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Apollo 15

Apollo 15
Mission Insignia
Apollo 15 insignia
Mission Statistics
Mission Name: Apollo 15
Call Sign: Command module:
Endeavour
Lunar module:
Falcon
Number of
Crew:
3
Launch: July 26, 1971
13:34:00 UTC
Kennedy Space Center
LC 39A
Lunar Landing: July 30, 1971
22:16:29 UTC
26° 7' 55.99" N - 3° 38' 1.90" E
Hadley Rille
Lunar EVA
length:
LM Stand Up: 33 min 7 s
1st: 6 h 32 min 42 s
2nd: 7 h 12 min 14 s
3rd: 4 h 49 min 50 s
Total: 18 h 34 min 46 s
CMP EVA: 39 min 7 s
Lunar Surface
Time:
66 h 54 min 53.9 s
Lunar Sample
Mass:
77.31 kg
Landing: August 7, 1971
20:45:53 UTC
26° 7' N - 158° 8' W
Duration: 12 d 7 h 11 min 53 s
Number of
Lunar Orbits:
74
Time in
Lunar Orbit:
145 h 12 min 41.68 s
Mass: CSM 30,370 kg;
LM 16,430 kg
Crew Picture
Apollo 15 crew portrait (L-R: Scott, Worden and Irwin)
Enlarge
Apollo 15 crew portrait (L-R: Scott, Worden and Irwin)
Apollo 15 Crew

Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission in the Apollo program and the fourth mission to land on the Moon.

Contents

Crew

Backup Crew

Support Crew

Mission Parameters

  • Mass:
    • Launch mass: 2,921,005 kg
    • Total spacecraft: 46,782 kg
      • CSM mass: 30,354 kg, of which CM was 5840 kg, SM 24,514 kg
      • LM mass: 16,428 kg, of which ascent stage was 4971 kg, descent stage 11,457 kg
  • Earth orbits: 3 before leaving for Moon, about one on return
  • Lunar orbits: 74
  • Perilune: 107.4 km
  • Apolune: 314.8 km
  • Inclination: 154°
  • Period: 119 min
  • Landing Site: 26.13222° N - 3.63386° E http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunar_sites.html or
    26° 7' 55.99" N - 3° 38' 1.90" E

LM - CSM Docking

Moon walk

  • Scott - Stand up EVA - LM upper hatch
  • Start Stand Up EVA: July 31, 1971, 00:16:49 UTC
  • End Stand Up EVA: July 31, 00:49:56 UTC
  • Duration: 33 minutes, 07 seconds
  • Scott and Irwin - EVA 1
  • EVA 1 Start: July 31, 1971, 13:12:17 UTC
  • EVA 1 End: July 31, 19:45:59 UTC
  • Duration: 6 hours, 32 minutes, 42 seconds
  • Scott and Irwin - EVA 2
  • EVA 2 Start: August 1, 1971, 11:48:48 UTC
  • EVA 2 End: August 1, 19:01:02 UTC
  • Duration: 7 hours, 12 minutes, 14 seconds
  • Scott and Irwin - EVA 3
  • EVA 3 Start: August 2, 1971, 08:52:14 UTC
  • EVA 3 End: August 2, 13:42:04 UTC
  • Duration: 4 hours, 49 minutes, 50 seconds
  • Worden - Transearth EVA 4
  • EVA 4 Start: August 5, 1971, 15:31:12 UTC
  • EVA 4 End: August 5, 16:10:19 UTC
  • Duration: 39 minutes, 07 seconds

The splashdown point was 26 deg 7 min N, 158 deg, 8 min W, 330 miles north of Honolulu, Hawaii and 9.8 km (6.1 mi) from the recovery ship USS Okinawa.


Mission highlights

The first of the longer J-class expedition-style lunar landing missions was also the first to include the lunar rover, a car-like vehicle that extended the astronauts' range. The lunar module Falcon touched down near the sinuous channel known as Hadley Rille. Scott and Irwin rode more than 27.36 kilometers in their rover, and had a free hand in their geological field studies compared to earlier lunar astronauts. They brought back one of the prize trophies of the Apollo program-a sample of ancient lunar crust nicknamed the "Genesis Rock ", and returned with total 76.8 kg of lunar samples.

David Scott performed an informal experiment, simultaneously dropping a falcon feather and a hammer. Both hit the ground at the same time, verifying that (within the accuracy of the crude setup) bodies fall at the same rate regardless of mass.

Apollo 15 also launched a small subsatellite for measuring particles and fields in the lunar vicinity. On the way back to Earth, Worden, who had flown solo on board Endeavor while his crewmates walked on the surface, conducted the first space-walk between Earth and the Moon to retrieve film from the side of the spacecraft.

Relics

The command module is displayed at the United States Air Force Museum, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio and the lunar module impacted the Moon on 3 August, 1971 at 26.36 N, 0.25 E.




Preceded by :
Apollo 14
Project Apollo Followed by :
Apollo 16


See also

Reference

  • NASA NSSDC Master Catalog http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/sc-query.html
  • APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS: A Statistical Reference by Richard W. Orloff (NASA) http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_00a_Cover.htm
  • The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4009/cover.htm
  • Apollo Program Summary Report http://history.nasa.gov/apsr/apsr.htm
  • Apollo 15 Characteristics - SP-4012 NASA HISTORICAL DATA BOOK http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4012/vol3/table2.43.htm

External links

  • Map of surface activities for Apollo 15 http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/Projects/LunarAtlas/maps/images/AP15trav27Jan99.jpg
  • Apollo 15 entry in Encyclopedia Astronautica http://www.astronautix.com/flights/apollo15.htm




Last updated: 02-07-2005 07:25:36
Last updated: 03-01-2005 21:48:46