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The Apollo 12 Landing Site

Image Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

Published: September 7, 2023

This visualization shows the Apollo 12 landing site in three dimensions using photography and a stereo digital elevation model from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. The locations of the flag’s shadow, experiment package, astronaut paths, and the Surveyor 3 spacecraft are marked.

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Every Moon phase in 2024.

Video showing the geocentric phase, libration, position angle of the axis, and apparent diameter of the Moon throughout the year 2024, at hourly intervals.

Moon Phase and Libration 2024

View highlights from NASA’s Artemis I mission.

Side by side photos of a rocket launching and a crowd cheering.

NASA's Artemis I Moon Mission: Launch to Splashdown Highlights

To celebrate its 5th Anniversary, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission decided to hold a contest to pick a cover image for "The Moon As Art" collection.

The Moon As Art

This is a close-up view of an astronaut’s foot and footprint in the lunar soil, photographed by a 70 mm lunar surface camera during the Apollo 11 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA).

Astronaut's foot and footprint on lunar soil

Saturn Apollo Program

Since the 1960s, scientists have suspected that frozen water could survive in cold, dark craters at the moon's poles.

Water on the Moon

2017 Total Solar Eclipse and the Moon's Orbit

Animation of Moon orbiting the Earth and casting shadows.

2017 Eclipse and the Moon's Orbit

A view of Lee Lincoln scarp on the Moon.

An animated view of Lee Lincoln scarp from above and from near ground level. This visualization is created from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographs and elevation mapping. The scarp is at the western end of the Taurus-Littrow valley, landing site of Apollo 17, and was explored by the astronauts on their second moonwalk. Music by Killer Tracks: Smoke and Mirrors - Gresby Race Nash.This video is also available on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Lee Lincoln Scarp at the Apollo 17 Landing Site

Neil Armstrong strums on a ukulele in a quarantine facility after Apollo 11 returned from the Moon.

Man sitting on table in small room playing a ukulele while others look out window.

Neil Armstrong Strums on a Ukulele

Video tour of an interactive tool that lets you hold virtual Moon rocks in your hand.

Screen shot of a virtual version of a textured, grey rock with white flecks and cracks throughout its volume.

Astromaterials 3D: Moon Rocks

Lunar Science and Exploration Highlights

Collage of various imagery and photos from news headlines from NASA articles.

Lunar Science and Exploration Highlights: Recent Updates

Handout about the scientific legacy of our first landing on the Moon during Apollo 11.

Handout about the Apollo 11 scientific legacy

Legacy of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing Handout

Flight controllers in the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR) of the Mission Control Center (MCC) view a colorful display which signals the successful splashdown and recovery of the crew of the ...

Mission control display monitors show "Welcome Home" message

Flight Controllers in Mission Control Center During Splashdown of Apollo 14

The first image taken by the Ranger 8 camera B on 20 February 1965 shows the 164 km diameter Ptolemaeus crater, top center, and below it Alphonsus crater (diameter 108 km).

Ptolemaeus and Alphonsus Craters on the Moon

We go: to the Moon and on to Mars. The Artemis generation will explore farther than we’ve ever gone before.

Portrait of a woman’s face close-up, wearing an astronaut helmet.

We Go as the Artemis Generation

Connecting the history of Apollo 17 to NASA's current Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission through the eyes of astronaut Harrison Jack Schmitt.

Astronaut Schmitt and photo of him working on Moon

Jack Schmitt: From Apollo 17 to LRO

Silent video of the Apollo 8 Saturn V rocket launching into orbit

Apollo 8 Airborne Tracking

A close-up view of a portion of a "relatively fresh" crater, looking southeast, as photographed during the third Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA), on Aug. 2, 1971, at EVA Stati...

View of Portion of "Relatively Fresh" Crater As Photographed by Apollo 15

What does the other side of the Moon look like, the side that can't be seen from the Earth? This video answers that question.

Video explaining the other side of the Moon

The Moon From the Other Side

In October 2017, The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter celebrated 100 lunar days of being at the Moon. That's about eight Earth years.

Two videos explaining Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's exploration of Earth's Moon.

100 Lunar Days - Parts I and II

A member of the Apollo 10 crew is hoisted up to a helicopter from the prime recovery ship, USS Princeton. Splashdown occurred at 11:53 a.m., May 26, 1969, about 400 miles east of American Samoa.

Helicopter lifting astronaut from recovery capsule over Pacific ocean

Navy Helicopter - Recovery - Apollo X Astronauts - Pacific

Replicas of Snoopy and Charlie Brown, the two characters from Charles Schulz's syndicated comic strip, "Peanuts," decorate the top of a console in the Mission Operations Control Room in the Mission...

Replicas of Snoopy and Charlie Brown on mission control console

Replicas of Snoopy and Charlie Brown Decorate Top of Console in MCC

A visualization showing the unusual motions of the Earth and Sun as viewed from the South Pole of the Moon.

Animation of the Earth as viewed from the Moon's South Pole.

Earth and Sun from the Moon's South Pole

Astronaut David R. Scott, commander, gives a military salute while standing beside the deployed United States flag during the Apollo 15 lunar surface extravehicular activity (EVA) at the Hadley-Ape...

Astronaut giving salute beside American flag on the moon

Astronaut David Scott Gives Salute Beside U.S. Flag During EVA

The five F-1 engines of the huge Apollo/Saturn V space vehicle's first (S-IC) stage leave a gigantic trail of flame in the sky above the Kennedy Space Center seconds after liftoff.

F-1 Engines of Apollo/Saturn V First Stage Leave Trail of Flame After Liftoff

The huge, 363-feet tall Apollo 17 (Spacecraft 114/Lunar Module 12/Saturn 512) space vehicle is launched from Pad A., Launch Complex 39, Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, at 12:33 a.m. (EST), Dec...

Apollo 17 Launch

Like Earth, the Moon has a day side and a night side, which change as the Moon rotates.

Moon Phases

Between four and seven times a year, Earth, Moon and Sun line up just right to create the cosmic-scale shadow show known as an eclipse.

Composite of lunar eclipse phases over night sky

Eclipses

Several theories vie for dominance but most agree on one thing — Earth's Moon was born from destruction.

Artist depiction of two planets colliding.

Moon Formation

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This site is maintained by the Public Engagement Team at NASA Goddard’s Solar System Exploration Division for the Science Mission Directorate.

NASA Official: Gina DiBraccio
Producer: Molly Wasser
Content Development: Andrea Jones, Caela Barry, Tracy Vogel
Graphics & Web: Vi Nguyen
Data Visualizer: Ernie Wright
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