NASA mobile exhibit trailer brings moon rock to Abilene

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – It’s not common to associate Abilene with NASA, but that changed on July 18 at the Morgan Jones Planetarium.

The NASA Mobile Exhibit Trailer made a stop in Key City, bringing a piece of space history with it. The traveling exhibit showcases a moon rock that visitors can touch. The rock is at least 3.75 billion years old and was retrieved from the Sea of Serenity

on December 11, 1972, during the Apollo 17 mission.

Visitors could touch the moon rocks, participate in space education, and explore other NASA space exhibits.

Steven Smith, a Communication Strategist contracted by NASA, discussed the moon rock.

“I will go ahead and say, look, it doesn’t look like you think it’s going to look. It’s very smooth and flat. And this is one of the few opportunities that people will ever get to touch a moon rock,” Smith said.

Abilene Independent School District students who took part were doing more than just a day of learning. This trip to the planetarium offers high school juniors the opportunity to participate in the Texas High School Aerospace Scholars Program, where they can work directly with NASA throughout the school year.