Vertical view of Apollo 16 landing site located Descartes area lunar nearside

S71-44150 (February 1971) --- A vertical view of the Apollo 16 landing site located in the Descartes area on the lunar nearside. The overlay indicates the location of the proposed touchdown point for the Apollo 16 Lunar Module (LM). Descartes is located west of the Sea of Nectar and southwest of the Sea of Tranquility. This photograph was taken with a 500mm lens camera from lunar orbit by the Apollo 16 crew. Astronauts John W. Young, commander; and Charles M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot; descended in the Apollo 16 LM "Orion" to explore the Descartes highlands landing site on the moon. Astronaut Thomas K. Mattingly II, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "Casper" in lunar orbit.

apollo 16 flight apollo project lunar landing sites lunar maps lunar photographs lunar surface johnson space center apollo apollo program vertical view vertical view descartes descartes area nearside high resolution site command module pilot commander module pilot descartes highlands lunar module service modules sea orbit astronauts john astronaut thomas touchdown point lens camera maps moon mission astronauts moon moon landing nasa

01/02/1971

NASA

https://images.nasa.gov/

Public Domain Dedication (CC0)