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SPACE NOWHistory

The past behind what's next.

Object

Apollo Lunar Sample Return Container, Apollo 11

The sealed aluminium box that carried the first lunar samples to Earth. It was built to hold vacuum, so the material inside would arrive in something close to the condition it left.

  • Revision: 1
  • Dates: 1969-07-24 (day precision)
  • Last reviewed: 2026-08-14
  • Status: Preserved in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum collection
  • asset-library: asset_074e1260cddc499e36b0

The object

Full frame first: the source before any crop, zoom or annotation.

The Apollo 11 Lunar Sample Return Container, an aluminium box with heavy latches and a sealing rim, photographed in museum lighting.
Present day Preserved in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum collection.Credit: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationSource: canonical item pageRights: CC0; AUTO_USABLE (evidence recorded 2026-08-09)Transforms: autorotate — EXIF orientation applied where present; resize — fit within 640 px wide, aspect preserved, no enlargement; encode — AVIF quality 55

What this object shows

That sample return was treated as a containment problem in both directions: keeping the Moon's material uncontaminated by Earth, and keeping it contained until a committee decided it was safe.

Orientation

Role: Sealed sample transport

Chronology

  1. day precisionApollo Lunar Sample Return Container, Apollo 11 enters the record.

Related records

  • supports

    What was the Moon carried home inside?

    Confidence: high · 1969-07-24 (day precision)

  • relates to

    What the recovery was actually protecting.

    Confidence: high · 1969-07-24 (day precision)

Inspect the record1 assertion, each with its source

  • Apollo Lunar Sample Return Container, Apollo 11 is held in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum collection; the rendition shown here is exported from that catalogued record with its credit and rights basis recorded.

    Source class: museum collection recordSmithsonian National Air and Space Museum collectionView the source

CorrectionsNone recorded

No corrections recordedThis record has not been corrected since it was published.