In a recent change of decor at the White House, the moon rock that symbolized the dream of lunar exploration and had been displayed in the Oval Office since Joe Biden took office has been removed following Donald Trump’s return in January. The disappearance of the moon rock, which had been placed on the left-side shelf behind the president’s seat for the past four years, has been confirmed by photos of Trump at his desk, as reported by USA Today.
White House refurbishments are not uncommon, with each new president making adjustments based on personal style preferences. A NASA spokesperson confirmed on Friday, February 7th, that the moon rock will be returned to NASA headquarters this month.
While NASA aims to have American astronauts return to the moon by 2030, Trump’s space policy has placed more focus on Mars exploration. The Biden administration had borrowed the moon rock, officially known as Lunar Sample 76015,143, from NASA on January 20, 2021, to symbolize the achievements of the Apollo lunar program and to show support for NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to send American astronauts back to the moon.
This moon sample, derived from the Johnson Space Center, is a 3.9 billion-year-old lunar rock collected during the final manned lunar mission of Apollo 17 in 1972. During the Apollo 17 mission, astronauts Ronald Evans, Harrison Schmitt, and Eugene Cernan collected the 332-gram (approximately 0.73-pound) sample from the Taurus-Littrow Valley on the moon.
NASA spokespersons have stated that the moon rock will first be returned to NASA headquarters and then back to the Johnson Space Center for preservation. NASA’s plans to have American astronauts return to the moon as early as 2027 with the goal of establishing a base to support future Mars exploration missions. NASA hopes to use water ice from the moon’s South Pole as a source of rocket fuel to enhance deep space exploration capabilities.
During his inauguration speech, Trump did not mention NASA’s moon landing plans but emphasized his goal to have American astronauts land on Mars during his tenure. “We will reach for the stars and make America’s flag on Mars!” Trump’s statement received a standing ovation, with SpaceX founder Elon Musk raising his hand in response.
Musk has long advocated for direct travel from Earth to Mars and aims to achieve this as early as 2028 with the SpaceX Starship, a 400-foot-tall spacecraft that has undergone seven test flights but has not yet successfully reached orbit. It’s notable that the Starship spacecraft is also part of NASA’s Artemis III moon landing program, designed to rendezvous with the Orion spacecraft carrying astronauts to the lunar surface.
Musk hopes to accelerate testing progress in 2025 to prepare for future Mars missions.