Robert D. Waldron, 79; Chemist Analyzed Moon Rocks

Robert D. Waldron, 79, a chemist who helped analyze the moon rocks brought to Earth by the Apollo astronauts, died Wednesday in Canoga Park following a long illness.

In the 1970s, Waldron was a scientist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and worked with University of Houston scientist David Criswell to examine rocks and other materials collected on the moon’s surface. Waldron concluded that, although raw materials extracted from the moon were not viable for use on Earth, they could be used to assist further space exploration.

In a 1978 report to an American Chemical Society meeting in Miami Beach, he suggested that structural metals such as iron, aluminum, magnesium and titanium, as well as oxygen, silicon and glass, could be extracted and refined on the moon. The products could then be used, he said, to assemble vehicles in space for use beyond the moon.

Born Jan. 28, 1926, in Minneapolis, Minn., Waldron was educated at the University of Minnesota, Brown University and Caltech, where he earned his doctorate in chemistry. He held several patents in optics, power transmission and chemistry.