Posted on 01/17/2026 1:14:00 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: Apollo 14's Lunar Module Antares landed on the Moon on February 5, 1971. Toward the end of the stay astronaut Ed Mitchell snapped a series of photos of the lunar surface while looking out a window, assembled into this detailed mosaic by Apollo Lunar Surface Journal editor Eric Jones. The view looks across the Fra Mauro highlands to the northwest of the landing site after the Apollo 14 astronauts had completed their second and final walk on the Moon. Prominent in the foreground is their Modular Equipment Transporter, a two-wheeled, rickshaw-like device used to carry tools and samples. Near the horizon at top center is a 1.5 meter wide boulder dubbed Turtle rock. In the shallow crater below Turtle rock is the long white handle of a sampling instrument, thrown there javelin-style by Mitchell. Mitchell's fellow moonwalker and first American in space, Alan Shepard, also used a makeshift six iron to hit two golf balls. One of Shepard's golf balls is just visible as a white spot below Mitchell's javelin.
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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Pinging the APOD list
🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔
Put some chickens out there and it looks like my neighbor Steve’s backyard.
I always assumed a real golf club was used by Sheppard.
Wow.
Fantastic picture, and fantastic accomplishment.
But I’m having a hard time understanding why the left-facing maneuvering rocket nozzle appears to be transparent, allowing the lunar surface to be seen through what looks like a large chunk of it that seems to have been eroded away, or is otherwise missing.
I hate to say it, but that’s exactly the sort of thing that makes people think the whole thing was faked with a green screen.
AI says...
Based on photographic analysis of the Apollo 14 lunar surface EVA, the “transparent” appearance of the left-facing maneuvering rocket nozzle (part of the Reaction Control System or RCS thruster quad) is an optical illusion, often caused by intense, direct sunlight reflecting off the nozzle.
The Cause: High-angle sunlight reflecting off the metal nozzle in the airless, high-contrast environment of the Moon creates a “jewel-like,” or, at times, a washed-out, “transparent” or white appearance in photos.
The Components: The RCS “quads” contained thruster nozzles mounted on the ascent stage. The Apollo 14 Lunar Module (Antares) was covered in kapton/mylar insulation, but the thruster nozzles themselves were, in some cases, partially visible.
Alternative Explanation (Optical Effect): In some TV/photographic recordings of the era, lighting, combined with the low-resolution, high-contrast cameras, caused bright reflections to appear as white or colored artifacts, rather than solid, dark objects.
Surface Conditions: The Apollo 14 landing site, near the Cone Crater, had high Sun angles (around 12 degrees or more) which created harsh reflections off metallic surfaces, including the RCS plume deflectors and nozzles.
Photos taken during the Apollo 14 EVA 1 (such as AS14-66-09261) clearly show the right side and rear, but the bright, direct sun on the RCS quads is the primary cause for the “transparent” look
It’s specular reflection that looks exactly like the lunar surface, including a visible boot-print? That’s a little hard to swallow. I don’t think the AI you were talking to can actually see the image.
Why do I Feel ‘Nostalgic’ and ‘Home Sick’ at the same Time when viewing photos like These?
.
To believe the Walks on the Moon
We’re Fake makes no sense at All.
Maybe it’s all lies and the Apollo missions were all fraud.
Toward the end of the stay astronaut Ed Mitchell snapped a series of photos of the lunar surface while looking out a window, assembled into this detailed mosaic by Apollo Lunar Surface Journal editor Eric Jones.You, too can take a sequence of photos out your window, and use mosaicking software to assemble them. You may find strange artifacts at the borders between images. I got into that for a while. You'll also see border artifacts in Google Street View imagery.
I suggest that you go to the link, and follow it until you get the full(?) size version of the image, where you will see clearly that the 'gap' in the nozzle is a mosaicking artifact.
exactly the sort of thing that makes people think the whole thing was faked with a green screen.
Yes. People like Bart Sibrel, who don't know what they're talking about and don't do sufficient research, promote that idiocy.
Maybe that is just a shadow.
Great points on the mosaic process..
IMO, those who question and or lend support these flat earth, never been to the lunar surface crowd are spectacularly ignorant, and no doubt a good percentage simple want to discredit and demean America and the people who put us on the surface.
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