Editing Apollo 11 (section)

=== Moon rocks ===

The main repository for the Apollo Moon rocks is the [[Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility]] at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in [[Houston]], Texas. For safekeeping, there is also a smaller collection stored at [[White Sands Test Facility]] near [[Las Cruces, New Mexico]]. Most of the rocks are stored in nitrogen to keep them free of moisture. They are handled only indirectly, using special tools. Over 100 research laboratories worldwide conduct studies of the samples; approximately 500 samples are prepared and sent to investigators every year.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/lun-fac.cfm |title=Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility |publisher=NASA |access-date=September 25, 2018 |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125125526/https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/lun-fac.cfm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://world.wng.org/2016/09/the_mystery_of_the_missing_moon_rocks |title=The mystery of the missing Moon rocks |publisher=World |first=Kristen |last=Flavin |date=September 10, 2016 |access-date=September 25, 2018 |archive-date=October 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021101947/https://world.wng.org/2016/09/the_mystery_of_the_missing_moon_rocks |url-status=live }}</ref>

In November 1969, Nixon asked NASA to make up about 250 presentation [[Apollo 11 lunar sample display]]s for 135 nations, the fifty states of the United States and its possessions, and the United Nations. Each display included Moon dust from Apollo 11 and flags, including one of the Soviet Union, taken along by Apollo 11. The rice-sized particles were four small pieces of Moon soil weighing about 50&nbsp;mg and were enveloped in a clear acrylic button about as big as a [[Half dollar (United States coin)|United States half-dollar coin]]. This acrylic button magnified the grains of lunar dust. Nixon gave the Apollo 11 lunar sample displays as goodwill gifts in 1970.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.collectspace.com/resources/moonrocks_apollo11.html |title=Where today are the Apollo 11 goodwill lunar sample displays? |first1=Robert |last1=Pearlman |author-link=Robert Pearlman |publisher=collectSPACE |access-date=November 2, 2012 |archive-date=November 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108235454/http://www.collectspace.com/resources/moonrocks_apollo11.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>''Earth'' magazine, March 2011, pp. 42–51</ref>