APOLLO 16

When a rubella scare grounded Command Module pilot Ken Mattingly in 1970, he was forced to watch from the sidelines as his two crewmates headed off to the Moon without him on the ill-fated Apollo 13. Two years later in 1972, Mattingly hoped for better luck on his new mission, Apollo 16. Unfortunately, while Apollo 13 had been an Oscar-worthy triumph over tragedy, Apollo 16 would turn out to be something of a farce.

In 1972, morale at NASA was low. A curtailed Apollo programme was heading into its final two missions and many staff members were being laid off. Meanwhile, the Soviets were making headlines with the Lunokhod rover and its robotic sample return missions, doing the work of the Apollo missions at a fraction of the cost and without risking human lives.

Not that the Apollo astronauts themselves minded the risk. In fact, they were pushing for more adventurous missions following the success of Apollo 15. Perhaps to the rugged landscape of the southern pole? Or even the lunar far side. Instead, NASA played it safe, and the fifth lunar landing was set to visit the equatorial lunar highlands for the first time. And so, on 16 April at 17:54 UT, Mattingly along with