Completed · Success
NASA's Apollo 15 was a crewed mission to the Moon: the first mission to carry the Lunar Roving Vehicle, landing in the Mare Imbrium region at the foot of the Apennines.
- Destinations
- Launch vehicle
- Saturn 5
- Launch site
- Cape Canaveral, United States
- Countries
- United States
- Mission types
- Crewed, Lander
Chronology
Mission timeline
Milestone
CSM separated from the S-IVB
The mission report gives elapsed time 03:22:27 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
Milestone
CSM separated from S-IVB
Mission report Table 3-I elapsed time 03:22:27. The stage has its own vehicle identity; no CSM path is reused.
Milestone
CSM docked with the lunar module
The mission report gives elapsed time 03:33:50 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
Milestone
Docked CSM and lunar module extracted from the S-IVB
The mission report gives elapsed time 04:18:01 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
Milestone
Docked spacecraft extracted from S-IVB
Mission report Table 3-I elapsed time 04:18:01. The stage has its own vehicle identity; no CSM path is reused.
Milestone
Scientific instrument bay door jettisoned
The mission report gives elapsed time 74:06:47 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
Orbit insertion
Lunar orbit insertion began
The mission report gives elapsed time 78:31:47 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonImpact
S-IVB impacted the Moon
Mission report Table 3-I elapsed time 79:24:42. Report times exclude later onboard/MCC clock updates.
MoonMilestone
Lunar module undocked for the landing
The mission report gives elapsed time 100:39:16 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonMilestone
Lunar module powered descent began
The mission report gives elapsed time 104:30:09 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonLanding
Lunar module landed
The mission report gives elapsed time 104:42:29 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonDeparture
Lunar module ascent stage lifted off
The mission report gives elapsed time 171:37:23 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonMilestone
Returning ascent stage docked with the CSM
The mission report gives elapsed time 173:36:26 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonMilestone
Lunar module ascent stage jettisoned
The mission report gives elapsed time 179:30:01 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonMilestone
Lunar module ascent stage deorbit burn began
The mission report gives elapsed time 181:04:20 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonImpact
Lunar module ascent stage impacted the Moon
The mission report gives elapsed time 181:29:37 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonDeployment
Particles and Fields Subsatellite released into lunar orbit
The experiment-team report establishes the release day. More precise source times require reconciliation; the CSM trajectory is not assigned to the released satellite.
MoonDeparture
Transearth injection began
The mission report gives elapsed time 223:48:46 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonMilestone
Command and service modules separated
The mission report gives elapsed time 294:43:56 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
Milestone
Command module reached atmospheric entry interface
The mission report gives elapsed time 294:58:55 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
EarthMilestone
Command module forward heat shield jettisoned
The mission report gives elapsed time 295:06:45 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
EarthMilestone
Drogue parachutes deployed
The mission report gives elapsed time 295:06:46 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
EarthMilestone
Main parachutes deployed
The mission report gives elapsed time 295:07:34 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
EarthLanding
Command module splashed down in the Pacific Ocean
The mission report gives elapsed time 295:11:53 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
EarthMission end
Subsatellite ground support ended
Ground support ended; the eventual impact time and site are unknown.
Moon
Mission architecture
Vehicles
Trajectory record
Time-dependent navigation trajectory
Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.
Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.
- Apollo 15 CSM: Physically reconstructed based on publicly available data · July 26, 1971 to July 26, 1971
- Apollo 15 CSM JPL lunar-orbit solution: Physically reconstructed based on publicly available data · archived JPL Apollo 15 lunar CSM orbit solution · Moon-centered J2000 · source gaps retained · July 30, 1971 to August 1, 1971
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through September 13, 2026
- Apollo 15 Command and Service Module - NASA NSSDCA Spacecraft Details — NSSDCAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Apollo 15 Lunar Module - NASA NSSDCA Spacecraft Details — NSSDCAArchive · Supports: mission claims
- Apollo 15 and 16 subsatellite plasma and energetic-particle experiment report — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Apollo 15 Mission Report (MSC-05161) — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Saturn V Flight Manual SA-507, revised October 5 1969 — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Saturn V Launch Vehicle Flight Evaluation Report: AS-510, Apollo 15 — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- LROC Science Operations Team: Coordinates of Lunar Anthropogenic Targets (28 July 2016) — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Apollo 15 Lunar Command Module SPK and embedded comment file — NAIFSpice · Supports: mission claims
- DE421 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFTechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- DE440 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- IAU rotational elements and body radii (PCK 00011) — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA global lunar height maps, LDEM_4 V3 original PDS source label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA 2023 south-polar elevation, uncertainty and effective-resolution maps — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Seen From Above: LROC site and terrain context — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Moon Facts — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context
- SLDEM2015 Blue Ghost region: original PDS elevation-grid label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- JPL Solar System Dynamics Astrodynamic Parameters — JPLOther · Supports: destination/body context
- Planet Sizes and Locations in Our Solar System — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context