New NASA photos show Apollo leftovers on the moon

Saturday 18th July, 05:39 AM JST

WASHINGTON —

New NASA photos of the moon show leftovers from man’s exploration 40 years ago.

For the first time, photos from space pinpoint equipment left behind from the Apollo landings, and even the well-worn tracks made by astronauts on the moon surface. The images are from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was launched last month and now circles the moon in search of future landing sites.

The photos were released Friday, in time for the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing on July 20, 1969. A picture of the Apollo 11 site shows the Eagle lunar module used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

“It was really great to see the hardware sitting on the surface, waiting for us to come back,” said Arizona State University scientist Mark Robinson, who runs the camera on the orbiter. “You could actually see the descent module sitting on the surface.”

But that’s only if you know where to look. NASA helps out by putting a giant arrow on each photo. The lunar landers look to be square white blobs; the Eagle is a fuzzy image near a crater.

NASA landed on the moon six times, but the orbital camera so far has only photographed five of the landing sites. Apollo 12 will be done later. That leaves Apollo 11 and Apollo 14 through 17. Apollo 13 never landed on the moon because of an explosion on board the ship on the way to the moon.

The images for Apollo 14 are the best so far. Taken on Wednesday, they show the path made by astronauts Alan Shepard Jr. and Edgar Mitchell as they went back and forth from the lander to the work site.

Robinson said the route was “a high traffic zone, sort of like when you go in an old building and the carpet is worn down.” A similar but lighter path could be seen at the Apollo 17 site.

Also at the Apollo 14 site, a close examination shows a trail made by the cart used to carry tools, Robinson said.

The photos varied in quality based on how high up the satellite was and the angle of the sun. For Apollo 11, the spaceship was taking pictures from 70 miles above. For Apollo 14, it was six miles closer.

In the next couple months, as the lunar satellite starts its mission to map the moon for future landing sites for astronauts, it will get much better photos, Robinson said. The mission is a first step in NASA’s effort to return humans to the moon by 2020.

Other robotic probes, including those launched by Japan and India, have looked for signs that man was on the moon, but their cameras weren’t strong enough, NASA officials said.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched with a second spacecraft that was designed to crash into the moon in the fall to try to find buried ice. The total cost of the mission is $583 million.

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On the Net:

NASA’s LRO site: http://www.nasa.gov/mission(underscore)pages/LRO/main/index.html

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Latest 15 of 26 Total Comments Show All

Sarge at 06:06 PM JST - 18th July

The Americans made six manned landings on the moon between 1969 and 1972.

Question: When is any other nation going to make a manned landing on the moon?
HonestDictator at 06:32 PM JST - 18th July

If I'm right Sarge, China is planning on making a trip there.
goodDonkey at 07:37 PM JST - 18th July

sarge said:

Question: When is any other nation going to make a manned landing on the moon?

Typical sarge, instead of celebrating this historic moment with other human beings from nations across the earth, he must relish in the "fact" that he is better than other people from other nations. He is American. He did absolutely nothing to help the U.S. get to the moon but he is better then other citizens of the world. He must live vicariously through the U.S. government accomplishments. Why is that sarge? Many of us know why other people live vicariously through others, perhaps you have the same motivations. On the other hand I think it is wonderful that this celebration knows no borders. It shouldn't. It was a human accomplishment. I have no more right to claim it as an American than others that are not Americans unless I help get them up there or was there.

If sarge had stepped on the moon first he would have said, "That's one small step for man; one giant leap for America."

Helter_Skelter said:

Obama's gonna put an end to that, unfortunately.

Keep up the negativity. You do it so well. Well you be setting up another negativity scene this year for the holidays?

I was 10 years old soon to be 11 when I watched the lunar landing on the moon. I watched it with my family crowded around a black and white television set (my farther was frugal). I thought it was early in the morning but I can't say. We had watched so many of the Apollo rockets take off and other Apollo events as they occured; I know many were early in the morning. Then at elementary school we would all talk about it all day long asking each other if they got up to watch the launch etc. It is funny looking back at it now. All of us kids had no doubt that we were going to land on the moon; we knew the timetable of events. I bet many of our parents weren't quite as sure. It must have been hard to believe if you were born within a decade or two of the introduction of the mass production of automobiles. I remember the anticipation of each stage of the rocket.
UnagiDon at 07:42 PM JST - 18th July

Apollo leftovers? That sounds like they took shots of Buzz's unfinished sandwich and some bags of Tang.
UnagiDon at 07:47 PM JST - 18th July

But they are pretty cools pics, esp the Apollo 11 one - from the shadow it's obvious something man-made is sitting there. The great thing is that they are still vague enough for the conspiracy kooks to rationalize it all away.
ComplexPoet at 08:38 PM JST - 18th July

Look, I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything, but with the superb photo editing abilities of software nowadays, who says they didn't photoshop it?
Sarge at 09:25 PM JST - 18th July

goodDonkey: "Instead of celebrating this historic moment with other human beings from nations across the earth, he must relish in the "fact" that he is better than other people from other nations"

Typical goodDonkey. I have never said I am better than people from other nations. All I did was point out that our nation is the one that landed humans on the moon six times between 1969 and 1972, and asked when another nation is going to accomplish the feat. I can't help it if you have no pride in our nation's accomplishments.
JoeBigs at 11:04 PM JST - 18th July

Lies lies lies, left winger lies, we never landed on the moon. This is a;; a left wing lie......LOL

Okay I was sounding like a wing nut for a moment.... But I love playing games....LOL

To all my far right wing conspiracy wing nut friends, sorry but we were there and there is no so called proof that can change that.

So enjoy the pictures while you try your new tin foil hat. Remember squeeze 1/2 a lemon and no more. If you squeeze more it will leave a very bitter taste.....Same as the last national election..LOL....
smithinjapan at 02:32 AM JST - 19th July
sarge: "Typical goodDonkey."

Says our young man when he cuts and pastes someone else saying 'typical sargie'.

"I have never said I am better than people from other nations. All I did was point out that our nation is the one that landed humans on the moon six times between 1969 and 1972, and asked when another nation is going to accomplish the feat."

In other words, you never said DIRECTLY, but acted like a B-movie voice-over to say the exact thing you implied via your original comment. 'I have never said I am better... just asking when others will be as good as me'.

Quick news flash:
- you never went to the moon, sarge. Hell, you are too afraid to go to the ME wars you pretend are just. Not surprised, though. Anyway, this is not a sarge accomplishment. It is not an American accomplishment. It is an accomplishment for humanity. If you want to get technical about who is to thank, I did more for the cause than you did, and your nationality doesn't automatically mean that you should be thanked any more than you should be personally blamed for terrorist attacks. In short, you did nothing. Hence, your 'I can't help it if you have no pride in our nation's accomplishments' seems pretty silly considering you sat back and did nothing but pretend other human beings cannot feel pride at what you had nothing to do with.... or did you chair help out?
amerijap at 05:36 AM JST - 19th July

Yep. They also need to pay attention to space debris.
Helter_Skelter at 06:43 AM JST - 19th July

smithinjapan: Obama doing any cutting would be nothing new

Bush increased NASA's budget during his eight year administration.

gooddonkey: Keep up the negativity.

So you're optimistic about Obama's commitment to space exploration during his presidency? Perhaps you could enlighten me as to why.
goodDonkey at 08:20 AM JST - 19th July

Helter_Skelter said:

So you're optimistic about Obama's commitment to space exploration during his presidency? Perhaps you could enlighten me as to why.

Nah, I'll stick to the topic and enjoy a very special moment in history that I watched happen.

I also remember the astronauts bouncing as they countered the lower gravity on the moon. At the time I wished I could be doing the same with my friends.
Helter_Skelter at 10:49 AM JST - 19th July

gooddonkey: Nah, I'll stick to the topic and enjoy a very special moment in history that I watched happen.

Nice dodge. :-D
JoeBigs at 06:50 PM JST - 19th July

Kind of funny the folks who really believe we were never there. Thoser types live in a very special world of their own.

Helter_Skelter at 10:49 AM JST - 19th July gooddonkey: Nah, I'll stick to the topic and enjoy a very special moment in history that I watched happen. Nice dodge. :-D

I think he did an outstanding job keeping this on topic.

BTW the 2010 proposed budget raises NASA's budget by 1.5 Billion. From 17.2 billion to 18.7 billion. So

I believe you can put your fears where they belong when it concerns our President's commitment to space exploration....

I was referring to your post;

So you're optimistic about Obama's commitment to space exploration during his presidency? Perhaps you could enlighten me as to why.
maglev101 at 03:10 AM JST - 22nd July

So you're optimistic about Obama's commitment to space exploration during his presidency? Perhaps you could enlighten me as to why.

IF we went to the moon, then why can't we just re-use or copy the 1960's equipments. It'll cost alot less. weird that we can't go back to the moon with the current state of technology.