Word: mooning
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...remainder of Apollo 12's mission. Even more important, it proved that U.S. space scientists had profited from the lessons of Apollo 11 -which overshot its target by four miles -and could now confidently plan for manned exploration of the more rugged highland regions of the moon...
...valuable souvenirs. First, he clipped off some of Surveyor's insulated TV cable, which had contained a known quantity of microorganisms when it left the earth; by examining the cable after it is returned to Houston, biologists will learn if any terrestrial bugs survived and multiplied on the moon. Conrad also removed Surveyor's TV camera; a study of its "aging" could help in the design of future lunar equipment. Then he snipped off some glass and shiny tubing for evidence of micrometeorite bombardment. Finally, he removed Surveyor's mechanical scoop, which still contained the dirt that...
Final Mission. Blasting off after a 31-hr. 31-min. stay on the moon, Intrepid's ascent stage quickly gathered speed as it rose above the Ocean of Storms. "Wow, we're really smoking along," Conrad shouted. Within minutes, Intrepid was successfully inserted into a low lunar orbit with an apolune (high point) of about 50 miles. Three hours later, Intrepid was so close to Yankee Clipper that the command module's color TV camera caught a picture of Conrad's face, visible in an LM window. "Stand by to receive the skipper...
Before they crawled back into the mother ship with their booty of moon film, Surveyor parts and an estimated 90 Ibs. of lunar rocks and soil, Conrad and Bean programmed Intrepid's computers for its final mission: a plunge to the lunar surface. Instead of striking the moon at a point about five miles from Surveyor Crater, Intrepid crashed 45 miles away with a force equivalent to the explosion of one ton of TNT. As expected, the ALSEP seismometer recorded the shock about 51 min. later...
...Geological Observatory. Later scientists said that reverberations had lasted as long as 55 minutes. "We've never seen anything like it on earth," said M.I.T. Geophysicist Frank Press. "We're not sure what it means, but probably it will represent a major discovery completely unanticipated about the moon." It could mean, for example, that the structure of the moon's interior is highly unstable and that Intrepid's impact set off a continuing series of collapses...