These are the sites of the six successful manned landings on the moon completed between 1969 and 1972. Only one of the Apollo missions, number 13, failed to reach its assigned destination. But 13 proved other things about the American space effort, providing new confidence for the flights still to come.

These amazing pictures were taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which arrived in orbit around the moon on June 23rd of 2011, going to work immediately. It captured the Apollo sites between July 11th and 15th.

All the pictures you see here were provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center and Arizona State University, whose science teams are running the LRO experiments.

Apollo 11

When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were on final approach to the lunar surface, it became clear that the automated navigation system on the LM was dropping them into a rocky crater. Apollo 11 overshot its intended landing site by some distance because of a miscalculation of the effects of the moon's gravity on their trajectory. Armstrong took manual control of the spacecraft and flew it to a safe level spot, using most of the remaining fuel in the Descent Module's tanks. When he called out that the "Eagle has landed," Houston communicator, Charlie Duke chirped, "Thanks a lot, Eagle, you got a whole lotta guys turning blue here.."

In the picture above, you can clearly see the descent stage right where they left it.

Apollo 12

This was a triumph. After 11's overshoot, Apollo 12 aimed for a very precise location--near a small robotic lander that had touched down on the moon more than 30 months before. Take a close look. The lunar lander is on the rim of the Surveyor crater (upper middle) and the Sureyor spacecraft is on the opposite rim, lower right center. Pete Conrad crowed hilariously as he looked out the window just after touchdown..there it was, right where they expected it to be. You can see their tracks in the lunar soil as they trekked around to the Surveyor. Conrad and his co-pilot, Alan Bean, cut the camera off the little robot, packed it in lunar vacuum in a plastic bag and brought it home to Houston. Lab technicians found a dormant germ in the camera, where it had snugged down for over 30 months in space. The bug revived. Think we'll ever cure the common cold?

Apollo 14

By now, it's clear to you why Lunar scientists are concerned about the possibility that future visitors to the moon will trample these historic sites. There's no atmosphere, of course..no wind..nothing to disturb the footprints left there 40-some years ago. Here's the Apollo 14 site..the same place that was to have been the landing spot for Apollo 13. The flight plan was ready and they wanted the science, so they went there. You can see it on the globe at the beginning of this article. Tracks lead from the lander to the Apollo Lunar Science Experiment Package in the upper left. This is also where Alan Shepard clamped the head of a golf club to one of his tools and hit two balls into the lunar distance, saying they had gone "miles and miles.." Maybe they did, but the probably didn't. You try that in a spacesuit..one-handed.

Apollo 17

This was the last one. Gene Cernan and Jack Schmidt, the only geologist to go to the moon, took the last steps on the lunar surface, venturing "far and wide" to get the most out of it. They were aided by a little car-like machine that carried them greater distances than would be possible in foot during the limited time they had available. You can see the car..marked LRV for Lunar Roving Vehicle on a small rise at the lower right of the picture. They put it up there, turned its TV cameras on the Lunar Module and sent back live shots of liftoff. Cernan said we had come to the moon in peace and were leaving it that way..and he promised we would return. One hopes.

As Jack Horkheimer always said, "Keep looking up."

Jim Slade