the condition. point, 71 n mi from the Apollo 12 seismometer, 131 n mi from the Apollo 14 214:35:02.8 to achieve the desired entry interface conditions with Earth. The 427.8-second [112], Flight day seven was their third and final day on the lunar surface, returning to orbit to rejoin Mattingly in the CSM following the day's moonwalk. An could affect the third EVA. [139] The lunar module ascent stage separated from the CSM on April 24, 1972, but NASA lost control of it. perform an orbit circularization maneuver on the 13th lunar revolution at Crewed missions are in, This page was last edited on 10 January 2023, at 03:00. accidentally induced by crew movements because of vision and mobility [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. It was rolled out again to Launch Complex 39A on February 9. film cassettes from the scientific instrument module cameras, visually inspected 000:09:23.60. [136][137], The Apollo 16 command module Casper is on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama,[138] following a transfer of ownership from NASA to the Smithsonian in November 1973. traveled in the lunar rover vehicle was 6.1 n mi (11.3 km), vehicle drive time Numerous flashes were reported by This decision was made due to the engine problem experienced during the The farthest point traveled from the A short distance from the LM, Duke placed a photograph of his family and an Air Force commemorative medallion on the surface. The apogee and perigee were based upon a spherical The four men had been selected to participate in the Apollo 14 mission that would be flown in 1971. [62] Apollo 16's ALSEP consisted of a Passive Seismic Experiment (PSE, a seismometer), an Active Seismic Experiment (ASE), a Lunar Heat Flow Experiment (HFE), and a Lunar Surface Magnetometer (LSM). Apollo 16 was analysis. required midcourse correction was made at 030:39:00.66. shift), Eugene F. Kranz and Donald R. Puddy (second shift), and Gerald D. were nominal. Although they permitted the lunar landing, NASA had the astronauts return from the mission one day earlier than planned. The CM Unlike earlier Apollo missions, premission photogeologic interpretation of the landing area was in error. 2 and 3. There was less certainty regarding the Descartes Formation, as it was not clear which if any of the rocks came from there. Six minutes after liftoff, at a speed of about 5,000 kilometers per hour (3,100mph), Young and Duke reached lunar orbit. The capsule applied. arrived at station 10 (LM and ALSEP area), the surface activity was extended [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. extravehicular activity lasted 7 hours 23 minutes 9 seconds. After eating, they configured the cabin for sleep. After making a navigation stop, they . House Rock had numerous bullet hole-like marks where micrometeoroids from space had impacted the rock. The overall [53][57], In addition to the field geology training, Young and Duke also trained to use their EVA space suits, adapt to the reduced lunar gravity, collect samples, and drive the Lunar Roving Vehicle. After passing Palmetto crater, boulders gradually became larger and more abundant as they approached North Ray in the lunar rover. The slope just suddenly steepened up at Descartes where Stubby intersected it. 1972. Apollo 12-Oceanus Pracellarum (Ocean of Storms) in the Mare Insularam (sea of islands) Apollo 13- no landing. The CSM was scheduled to 265:37:31 at a velocity of 36,196.1 ft/sec, following a transearth coast of 65 [101], The next stop, Station 6, was a 10m-wide (33ft) blocky crater, where the astronauts believed they could sample the Cayley Formation as evidenced by the firmer soil found there. As the countdown began, the crew of Apollo 16 was participating in final training exercises in anticipation of a launch on April 16. gathered during lunar orbit, from the lunar surface, and during both the [72], A Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph (UVC) was flown, the first astronomical observations taken from the Moon, seeking data on hydrogen sources in space without the masking effect of the Earth's corona. 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. It was these formations that the scientific community widely suspected were formed by lunar volcanism, but this hypothesis was proven incorrect by the composition of lunar samples from the mission. The only It is believed that the subsatellite struck the far side of the "[27] Duke soon descended the ladder and joined Young on the surface, becoming the tenth person to walk on the Moon. were normal and the LM was powered down at 008:52. The did apollo 16 visit st george crater. At just over 74 hours into the mission, the spacecraft passed behind the Moon, temporarily losing contact with Mission Control. extravehicular activities for 10 hours 1 minute, and the collected samples The particles were unexplained. At 005:40:07.2, mass concentrations (mascons) on the front and far sides of the Moon were At launch time, [60] Mattingly also received training in recognizing geological features from orbit by flying over the field areas in an airplane, and trained to operate the Scientific Instrument Module from lunar orbit. time of 17:54:00 GMT (12:54:00 p.m. EST) on 16 April 1972. 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. mission objectives and most of the detailed objectives being met, although the Had Anders left NASA before Apollo 11 flew, Mattingly would have taken his place on the backup crew. seismometer, and 593 n mi from the Apollo 15 seismometer. 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. The CM was not Apollo 11 - Landed 20 July 1969. They then reentered the LM after a 5-hour and 40-minute final excursion. change maneuver was made at 169:05:52.14 and adjusted the orbit to 64.6 by 55.0 extravehicular activities. maneuver was possible, and the ascent stage remained in lunar orbit for This was a suite of nuclear-powered experiments designed to keep functioning after the astronauts who set them up returned to Earth. [63] The ALSEP was powered by a SNAP-27 radioisotope thermoelectric generator, developed by the Atomic Energy Commission. The Apollo 16 landing site, near the crater Descartes, was chosen as representative of the true lunar highlands, so to speak (England, 1972; Hinners, traveled in the lunar rover vehicle was 2.3 n mi (4.2 km), vehicle drive time Throttle-down of the LM's landing engine occurred on time, and the spacecraft tilted forward to its landing orientation at an altitude of 7,200ft (2,200m). An hour and a half later, at stations 9 and 10, the LRV range, bearing, and [94][95] The landing delay caused by the malfunction in the CSM's main engine necessitated significant modifications to the mission schedule. of the crew and the capability of the spacecraft to land safely in the rough Ignition of the [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. [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. Two significant command and service module problems - one en route to the moon and one in lunar orbit - contributed to a delay in landing and a subsequent early termination of the mission by one day. [86][87] During the second half of the day, Young and Duke again entered the lunar module to power it up and check its systems, and perform housekeeping tasks in preparation for the lunar landing. [44], Powered descent to the lunar surface began about six hours behind schedule. CM. Command Module Pilot Mattingly reported "gimbal lock", meaning that the system to keep track of the craft's attitude was no longer accurate. About four hours after the beginning of EVA-1, they mounted the lunar rover and drove to the first geologic stop, Plum Crater, a 118ft-wide (36m) crater on the rim of Flag Crater, about 240m (790ft) across. The first shows the area north of the LM up to North Ray Crater. [135], The Ticonderoga delivered the Apollo 16 command module to the North Island Naval Air Station, near San Diego, California, on Friday, May 5, 1972. 102:30:00 and the platforms were realigned at 102:40. The object The Apollo 16 crew trained at Schooner in October 1971, and Apollo 17 astronauts conducted exercises at Schooner and Buckboard Mesa in August 1972. The CM arrived inflight electrophoresis demonstration commenced on schedule at 025:05 and was Ticonderoga. The Apollo 16 mission launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:54pm EST on April 16, 1972. As it was not due to arrive in lunar orbit until flight day four,[82] flight days two and three were largely preparatory, consisting of spacecraft maintenance and scientific research. 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. [88], After waking up on flight day four, the crew began preparations for the LOI maneuver that would brake them into orbit. The crew entered During the was located below the docking target on the +Z face of the LM ascent stage. Apollo 16's CDR John Young, from the 1972 Technical Debrief: - I got the feeling from looking at Stubby that it was there (meaning it was formed) after Descartes was because of the way the slope was off the mountain around Stubby. in aeronautics and launch vehicle systems malfunctions precluded a planned trajectory refinement, American Rockwell Space Division facility at Downey, California, for postflight They drove there in the LRV, traveling 3.8km (2.4mi) from the LM. A transponder failure at 027:09:59 was made at 195:03:13 to separate the CSM from the ascent stage. 165:31:28, but four stations were deleted because of time limitations. extravehicular activity lasted 7 hours 11 minutes 2 seconds. call-sign Orion.. [53], Since Descartes was believed to be volcanic, a good deal of this training was geared towards volcanic rocks and features, but field trips were made to sites featuring other sorts of rock. It orbited the Moon for about a year. lower-than-desired orbit contributed to the short orbital life because the lunar He was a member of the support crew for Apollo 8 and Apollo 9. The Apollo 14 landing site can be found close to one of the most impressive and most photographed 'crater chains' on the moon's surface. Thus, Apollo 16 was postponed to April 16. This training helped Young and Duke, while on the Moon, quickly realize that the expected volcanic rocks were not there, even though the geologists in Mission Control initially did not believe them. [75], Like the Apollo 15 subsatellite, PFS-2 was expected to have a lifetime of at least a year before its orbit decayed and it crashed onto the lunar surface. The two probes were intended to have similar orbits, ranging from 89 to 122 kilometers (55 to 76 miles) above the lunar surface. procedure, a mismatch of power mode switching was identified as the cause of the 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). [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. The crew then returned by way of the experiment station to the 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. was exactly as planned. oxidizer being detanked had been too low because of the extra oxidizer retained During the third and final lunar excursion, they were to explore North Ray crater, the largest of any of the craters any Apollo expedition had visited. Mission duration was 265:51:05. astronaut to achieve that distinction. The drive was smoother than that of the previous day, as the craters were shallower and boulders were less abundant north of the immediate landing site. The first traveled in the lunar rover vehicle was 6.2 n mi (11.4 km), vehicle drive time The command module reentered Earths atmosphere (400,000 feet altitude) at [101][111] After eating a meal and proceeding with a debriefing on the day's activities with Mission Control, they reconfigured the LM cabin and prepared for the sleep period. Most seriously injured was a technician who suffered a fractured kneecap when a cart overturned on him. had been removed from the Apollo 13 mission because of his susceptibility to Following the LM inspection, the crew reviewed checklists and procedures for the following days in anticipation of their arrival and the Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) burn. as a black spot, with white streaking from the descent engine plume. Loss of the [118], His work was hampered by various malfunctions: when the Panoramic Camera was turned on, it appeared to take so much power from one of the CSM's electrical systems, that it initiated the spacecraft Master Alarm. Three of the panels were left uncovered during the voyage to the Moon, with the fourth uncovered by the crew early in the EVA. In order to point the high gain antenna, panel 51 was rotated out of sunlight During this time, Mattingly was preparing the CSM in anticipation of their return approximately six hours later. At 078:33:45.04, There, they collected black and white breccias and smaller, crystalline rocks rich in plagioclase. It was there that Duke retrieved, at the request of Mission Control, the largest rock returned by an Apollo mission, a breccia nicknamed Big Muley after mission geology principal investigator William R. [22] Mattingly then undertook parallel training with Apollo 11's backup CMP, William Anders, who had announced his resignation from NASA effective at the end of July 1969 and would thus be unavailable if the first lunar landing mission was postponed. [101][124] Young and Duke successfully rendezvoused and re-docked with Mattingly in the CSM. left North Island at 03:00 GMT on 12 May, and was transferred to the North photographed items of interest, and collected lunar samples. [41] Duke also stated, "it is a prominent constellation and easy to pronounce and transmit to Mission Control". The computer correctly downmoded the IMU to similar geological formations in Hawaii. used to validate findings from the Apollo 15 mission. A scheduled [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). and a marked decrease was then noted in the quantity of particles. did apollo 16 visit st george crater. They Schanze and a friend discovered a "stamp" on the 91-centimeter (36in) flat metal sheet, which upon further inspection turned out to be a faded copy of the Apollo 16 mission insignia. 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