The Genesis Rock — How Old Is Old
The Genesis Rock from Apollo 15 has been dated: 4.5 billion years old. As old as the Moon itself. This is the oldest rock any human being has ever held.
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Archive: August 1971
Apollo 15 Home — The Science Is the Point Now
Apollo 15 splashed down today. Nearly eighteen hours of moonwalk time. Three rover traverses. The Genesis Rock. The Feather and Hammer experiment. Al Worden's deep-space EVA. This mission changed the character of Apollo — from "can we do it" to "what can we learn." I am deeply satisfied.
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The Feather and the Hammer
At the end of the final moonwalk, Dave Scott held a geological hammer and a falcon feather — the mascot of the Air Force Academy, where Scott studied — and dropped them together. In the vacuum of the Moon, they hit the surface simultaneously. Galileo was right. I watched on…
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The Genesis Rock
Dave Scott and Jim Irwin may have found the most important rock ever collected — an anorthosite fragment they're calling the Genesis Rock, estimated to be 4 billion years old. It's a piece of the original lunar crust, from when the Moon was still forming. I've been a space program…
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