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401 a This impressive and detailed view of Humboldt and its floor was recorded looking south east during the second revolution of the spacecraft with the 500mm telephoto lens which was used for the first time on Apollo 12. Humboldt is a large lunar impact crater (207km in diameter) located near the eastern limb of the nearside of the Moon. Latitude / longitude: 28° S / 80.5° E.
“Looking back to the southeast on the lunar surface, the crew took this dramatic view of the crater Humboldt. The central peaks appear ‘snow’ white because of the high-Sun elevation angle. The arcuate fractures within Humboldt are evidence of the forces working on the surface of the Moon to change the lunar topography” (NASA SP-235, p.12).
401 b This oblique photograph was taken over Crater Bohnenberger (left) in the Pyrenees Mountains area with the 500mm telephoto lens. It also shows the 12-km Crater Bohnenberger G (center). Bohnenberger (33km in diameter) is a lunar impact crater that lies near the east edge of the Sea of Nectar, in the foothills of the Pyrenees mountain range that forms the perimeter of the Sea. Latitude / longitude: 16.5° S / 41° E.392
401 c The future Apollo 14 Fra Mauro landing site, located in the highland region in the shadow area of the photograph, was still in darkness when the photograph was taken at the lunar nearside terminator (the boundary between day and night on the Moon) with the 80mm lens. Latitude / longitude: 2.5° S / 14° W.
“This view is representative of the lunar surface as seen by the crew as they crossed the terminator twice every orbit” (NASA SP-235, p.14).
Alan Bean observed later, “if you look down at the Moon, it doesn’t look that rugged until you get over near where the terminator is. It’s only when it gets in these long shadows, and the shadows start making these jagged lines, that you can see how rugged the Moon is. When you’re like, at noon, hell, everything just looks like flat craters” (Chaikin, Voices, p.39).
401 d The photograph was taken looking north with the 250mm telephoto lens over Crater Mendeleev and shows the floor of this large lunar impact crater (330km in diameter) located on the far side of the Moon and known as Basin IX until the early 1970s. Latitude / Longitude: 5.7°N / 140.9°E.
087:53:45 Conrad: Here’s a goddamn cliff and a bunch of mountains. Look at them! 087:53:51 Bean: Look at - that’s... 087:53:52 Conrad: That’s that one I wanted some pictures of. 087:53:55 Bean: We got pictures of it. 087:53:56 Conrad: No, that’s another better set of them. 087:53:58 Bean: I took pictures... 087:53:59 Gordon: No, that’s the same bunch. 087:54:00 Conrad: Yes, but we’re closer is what I’m saying. 087:54:01 Gordon: Give me the camera then, quickly.
“There’s no doubt in your mind that it (the Moon) was smaller than the Earth, once you got there. You’re only sixty miles above it, and it’s all curved away from you.” Pete Conrad (Chaikin, Voices, p.42)
401 e The photograph was taken with the 250mm lens over the lunar farside on revolution 3 soon before acquisition of signal with the Earth.
From the mission transcript as the astronauts were about to acquire signal with the Earth at the end of their third pass over the lunar farside:
087:59:45 Conrad: It’s a different Moon over here, and it’s not - never apparent to me when it starts changing.
401 f The photograph was taken near the lunar nearside terminator from an altitude of 60 nautical miles through the 250mm telephoto lens (latitude/ longitude: 5.5° S / 14.2° W) during one of the orbital passes between orbit 3 and 12. Gordon was obtaining a low-oblique stereo coverage of the area of Fra Mauro which was originally planned as the landing site for Apollo 13 but became the landing site for Apollo 14 due to the accident of Apollo 13. The Apollo 14 landing site is out of shot at the top of the photograph.
401 g These views were taken from the Command Module with the 250mm telephoto lens from 60 nautical miles above the surface during revolution 3. At the end of this pass, Conrad and Bean transferred to the LM Intrepid to check the communication system in preparation for the landing.
Davy (34km in diameter, latitude / longitude: 10.5° S / 7° W) is a small lunar impact crater located on the eastern edge of the Sea of Clouds with Davy Rille visible to the east in the second photograph. Davy Rille was “a potential landing site for a future lunar mission, with the proposed landing site at the point where the rille touches the highlands” (NASA SP-235, p.16) and thus an important “target of opportunity” for the astronauts.
LITERATURE: NASA SP-235, p.16 (second photograph).
From the mission transcript just after acquisition of signal with the Earth on orbit 3:
088:02:39 Conrad: We’re in the process of - Al is photographing off the target-of-opportunity chart here in order, and we’re trying to get as much of that stuff done as we can. 088:02:54 Weitz (Mission Control): Roger, 12.
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