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| On the Crater's Edge, Apollo 16 | | | |
Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., Apollo 16 Lunar Module pilot, is photographed collecting lunar samples at Station No. 1 during the mission's first extravehicular activity at the Descartes landing site. This picture, looking eastward, was taken by Commander John W. Young. Duke is standing at the rim of Plum crater, which is 40 meters (131 feet) in diameter and 10 meters (about 33 feet) deep. The lunar rover can be seen in the background. NASA
Apollo 16, the fifth mission in which humans walked on the lunar surface, launched 35 years ago today on April 16, 1972. The crew members: John W. Young, commander; Ken Mattingly, command module pilot; and Charles Duke, lunar module pilot. It was a J-class mission, featuring a Lunar Rover. It brought back 94.7 kg of lunar samples. It included three lunar EVA: 7.2 hours, 7.4 hours, 5.7 hours and one trans-earth EVA of 1.4. This was only the second trans-earth EVA ever and was used to bring in film from exterior cameras and conduct an experiment on microbial survival.
The Apollo 16 subsatellite was launched from the CSM while it was in lunar orbit. The subsatellite carried out experiments on magnetic fields and solar particles. It was launched April 24, 1972 at 21:56:09 UTC and orbited the Moon for 34 days and 425 revolutions. It had a mass of 80 lb (36.3 kg) and consisted of a central cylinder and three 1.5 m booms.
In route to the moon, the Apollo 16 astronauts took several photos of Earth. One of which was with North America in the background, with much of the northern portion of the continent under extensive cloud cover. Wikipedia |
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