Stunning images show the historic Apollo 16 mission 50 years after it was launched to the moon. Photographs, created by “Apollo Remastered” author Andy Saunders, show NASA Lunar Module “Orion” pilot Charles Duke viewing the Descartes Highlands, Command and Service “Casper” above the lunar horizon, Commander John Young’s “giant leap”, the lunar rover and a photo of Duke and his family on the surface of the moon. Saunders, who has previously shared updated images from the Apollo 15 landing on the moon, regularly posts new images on Twitter and Instagram. HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS SHOW THE FIRST AMERICAN IN A REGION ON THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MERCURY-ATLAS 6 MISSION The second of the three “J missions”, the primary objectives of Apollo 16 were to inspect, research and sample surface materials and features in the area of the Moon’s southeastern quadrant, to place and activate surface experiments, and to conduct in-flight experiments and photographic work from the lunar orbit. The astronauts took off with the Saturn-V SA-511 rocket at 12:54 p.m. EST on April 16, 1972, from Launch Complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The lunar module carrying Young and Duke landed at Descartes – albeit almost six hours late – at 21:24 EST on April 20, about 276 meters northwest of the scheduled point. There were two major problems with the Command Unit, including one on its way to the Moon and one on the lunar orbit, which contributed to the delay in landing and the consequent premature termination of the mission by one day. An erroneous signal indicating the anti-lock lock of the guidance system during the supermoon phase was neutralized by real-time programming and the backup circuit caused deflection oscillations of the service propulsion system, leading to a delay in the combustion cycle of the Command Unit. The lunar unit landing was maintained until engineers determined that the oscillations would not seriously affect the unit’s steering system. During their more than 71 hours and two minutes on the surface, the astronauts explored the area with three off-vehicle activities (EVAs) totaling 20 hours and 14 minutes. The first EVA involved tuning the Lunar Roving Vehicle and developing the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP), and the heat flow experiment was lost when Young tripped and broke the electronics cable. The astronauts collected samples and photographed the Flag crater, made the first measurement with the lunar portable magnetometer at the Spook Crater, and conducted the solar wind synthesis experiment at the ALSEP site. NASA ARTEMIS MISSION TO THE MOON WILL START IN KANOU They collected core, surface and trench samples in the Cinco crater area during the second EVA and lunar portable magnetometer measurements were taken near Cinco. A time limit on compliance with the climbing schedule was cut by the third EVA, during which samples were taken from the edge of the “House Rock” and “Shadow Rock” craters and lunar portable magnetometer measurements were made there and in the rover parking lot. together with the final samples. Finally, they retrieved the composition of the solar wind and the film from a camera / spectroscope of far ultraviolet radiation. Command unit pilot Thomas K. “Ken” Mattingly orbited the Moon with Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) cameras and instruments operating during Young and Duke’s surface stay and verified Apollo 15 data and information for the lunar ground. In conclusion, Young and Duke had collected 209 kilograms of samples and drove the rover 16.6 miles. The lunar takeoff occurred on April 23 at 8:26 p.m. EST. The lunar unit was discarded after a normal appointment and the landing and altitude were lost eliminating the usual orbital maneuver and scheduled impact. The designers chose to return the mission a day earlier and – after Mattingly’s 83-minute space walk to film cassettes from SIM Bay – landed in the Pacific Ocean just before 3 p.m. EST on 27 April. The total shipping time was 265 hours and 51 minutes, or just over 11 days. Specifically, the Particles and Fields submarine was launched on April 24 at 4:56 p.m. EST to investigate the mass and gravitational fluctuations of the moon, the particle composition of space near the moon and the interaction of the Moon’s magnetic field with that of the Earth. Saunders noted that when Mattingly noticed a problem with the main engine in the Command unit, the three astronauts had to visually remain in lunar orbit for the four hours it took for Mission Control to assess the issue. Saunders said an image taken by Duke – showing the Command Unit above the Moon’s surface as the blue Earth rises – conveys the enormous magnitude of their achievements. CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION Duke, who left a portrait of his family on the lunar surface after the third EVA, told him it was an emotional moment. While the photo probably quickly faded and curled up, Saunders sends a copy of the photo in a small capsule back to the moon this year to the unscrewed Astrobotic Peregrine lander.
