A virtual tour of the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility is now available on the Curator's home page at /lunar/tour/welcome.cfm. The Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility was built in 1979 as the chief repository for the lunar samples which were returned by the six Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972. The purpose of the facility is to maintain this priceless national and scientific resource in a pristine condition while, at the same time, making the lunar samples available to scientists and educators. The facility itself consists of storage vaults, laboratories for sample preparation and study, and machinery to supply nitrogen to the cabinets in which the samples are processed and stored.

The facility is not a museum, but is a working laboratory. More than 60 research laboratories around the world actively pursue studies of the samples, and approximately 1100 samples are prepared and sent to investigators each year. Samples for education and display are also prepared here.

Enjoy your tour!