Nicaragua lunar sample displays

The Nicaragua Apollo 11 lunar sample display commemorative podium style plaque consists of four rice-size "Moon rock" particle specimens collected by Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 and a small Nicaraguan flag that was taken to the Moon and back on Apollo 11.[1] The four "Moon rocks" weigh about 0.05 grams total and are entirely enveloped in a clear plastic ball the size of a coin which is mounted to an approximately one foot square wooden display board on a small podium pedestal. The small sample display plaque also has mounted, directly below the "goodwill Moon rocks", a small Nicaraguan flag that went to the Moon and back on Apollo 11. The lunar sample display plaque was given to the people of Nicaragua as a gift by President Richard Nixon. Similar lunar sample displays were also given to all the states and territories of the United States and all the countries of the world.[1]

Message on Apollo 17 plaque

The Nicaragua Apollo 17 lunar sample display commemorative style plaque, 10 by 14 inches in size, consists of one "Moon rock" particle specimen cut from lunar basalt 70017 and a Nicaraguan flag. The basalt 70017 was collected by Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt on the Moon in 1972. Once brought to Earth from the Moon, lunar basalt 70017 was cut into small fragments of approximately 1 gram. The specimen was enveloped in a plastic ball and mounted on the wooden plaque along with the Nicaraguan flag which had been taken to the Moon and back by the crew of Apollo 17. In 1973, President Nixon gave the plaque to the country of Nicaragua. He also gave similar Apollo 17 lunar sample plaques to the same recipients that had previously received the Apollo 11 gift plaques, the 134 countries of the world and all the states and provinces of the United States. The gifts were a goodwill gesture to promote peace and harmony.[2]