Fact sheet
This small basalt sample is brecciated and partially shock-melted and was collected in a large rake sample. It is a member of the olivine-normative clan of Apollo 15 basalts and is paired with 15648. It consists of crushed mineral debris surrounded by dark-brown glassy mesostasis. Remnants of the original microgabbroic texture are present. Although 15649 is not brecciated, it appears to be “shock-fractured”. Plagioclase has not been maskelytenized. Opaque phases include chromite, ulvospinel, ilmenite, metallic iron and troilite. Mg-rich olivine phenocrysts are fractured. Fayalite is present in the groundmass. Rotation 1 shows compositionally zoned pyroxene crystals and rotation 2 shows twinning in another pyroxene crystal.
The sample weighed 6.2 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 15 landing site was in the Apennine Highlands, and close to Hadley Rille — a long, narrow winding valley. Approximately 76 kg of lunar material, including soil, rock, core-tube and deep-core samples, were returned to Earth.
This mission was the first flight of the Lunar Roving Vehicle which allowed the astronauts to venture further from the Lunar Module than in previous missions. During three periods of extravehicular activity, or EVA, on July 31st, and August 1st and 2nd, Scott and Irwin completed a record 18 hours, 37 minutes of exploration, travelling 17.5 miles, in the first car that humans had ever driven on the Moon.
Apollo 15 was launched on 26 July 1971.
