On the moon, discovered the place of the fall of the rocket booster Apollo 16

The same impact crater (photo: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State University)

Jeff Plescia (Jeff Plescia), a physicist at Johns Hopkins University, was able to detect the impact crater obtained when the Apollo 16 rocket accelerator collided with the lunar surface. The scientist discovered the impact crater 44 years after the event took place. Apollo 16 is the fifth NASA mission, during which people landed on the moon and returned to Earth. The astronauts conducted a series of experiments, among them - the collision of the 3rd stage of the Saturn V rocket with the surface of the moon.

This experiment allowed scientists to conduct a series of seismic measurements to study the structure and composition of the subsurface layers of the Earth’s satellite. Unfortunately, the data on the collision site of the accelerator and the Moon disappeared, so scientists for a long time could not find out exactly where the collision occurred.

But now a scientist from Johns Hopkins University, who has long been engaged in the search for lost spacecraft and their parts in space, used high-resolution images obtained with the LROC system tool. This tool is installed on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter .
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“I finally discovered the Apollo 16 SIVB crater,” the scientist said.

Apollo 16 is the tenth manned flight under the Apollo program, which took place from April 16 to April 27, 1972. The fifth landing of people on the moon (April 21). The first landing in a mountainous area, on a plateau near the crater Descartes. It was the second, after Apollo 15, the J-mission (English J-mission) with an emphasis on scientific research. The astronauts (like the crew of the previous expedition) had a lunar vehicle, the Lunar Rover number 2, at its disposal. The landing on the moon was almost canceled due to problems in the backup thrust vector control system of the main engine of the command and service module. After a thorough analysis by specialists on Earth of the current situation and possible consequences, permission to land was given with a 6-hour delay.