Before the systematic recovery of meteorites from Antarctica, most researchers didn't believe you could knock a piece off of a big planetary body, and send it to Earth as a meteorite. In 1981, that was proven to be false when this meteorite was found near the Allan Hills. There was no doubt that it came from the moon- studies of the Apollo specimens had revealed a distinctive and limited range of lithologies there, and this specimen was a spitting image for one of the more common types. In a short time researchers realized they might have samples of other planets as well, including Mars.