The Apollo 15 mission
July 26 - August 07, 1971
David R. Scott (commander)
James B. Irwin (lunar module pilot)
Alfred M. Worden (command module pilot)
CSM Endeavour and LM Falcon
12 days, 17 hours, 12 minutes
Landing site: Hadley-Apennine region near the Apennine Mountain range on the fringe of Mare Imbrium
3 EVAs of 18 hours, 30 minutes plus 33-minute Stand-up EVA. Worden performed 38-minute transearth EVA. First mission to carry orbital sensors in service module of CSM. ALSEP deployed. Scientific payload landed on Moon doubled. Improved spacesuits gave increased mobility and stay-time. Lunar surface stay- time, 66.9 hours. Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), electric-powered, 4-wheel drive car, traversed total 27.9 km (17 mi). In lunar orbit 145 hours, with 74 orbits. Small subsatellite left in lunar orbit for first time. 76.6 kgs (169 lbs) of material gathered.
"We're not looking down as we come over the mountains. We're looking (more or less) straight up until we get down to around 6000 feet and we pitch forward about 30 degrees and, at that point, we could look forward and see where we were. We could see the mountains. I was startled because, out the (left) window, I could see Mt. Hadley Delta which towered about six or seven thousand feet above us. And we never had that type of presentation in the simulator. We just had the front view, not the side view. When we pitched over, I could see the mountain that towered above us out Dave's window. I'm sure it startled Dave, too, because we wanted to know, you know, were we coming in to the right place? Fortunately, the rille was there and it was such a beautiful landmark that we knew we were coming in to the right area. But we'd never had that side view in any of our simulations. It was just the front view. A level plain with the canyon. And it would have been very impressive to be able to look out as we were skimming over the mountains with about 6000-foot terrain clearance. At that speed it would have been really spectacular, like a low-level pass as we came over the mountains down into the valley."
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