human to stand on the Moon.
 The first of series of seven attempts to land on the
Moon. Later missions observed, sampled and mapped
rocks and formations they found on the Moon.
 You will observe rocks from one of the six Apollo
landing sites or one of the sites sampled by the four
Soviet Luna robotic probes.
 The rocks have been collected from both the maria
and highlands.
 You will survey the landscape, study rock formations at
your landing site and report your findings.
 I have one set of highland and one maria. Your lab
group will split into two teams of two and each will
observe one type of rock.
 An astronauts first job when landing on the Moon is to
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do a quick survey of the landing site.
Record the location of the landing site.
Observe the distribution and variety of rocks at the
site.
Lab sheet 55. Please read the directions.
One person from each group is to get one bag and
select ONE of the canisters to observe at a time.
 Part one on lab sheet.
 Use data from the label on the canister and the Lunar
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Landing Site Chart.
Record the number on the zip bag containing the two
canisters.
You will also need a hand lens and sheet of white paper.
Follow directions on part two of lab sheet.
Once you have observed one set of rocks, return it to the
canister an then you may observe the other canister.
You only have 10 minutes.
 On your next EVA, you will collect a small number of
rocks to bring back to Earth for analysis.
 What rocks should you collect to provide the most
information about the Moon?
 Work with your lab partner to come up with 3
questions that can be answered by analyzing a
collection of carefully collected rocks.
 Write your questions on your lab sheet.