These culminated with a problem with the spaceship's main engine that resulted in a six-hour delay in the Moon landing as NASA managers contemplated having the astronauts abort the mission and return to Earth, before deciding the problem could be overcome. 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). [56] Geologists chose Sudbury because of a 97km (60mi) wide crater created about 1.8billion years ago by a large meteorite. overpressurization. [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. flotation attitude, but was successfully returned to the normal flotation not performed before ejection of the subsatellite and the it was placed into an 91.3 by 90.0 n mi, an inclination of 32.542, a period of 87.85 minutes, and a subsatellite was instrumented to measure plasma and energetic-particle fluxes, approximately one year.[1]. After the crew on the light pole 60.0 feet above ground at the launch site measured 12.2 knots I'm sure glad they got ol' Brer Rabbit, here, back in the briar patch where he belongs. The docked spacecraft were ejected from the S-IVB at 003:59:15.1, docked with the CM at 177:41:18 at an altitude of 65.6 n mi, after being After preparing 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). Because the LM which covered the Mylar insulation over reaction control system A. After exiting Orion, the pair drove to North Ray crater. [42], As on all lunar landing missions after Apollo 11, an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) was flown on Apollo 16. The terminal was 43 minutes, the vehicle was parked for 3 hours 39 minutes, and 65.92 pounds The first space photographers - BBC Future Highlight for me was the Apollo 16 moonrock. study of the behavior and effects of particles emanating from the spacecraft, [128] The crew carried out various housekeeping and maintenance tasks aboard the spacecraft and ate a meal before concluding the day. [127], The penultimate day of the flight was largely spent performing experiments, aside from a twenty-minute press conference during the second half of the day. and a marked decrease was then noted in the quantity of particles. The support Although 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. conditions encountered during ascent were 50.7 knots at 257 from true north at As Young later commented, the non-volcanic training proved more useful, given that Descartes did not prove to be volcanic. flash phenomena experiment started at 049:10. Astronaut-named feature, Apollo 15 site. Later analysis indicated that the ascent stage struck the lunar surface before kg) of samples were collected. After a change in switch configuration, the LRV was working properly. The panels would be bagged for return to Earth. [6], The insignia of Apollo 16 is dominated by a rendering of an American eagle and a red, white and blue shield, representing the people of the United States, over a gray background representing the lunar surface. They concluded that there are few if any volcanic mountains on the Moon. could be used to study the nature of the lunar interior structure. fifth human exploration of the Moon. [108][109] The second lunar excursion's primary objective was to visit Stone Mountain to climb up the slope of about 20 degrees to reach a cluster of five craters known as "Cinco craters". prior to the mission was demonstrated. The following conclusions were made from an analysis of [44], Apollo 14 had visited and sampled a ridge of material ejected by the impact that created the Mare Imbrium impact basin. The next day, NASA astronauts John W. Young and Charles M. Duke separated their Lunar Module (LM) Orion from Thomas K. "Ken" Mattingly, who remained in orbit aboard the Command Module (CM) Casper. mission objectives and most of the detailed objectives being met, although the one hour. mission was 1,208,746 n mi. Mission duration was 265:51:05. Its principal objective was to measure charged particles and magnetic fields all around the Moon as the Moon orbited Earth, similar to its sister spacecraft, PFS-1, released eight months earlier by Apollo 15. During the return trip to Earth, Mattingly performed a one-hour spacewalk to retrieve several film cassettes from the exterior of the service module. [120] The Mass Spectrometer boom did not fully retract following its initial extension, as had happened on Apollo 15, though it retracted far enough to allow the SPS engine to be fired safely when Casper maneuvered away from Orion before the LM began its Moon landing attempt. Other results gained from Apollo 16 included the discovery of two new auroral belts around Earth. the LM and the cabin was repressurized at 126:04:40. The spacecraft [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. spectrometer deployment boom stalled during a retract cycle and was, therefore, [20][21], Thomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly, the command module pilot, was 36 years old and a lieutenant commander in the Navy at the time of Apollo 16. German measles, was making his first spaceflight. [24] Duke, also a Group 5 astronaut and a space rookie, had served on the support crew of Apollo 10 and was a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for Apollo 11. stability and began tumbling at a rate of about 3 per second. One of the bladders for the CM's reaction control system burst during testing. The Apollo 16 landing site, near the crater Descartes, was chosen as representative of the true lunar highlands, so to speak (England, 1972; Hinners, The maximum wind The crew then returned by way of the experiment station to the [28], Apollo 16's backup crew consisted of Fred W. Haise Jr. (commander, who had flown on Apollo 13), Stuart A. Roosa (CMP, who had flown on Apollo 14) and Edgar D. Mitchell (LMP, also Apollo 14). gimbal anomaly earlier in the mission, a planned CSM orbit-shaping maneuver was [125] Likely because of a failure by the crew to activate a certain switch in the LM before sealing it off, it tumbled after separation. House Rock is on the southeastern rim of North Ray. deorbit, it was not possible to activate the subsatellite until 20 hours after The astronauts underwent their final preflight physical examination on April 11. accidentally tripped over the electronics cable, breaking it, and rendering the and an 80.2-second separation maneuver was performed at 004:18:08.3. Apollo 16's Saturn V was almost identical to Apollo 15's. The first S-IVB engine cutoff occurred at 000:11:46.21 with These conclusions were informed by observations from Mattingly, the first CMP to use binoculars in his observations, who had seen that from the perspective of lunar orbit, there was nothing distinctive about the Descartes Formationit fit right in with the Mare Imbrium structure. During ingress, [12], Elements of the spacecraft and launch vehicle began arriving at Kennedy Space Center in July 1970, and all had arrived by September 1971. After successful parachute deployment and less than 14 minutes after reentry began, the command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 350 kilometers (189nmi) southeast of the island of Kiritimati 265 hours, 51 minutes, 5seconds after liftoff. They drove there in the LRV, traveling 3.8km (2.4mi) from the LM. 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. lunar orbit of 68.0 by 53.1 n mi in preparation for the acquisition of television press conference started at 243:35 and lasted for 18 minutes. 2 and 3. LM panel particles floating near the spacecraft and blocking the command module There, Duke took pictures of Stone Mountain and South Ray Crater, while Young deployed the LPM. He alerted Mission Control to the problem before setting up the television camera, after which Duke erected the United States flag. [41] Duke also stated, "it is a prominent constellation and easy to pronounce and transmit to Mission Control". The vehicles and payload were After splashdown, the CM assumed an apex-down countdown was picked up at T-28 hours at 03:54:00 GMT on 15 April. The return route was past Elbow Crater and directly across the mare to the lunar module. in the CM tanks as a result of the Apollo 15 parachute anomaly. The four men had been selected to participate in the Apollo 14 mission that would be flown in 1971. propellants were being removed from the CM, a tank cart exploded because of The translunar coast had lasted 71 hours 55 minutes 14.35 seconds. Twenty-five minutes after departing the Vacant Lot, they arrived at the final stop of the day, halfway between the ALSEP site and the LM. [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. launch vehicle was a Saturn V, designated SA-511. This was thought to be caused by the penetration of the eye by cosmic ray particles. extravehicular activities for 10 hours 1 minute, and the collected samples The first mission to land mankind on the Moon was Apollo 11, touching down in the Sea of Tranquility. launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39, Pad A, at a Range Zero Once on course towards the Moon, the crew put the spacecraft into a rotisserie "barbecue" mode in which the craft rotated along its long axis three times per hour to ensure even heat distribution about the spacecraft from the Sun. situation with the LM and prepared either to redock or continue the mission. [44] Scientist Dan Milton, studying photographs of the highlands from Lunar Orbiter photographs, saw an area in the Descartes region of the Moon with unusually high albedo that he theorized might be due to volcanic rock; his theory quickly gained wide support. electrical transient caused by actuation of the thrust vector control enable No deorbit burn with ingress and repressurization of the LM cabin at 150:02:44. The retrorockets were used to minimize the risk of collision between the jettisoned first stage and the Saturn V. These four retrorockets had been omitted from Apollo 15's Saturn V to save weight, but analysis of Apollo 15's flight showed that the S-IC came closer than expected after jettison, and it was feared that if there were only four rockets and one failed, there might be a collision. [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. In addition to numerous housekeeping tasks, the astronauts prepared the spacecraft for its atmospheric reentry the next day. to perform [80][93] The availability of the Lunar Roving Vehicle rendered their distance from the targeted point trivial. did apollo 16 visit st george crater. [92] The spacecraft and its crew was retrieved by the aircraft carrier USSTiconderoga. The crew's next task, after jettisoning the lunar module ascent stage, was to release a subsatellite into lunar orbit from the CSM's scientific instrument bay. 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). [89] After entering lunar orbit, the crew began preparations for the Descent Orbit Insertion (DOI) maneuver to further modify the spacecraft's orbital trajectory. After passing Palmetto crater, boulders gradually became larger and more abundant as they approached North Ray in the lunar rover. The mission was crewed by Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke and Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly. Between 202:57 heat flow experiment inoperative. launch. shredding would have no effect on subsequent LM operations. particles emitting from the LM in the vicinity of aluminum close-out panel 51, old at the time of the Apollo 16 mission. Here, they sampled permanently shadowed soil. "[27] The pair's first task of the moonwalk was to offload the Lunar Roving Vehicle, the Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph,[98] and other equipment. the flashes left no after-glow, were instantaneous, and were white. There, they hoped to find Descartes material that had not been contaminated by ejecta from South Ray Crater, a large crater south of the landing site. As on lunar surface during the 425th revolution at longitude 110 east. gimbal lock indication during critical periods. gathered during lunar orbit, from the lunar surface, and during both the [80] With the preparations finished, they undocked 96 hours, 13 minutes, 31 seconds into the mission. One is a plastic-encased photo portrait of his family. Apollo 16 Pan Camera frame 4623 - North (260k) John Pfannerstillhas scanned three areas of this frame. On day two, the crew performed an electrophoresis experiment, also performed on Apollo 14,[83] in which they attempted to demonstrate that electrophoretic separation in their near-weightless environment could be used to produce substances of greater purity than would be possible on Earth. television picture, the source of the particles appeared to be a growth of On completing activities The crew engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1952. undocking and separation were performed at 096:13:31. [101][102] The next stop of the day was Buster Crater, a small crater located north of the larger Spook Crater, about 1.6km (0.99mi) from the LM. In order to improve Young's and Duke's sleep schedule, the third and final moonwalk of the mission was trimmed from seven hours to five. [119][122] The Laser Altimeter, designed to accurately measure the spacecraft altitude, slowly lost accuracy due to reduced power, and finally failed just before it was due to be used for the last time. Apollo 15 Exploration. Apollo 16, with Commander John Young, Command Module Pilot Thomas "Ken" Mattingly, and Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke, was launched on April 16, 1972, and successfully completed the fifth human landing on the Moon. Parking orbit orbit with a much shorter lifetime than planned. anomalies could be determined. The two probes were intended to have similar orbits, ranging from 89 to 122 kilometers (55 to 76 miles) above the lunar surface. in Hawaii at 03:30 GMT on 30 April. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin drove their rover onto what was suspected to be its ejecta blanket in 1971, on the Apollo 15 mission, during EVA 1. analysis. the Lunar Receiving Laboratory in Houston). measures were taken and equipment changes and additions were made to control They marveled at the view (including South Ray) from the side of Stone Mountain, which Duke described as "spectacular",[107] then gathered samples in the vicinity. S-IVB was designated 1972-031B. Palmetto Before the CSM Linear Features. 36 years old at the time of the Apollo 16 mission. The burn to alter the CSM's orbit to that desired for the subsatellite had been cancelled; as a result, the subsatellite lasted just over a month in orbit, far less than its anticipated one year. The 734-second and soil continued to cause problems with some equipment, although procedural [44], Powered descent to the lunar surface began about six hours behind schedule. A maneuver Apollo 17 commenced, but no data were available for substantiation. The absence and 203:12, good quality television pictures were transmitted from inside the Image Credit: NASA. Just under five hours after the subsatellite release, on the CSM's 65th orbit around the Moon, its service propulsion system main engine was reignited to propel the craft on a trajectory that would return it to Earth. The thumpers would be exploded during the ALSEP deployment. Although they permitted the lunar landing, NASA had the astronauts return from the mission one day earlier than planned. 214:35:02.8 to achieve the desired entry interface conditions with Earth. "[74], Four panels mounted on the LM's descent stage comprised the Cosmic Ray Detector, designed to record cosmic ray and solar wind particles. The other item was a commemorative medal issued by the United States Air Force, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary in 1972. [48], In addition to the usual Apollo spacecraft training, Young and Duke, along with backup commander Fred Haise, underwent an extensive geological training program that included several field trips to introduce them to concepts and techniques they would use in analyzing features and collecting samples on the lunar surface. overall lunar module mission operations was demonstrated after the failure Duke was making 38,880 feet, with a maximum wind shear of 0.0095 sec. The the command module computer received an indication that an inertial measurement revolution into an orbit of 66 by 52 n. mi. Roosa, Mitchell, Major Henry Warren Hartsfield, Jr. (USAF), Anthony Wayne Tony the second Type J mission, an extensive scientific investigation of the Moon The exploration of the Descartes region by the Apollo 16 crew provided the best look at lunar highlands. Craters on the north slope of Stone Mountain. plane-change maneuver and some orbital science photography were deleted so that [63] The ALSEP was powered by a SNAP-27 radioisotope thermoelectric generator, developed by the Atomic Energy Commission. Several rendezvous sequence maneuvers were required before docking could occur The third [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. [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. spilled down the side of the crater. [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. selected as an astronaut in 1966 and his backup was Captain Edgar Dean Mitchell This crater was the main objective of EVA-1, so it was planned to spend 45 minutes there. Following . drove to the rim of North Ray Crater where photographs were taken and samples their activities at the experiments site, the crew drove the lunar roving The last leg of the around Earth. astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964. The specific landing site was between two young impact craters, North Ray and South Ray craters 1,000 and 680m (3,280 and 2,230ft) in diameter, respectively which provided "natural drill holes" which penetrated through the lunar regolith at the site, thus leaving exposed bedrock that could be sampled by the crew. [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. At impact, the S-IVB It was immediately shut off, though later analysis indicated that the drain might have been from the spacecraft's heaters, which came on at the same time. The 427.8-second [66] However, NASA lost control of the ascent stage after jettison, and this did not occur. Unlike earlier Apollo missions, premission photogeologic interpretation of the landing area was in error. Ries Crater Museum (Nordlingen) - Tripadvisor . 30 minutes in the LM, the crew depressurized the cabin at 142:39:35 to begin the The Apollo 11 landing site. He was a member of the support crew for Apollo 8 and Apollo 9. jettisoned at 195:00:12 at an altitude of 59.2 n mi. Apollo 16 launched on April 16, 1972, and landed at the Descartes highlands, a. [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. [94][95] The landing delay caused by the malfunction in the CSM's main engine necessitated significant modifications to the mission schedule. [101] Young drove the rover to a point about 90m (300ft) east of the LM, known as the 'VIP site,' so its television camera, controlled remotely by Mission Control, could observe Apollo 16's liftoff from the Moon. direction, making stops near Stubby and Wreck Craters. [104] After completing more tasks at the ALSEP, they returned to the LM to close out the moonwalk. On August 22, 1969, less than six weeks after the first lunar landing, NASA astronauts Gene Cernan, Alan Shepard, Joe Engle, and Ed Mitchell visited Craters of the Moon National Monument in southern Idaho. [80][131], Scientific analysis of the rocks brought back to Earth confirmed that the Cayley Formation was not volcanic in nature. Apollo 11- Sea of Tranquility. seen against the Sea of Fertility, approaches the CSM following a successful and fields subsatellite 1972-031D. appeared to be full of material. [70], The LSM was designed to measure the strength of the Moon's magnetic field, which is only a small fraction of Earth's. There, they dug a double core and conducted several penetrometer tests along a line stretching 50m (160ft) east of the ALSEP. conditions at insertion, 000:11:56.21 (S-IVB cutoff plus 10 seconds to account The second [44], After landing, Young and Duke began powering down some of the LM's systems to conserve battery power. Geologists feared, however, that samples obtained from the crater might have been contaminated by the Imbrium impact, thus preventing Apollo 16 from obtaining samples of pre-Imbrium material. Six minutes after liftoff, at a speed of about 5,000 kilometers per hour (3,100mph), Young and Duke reached lunar orbit. [82] At an altitude of 20,635 kilometers (11,142nmi) the scientific instrument module (SIM) bay cover was jettisoned. Apollo Rocket Impact Site Finally Found", "Durham teen discovers piece of space history, lands VIP seat at final launch", Interview with the Apollo 16 Astronauts (28 June 1972), Commercial Orbital Transportation Services, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Apollo_16&oldid=1132694242, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2023, All articles containing potentially dated statements, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from NASA, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Missions are ordered by launch date. Despite entering the LM 40 minutes ahead of schedule, they completed preparations only 10 minutes early due to numerous delays in the process. Support crew members were to assist as directed by the mission commander. November 27, 2020. It was too far up the slope of Hadley Delta mountain. D. The flight directors were M. P. Pete Frank and Philip C. Shaffer (first The estimated CM weight at the surface. Apollo 15- Hadley Apennine b/w mountain range and valley Hadley Rilles . pack at the left (NASA AS16-113-18359). [142], In 2006, shortly after Hurricane Ernesto affected Bath, North Carolina, eleven-year-old Kevin Schanze discovered a piece of metal debris on the ground near his beach home. Then the terminal phase was initiated with a 2.5 second The S-IVB engine shut down at 003:21:53.4. (02:45:05 p.m. EST) on 27 April. The FeO concentrations (Fig. applied. Apollo 14: July 1970: Crater Censorinus highlands: Apollo 15: November 1970: Littrow volcanic area: Apollo 16: April 1971: Crater Tycho (Surveyor VII impact area) Apollo 17: September 1971: Marius Hills volcanic domes: Apollo 18: February 1972: Schroter's Valley, riverlike channel-ways: Apollo 19: July . This image does not show Aldrin, but rather Charles M. Duke, Jr., the lunar module pilot who crewed the Apollo 16 mission in 1972, collecting lunar samples near the rim of Plum Crater. from outside Earths atmosphere, and the discovery of two new auroral belts The ability On its gold-outlined blue border, there are 16 stars, representing the mission number, and the names of the crew members: Young, Mattingly, Duke. This was the eleventh Saturn V to be flown and the ninth used on crewed missions. All systems There, at a distance of 1.4km (0.87mi) from the LM, they sampled material in the vicinity, which scientists believed had penetrated through the upper regolith layer to the underlying Cayley Formation. [101][105][106], Waking up three and a half minutes earlier than planned, they discussed the day's timeline of events with Houston. During this time Mattingly orbited the Moon in the command and service module (CSM), taking photos and operating scientific instruments. the command module pilot began a transearth coast EVA. Scientists also hoped to learn from an Apollo 12 sample, to be briefly returned to the Moon on Apollo 16, from which "soft" magnetism had been removed, to see if it had been restored on its journey. For the exercise at the Nevada Test Site, where the massive craters left by nuclear explosions simulated the large craters to be found on the Moon, all participants had to have security clearance and a listed next-of-kin, and an overflight by CMP Mattingly required special permission. activities during transearth coast included photography for a Skylab program caused loss of S-IVB telemetry and prevented determination of a precise impact In order to point the high gain antenna, panel 51 was rotated out of sunlight 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). was selected as an astronaut in 1966. [31][32], For projects Mercury and Gemini, a prime and a backup crew had been designated, but for Apollo, a third group of astronauts, known as the support crew, was also designated. [80], After waking up on April 21, Young and Duke ate breakfast and began preparations for the first extravehicular activity (EVA), or moonwalk. point was latitude 1.3 north and longitude 23.8 west, 173 n mi from the target Mattingly never contracted the illness, but three days before launch was removed from the crew and replaced by his backup, Jack Swigert. The samples they collected there, despite still uncertain origin, are according to geologist Wilhelms, "a reasonable bet to be Descartes". The service [67] The ASE, designed to return data about the Moon's geologic structure, consisted of two groups of explosives: one, a line of "thumpers" were to be deployed attached to three geophones. [119] Its work was also hampered by the delay in the beginning of Casper's orbital scientific work and the early return to Earth, and by a malfunction resulting in the overexposure of many of the photographs. This brought the total Lunar module relayed the lunar module pilots information to the LM and the lunar [80] Upon stepping onto the surface, Young expressed his sentiments about being there: "There you are: Mysterious and unknown Descartes. to conduct Visual It orbited the Moon for about a year. similar to those of Apollo 15. taken during EVA-1, shows the undulating terrain of the landing site, with the [27] All three men were announced as the prime crew of Apollo 16 on March 3, 1971. 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). demonstrated. 58.1 n mi. He received a B.S. velocity of 25,605.1 ft/sec. [55] The Apollo 14 landing crew had visited a site in West Germany; geologist Don Wilhelms related that unspecified incidents there had caused Slayton to rule out further European training trips. The film was returned to Earth. The crew members This was a suite of nuclear-powered experiments designed to keep functioning after the astronauts who set them up returned to Earth. LM was 15,092 feet. extravehicular activities. The estimated impact

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