Moon exploration

Small moonscape strip photo.

Moonscape picture taken by Ranger IX of a crater on the moon.

Moonscape near Surveyor VII is littered with rocks, many of them one foot or more across. Center of this picture, taken January 10, 1968, is 16 feet from Surveyor's television camera. The rocks are part of the debris which forms the rim of Crater Tycho in the southern highlands of the Moon. The lunar terrain near Tycho has more coarse rocks and rocky fragments than were seen at any of the previous Surveyor landing sites.

This photograph was taken by Lunar Orbiter II of the first primary target site in its mission to photograph possible manned landing sites on the Moon. It is the fifth of 16 frames of photography taken at the site. It was taken by Orbiter's medium resolution camera. The picture is composed of parts of 14 framelets. Twenty-six framelets make up a complete medium resolution photograph. The complete medium resolution frame is centered at 35 degrees 26' minutes East longitude and 4 degrees 11' minutes North latitude. It shows regional mare in the Sea of Tranquility.

On November 20, 1966, as it swung high in its elliptical orbit, NASA's Lunar Orbiter II turned its wide angle lens on the southern half of the Moon's hidden side, producing this photograph. During later readout of spacecraft photography, the picture, identified as Frame 70, was transmitted to a tracking station at NASA's Deep Space Net. Viewed with the lunar horizon at the bottom, North is at the top and the Moon's equator runs roughly along the top of the photograph. Surface area covered in the picture is about 580,000 square miles.

Television picture of the Moon taken by Ranger IX prior to impact on March 24, 1965 at 06 08 20 PST. View with shadows to the left. North is at the top. Frame # last A frame. Camera A. Time 2.97 seconds before impact. Spacecraft altitude above Moon 4.5 miles. Dimensions 2.1 by 2.0 miles. Remarks: Shows several larger shallow depressions with "tree bark" texture in their walls, many dimple craters near top and left lower margins. Craters down to 40 feet in size may be seen.

Television picture of the Moon taken by Ranger IX prior to impact on March 24, 1965 at 06 08 20 PST. View with shadows to the left. North is at the top. Frame # next to last A frame. Camera A. Time 8.09 seconds before impact. Spacecraft altitude above Moon 12.2 miles. Dimensions 5.8 miles by 5.3 miles. Remarks: Shows large crater toward left margin which is 1.6 miles across and is situated on shallow rille running upward. A second rille near right margin is resolved as a string of chain craters.

Television picture taken by Ranger IX of the Moon prior to impact on March 24, 1965 at 06 08 20 PST. View with shadows to the left. North is at the top. Frame # eighth from last A frame. Camera A. Time 38.8 seconds before impact. Spacecraft altitude above Moon 58 miles. Dimensions 28 miles by 26 miles. Remarks: Shows region of central peak of Alphonsus with rille running through its shadow toward upper right. Same rille is shown in next to last A frame with larger scale.

Television pictures taken by Ranger IX of the Moon, prior to impact on March 24, 1965 at 06 08 20 PST. View with shadows to the left. North is at the top. Frame # last three P 1 frames. Camera P1. Time: Frame #3-0.453 seconds before impact. Spacecraft altitude above Moon 3/4 of a mile. Dimensions 160 feet by 125 feet for last P1. Remarks: Last three P1 camera frames are shown. The lower picture, #3, being the last in the sequence. Ranger 9 impacted in the circle on the edge of twenty-five foot crater near upper margin. The smallest visible crater is 2-1/2 feet across.

Television picture taken by Ranger IX prior to impact on March 24, 1965 at 06 08 20 PST. View with shadows to the left. North is at the top. Frame #16th from last full B frame. Camera B. Time 1 minute 17 seconds before impact. Spacecraft altitude above Moon 115 miles. Remarks: Shows east edge of Alphonsus floor with part of surrounding wall in right 1/3 of picture. Crater floor is cut by prominent rilles which are lined with dark halo-type craters that have covered part of the rille. The crater walls have soft contours and are almost featureless.