Apollo 15

fourth Moon landing and ninth crewed flight of the United States Apollo program

Apollo 15 was the ninth crewed flight of NASA's Apollo program. It was the fourth mission to land on the surface of the Moon and the first J-Type mission. Apollo 15 was launched on July 26, 1971.[16]: 77  Alfred Worden stayed in orbit in the Command Module, Endeavour, while the Lunar Module, Falcon, landed at Hadley Base, with David Scott and James Irwin. The astronauts used the first Lunar Roving Vehicle to travel on the Moon.[17] This vehicle was specially designed to work in a vacuum, with a wide range of temperatures across rough ground. They travelled a distance of 17.5 mi (28 km) on the Moon.[18] They spent three days (66 hours, 55 minutes) on the Moon. They were able to collect a lot of rock samples, including a core sample from at least 10 ft (3 m) deep.[18]

Apollo 15
Jim Irwin salutes the United States flag on the Moon, August 1, 1971
Mission typeCrewed lunar landing
OperatorNASA[1]
COSPAR ID
  • CSM: 1971-063A
  • LM: 1971-063C[2]
SATCAT no.
  • CSM: 5351
  • LM: 5366[2]
Mission duration12 days, 7 hours, 11 minutes, 53 seconds[3]
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft
Manufacturer
Launch mass48,599 kilograms (107,142 lb)
Landing mass5,321 kilograms (11,731 lb)[6]
Crew
Crew size3
Members
Callsign
  • CSM: Endeavour
  • LM: Falcon
EVAs1 in cislunar space and 4 on the lunar surface[7]
EVA duration39 minutes, 7 seconds[7]
Spacewalk to retrieve film cassettes
Start of mission
Launch dateJuly 26, 1971, 13:34:00.6 (1971-07-26UTC13:34Z) UTC[8]
RocketSaturn V AS-510[9]
Launch siteKennedy LC-39A
End of mission
Recovered byUSS Okinawa[3]
Landing dateAugust 7, 1971, 20:45:53 (1971-08-07UTC20:45:54Z) UTC[3]
Landing siteNorth Pacific Ocean
26°7′N 158°8′W / 26.117°N 158.133°W / 26.117; -158.133 (Apollo 15 splashdown)[3]
Orbital parameters
Reference systemSelenocentric[10]
Periselene101.5 kilometers (54.8 nmi)[10]
Aposelene120.8 kilometers (65.2 nmi)[10]
Inclination23 degrees[10]
EpochJuly 30, 1971[10]
Lunar orbiter
Spacecraft componentCommand and service module
Orbital insertionJuly 29, 1971, 20:05:46 UTC[7]
Orbital departureAugust 4, 1971, 21:22:45 UTC[7]
Orbits74[11]
Lunar lander
Spacecraft componentLunar module
Landing dateJuly 30, 1971, 22:16:29 UTC[7]
Return launchAugust 2, 1971, 17:11:23 UTC[7]
Landing site26°07′56″N 3°38′02″E / 26.1322°N 3.6339°E / 26.1322; 3.6339[12]
Sample mass77 kilograms (170 lb)[3]
Surface EVAs4 (including standup)
EVA duration
  • 19 hours, 7 minutes, 53 seconds[7]
  • Standup: 33 minutes, 7 seconds[7]
  • First: 6 hours, 32 minutes, 42 seconds[13]
  • Second: 7 hours, 12 minutes, 14 seconds[14]
  • Third: 4 hours, 49 minutes, 50 seconds[15]
Lunar rover
Distance covered27.9 kilometers (17.3 mi)[3]
Docking with LM
Docking dateJuly 26, 1971, 17:07:49 UTC[7]
Undocking dateJuly 30, 1971, 18:13:16 UTC[7]
Docking with LM Ascent Stage
Docking dateAugust 2, 1971, 19:10:25 UTC[7]
Undocking dateAugust 3, 1971, 01:04:01 UTC[7]
Payload
Mass
  • PFS-1: 78.5 pounds (35.6 kg)
  • LRV: 463 pounds (210 kg)[11]

Left to right: Scott, Worden, Irwin 

References

change
  1. Orloff, Richard W. (September 2004) [2000]. "Table of Contents". Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference. NASA History Series. Washington, D.C.: NASA. ISBN 978-0-16-050631-4. Archived from the original on August 23, 2007. Retrieved July 18, 2009.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Apollo 15 Lunar Module /ALSEP". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Mission Report, p. 3.
  4. "Apollo 15 Command Module". Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. March 17, 2016. Archived from the original on July 22, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  5. "Lunar Module LM-2". Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. March 21, 2016. Archived from the original on January 15, 2020. Retrieved March 7, 2019.
  6. Mission Report, p. 263.
  7. 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 Orloff, Richard W. (September 27, 2005) [2000]. "Apollo 15 timeline". Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference. NASA History Series. Washington, D.C.: NASA. ISBN 978-0-16-050631-4. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  8. Mission Report, p. 1.
  9. Orloff & Harland, p. 426.
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Mission Report, pp. 10–11.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Orloff, Richard W. (September 27, 2005) [2000]. "Apollo 15 The Ninth Mission: The Fourth Lunar Landing 26 July-7 August 1971". Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference. NASA History Series. Washington, D.C.: NASA. ISBN 978-0-16-050631-4. Retrieved January 29, 2019.
  12. "NASA NSSDC Master Catalog – Apollo 15 LM descent stage". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Archived from the original on February 19, 2017. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  13. Mission Report, p. 15.
  14. Mission Report, pp. 15–16.
  15. Mission Report, p. 16.
  16. Furniss, Tim (2001). The History of Space Vehicles. London: Grange Books. ISBN 1-84013-370-8.
  17. Lang, Kenneth R. (2011). The Cambridge Guide to the Solar System (Second ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 172. ISBN 978-0-521-19857-8.
  18. 18.0 18.1 "NASA - Apollo 15". nasa.gov. 2009. Retrieved August 11, 2012.