ALSEP

Final Apollo Lunar Landing was ‘A Tribute to American Ingenuity’

By Bob Granath | December 13, 2022

NASA is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the final Moon landing of the Apollo Program. The results of the 12-day Apollo 17 mission, flown in December 1972, led to some of the most significant findings of the first efforts of lunar exploration. The agency’s endeavor to continue exploration of the Earth’s nearest celestial neighbor recently began anew with the spectacular flight of Artemis 1, helping pave the way for astronauts to return to the Moon.

Apollo 16 Explores the Moon’s Mysterious Descartes Highlands

By Bob Granath | April 5, 2022

“That’s the most gorgeous sight I believe I have ever seen,” said Apollo 16 lunar module pilot Charlie Duke. He was looking at a 363-foot-tall Saturn V rocket on the launch pad the day before it rocketed him the Moon. Duke, along with veteran astronaut John Young and fellow rookie Ken Mattingly, piloted NASA’s fifth lunar landing mission in April 1972 – 50 years ago.

Ambitious Apollo 15 Mission Took Lunar Exploration to the Next Level

By Bob Granath | July 29, 2021

During the summer of 1971, 50 years ago, three astronauts made the most of three days on the Moon’s surface and in lunar orbit. With the opportunity for more detailed exploration and the addition of “dune buggy”-like transportation, Apollo 15 was the most complex flight to date.

Lunar Encore Leads to First Precision Extraterrestrial Landing

By Bob Granath | November 1, 2019

In an address to Congress in 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged the nation to “land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth” before the end of the decade. With the flight of Apollo 12, 50 years ago, NASA achieved that goal a second time.

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