Biden has a moon rock sitting on a bookshelf in the Oval Office

Yes, you read that title correctly; Biden does indeed have a moon rock in the Oval Office. As pointed out by The Washington Post, the moon rock is sitting on a bookshelf and is “intended to remind Americans of the ambition and accompaniments of earlier generations.”

Some of you may remember that Bill Clinton also kept a moon rock in his Oval Office that he claims helped settle arguments between bickering world leaders. On top of that, Clinton claimed that the moon rock made a great conversation piece, which we aren’t debating.

The rock was loaned to the White House from NASA at the request of the Biden Administration. Inscribed on the display case of the lunar rock is the following:

“Apollo 17 astronaut Ronald Evans and moonwalkers Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan, the last humans to set foot on the Moon, chipped this sample from a large boulder at the base of the North Massif in the Taurus-Littrow Valley, 3 km (almost 2 miles) from the Lunar Module. This 332 gram piece of the Moon (less than a pound), which was collected in 1972, is a 3.9-billion-year-old sample formed during the last large impact event on the nearside of the Moon, the Imbrium Impact Basin, which is 1,145 km or 711.5 miles in diameter.

The irregular sample surfaces contain tiny craters created as micrometeorite impacts have sand-blasted the rock over millions of years. The flat, sawn sides were created in NASA’s Lunar Curation Laboratory when slices were cut for scientific research. This ongoing research is imperative as we continue to learn about our planet and the Moon, and prepare for future missions to the cislunar orbit and beyond.”

There are about 420 pounds or 370 meteorites of lunar rocks currently on Earth. So the fact that Biden was lucky enough to get one in his office is rather extraordinary. One thing is for sure, Biden will certainly be having some excellent conversations in his Oval Office.

Via The Washington Post

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