During the second EVA of Apollo 17, Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt were exploring the magnificent Shorty Crater at Station 4, when Schmitt chanced upon some orange soil.
A subsequent study of the orange soil indicates that it was formed during volcanic eruptions approximately 3.7 billion years ago.
Credit: NASA / Moonpans
by Busy_Yesterday9455
5 Comments
Oh, thats really cool!
It’s amazing that the last guy we sent up there was a geologist (and not a pilot trained in geology) and that he got to discover this … and that he went on to teach moon geology having seen it first hand, and he’s still alive!
Here is the footage from the collection: [https://youtu.be/9cYQxzseRbw?si=nxlk-v99pNxtJqdc&t=7768](https://youtu.be/9cYQxzseRbw?si=nxlk-v99pNxtJqdc&t=7768)
Awesome photo, but damn they cranked the saturation up on that orange. The photos on wikipedia about shorty crater, AND the scans of the film cartridge from 2005 make it seem a lot less dull. I’d love to see a version of this photo with the colors adjusted more accurately because the strips on that tripod look REALLY washed out.
Stupid question. Would the footprints still be there, or solar wind would blow the dust around?