April 10, 2017 - Free Parking on the Moon

Free Parking on the Moon  Apollo 16, launched to the Moon forty-five years ago this week, delivered the second car to the Moon. This fifth successful lunar landing mission was the second to bring along a Lunar Roving Vehicle, seen here with Commander John Young in a photo taken by Lunar Module Pilot Charlie Duke at North Ray Crater. Young and Duke spent three days on the Moon, covering 27 km (17 mi) in the rover during three separate excursions outside their Lunar Module Casper. In their explorations of the Descartes Highlands region, Young and Duke set up solar wind and cosmic ray detectors, two seismometers, and a magnetometer. While the pair explored the lunar surface, crew member Thomas Mattingly orbited the Moon in the Command Module Orion.

Image Credit: NASA

Weekly Calendar

April 10-16, 2017

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

 

Monday 10

Passover (begins at sunset)

Jupiter 2° south of Moon

1919: John C. Houbolt born

Tuesday 11

Full Moon 2:08 AM ET

1960: Project Ozma started
1970: Apollo 13 launched
1980: Viking 2 lander mission ends
1984: Challenger retrieves Solar Max
1986: Halley’s Comet closest to Earth

Wednesday 12

Yuri's Night World Space Party

Venus appears stationary

1961: Yuri Gagarin first human in space
1981: STS-1 Columbia launched
1985: STS-51D Discovery launched

Thursday 13

Friday 14

Good Friday

Uranus in conjunction with Sun

1629: Christiaan Huygens born
1972: KSC and Vandenberg AFB picked as shuttle launch sites
1981: STS-1 Columbia lands
2005: Expedition 11 crew launched to International Space Station

Saturday 15

Moon at apogee

1999: Landsat 7 launched

Sunday 16

Easter Sunday

Saturn 3° south of Moon

1867: Wilbur Wright born
1946: First captured V2 rocket launched from White Sands, NM
1965: First test-firing of Saturn V rocket first stage (S-IC)
1972: Apollo 16 launched