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> Apollo 17: the orange soil

Apollo 17: the orange soil

author: Nasa/Novapix

reference: e-apo17-30080

Image Size 300 DPI: 32 * 34 cm

A view of the area at Station 4 (Shorty Crater) showing the now highly-publicized orange soil which the Apollo 17 crew members found on the moon during the second Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The tripod-like object is the gnomon and photometric chart assembly which is used as a photographic reference to establish local vertical sun angle, scale and lunar color. The gnomon is one of the Apollo lunar geology hand tools. While astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, commander, and Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot, descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Challenger" to explore the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon, astronaut Ronald E. Evans, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "America" in lunar orbit. Schmitt was the crew man who first spotted the orange soil. 12 Dec. 1972.

Keywords for this photo:

1972 - APOLLO - APOLLO 17 - DUST - FOOTPRINT - GNOMON - HILL - LUNAR ROCK - LUNAR SURFACE - MANNED SPACEFLIGHT - MOON - MOON DUST - ORANGE - SHADOW - SOIL - SPACE -