Moon Rocks (Apollo 11)

Most of the lunar samples collected by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 are securely stored at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. A few fragments are displayed in museums or were given to foreign nations as diplomatic gifts.

All lunar material brought back by the Apollo 11 mission belongs to the United States government and is considered a national treasure. It is strictly illegal for private citizens to own Apollo moon rocks, though tiny lunar meteorites that fell to Earth naturally can be purchased legally.

The Apollo 11 astronauts primarily brought back igneous rocks such as basalt, along with breccias formed by meteorite impacts. These 3.6-billion-year-old samples proved that the dark areas of the Moon, known as maria, were once vast oceans of molten lava.

Armstrong and Aldrin collected exactly 21.55 kilograms (about 47.5 pounds) of lunar rock and soil during their single moonwalk. While relatively small compared to later Apollo missions, this was enough to fundamentally change our understanding of lunar geology.