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/
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lrkellogg
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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