James Irwin, 26 July - 7 August, 1971, EVA 2
Printed 1971.
Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper [NASA image AS15-85-11514].
Numbered "NASA AS15-85-11514" in black in the top margin (issued by NASA Manned Spacecraft Centre, Houston, Texas).
20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.)
Historical context
A lone photographer on an alien world.
This stunning frame, part of the second panoramic sequence taken at Station 6 by James Irwin, captures Apollo 15 Commander David Scott high on the north-facing slope of Mount Hadley Delta, approximately 100 meters above the valley floor and 5 km southeast of the Lunar Module Falcon.
Scott is using the Hasselblad 500EL Data Camera, mounted on the Remote-Control Unit of his chest, to photograph a rock sample of scientific significance. The Lunar Rover, parked at a steep angle, is visible in the distance behind him. The white spots above Scott are lens flares, created by the camera facing east toward the Sun.
Footprints made by Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin mark the terrain, emphasizing the challenge of navigating the steep lunar slope. The Swann Range stretches across the horizon, approximately 17 km away, while to Scott's right, the dramatic 3,500-meter peak of Mount Hadley Delta rises sharply above the Marsh of Decay below.
"When I look at the Moon, I do not see a hostile, empty world. I see the radiant body where man has taken his first steps into a frontier that will never end."
—David Scott (National Geographic, September 1973, "What Is It Like to Walk on the Moon?", p. 329)
Footnotes
Literature
TIME, 23 August 1971, p. 26
NASA SP-289, appendix D, figure D-9-b
Full Moon, Light, plate 79
Apollo: The Panoramas, Constantine, pp. 68-69