Northwest Africa (NWA) 5406 lunar meteorite (feldspathic impact melt breccia) slice, featuring a dark matrix peppered with clasts and inclusions (some quite large), and an abundance of melt veins. Laboratory prepared with polished faces on both sides, the excellent full slice weighs 8.656 grams and measures approximately 51 mm x 49 mm x 2 mm. Accompanied by a descriptive plaque.
Dr. Randy L. Korotev of Washington University in St. Louis notes that NWA 5406 'is compositionally similar to soil from the Apollo 16 site and may have originated from near the Apollo 16 site.' It is one of the only lunar meteorites that can be associated with an Apollo mission in such a manner. The Apollo 16 mission landed in the Descartes Highlands, where astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke collected 211 pounds of lunar rock and soil samples during their EVAs, which have since been exhaustively studied. Any genuine piece of 'moon rock' is highly prized, but the significance of this slice's composition and likely place of origin make it all the more desirable.
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