Photos show enduring traces of man's lunar visits
US: New high-resolution pictures taken by an orbiting NASA camera
show clear evidence of man's lunar explorations nearly 40 years after
the last U.S. spaceflight touched down on the moon, the agency said on
Tuesday.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration released three
pictures on Tuesday snapped over the past month by its two-year-old
Lunar Reconnaissance Vehicle.
The pictures provide the sharpest images yet of the Apollo 12, 14 and
17 landing sites and include a photo of the boot tracks left behind in
1972 by the last U.S. astronaut to walk on the moon.
"These images remind us of our fantastic Apollo history and beckon us
to continue to move forward in exploration of our solar system," said
Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA
Headquarters in Washington.
The LRO has been taking pictures of the moon's surface for more than
two years. But scientists made an adjustment to its orbit in August that
helped produce the higher resolution images.
The maneuver temporarily lowered the LRO from its usual orbiting
altitude of approximately 31 miles (50 kilometers) from the moon's
surface to as low as 13 miles (21 kilometers). WASHINGTON, Wednesday,
Reuters
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