Earth and Space News: Apollo 13 lunar flyby moon's far side April 1970

Showing posts with label Apollo 13 lunar flyby moon's far side April 1970. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Apollo 13 Imaged Far Side’s Mandel’shtam Crater During Lunar Flyby

Summary: Apollo 13 imaged the far side’s Mandel’shtam Crater during a lunar flyby that coursed behind the moon Wednesday, April 15, 1970.

Apollo 13 imaged the far side’s Mandel’shtam Crater during a lunar flyby that coursed the spacecraft behind the moon Wednesday, April 15, 1970.

The Apollo 13 mission launched Saturday, April 11, 1970, at 19:13 Greenwich Mean Time (2:13 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) as the Apollo space program’s seventh manned and third lunar landing mission. Key goals aimed for lunar landing in and exploration of the lunar highlands northeast of Mare Cognitum (Sea That Has Become Known), around Fra Mauro Crater.

A catastrophic cryogenic oxygen tank problem in the spacecraft's Service Module, however, impelled Command Module Odyssey Pilot John “Jack” Leonard Swigert Jr. (Aug. 30, 1931-Dec. 27, 1982) to report Tuesday, April 14, at 03:08:20 GMT (Monday, April 13, at 10:08 p.m. EST) that ". . . we've had a problem here.” Swigert’s report occurred at 055:55:20 Ground Elapsed Time (GET). Ground Elapsed Time sets to zero at “the last integral second before liftoff,” according to freelance space writer Richard W. Orloff in his Apollo by the Numbers, first published by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 2001. GET counts forward in hours, minutes and seconds (hhh:mm:ss) from Range Zero.

Command Module Odyssey’s devastating problems deprived Commander James Arthur Lovell Jr. (born March 25, 1928) and Lunar Module Aquarius Pilot Fred Wallace Haise Jr. (born Nov. 14, 1933) of their lunar landing. The mission switched into a rescue operation, with NASA’s urgent focus on safely and timely returning Commander Lovell, LMP Haise and Command Module Pilot John “Jack” leonard Swigert Jr. (Aug. 30, 1931-Dec. 27, 1982) to Earth.

The free-return trajectory to Earth required a continued course to the moon and a circumlunar trajectory to achieve a trans-Earth trajectory into Earth’s sphere of influence. The spacecraft’s lunar flyby entailed a communications blackouts during the traversal of the moon’s far side.

Entrance into lunar occultation began Wednesday, April 15, at 00:21:35 GMT (7:21 p.m. EST; 077:08:35 GET) with the Apollo 13 spacecraft’s reach of the moon’s far side. Lunar occultation and radio silence ended 24 minutes 45 seconds later, at 00:46:10 GMT (7:46 p.m. EST; 077:33:10 GET), with the spacecraft’s emergence from the far side.

Mandel’shtam Crater is one of the features in the lunar far side’s northern hemisphere that was photographed during the Apollo 13 spacecraft’s flyby. Black-and-white, 50-year-old images reveal the crater at the horizon in oblique views looking northeast from the spacecraft.

The battered crater is centered at 5.7 degrees north latitude and 162.39 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. As a northern hemisphere crater, its northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach 8.7 degrees north and 2.7 north degrees, respectively. As an eastern hemisphere crater, its easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to 165.4 degrees east and 159.37 degrees east, respectively. Its diameter spans 181.89 kilometers.

Mandel’shtam Crater parents eight named satellites. The largest satellite, Mandel’shtam A, with a diameter of 61.94 kilometers, claims the central portion of the interior floor. The interior also shelters Mandel’shtam N. With a diameter of 25.28 kilometers, Mandel’shtam N is found along the south-southwestern inner edge. Mandel’shtam R, with a diameter of 54.02 kilometers, breaches its parent’s rim to the west-southwest. Mandel’shtam T, with a diameter of 36.22 kilometers, lies in the parent crater’s interior and hugs Mandel’shtam R’s northeastern edge.

Mandel’shtam Q emerges to the southwest of its parent crater. Its diameter measures 19.68 kilometers.

Mandel’shtam Y anchors at its parent’s northern edge. Its diameter measures 32.48 kilometers.

Small, rayed Mandel’shtam F, with a diameter of 15.39 kilometers, lies to its parent’s east. With a diameter of 28.56 kilometers, Mandel’shtam G clings to Mandel’shtam F’s southern edge.

Mandel’shtam Crater honors Belarusian-Jewish Soviet physicist Leonid Isaakovich Mandel’shtam (May 4, 1879-Nov. 27, 1944). The crater’s name received official approval in 1970. The IAU officially approved the letter designations for eight Mandel'shtam satellites in 2006.

The takeaway for Apollo 13’s imaging of Mandel’shtam Crater during the spacecraft’s flight over the moon’s far side is that the mission’s 50-year-old, black-and-white photographs clearly reveal the distinctive crater and some of its satellites along the oblique view’s horizon.

Mandel’shtam Crater (green) nearly attaches to its northeastern neighbor, Papaleksi Crater (upper center right), and parents eight officially named satellites; labels added: via USGS/IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Oblique, northeast-looking view of lunar far side, photographed April 1970 from the Apollo 13 spacecraft, shows Mandel’shtam Crater (center left) at the horizon, south (left) of Papaelski Crater; satellite craters Mandel’shtam A (crater center) and Mandel’shtam R and T (west-southwest rim) are also discernible; NASA image AS13-62-8918: 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 Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as13-62-8918; NASA Johnson, CC BY-NC 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/; Courtesy NASA, Public Domain, via DVIDS Defense Visual Information Distribution Service @ https://www.dvidshub.net/image/752548/apollo-13-mission-image-view-sea-muscovy-mare-moscovienseand-craters-papaleksi-and-spencer-jones

“Apollo 13.” Directed by Ron Howard. 1995. Beverly Hills CA: Imagine Entertainment.

De Jager, C. (Cornelius) ; and A. (Arnost) Jappel, eds. XIVth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. XIV B Proceedings of the 14th General Assembly Brighton, United Kingdom, August 18-27, 1970. Washington DC: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Jan. 1, 1971.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Gaither, Tenielle; and Rosalyn Hayward. “Planetary Nomenclature: A Brief History and Overview.” The Lunar and Planetary Information Bulletin, issue 151 (January 2018).
Available @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/newsletters/lpib/new/planetarynomenclature/

Grubbs, Rodney. “Oblique View of Lunar Farside Photographed From Apollo 13 Spacecraft.” NASA Image and Video Library. NASA ID as13-62-8918. Date created: 1970-04-14.
Available @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as13-62-8918.html

Grubbs, Rodney. “Oblique View of Lunar Farside Photographed From Apollo 13 Spacecraft.” NASA Image and Video Library. NASA ID as13-62-8923. Date created: 1970-04-14.
Available @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as13-62-8923.html

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Mandel’shtam.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3625

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Papaleksi.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/4583

Lovell, Jim; and Jeffrey Kluger. Apollo 13. First Mariner Books edition. Boston MA; New York NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Lovell, Jim; and Jeffrey Kluger. Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

Marriner, Derdriu. “Apollo 13 Imaged Far Side’s Papaleksi Crater During Lunar Flyby.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, April 15, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/04/apollo-13-imaged-far-sides-papaleksi.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Apollo 13 Imaged Far Side's Tsiolkovskiy Crater During Lunar Flyby." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, April 8, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/04/apollo-13-imaged-far-sides-tsiolkovskiy.html

Marriner, Derdriu. "Apollo 13's Lost Lunar Landing Aimed for April 16 at Fra Mauro Crater." Earth and Space News. Wednesday, April 1, 2020.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2020/04/apollo-13s-lost-lunar-landing-aimed-for.html

Marriner, Derdriu. “Six Lunar Maria Shape the Man in the Moon for Northern Hemisphere Viewers.” Earth and Space News. Wednesday, May 3, 2017.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/05/six-lunar-maria-shape-man-in-moon-for.html

Masursky, Harold; G.W. Colton; and Farouk El-Baz. Apollo Over the Moon: A View From the Orbit. NASA SP-362. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-362/contents.htm

Orloff, Richard W. “Apollo 13 The Seventh Mission: The Third Lunar Landing Attempt.” Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference: 135-157. NASA History Series. Washington DC: NASA Headquarters Office of Policy and Plans, 2000.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029.pdf

Sadler, D.H. (Donald Harry). XIth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. XI B Proceedings of the 11 General Assembly, Berkeley CA, USA, August 15-24, 1961. Oxford UK: Blackwell Scientific Publications, Jan. 1, 1962. Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Shingareva, K. (Kira B.); and G. (George A.) Burba. The Lunar Nomenclature: The Reverse Side of the Moon (1961-1973). Translation of “Lunnaya Nomenklatura: Obratnaya Storona Luny 1961-1973,” Academy of Sciences USSR, Institute of Space Research (Moscow: “Nauka” Press, 1977). NASA Technical Memorandum TM-75035. Washington DC: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, August 1977.
Available via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reports Server) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19780004017.pdf

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 13: Facts.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Missions > Apollo 13.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo13-facts.cfm

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 13 (AS-508).” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Missions > Apollo 13.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo13.cfm

U.S. Geological Survey. Color-Coded Topography and Shaded Relief Map of the Lunar Near Side and Far Side Hemispheres. U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-2769. Page last modified Nov. 30, 2016. Flagstaff AZ: U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center, 2003.
Available via USGS Publications Warehouse @ https://pubs.usgs.gov/imap/i2769/

van der Hucht, Karel A., ed. IAU Transactions: XXVI B Proceedings of the XXVIth General Assembly Prague, Czech Republic, August 14-25, 2006. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, Dec. 30, 2008.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Wade, Mark. “Apollo 13.” Astronautix > Encyclopedia Astronautica Index: A.
Available @ http://www.astronautix.com/a/apollo13.html

Whitaker, Ewen A. (Adair). Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Woods, W. David; Alexandr Turhanov; and Lennox J. Waugh. "Day 3: 'Houston, we've had a problem.'" The Apollo 13 Flight Journal. May 14, 2016.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap13fj/08day3-problem.html

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Apollo 13 Imaged Far Side’s Papaleksi Crater During Lunar Flyby

Summary: Apollo 13 imaged the far side’s Papaleksi Crater during a lunar flyby that passed behind the moon Wednesday, April 15, 1970.

Apollo 13 imaged the far side’s Papaleksi Crater during a lunar flyby that placed the spacecraft behind the moon Wednesday, April 15, 1970.

Apollo 13 launched Saturday, April 11, 1970, at 19:13 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (2:13 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) from Florida’s John F. Kennedy Space Center. Apollo 13 numbered as the Apollo space program’s seventh manned mission. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) designed the mission as the Apollo space program’s third lunar landing attempt. Apollo 13 was intended to establish Commander James Arthur Lovell Jr. (born March 25, 1928) and Lunar Module Aquarius Pilot Fred Wallace Haise Jr. (born Nov. 14, 1933) as the fifth and sixth persons to set foot on the moon while John “Jack” Leonard Swigert Jr. (Aug. 30, 1931-Dec. 27, 1982) piloted Command and Service Module Odyssey.

A cryogenic oxygen tank catastrophe reported during the third day of flight, Tuesday, April 14, at 03:08 GMT/UTC (Monday, April 13, at 10:08 p.m. EST), scrubbed the mission’s planned lunar landing. NASA switched the mission’s goal to a lunar flyby as part of a trans-Earth injection (TEI) maneuver for the spacecraft’s free-return trajectory to Earth. Apollo 13 passed behind the moon Wednesday, April 15, at 00:21:35 GMT/UTC (Tuesday, April 14, at 7:21 p.m. EST).

Papaleksi Crater is one of the lunar far side features imaged during the Apollo 13 spacecraft’s flyby. Images capture the crater at the horizon in oblique, northeast-looking views.

The impact crater is centered at 10.15 degrees north latitude and 163.95 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. As a northern hemisphere crater, Papaleksi Crater’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes extended to 11.66 degrees north and 8.63 degrees north, respectively. As an eastern hemisphere crater, its easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 165.49 degrees east and 162.41 degrees east, respectively. Papaleksi Crater’s diameter measures 92.03 kilometers.

The NASA Image and Video Library website’s description of the Apollo 13 mission’s imaging refers to the crater as International Astronomical Union Crater No. 221. The designation reflects the crater’s identification prior to its formal naming. The IAU approved Papaleksi as the crater’s official name in 1970. The crater’s namesake was Soviet radio physicist and radio engineer Nikolai Dmitrievich Papaleksi (Dec. 2, 1880-Feb. 3, 1947).

The Apollo 13 mission’s image also includes Papaleksi Crater’s southern neighbor, Mandel’shtam Crater. Papaleksi lies on Mandel’shtam’s northeastern outskirts. Mandel’shtam is centered at 5.7 degrees north latitude and 162.39 degrees east longitude. Its northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach 8.7 degrees and 2.7 degrees, respectively. Its easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to 165.4 degrees and 159.37 degrees, respectively. Mandel’shtam Crater’s diameter measures 181.89 kilometers.

Mandel’shtam Crater’s namesake is Belarusian-Jewish Soviet physicist Leonid Isaakovich Mandel’shtam (May 4, 1879-Nov. 27, 1944). As with its northeastern neighbor, Mandel’shtam received official name approval in 1970. Prior to its formal naming, the crater was identified as International Astronomical Union Crater No. 220.

Mare Moscoviense lies northwest of Papeleksi and Mandel’shtam. The dark lava plain is centered at 27.28 degrees north latitude and 148.12 degrees east longitude. As a northern hemisphere mare, its northernmost and southernmost latitudes register at 31.5 degrees north and 22.95 degrees north, respectively. As an eastern hemisphere lava plain, its easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to 153.26 degrees east and 143.41 degrees east, respectively. Mare Moscoviense’s diameter spans 275.57 kilometers.

The IAU’s XIth General Assembly, held in Berkeley, California, from Tuesday, Aug. 15, to Thursday, Aug. 24, 1961, approved Moscoviense as the mare’s official name. The IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature website, which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, translates Mare Moscoviense from Latin into English as “Sea of Muscovy.”

The takeaway for Apollo 13’s imaging of the far side’s Papaleksi Crater during the spacecraft’s lunar flyby Wednesday, April 15, 1970, is that the crater and its neighbor, Mandel’shtam Crater, are clearly distinguishable at the horizon in the 50-year-old, black-and-white photographs.

Papaleksi Crater (green) and (left, immediately below) Mandel’shtam Crater: via USGS/IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Oblique, northeast-looking view of lunar far side, photographed April 1970 from the Apollo 13 spacecraft, shows conspicuously dark Mare Moscoviense (right), Mandel’shtam Crater (far left limb) and, to its right, Papaleksi Crater; NASA image AS13-62-8923: Project Apollo Archive (Apollo Image Gallery), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/;
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 Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as13-62-8923;
Public Domain, via Defense Visual Information Distribution Service @ https://www.dvidshub.net/image/849284/apollo-13-mission-image-view-sea-muscovy-mare-moscovienseand-craters-papaleksi-and-spencer-jones;
NASA, Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/AS13-62-8923

Papaleksi Crater (green) and (left, immediately below) Mandel’shtam Crater: via USGS/IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/4583

For further information:

“Apollo 13.” Directed by Ron Howard. 1995. Beverly Hills CA: Imagine Entertainment.

de Jager, C. (Cornelius); and A. (Arnost) Jappel, eds. XIVth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. XIV B Proceedings of the 14th General Assembly, Brighton, United Kingdom, August 18-27, 1970. Washington DC: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Jan. 1, 1971.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Mare Moscoviense.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3682

Lovell, Jim; and Jeffrey Kluger. Apollo 13. First Mariner Books edition. Boston MA; New York NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Lovell, Jim; and Jeffrey Kluger. Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

Nature Editorial. "The Name Game." Nature, vol. 488, issue 429 (Aug. 22, 2012).
Available @ https://www.nature.com/articles/488429b

Sadler, D.H. (Donald Harry), ed. XIth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. XI B Proceedings of the 11th General Assembly Berkeley CA, USA, August 15-24, 1961. Oxford UK: Blackwell Scientific Publications, Jan. 1, 1962.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Stuart-Alexander, Desiree E. "Geologic Map of the Central Far Side of the Moon." USRA (Universities Space Research Association) Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) > Resources > Lunar Map Catalog. Prepared on behalf of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and in cooperation with the Defense Mapping Agency, Aerospace Center. I-1047. Reston VA: U.S. Geological Survey, 1978.
Available @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/usgs/I1047/

Wade, Mark. “Apollo 13.” Astronautix > Encyclopedia Astronautica Index: A.
Available @ http://www.astronautix.com/a/apollo13.html

Whitaker, Ewen A. (Adair). Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Apollo 13 Imaged Far Side’s Tsiolkovskiy Crater During Lunar Flyby

Summary: Apollo 13 imaged the far side’s Tsiolkovskiy Crater during a lunar flyby that passed behind the moon Wednesday, April 15, 1970.

Apollo 13 imaged the far side’s Tsiolkovskiy Crater during a lunar flyby that coursed behind the moon Wednesday, April 15, 1970, in a circumlunar trajectory intended to maneuver the Apollo 13 spacecraft into a free-return path back to Earth.

Apollo 13 launched Saturday, April 11, 1970, at 19:13 Greenwich Mean Time/Coordinated Universal Time (2:13 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) from the John F. Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39, Pad A, in central Florida’s Cape Canaveral. The Apollo 13 mission lost its goal of landing on the moon, however, after a cryogenic oxygen tank catastrophe occurred in the spacecraft’s Service Module approximately 55 hours 54 minutes after the mission’s launch.

An integral component of the mission’s redesigned flight path called for a circumlunar trajectory to direct the Apollo 13 spacecraft toward a free-return course back to Earth. The Apollo 13 spacecraft’s passage behind the moon lasted for 24 minutes 45 seconds. The spacecraft’s lunar occultation (Latin: occultātiō, “concealment”) began Wednesday, April 15, at 00:21:35 GMT/UTC (Tuesday, April 14, at 7:21 p.m. EST). The crew exited from the lunar far side Wednesday, April 15, at 00:46:10 GMT/UTC (7:46 p.m. EST, Tuesday, April 14), according to the Apollo 13 timeline in freelance space writer Richard W. Orloff’s Apollo by the Numbers, first published by NASA in 2000.

While flying over the moon’s far side, the mission’s Command Module Pilot (CMP) John “Jack” Leonard Swigert Jr. (Aug. 30, 1931-Dec. 27, 1982) and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Fred Wallace Haise Jr. (born Nov. 14, 1933) took photographs of the lunar landscape. Their voyage to the moon turned out to be the only spaceflight for Swigert and Haise.

In the Apollo 13 technical crew debriefing, conducted Friday, April 24, 1970, Commander James Arthur Lovell Jr. (born March 25, 1928) recalled: “I’ll be perfectly frank. I wasn’t interested in photography at the time” (9.0 Lunar Flyby Through 2-Hour Maneuver, page 4). The Apollo 13 mission numbered as Lovell’s fourth and last career spaceflight. His third spaceflight had occurred Saturday, Dec. 21, to Friday, Dec. 27, 1968, as Command Module Pilot for Apollo 8, the first manned mission to reach and orbit the moon.

During their technical debriefing, all three Apollo 13 astronauts complimented the lunar far side’s Tsiolkovskiy Crater. Commander Lovell observed: “Our particular orbit around the Moon brought up Tsiolkovsky very nicely.”

CMP Swigert noted: “Tsiolkovsky stuck out.”

LMP Haise shared: “Yes. That was the first actual landmark I saw on the back side that I recognized” (17.0 Visual Sightings, page 3).

Tsiolkovskiy Crater is centered at minus 20.38 degrees south latitude, 128.97 degrees east longitude, according to the International Astronomical Union’s (IAU) Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. The impact crater’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes range from minus 17.34 degrees south to minus 23.42 degrees south, respectively. As an eastern hemisphere crater, its easternmost and westernmost longitudes reach 132.22 degrees east and 125.73 degrees east, respectively. The lunar southern hemisphere crater has a diameter of 184.39 kilometers.

Tsiolkovskiy Crater features a prominent, complex central peak and a smooth, dark-hued, basaltic lava floor. Tsiolkovskiy Crater intrudes into the southeastern rim of neighboring crater Fermi.

Fermi Crater is centered at minus 19.61 degrees south latitude, 123.24 degrees east longitude. As a southern hemisphere crater, Fermi’s northernmost and southernmost latitudes reach minus 15.64 degrees south and minus 23.61 degrees south, respectively. As an eastern hemisphere crater, the eroded crater’s easternmost and westernmost longitudes extend to 127.51 degrees east and 119.07 degrees east, respectively. Fermi’s diameter spans 241.41 kilometers.

Tsiolkovskiy Crater’s namesake is Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and astronautic theory pioneer Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovskiy (Sept. 17, 1857-Sept. 19, 1935). The International Astronomical Union officially approved the crater’s name in 1961.

Fermi Crater’s namesake is Italian-American physicist and Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi (Sept. 29, 1901-Nov. 28, 1954). Official approval of the crater’s name was given in 1970. Prior to its formal naming, Fermi Crater was identified as International Astronomical Union Basin V.

The takeaways for Apollo 13’s imaging of the far side’s Tsiolkovskiy Crater during the spacecraft’s lunar flyby Wednesday, April 15, 1970, are that all three Apollo 13 astronauts concurred on the impact’s crater easy recognizability and that the dark-floored, central peaked crater intrudes across the southeastern rim of its battered neighbor, Fermi Crater.

Tsiolkovskiy Crater (green) bites into Fermi Crater (left); small Litke Crater (left) lies within Fermi's north-northwestern rim; to Litke's west-northwest (left), Delaporte Crater stretches across Fermi's northwestern rim: via USGS/IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Southeast-looking view toward lunar horizon, photographed April 1970 from the Apollo 13 spacecraft, shows dark-floored, prominent central peaked Tsiolkovskiy Crater pointing into eroded, jumbled Fermi Crater; Litke Crater (top center) lies near Fermi's north-northwestern inner rim; NASA image AS13-60-8659: Project Apollo Archive (Apollo Image Gallery), Public Domain, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/projectapolloarchive/22022468422/;
Apollo 13 Flight Journal, No copyright asserted, via NASA History @ https://archive.org/details/AS13-60-8659 (image URL);
Apollo 13 Flight Journal, No copyright asserted, via NASA History @ https://www.nasa.gov/history/afj/ap13fj/photos/60-l.html (gallery URL);
NASA, Public Domain, via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/AS13-60-8659;
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 Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-as13-60-8659;
NARA & DVIDS Public Domain Archive @ https://nara.getarchive.net/media/as13-60-8659-apollo-13-apollo-13-mission-image-view-of-the-tsiolkovsky-crater-0a4371

“Apollo 13.” Directed by Ron Howard. 1995. Beverly Hills CA: Imagine Entertainment.

De Jager, C. (Cornelius); and A. (Arnost) Jappel, eds. XIVth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. XIV B Proceedings of the 14th General Assembly, Brighton, United Kingdom, August 18-27, 1970. Washington DC: Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Jan. 1, 1971.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Dunbar, Brian; and Lynn Jenner, page ed. “Floor of Tsiolkovskiy -- Exploration Region of Interest.” NASA > Missions > LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter > Multimedia. April 30, 2010.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/201000430_tsiol.html

Godwin, Robert, comp. and ed. Apollo 13: The NASA Mission Reports. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 1971.

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Tsiolkovskiy.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6108

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Fermi.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/1940

Lovell, Jim; and Jeffrey Kluger. Apollo 13. First Mariner Books edition. Boston MA; New York NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Lovell, Jim; and Jeffrey Kluger. Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. Boston MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1994.

Lunar and Planetary Institute. “Lunar Map Catalog.” USRA (Universities Space Research Association) Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) > Resources.
Available @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 13 Third Lunar Landing Mission. Press Release No. 70-50. April 2, 1970.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/pdf/A13_PressKit.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 13 Technical Crew Debriefing (U) April 24, 1970. Prepared by Mission Operations Branch Flight Crew Support Division. Houston TX: Manned Spacecraft Center.
Available @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a13/a13-techdebrief.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Mission Operations Report Apollo 13. Prepared by Flight Control Division, April 28, 1970. Houston TX: Manned Spacecraft Center, 1970.
Available @ https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a13/A13_MissionOpReport.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 13 Mission (AS-508) Post Launch Mission Operation Report No. 1. No. M-932-70-13. Washington DC: NASA, 1970.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap13fj/pdf/a13-postlaunch-mission-ops-report-19700428.pdf

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Prelaunch Mission Operation Report Apollo 13 (AS-508). Prepared by Apollo Program Office MAO. Report no. M-932-70-13. Washington DC: NASA Program and Special Reports Division (XP) Executive Secretariat, 1970.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/afj/ap13fj/pdf/a13-prelaunch-mission-ops-report-19700331.pdf

National Space Science Data Center. Lunar and Planetary Maps and Charts Available for Public Sale May 1973. NSSDC 73-06. Greenbelt MD: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/National Space Science Data Center, May 1973.
Available via NASA NTRS (NASA Technical Reports Server) @ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740012391.pdf

Sadler, D.H. (Donald Harry). XIth General Assembly -- Transactions of the IAU Vol. XI B Proceedings of the 11th General Assembly, Berkeley CA, USA, August 15-24, 1961. Oxford UK: Blackwell Scientific Publications, Jan. 1, 1962.
Available @ https://www.iau.org/publications/iau/transactions_b/

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Chart and Information Center. “(G) Lunar Farside Chart (LFC-1)." Second edition October 1967. Provisional. Prepared under the direction of the Department of Defense for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Available @ https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/mapcatalog/LunarFarsideCharts/LFC-1%201stEd/LFC-1%202ndEd/LFC-1_2Ed_1067A_300.jpg

Whitaker, Ewen A. (Adair). Mapping and Naming the Moon: A History of Lunar Cartography and Nomenclature. Cambridge UK; New York NY: Cambridge University Press, 1999.

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