APOD: Apollo 11 Landing Site Panorama (2012 Aug 30)

[BillBixby]

Second time posting, and this time I am sure it is to the wrong forum.

To which forum should it be posted? My memory of the moon landing and the first walk did not involve a lot of “live” coverage. I read about it as a note in the news received by our submarine radio. Terrific news that mankind had finally achieved the nearly impossible and even better news upon learning of the safe return of the astronauts.

I had spent time looking up at bottom of the working end of rockets and had seen many films and pictures of not so successful rocket launches. My hat is off to all who have dared to ride one of those rockets and to all that helped develop a method for their safe return from the out beyond.

[APODFORIST]

when Armstrong..........taking a moment for a silent salute .........said ' drifting to the right a little ", are there any images of the location causing him to drift to the right a little ?

Maybe the crater shown in the panorama? I don't know.

But I never saw images of the field of boulders which Armstrong was flying over manually moments before touchdown.

[neufer]

What Nixon would've said for Neil and Buzz, stranded on the Moon

<<Imagine: you're riding in a spaceship toward the Moon, cresting on the wave of history itself. What happens if you get there is anyone's guess. It's unthinkable that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin could ever have done less than the impossible, but President Richard Nixon had a speechwriter prepare for the worst.

A million things could have gone wrong with the 1969 Moon landing. Every part was dangerous: the launch, the trip, the landing. Then, of course, the return trip back.

But what could have been the hardest outcome of all was if Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, after landing safely on the Moon, couldn't leave. Faced with that horrible reality, President Nixon would have read from the pages below, a speech he commissioned from William Safire.

• 
  IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER:
  
  Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.
  
  These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.
  
  These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.
  
  They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by their nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.
  
  In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
  
  In ancient days, men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.
  
  Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.
  
  For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

At the end of the second page, you can see the missive also contains the following directions:

• 
  PRIOR TO THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT:
  [list]
  The President should telephone each of the widows-to-be.

AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT, AT THE POINT WHEN NASA ENDS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MEN:

• A clergyman should adopt the same procedure as a burial at sea, commending their souls to "the deepest of the deep," concluding with the Lord's Prayer.

[/color][/size][/list]
It's a chilling prospect, and hopefully one we never have to face.>>

[Boomer12k]

Look at the control rocket on the left side, the one that is lit....click on the picture to the get the other page, and click again to enlarge the photo....look at that control rocket....THERE APPEARS TO BE A FACE!!!!! I wonder if it is NEIL'S REFLECTION?!?!?! BUT WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE A GRAY??????? Everything about the Control Rocket is Uniform around it....it looks like something standing behind NEIL, a reflection on the WINDOW...not the control rocket!!!

Nice Panorama!!! Like being there!

Thanks, NEIL!!!!!!!!!!

:---[===] *

[FLPhotoCatcher]

Good panorama and tribute to Neil Armstrong.

I see no reflection of a face, and I looked twice. I do see some squares above the horizon that could be partially cloaked borg cubes.

[Donn]

Look at the control rocket on the left side, the one that is lit....click on the picture to the get the other page, and click again to enlarge the photo....look at that control rocket....THERE APPEARS TO BE A FACE!!!!! I wonder if it is NEIL'S REFLECTION?!?!?! BUT WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE A GRAY??????? Everything about the Control Rocket is Uniform around it....it looks like something standing behind NEIL, a reflection on the WINDOW...not the control rocket!!!

Nice Panorama!!! Like being there!

Thanks, NEIL!!!!!!!!!!

:---[===] *

I am sure whoever was standing behind Neil, Neil told them to Buzz off.

[galaxyshots]

When I make myself stop and think about space flight, to Earth orbit or the Moon, I simply can't comprehend the courage it takes to do that. Oh, it's easy for some of us to say, "Sure, I'd love to go to the Moon", or "Yeah, I'd've flown in a shuttle.", but when push came to shove, I truly think that the bulk of us would've wet our pants profusely just riding in the astro-van out to the pad, present company included. Neil, you had style and grace when you stepped onto the lunar surface. Most of us would have been reduced to gibberish, but you actually spoke an immensely prophetic line - ya gotta love and admire military discipline. Rest well, Neil, and thank you and all those who've braved the frontier of space for diverting our attention from the trivial and nonsensical to something that took astounding bravery and is of incredible importance.

[500pesos]

A few questions I always wanted to ask about the Moon:

Why is the moon so uniformly grey? In all the colour pictures I've seen of the moon (I can tell they are colour because e.g. of the astronauts' spacesuits) there isn't the slightest fleck of colour, ever. It looks like it's 100% made of concrete. Which is weird because we know it is composed of the same minerals that compose Earth (it was a chunk of our planet blown away when Earth collided with another planet that was destroyed in the process) but Earth's ground has all sorts of colours (ofc excluding all flora or fauna elements)! What's up with the grey moon?

(btw. is this also a colour photo? notice some light blue, yellow and red colours reflected on the upside-down cone-like looking thingy to the left)

Other question: what is the temperature on the moon (day-time/night-time)? Is it close to Earth's, or there are much sharper contrasts because the moon has no atmosphere? Like, in this picture, which is taken during daytime, is it scorching hot outside?

[Chris Peterson]

Why is the moon so uniformly grey?

In fact, there are distinct color variations across the Moon, but they are subtle in terms of what we see on Earth. The lunar surface is primarily basalt, which is equally low color here on Earth. Without water, or an atmosphere, the Moon has never experienced most of the mineralization processes that have produced so much color on Earth. Without complex tectonics and weathering processes, there is no turnover of deep and surface material on the Moon. And what variation does occur mineralogically across the surface is disguised by a surface layer of dust from billions of years of meteorite impacts (the regolith), as well as space weathering from the bombardment of high energy particles. And of course, unlike Earth, there are no biological processes to alter the geology and add colors.

Which is weird because we know it is composed of the same minerals that compose Earth...

No, it is made of similar elemental abundances. Mineralogically the two bodies are very, very different.

(btw. is this also a colour photo?

Yes.

Other question: what is the temperature on the moon (day-time/night-time)? Is it close to Earth's, or there are much sharper contrasts because the moon has no atmosphere? Like, in this picture, which is taken during daytime, is it scorching hot outside?

Without an atmosphere, all the surface heating and cooling is radiative (moderated to a degree by internal conduction, but the regolith has poor thermal conduction). In direct overhead sunlight, the surface heats up to about 120°C. Towards the end of night, it has cooled to about -150°C. The swing remains large as you move towards the poles, and the average drops.

[500pesos]

Many thanks for all this info Chris! Yes, I see now, the two bodies might have started with the same elemental 'heritage' billions of years ago but, you're right, without wind erosion, oxidation, or all sorts of mineralisation resulting from the presence of water, the Moon ended up looking quite different. And, of course, I forgot the moon's surface is constantly 'microwaved' poor thing

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[fausto.lubatti]

Breathtaking: I like to take panorama landscape pictures, but thinking that this has been taken on our moon...