'Bringing samples back from the moon wasn't the point of the mission,' says Korotev. 'It was really about politics. It took scientists like Bob Walker to bring these samples back -- to show the value of them for research.

'Bob convinced them to build a receiving lab for the samples and advised them on the handling and storage of them. We didn't' go to the moon to collect rocks, so we scientists are really lucky that we have this collection.'

Korotev points out that by the last Apollo mission -- Apollo 17 -- one of the astronauts on board was a geologist, Harrison H. Schmitt, said a WUSTL release.

Walker was recruited to serve on the scientific team that advised NASA on the handling and distribution of moon rocks and soil samples from the first Apollo missions. That team distributed Apollo 11 samples to some 150 laboratories worldwide, including WUSTL.

The Apollo 11 samples -- and samples from almost every Apollo mission until the last one in December 1972 -- have been securely housed on the fourth floor of the physics department's Compton Lab and used by numerous WUSTL researchers.