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Apollo 17 landing at Taurus-Littrow


 

Photo of Gene Cernan at LM ladder
 
 
 
 

This video depicts the  landing of Apollo 17 at Taurus-Littrow at it's real time speed of twelve frames per second. The methods used to make this video were basically the same as those used previously on the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 videos. There are a few interesting items of note. The DAC is pointed in more of a straight ahead position, though still mostly at the ground. This increases the "you are there" factor considerably. Also, notice at P64 (pitchover) the simultaneous roll to the left. Then, soon after that, a large pitchup, and later a sharper roll to the left as the LM is retargeting. There is quite a bit of maneuvering during this landing. Also, notice a bright area in the upper left center of the video. Soon you'll see the shadow of the LM in the center of this bright spot. This common effect is called the 'Glory'. Often you'll see it from airplanes against clouds and on the ground. It's also quite prominent in the Apollo 17 ascent film.
 
 

Photo of "Glory" on the lunar surface
 
 

This is a 5 meg video, and requires Quicktime 3, or higher, to view.
 
 

Apollo 17 Landing Movie
 
 
 
 
 

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