Spain lunar sample displays Spain lunar sample displays The Spain lunar sample displays are two commemorative plaques consisting of tiny fragments of moon specimens brought back with the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 lunar missions. These plaques were given to the people of Spain by United States President Richard Nixon as goodwill gifts. The Spain Apollo 11 lunar sample display commemorative plaque consists of four rice-size specimens of lunar rock that were collected by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 and a small flag. The 4 specimens weigh about 0.05 grams in total. They are encased in a clear plastic
Neil Armstrong lunar surface, Armstrong and Aldrin discovered that, in their bulky spacesuits, they had broken the ignition switch for the ascent engine; using part of a pen, they pushed the circuit breaker in to activate the launch sequence. The "Eagle" then continued to its rendezvous in lunar orbit, where it docked with "Columbia", the command and service module. The three astronauts returned to Earth and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, to be picked up by the . After being released from an 18-day quarantine to ensure that they had not picked up any infections or diseases from the Moon, the