Apollo 15

Spacecraft· NASAinactive

Apollo 15 — the first mission to carry the Lunar Roving Vehicle (July-August 1971), exploring the Hadley-Apennine region; Dave Scott dropped a hammer and a feather to test Galileo's law of falling bodies.

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Key facts

Distance from Sun

1.01 AU

Status

Completed

Launched

1971

Mission & specifications

Mission

Operator: NASA
Launched: July 26, 1971
Status: Completed

Trajectory

Distance from the Sun: 1.01 AU
Distance from Earth: 0.207 AU
Distance from Venus: 0.504 AU

Mission

Apollo 15 was the first of the ambitious 'J-class' missions — longer stays, deeper science, and the first Lunar Roving Vehicle. Launched on 26 July 1971, David Scott, Alfred Worden and James Irwin targeted the spectacular Hadley-Apennine region, where a towering mountain front meets a winding lava channel called Hadley Rille. Scott and Irwin became the first astronauts to drive on the Moon, ranging kilometres from the lander in their electric rover across three days of exploration and covering far more ground than any crew before them. Their most famous find was the 'Genesis Rock', an ancient fragment of the Moon's original crust. As a closing demonstration broadcast to the world, Scott dropped a geologist's hammer and a falcon feather together — with no air to slow the feather, both struck the lunar dust at the same instant, proving Galileo right for a global audience. Overhead, Worden ran a powerful suite of orbital instruments, and on the way home he made the first deep-space spacewalk to retrieve film canisters. Apollo 15 turned the Moon missions into true scientific expeditions.

1971The first J-mission launchesLaunch
Scott, Worden and Irwin set out for Hadley-Apennine with the first Lunar Roving Vehicle.
1971First drive on the MoonDeployment
Scott and Irwin unfold the electric rover and range kilometres across the Hadley plain.
1971The Genesis RockMilestone
The crew collect an ancient fragment of the Moon's original crust.
1971The hammer and the featherMilestone
Scott drops a hammer and a falcon feather together; with no air to slow it, the feather falls as fast as the hammer.
1971SplashdownMission end
On the way home Worden makes the first deep-space spacewalk to retrieve film from the Service Module.

Images

James Irwin salutes beside the flag, rover and lander at Hadley-Apennine — NASA (public domain) · Wikimedia Commons

At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Apollo 15's Saturn V rocket lifts off from Launch Pad 39A at 9:34 a.m., EDT, July 26, 1971, on a lunar landing mission — NASA/KSC · NASA Image Library

APOLLO XV - (LIFTOFF) - CAPE — N/A · NASA Image Library

Launch - Apollo XV Space Vehicle - KSC — N/A · NASA Image Library

View of activity in Mission Control Center during Apollo 15 EVA — NASA/JSC · NASA Image Library

View of Apollo 15 space vehicle on way from VAB to Pad A, Launch Complex 39 — NASA/JSC · NASA Image Library

View of Apollo 15 space vehicle leaving VAB to Pad A, Launch Complex 39 — NASA/JSC · NASA Image Library

VIew of Mission Control on first day of ASTP docking in Earth orbit — NASA/JSC · NASA Image Library

Images from open archives · credit shown per image