73-013 First Apollo 17 rock samples allocated to investigators

NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas 77058

FOR RELEASE: February 1, 1973

F. Dennis Williams 713/483-5111

RELEASE NO: 73-13

FIRST APOLLO 17 ROCK SAMPLES ALLOCATED TO INVESTIGATORS

Acting on recommendations from the Lunar Sample Analysis Planning Team (LSAPT) meeting this week in Houston, NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center has named the first investigators to be allocated rock samples from the Apollo 17 landing site.

Ten investigators, half of them from foreign countries, will receive the first materials released from the lunar sample curatorial facility. The scientists have already begun picking up their samples.

Apollo 17 lunar rock sample no. 76055

The first allocations include tiny rock chips and polished thin sections cut from three large rocks. Two of the rocks (#70035 and #75055) are dark gray basalts typical of the material underlying the valley at the Apollo 17 site. The third rock (#76055), a lighter colored recrystallized breccia first described by astronaut geologist Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt as an "anorthositic gabbro," may have been part of the mountain side at one time.

Most of the initial investigations will be to determine the ages of the samples by rubidium-strontium and argon analyses. Other studies will concentrate on trace elements found in the samples and on mineralogy.

Early Apollo 17 allocations are being made with the stipulation that the complex research projects be conducted as quickly as possible so that the results can be reported at the 4th Annual Lunar Science Conference held in Houston March 5-8.

Several dozen additional preliminary allocations are expected to be recommended by the LSAPT before the conclusion of its meetings. Included in the material yet to be allocated are samples of the orange soil found at Shorty Crater.

NASA--MSC - end-