Moon rocks set to land at CSN Planetarium this month
Two dozen men risked their lives to bring back rocks from the moon. The least you could do is go look at them.
A small sampling of lunar rocks and dirt collected by Apollo astronauts will be on display at the College of Southern Nevada’s Planetarium during three special lectures this month.
CSN chemistry teacher Charles Kotulski will deliver the first lecture at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Planetarium on the college’s North Las Vegas Campus, near Cheyenne Avenue and Pecos Road.
Those in attendance will get a close-up look at the marble-sized rocks and dirt sealed an inside acryllic-glass disk on loan to the college from NASA.
Planetarium manager Andrew Kerr said it will be “awfully cool” to have the samples in the building, but it’s also a little nerve-wracking.
“These are pretty well priceless objects,” he said. “They’re truly national treasures.”
Not to mention difficult to replace.
It took six Apollo moon landings between 1969 and 1972 to collect 846 pounds of lunar rock and soil. The effort cost almost $141 billion in today’s dollars.
Under its agreement with NASA, the college is keeping the samples in a bank vault and will only bring them out for the three lectures, when they will be watched over by armed security guards, Kerr said.
The two additional lectures will be held at 10:30 a.m. Monday and 11 a.m. Sept. 28. All of the lectures are free and open to the public.
Kotulski, who has been granted special certification by NASA to check out the lunar samples, also was involved in bringing a similar display to CSN in 2010.
Kerr said it is a rare opportunity, not to be missed.
“These moon rocks are a big part of America’s national identity,” he said. “They are on par with the wonders of world.”
Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.
