[meteorite-list] Lunar Rocks: Safe and Sound After Rita

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html

Lunar Rocks: Safe and Sound After Rita
Leonard David
space.com
September 28, 2005
 
Hurricane Rita's run-in with the NASA Johnson Space 
Center in Houston, Texas caused minor facility and 
ground damage. Furthermore, some of the most 
precious rocks on Earth also escaped unscathed - 
the Apollo lunar samples.

"The Lunar Facility never lost power and thus never 
lost the nitrogen gas that keeps the cabinets in 
which they are stored dry and free of oxygen," said, 
Gary Lofgren, Lunar Curator and Planetary 
Geoscientist within the NASA center's 
Astromaterials Acquisition & Curation division.

Lofgren said that the Lunar Facility is capable of 
withstanding a category 5 hurricane with its 
attendant frightening storm surge tide. "Fortunately 
it did not need that capability this time. We are 
all well and back in business," he added.