NASA revisits Apollo's lunar landing sites.

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    NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been sending  back the sharpest images yet of the Apollo landing sites. After the LRO moved into a lower orbit,  new images released today let you easily see details such as the landing site, the astronauts' footpath, and lunar rover tracks.

    Here is the Apollo 17 landing site where Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt were the last astronauts to walk on the moon.

    Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ASU

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    Here are newly released images of Apollo 12 where Pete Conrad and Alan Bean called home.

    Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ASU

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    In this image you can see the paths taken in both directions by Edgar Mitchell and Alan Shepherd on the Apollo 14 mission. The close-up is of the descent stage of the lunar module Antares.

    Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ASU

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    Apollo 13 may not have landed on the moon but it left its mark there. The Saturn IVB upper stage made a crater that's about 30 meters in diameter.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    Here's a map of where the Apollo missions landed.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    In October 2009, the LRO returned this image of the first lunar landing site for Apollo 11.

    Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ASU

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    Tranquility Base in more detail.

    Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ASU

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    Here's the Falcon and related gear from Apollo 15.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    The sun was high over the Apollo 16 landing site when the LRO snapped this image in July 2010. Astronauts John Young and Charles Duke set up a line of geophones to track seismic activity.

    Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ASU

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    The Cayley Plains (smooth areas) and Descartes Mountains are seen surrounding the Apollo 16 landing site. Scientists had thought that the mountains were formed by volcanoes. But the astonauts' investigation showed that it primarily consisted of impact-formed rocks (breccias).

    Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ASU

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    This image of the Apollo 15 landing site was take by the Japan's SELENE HDTV camera.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    The bases of 6 lunar landers can still be found on the lunar surface.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    This is one of 3 lunar rovers that will stay on the moon until someone salvages it.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    A flag and plaque was left at every landing site, although this flag at the Apollo 11 site was blown over by the draft from the takeoff of the Lunar Module.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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    A slew of scientific equipment such as this Apollo 15 lunar laser ranging retroreflector array was also left behing. Three of these instruments, which are 105 x 65 cm ,are located at different landing sites to serve as targets for lasers from Earth. They are used for assigning lattitude and longitude to points on the moon.

    Caption by: Andy Smith

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NASA's latest moon explorer sends back photos of what Apollo astronauts left behind on the lunar surface.

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NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been sending  back the sharpest images yet of the Apollo landing sites. After the LRO moved into a lower orbit,  new images released today let you easily see details such as the landing site, the astronauts' footpath, and lunar rover tracks.

Here is the Apollo 17 landing site where Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt were the last astronauts to walk on the moon.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ASU

Caption by: Andy Smith

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