If you want to try and photograph it, read our guide on how to photograph the Moon. The dark lava of this km diameter sea is easily visible to the naked eye, but a telescope is required to explore the vicinity of the landing site. A large amateur telescope may typically resolve features as small as metres across. A test shot taken by Yepun, one of the four 8. Both figures are a long way off the 4. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has successfully returned images of all the Apollo sites, showing the descent stages, equipment, walking trails and, where applicable, tracks made by the lunar rovers.
Despite not being able to see the spacecraft themselves, it is still possible to explore the landing sites and get a feel for where they are located on the lunar surface.
Kelly Beatty November 1, By: Alan MacRobert October 29, Explore the Night with Bob King. By: Bob King October 27, By: Alan MacRobert October 22, Constant Contact Use. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact. Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt with the American flag. Earth glows blue , miles in the distance. Six Apollo missions successfully landed on and departed from the Moon between July and December Top, clockwise: James Irwin salutes the flag at Hadley Rill; Harrison Schmitt collects rock samples in the Taurus-Littrow Valley; Buzz Aldrin's footprint in the lunar regolith; Charlie Duke placed a photo of his family on the Moon and took a picture of it; Edgar Mitchell photographs the desolate landscape of the Fra Mauro highlands; and Pete Conrad jiggles the Surveyor 3 probe to see how firmly it's situated.
The astronauts' tracks as well as the rover and other items are plainly visible. Click for a large version. All the landing sites can be found using these five prominent lunar craters.
North is up in this view. Apollo 11 landed on July 20, , on the relatively smooth and safe terrain of the Sea of Tranquility. For an extra challenge, see if you can spot the three craters named for the Apollo 11 astronauts just north of the landing site. They range from 2. Pete Conrad and Alan Bean achieved a pinpoint landing on Nov. Apollo 14 touched down on Feb.
Somewhere in the scene are two golf balls hit by Alan Shepard with a makeshift club he brought from Earth. During an eclipse, when the near side of the moon is in darkness, the reflectors return to their usual performance.
No one has ever returned to the site of Apollo In preparation for a potential moon rush , NASA has created guidelines for future commercial spacecraft that include no-fly zones and warnings to keep a distance. The Apollo 11 site is a historical landmark, and it should be treated as such, says Michelle Hanlon, a co-founder of For All Moonkind, an organization of lawyers who specialize in space law.
Hanlon believes that the Apollo spots deserve the same protections as heritage sites on Earth. If human beings someday inhabit the moon , they might consider doing more than designating the Apollo 11 landing site a landmark. They could cover the area with geodesic domes, as a protective measure against contamination, and let people come a little closer. Visitors would pop over to an Apollo 11 gift shop to browse rocket-ship keychains and chalky astronaut ice cream.
When they peer through the gossamer bubble, inspecting the provincial exploration efforts of earlier generations, those visitors might look closely at the ground near the lunar module. Armstrong and Aldrin took only the top part of the capsule back into space with them, and the lower half—the one that famously nearly ran out of fuel seconds before Armstrong touched down—might have acted as a shield for the boot prints closest by.
This presents a tantalizing possibility: The first human step on another world might be in pristine condition. It might be caked in a thin coating of dust, but it could still be there, recognizable to future space travelers, should any ever arrive. Skip to content Site Navigation The Atlantic.
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