Apollo 17 Landing Site

The last Lunar Module (Apollo 17) landed in the Taurus Littrow Valley in December of 1972. A key science goal was to collect impact melt rocks to date the Serenitatis basin. Astronauts Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan sampled rocks from South and North Massifs and the Sculptured Hills, during three extra-vehicular activities lasting a total of 22 hours. Before the samples were returned, most geologists believed this basin to be relatively old. The samples were interpreted to imply that the Serenitatis basin was much younger than previously thought; nearly the same age as the mighty Imbrium basin. However, since then, the LROC images seem to confirm that the Serenitatis basin may indeed be relatively ancient and the Sculptured Hills are Imbrium ejecta. The engineering and science results from Apollo 17 were an amazing capstone to the Apollo program.

Latitude: 20.1911°
Longitude: 30.7723°
Camera: NAC
Image Width: 15.0 km
Image(s): M142061915LR, M142068699LR
Download Image

Back to Exhibit