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Y-12 supported NASA’s Apollo Program with “moon boxes”
Photo of an Apollo Lunar Sample Return Container (moon box) produced at Y-12 and on display in the Y-12 History Center.
Y‑12 had a role in man’s first landing on the moon. The historic record-setting landing was 40 years ago on July 20, 1969. Apollo 11 landed in the Sea of Tranquility and nearly 50 pounds of moon rocks and soil was returned to earth for study.
Y‑12’s role in support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Apollo Program was to supply the “moon boxes” officially named the Apollo Lunar Sample Return Containers. The box was machined from a solid piece of aluminum. Exceptionally well made, the moon box was seamless except for the lid opening, which had a metalized gasket that firmly sealed when the lid was closed. Four metal straps secured the lid. To learn more, view the video From Oak Ridge to the Moon.
Six Apollo missions, flown between 1969 and 1972, brought back a total of 842 pounds of lunar material including 2,200 separate samples of lunar rocks, core samples, pebbles, sand and dust. Most of the samples remain stored in the Apollo Lunar Sample Processing Lab and Storage Vaults at Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, Texas.
A small amount of the material is also located at the White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The samples have been studied by scientists in the United States and continue to be studied by various scientific groups around the world.
Studies of the actual material from the moon have provided invaluable knowledge. Even now as NASA prepares to return to the moon, the materials continue to provide exceptional details and much needed information.
The metal working expertise at Y‑12 was well known and obviously a primary reason for NASA’s selection of the site for the work. Special facilities such as dry rooms were created, along with special-purpose equipment. The Lunar Receiving Laboratory was also an important part of the project. Y‑12 personnel were engaged with most all aspects of the moon boxes and analytical laboratory.
Two moon boxes were on each flight, so Y‑12 fabricated 16 or more. At least one moon box now resides in the Smithsonian Institute, and others still appear in NASA’s Apollo displays around the country. In Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a moon box is on display at the American Museum of Science and Energy and, of course, at the Y‑12 History Center, which also displays many of the specialty items. The moon box displayed at Y‑12 is open to show its contents. Also displayed is a photo of the box on the moon.
The Y‑12 History Center is open to the public 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at other times by special request. Several NASA-sponsored events and web pages are commemorating the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.
The tremendous achievement of landing astronauts on the moon and returning them and their cargo of moon rocks and soil safely has resulted in a large number of technological advances. One such advance at Y‑12 was the introduction of Teflon. The moon box was the first project at Y‑12 in which that product was used.