Dawn Touchdowns, Pre-noon Liftoffs

by Peter Kokh Info
November 1995


For sake of best long-shadow lighting conditions as well as heat management, All the Apollo missions landed shortly after local sunrise, and as if subconsciously frightened senseless of nightfall, left well before local noon. We haven’t come close to experiencing a full lunar dayspan/nightspan cycle! Here are the figures for each mission.

A 11 TD 10.93 hrs after local sunrise
LO 21.60 hrs after local sunrise
(like 6.22-7:06 am on Earth with 6:00 am sunrise)

A12 TD 10.12 hrs after local sunrise
LO 19.52 hrs after local sunrise
(like 6:21-7:01 am on Earth with 6:00 am sunrise)

A14 TD 20.75 hrs after local sunrise
LO 33.51 hrs after local sunrise
(like 6:42-7:50 am on Earth with 6:00 am sunrise)

A15 TD 14.04 hrs after local sunrise
LO 68.91 hrs after local sunrise
(like 6:29-8:49 am on Earth with 6:00 am sunrise)

A16 TD 17.82 hrs after local sunrise
LO 71.04 hrs after local sunrise
(like 6:36-9:00 am on Earth with 6:00 am sunrise)

A17 TD 16.8 hrs after local sunrise
LO 75.00 hrs after local sunrise
(like 6:34-9:06 am on Earth with 6:00 am sunrise)

Sunrise to Sunset: 354.367 hrs = 14.7653 days

Full Sunth (local day): 708.734 hrs = 29.5306 d.