Astronomy Picture of the Day
Posted By admin On February 4, 2011 @ 10:55 pm In Photo Essays | Comments Disabled
Visit the NASA/JPL website to view more Astronomy Pictures of the Day [1]
[2]Apollo 14: A View from Antares
Credit: Edgar Mitchell [3], Apollo 14 [4], NASA [5]; Mosaic - Eric M. Jones [6]
Explanation: Forty years ago [7], while looking out the window of Apollo 14′s Lunar Module Antares [8], astronaut Ed Mitchell [9] snapped a series of photos [10] of the lunar surface, assembled [11] into this detailed mosaic by Apollo Lunar Surface Journal [6] editor Eric Jones. The view looks across the Fra Mauro highlands [12] to the northwest of the landing site after the Apollo 14 astronauts had completed their second and final walk on the Moon [13]. Prominent in the foreground is their Modular Equipment Transporter (MET [14]), a two-wheeled, rickshaw-like device used to carry tools and samples. Near the horizon at top center is a 1.5 meter wide boulder dubbed Turtle rock. In the shallow crater below Turtle rock is the long white handle of a sampling instrument, thrown there javelin-style by Mitchell. Mitchell’s fellow moonwalker and first American in space, Alan Shepard [15], also used a makeshift six iron to hit two golf balls [16]. One of Shepard’s golf balls is just visible as a white spot below Mitchell’s javelin [17].
Article printed from Recorder Online: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com
URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2011/02/04/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-7/
URLs in this post:
[1] Astronomy Pictures of the Day: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
[2] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/a14pan9335-43emj1.jpg
[3] Edgar Mitchell: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/mitchell-ed.html
[4] Apollo 14: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a14/a14.crew.html
[5] NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/
[6] Eric M. Jones: http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/frame.html
[7] Forty years ago: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/apollo40/
[8] Lunar Module Antares: http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=1971-008C
[9] Ed Mitchell: http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a14/A14Mitchell-FlownSuit.html
[10] a series of photos: http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a14/images14.html#9335
[11] assembled: http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a14/images14.html#Pans
[12] Fra Mauro highlands: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/apollo/apollo_14/landing_site/
[13] walk on the Moon: http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a14/a14.clsout2.html
[14] MET: http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/imagery/apollo/as14/a14met.htm
[15] Alan Shepard: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010505.html
[16] hit two golf balls: http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a14/a14.clsout2.html#1350811
[17] a white spot below Mitchell’s javelin: http://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a14/a14det9337.jpg
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