Lunar Orbiter Looking for Apollo 11 Moon Landing site

Astronaut Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin, Jr., lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, is beside the U.S. flag during an Apollo 11 moon walk.

The Lunar Module (LM) is on the left, and the footprints of both astronauts are clearly visible in the powdery dust of the moon.

Senior Commander, Astronaut extra-ordinaire and Lunar Module Pilot, Neil A. Armstrong, took this picture with a 70mm Hasselblad lunar surface camera. Credit: NASA

NASA's sharp-eyed Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is configured to seek out the Apollo 11 landing site, the location of the first human foray to the moon in 20th July 1969, 40 years ago this month.

Along with carrying out the scheduled lunar science missions, the moon-orbiting probe in coming days, weeks and months will determine and photograph selected lunar targets, zooming in on a short list of Apollo landing locales to see the final resting spots of robotic spacecraft, moon buggy tracks and crashed rocket stages.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is already operational and using its LRO Camera, dubbed LROC for short.

The landed Eagle

One large item that would be interesting to view, is Apollo 11's Eagle descent stage, left behind after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin rocketed away from Tranquility Base.

The American Flag
Unfortunately, the LROC will not be able to pick the US flag on the lunar surface because it did not survive the Lunar Module's take-off. It was blown over and out of its precarious position when the Lunar Module blasted off to re-join with the Lunar Orbiter. A more detailed search of the surface would be required to locate this precious object.

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