Thursday, October 8, 2009

Apollo 14 S-IVB found on moon.

This time is the S-IVB (3rd stage) of the Apollo 14 mission. The booster was crashed into the moon as part of the experiment to probe the inside of the moon with seizmometers left on the surface by the astronauts.
It ended up that the moon vibrated for several hours after the 14,000kg booster hit the moon. In comparison, this spacecraft was 7 time heavier than the Centaur which will hit the moon tomorrow. (Click image for full view)
I was just thinking, wouldn't an old wreck like this make a great destination for the Lunar X-Prize spacecaft? Just think of the pile of junk lying the with a big nozzle flattened at one end. Don't mess with the landing sites though, those are historical sites and shouldn't be tampered with.

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