Date: July 26-August 7, 1971
Crew: Commander Dave Scott (39)
Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden (39)
Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin (41)
Command Module Call Sign: Endeavour
Lunar Module Call Sign: Falcon
Moon Landing Site: Hadley Rille at the foot of Apennine Mountains
Mission Distinctions: Fourth moon landing; first landing in the lunar mountains; first use of the Lunar Rover; first launch of a sub-satellite into lunar orbit from the surface of the moon.
The crew named their craft for the ship commanded by Captain James Cook, whose barque Endeavour sailed in 1768 from England to Tahiti to observe the passed of the planet Venus between Earth and the Sun. The LM was dubbed Falcon, in honor of the Air Force mascot for the all-Air Force crew.
The Apennine mountains are higher than the Sierra Nevadas and the Himalayas.
During 67 hours on the moon (Buzz & Neil had only spent two and a half!), they drove the electrically-powered lunar rover nearly 18 miles on three geologic scouting trips.
On the 3rd EVA, Scott gave the TV audience a practical demonstration of Galileo’s discovery that falling objects, unhindered by atmospheric friction, drop at the same speed. He used his geological hammer and a falcon feather.
The lunar rover had a camera mounted on it, so mission control could see, close-up and in real time, exactly what the astronauts saw.
When the crew returned, they displayed the amazing white anorthositic "Genesis Rock" they had found, a piece of lunar crust dated at over 4 billion years old!
Currently, the Apollo 15 Command Module Endeavour is on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The ascent stage of the Lunar Module Falcon impacted the moon on 26.36 N, 0.25 E, August 3, 1971. The descent stage is still at the Hadley-Apennine Lunar Canyons.
ps- did anyone catch the dates? :)
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