Ireland lunar sample displays Ireland lunar sample displays The Ireland lunar sample displays are two commemorative plaques consisting of small fragments of moon rock brought back to earth by the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 lunar missions and given to the people of Ireland by United States President Richard Nixon as goodwill gifts. The Apollo 11 lunar sample display commemorative podium style plaque given to Ireland, once housed at the Dunsink Observatory in Dublin, consisted of four moon rock fragments – rice-size particle specimens that were collected by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 – and a small flag that
Jim Lovell spacecraft, paved the way for the Apollo missions, and helped reach the goal of getting man on the Moon by the end of the decade. Lovell was originally chosen as Command Module pilot (CMP) on the backup crew for Apollo 9 along with Neil Armstrong as commander and Buzz Aldrin as lunar module pilot (LMP). Apollo 9 was planned as a high-apogee Earth orbital test of the Lunar Module (LM). Lovell later replaced Michael Collins as CMP on the Apollo 9 prime crew when Collins needed to have surgery for a bone spur on his spine. This reunited Lovell with