40 Years Since the Apollo 16 Moon Landing

[n2doc]

APR 20 2012, 6:57 AM ET 1


This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 16 lunar landing, the second-to-last mission that brought humans to the moon. Above, the iconic picture of NASA astronaut John Young as he salutes the American flag.

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/04/picture-of-the-day-40-years-since-the-apollo-16-moon-landing/256148/

[Jumping John]

1. Bad Photoshop. Looks like he is suspended above the ground n/t

[Drale]

2. Um he could be

You know there is far less gravity on the moon right? He could have jumped up.

[Jumping John]

3. Yes - But I couldn't resist the obvious.

[DCKit]

4. No footprints, either. Guess he flew over to that spot.

[flyingfysh]

5. I thought I remembered that he jumped for that picture

[pokerfan]

11. Indeed he did

NASA Photo ID: AS16-113-18339 File Name: 10075832.jpg
Film Type: 70mm Date Taken: 04/20/72
Astronaut John W. Young, commander of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission,
leaps from the lunar surface as he salutes the U.S. Flag at the Descartes
landing site during the first Apollo 16 extravehicular activity (EVA-1).
Astronaut Charles M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot, took this picture. The
Lunar Module (LM) "Orion" is on the left. The Lunar Roving Vehicle is
parked beside the LM. The object behind Young in the shade of the LM is
the Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph. Stone Mountain dominates the
background in this lunar scene.

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/AS16/10075832.htm

[Dead_Parrot]

12. Ha! That's just NASA trying to cover-up their obviously bad staging

[bluerum]

7. He does have a shadow that shows he is suspended.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

9. I don't see any problem with the image

Clearly it's a photo taken on the moon.

[Javaman]

13. He jumped for the shot.

it's a very famous video.

Also you will notice that his shaddow matches his position.

[bluerum]

6. Wow. I was 16 and still remember where I was.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

8. View from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

[lastlib]

10. I got to meet Charlie Duke a couple years ago in Virginia--a really cool guy

(for a general...)

[HereSince1628]

14. My memory of that time is that I took most of it for granted.

The fifth trip to the surface of the moon...it seemed like risky business, but also like we'd figured out how to do it and that we were on our way to making such visits routine.

[tclambert]

15. John Young is 81 now.

The youngest astronaut to walk on the Moon is now 76. Three of the twelve have died.

In December, we will mark the 40th anniversary of the last man to walk on the Moon. Ever.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. Wow, it's hard to believe it's already been 40 years

While manned lunar landings only lasted 3 1/2 years, NASA at least continued to capture my imagination during the rest of the decade with the Apollo-Soyuz docking, and the Mariner (Venus), Viking (Mars), Pioneer (Jupiter) and Voyager (Solar System) unmanned programs.

[stevedeshazer]

16. Blake Griffin in a spacesuit.

Too bad they had to leave that Kia behind.

[Gore1FL]

17. It's hard to believe we just gave up on space. (and science--and thus, our economy)

At the time we were going to the moon there were 2 space faring nations.

There are 2 space faring nations today. Neither are the United States.

[jimlup]

19. Scientifically the Apollo 16 site was the most intersting

It was older and much less volcanic than they expected. It was perhaps the key piece of evidence in our current picture of the evolution of the moon.