Descartes Highlands - Mission Overview

Apollo 16 (CSM Casper and LM Orion)
Saturn V
April 16-27, 1972
John W. Young
Thomas K. Mattingly II
Charles M. Duke, Jr.

11 days, 01 hour, 51 minutes
Landing site: Descartes Highlands.
Landing Coordinates: 8.97341 degrees South, 15.49859 degrees East
(Source: National Space Science Data Center)

First study of highlands area. Selected surface experiments deployed, ultraviolet camera/spectrograph used for first time on Moon, and LRV used for second time. LRV traversed 26.7 km. Three EVAs totaling 20 hours 14 minutes. 95.8 kg (213 lbs) of lunar samples collected. Lunar surface stay-time, 71 hours; in lunar orbit 126 hours, with 64 orbits. Subsatellite released in lunar orbit. Mattingly performed 1-hour trans-Earth EVA.