Apollo 16 astronauts drive up mountain, collect rocks in six-mile trip on the Moon 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Apr 22 1972)


Video: 'Apollo 16 Remastered (50th Anniversary) [4K]' (Apr. 22, 1972, at 1:40:56)

(Saturday, April 22, 1972, 11:33:35 a.m. EST; during the Apollo 16 mission to the Moon)Apollo 16 explorers drove halfway up a Moon mountain today, dodging huge boulders, to reach the highest point on the Moon ever visited by man. They were pleased with the accomplishment but disappointed in not finding more crystalline rock.

Astronauts John W. Young and Charles Duke, Jr., covered about six miles on the Moon’s surface, including the rugged 750-to-800-foot drive up to Stone Mountain, high in the Descartes Mountain region.

They returned to the lunar capsule Orion at 6:56:44 p.m. EST, completing the longest Moonwalk up to this time at 7 hours, 23 minutes.

Young and Duke would spend a total of 71 hours on the lunar surface, during which they conducted two more moonwalks (on Apr. 22 and Apr. 23, 1972), totaling 20 hours and 14 minutes.


Video: '1972: Apollo 16 (NASA)' (Apr. 22, 1972, at 16:29)

The pair drove the lunar rover, the second used on the Moon, for 16.6 miles. On the surface, Young and Duke collected 211 pounds of lunar samples for return to Earth, including Big Muley, the largest Moon rock collected during the Apollo missions.

During this time Mattingly orbited the Moon in the command and service module (CSM), taking photos and operating scientific instruments. Mattingly, in the command module, spent 126 hours and 64 revolutions in lunar orbit.

After Young and Duke rejoined Mattingly in lunar orbit, the crew released a subsatellite from the service module (SM).

During the return trip to Earth, Mattingly performed a one-hour spacewalk to retrieve several film cassettes from the exterior of the service module.

Apollo 16 returned safely to Earth on Apr. 27, 1972.