Geology of the Apollo 17 site

The Apollo 17 landing site was unique in several aspects: (1) it was the only site that was not selected from telescopic-based geologic interpretation--interest in the site was generated by the visual observations of Al Worden, Apollo 15 Command Module pilot, who interpreted dark-haloed craters as possible cinder cones; (2) instead of 20-m-resolution photographs, as was the norm for all earlier missions, this site had Apollo 15 panoramic camera photography coverage that had 2-m resolution; and (3) it had a geologist-astronaut aboard who was intimately involved in all stages of planning and mission operation, and was also instrumental in the design of a long-handled sample bag holder that eliminated the need for crew to dismount before collecting a sample, which then permitted sampling between major stations. Details of site geology, sample description, and geologic synthesis of the site as viewed from studies through 1976 are summarized.