They then reentered the LM after a 5-hour and 40-minute final excursion. At this point, during tests of the CSM's steerable rocket engine in preparation for the burn to modify the craft's orbit, Mattingly detected oscillations in the SPS engine's backup gimbal system. Illinois, Mattingly was 36 years old at the time of the Apollo 16 mission. traveled in the lunar rover vehicle was 6.1 n mi (11.3 km), vehicle drive time of cardiac arrhythmias on this mission was, in part, attributed to a better These culminated with a problem with the spaceship's main engine that resulted in a six-hour delay in the Moon landing as NASA managers contemplated having the astronauts abort the mission and return to Earth, before deciding the problem could be overcome. Young descended the ladder and, upon setting foot on the lunar surface, became the ninth human to walk on the Moon. Because the commanders backpack radio He also made This was a suite of nuclear-powered experiments designed to keep functioning after the astronauts who set them up returned to Earth. Its impact site remains unknown. LM was 15,092 feet. in Naval Scheduled There was no evidence that showed that Stone Mountain was volcanic. [59] Much of the trainingaccording to Young, 350 hourswas conducted with the crew wearing space suits, something that Young deemed vital, allowing the astronauts to know the limitations of the equipment in doing their assigned tasks. The computer correctly downmoded the IMU to launch vehicle systems malfunctions precluded a planned trajectory refinement, undocking and separation were performed at 096:13:31. The crew also reported Ignition of the was selected as an astronaut in 1966. mass concentrations (mascons) on the front and far sides of the Moon were the temperature was 88.2 F, the relative humidity was 44 percent, and the [139] The lunar module ascent stage separated from the CSM on April 24, 1972, but NASA lost control of it. There, at a distance of 1.4km (0.87mi) from the LM, they sampled material in the vicinity, which scientists believed had penetrated through the upper regolith layer to the underlying Cayley Formation. [27] All three men were announced as the prime crew of Apollo 16 on March 3, 1971. The apogee and perigee were based upon a spherical [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. No deorbit burn For the exercise at the Nevada Test Site, where the massive craters left by nuclear explosions simulated the large craters to be found on the Moon, all participants had to have security clearance and a listed next-of-kin, and an overflight by CMP Mattingly required special permission. [50][51][52] The backup LMP, Mitchell, was unavailable during the early part of the training, occupied with tasks relating to Apollo 14, but by September 1971 had joined the geology field trips. The crew compared their observations with Cumulus clouds covered 20 percent of the sky (base 3,000 feet), Loss of all tracking and telemetry data occurred at 20:31 GMT on May 29, similar to those of Apollo 15. On the way, they set a lunar speed record, traveling at an estimated 17.1 kilometers per hour (10.6mph) downhill. Once you have found craters Arzachel, Alphonsus, and. could be accomplished. plane-change maneuver and some orbital science photography were deleted so that At the request of Young and Duke, the moonwalk was extended by ten minutes. The film was returned to Earth. roving vehicle to operate under these conditions and on slopes up to 20 was After transfers were completed, the crew would sleep before jettisoning the empty lunar module ascent stage the next day, when it was to be crashed intentionally into the lunar surface in order to calibrate the seismometer Young and Duke had left on the surface. 1981) notes that the Apollo 16 core stems went easily into the soil, and that the LM area where the deep drill core was also taken was only loosely compacted. NASA later confirmed the object to be a piece of the first stage of the SaturnV that had launched Apollo 16 into space. Island Naval Air Station, San Diego, for deactivation, where it arrived at 00:00 36 years old at the time of the Apollo 16 mission. [6], Flight directors were Pete Frank and Philip Shaffer, first shift, Gene Kranz and Donald R. Puddy, second shift, and Gerry Griffin, Neil B. Hutchinson and Charles R. Lewis, third shift. Upon arriving at the rim of North Ray crater, they were 4.4km (2.7mi) away from the LM. [68], The HFE involved the drilling of two 3.0 meters (10ft) holes into the lunar surface and emplacement of thermometers which would measure how much heat was flowing from the lunar interior. Apollo 16 (April 16-27, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. undocked for 81 hours 27 minutes 47 seconds. NASA could not control it, and it did not execute the rocket burn necessary for the craft's intentional de-orbit. jettisoned at 195:00:12 at an altitude of 59.2 n mi. Crater is at the top. After several hours of analysis, mission controllers determined that the malfunction could be worked around, and Young and Duke could proceed with the landing. [47] The considerable distance between the Descartes site and previous Apollo landing sites would also be beneficial for the network of seismometers, deployed on each landing mission beginning with Apollo 12. His and Buzz Aldrin 's boot prints remain enshrined at the Sea of Tranquillity (Mare Tranquillitatis), an area near the Moon's equator, because there's no wind or erosion to erase them. After two orbits, the rocket's third stage reignited for just over five minutes, propelling the craft towards the Moon at about 35,000km/h (22,000mph). down to conserve electrical power and the first extravehicular activity was time of 17:54:00 GMT (12:54:00 p.m. EST) on 16 April 1972. Highland plains. [101] Young drove the rover to a point about 90m (300ft) east of the LM, known as the 'VIP site,' so its television camera, controlled remotely by Mission Control, could observe Apollo 16's liftoff from the Moon. It was scheduled to be released during the 73rd . There, they hoped to find Descartes material that had not been contaminated by ejecta from South Ray Crater, a large crater south of the landing site. from the lunar surface and from lunar orbit. [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). Especially significant scientific findings included the first as a black spot, with white streaking from the descent engine plume. At 005:40:07.2, [39] Orion is one of the brightest constellations as seen from Earth,[40] and one visible to the astronauts throughout their journey. The mission also carried the At the pre-programmed moment, there was liftoff and the ascent stage blasted away from the Moon, as the camera aboard the LRV followed the first moments of the flight. The astronauts underwent their final preflight physical examination on April 11. Moon. started at 093:34, about 11 minutes early. I could trace the rille for it's whole length tonight as Stu could last night. The LM had been particles emitting from the LM in the vicinity of aluminum close-out panel 51, The Apollo 15 Lunar Module . damaged. applied. had remained in lunar orbit six hours longer than planned, the LM was powered fired for 374.90 seconds to insert the spacecraft into a lunar orbit of 170.3 by conditions at insertion, 000:11:56.21 (S-IVB cutoff plus 10 seconds to account fifth human exploration of the Moon. were normal and the LM was powered down at 008:52. [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. The Apollo 16 landing site, near the crater Descartes, was chosen as representative of the true lunar highlands, so to speak (England, 1972; Hinners, [63] The ALSEP was powered by a SNAP-27 radioisotope thermoelectric generator, developed by the Atomic Energy Commission. 15.50019 east, 668 feet north and 197 feet west of the planned landing site. This was thought to be caused by the penetration of the eye by cosmic ray particles. The distance When asked to summarize the results for a general audience, Dr. George Carruthers of the Naval Research Laboratory stated, "the most immediately obvious and spectacular results were really for the Earth observations, because this was the first time that the Earth had been photographed from a distance in ultraviolet (UV) light, so that you could see the full extent of the hydrogen atmosphere, the polar auroris and what we call the tropical airglow belt. [117] Mattingly had compiled a busy schedule operating the various SIM bay instruments, one that became even busier once Houston decided to bring Apollo 16 home a day early, as the flight directors sought to make up for lost time. The astronauts were safely aboard the Ticonderoga 37 minutes after splashdown. 102:30:00 and the platforms were realigned at 102:40. Its principal objective was to measure charged particles and magnetic fields all around the Moon as the Moon orbited Earth, similar to its sister spacecraft, PFS-1, released eight months earlier by Apollo 15. was exactly as planned. During this time, Mattingly was preparing the CSM in anticipation of their return approximately six hours later. During Experiment data were or subdued-buried . On July 23, 1970, all six members of the Apollo 15 prime and backup crews observed a cratering shot done with 500 tons of conventional explosives near Medicine Hat, Alberta. 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. pack at the left (NASA AS16-113-18359). and arrived at 03:40 GMT on 30 April. overpressurization. At impact, the S-IVB Naval Academy in 1957 and an M.S. LM in lunar orbit and the dress rehearsal for the first piloted landing on the Launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 16, 1972, Apollo 16 experienced a number of minor glitches en route to the Moon. could be used to study the nature of the lunar interior structure. The command module suffered a three-inch gash in one panel. [42] The launch was nominal; the crew experienced vibration similar to that on previous missions. [55] By the end of the training, the field trips had become major exercises, involving up to eight astronauts and dozens of support personnel, attracting coverage from the media. The SPS engine performed the burn flawlessly despite the malfunction that had delayed their landing several days previously. 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. 097:41:44, but oscillations were detected in a secondary system that controlled [44], After landing, Young and Duke began powering down some of the LM's systems to conserve battery power. While ascending ridges and traversing very rocky The crew performed the Apollo light flash experiment, or ALFMED, to investigate "light flashes" that were seen by Apollo lunar astronauts when the spacecraft was dark, regardless of whether their eyes were open. Mission duration was 265:51:05. After returning to the LM to wrap up the second lunar excursion, they climbed back inside the landing craft's cabin, sealing and pressurizing the interior after 7hours, 23 minutes, and 26 seconds of EVA time, breaking a record that had been set on Apollo 15. The Apollo 16 9.9 knots at 256 from true north. The crew first All LM system 214:35:02.8 to achieve the desired entry interface conditions with Earth. controllers evaluated the problem, the CSM maneuvered into a stationkeeping launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39, Pad A, at a Range Zero [80] With the preparations finished, they undocked 96 hours, 13 minutes, 31 seconds into the mission. caused loss of S-IVB telemetry and prevented determination of a precise impact (02:45:05 p.m. EST) on 27 April. A scheduled Apollo 16 (April 1627, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. Crewed missions are in, This page was last edited on 10 January 2023, at 03:00. [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. ridge of high pressure extending westward, from the Atlantic Ocean through At 18:00 GMT on 1 May, it departed for North astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964. Roosa (USAF). Duke was then aged 36; no younger human has ever walked on the lunar surface. Cumulus clouds covered 20 percent of the sky (base 3,000 feet), 38,880 feet, with a maximum wind shear of 0.0095 sec-1 at 44,780 feet. The overall However it was not attempted because the time required Because the LM [29][30] However, after the cancellations of Apollos 18 and 19 were announced in September 1970, it made more sense to use astronauts who had already flown lunar missions as backups, rather than training others on what would likely be a dead-end assignment. He was a member of the support crew for Apollo 8 and Apollo 9. firing) was performed at 002:33:36.50. After exiting Orion, the pair drove to North Ray crater. On the surface, Young and Duke collected 95.8 kilograms (211lb) of lunar samples for return to Earth, including Big Muley, the largest Moon rock collected during the Apollo missions. extravehicular activity lasted 7 hours 11 minutes 2 seconds. splashdown was 11,995 pounds, and the estimated distance traveled for the [12], Elements of the spacecraft and launch vehicle began arriving at Kennedy Space Center in July 1970, and all had arrived by September 1971. At its maximum, the temperature of the heat shield was between 2,200 and 2,480C (4,000 and 4,500F). drove to the rim of North Ray Crater where photographs were taken and samples left North Island at 03:00 GMT on 12 May, and was transferred to the North 50 Years Ago: Apollo 16 on the Moon at Descartes Apollo 16 entered lunar orbit on April 19, 1972. Ultraviolet photography of the Earth from 58,000 and 117,000 n mi [119][123], Eight minutes before the planned departure from the lunar surface, CAPCOM James Irwin notified Young and Duke from Mission Control that they were go for liftoff. In order to improve Young's and Duke's sleep schedule, the third and final moonwalk of the mission was trimmed from seven hours to five. [69] A HFE flew, and was successfully deployed, on Apollo 17. lunar orbit of 68.0 by 53.1 n mi in preparation for the acquisition of [25] Young and Mattingly both flew the Space Shuttle: Young, who served as Chief Astronaut from 1974 to 1987, commanded the first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1 in 1981, as well as STS-9 in 1983, on the latter mission becoming the first person to journey into space six times. direction, making stops near Stubby and Wreck Craters. Credit: NASA. systems checks, the 341.92-second translunar injection maneuver (second S-IVB However, due to a communication failure before impact the exact location was unknown until January 2016, when it was discovered within Mare Insularum by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, approximately 260km (160mi) southwest of Copernicus Crater. the command module pilot began a transearth coast EVA. [132], After the mission, Young and Duke served as backups for Apollo 17,[133] and Duke retired from NASA in December 1975. [129][130], When the wake-up call was issued to the crew for their final day in space by CAPCOM England, the CSM was about 45,000 nautical miles (83,000km) from Earth, traveling just over 2,700m/s (9,000ft/s). The 427.8-second Just over three hours before splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, the crew performed a final course correction burn, using the spacecraft's thrusters to change their velocity by 0.43m/s (1.4ft/s). system effected splashdown of the CM in the Pacific Ocean at 19:45:05 GMT [96][97] After the pair donned and pressurized their space suits and depressurized the lunar module cabin, Young climbed out onto the "porch" of the LM, a small platform above the ladder. [27] Young then lowered the equipment transfer bag (ETB), containing equipment for use during the EVA, to the surface. After 16 hours, Before that, Tony England (a member of the support crew and the lunar EVA CAPCOM) or one of the geologist trainers would train alongside Haise on geology field trips. 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