Canon PowerShot G9
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The surface plate from the Apollo 14 lunar simulator finally arrived, a bit tricky to ship safely. Very exciting…

From Lunar Legacies: “The plate is made of modeling paste over contoured fiberglass and contains an exact high-relief replica of the lunar surface at the Apollo 14 landing site, the surface over which the simulator camera panned over to simulate a lunar surface approach and landing. Using various lighting and filtering techniques, this plate was made to look like the actual landing site with the expected lighting conditions and view for the astronauts looking out the LM simulator windows. The plate shows the landmark craters Doublet and Triplet used by the Apollo 14 crew to determine their landing target. There are various small nicks and scuffs, mostly from the camera ramming the plate after a power blip in the LMS, and the plate weighs about 10-12 pounds. This plate was one of several used in the Simulator for training, and is very possibly the only one salvaged after the Apollo program.”

Really? Does anyone know of others out there, perhaps in a museum?

I’ll post some corresponding lunar shots below and at the bottom of the page.

P.S. big thanks to Erik for finding this for me!

13 responses to “Apollo 14 Landing Site”

  1. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Crater detail near the landing site:
    What’s That? (92)Apollo 14 Plate detailBack of plate:
    Apollo 14 Plate BacksideDetailed views of the landing site:

    Reply
  2. twoeightnine Avatar
    twoeightnine

    funny, i just posted a pic from my trip to the moon.

    lost horizon

    Reply
  3. Ramones Karaoke Avatar
    Ramones Karaoke

    You always get the coolest Xmas presents!

    Reply
  4. obskura Avatar
    obskura

    wow, that’s fascinating – a simulator based on physical objects. These days this would probably all be a computer simulation, and probably look almost as real… 😉
    But then, it seems computer "simulations" i.e. computer games are also moving the other way again, moving cameras through real space to create a virtual experience:
    ardrone2.parrot.com/parrot-ar-drone/en/index.html

    Reply
  5. obskura Avatar
    obskura

    Do you also have the remaining bits of the simulator, and are you going to put it back together? Would be fantastic to see this thing in action…

    Reply
  6. born1945 Avatar
    born1945

    When will your museum be opening?

    Reply
  7. advocate4cf Avatar
    advocate4cf

    Wow cool I want one for my yard.

    Reply
  8. alive country Avatar
    alive country

    How big is it? 5 ft square?

    Reply
  9. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    3 ft. square

    Reply
  10. Erik Charlton Avatar
    Erik Charlton

    Looks amazing!! I want to visit =)

    Reply
  11. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Oh and this is what the astronauts were in when viewing this landing site:

    lem_sim

    "This Lunar Module (LM) Mission Simulator, a large, complex device, was in operation at the Kennedy Space Center between 1968 and 1972. It was used by every Apollo astronaut to train for landing on the Moon prior to their mission. Only one was built, and, remarkably, it survived in good condition. This is a very historically significant artifact, one of the few key pieces remaining from the Apollo program.

    The device consists of a simulator cabin (LM Ascent Stage with complete original interior), four large rear-projection projectors and screens mounted outside the windows, an operators console, tape-drive computers and a simulated lunar surface model and camera. Instructors, at the operators console, could introduce malfunctions into the simulated mission the astronauts were running inside. Cameras, filming a model of the lunar surface, projected the image in front of the LM windows so the astronauts would feel as if they were actually maneuvering for a landing on the Moon. Astronauts would even sleep overnight inside this device in preparation for three-day stays on the Moon. The LM Simulator was produced by Link in conjunction with the Grumman Aircraft Corporation."

    Here’s Neil Armstrong inside the Grumman Lunar Module Simulator:

    lem_sim_narmstrong

    You can give it a try now online it seems…

    Reply
  12. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    Here is the general area for Apollo 14

    Apollo 14 Landing Site

    with prominent landmarks and orbital paths overlayed. “Triplet” and “Doublet” were prominent beacons to land between.

    Compared to my photo, the shadows are different, and you can see how the lighting changes the prominence of certain valleys.

    The tough exercise for the second EVA of Apollo 14 was the hike to Cone Crater, up a steep incline, in bulky suits and with a poor map. It was the first time astronauts had left sight of their lunar module. They ultimately turned back, 30 meters shy of their goal as they were running low on oxygen. (good site for more info and photos)

    The first Lunar Orbiter, in 1967, captured the site before the footsteps, and here you can see the path overlay:

    apollo.14.label.sm

    These images were recently recovered in an amazing project I saw in the making, buried in a Pirate McDonalds

    Pirate McDonalds

    From the more recent NASA LRO, you can see the Apollo 14 LM and actual astronaut footprints on the moon:
    369236main_lroc_apollo14labeled_522x256

    And out there…

    Reply
  13. jurvetson Avatar
    jurvetson

    I wonder if the sim plate affect the astronaut’s expectations. Here’s what several of them them said when first seeing the moon in 3D:

    Apollo 10 Tom Stafford: "O shit John! It looks like a big plaster-of-paris cast." and later
    "Shit, baby; we have arrived. It’s a big grey plaster-of-paris thing."

    Apollo 11 Mike Collins: "Yes the moon is there, boy, in all of its splendor. It’s a plaster-of-paris grey to me."

    Reply

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