Loving the pictures of the lunar landing sites being sent back… you can even see a footpath left by Apollo 14’s astronauts in one image.
BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | New images of Moon landing sites
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A US spacecraft has captured images of Apollo landing sites on the Moon, revealing hardware and a trail of footprints left on the lunar surface.
The release of the images coincides with the 40th anniversary of the first manned mission to land on the Moon.
The descent stages from the lunar modules which carried astronauts to and from the Moon can clearly be seen.
The image of the Apollo 14 landing site shows scientific instruments and an astronaut footpath in the lunar dust.
It is the first time hardware left on the Moon by the Apollo missions has been seen from lunar orbit.
The pictures were taken by Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter LRO spacecraft, which launched on 18 June.
I started wondering if it would be possible to see the tracks of the Lunar Rover on the larger images of Apollo 15/16/17, but only this one seems to show a faint straight line going from the landing site straight “east” and a little north. I don’t know if it’s a coincidental alignment of random shadows, or if it’s really the trail of the rover, but it heads toward the edge of a big crater, after what could be a course correction.
While looking for more information on the Lunar Rovers, I ran across something I missed last January. Check out this footage of “next year’s model” at this year’s Inaugural Parade. Man, it’s purdy and super-maneuverable… this isn’t your father’s Moon Buggy.
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I burst into tears watching this. I defy you not to do the same when one of the suited-up astronauts steps off the vehicle in front of the Presidential Reviewing Stand…
