Lunar Receiving Laboratory (quarantine facility)

The Lunar Receiving Laboratory (LRL) was constructed at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston to quarantine returning Apollo astronauts and lunar samples and to perform initial biological and geological examinations. The LRL handled decontamination and preliminary curation of lunar material before samples were distributed for wider scientific study. Its operations on the JSC campus were part of NASA's planetary protection and sample curation efforts during the Apollo era.