LRO - Apollo 17 Lunar Module Landing Site

It now seems we can see some pictures of the Apollo 17 landing site
from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
- LRK -

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http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/lroc_20091028_apollo.html
LRO - Apollo 17 Lunar Module Landing Site

Apollo 17 Lunar Module Challenger descent stage comes into focus from
the new lower 50 km mapping orbit, image width 102 meters. Credit:
NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/397620main_challenger_4x_350.jpg

LRO maneuvered into its 50-km mapping orbit on September 15. The next
pass over the Apollo 17 landing site resulted in images with more than
two times better resolution than previously acquired. At the time of
this recent overflight the Sun was high in the sky (28° incidence
angle) helping to bring out subtle differences in surface brightness.
The descent stage of the lunar module Challenger is now clearly
visible, at 50 cm per pixel (angular resolution) the descent stage
deck is 8 pixels across (4 meters), also note that the legs are also
now distinguishable. The descent stage served as the launch pad for
the ascent stage as it blasted off for a rendezvous with the command
module America on 14 December 1972.

Tracks are clearly visible and can be followed to the east, where
astronauts Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan set up the Surface Electrical
Properties experiment (SEP). Cernan drove the Lunar Roving Vehicle
(LRV) in an intersecting north-south and east-west course to mark
positions for laying out the SEP 35-meter antennas (circle labeled
"SEP" marks the area of the SEP transmitter). The dark area just below
the SEP experiment is where the astronauts left the rover, in a prime
spot for monitoring the liftoff.

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http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=32693
LRO Image of Apollo 17 Landing Site

LRO maneuvered into its 50-km mapping orbit on September 15. The next
pass over the Apollo 17 landing site resulted in images with more than
two times better resolution than previously acquired. At the time of
this recent overflight the Sun was high in the sky (28° incidence
angle) helping to bring out subtle differences in surface brightness.

The descent stage of the lunar module Challenger is now clearly
visible, at 50 cm per pixel (angular resolution) the descent stage
deck is 8 pixels across (4 meters), also note that the legs are also
now distinguishable. The descent stage served as the launch pad for
the ascent stage as it blasted off for a rendezvous with the command
module America on 14 December 1972.

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Also - http://www.onorbit.com/node/1658

A quick refresher on Apollo 17
- LRK -
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_17
Apollo 17

Apollo 17 was the eleventh manned space mission in the NASA Apollo
program. It was the first night launch of a U.S. human spaceflight and
the sixth and final lunar landing mission of the Apollo program. The
mission was launched at 12:33 a.m. EST on December 7, 1972, and
concluded on December 19. It remains both the most recent manned moon
landing and manned flight beyond low Earth orbit. It also broke
several records set by previous flights, including longest manned
lunar landing flight; longest total lunar surface extravehicular
activities; largest lunar sample return, and longest time in lunar
orbit.

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Maybe you would like to read about what Apollo 17 mission was about.
- LRK -

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http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/A17_PressKit.pdf
Press Kit
176 page PDF file

APOLLO 17 LAUNCH DECEMBER 6
The night launch of Apollo 17 on December 6 will be
visible to people on a large portion of the eastern seaborad
as the final United States manned lunar lhnding mission gets
underway.
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We have had access to a lot of Apollo images from the actual mission time frame.
Off course some would probably say they were all part of lunar hoax. :-)
- LRK -

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http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Apollo Image Atlas

Foreword
Scanning and Processing Information
Credits
The Apollo Image Atlas can be accessed in the following ways:

Browse Image Catalog
70mm Hasselblad
Mapping (Metric)
Panoramic
Apollo Lunar Surface Closeup Camera (ALSCC)
35mm Nikon
Search
Search by Feature Name
Search by Coordinate
Search by Description
Slideshows
70mm Hasselblad
Mapping (Metric)

The Apollo Image Atlas is a comprehensive collection of Apollo-Saturn
mission photography. Included are almost 25,000 lunar images, both
from orbit and from the moon's surface, as well as photographs of the
earth, astronauts and mission hardware.

Other sites of interest:
Apollo Surface Panoramas
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollopanoramas/
Consolidated Lunar Atlas of the Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/cla/
Lunar Orbiter Photo Gallery
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunarorbiter/
Lunar Orbiter Photographic Atlas of the Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/lunar_orbiter/
Ranger Photographs of the Moon
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/ranger/
USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/
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When will a tourist be able to snap their own pictures at these
historical sites?

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
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http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo17info.html
Apollo 17

Launched: 7 December 1972 UT 05:33:00 (12:33:00 a.m. EST)
Landed on Moon: 11 December 1972 UT 19:54:57 (02:54:57 p.m. EST)
Landing Site: Taurus-Littrow (20.19 N, 30.77 E)
Returned to Earth: 19 December 1972 UT 19:24:59 (02:24:59 p.m. EST)
Eugene A. Cernan, commander
Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot
Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot

snip
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If you like the numbers you will find them here. - LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_00a_Cover.htm
APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS:
A Statistical Reference

by
Richard W. Orloff

NASA History Division
Office of Policy and Plans
NASA Headquarters
Washington, DC 20546

NASA SP-2000-4029
2000
Revised, September 2004

ISBN 0-16-050631-X
-----------------------------
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_00g_Table_of_Contents.htm
Table of Contents

Foreword
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Dedication
About The Author
Apollo 1 - The Fire
Apollo 7 - The First Mission: Testing the CSM in Earth Orbit
Apollo 8 - The Second Mission: Testing the CSM in Lunar Orbit
Apollo 9 - The Third Mission: Testing the LM in Earth Orbit
Apollo 10 - The Fourth Mission: Testing the LM in Lunar Orbit
Apollo 11 - The Fifth Mission: The First Lunar Landing
Apollo 12 - The Sixth Mission: The Second Lunar Landing
Apollo 13 - The Seventh Mission: The Third Lunar Landing Attempt
Apollo 14 - The Eighth Mission: The Third Lunar Landing
Apollo 15 - The Ninth Mission: The Fourth Lunar Landing
Apollo 16 - The Tenth Mission: The Fifth Lunar Landing

Apollo 17 - The Eleventh Mission: The Sixth Lunar Landing
http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_17a_Summary.htm

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http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/
Apollo Lunar Surface Journal

The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal is a record of the lunar surface
operations conducted by the six pairs of astronauts who landed on the
Moon from 1969 through 1972. The Journal is intended as a resource for
anyone wanting to know what happened during the missions and why. It
includes a corrected transcript of all recorded conversations between
the lunar surface crews and Houston. The Journal also contains
extensive, interwoven commentary by the Editor and by ten of the
twelve moonwalking astronauts.

snip
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http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/images17.html
Apollo 17 Image Library

This Apollo 17 Image Library contains all of the pictures taken on the
lunar surface by the astronauts together with pictures from pre-flight
training and pictures of equipment and the flight hardware.
High-resolution version of many of the lunar surface images are
included. A source for both thumbnail and low -resolution versions of
the lunar surface images is a website compiled by Paul Spudis and
colleagues at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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