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Apollo 16, the fifth mission to land astronauts on the moon, launched 50 years ago, on April 16, 1972.
The mission was crewed by Commander John Young, Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke and Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly.
The mission was supported by Australian facilities, though with most televised activities taking place during
the US daytime, Honeysuckle Creek mostly tracked during astronaut sleep periods.
Parkes was on standby for the mission, and was called upon while there were some problems in lunar orbit.
This essay by Hamish Lindsay, on the
Honeysuckle Creek website,
reviews the mission timeline in detail.
Young and Duke spent 71 hours on the lunar surface, and conducted three extra-vehicular activities.
They drove the lunar rover (the second used on the Moon) for almost 27 km, and collected 95.8 kg of lunar samples.
The image above was taken at Plum Crater, a 36 metre wide hole on the rim of 290 metre wide Flag Crater.
(Image credit: NASA/Honeysuckle Creek website).
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