Apollo 16 Mission

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The Apollo 16 mission is not as well documented as most of the other Apollo missions. There were not any near disastrous malfunctions and the scientific contributions were nearly routine by the time the mission launched. It did mark the next to last mission that was actually launched. Apollo 17 was the final mission to the Moon, despite three other planned missions. Despite it being nearly anonymous, the mission did accomplish a few milestones. Those milestones as well as other functional mission information can be found in the links below.

Here are a few Apollo 16 facts that may help pique your interest in the mission.

Apollo 16 was the first mission to explore what is considered to be highlands areas of the Moon.

A small malfunction nearly caused the lunar landing to be aborted. Why not look into what a yaw gimbal servo loop is?

The mission was ‘science based’, so it was the mission to use the Moon as an astronomical observatory.

Most Lunar Modules were ejected and sent for lunar impact after reconnecting to the Command Module. The LM on this mission did not cleanly disconnect, so it went into lunar orbit for over a year before impacting in an unknown location.

Even though Apollo 16 is not famous for any outstanding accomplishments, there were many contributions made to our space knowledge. Every mission during the Apollo program has had some significance over the years. Be sure to check out the links below and to follow the links within each article. As always, enjoy your research.

• Apollo 16
• Apollo 16 Photos