We just opened up a 50-year-old Moon rock sample. One of the last sealed Apollo-era lunar samples collected during Apollo 17 has been opened under the careful direction of lunar sample processors and curators in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division at NASAJohnson Space Center in Houston. This precious and well-preserved sample will serve as a narrow window into the permanent, geological record of Earth’s closest celestial neighbor – the Moon. Before NASA goes back for more samples – this time at the Moon’s South Pole during upcoming #Artemis missions – the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis Program is studying some of the last few lunar samples that NASA has kept unopened, in pristine condition, awaiting the day when scientists equipped with improved scientific and technologic methods could examine them. And while the Apollo samples have provided NASA insights into Earth’s natural satellite, new pristine samples from exotic locations on the lunar surface ...