I admit it. I’m a space geek.
Given this nugget of info, you won’t be surprised with my fascination with the Apollo program – certainly the finest engineering achievement of Mankind, but also some of the best ever space science as well, particularly during the J-class missions (Apollos 15-17). NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is currently in lunar orbit, mapping the lunar surface is gloriously high detail ahead of a possible return to the Moon (and I say possible, given the dismaying outcome of the Augustine Commission). They’ve been looking in particular at some of the Apollo landing sites – due to orbital mechanics, the Apollo 14 site has been the main focus so far. The LRO team have released the following mosaic – and the detail is stunning:
You can see Shepard and Mitchell’s tracks on the lunar surface – and as it turns out, they only missed reaching the rim of Cone Crater by 100ft or so.
Magnificent stuff. Can’t wait until they look at the remaining sites in similar detail….
