Apollo 10 Imaged Near Side’s Triesnecker Crater During Lunar Orbit

Summary: Apollo 10 imaged the near side’s Triesnecker Crater during one of 31 lunar orbits performed by Apollo Command Module Charlie Brown in May 1969.

Oblique, northwest-looking view shows Triesnecker Crater (lower center), with intersecting Triesnecker Rilles (right); May 1969 photograph taken from Apollo 10 spacecraft, at a distance of about 135 kilometers (85 statute miles) from Triesnecker Crater; NASA ID AS10-32-4819: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA Image and Digital Library

Apollo 10 imaged the near side’s Triesnecker Crater during one of the 31 lunar orbits logged by the mission’s command module, Charlie Brown, in May 1969.

Triesnecker Crater occupies the lunar near side’s central, equatorial northern hemisphere. Its distinctive location hugs, to the east, the generally north-south oriented, 200 kilometer-long, channel-like system of rilles (German: “grooves”) known as Rimae Triesnecker.

The prominent impact crater is positioned in northeastern Sinus Medii (Latin: “Bay of the Center”). The moon’s equator and prime meridian (zero degrees longitude) intersect in Sinus Medii.

Triesnecker Crater’s western wall bulges noticeably. A central peak in the rough interior marks the crater’s midpoint.

Triesnecker Crater is centered at 4.18 degrees north latitude, 3.6 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Triesnecker’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach 4.59 degrees north and 3.77 degrees north, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes extended to 4.01 degrees east and 3.19 degrees east, respectively. The crater’s diameter spans 24.97 kilometers.

Triesnecker Crater honors Austrian Jesuit astronomer Franz de Paula Triesnecker (April 2, 1745-Jan. 29, 1817). The IAU officially approved the crater’s name in 1935.

Triesnecker Crater parents six named satellites. The IAU officially approved the satellites’ letter designations in 2006.

The largest satellite, Triesnecker D, with a diameter of 5.85 kilometers, lies southeast of its parent crater. F and G, with respective diameters of 3.24 kilometers and 3.52 kilometers, are sited between D and their parent.

E, with a diameter of 4.24 kilometers, is found to the northwest of its parent. Triesnecker E is positioned between its parent and Ukert, a somewhat triangular-shaped impact crater in a rugged strip north of Sinus Medii.

H and J are located southwest of Triesnecker Crater. Their diameters measure 2.55 kilometers and 2.92 kilometers, respectively.

The Apollo 10 mission launched Sunday, May 18, 1969, at 16:49:00 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (11:49 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 12:49 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time) as the Apollo space program’s fourth crewed mission. Apollo 10 numbered as the second Apollo mission, after Apollo 8’s Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1968 lunar orbits, to orbit the moon.

The firing of the service module’s propulsion engine began Wednesday, May 21, at 20:44:54 UTC (3:44 p.m. EST, 4:44 p.m. EDT), 75 hours 55 minutes 54 seconds (075:55:54.0 Ground Elapsed Time GET) after liftoff. The firing, at an altitude of 95.1 nautical miles above the lunar surface, aimed for the spacecraft’s insertion into an elliptical lunar orbit of 170.0 by 60.2 nautical miles. Lunar orbit insertion ignition lasted 356.1 seconds, with cutoff at 076:01:50.1 GET (Wednesday, May 21 at 20:50:50 UTC; 3:50 p.m. EST, 4:50 p.m. EDT), at an altitude of 61.2 nautical miles above the lunar surface. A 13.9-second maneuver, begun at 080:25:08.1 GET (Thursday, May 22, at 01:14:08 GMT/UTC; Wednesday, May 21, at 8:14 p.m. EST, 9:14 p.m. EDT), circularized the spacecraft's orbit at 61.0 by 59.2 nautical miles.

Apollo 10 was designed as a dress rehearsal for Apollo 11 (Tuesday, July 16, to Wednesday, July 24, 1969), with the exception of an actual lunar landing. As such, Apollo Lunar Module Snoopy undocked from the command module at 098:11:57 GET (Thursday, May 22, 1969, at 19:00:57 GMT/UTC; 2 p.m. EST; 3 p.m. EDT). Commander Stafford and LMP Cernan flew Snoopy to a descent orbit of 8.4 nautical miles (15.6 kilometers) above the lunar surface.  After four lunar orbits, the lunar module re-docked at 106:22:02 GET (Friday, May 23, at 03:11:02 GMT/UTC; Thursday, May 22, at 10:11 p.m. EST, 11:11 p.m. EDT).

All three Apollo 10 astronauts were veterans of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Project Gemini. As the Apollo program’s predecessor, Project Gemini began in 1961 and concluded in 1966.

The Apollo 10 mission marked the third spaceflight for Mission Commander Thomas Patten Stafford (born Sept. 17, 1930) and Command Module Charlie Brown Pilot John Watts Young (born Sept. 24, 1930). Commander Stafford had flown as pilot on Gemini VI (Wednesday, Dec. 15, to Thursday, Dec. 16, 1965) and as command pilot on Gemini IX (Friday, June 3, to Monday, June 6, 1966). CMP Young had flown as pilot on Gemini III (Tuesday, March 23, 1965) and as command pilot on Gemini X (Monday, July 18, to Thursday, July 21, 1966).

Lunar Module Snoopy Pilot Eugene Andrew Cernan (born March 14, 1934) claimed his second spaceflight aboard Apollo 10 and his second spaceflight with Thomas Stafford. Cernan’s first spaceflight had taken place, as pilot, aboard Gemini IX.

The mission’s activities included taking photographs of the lunar surface. Photographs were taken from the command module as well as from the lunar module.

The takeaway for Apollo 10’s image of the near side’s Triesnecker Crater during one of the mission’s 31 lunar orbits is that the black-and-white photograph, taken in May 1969, clearly captures the crater’s distinctive bulge and the adjacent, intersecting channel-like system of Rimae Triesnecker.

Triesnecker Crater with labeled satellite craters; image obtained with Meade LX200 14-inch telescope and Lumenera Skynyx 2-1 camera by David Campbell, principal technical officer, University of Hertfordshire’s Bayfordbury Observatory, East of England region; Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012: David Campbell (12dstring), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Oblique, northwest-looking view shows Triesnecker Crater (lower center), with intersecting Triesnecker Rilles (right); May 1969 photograph taken from Apollo 10 spacecraft, at a distance of about 135 kilometers (85 statute miles) from Triesnecker Crater; NASA ID AS10-32-4819: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Digital Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as10-32-4819.html

Triesnecker Crater with labeled satellite craters; image obtained with Meade LX200 14-inch telescope and Lumenera Skynyx 2-1 camera by David Campbell, principal technical officer, University of Hertfordshire’s Bayfordbury Observatory, East of England region; Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012: David Campbell (12dstring), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Triesnecker_lunar_crater_map.jpg

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