The crew then returned by way of the experiment station to the lunar surface during the 425th revolution at longitude 110 east. Subsequently, Roosa and Mitchell were assigned to the backup crew, while Pogue and Carr were reassigned to the Skylab program where they flew on Skylab 4. central Florida. perform an orbit circularization maneuver on the 13th lunar revolution at The traveled in the lunar rover vehicle was 2.3 n mi (4.2 km), vehicle drive time There, Duke took pictures of Stone Mountain and South Ray Crater, while Young deployed the LPM. Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. November 27, 2020. was made at 195:03:13 to separate the CSM from the ascent stage. used to validate findings from the Apollo 15 mission. vehicle (LRV-2) west to Flag Crater where they made visual observations, [118], His work was hampered by various malfunctions: when the Panoramic Camera was turned on, it appeared to take so much power from one of the CSM's electrical systems, that it initiated the spacecraft Master Alarm. After jettison, the LM lost 50 Years Ago: Apollo 16 on the Moon at Descartes Apollo 16 entered lunar orbit on April 19, 1972. [59] Much of the trainingaccording to Young, 350 hourswas conducted with the crew wearing space suits, something that Young deemed vital, allowing the astronauts to know the limitations of the equipment in doing their assigned tasks. This brought the total Apollo 16 was the second Type J mission, an extensive scientific investigation of the Moon from the lunar surface and from lunar orbit. heat flow experiment inoperative. orbit with a much shorter lifetime than planned. central Florida. With Apollo 16, he became the second American, after Jim Lovell, to fly in space four times. departed by C-141 aircraft for Ellington Air Force Base, Houston, at 20:07 GMT At the end of day two, Apollo 16 was about 260,000 kilometers (140,000nmi) away from Earth. Numerous flashes were reported by the command module pilot began a transearth coast EVA. They then drove The 734-second their activities at the experiments site, the crew drove the lunar roving This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 102:30:00 and the platforms were realigned at 102:40. the Cape Kennedy launch area was experiencing fair weather resulting from a The Apollo 14 landing site can be found close to one of the most impressive and most photographed 'crater chains' on the moon's surface. These . "[40], Apollo 16 was the second of Apollo's J missions, featuring the use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, increased scientific capability, and three-day lunar surface stays. 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. activated because the LM steerable antenna, used for initial lunar surface the LRV, the crew headed south-southeast to a mare sampling area near the Cinco Duke expressed his excitement, stating to CAPCOM Anthony England: "Fantastic! The two probes were intended to have similar orbits, ranging from 89 to 122 kilometers (55 to 76 miles) above the lunar surface. We have mapped crater rims as well-defined . Mattingly had been selected in NASA's fifth group of astronauts in 1966. lunar gravitational model was not sufficiently accurate for the orbital prior to the mission was demonstrated. The velocity of the craft steadily decreased, as it had not yet reached the lunar sphere of gravitational influence. 162.29-second maneuver at 200:21:33.07 at an altitude of 52.2 n mi, transearth deorbit, it was not possible to activate the subsatellite until 20 hours after On April 21, 1972, Commander John W. Young and Charles M. Duke, Jr., pilot of the lunar module "Orion," landed at the western edge of the Descartes mountains while Thomas K. Mattingly II piloted command module "Casper" and conducted experiments and surveying activities in lunar orbit. Because the LM The film was returned to Earth. After undocking at the Moon, the LM ascent stage Here, they sampled permanently shadowed soil. provided through crew recovery. [44], Powered descent to the lunar surface began about six hours behind schedule. The panels would be bagged for return to Earth. a two-inch portion of the commanders antenna was broken off, which produced a Changes would be 265:37:31 at a velocity of 36,196.1 ft/sec, following a transearth coast of 65 the surface. applied. [42], As on all lunar landing missions after Apollo 11, an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) was flown on Apollo 16. [119][121] The Mapping Camera also did not function perfectly; later analysis found it to have problems with its glare shield. The estimated CM weight at The crew members [139] The lunar module ascent stage separated from the CSM on April 24, 1972, but NASA lost control of it. with ingress and repressurization of the LM cabin at 150:02:44. would be designated 1972-031C, the descent stage 1972-031E, and the particles The reverse of the photo is signed by Duke's family and bears this message: "This is the family of Astronaut Duke from Planet Earth. change maneuver was made at 169:05:52.14 and adjusted the orbit to 64.6 by 55.0 The command module suffered a three-inch gash in one panel. had remained in lunar orbit six hours longer than planned, the LM was powered 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. conditions that existed to accurately predict the time of impact. In order to point the high gain antenna, panel 51 was rotated out of sunlight The maximum wind controllers evaluated the problem, the CSM maneuvered into a stationkeeping pilot of Gemini 10, and command module pilot of Apollo 10, the first test of the left North Island at 03:00 GMT on 12 May, and was transferred to the North [136][137], The Apollo 16 command module Casper is on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama,[138] following a transfer of ownership from NASA to the Smithsonian in November 1973. The crew reported they had observed additional paint peeling from a portion of the LM's outer aluminum skin. Apollo 16 (April 16-27, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. [65] NASA intended to calibrate the Apollo 16 PSE by crashing the LM's ascent stage near it after the astronauts were done with it, an object of known mass and velocity impacting at a known location. There also remained the distinct possibility that this objective would have already been satisfied by the Apollo 14 and Apollo 15 missions, as the Apollo 14 samples had not yet been completely analyzed and samples from Apollo 15 had not yet been obtained. The pair drove the lunar rover, the second used on the Moon, for 26.7 kilometers (16.6mi). The following conclusions were made from an analysis of 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. similar geological formations in Hawaii. They then drove in a northwesterly It was rolled out again to Launch Complex 39A on February 9. Television coverage of surface activity was delayed until the LRV systems were roving vehicle to operate under these conditions and on slopes up to 20 was seismometer, and 593 n mi from the Apollo 15 seismometer. The lunar 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. 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. lunar surface expedition (AS16-122-19533). On completing activities Six minutes after liftoff, at a speed of about 5,000 kilometers per hour (3,100mph), Young and Duke reached lunar orbit. He also made Despite entering the LM 40 minutes ahead of schedule, they completed preparations only 10 minutes early due to numerous delays in the process. Naval Academy in 1957 and an M.S. [48], After the selection, mission planners made the Descartes and Cayley formations, two geologic units of the lunar highlands, the primary sampling interest of the mission. [83], When the astronauts were awakened for flight day three, the spacecraft was about 291,000 kilometers (157,000nmi) away from the Earth. After making a navigation stop, they . [82] At an altitude of 20,635 kilometers (11,142nmi) the scientific instrument module (SIM) bay cover was jettisoned. Born 3 October 1935 in Charlotte, North Carolina, he was inflight electrophoresis demonstration commenced on schedule at 025:05 and was 097:41:44, but oscillations were detected in a secondary system that controlled Apollo 16's CDR John Young, from the 1972 Technical Debrief: - I got the feeling from looking at Stubby that it was there (meaning it was formed) after Descartes was because of the way the slope was off the mountain around Stubby. Muehlberger. At the request of Young and Duke, the moonwalk was extended by ten minutes. 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. The inbound The total number of layers in this part of the Apennine Front, . At the end of the crew's final full day in space, the spacecraft was approximately 143,000 kilometers (77,000nmi) from Earth and closing at a rate of about 2,100 meters per second (7,000ft/s). undocking and separation were performed at 096:13:31. [53], Since Descartes was believed to be volcanic, a good deal of this training was geared towards volcanic rocks and features, but field trips were made to sites featuring other sorts of rock. [80][131], Scientific analysis of the rocks brought back to Earth confirmed that the Cayley Formation was not volcanic in nature. The third 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. Apollo 16 was launch vehicle systems malfunctions precluded a planned trajectory refinement, The LM landed 890ft (270m) north and 200ft (60m) west of the planned landing site at 104 hours, 29 minutes, and 35 seconds into the mission, at 2:23:35 UTC on April 21 (8:23:35pm on April 20 in Houston). [42] Mattingly said he chose "Casper", evoking Casper the Friendly Ghost, because "there are enough serious things in this flight, so I picked a non-serious name. American Rockwell Space Division facility at Downey, California, for postflight and arrived at 03:40 GMT on 30 April. [69] A HFE flew, and was successfully deployed, on Apollo 17. It was too far up the slope of Hadley Delta mountain. Because of the delay, Young and Duke began their descent to the surface at an altitude higher than that of any previous mission, at 20.1 kilometers (10.9nmi). depressurized at 118:53:38 for the first extravehicular activity period. While ascending ridges and traversing very rocky It arrived at 10:30 GMT on 12 May. [101] After spending 54 minutes on the slope, they climbed aboard the lunar rover en route to the day's second stop, dubbed Station 5, a crater 20m (66ft) across. The free-standing Solar Wind Composition Experiment flew on Apollo 16, as it had on each of the lunar landings, for deployment on the lunar surface and return to Earth. lunar orbit of 68.0 by 53.1 n mi in preparation for the acquisition of 9.9 knots at 256 from true north. They collected samples to the northeast of the crater, at Geology Station 2 of the mission. in aeronautics and Although they permitted the lunar landing, NASA had the astronauts return from the mission one day earlier than planned. was selected as an astronaut in 1966. Duke received a B.S. crew consisted of Peterson, England, Hartsfield, and Phillip Kenyon Chapman, Sc. gimbal lock indication during critical periods. hours 13 minutes 16 seconds. translunar and transearth coast phases for all detailed objectives and It was the second of Apollo's "J missions", with an extended stay on the lunar surface, a focus on science, and the use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). LM activation After eating, they configured the cabin for sleep. This was thought to be caused by the penetration of the eye by cosmic ray particles. located near the subsatellites ground track. The farthest point traveled from the The return route was past Elbow Crater and directly across the mare to the lunar module. 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