Page 106 - The Appollo Story

.------- -------1 The Apollo Story1-----------

Apollo 16 (AS-511) The Highlands Of Descartes
'Well, old Orion is finally here, Houston,' announced Duke as they touched down nearly six hours late.
The lunar module (LM) landed approximately 905 feet (276 meters) northwest of the planned landing site
and metres away from a large crater.
After landing, Young and Duke began powering down some of the LM's systems to conserve battery
power. Upon completing their initial adjustments, the pair configured Orion for their three-day stay on
the lunar surface, removed their space suits and took initial geological observations of the immediate
landing site. They then settled down for their first meal on the surface. After eating, they configured the
cabin for their first sleep period on the Moon. The landing delay caused by the malfunction in the Com-
mand/Service Module's main engine necessitated significant modifications to the mission schedule.
Apollo 16 would spend one less day in lunar orbit after surface exploration had been completed to afford
the crew contingency time to compensate for any further problems and to conserve expendables. In order
to improve Y oung's and Duke's sleep schedule, the third and final moonwalk of the mission was trimmed
from seven hours to five.

APOLL0 16

APOLLO 16 - MOONLANDING - APRIL 20 1972 - Pro-
blems began shortly after 3 p.m. when com~and module
pilot Ken Mattingly was .supposed to fire the main space-
craft engine to lift the command module "Casper" in an
orbit higher than the lunar lander "Orion" - only one of
the two systems was working. Trouble shooting the problem
at Mission control, engineers found that the two main
· .<i"v.s! 1.-rer< \l\lere-v\rork'ing well. The problem was down the line
in one of two electronic feedback loops. T his eased worries
considerably and Apollo 16 was given t he "go" and landed
on the moon at 9:23 p.m. - six hours later than scheduled.

Colorano ''Silk" Cachet

• 0Pion lands
at DescaPtes
9:23pm EST

~ ApPil 20th
CHARLES DUKE JOHN YOUNG

KEN MATTINGLY
- maps Moon
in 'Casper'
obtain rock samples and activate experiments Apollo 16
Voong & Duke explore Descartes area in 3 rides,