Apollo 16

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

Apollo 16

Mission insignia

Mission statistics^[1]

Mission name:

Apollo 16

Command Module:

CM-113

Service Module:

SM-113

Lunar Module:

LM-11

Booster:

Saturn V SA-511

Call sign:

Command module:
Casper
Lunar module:
Orion

Crew size:

Launch pad:

Kennedy Space Center, Florida
LC 39A

Launch:

April 16, 1972
17:54:00 UTC

Lunar landing:

April 21, 1972
02:23:35 UTC
Descartes Highlands
8° 58' 22.84" S,
15° 30' 0.68" E
(based on the IAU
Mean Earth Polar Axis
coordinate system)

Lunar EVA length:

1st: 7 h 11 min 2 s
2nd: 7 h 23 min 9 s
3rd: 5 h 40 min 3 s
Total:20 h 14 min 14 s

Lunar surface time:

71 h 2 min 13 s

Lunar Roving Vehicle:

LRV-2

CMP EVA Duration:

1 h 23 min 42 s

Lunar sample mass:

95.71 kg (211 lb)

Landing:

April 27, 1972
19:45:05 UTC
0°43′S, 156°13′W

Duration:

265 h 51 min 5 s

Time in lunar orbit:

125 h 49 min 32.59 s

Mass:

CSM: 30,395 kg
LM: 16,445 kg

Crew photo

L-R: Mattingly, Young and Duke

Related missions

Previous mission	Next mission
Apollo 15	Apollo 17

Apollo 16 was the tenth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fifth mission to land on the Moon, the first to land in the highlands area.

1 Crew
- 1.1 Backup crew
- 1.2 Support crew
2 Mission parameters
- 2.1 LM - CSM docking
- 2.2 EVAs
3 Introduction
4 Mission highlights
- 4.1 Relics
5 Mission insignia
6 Trivia
7 Quotes
8 Media
9 See also
10 References
11 External links

[edit] Crew

John W. Young (4), commander
Thomas K. (Ken) Mattingly Jr. (1), command module pilot
Charles Duke Jr. (1), lunar module pilot

[edit] Backup crew

Fred Haise, commander
Stuart Roosa, command module pilot
Edgar Mitchell, lunar module pilot

[edit] Support crew

[edit] Mission parameters

Mass:
- Launch mass: 2,921,005 kg
- Total spacecraft: 46,782 kg
  - CSM mass: 30,354 kg, of which CM was 5840 kg, SM 24,514 kg
  - LM mass: transposition and docking 36,252 lb (16,444 kg), separation for landing 36,743 lb (16,666 kg), ascent stage at lunar liftoff 10,949 lb (4966 kg)
Earth orbits: 3 before leaving for Moon, about one on return
Lunar orbits: 64

Perigee: 166.7 km
Apogee: 176.0 km
Inclination: 32.542°

Period: 87.85 min

Perilune: 107.6 km
Apolune: 315.4 km
Inclination: 168°

Period: 120 min
Landing Site: 8.97301° S - 15.50019° E or

8° 58' 22.84" S - 15° 30' 0.68" E

[edit] LM - CSM docking

Undocked: April 20, 1972 - 18:07:31 UTC
Docked: April 24, 1972 - 03:35:18 UTC

[edit] EVAs

Young and Duke - EVA 1
EVA 1 Start: April 21, 1972, 16:47:28 UTC
EVA 1 End: April 21, 23:58:40 UTC
Duration: 7 hours, 11 minutes, 02 seconds

Young and Duke - EVA 2
EVA 2 Start: April 22, 1972, 16:33:35 UTC
EVA 2 End: April 22, 23:56:44 UTC
Duration: 7 hours, 23 minutes, 09 seconds

Young and Duke - EVA 3

EVA 3 Start: April 23, 1972, 15:25:28 UTC
EVA 3 End: April 23, 21:05:31 UTC
Duration: 5 hours, 40 minutes, 03 seconds

Mattingly - Transearth EVA 4

EVA 4 Start: April 25, 1972, 20:33:46 UTC
EVA 4 End: April 25, 21:57:28 UTC
Duration: 1 hour, 23 minutes, 42 seconds

The splashdown point was 0 deg 43 min S, 156 deg 13 min W, 215 miles (350 km) southeast of Christmas Island and 5 km (3 mi) from the recovery ship USS Ticonderoga.

[edit] Introduction

The crew members: John W. Young, commander; Ken Mattingly, command module pilot; and Charles Duke, lunar module pilot. It was a J-class mission, featuring a Lunar Rover. It brought back 94.7 kg of lunar samples. It included three lunar EVA: 7.2 hours, 7.4 hours, 5.7

depiction of the plaque left on the Moon by Apollo 16

hours and one trans-earth EVA of 1.4. This was only the second trans-earth EVA ever and was used to bring in film from exterior cameras and conduct an experiment on microbial survival.

The Apollo 16 subsatellite was launched from the CSM while it was in lunar orbit. The subsatellite carried out experiments on magnetic fields and solar particles. It was launched April 24, 1972 at 21:56:09 UTC and orbited the Moon for 34 days and 425 revolutions. It had a mass of 80 lb (36.3 kg) and consisted of a central cylinder and three 1.5 m booms.

En route to the moon, the Apollo 16 astronauts took several photos of Earth. One of which was with North America in the background, with much of the northern portion of the continent under extensive cloud cover.

Apollo 16 Landing Site photographed by Eric S. Kounce of the West Texas Astronomers (www.wtastro.org) on October 28, 2006 at the 36-inch Telescope at McDonald Observatory

[edit] Mission highlights

A malfunction in a backup yaw gimbal servo loop in the main propulsion system of the CSM Casper caused concerns about firing the engine to adjust the CSM's lunar orbit, and nearly caused the Moon landing to be scrubbed. But it was decided that the malfunction presented relatively little risk, and Young and Duke (who were already undocked, and flying LM Orion when the problem occurred) were permitted to land on the Moon. However, the mission was shortened by a day (reducing the time in orbit around the Moon after the LM left the Moon and docked with the CSM), as a safety measure.

Young and Duke spent three days exploring the Descartes highland region, while Mattingly circled overhead in Casper. This was the only one of the six Apollo landings to target the lunar highlands. The astronauts discovered that what was thought to have been a region of volcanism was actually a region full of impact-formed rocks (breccias). Their collection of returned specimens included an 25 pound (11.7 kg) chunk that was the largest single rock

John Young jumps while saluting the American flag. (NASA)

returned by the Apollo astronauts^[2] (nicknamed "Big Muley" after Bill Muehlberger, principal investigator for the mission's geology activities^[3]). The scientific results of Apollo 16 caused planetary geologists to revise previous interpretations of the lunar highlands, concluding that meteorite impacts were the dominant agent in shaping the moon's ancient surfaces.

The Apollo 16 astronauts also conducted performance tests with the lunar rover, at one time getting up to a top speed of eleven miles per hour (eighteen kilometers per hour), which still stands as the record speed for any wheeled vehicle on the Moon (listed as such in the Guinness Book of Records).

John Young works at the LRV near the LM Orion (NASA)

[edit] Relics

Mock-up of Orion on display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center

The command module is currently at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, in Huntsville, Alabama. The lunar module ascent stage separated 24 April 1972 but a loss of attitude control rendered it out of control. It orbited the Moon for about a year. Its impact site on the Moon is unknown.

Charles Duke donated some relics, including a lunar map, to Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia

[edit] Mission insignia

The circular patch featured an eagle with wings outstretched, perched atop a red, white, and blue shield, over a lunar surface. The vector symbol from the NASA logo was placed on top of the shield, and then across the shield were written the words APOLLO 16. The artwork was bordered in white, with a blue band carrying 16 stars and the crew names. There was a gold border. The patch was designed by NASA artist Barbara Matelski.

[edit] Trivia

Panoramic Assembly of Apollo 16 Plum and Flag Craters (moonpans.com)

Charles Duke left a plastic-encased photo portrait of his family on the moon. As a photograph, it could not be interpreted as 'art' (such as Fallen Astronaut).

John Young was caught twice using profanity on the moon when (a) he was complaining about drinking orange juice while on open mike and (b) when he tripped over the cable connected to the Heat Flow Experiment, pulling it out and rendering the experiment non-operational.

Merle Haggard's music was brought along at the request of the crew.

[edit] Quotes

"I mean, I haven't eaten this much citrus fruit in 20 years. And I'll tell you one thing, in another 12 days, I ain't never eating any more," John Young, reacting to stomach problems caused by drinking extra orange juice (to prevent an electrolyte deficiency identified in crew of Apollo 15).