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Young World
WORLD OF SCIENCE
Brilliant mission
DR. T. V. PADMA
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Apollo 15 brought back some of the most interesting samples from the moon.
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By the time the 15th Apollo mission rolled around, the novelty of going to the Moon had worn off. In June 1971 the Soviet cosmonauts spent 24 days aboard Salyut 1 space station and that was now the record. It was decided that American astronauts should get more scientific data from the Moon. The crew was David Scott, Jim Irwin and Al Worden.
The beauty of the Moon’s surface struck Scott and Irwin as they drove across. In Mission control in the Science Operation room the assembled geologists were thrilled with the colour pictures which were the sharpest ever transmitted from the Moon. They heard descriptions from Scott of a boulder, which was about knee-high. Scott and Irwin gathered samples, which would prove to be of interest to several different groups of lunar scientists.
Samples
The Lunar Module was three miles away when the astronauts reached a medium-sized crater. They would have a long and difficult walk if the Rover failed now. Irwin had spied a strange white rock. This was a chunk of anthracite, a piece of the primordial crust. It was placed in a special bag and became the most famous of the rocks brought back from the Moon. A reporter named it the “Genesis rock”.
Scott and Irwin again tried to extract a deep core sample but they had a lot of difficulty. But all that effort was worth it because the scientists later identified 42 different layers in their core. They extended their stay by eight minutes and collected samples. They made other remarkable finds and would have liked to explore some more but they had to get back.
Apollo15 was the biggest success since the lunar landing and even the scientists who were skeptical at first said it was one of the most brilliant missions in space ever flown.
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