Fact sheet
10049 is a fine-grained ilmenite basalt (weight 193 grams) that is 3.5 billion years old. It has a granular texture and in places is vesicular to vuggy. An almost spherical vesicle is depicted in rotation 1 of the virtual microscope. Three species (pyroxene, plagioclase feldspar and ilmenite) make up the bulk of the rock and consist of anhedral or subhedral crystals in an interlocking network. The sample also contains rare olivine and a small interstitial component that includes troilite (an iron sulphide) with metallic iron inclusions and glass.
Further details of this and other Apollo samples are here: http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/
The Apollo 11 samples create an iconic collection since they were the first rocks collected by humankind that were returned to Earth from another solar system body. The Apollo 11 team collected and returned 22 kg of rock and soil samples.
Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on 16 July 1969. An estimated 530 million people watched Armstrong's televised image and heard his voice describe the event as he took "...one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" on 20 July 1969.