The Lunascan Project Moon
Shot Series
 |
Apollo 12
November 19, 1969
|
Statio Insularum
Upper portion of Section 42
| This portion of the Rukl Section 42 shows both the Apollo 12 and
Surveyor 3 landing sites. Actual images of the area can be found below. |
Original
full frame of LO4-125H3
| This Lunar Orbiter 4 low res vertical site A12 includes the 39-km
Lansberg crater (upper left) and some of the outliers of highland material
surrounded by the Oceanus Procellarum lavas. The bright rays trending from
upper right to lower left are from Copernicus Crater. The Apollo 12 landing
site (and Surveyor 3 site) are marked with an arrow. A close-up 3-D view
is shown below. (3-D glasses will show relief) |
RGB Stereo view of the Apollo 12 Landing Site
(requires 3-D glasses)
Larger
version of above AS12-54-8090 & AS12-54-9091
Stereo
3-D gif, bw version
The Apollo 12 landing site is located on the smooth
volcanic plains of Oceanus Procellarum. The landing site is marked
by a small green cross. Like Apollo 11, this site was chosen for
its lack of relief, as comparison with subsequent landing sites shows.
The bright streak running vertically across the scene is a bright ray of
ejecta from the large crater Copernicus located over 300 km to the north.
These views (Hasselblad frames) show an area 29 km across from top to bottom.
North is to the top. Because these are hand-held images, the base/height
ratio can be estimated only approximately at ~0.6, with a vertical exaggeration
of ~3. |
Lunar Orbiter 3 Images:.
|
LO3-154-m
LO3-154-M: Medium resolution vertical of the Apollo 12 landing site.
Many of the craters visible in this photograph are likely secondary craters,
at least some of which may be associated with Lansberg Crater. This location
is lacking in many distinctive or unique appearing features, which made
it more difficult for the astronauts to quickly pick out landmarks during
approach. However, the descent trajectory brought the Lunar Module precisely
to the target location, a site within walking distance of the unmanned
Surveyor 3 spacecraft. |
|
LO3-154-h2
LO3-154-H2: Apollo 12 landing site, high res vertical. Most of the craters
are probably produced by the impact of ejecta excavated from larger craters.
Note the subdued appearance of the rims of many craters. The time of landing
was selected to have the Sun low in the local sky so that even the subdued
crater rims would cast long shadows. |
|
LO3-154-h2,
Enlarged
The landing site is next to the northern rim of 150 meter diameter Surveyor
Crater, named after the unmanned Surveyor 3 spacecraft that successfully
soft landed on the eastern rim of the crater in April 1967. Astronauts
Pete Conrad and Alan Bean retrieved parts of the Surveyor spacecraft during
their second EVA. Several of the adjacent craters were also visited by
the crew during the EVAs. |
Surveyor crater
[smaller
gif] LO3-h194
[larger,
428k gif] LO3-h194
LO3-194-H1, high resolution image of the Surveyor 3 spacecraft
and landing site. This image shows the area within the Flamsteed ring in
Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon. The Surveyor 3 spacecraft is the object/bright
spot at the 4'clock position inside Surveyor crater. The shadow of the
1 meter wide solar panels can also be seen. |
Other Apollo 12 Images:
S69-57076
- Apollo 12 image/map of landing site
AS12/10075362
- Apollo 12 EVA traverse map
|
MPS
view of the Apollo 12 landing site
The arrow points to the landing site in the eastern part of Oceanus
Procellarum, a mare region hundreds of kilometers west of the Apollo 11
landing site in Mare Tranquillitatis. Both sites were chosen purposely
to be relatively close to the lunar equator. (Consolidated Lunar Atlas
photograph E17, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona). |
Surveyor 3 resting inside Surveyor Crater
Larger
original version of above, AS12/10075419
For the latest information and images
regarding the area were this
spacecraft landed, go to:
Section
Directory 42
|
Relevant Sites:
Apollo
12: The Mission
Apollo 12 (AS-507)
Beyond Apollo 11
Apollo
12 Landing Site Overview
Surface
views of the Apollo landing site
JSC Digital
Image Collection - AS12
Apollo 12 Metric & Panaramic Photography
Index of/expmoon/Apollo
12/
This web page created by Francis Ridge for
The Lunascan Project for
Moon Shot
Home Page
![[larger, 428k gif] LO3-h194](http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/hires/lo3_h194_1.gif){kind=link}
