[ad_1]
President Joe Biden has made a decorating choice that thrills the space community: There’s a moon rock in the Oval Office.
The Washington Post took a look at Biden’s new dig. And a line from the article – “a moon rock on a shelf that aims to remind Americans of the ambition and achievements of previous generations” – has inspired many happy Tweets.
“Thanks to @POTUS for placing a @NASA moonstone in the Oval Office – see what we can do together as a country when we are united,” Ellen Stofan, John and Adrienne Mars director of Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, said on twitter. Stofan was NASA’s chief scientist from 2013 to 2016, and she led Biden’s transition team for NASA.
Here the library next to the Benjamin Franklin painting in the @POTUS oval office which has the moon rock https://t.co/zGqvDEQwNO pic.twitter.com/22rFkXDHvq
– AC Charania (@ac_charania) January 21, 2021
AC Charania, Civil Space Sales Director for Blue Origin, set to work to find the origin of the rock.
Working with others, he initially thought that the rock might have been an Apollo 11 vesicular basalt that had previously been presented to President Bill Clinton by the Apollo 11 crew. But NASA provided clarification. Thursday. The rock is a lunar sample 76015143 chipped from the moon during the Apollo 17 mission, the last time NASA sent astronauts to the lunar surface.
The 332 gram piece was collected in 1972. It is a 3.9 billion year old sample formed during the last major impact on the near face of the moon.
“In symbolic recognition of the ambitions and achievements of previous generations, and support for America’s current approach to exploration of the moon to Mars, a moon rock now sits in the Oval Office of the White House,” NASA said in its press release.
Meenakshi Wadhwa, director of Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, can’t wait a rock from Mars is sent back to Earth to be placed along the moon rock (NASA’s Perseverance rover is about to collect samples on Mars, and a future mission could return those samples). Photographer Joshua Conti says he “feels pretty confident that we are still heading for the stars.”
“I love how excited my timeline is that there is a moon rock in the Oval Office” said a doctorate in planetary science. student Alexander Kling.
And the Moon Rock wasn’t the only space news to come from Biden’s inauguration. He also appointed Steve Jurczyk as acting NASA administrator. Jurczyk was previously the associate administrator of NASA, the agency’s top official. He will retain the title of interim administrator until Biden names his replacement, who many believe could be NASA’s first female administrator.
Former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine resigned on Wednesday. In a sincere video, where Bridenstine was on the verge of tears, he said it was a lifelong job.
He also called for unity and support for the new NASA leadership team.
“If we break down the divisions and we can achieve the bipartisan, non-political consensus with trading partners and international partners,” said Bridenstine, “I think that puts us in an excellent position to move forward in a meaningful way that crosses not only several administrations, but several decades and indeed several generations. “
The agency’s future priorities remain a question mark, as Biden has said little about his vision for NASA and space more broadly. But the tiny lunar rock has given hope to many seeking a vigorous pursuit of space exploration.
This article has been updated with the description of the moon rock by NASA.
[ad_2]
Source link