WASHINGTON (AP) — A spacecraft
circling the moon has snapped the sharpest photos ever of the tracks and
trash left behind by Apollo astronauts in their visits from 1969 to
1972.
Images taken by NASA's
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from 13 to 15 miles up show the astronauts'
paths when they walked on the moon, as well as ruts left by a moon
buggy. Experts could even identify the backpacks astronauts pitched out
of their lunar landers before they returned to Earth.
"What we're seeing is a trail," said
Arizona State University geology professor Mark Robinson, the orbiter's
chief scientist. "It's totally awesome."
However, the photos were not close
enough to see individual bootprints, Robinson said.
The pictures were taken two weeks ago in August
and show the landing sites for Apollo 12, 14 and 17. The closest images
are of the 1972 Apollo 17 site, the last moon mission.
Apollo 17 Commander Eugene Cernan
wrote in an email to The Associated Press that the photo gives him a
chance to revisit those days, "this time with a little nostalgia and
disappointment. Nostalgia because those special days are fondly etched
in my memory and disappointment because it looks like now we will not be
going back within the days I have left on this planet."
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