Completed · Success
NASA's Apollo 16 was a crewed mission to the Moon: a landing in the Descartes highlands with the Lunar Roving Vehicle.
- 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 03:04:59 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
Milestone
CSM separated from the S-IVB
The lunar module remained carried until extraction. The stage is tracked as its own vehicle.
Milestone
CSM docked with the lunar module
The mission report gives elapsed time 03:21:53 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 03:59:15 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
Milestone
Docked command and lunar modules extracted from the S-IVB
The stage continued independently toward lunar impact.
Loss of contact
S-IVB radio downlink lost
Later postflight states are reconstructed from earlier tracking and the force model.
Milestone
Scientific instrument bay door jettisoned
The mission report gives elapsed time 69:59:01 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 74:28:28 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonImpact
S-IVB impacted the Moon
Seismic impact time has a reported uncertainty of two seconds. The trajectory model predicts a separate time about seven seconds earlier.
MoonMilestone
Lunar module undocked for the landing
The mission report gives elapsed time 96:14:00 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 104:17:25 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonLanding
Lunar module landed
The mission report gives elapsed time 104:29:35 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
Lunar module ascent stage lifted off
The mission report gives elapsed time 175:31:48 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 177:41:18 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 195:00:12 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonMilestone
Mass spectrometer and boom jettisoned
The mission report gives elapsed time 195:23:12 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
Deployment
Particles and Fields Subsatellite released
The mission report gives elapsed time 196:02:09 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
MoonDeparture
Transearth injection began
The mission report gives elapsed time 200:21:33 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 265:22:33 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 265:37:31 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 265:45:25 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
EarthMilestone
Drogue parachutes deployed
The mission report gives elapsed time 265:45:26 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
EarthMilestone
Main parachutes deployed
The mission report gives elapsed time 265:46:16 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 265:51:05 from range zero. Later mission-clock updates are excluded by the report convention.
EarthImpact
Subsatellite impacted the Moon
Orbital perturbations lowered the subsatellite into the lunar surface.
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 16 CSM and docked LM: Physically reconstructed based on publicly available data · April 16, 1972 to April 16, 1972
- Apollo 16 subsatellite JPL lunar orbit solution: Physically reconstructed based on publicly available data · JPL SSD Apollo 16 subsatellite orbit solution · Moon-centered J2000 · native solution jumps retained · April 27, 1972 to May 29, 1972
- Apollo 16 command/service module: Reconstructed · April 20, 1972 to April 24, 1972
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through October 11, 2026
- Apollo 16 Command and Service Module - NASA NSSDCA Spacecraft Details — NSSDCAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Apollo 16 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 16 Mission Report (MSC-07230) — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Apollo 16 S-IVB Lunar Impact: Postflight Trajectory Analysis — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Saturn V Flight Manual SA-507, revised October 5 1969 — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- LROC Science Operations Team: Coordinates of Lunar Anthropogenic Targets (28 July 2016) — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Apollo 16 Subsatellite Trajectory SPK file, JPL SSD Solution — 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