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Author
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Topic: First photo of the moon taken on Apollo 8
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 12-27-2016 05:47 AM
  
From the Apollo 8 debrief:
ANDERS: The moon was never seen from TLI until LOI, so no opportunity existed to photograph the moon in route. So, what image from the list below was the first photo of the moon taken on the Apollo 8 flight?
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 12-28-2016 10:58 PM
I think I have it narrowed down to either 2215 or 2611. Photo 2215 was taken on REV 1, and photo 2611 was taken after some translunar coast photos of Earth. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 12-30-2016 11:19 AM
Some relevant dialogue from the transcripts, about 53 minutes after the LOI burn shutdown:
LMP: Those two strips and the terminator photography on camera 1 were taken on magazine E which is now reading - 29 exposures.CDR: How are you doing, Bill? LMP: Getting it done. CMP: ... CMP: I don't think so. Okay, I'm going out... LMP: What did you take a picture of, Frank? Do you remember...? LMP: And Frank took a — took a picture on camera 2, magazine A, which is now reading 40. LMP: Now we're going to change - take off magazine A. Magazine E is AS08-13. Magazine A is AS08-16. |
Lasv3
Member Posts: 422
From: Bratislava, Slovakia
Registered: Apr 2009
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posted 12-30-2016 01:49 PM
I didn't know there was an Apollo 8 CMP EVA in the lunar orbit.  |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 12-30-2016 03:03 PM
Lovell might have been referring to some navigation with the sextant because he says "Capella" a bit later. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 12-30-2016 03:19 PM
The Apollo Image Atlas has photo 2215 (near Colombo) at 55.5E longitude, and photo 2611 (Langrenus) at 61E longitude. That would seem to imply that photo 2611 was taken first, since that longitude is further east.
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One Big Monkey
Member Posts: 171
From: West Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Jul 2012
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posted 12-31-2016 04:12 AM
I'm not convinced that 2611 and 2612 are Langrenus. Certainly the following four photographs are, but if you look at the movement of the craters in 2611 and 2612 it suggests that the small bright crater to the right of what is presumed to be Langrenus is actually to the south and the view is to the east, and there is no such feature there. The lighting also suggests either a different location or a different time.It's annoying me now, so I'll have to find it. On edit: Got it - the crater mistaken for Langrenus is Marconi.  |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 12-31-2016 06:33 AM
Well, that's a good catch. Both 2611 and 2612 are also identified as Langrenus in NASA SP-201 "Analysis of Apollo 8 Photography and Visual Observations" on page 137.Marconi Crater is at around 145E longitude. That is even further east than Langrenus, so it seems to me that 2611 and 2612 would still be the first photos of the moon taken on the flight, and most probably the camera 2 photography taken by Borman that was mentioned in the dialogue above. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-01-2017 07:23 PM
Marconi Crater can be seen in photos AS13-60-8660 and AS17-M-0361. The LM antenna is pointing to Marconi Crater in AS13-62-8913. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-02-2017 11:28 AM
Interestingly, this Apollo 8 index map has Magazine 16 frames 2611 and 2612 located at the northwest corner of Langrenus Crater. |
One Big Monkey
Member Posts: 171
From: West Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Jul 2012
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posted 01-02-2017 01:41 PM
It's an understandable mistake given the very obvious photos of Langrenus that follow those two images and the similarity of the crater edges, but if you look at Marconi from the right angle you can see it is a perfect match, whereas the Langrenus area is just a superficial resemblance. The lack of shadows in the two Marconi images is also consistent with the lighting at the time.It is not the first time I've found the AIA to be inaccurate, and as they get their descriptions largely from the post-mission reports those are also wrong. What the photo analysts didn't have is the benefit of Google Moon,the LRO quickmap viewer and various other post-Apollo probes to help them! I've plotted as many of the Apollo orbital images as I can (including some that the original reports couldn't find) as Google Moon files. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 01-03-2017 09:37 AM
The flight plan had called for both 70mm camera 1 and 70mm camera 2 to be loaded with black and white film on REV 1. |
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