Tom Durkin explores the successes and problems related to the Apollo 16 mission.

On April 16, 1972, Apollo 16 lifted off for the Moon. It was NASA’s second-to-last Apollo lunar mission, the tenth “crewed” mission, and the fifth mission to actually land on the Moon in an area called the Descartes highlands. This area turned out to not to be of volcanic origin as originally thought but rather formed by meteor impacts.

Astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke descended to the surface in the Lunar Module Orion for 71 hours. They collected over 200 pounds of samples including “Big Muley” (the largest moon rock ever collected), conducted
various scientific experiments, and drove the “moon buggy” for over 16 miles, while Astronaut Ken Mattingly
orbited above in the Command Service Module Casper. The mission was cut short one day due to problems that were overcome, and the three astronauts safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 11 days after liftoff on April 27, 1972.

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