Canada lunar sample displays the landing of Apollo 17 on the Moon, which was memorialised by astronauts Eugene A. Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt when they talked directly to the "youth ambassadors" from the surface of the Moon. Matthews was able to see astronaut Neil Armstrong personally at the luxury hotel in Orlando, Florida. He also got quite acquainted with Armstrong's daughter and became lifetime pen pals with her. The program directors promised each "youth ambassador" a lunar sample from the Apollo 17 mission. In 1973 Matthews was sent the Canadian "goodwill moon rock" encased in a clear Lucite ball about the size of
Apollo 17 lunar sample display wish for peace and harmony among the people of the world. He explained that Harrison Schmitt, his fellow astronaut on the Moon with him, had just picked up a "very significant" Moon rock that they hoped would bring this worldwide peace through the distribution of its fragments. This basalt was later identified as lunar basalt 70017, dubbed the "goodwill rock". Once brought back, this Moon rock was broken up into small fragments and distributed in 1973 by President Richard Nixon to all the countries of the world and to the United States with its territories as a goodwill gesture. The