LRO's orbital imagery and photos taken in situ by the Apollo astronauts will serve to illuminate our ramblings from one Apollo site to the next. Top, clockwise: James Irwin salutes the flag at Hadley Rill Harrison Schmitt collects rock samples in the Taurus-Littrow Valley Buzz Aldrin's footprint in the lunar regolith Charlie Duke placed a photo of his family on the Moon and took a picture of it Edgar Mitchell photographs the desolate landscape of the Fra Mauro highlands and Pete Conrad jiggles the Surveyor 3 probe to see how firmly it's situated. Six Apollo missions successfully landed on and departed from the Moon between July 1969 and December 1972. Given that the largest piece of equipment left on the Moon after each mission was the 17.9-foot-high by 14-foot-wide Lunar Module, you can see the problem.ĭid I say problem? No problem for NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), which can dip as low as 31 miles (50 km) from the lunar surface, close enough to image each landing site in remarkable detail. In visible light, it's 0.05″, or closer to 300 feet. Hubble's 94.5-inch mirror has a resolution of 0.024″ in ultraviolet light, which translates to 141 feet (43 meters) at the Moon's distance. Not even the Hubble Space Telescope can discern evidence of the Apollo landings. They're the only places where humanity has achieved one of its oldest dreams and "touched the stars".Īs you're well aware, no telescope on Earth can see the leftover descent stages of the Apollo Lunar Modules or anything else Apollo-related. But here and there among the nooks and crannies, you'll find six of the most remarkable locales on the Moon - the Apollo landing sites. How can you ignore it? You've doubtless observed craters and mountain ranges and probed for volcanic features like rills and domes. We all love dark moonless skies, but let's face it, the Moon's out two weeks a month. Earth glows blue 240,000 miles in the distance. Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt with the American flag.
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