Fact sheet
Basalt fragments 71065, 71066 and 71069, found in soil sample 71060 are fine grained and enriched in titanium. They have microporphyritic texture with eroded olivine phenocrysts (rotation 1) and abundant sawtooth ilmenite (rotation 2). Early formed armalcolite is rimmed by ilmenite.
The sample weighed 20 grams before analysis and has not been dated.
Further details of this and other Apollo samples are here: http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/
Apollo 17, the final manned landing mission, had two objectives: to obtain samples of ancient rocks from the lunar highlands and to look for evidence of younger volcanic activity on the valley floor.
This small Collection contains material deriving from both periods, including igneous rocks around 4.3 billion years old from the lunar highlands as well as younger volcanic samples dating from about 3.6 billion years ago.
Apollo 17 was launched on 7 December 1972.