NASA APOLLO 16 MISSION TO THE HIGHLANDS REPORT 71932
Video from the channel PeriscopeFilm about Apollo 16, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 14:44. Language: English. Video type: Archive footage.
What it shows
Edition of NASA's "Aeronautics and Space Report" devoted to the preparation of Apollo 16. It shows launch vehicle number 511 already assembled and the crew: John Young, 41-year-old commander and veteran of three Gemini and Apollo flights; Charles Duke, 36, who will join him on the surface, and Ken Mattingly, 36, command module pilot. The astronauts explain the plan: three excursions in the Descartes region, deployment of the ALSEP experiment package, a seismometer, a drill for deep samples, and a telescope camera that can be aimed at distant galaxies and at Earth's upper atmosphere. Duke describes handling the Rover lunar vehicle, and Mattingly the spacewalk to retrieve the cassettes from the panoramic and mapping cameras and the subsatellite that will remain in lunar orbit.
When and where it was filmed
It was filmed before the flight, with launch planned for mid-April. It includes Rover deployment tests and extravehicular activity practice in a water tank at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston.
Context
Apollo 16 was to be the first American landing in the highlands, the light-colored areas that cover more than 70% of the near side. Geochemist Robin Brett sums up what samples from earlier missions had revealed: an early metallic core, a molten exterior and intense bombardment by large bodies.