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Thanks to new technological tools, moon samples collected by the Apollo astronauts a half-century ago hold answers to questions that weren't even on scientists' minds at the time.
Where did the moon come from? The Giant Impact Theory germinated in the mind of a UA graduate student as he mapped the surface of the moon and is still cited today as scientists learn more about our celestial neighbor.
For decades, UA scientists have contributed to the research that has shaped our understanding of our solar system and the universe – beginning with the Apollo 11 mission 50 years ago.
Incoming assistant professor Jessica Barnes will have the opportunity to study a previously unopened sample of a moon rock that was collected in the early 1970s during NASA's Apollo 17 mission.
Digital? Who needs digital? That was the thinking back in the 1960s, and years later the UA Space Imagery Center has produced valuable digitized film from the project.
Intense volcanic activity on the moon's Earth-facing side billions of years ago caused its axis to tilt, a team of researchers has discovered. Two UA planetary scientists helped unlock the secret.
Since the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory was established in 1960, UA scientists have played a key role in nearly every NASA mission, from the Apollo expeditions to the upcoming OSIRIS-REx mission to an asteroid.
Several UA scientists were directly involved with the Apollo 11 mission, the first to land humans on the moon. On the 45-year anniversary of the landing, scientists share their memories of one of the most important moments in human history.
In the 1950s, the general public could not conceive of humans visiting the moon. But that is exactly what would happen in the following decade. Among those involved in the Apollo 11 mission was UA Professor Emeritus Robert Strom. He recommended landing sites, science experiments and surface features to photograph.
"Desert Moon," a documentary made by a UA journalism graduate, tells the fascinating and surprising story of how tenacity and bold thinking led to the founding of the UA's Lunar and Planetary Lab and helped the U.S. win the race to the moon.