Photos: New Views of Apollo Moon Landing Sites Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Eyes Apollo 12, Surveyor 3 Sites. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured the sharpest images ever taken from space of the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 landing sites. Apollo 12 astronauts even found the first meteorite ever discovered on another world, the Bench Crater carbonaceous chondrite. The landing ellipse is 7.2 nautical miles by 2.6 nautical miles. Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured the sharpest images ever taken from space of the Apollo 12, 14 and 17 landing sites.

Composite of Lunar Orbiter III strips showing the prime Apollo 12 lunar landing site. From a 50 km mapping orbit, LROC reveals more details of the Apollo 12 landing site.

Four months after the success of Apollo 11, NASA launched Apollo 12 in November 1969. Almost exactly 40 years later, LRO has seen the landing site. This image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter shows... Side-By-Side of Surveyor Crater. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, or LROC, was able to image five of the six Apollo sites, with the remaining Apollo 12 site expected to be photographed in the coming weeks. The coordinates of the ellipse center are 2 degrees 56 minutes 33 seconds (2.943 degrees) south latitude and 23 degrees 26 minutes 36 seconds (23.443 degrees) west longitude, and the elevation is 1,735,900 meters.

ALSEP stands for Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package.

The satellite reached lunar orbit June 23 and captured the Apollo sites between July 11 and 15. See how that mission went in photos in our photo … National Air and Space Museum Independence Ave at 6th St, SW Washington, DC 20560 202-633-2214 Today's Hours: 10am – 5:30pm . NASA's Apollo 12 mission sent three astronauts to the moon in November 1969 to make the second crewed lunar landing in history. Photos of each of the six Apollo landing sites photographed from low orbit by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Images show the twists and turns of the paths made when the astronauts explored the lunar surface.