INTRODUCTION

The Apollo 15 mission was the fifteenth in the series using Apollo flight hardware and achieved the fourth manned lunar landing. The objectives of the mission were to investigate the lunar surface in a preselected area of the Hadley-Apennine region; emplace and activate surface experiments; evaluate the capability of the Apollo equipment to provide extended lunar surface stay time, increased extravehicular operations, and surface mobility; and conduct inflight experiments and photographic tasks from lunar orbit.

This report provides the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other interested agencies with the results of the Apollo 15 mission. Some aspects of the mission such as preliminary scientific results and launch vehicle performance are reported in greater detail in other publications (references 1 and 2). This report contains:

a. A discussion of the performance of spacecraft systems and onboard equipment, including significant anomalies incurred and their resolution. (The results of anomaly investigations not completed by the time of publication will be reported individually.)
b. A description of the mission by the flight crew.
c. A summary of science operations.
d. A summary of the operational support provided by the flight control, manned space flight network, and recovery teams.
e. A biomedical evaluation.
f. A summary of launch conditions and launch vehicle performance.
g. An assessment of mission objectives satisfactorily accomplished.

In addition, in Appendixes A through D, the configuration of the spacecraft and the equipment aboard the spacecraft are identified, and information is presented concerning spacecraft manufacturing and checkout history, postflight testing, and data availability. A complete analysis of all applicable data is not possible within the time frame of the preparation of this report. Therefore, report supplements will be published as necessary. Appendix E lists the reports and gives their status, either published or in preparation.

Times, unless otherwise specified, are elapsed time from range zero, established as the integral second before lift-off. Range zero for this mission was 13:34:00 G.M.T., July 26, 1971. Customary units are used except in cases where metric units have a common usage, such as measurement of lunar surface distance. In these instances, both metric and customary units are given for convenience. All mileage distances are in nautical miles and all weights are referenced to earth gravity.