The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera snapped its best look yet of the Apollo 11 landing site on the moon. The image, which was released on March 7, 2012, even shows the remnants of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin's historic first steps on the surface around the Lunar Module.
In this image, the Apollo 11 lunar lander and it shadow can be seen in a view from NASA's new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is scouting the moon for new landing sites for future astronauts.
An odd-looking impact feature on the lunar surface that was seen by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC).
This annotated figure shows the positions of various landmarks surrounding the Apollo 14 landing site on the moon's Fra Mauro highlands as seen by the LRO spacecraft. The small white arrows highlight locations where the astronauts' path can be clearly seen.
The tracks made in 1969 by astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean, the third and fourth humans to walk on the moon, can be seen in this LRO image of the Apollo 12 site. The location of the descent stage for Apollo 12's lunar module, Intrepid, also can be seen.
The paths left by astronauts Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell on both Apollo 14 moon walks are visible in this LRO image. (At the end of the second moon walk, Shepard famously hit two golf balls.) The descent stage of the lunar module Antares is also visible.
The Apollo 15 Lunar Module (LM) Falcon set down on the Hadley plains a mere 2 kilometers from Hadley Rille as seen by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. This image was released on March 7, 2012.
Apollo 15 landed on the moon in July 1971.The goals: sample the basalts that compose the mare deposit, explore a lunar rille for the first time, and search for ancient crustal rocks. Additionally, Dave Scott and Jim Irwin deployed the third Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) and unveiled the first Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). The ALSEP consisted of several experiments that were powered by a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) and sent back valuable scientific data to the Earth for over six years after the astronauts left.
This new LROC NAC image taken from low altitude shows the hardware and tracks in even more detail.
This photo shows the Apollo 16 landing site on the southeastern rim of North Ray crater, explored by Apollo 16 astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke, revealed in a new low-altitude image by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter released on March 8, 2012. Area shown is 300 meters wide,o black arrows show foot tracks. The Apollo 16 mission landed on the moon on April 21, 1972.
This high -sun image of the Apollo 16 landing site showing the lunar module descent stage, various pieces of equipment, and disturbed lunar soil (seen as darker lines and areas) which marks where John Young and Charles Duke traversed in the spring of 1972. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter took this photo, which was released July 8, 2010.
The labels on the image are for the Lunar Module (LM), the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP), the Radioisotopic Thermoelectric Generator (RTG) that powered the ALSEP, and a line of geophones (devices that take seismic readings) that extended west by northwest from the ALSEP station. LROC image M109134835L, 296 meters across (about 971 feet).
This Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Wide Angle Camera monochrome mosaic of the Cayley Plains (smooth areas) and Descartes Mountains surrounding the Apollo 16 landing site (arrow indicates approximate position of the lunar module). Image M116215423M, scene width is 65 km (about 40 miles). This photo was released on July 8, 2010.
The Apollo 12 landing site in Oceanus Procellarum imaged during the second Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter low-altitude campaign. This image was released on March 6, 2012.
This image shows the remnants of not one, but two missions to the moon. Apollo 12 astronauts Pete Conrad and Alan Bean demonstrated that a precision lunar landing with the Apollo system was possible, enabling all of the targeted landings that followed. Bean and Conrad collected rock samples and made field observations, which resulted in key discoveries about lunar geology. They also collected and returned components from the nearby U.S. Surveyor 3 spacecraft, which landed at the site almost two-and-a-half years previously, providing important information to engineers about how materials survive in the lunar environment.
This image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbitershows the spacecraft's first look at the Apollo 12 landing site. The Intrepid lunar module descent stage, experiment package (ALSEP) and Surveyor 3 spacecraft are all visible. This image was released on Sept. 3, 2009.
Apollo 12 landed in November 1969. This image shows astronaut footpaths marked with unlabeled arrows. This image is 824 meters (about 900 yards) wide. The top of the image faces North.
An early view of the Apollo 12 landing site in Oceanus Procellarum imaged from the LRO mapping orbit. This image, released on Nov. 4, 2009, shows small black arrows pointing to locations where astronaut footpaths can be clearly discerned. Image width is 490 meters.
Enlarged view of the Nov. 2009 LRO image showing details of the Apollo 12 landing site. In the upper left, you can see the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package, or ALSEP. The positions of the ALSEP central station, seismometer, Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), magnetometer, Suprathermal Ion Detector Experiment (SIDE), and Cold Cathode Gauge (CCG) have been highlighted.
Detail from an Apollo 12 photo showing the deployed flag and its shadow. The latch failed on the pivot designed to hold the top edge of the flag out perpendicular to the pole on a supporting rod, so the flag hung limp. The photo was taken Nov. 19, 1969.
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera images of each Apollo site taken at roughly the same orientation but with different sun angles to show the travel of shadows. Combined with knowledge of the Apollo site maps which show where the flag was erected relative to the Lander, long shadows cast by the flags at three sites - Apollo 12, Apollo 16, and Apollo 17 - show that the these flags are still “flying”, held aloft by the poles. There is no indication of a flag shadow in this Apollo 11 image.
Detail from an Apollo 12 photo showing the deployed flag and its shadow. The latch failed on the pivot designed to hold the top edge of the flag out perpendicular to the pole on a supporting rod, so the flag hung limp. The photo was taken Nov. 19, 1969.
Detail from an Apollo 14 photo showing the deployed flag and its shadow. The latch failed on the pivot designed to hold the top edge of the flag out perpendicular to the pole on a supporting rod, so the flag hung limp. The photo was taken Feb. 5, 1971.
Detail from an Apollo 15 photo showing the deployed flag and its shadow. The photo was taken July 30, 1971.
Detail from an Apollo 16 photo showing the deployed flag and its shadow. The photo was taken April 21, 1972.
Detail from an Apollo 17 photo showing the deployed American flag and its shadow. The photo was taken Dec. 11, 1972.
