Trump returns Apollo moon rock to NASA, ending its Oval Office display since 2021

A MOON rock that symbolized NASA’s lunar ambitions under former President Joe Biden has been removed from the Oval Office since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025.

The lunar sample, which had been prominently displayed on a shelf to Biden’s left, is now absent, according to a USA Today report.

Recent photos of Trump at his desk confirm that the moon rock, collected during the Apollo missions, is no longer a fixture in the Oval Office. Instead, the rock is set to be returned to NASA this month, the news outlet stated citing a source as confirming.

NASA confirms return of Lunar sample

A NASA spokeswoman confirmed to USA Today that the lunar sample will be sent back to the agency’s headquarters before eventually returning to its original home at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The 3.9-billion-year-old moon rock, officially known as "lunar sample 76015,143," had been displayed in the Oval Office since January 20, 2021.

Symbol of Lunar exploration and future missions

The Biden administration had requested the moon rock be placed in the Oval Office as a tribute to NASA’s past lunar achievements and its Artemis program, which aims to send astronauts back to the moon by 2027.

For years, NASA has been preparing for new moon missions, with a series of private lunar landers set to launch this year as part of efforts to pave the way for future human landings.

Apollo 17 legacy and the rock’s origins

The moon rock was collected in 1972 during the final Apollo mission, Apollo 17, by astronauts Ronald Evans, Harrison Schmitt, and Eugene Cernan—the last humans to set foot on the moon. It was chipped from a boulder in the Taurus-Littrow Valley, a mountainous region on the lunar surface.

Weighing 332 grams (less than a pound), the sample is believed to have formed during the last major crater-forming impact event on the moon’s nearside.

Moon rock to return to NASA for safekeeping

With Trump’s decision to remove the moon rock from the Oval Office, NASA will store it at the Johnson Space Center for safekeeping.