NASA Pics Show Apollo Leftovers on Moon

(AP)  First-ever NASA photos of the moon show the leftovers from man's exploration 40 years ago.

The photos from space pinpoint equipment left behind from Apollo landings, and even the well-worn tracks made by astronauts on the moon surface. They were released Friday, in time for the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing on July 20, 1969.

The images are from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which was launched last month and now circles the moon in search of future landing sites. A photo of the Apollo 11 site shows the Eagle lunar module used by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.

"It was really great to see the hardware sitting on the surface, waiting for us to come back," said Arizona State University scientist Mark Robinson, who runs the camera on the orbiter. "You could actually see the descent module sitting on the surface."

But that's only if you know where to look. NASA helps out by putting a giant arrow on each photo. The lunar landers look to be square white blobs; the Eagle is a fuzzy image near a crater.

NASA landed on the moon six times, but the orbital camera so far has only photographed five of the landing sites. Apollo 12 will be done later. That leaves Apollo 11 and Apollo 14 through 17. Apollo 13 never landed on the moon because of an explosion on board the ship on the way to the moon.

The images for Apollo 14 are the best so far. Taken on Wednesday, they show the path made by astronauts Alan Shepard Jr. and Edgar Mitchell as they went back and forth from the lander to the work site.

Robinson said the route was "a high traffic zone, sort of like when you go in an old building and the carpet is worn down." A similar but lighter path could be seen at the Apollo 17 site.

Also at the Apollo 14 site, a close examination shows a trail made by the cart used to carry tools, Robinson said.

The photos varied in quality based on how high up the satellite was and the angle of the sun. For Apollo 11, the spaceship was taking pictures from 70 miles above. For Apollo 14, it was six miles closer.

In the next couple months, as the lunar satellite starts its mission to map the moon for future landing sites for astronauts, it will get much better photos, Robinson said. The mission is a first step in NASA's effort to return humans to the moon by 2020.

Other robotic probes, including those launched by Japan and India, have looked for signs that man was on the moon, but their cameras weren't strong enough, NASA officials said.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter was launched with a second spacecraft that was designed to crash into the moon in the fall to try to find buried ice. The total cost of the mission is $583 million.



On the Net:

NASA's LRO site: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html

[avraams]

The photos were modified using Adobe Photoshop. Download any of those pictures from NASA's website and open them with a hex editor (or just with notepad) and you will see somewhere in the beginning: "Photoshop CS Windows 2009:07:17 13:59:53 CS Windows 2009:07:17 13:59:53".

[daffy64]

i used to believe that a man walked on the moon. but then, nasa told on themselves when they failed to send another man to the moon in spite of the fact that the space program has advance considerably over the decades! it does,nt add up. man walked on the moon like michael jackson did the moon walk on the moon! it just did'nt happen!

__

It's a question of money, not ability. During Apollo, Nasa was using about 10% of the US GDP. Now it's only a fraction of that. Also, the political willpower has not been in evidence since JFK gave his moon speech.

Of course they went to the moon. They could do it again in five years. Given 10% of the GDP again. But that isn't going to happen so they have to creep along at their regular funding pace to get back.

Besides, it the moon landing were faked as some sort of massive conspiracy, why in the world would todays next generation of scientist who flew this satellite take part in it 40 YEARS LATER?

Tens of thousands of ethical people were able to keep this secret for 40 years and NOBODY came forward to say it was faked? Not even one????

It's absurd.

[ToolMangler1]

by legacyabq July 18, 2009 2:18 PM EDT
"How do we know that they didn't photoshop those photos to make it LOOK like leftovers from a moon landing that never happened?...... "



The Moon Landing took place 20 years before Photoshop ever existed. Good enough????

[belwin-2009]

Figures. The first thing we're known for after visiting a new world is leaving behind a junk car.

[legacyabq]

"How do we know that they didn't photoshop those photos to make it LOOK like leftovers from a moon landing that never happened?...... "


We dont.
How do we know there arent pink unicorns and leprechauns?
We dont.

**But** if your IQ is better then 76 or so, you should know the answer already.

I feel sorry for people who have to have ridiculous conspiracies give meaning to their lives. Yeah, some 8000 workers, governments, military, THEY ALL agreed to participate in a VAST conspiracy, and still do to this day.
I really do feel sorry for you if you beleive that. Seriously, getting to the moon isnt that big of a deal. I mean, we launch shuttles all the time. We have a space station floating up there.We have sent probes to the moons of jupiter. Read about Titan on wikipedia.

To put it short, people who think this is a conspiracy of some kind are laughably childish, and thoroughly stupid. Why am I even wasting my time?

[daffy64]

Not only that, but why would the NEW generation of scientists who flew this new satellite take part in this 40 year old conspiracy?

Give me a break.

[heliocracy]

Look, if we spent four percent of the federal budget on a single space program goal, each year for nine years, as they did in the sixties, we could land men on the Moon or even Mars.

But if we did that, we would have to tax the rich like they did in the sixties, and the GOP would never allow that. We can't even have decent roads and bridges because it would mean taxing people. The rich get the tax breaks, the middle-class pay the same amount as always, but it's they and the poor who have to deal with the consequences...poor infrastructure, inadequate public schools, not enough firemen.

That's what the GOP wants for you, now go out and vote for it, you m*orons!

[spt12345]

Yeah, dammit! The rich only pay 90% of the taxes the way it is now. Selfish bastards! They should pay 99%!!

[johninpennsyl]

Forty years ago we flew to the moon and back,without a hitch.
Now we have a piece of junk that barely goes anywhere,and blows up and kills the occupants once in a while.
Did we forget everything we learned from 40 years ago?
Or was it baloney? I vote baloney.
The real question is-if it was false-who stole all that money?

[daffy64]

Better watch out. There's a bigfoot under your bed. And is that the Loch Ness monster in your swimming pool?

[Noval53]

Maybe now "some" of the Flat Earth folks will wake up to the real world and recognize that the Apollo Missions really happened. It is too bad that we've gone no where since, and flying circles for 30+ years in the Shuttle bus does not count as going some where. In this time of drastic budget problems, NASA is not likely to go anywhere beyond earth's orbit anytime soon.

[denacahill]

When is NASA going to start telling the truth about whats really been going on,on the moon ? Its about time for the Disclosure Project to do what they said they were going to do at the end of May and then at the end of June,2009. Still not a word!

[earth562]

Its all because of Globull Warming according to the great one ...Al Gore