S72-35010

S72-35010 (April 1972) --- The Apollo Program's final manned landing on the moon will explore a site designated Taurus-Littrow on the southeastern rim of the Sea of Serenity. This photograph from the Apollo 15 Metric Camera gives a vertical view of the Apollo 17 landing site at 20 degrees north latitude and 30 degrees east longitude. The site (white cross) is on a dark-cratered plain at the base of light-colored highland mountains. The major scientific objective is to study the highlands for new knowledge about what is believed to be representative of the most ancient part of the moon. The darker material forms a bay amid steep-sided mountains that rise almost 2 kilometers (1 1/4 miles) above the adjacent plain or basin. Mountain slopes in excess of 25 degrees are common. The individual mountain masses and ridges are believed to represent very old highland crustal blocks structurally separated by various basin-forming events. The basin and parts of the highlands are mantled (covered) with dark deposits that may be fragmented rocks of volcanic origin. The dark mantle, a very low albedo, (low light-reflective) loose material which covers pre-existing terrain, is extensively developed in this region. Sampling of the dark deposits is given a high priority since its age and composition wouls shed light on the thermal history of the moon. Panoramic photography and command module pilot observations on Apollo 15 documented the presence here of a number of cinder cones which may be related to the dark mantle. It might be dust blown out by a volcanic eruption. Radar maps indicate this dark mantle is different because of its scarcity of block material. The photo covers 22 kilometers (13.5 miles) from east to west and 15 kilometers (9 miles) north to south. A ridge-like feature snakes from north to south across the basin and highlands about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) west of the landing point, and is partly covered by a northward debris flow from the base of a mountain southwest