Planets and Moons ID: 11679

Revisiting The Moon Landing

Story by Kayvon Sharghi | Visualizations by Ernie Wright Released on November 4, 2014

On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin safely touched down on the near side of the moon in a large basin known as Mare Tranquillitatis. Within hours of landing, they donned their spacesuits and ventured out onto the moon's surface, becoming the first humans to step foot on another world. Now, scientists have created a 3-D model of the historic landing site using data collected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). A camera aboard the spacecraft has been imaging the moon since 2009, providing detailed maps of the heavily cratered terrain. Included in the model is an LRO image that shows the descent stage of the landing vehicle, experiments set up by the astronauts and tracks left behind on the lunar surface. Watch the video for a tour of the landing site.

Story Credits

Lead Visualizer/Animator:
Ernie Wright (USRA)

Producers:
David Ladd (USRA)
Andrew Chaikin

Lead Scientist:
Noah Petro (NASA/GSFC)

Project Support:
Laurence Schuler (ADNET Systems, Inc.)
Ian Jones (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

Lead Writer:
Kayvon Sharghi (USRA)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Images courtesy of NASA

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11679

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Planets and Moons