“Hongkong people will have their first chance next Saturday to look closely at a piece of the moon,” reported the South China Morning Post on December 28, 1969. “One of the rock samples brought back by the Apollo 11 astronauts last July will go on display in […] Ocean Terminal. “The specimen will be set on a three-pronged stainless-steel mounting sealed in a transparent plastic hemisphere filled with nitrogen. This will simulate the oxygen-free moon environment and prevent any change or erosion by oxidation. “The lunar rock is one of six made available by the [United States space agency] National Aeronautics and Space Administration for public viewing in different parts of the world.” In another Post article that day, Oliver Schaeffer, a professor at the State University of New York, was quoted as saying that “these rocks are almost as old as the universe itself, which is estimated to have been formed 4,700 million years ago. Earth’s oldest rocks are about 3,300 million years old.” The report continued, “The moon will be a natural laboratory in which to study clues to the birth, age and evolution of Earth and the other planets of the solar system; and it could give insights into the evolution of the universe itself.” On January 4, 1970, the Post reported “crowds were straining at the ropes […]waiting for Apollo 10 astronaut Thomas Stafford, United States Consul-General Edwin Martin and journalists to complete their half-hour inspection at 10am. When Hong Kong became Ancient Egypt for Verdi’s opera Aida in 1991 “Police led people in batches down the long rope barriers towards the rock […] let them hear pre-recorded descriptions of it in English and Cantonese, let them browse among colour slides and photographs of the Apollo 11 landing and then hurried them through the exit to make room for others.” On January 10, the paper reported, “A total of nearly 250,000 people have seen the rock since the exhibition opened.”