Fact sheet
76577 was collected as a rake sample. It is a light tan, vesicular, impact melt rock with a poikilitic texture. Our thin section contains a large single rounded metallic iron clast mantled with troilite. Rotations focus on some of the larger mineral clasts. In places the ilmenite forms dendritic crystals.
The sample weighed 13.5 grams before analysis and has not been dated.
Further details of this and other Apollo samples are here: http://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/
Note: this section is slightly thick.
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.