Apollo 16

Perigee: 166.7 km
Apogee: 176.0 km
Inclination: 32.542°
Period: 87.85 min
Perilune: 107.6 km
Apolune: 315.4 km
Inclination: 168°
Period: 120 min
Landing Site: 8.97301° S - 15.50019° E or
8° 58' 22.84" S - 15° 30' 0.68" E
LM - CSM docking
Undocked: April 20, 1972 - 18:07:31 UTC
Docked: April 24, 1972 - 03:35:18 UTC
Moon walk
Young and Duke - EVA 1
EVA 1 Start: April 21, 1972, 16:47:28 UTC
EVA 1 End: April 21, 23:58:40 UTC
Duration: 7 hours, 11 minutes, 02 seconds
Young and Duke - EVA 2
EVA 2 Start: April 22, 1972, 16:33:35 UTC
EVA 2 End: April 22, 23:56:44 UTC
Duration: 7 hours, 23 minutes, 09 seconds
Young and Duke - EVA 3
EVA 3 Start: April 23, 1972, 15:25:28 UTC
EVA 3 End: April 23, 21:05:31 UTC
Duration: 5 hours, 40 minutes, 03 seconds
Mattingly - Transearth EVA 4
EVA 4 Start: April 25, 1972, 20:33:46 UTC
EVA 4 End: April 25, 21:57:28 UTC
Duration: 1 hour, 23 minutes, 42 seconds

The splashdown point was 0 deg 43 min S, 156 deg 13 min W, 215 miles (350 km) southeast of Christmas Island and 5 km (3 mi) from the recovery ship USS Ticonderoga.

Mission highlights

A malfunction in the main propulsion system of the lunar module "Orion" nearly caused their Moon landing to be scrubbed but Young and Duke ultimately spent three days exploring the Descartes highland region, while Mattingly circled overhead in "Casper." What was thought to have been a region of volcanism turned out not to be, based on the astronauts' discoveries. Their collection of returned specimens included an 25 pound (11 kg) chunk that was the largest single rock returned by the Apollo astronauts. The Apollo 16 astronauts also conducted performance tests with the lunar rover, at one time getting up to a top speed of 11 miles per hour (18 kilometers per hour).

Introduction

The crew members: John W. Young, commander; Ken Mattingly, command module pilot; and Charles Duke, lunar module pilot. It was a J-class mission, featuring Lunar Rover. It brought back 94.7 kg of lunar samples. It included three lunar EVA: 7.2 hours, 7.4 hours, 5.7 hours and one trans-earth EVA of 1.4. This was only the second trans-earth EVA ever and was used to bring in film from exterior cameras and open an experiment on microbial survival.

The Apollo 16 subsatellite was launched from the CSM while it was in lunar orbit. The subsatellite carried out experiments on magnetic fields and solar particles. It was launched April 24, 1972 at 21:56:09 UTC and orbited the Moon for 34 days and 425 revolutions. It had a mass of 80 lb (36.3 kg) and consisted of a central cylinder and three 1.5 m booms.

Relics

The command module is currently at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, in Huntsville, Alabama. The lunar module separated 24 April 1972 but a loss of attitude control rendered it out of control. It orbited the Moon for about a year. Its impact site on the Moon is unknown.