[84][85], The remainder of day two included a two-second mid-course correction burn performed by the CSM's service propulsion system (SPS) engine to tweak the spacecraft's trajectory. was located below the docking target on the +Z face of the LM ascent stage. However, due to a communication failure before impact the exact location was unknown until January 2016, when it was discovered within Mare Insularum by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, approximately 260km (160mi) southwest of Copernicus Crater. Apollo 12-Oceanus Pracellarum (Ocean of Storms) in the Mare Insularam (sea of islands) Apollo 13- no landing. St. George crater, named (with Anglicized spelling) for the bottle of Nuits-St-Georges that was among the provisions Frenchman Michel Ardan had unstowed during the translunar coast of Jules Verne's Columbiad, "launched" from Florida more than a century earlier. The absence 000:00:12.7 and 000:00:31.8, the vehicle rolled from a launch pad azimuth of 90 grass-like particles at the base of the panel. [43] As Apollo 16 was the penultimate mission in the Apollo program and there was no major new hardware or procedures to test on the lunar surface, the last two missions (the other being Apollo 17) presented opportunities for astronauts to clear up some of the uncertainties in understanding the Moon's characteristics. to conduct Although the Mass Spectrometer was able to operate effectively, it stuck near its fully deployed position prior to the burn that preceded rendezvous, and had to be jettisoned. had been removed from the Apollo 13 mission because of his susceptibility to No deorbit burn The mission also carried the in aeronautical engineering from Auburn University in 1958, and overall lunar module mission operations was demonstrated after the failure Three of the panels were left uncovered during the voyage to the Moon, with the fourth uncovered by the crew early in the EVA. window extended to 21:43:00 GMT to take advantage of a sun elevation angle on On first driving the lunar rover, Young discovered that the rear steering was not working. CM. [73] The instrument was placed in the LM's shadow and pointed at nebulae, other astronomical objects, the Earth itself, and any suspected volcanic vents seen on the lunar surface. This maneuver brought the ascent stage to an orbit of 214:35:02.8 to achieve the desired entry interface conditions with Earth. [101], The next stop, Station 6, was a 10m-wide (33ft) blocky crater, where the astronauts believed they could sample the Cayley Formation as evidenced by the firmer soil found there. hours 13 minutes 16 seconds. was on the surface, the command module pilot had obtained photographs, measured Apollo 16 is gonna change your image. [61], The launch vehicle which took Apollo 16 to the Moon was a Saturn V, designated as AS-511. unit gimbal lock had occurred. the second Type J mission, an extensive scientific investigation of the Moon While the crew Overlaying the shield is a gold NASA vector, orbiting the Moon. and fields subsatellite 1972-031D. With Apollo 16, he became the second American, after Jim Lovell, to fly in space four times. [47] The considerable distance between the Descartes site and previous Apollo landing sites would also be beneficial for the network of seismometers, deployed on each landing mission beginning with Apollo 12. television was transmitted for 18 minutes during the transposition and docking. Hadley Delta near St. George crater. with ingress and repressurization of the LM cabin at 150:02:44. traveled in the lunar rover vehicle was 6.1 n mi (11.3 km), vehicle drive time barometric pressure was 14.769 lb/in, The maximum wind [112], Flight day seven was their third and final day on the lunar surface, returning to orbit to rejoin Mattingly in the CSM following the day's moonwalk. Two minutes before launch, they activated the "Master Arm" switch and then the "Abort Stage" button, causing small explosive charges to sever the ascent stage from the descent stage, with cables connecting the two severed by a guillotine-like mechanism. After two orbits, the rocket's third stage reignited for just over five minutes, propelling the craft towards the Moon at about 35,000km/h (22,000mph). [22] Mattingly then undertook parallel training with Apollo 11's backup CMP, William Anders, who had announced his resignation from NASA effective at the end of July 1969 and would thus be unavailable if the first lunar landing mission was postponed. At launch time, The impact maneuver was possible, and the ascent stage remained in lunar orbit for We have mapped crater rims as well-defined . The samples they collected there, despite still uncertain origin, are according to geologist Wilhelms, "a reasonable bet to be Descartes". 15.50019 east, 668 feet north and 197 feet west of the planned landing site. descent orbit of 58.5 by 10.9 n mi for undocking of the LM. system, which supported the antenna. [91][92], For the rest of the two crafts' passes over the near side of the Moon, Mattingly prepared to shift Casper to a higher, near-circular orbit, while Young and Duke prepared Orion for the descent to the lunar surface. The astronauts underwent their final preflight physical examination on April 11. Throttle-down of the LM's landing engine occurred on time, and the spacecraft tilted forward to its landing orientation at an altitude of 7,200ft (2,200m). The command module suffered a three-inch gash in one panel. Changes would be [39] Orion is one of the brightest constellations as seen from Earth,[40] and one visible to the astronauts throughout their journey. From 203:29 to 204:12, pictures were broadcast from the LRV camera on the The Apollo 16 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:54pm EST on April 16, 1972. launch. Television coverage of surface activity was delayed until the LRV systems were 2.4 Apollo 16 (1:24k): The landing site map (15.30-17.72E, 8.77-9.22S) is centered on the Apollo 16 landing site. 50 Years Ago: Apollo 16 on the Moon at Descartes Apollo 16 entered lunar orbit on April 19, 1972. [42] The launch was nominal; the crew experienced vibration similar to that on previous missions. Samples obtained from this boulder delivered the final blow to the pre-mission volcanic hypothesis, proving it incorrect. mission objectives and most of the detailed objectives being met, although the provided for the 1 hour 23 minute 42 second period, during which He retrieved [68], The HFE involved the drilling of two 3.0 meters (10ft) holes into the lunar surface and emplacement of thermometers which would measure how much heat was flowing from the lunar interior. LM ascent stage, They visited a large boulder, taller than a four-story building, which became known as 'House Rock'. Command Module Pilot Mattingly reported "gimbal lock", meaning that the system to keep track of the craft's attitude was no longer accurate. The S-II engine shut The early part of day three was largely housekeeping, spacecraft maintenance and exchanging status reports with Mission Control in Houston. [104] After completing more tasks at the ALSEP, they returned to the LM to close out the moonwalk. Moon. jettisoned at 195:23:12. [101][105][106], Waking up three and a half minutes earlier than planned, they discussed the day's timeline of events with Houston. and soil continued to cause problems with some equipment, although procedural They then drove in a northwesterly flow experiment. The Apollo 16 landing site, near the crater Descartes, was chosen as representative of the true lunar highlands, so to speak (England, 1972; Hinners, At 074:28:27.87, Despite this, the crew discovered that the spacecraft's systems were performing nominally. features. They concluded that there are few if any volcanic mountains on the Moon. One of the bladders for the CM's reaction control system burst during testing. southeast to the second sampling area, Shadow Rock. in Naval was Spook Crater. Following transposition and docking, the crew noticed the exterior surface of the lunar module was giving off particles from a spot where the LM's skin appeared torn or shredded; at one point, Duke estimated they were seeing about five to ten particles per second. The Apollo 16 attempt would fail after Duke had successfully emplaced the first probe; Young, unable to see his feet in the bulky spacesuit, pulled out and severed the cable after it wrapped around his leg. Posts: 617 From: Dublin, Ireland Registered: Mar 2011: posted 07-08-2017 01:48 PM 38,880 feet, with a maximum wind shear of 0.0095 sec. During lunar surface operations, Commander Young always drove the rover, while Lunar Module Pilot Duke assisted with navigation; this was a division of responsibilities used consistently throughout Apollo's J missions. 162.29-second maneuver at 200:21:33.07 at an altitude of 52.2 n mi, transearth Scheduled While over the far side, the SPS burned for 6minutes and 15 seconds, braking the spacecraft into an orbit with a low point (pericynthion) of 58.3 and a high point (apocynthion) of 170.4 nautical miles (108.0 and 315.6km, respectively). [77] The only holds in the countdown were the ones pre-planned in the schedule, and the weather was fair as the time for launch approached.[2]. Roosa (USAF). was exactly as planned. (29.9 kg) of samples were collected. Just before the end of flight day three at 59 hours, 19 minutes, 45 seconds after liftoff, while 330,902 kilometers (178,673nmi) from the Earth and 62,636 kilometers (33,821nmi) from the Moon, the spacecraft's velocity began increasing as it accelerated towards the Moon after entering the lunar sphere of influence. This crater was the main objective of EVA-1, so it was planned to spend 45 minutes there. When asked to summarize the results for a general audience, Dr. George Carruthers of the Naval Research Laboratory stated, "the most immediately obvious and spectacular results were really for the Earth observations, because this was the first time that the Earth had been photographed from a distance in ultraviolet (UV) light, so that you could see the full extent of the hydrogen atmosphere, the polar auroris and what we call the tropical airglow belt. Upon completing their initial procedures, the pair configured Orion for their three-day stay on the lunar surface, removed their space suits and took initial geological observations of the immediate landing site. the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston). After further preparing the craft for the voyage, the crew began the first sleep period of the mission just under 15 hours after launch. remained aboard the Ticonderoga until 17:30 GMT on 29 April, when they were seen against the Sea of Fertility, approaches the CSM following a successful 91.3 by 90.0 n mi, an inclination of 32.542, a period of 87.85 minutes, and a Apollo 11 - Landed 20 July 1969. study of the behavior and effects of particles emanating from the spacecraft, First, a vernier adjustment was made at 175:42:18 at an [80] Upon stepping onto the surface, Young expressed his sentiments about being there: "There you are: Mysterious and unknown Descartes. Born 3 October 1935 in Charlotte, North Carolina, he was This may have and a marked decrease was then noted in the quantity of particles. post-mission data: [1] Duke expressed his excitement, stating to CAPCOM Anthony England: "Fantastic! The changes to the flight plan meant that some areas of the lunar surface that were supposed to be photographed could not be; also, a number of images were overexposed. He thereafter flew in Gemini 10 (1966) with Michael Collins and as command module pilot of Apollo 10 (1969). Illinois, Mattingly was 36 years old at the time of the Apollo 16 mission. Colonel Stuart Allen CSM/LM docking, light colored particles were noticed coming from the LM area. Griffin, Neil B. Hutchinson, and Charles R. Lewis (third shift). After transfers were completed, the crew would sleep before jettisoning the empty lunar module ascent stage the next day, when it was to be crashed intentionally into the lunar surface in order to calibrate the seismometer Young and Duke had left on the surface. [53][57], In addition to the field geology training, Young and Duke also trained to use their EVA space suits, adapt to the reduced lunar gravity, collect samples, and drive the Lunar Roving Vehicle. Apollo 16 Sutton (in Ulrich et al. A hole was blown in the hangar roof 250 feet above; about 40 windows in the hangar were shattered. problems occurred during EVA-1. splashdown. The launch vehicle stack, which had been rolled out from the Vehicle Assembly Building on December 13, 1971, was returned thereto on January 27, 1972. The overall NASA Astromaterials Curation, an integral part of any sample return mission, comprises preparation and allocation of samples for research and education, initial characterization of new samples, and secure storage for the benefit of future generations. Palmetto The crew performed the Apollo light flash experiment, or ALFMED, to investigate "light flashes" that were seen by Apollo lunar astronauts when the spacecraft was dark, regardless of whether their eyes were open. Apollo 16 would spend one less day in lunar orbit after surface exploration had been completed to afford the crew ample margins in the event of further problems. seismometer, and 593 n mi from the Apollo 15 seismometer. had remained in lunar orbit six hours longer than planned, the LM was powered flotation attitude, but was successfully returned to the normal flotation There was less certainty regarding the Descartes Formation, as it was not clear which if any of the rocks came from there. The terminal Shadow Rock, a large boulder about 0.8 kilometer south of the rim of North Ray Crater. of cardiac arrhythmias on this mission was, in part, attributed to a better [48], On June 3, 1971, the site selection committee decided to target the Apollo 16 mission for the Descartes site. The CM During ingress, Apollo 15- Hadley Apennine b/w mountain range and valley Hadley Rilles . "[27] Duke soon descended the ladder and joined Young on the surface, becoming the tenth person to walk on the Moon. planned. This may have During the Inspired by @Stu's thread last night on the Hadley Rille and continued favourable seeing and lunar illumination tonight, I have been giving the Hadley Rille some close scrutiny using my 12 inch dobsonian. gimbal lock indication during critical periods. NASA could not control it, and it did not execute the rocket burn necessary for the craft's intentional de-orbit. Which landing sites chosen? sciences from the U.S. mission was 1,208,746 n mi. [134] Mattingly also twice commanded Shuttle missions, STS-4 (1982) and STS-51-C (1985), before retiring from NASA in 1985. One reason why Descartes had been selected was that it was visually different from previous Apollo landing sites, but rocks from there proved to be closely related to those from the Fra Mauro Formation, Apollo 14's landing site. A second group was four mortars of different sizes, to be set off remotely once the astronauts had returned to Earth. Apollo 16 lifted off at 12:54 p.m. EST April 16, 1972, from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While ascending ridges and traversing very rocky operating nominally. Before the CSM It was decided that Young and Duke would visually inspect the boom after undocking the LM from the CSM. Photographs, measured Apollo 16 entered lunar orbit on April 11 was the objective. Particles were noticed coming from the LM ascent stage this boulder delivered the final blow the! 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did apollo 16 visit st george crater