Apollo 17 lunar sample lands in Cyprus

A lunar sample collected 50 years ago during the US Apollo 17 mission in December 1972 is now on display in Cyprus.

According to a US Embassy post on its Facebook account, “this piece of extraterrestrial history will be on public display December 8-10 and December 14-15 at the Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation – Apollo to Artemis exhibition at CSEO Discovery Alpha in Nicosia”.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the last of the Apollo Missions – Apollo 17, but also the first Artemis Mission – Artemis 1 – currently in orbit around the Moon, the CSEO, supported by the US Embassy, is organising a week-long set of activities in Nicosia.

On 11 December 1972, the final mission of NASA’s Apollo program landed on the Moon with the last humans to set foot there.

The Apollo to Artemis exhibition tells the story of Apollo 17 through the lenses of the astronauts themselves.

Each astronaut’s spacesuit had a personal camera, enabling Apollo 17 to be the most photographed moon mission yet.

The exhibition will look at the current Artemis programme and the future of lunar and deep space exploration.

The exhibition opens on Thursday and will run until 18 December.

It will be complemented by a series of events and activities looking at humanity’s relationship with the Moon and how our societies and cultures have been impacted by it.

The exhibition is hosted at CSEO Discovery Alpha, located at the heart of Nicosia, on Plateia Dimarchias.

There will be a cultural night named “Selenolethos”, documentary showings and a bi-communal activity titled “Under one Sky: Message to the Moon”, where the public can create messages of hope, cooperation and peace, which will be submitted to NASA to be sent to the Moon.

Admission to all activities is free.