Tuesday, October 27, 2026

1972-04-16 · 54 years ago

Apollo 16 — launch

Date in UTC

Apollo 16 (April 16–27, 1972) was the tenth crewed mission in the United States Apollo space program, administered by NASA, and the fifth and penultimate to land on the Moon. It was the second of Apollo's "J missions", with an extended stay on the lunar surface, a focus on science, and the use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV). The landing and exploration were in the Descartes Highlands, a site chosen because some scientists expected it to be an area formed by volcanic action, though this proved not to be the case. The mission was crewed by Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke and Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_16. Related NASA reference: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology.html#1972. Description adapted from Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

Category
Launches and Flight Tests
Type
Orbital launch
Subjects
Space transportation
Mission
Apollo 16
Organization
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Vehicle
Saturn V
Location
NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Country
US
Outcome
Successful

Context and qualifications

Launch code: DS. Source references: KHR-1; -.

Sources and attribution

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