Apollo 16: Exploring Plum Crater
Apollo 16
spent three days on
Earth's Moon in April 1972. The
fifth lunar landing mission out of six,
Apollo 16
was famous for deploying and using an
ultraviolet telescope as the first lunar observatory, and for
collecting
rocks and data on the mysterious lunar highlands.
In the above picture, astronaut
John
W. Young
photographs
Charles M. Duke, Jr.
collecting
rock samples at
the
Descartes
landing site. Duke stands by Plum Crater while the
Lunar
Roving Vehicle waits parked in the background.
The Lunar Roving Vehicle allowed the astronauts to travel great
distances to investigate surface features and collect rocks.
High above, Thomas K. Mattingly
orbits in the Command Module.