Fact sheet
60515 to 60519 are small rake samples from the Lunar Module site at Apollo 16. They all look alike, but could be different samples, because the surfaces are mostly coated with micrometeorite craters. All are cataclastic anorthosite – of the ferroan variety. They contain 98% plagioclase feldspar and minor pyroxene. The cataclastic nature of the sample shows intense fragmentation and deformation of individual crystals to the extent that twin planes have been bent (rotation 1).
Our thin section image shows a sequence of numbers (1-4) that have been scribed on the glass behind the four rock fragments. Fragment 4 is slightly thick so between crossed polars some plagioclase crystals are yellow instead of shades of grey.
The sample weighed 7.9 grams before analysis and has not been dated.
Further details of this and other Apollo samples are here: http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/
The Apollo 16 landing site was in the hilly region around Descartes crater in the lunar highlands. The landing spot was chosen to allow the astronauts to gather geologically older lunar material (Descartes Formation and the Cayley Formation) than the samples obtained in the first four landings, which were in or near lunar maria.
The mission lasted 11.1 days, with a stay on the lunar surface of 71 hours. The crew were on the lunar surface for 20.2 hours during which they traversed approximately 27 kilometers and collected approximately 96 kilograms of samples.
Apollo 16 was launched on 16 April 1972.
