NASA APOLLO 17 MISSION ( 1972)
Mons Vinogradov (1, 400 m / 1, 4 km - 4, 593ft / 0,86 mi)
The Moon
In Mons Vinogradov seen from Apollo 17 spaceship during the Moon approach, 1972, Arizona State University,
Apollo Image Archive
Mons Vinogradov (1, 400 m / 1, 4 km - 4, 593ft / 0,86 mi) is a rugged massif that is located on the lunar mare where Oceanus Procellarum to the southwest joins Mare Imbrium to the east. There are three primary peaks in this formation, which rise to altitudes of 1.0–1.4 km above the surface. To the east of this rise is the crater Euler, and to the southeast is an area of rugged ground that reaches the Montes Carpatus range. The Carpatus mountain range forms the southwest boundary of the Mare Imbrium.
The selenographic coordinate of Mons Vinogradov is 22.4 N, 32.4 W, and it has a maximum diameter of 25 km at the base. It was named after Aleksandr P. Vinogradov. This mountain was formerly named Euler Beta (β), or Mons Euler.
In the rugged ground just to the southeast of this mountain is a set of tiny craters that have been assigned names by the IAU. These are listed in the table below.
The mission
Apollo 17 was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program.
Launched at 12:33 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on December 7, 1972, with a crew made up of Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt, it was the last use of Apollo hardware for its original purpose; after Apollo 17, extra Apollo spacecraft were used in the Skylab and Apollo–Soyuz programs.
Apollo 17 was the first night launch of a U.S. human spaceflight and the final manned launch of a Saturn V rocket. It was a "J-type mission" which included three days on the lunar surface, extended scientific capability, and the third Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). While Evans remained in lunar orbit in the Command/Service Module (CSM), Cernan and Schmitt spent just over three days on the Moon in the Taurus–Littrow valley and completed three moonwalks, taking lunar samples and deploying scientific instruments. Evans took scientific measurements and photographs from orbit using a Scientific Instruments Module mounted in the Service Module.
The landing site was chosen with the primary objectives of Apollo 17 in mind: to sample lunar highland material older than the impact that formed Mare Imbrium, and investigate the possibility of relatively new volcanic activity in the same area. Cernan, Evans and Schmitt returned to Earth on December 19 after a 12-day mission.
Apollo 17 is the most recent manned Moon landing and the most recent time humans travelled beyond low Earth orbit. It was also the first mission to have no one on board who had been a test pilot; X-15 test pilot Joe Engle lost the lunar module pilot assignment to Schmitt, a scientist.
The mission broke several records: the longest moon landing, longest total extravehicular activities (moonwalks), largest lunar sample, and longest time in lunar orbit.
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2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
