Astronomy

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A temporary setback
By the spring of 1970, the Apollo program was rolling
ahead at full speed. Launch for Apollo 13 was set for

April. This mission would set a course for exploring
Fra Mauro, a geologically interesting region. The crew
of Commander Jim Lovell, Command Module Pilot

Jack Swigert, and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise
launched and set off for the Moon.

Some 56 hours after blastoff, the three conducted a
TV interview and then set off on tasks. Swigert stirred
the oxygen tank on the Service Module, a routine job

that mixed the gases and allowed the gauges to read
with precision. Two minutes later, the astronauts heard
a “pretty loud bang.” The spacecraft lost oxygen. The

crew had to power down the Command/Service
Module and use the LM as a “lifeboat,” circling around
the Moon without landing, and returning to Earth.

The world watched, hoping a disaster wouldn’t
happen. Lovell said the crew were aware they could

become “human Popsicles in permanent orbit.” But
the Apollo 13 accident was not fatal — the crew,
assisted by controllers, returned safely to Earth.

So it would be Apollo 14 that would explore Fra
Mauro, the intended site of the previous mission.
Alan Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar Mitchell

explored the area in detail, collecting samples, study-
ing geology, and accomplishing what Apollo 13 had

planned to do.
The final three Apollo missions, which took place
in 1971 and 1972, employed one of the most creative

devices yet made by humans, the Lunar Roving
Vehicle. These most expensive of cars were carried,
folded up, on the LM, and utilized by the astronauts

on the surface, to extend their range considerably.

In the case of Apollo 15, astronauts Dave Scott,

Alfred Worden, and Jim Irwin explored the area of

Hadley Rille, a ridge near the edge of Mare Imbrium,

and not far from the prominent craters Archimedes,

Aristillus, and Autolycus. Equipped with a rover, the

range was now so great that exploration and rock

collecting became far more powerful. Among the

samples they gathered was what they believed to be

an old Moon rock they dubbed “Genesis Rock.” The

Apollo 15 crew also left a memorial statue to their

deceased comrades on the surface, the Fallen

Astronaut Memorial.

With its crew of John Young, Ken Mattingly, and

Charlie Duke, Apollo 16 conducted serious science on

the lunar surface. Exploring the Descartes Highlands,

Above: This view

of the Apollo 15

Command/Service

Module, taken

July 30, 1971,

shows the craft

in lunar orbit and

lets you see the

open bay where

panoramic and

mapping cameras

were located in

the final three

Apollo mission

spacecraft. These

cameras provided

stereo coverage

of the lunar

surface, whereas

prior missions

captured stereo

images only from

the Hasselblad

cameras operated

by astronauts

through the

Command or Lunar

Module windows.

NASA/JSC

Left: Jack Schmitt

smiles inside the

LM Challenger

on December 13,

1972, after the

third Apollo 17

moonwalk. He was

photographed

by Gene Cernan.

NASA/JSC