Impact Sites of Apollo LM Ascent and SIVB Stages

Object Date Time (UT) Latitude Longitude Impact Velocity
(km/s)
Impact Energy
(ergs)
Angle from
Horizontal
Apollo 12 LM 20 November 1969 22:17:17.7 3.94 S 21.20 W 1.68 3.36 x 1016 3.7
Apollo 13 SIVB 15 April 1970 01:09:41.0 2.5550 S 27.8875 W 2.58 4.63 x 1017 76
Apollo 14 SIVB 4 February 1971 07:40:55.4 8.1810 S 26.0305 W 2.54 4.52 x 1017 69
Apollo 14 LM 7 February 1971 00:45:25.7 3.42 S 19.67 W 1.68 3.25 x 1016 3.6
Apollo 15 SIVB 29 July 1971 20:58:42.9 1.2897 S 11.8245 W 2.58 4.61 x 1017 62
Apollo 15 LM 3 August 1971 03:03:37.0 26.36 N 0.25 E 1.70 3.44 x 1016 3.2
Apollo 16 SIVB 19 April 1972 21:02:04* 1.9210 N 24.6230 W 2.5 - 2.6 4.59 x 1017 * ~79
Apollo 17 SIVB 10 December 1972 20:32:42.3 4.1681 S 12.3307 W 2.55 4.71 x 1017 55
Apollo 17 LM 15 December 1972 06:50:20.8 19.97 N 30.49 E 1.67 3.15 x 1016 4.9


Notes

Impact times are Earth received times, approximately 1.3 seconds later than real time on the Moon.

SIVB coordinate data are from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images of impact sites and
Wagner et al., Icarus 283, pp. 92-103 (2017) using planetocentric Mean Earth/Polar
Axis Lunar Reference System - DE421 ephemeris.

The SIVB is the Saturn upper stage which was targeted towards the Moon after separation from Apollo.

The Apollo 11 SIVB was injected into heliocentric orbit, the Apollo 12 SIVB into Earth orbit.

The Apollo 11 and 16 LM's were jettisoned into (temporary) lunar orbits.
The Apollo 13 LM re-entered Earth's atmosphere on 17 April 1970.

*A malfunction resulted in premature loss of tracking data for the Apollo 16 SIVB.
Time and impact energy are estimates based on interpretation of seismic data.
Uncertainty in the Apollo 16 impact time is about 4 seconds.
(The impact location estimated based on tracking prior to signal loss was 2.24 N, 24.49 W)

Most other data from Toksoz et al., 1974


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NASA Official: Dave Williams, david.r.williams@nasa.gov
Last Updated: 28 March 2023, DRW