LRO’s Closer Look at Apollo 11 Landing Site

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Here are the first images of the Apollo 11 landing site since the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter dropped into its 50 km mapping orbit. The sun is almost straight overhead on this image so there’s no real shadows visible. What’s great about this image is that we can actually see the footpads on the Lunar Module from which Armstrong made his giant leap for mankind! See the closeup below for more details. The other great thing about this top image is that we get a good look at West Crater, which is the rocky area that Neil Armstrong saw as the LM neared the surface. The computer trajectory would have taken them right in the middle of that boulder field, so Armstrong flew manually to change the flight plan to fly westward to find a safe landing spot. This image is 742 meters wide (about 0.46 miles). North is towards the top of the image.

At this altitude, very small details of Tranquility Base can be discerned. The footpads of the LM are clearly discernible, and components of the Early Apollo Science Experiments Package (EASEP) are easily seen, as well. Very cool.

Source: NASA