The Moon arrives in Monticello

Ashley Hunter, ECB Publishing, Inc.

Wednesday, June 18 was a special day for Monticello; it was the day that the Moon was presented to Monticello at the Jefferson County Library.
Courtesy of NASA, two clear discs with various lunar and meteorite samples were on display at the library during a Space Rock Reception from 12-1 p.m.
The reception drew adults and children alike, all who were interested in getting a closer look at the rock and soil samples.
“Just receiving these samples has been a months long journey,” said Library Director Natalie Bender. “This is obviously a very rare and special event for Jefferson County.”
Getting the lunar rocks to Monticello was definitely no quick or easy feat; in order for NASA to release the samples, there must be a Certified Lunar Handler to care for and take responsibility for the samples.
Youth Librarian (and certified educator) Courtney Nicolou underwent hours of training to be able to receive the certification required to bring the rocks to Monticello. From there, the rocks and soil samples had to be given guaranteed protection during public appearances as well as during storage.
Providing security for the Space Rock Reception was Monticello Police Department's Captain Mack Norton. When not being displayed, the rocks are to be stored in a vault of one of Monticello's banks.
During the reception, Nicolou shared some of the interesting information she learned during her handler training, as well as facts about the lunar rocks themselves.
According to Nicolou, the lunar samples that were visiting Monticello were samples gathered during the Apollo 11 mission, which means that the samples would have been collected in 1969 by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The meteor samples were collected by NASA researchers in Antarctica.
Nicolou also shared about the Space Launch System (SLS), which is being constructed to bring human explorers to Mars, and the International Space Station.
Along with the space rocks, NASA sent three different Earth rocks to be examined and compared to the different space rocks. One of the Earth rock samples, a large Basalt sample, also had a duplicate from the Moon.
Everyone was invited up to take a magnifying glass and examine the lunar, meteor and earth rock samples and compare the substances' differences and similarities.
A third piece that NASA included was a vial of moon dust. The dark, powdery dust which covers the Moon looks smooth and silky, but is actually as sharp as glass. The dust posed a problem for astronauts, as it cut up their boots and caused malfunctions with equipment.
“Right now, everything that goes on the surface of the Moon is destroyed by this stuff. It gets all up in the gears and the wheels,” said Nicolou.
After a brief question and answer period, Nicolou spoke about how the majority of her handler training consisted of understanding the importance of keeping the samples secure.
“Men and women have died on expeditions to get these rocks for us to further our understanding of outer space, so we have to treat these like national treasures, because they really are,” said Nicolou.
Everyone was invited to come up one at a time and examine the rocks up close. One young participant, Anthony Williams, noted the similarities between Earth's rocks and the Moon's rocks.
“They (the rocks) looked the same,” said Williams, “A black (rock) looked like coal.”
The lunar and meteor samples were in Monticello for a little over a week before they left on today to be returned to NASA. There were weekly viewings of the rocks, and the library offered private viewings for interested groups.