EXPERIMENT - APOLLO XVI (UV)

S72-40818 (21 April 1972) --- A color enhancement of an ultra-violet photograph of the geocorona, a halo of low density hydrogen around Earth. Sunlight is shining from the left, and the geocorona is brighter on that side. The UV camera was operated by astronaut John W. Young on the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission. It was designed and built at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. While astronauts Young, commander, and Charles M. Duke Jr., lunar module pilot, descended in the Lunar Module (LM) "Orion" to explore the Descartes highlands region of the moon, astronaut Thomas K. Mattingly II, command module pilot, remained with the Command and Service Modules (CSM) "Casper" in lunar orbit.