Apollo 17 LM and LRV

The LROC rocks!

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera swooped by in a low orbit to capture the LM descent stage and Lunar Rover (LRV) from Apollo 17. This special pass was just 72K ft. overhead.

The wheel-pair tracks of the rover are clearly visible, as well the LRV itself in its final parking place.

Here is a cool flyover movie of the new panorama released by NASA today.

It really brings alive the Apollo 17 lunar surface instructions for the transfer between these vehicles that I bought from Gene Cernan.

Revisiting the last human steps and EV tracks on the moon filled Gene with “nostalgia and disappointment. Nostalgia because those special days are fondly etched in my memory and disappointment because it looks like now we will not be going back within the days I have left on this planet.”

15 responses to “Apollo 17 LM and LRV”

jurvetson

Sep 7, 2011 at 1:04 am

and zooming in on that rover…

They also released photos of the sites of Apollo 12 and Apollo 14, where Shephard’s golf ball is not yet visible… =)

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jhapeman

Sep 7, 2011 at 2:54 am

Excellent! And yet I’m sure the fringe elements that claim the landings were staged will find a way to explain away these photos as just part of the conspiracy….

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Jeffrey Wallace

Sep 7, 2011 at 6:46 am

It’s all photoshopped ;-). I read the article at yahoo and there were certainly some doozies in the comments when it came to explaining this away.

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thepretenda

Sep 7, 2011 at 8:24 am

Well…..I think this will put all the moon landing hoax conspiracy theorists to rest ONCE AND FOR ALL!!

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plej_photo

Sep 7, 2011 at 9:55 am

Well, maybe the next generation of astronauts could still use this rover? 😉

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thepretenda

Sep 7, 2011 at 11:55 am

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/plej92] RECHARGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Vanita

Sep 7, 2011 at 1:28 pm

It’s like looking at the Moon version of Pompeii, bread on the table, clothes on the line, moon buggy near by.

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solerena

Sep 7, 2011 at 4:53 pm

🙂 yep, and LROC is cool:)

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Wind Watcher

Sep 7, 2011 at 5:26 pm

Wonderful….I want to go to the moon!

Any guess when the next human foot print will be left on the moon?

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jurvetson

Sep 7, 2011 at 5:37 pm

Before the decade is out.

It’s a safe bet for just the foot print, as someone has to strap a pair of Adidas to one of the Lunar X-Prize vehicles…. =)

And Space Adventures has already sold one of the two seats for a circumlunar trip. That will be like Apollo 8, but as a commercial space shot.

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Wind Watcher

Sep 7, 2011 at 8:16 pm

Before 2020…..high probability there will be some Chinese DNA inside that Adidas boot as it touches the moon’s surface….perhaps as you imply….a privateer will get their first….new space race…!

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jurvetson

Sep 8, 2011 at 3:27 pm

P.S. another cool view from the LRO released yesterday.. stitched together from 983 frames…. A view not seen before, looking down on the Moon’s North pole:

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solerena

Sep 8, 2011 at 5:40 pm

Beautiful shot, i will print it out some day and put on a wall!

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Jim Rees

Sep 10, 2011 at 1:58 pm

Why did they park the rover so far away from the LM?

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jurvetson

Sep 10, 2011 at 4:13 pm

I was wondering that too. I presume it’s placed there so that the rover camera can capture the ascent stage leaving the moon, as they did for Apollo 17

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Apollo 17 LM and LRV

15 responses to “Apollo 17 LM and LRV”

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