Meteorites and the Moon

Abstract

For those interested in the Solar System, 1969 was a momentous year. Rock samples collected during the first Moon landing, and on subsequent missions, contributed enormously to understanding our nearest neighbour, but several meteorite falls that same year also had a profound influence on our wider understanding of the Solar System. Fortuitously, two of these falls, which by their very nature are unplanned events, also played a significant role in the analysis of samples brought back from the Moon by the Apollo astronauts. In this article, I will outline how meteorites have contributed to our understanding of the Moon, and how the Moon also has provided information on meteorites.