Apollo 16

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Apollo 16

John Young saluting the United States flag while jumping up on the Moon, with

the Apollo Lunar Module Orion and Lunar Roving Vehicle in the background

Mission type Crewed lunar landing (J)[1]

Operator NASA

 CSM: 1972-031A[2]
COSPAR ID
 LM: 1972-031C[3]

SATCAT no.  CSM: 6000[4]

 LM: 6005[4]

Mission duration 11 days, 1 hour, 51 minutes, 5 seconds[5]

Spacecraft properties

Spacecraft  Apollo CSM-113[2]

 Apollo LM-11[6]

Manufacturer  CSM: North American Rockwell[7]

 LM: Grumman[8]

Launch mass 52,759 kilograms (116,314 lb)[9]

Landing mass 5,441 kilograms (11,995 lb)[5]

Crew

Crew size 3

Members  John W. Young

 Thomas K. Mattingly II

 Charles M. Duke Jr.

Callsign  CSM: Casper

 LM: Orion

EVAs 1 in cislunar space to retrieve film cassettes

EVA duration 1 h 23 min 42 s

Start of mission

Launch date April 16, 1972, 17:54:00 UTC

Rocket Saturn V SA-511

Launch site Kennedy LC-39A

End of mission

Recovered by USS Ticonderoga

Landing date April 27, 1972, 19:45:05 UTC[5]

Landing site South Pacific Ocean

0°43′S 156°13′W[5]

Lunar orbiter

Spacecraft component Command and service module

Orbital insertion April 19, 1972, 20:22:27 UTC[10]

Orbital departure April 25, 1972, 02:15:33 UTC[11]

Orbits 64[12][13]

Lunar lander

Spacecraft component Lunar module

Landing date April 21, 1972, 02:23:35 UTC[14]

Return launch April 24, 1972, 01:25:47 UTC[15]

Landing site Descartes Highlands

 8.97301°S 15.50019°E[16]

Sample mass 95.71 kilograms (211.0 lb)[17]

Surface EVAs 3

EVA duration  20 h 14 min 14 s

 First: 7 h 11 min 2 s[16]

 Second: 7 h 23 min 09 s[17]

 Third: 5 h 40 min 3 s[17]

Lunar rover

Distance driven 26.7 kilometers (16.6 mi)[17]

Docking with LM

Docking date April 16, 1972, 21:15:53 UTC[18]

Undocking date April 20, 1972, 18:07:31 UTC[10]

Docking with LM Ascent Stage

Docking date April 24, 1972, 03:35:18 UTC[11]

Undocking date April 24, 1972, 20:54:12 UTC[11]

Payload

 Scientific Instrument Module

 Lunar Roving Vehicle

Mass  SIM:

 LRV: 210 kilograms (463 lb)

 
 Left to right: Mattingly, Young, Duke

Apollo program

← Apollo 15

Apollo 17 →

Apollo 16 (April 16 – 27, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United
States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and next-to-last
to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's "J missions", with an extended stay
on the lunar surface, a focus on science, and the use of the Lunar Roving
Vehicle (LRV). The landing and exploration were in the Descartes Highlands, a site
chosen because some scientists expected it to be an area formed by volcanic action,
though this proved to not be the case.
The mission was crewed by Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles
Duke and Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly. Launched from the Kennedy Space
Center in Florida on April 16, 1972, Apollo 16 experienced a number of minor glitches
en route to the Moon. These culminated with a problem with the spaceship's main
engine that resulted in a six-hour delay in the Moon landing as NASA managers
contemplated having the astronauts abort the mission and return to Earth, before
deciding the problem could be overcome. Although they permitted the lunar landing,
NASA had the astronauts return from the mission one day earlier than planned.
After flying the lunar module to the Moon's surface on April 21, Young and Duke spent
71 hours—just under three days—on the lunar surface, during which they conducted
three extravehicular activities or moonwalks, totaling 20 hours and 14 minutes. The pair
drove the lunar rover, the second used on the Moon, for 26.7 kilometers (16.6 mi). On
the surface, Young and Duke collected 95.8 kilograms (211 lb) of lunar samples for
return to Earth, including Big Muley, the largest Moon rock collected during the Apollo
missions. During this time Mattingly orbited the Moon in the command and service
module (CSM), taking photos and operating scientific instruments. Mattingly, in the
command module, spent 126 hours and 64 revolutions in lunar orbit. [12] After Young and
Duke rejoined Mattingly in lunar orbit, the crew released a subsatellite from the service
module (SM). During the return trip to Earth, Mattingly performed a one-hour spacewalk
to retrieve several film cassettes from the exterior of the service module. Apollo 16
returned safely to Earth on April 27, 1972.
 Contents

 1Crew and key Mission Control personnel

 2Mission insignia and call signs
 3Planning and training
o 3.1Landing site selection
o 3.2Training
 4Equipment
o 4.1Launch vehicle
o 4.2ALSEP and other surface equipment
o 4.3Particles and Fields Subsatellite PFS-2
 5Mission events
o 5.1Launch and outward journey
o 5.2Lunar surface
o 5.3Solo activities
o 5.4Return to Earth
 6Scientific results and aftermath
 7Locations of spacecraft and other equipment
 8See also
 9References
o 9.1Bibliography
 10External links

Crew and key Mission Control personnel[edit]

Position[19] Astronaut

John W. Young
Commander (CDR)
Fourth spaceflight

Thomas K. Mattingly II
Command Module Pilot (CMP)
First spaceflight

Charles M. Duke Jr.

Lunar Module Pilot (LMP)
Only spaceflight

John Young, the mission commander, was 41 years old and a captain in the Navy at the
time of Apollo 16. Becoming an astronaut in 1962 as part of the second group to be
selected by NASA, he flew in Gemini 3 with Gus Grissom in 1965, becoming the first
American not of the Mercury Seven to fly in space. He thereafter flew in Gemini
10 (1966) with Michael Collins and as command module pilot of Apollo 10 (1969). With
Apollo 16, he became the second American, after Jim Lovell, to fly in space four times.[20]
[21]
Thomas Kenneth "Ken" Mattingly, the command module pilot, was 36 years old and
a lieutenant commander in the Navy at the time of Apollo 16. Mattingly had been
selected in NASA's fifth group of astronauts in 1966. He was a member of the support
crew for Apollo 8 and Apollo 9.[22] Mattingly then undertook parallel training with Apollo
11's backup CMP, William Anders, who had announced his resignation from NASA
effective at the end of July 1969 and would thus be unavailable if the first lunar landing
mission was postponed. Had Anders left NASA before Apollo 11 flew, Mattingly would
have taken his place on the backup crew.[23]
Mattingly had originally been assigned to the prime crew of Apollo 13, but was exposed
to rubella through Duke, at that time with Young on Apollo 13's backup crew; Duke had
caught it from one of his children. Mattingly never contracted the illness, but three days
before launch was removed from the crew and replaced by his backup, Jack Swigert.
[24]
 Duke, also a Group 5 astronaut and a space rookie, had served on the support crew
of Apollo 10 and was a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for Apollo 11.[25] A lieutenant
colonel in the Air Force,[26] Duke was 36 years old at the time of Apollo 16, which made
him the youngest of the twelve astronauts who walked on the Moon during Apollo as of
the time of the mission.[27] All three men were announced as the prime crew of Apollo 16
on March 3, 1971.[28]
Apollo 16's backup crew consisted of Fred W. Haise Jr. (commander, who had flown on
Apollo 13), Stuart A. Roosa (CMP, who had flown on Apollo 14) and Edgar D.
Mitchell (LMP, also Apollo 14).[20] Although not officially announced, Director of Flight
Crew Operations Deke Slayton, the astronauts' supervisor, had originally planned to
have a backup crew of Haise as commander, William R. Pogue (CMP) and Gerald P.
Carr (LMP), who were targeted for the prime crew assignment on Apollo 19. [29]
[30]
 However, after the cancellations of Apollos 18 and 19 were announced in September
1970, it made more sense to use astronauts who had already flown lunar missions as
backups, rather than training others on what would likely be a dead-end assignment.
Subsequently, Roosa and Mitchell were assigned to the backup crew, while Pogue and
Carr were reassigned to the Skylab program where they flew on Skylab 4.[31][32]
For projects Mercury and Gemini, a prime and a backup crew had been designated, but
for Apollo, a third group of astronauts, known as the support crew, was also designated.
Slayton created the support crews early in the Apollo Program on the advice of Apollo
crew commander James McDivitt, who would lead Apollo 9. McDivitt believed that, with
preparation going on in facilities across the U.S., meetings that needed a member of the
flight crew would be missed. Support crew members were to assist as directed by the
mission commander.[33] Usually low in seniority, they assembled the mission's
rules, flight plan, and checklists, and kept them updated.[34][35] For Apollo 16, they
were: Anthony W. England, Karl G. Henize, Henry W. Hartsfield Jr., Robert F.
Overmyer and Donald H. Peterson.[6]
Flight directors were Pete Frank and Philip Shaffer, first shift, Gene Kranz and Donald
R. Puddy, second shift, and Gerry Griffin, Neil B. Hutchinson and Charles R. Lewis,
third shift.[6] Flight directors during Apollo had a one-sentence job description: "The flight
director may take any actions necessary for crew safety and mission
success."[36] CAPCOMs were Haise, Roosa, Mitchell, James B. Irwin, England, Peterson,
Hartsfield, and C. Gordon Fullerton.[6]
Mission insignia and call signs[edit]

Apollo 16 space-flown silver Robbins medallion

The insignia of Apollo 16 is dominated by a rendering of an American eagle and a red,

white and blue shield, representing the people of the United States, over a gray
background representing the lunar surface. Overlaying the shield is a gold NASA vector,
orbiting the Moon. On its gold-outlined blue border, there are 16 stars, representing the
mission number, and the names of the crew members: Young, Mattingly, Duke. [37] The
insignia was designed from ideas originally submitted by the crew of the mission, [38] by
Barbara Matelski of the graphics shop at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.[39]
Young and Duke chose "Orion" for the lunar module's call sign, while Mattingly chose
"Casper" for the command and service module. According to Duke, he and Young
chose "Orion" for the LM because they wanted something connected with the stars.
[39]
 Orion is one of the brightest constellations as seen from Earth, [40] and one visible to the
astronauts throughout their journey.[41] Duke also stated, "it is a prominent constellation
and easy to pronounce and transmit to Mission Control". [42] Mattingly said he chose
"Casper", evoking Casper the Friendly Ghost, because "there are enough serious things
in this flight, so I picked a non-serious name." [40]

Planning and training[edit]

Landing site selection[edit]
Apollo 16 was the second of Apollo's J missions, featuring the use of the Lunar Roving
Vehicle, increased scientific capability, and three-day lunar surface stays. [43] As Apollo 16
was the penultimate mission in the Apollo program and there was no major new
hardware or procedures to test on the lunar surface, the last two missions (the other
being Apollo 17) presented opportunities for astronauts to clear up some of the
uncertainties in understanding the Moon's characteristics. Scientists sought information
on the Moon's early history, which might be obtained from its ancient surface features,
the lunar highlands. Previous Apollo expeditions, including Apollo 14 and Apollo 15, had
obtained samples of pre-mare lunar material, likely thrown from the highlands
by meteorite impacts. These were dated from before lava began to upwell from
the Moon's interior and flood the low areas and basins. Nevertheless, no Apollo mission
had actually visited the lunar highlands.[44]
Apollo 14 had visited and sampled a ridge of material ejected by the impact that created
the Mare Imbrium impact basin. Likewise, Apollo 15 had also sampled material in the
region of Imbrium, visiting the basin's edge. Because the Apollo 14 and Apollo 15
landing sites were closely associated with the Imbrium basin, there was still the chance
that different geologic processes were prevalent in areas of the lunar highlands far from
Mare Imbrium.[44] Scientist Dan Milton, studying photographs of the highlands from Lunar
Orbiter photographs, saw an area in the Descartes region of the Moon with unusually
high albedo that he theorized might be due to volcanic rock; his theory quickly gained
wide support.[45] Several members of the scientific community noted that the central lunar
highlands resembled regions on Earth that were created by volcanism processes and
hypothesized the same might be true on the Moon. They hoped scientific output from
the Apollo 16 mission would provide an answer. [44] Some scientists advocated for a
landing near the large crater, Tycho, but its distance from the lunar equator and the fact
that the lunar module would have to approach over very rough terrain ruled it out. [46]

Location of the Apollo 16 landing site

The Ad Hoc Apollo Site Evaluation Committee met in April and May 1971 to decide the
Apollo 16 and 17 landing sites; it was chaired by Noel Hinners of Bellcomm. There was
consensus the final landing sites should be in the lunar highlands, and among the sites
considered for Apollo 16 were the Descartes Highlands region west of Mare
Nectaris and the crater Alphonsus.[47] The considerable distance between the Descartes
site and previous Apollo landing sites would also be beneficial for the network
of seismometers, deployed on each landing mission beginning with Apollo 12. [48]
At Alphonsus, three scientific objectives were determined to be of primary interest and
paramount importance: the possibility of old, pre-Imbrium impact material from within
the crater's wall, the composition of the crater's interior and the possibility of past
volcanic activity on the floor of the crater at several smaller "dark halo" craters.
Geologists feared, however, that samples obtained from the crater might have been
contaminated by the Imbrium impact, thus preventing Apollo 16 from obtaining samples
of pre-Imbrium material. There also remained the distinct possibility that this objective
would have already been satisfied by the Apollo 14 and Apollo 15 missions, as the
Apollo 14 samples had not yet been completely analyzed and samples from Apollo 15
had not yet been obtained.[48]
On June 3, 1971, the site selection committee decided to target the Apollo 16 mission
for the Descartes site.[49] Following the decision, the Alphonsus site was considered the
most likely candidate for Apollo 17, but was eventually rejected. With the assistance of
orbital photography obtained on the Apollo 14 mission, the Descartes site was
determined to be safe enough for a crewed landing. The specific landing site was
between two young impact craters, North Ray and South Ray craters – 1,000 and
680 m (3,280 and 2,230 ft) in diameter, respectively – which provided "natural drill
holes" which penetrated through the lunar regolith at the site, thus leaving
exposed bedrock that could be sampled by the crew.[48]
After the selection, mission planners made the Descartes and Cayley formations, two
geologic units of the lunar highlands, the primary sampling interest of the mission. It was
these formations that the scientific community widely suspected were formed by lunar
volcanism, but this hypothesis was proven incorrect by the composition of lunar
samples from the mission.[48]
Training[edit]

John Young and Charles Duke training at the Rio Grande Gorge in New Mexico

In addition to the usual Apollo spacecraft training, Young and Duke, along with backup
commander Fred Haise, underwent an extensive geological training program that
included several field trips to introduce them to concepts and techniques they would use
in analyzing features and collecting samples on the lunar surface. During these trips,
they visited and provided scientific descriptions of geologic features they were likely to
encounter.[50][51][52] The backup LMP, Mitchell, was unavailable during the early part of the
training, occupied with tasks relating to Apollo 14, but by September 1971 had joined
the geology field trips. Before that, Tony England (a member of the support crew and
the lunar EVA CAPCOM) or one of the geologist trainers would train alongside Haise on
geology field trips.[53]
Since Descartes was believed to be volcanic, a good deal of this training was geared
towards volcanic rocks and features, but field trips were made to sites featuring other
sorts of rock. As Young later commented, the non-volcanic training proved more useful,
given that Descartes did not prove to be volcanic. [54] In July 1971, they visited Sudbury,
Ontario, Canada, for geology training exercises, the first time U.S. astronauts trained in
Canada.[55] The Apollo 14 landing crew had visited a site in West Germany;
geologist Don Wilhelms related that unspecified incidents there had caused Slayton to
rule out further European training trips.[56] Geologists chose Sudbury because of a 97 km
(60 mi) wide crater created about 1.8 billion years ago by a large meteorite.
[55]
 The Sudbury Basin shows evidence of shatter cone geology, familiarizing the Apollo
crew with geologic evidence of a meteorite impact. During the training exercises the
astronauts did not wear space suits, but carried radio equipment to converse with each
other and England, practicing procedures they would use on the lunar surface. [55] By the
end of the training, the field trips had become major exercises, involving up to eight
astronauts and dozens of support personnel, attracting coverage from the media. For
the exercise at the Nevada Test Site, where the massive craters left by nuclear
explosions simulated the large craters to be found on the Moon, all participants had to
have security clearance and a listed next-of-kin, and an overflight by CMP Mattingly
required special permission.[53][57]

Young (right) and Duke training to drive the Lunar Roving Vehicle

In addition to the field geology training, Young and Duke also trained to use their EVA
space suits, adapt to the reduced lunar gravity, collect samples, and drive the Lunar
Roving Vehicle.[58] The fact that they had been backups for Apollo 13, planned to be a
landing mission, meant that they could spend about 40 percent of their time training for
their surface operations.[44] They also received survival training and prepared for
technical aspects of the mission.[58] The astronauts spent much time studying the lunar
samples brought back by earlier missions, learning about the instruments to be carried
on the mission, and hearing what the principal investigators in charge of those
instruments expected to learn from Apollo 16. This training helped Young and Duke,
while on the Moon, quickly realize that the expected volcanic rocks were not there, even
though the geologists in Mission Control initially did not believe them. [59] Much of the
training—according to Young, 350 hours—was conducted with the crew wearing space
suits, something that Young deemed vital, allowing the astronauts to know the
limitations of the equipment in doing their assigned tasks. [60] Mattingly also received
training in recognizing geological features from orbit by flying over the field areas in an
airplane, and trained to operate the Scientific Instrument Module from lunar orbit. [61]

Equipment[edit]
Apollo 16's launch vehicle by the VAB, January 27, 1972

Launch vehicle[edit]
The launch vehicle which took Apollo 16 to the Moon was a Saturn V, designated as
AS-511. This was the eleventh Saturn V to be flown and the ninth used on crewed
missions. Apollo 16's Saturn V was almost identical to Apollo 15's. One change that was
made was the restoration of four retrorockets to the S-IC first stage, meaning there
would be a total of eight, as on Apollo 14 and earlier. The retrorockets were used to
minimize the risk of collision between the jettisoned first stage and the Saturn V. These
four retrorockets had been omitted from Apollo 15's Saturn V to save weight, but
analysis of Apollo 15's flight showed that the S-IC came closer than expected after
jettison, and it was feared that if there were only four rockets and one failed, there might
be a collision.[42]
ALSEP and other surface equipment[edit]
Main article: Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package
As on all lunar landing missions after Apollo 11, an Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments
Package (ALSEP) was flown on Apollo 16. This was a suite of nuclear-powered
experiments designed to keep functioning after the astronauts who set them up returned
to Earth.[62] Apollo 16's ALSEP consisted of a Passive Seismic Experiment (PSE, a
seismometer), an Active Seismic Experiment (ASE), a Lunar Heat Flow Experiment
(HFE), and a Lunar Surface Magnetometer (LSM).[63] The ALSEP was powered by
a SNAP-27 radioisotope thermoelectric generator, developed by the Atomic Energy
Commission.[64]
Apollo 16's Passive Seismic Experiment

The PSE added to the network of seismometers left by Apollo 12, 14 and 15. [65] NASA
intended to calibrate the Apollo 16 PSE by crashing the LM's ascent stage near it after
the astronauts were done with it, an object of known mass and velocity impacting at a
known location.[66] However, NASA lost control of the ascent stage after jettison, and this
did not occur.[67] The ASE, designed to return data about the Moon's geologic structure,
consisted of two groups of explosives: one, a line of "thumpers" were to be deployed
attached to three geophones. The thumpers would be exploded during the ALSEP
deployment. A second group was four mortars of different sizes, to be set off remotely
once the astronauts had returned to Earth. Apollo 14 had also carried an ASE, though
its mortars were never set off for fear of affecting other experiments. [68]
The HFE involved the drilling of two 3.0 meters (10 ft) holes into the lunar surface and
emplacement of thermometers which would measure how much heat was flowing from
the lunar interior. This was the third attempt to emplace a HFE: the first flew on Apollo
13 and never reached the lunar surface, while on Apollo 15, problems with the drill
meant the probes did not go as deep as planned. The Apollo 16 attempt would fail after
Duke had successfully emplaced the first probe; Young, unable to see his feet in the
bulky spacesuit, pulled out and severed the cable after it wrapped around his leg. NASA
managers vetoed a repair attempt due to the amount of time it would take. [69] A HFE flew,
and was successfully deployed, on Apollo 17.[70]
The Lunar Surface Magnetometer

The LSM was designed to measure the strength of the Moon's magnetic field, which is
only a small fraction of Earth's. Additional data would be returned by the use of the
Lunar Portable Magnetometer (LPM), to be carried on the lunar rover and activated at
several geology stops. Scientists also hoped to learn from an Apollo 12 sample, to be
briefly returned to the Moon on Apollo 16, from which "soft" magnetism had been
removed, to see if it had been restored on its journey. [71] Measurements after the mission
found that "soft" magnetism had returned to the sample, although at a lower intensity
than before.[72]
A Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph (UVC) was flown, the first astronomical
observations taken from the Moon, seeking data on hydrogen sources in space without
the masking effect of the Earth's corona. [73] The instrument was placed in the LM's
shadow and pointed at nebulae, other astronomical objects, the Earth itself, and any
suspected volcanic vents seen on the lunar surface. The film was returned to Earth.
When asked to summarize the results for a general audience, Dr. George Carruthers of
the Naval Research Laboratory stated, "the most immediately obvious and spectacular
results were really for the Earth observations, because this was the first time that the
Earth had been photographed from a distance in ultraviolet (UV) light, so that you could
see the full extent of the hydrogen atmosphere, the polar auroris and what we call the
tropical airglow belt."[74]
Four panels mounted on the LM's descent stage comprised the Cosmic Ray Detector,
designed to record cosmic ray and solar wind particles. Three of the panels were left
uncovered during the voyage to the Moon, with the fourth uncovered by the crew early
in the EVA. The panels would be bagged for return to Earth. The free-standing Solar
Wind Composition Experiment flew on Apollo 16, as it had on each of the lunar
landings, for deployment on the lunar surface and return to Earth. Platinum foil was
added to the aluminum of the previous experiments, to minimize contamination. [73]
Particles and Fields Subsatellite PFS-2[edit]

Artist's conception of subsatellite deployment

The Apollo 16 Particles and Fields Subsatellite (PFS-2) was a small satellite released
into lunar orbit from the service module. Its principal objective was to measure charged
particles and magnetic fields all around the Moon as the Moon orbited Earth, similar to
its sister spacecraft, PFS-1, released eight months earlier by Apollo 15. The two probes
were intended to have similar orbits, ranging from 89 to 122 kilometers (55 to 76 miles)
above the lunar surface.[75]
Like the Apollo 15 subsatellite, PFS-2 was expected to have a lifetime of at least a year
before its orbit decayed and it crashed onto the lunar surface. The decision to bring
Apollo 16 home early after there were difficulties with the main engine meant that the
spacecraft did not go to the orbit which had been planned for PFS-2. Instead, it was
ejected into a lower-than-planned orbit and crashed into the Moon a month later on May
29, 1972, after circling the Moon 424 times.[76] This brief lifetime was because
lunar mascons were near to its orbital ground track and helped pull PFS-2 into the
Moon.[12]

Mission events[edit]
Elements of the spacecraft and launch vehicle began arriving at Kennedy Space
Center in July 1970, and all had arrived by September 1971. Apollo 16 was originally
scheduled to launch on March 17, 1972. One of the bladders for the CM's reaction
control system burst during testing. This issue, in combination with concerns that one of
the explosive cords that would jettison the LM from the CSM after the astronauts
returned from the lunar surface would not work properly, and a problem with Duke's
spacesuit, made it desirable to slip the launch to the next launch window. Thus, Apollo
16 was postponed to April 16. The launch vehicle stack, which had been rolled out from
the Vehicle Assembly Building on December 13, 1971, was returned thereto on January
27, 1972. It was rolled out again to Launch Complex 39A on February 9.[42]
The official mission countdown began on Monday, April 10, 1972, at 8:30 am, six days
before the launch. At this point the Saturn V rocket's three stages were powered up, and
drinking water was pumped into the spacecraft. As the countdown began, the crew of
Apollo 16 was participating in final training exercises in anticipation of a launch on April
16. The astronauts underwent their final preflight physical examination on April 11.
[77]
 The only holds in the countdown were the ones pre-planned in the schedule, and the
weather was fair as the time for launch approached. [2]