NASA's Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (ALSJ)[1] records the details of each mission's time on the lunar surface as a timeline of the activities undertaken, the dialogue between the crew and Mission Control, and the relevant documentary records. Each photograph taken on the mission is catalogued there and each photographic sequence is also recorded. This page tabulates the Apollo 14 panoramas and, where appropriate, provides updated representations of the panoramas blended using more recent technologies than the originals.
Despite the successes of Apollo 11 and Apollo 12, Apollo 14 was something of a "Recovery Mission" following the incomplete nature of Apollo 13. Since the decision had already been made for Apollo 13 to visit the Fra Mauro Formation for scientific purposes, this was simply moved forward as Apollo 14's destination as well. Also, since the mission was designated as an "H" Mission, the profile was similar to the earlier H missions, Apollo 12 (and 13) which called for two EVAs rather than the 3 later in the program.
In terms of photography, Apollo 14's crew proved to be less "trigger-happy" than the preceding Apollo 12 crew and only took 417 pictures on the Moon, compared to 583 on the earlier mission. However, 288 of these were components of 17 distinct panoramas and ALSJ lists another 25 sub-panoramas within these.
The post-mission Preliminary Science Report[2] indicates that the crew took 15[3] panoramas but appears to have missed the "Station C" and "Weird Rock" pans. In some cases, the complete, 360° panoramas were impacted by the low Sun angle and greater detail can be gained by omitting the down-Sun exposures from the panoramic sequences, hence some of the sub-panoramas.
To assist in gaining bearings, the Lunar Module (LM) Antares, landed with its door and ladder leg (AKA "+Z strut") pointing approximately 20° north of due west. The Sun's elevation[4] was between 13° and 15.5° for EVA 1, and 122° and 24.3° for EVA 2.
Being the 3rd mission to land on the Moon, the emphasis on taking 'Contingency' photos had declined by Apollo 14. Subsequently, only three LM-based panoramas were taken; on landing, between the two EVAs, and prior to departing.
Table 14.1 Non-EVA panoramas
Mission
Time (MET)
EVA #
Location
Astronaut
Magazine
Type
Start Frame
End Frame
Alternate Panorama
Reference
Reference Panorama
Notes
XIV
109:46:23
Pre-EVA
Post-Landing Combined Window Pan
Shepherd/Mitchell
65
Monochrome
9202
9215
N/A
ALSJ
Although referenced in the Preliminary Science Report, this "panorama" is really two sub-panoramas taken through each of the main windows on the Lunar Module. The result presented by ALSJ is disjointed because of the separation between camera locations and the parallax issues that causes. The two sub-panoramas are below.
XIV
109:46:23
Pre-EVA
Post-Landing LMP Window Pan
Mitchell
65
Monochrome
9202
9207
ALSJ
Sub-panorama of "Combined" version above. Alternate variant shows different image blending
XIV
109:46:23
Pre-EVA
Post-Landing CDR Window Pan
Shepherd
65
Monochrome
9209
9215
ALSJ
Sub-panorama of "Combined" version above. Alternate variant shows different image blending
XIV
119:42:01
Inter-EVA
Post-EVA-1 Window Pan
Shepherd
66
Colour
9317
9326
N/A
ALSJ
As with the Post-Landing Combined Window Pan presented above, this ALSJ-referenced image is best considered as two sub-panoramas (see below) due to the difference in position of the component shots.
The Apollo 14 crew, Alan Shepherd and Ed Mitchell, whether constrained by their workload or otherwise, were less inclined to pause to take photos than their predecessors.
Table 14.2 EVA panoramas
Mission
Time (MET)
EVA #
Location
Astronaut
Magazine
Type
Start Frame
End Frame
Alternate Panorama
Reference
Reference Panorama
Notes
XIV
114:53:38
EVA 1
LM 4 O'clock Pan
Shepherd
66
Colour
9236
9257
N/A
ALSJ
XIV
114:53:38
EVA 1
LM 4 O'clock Pan Hi-Res
Shepherd
66
Colour
9236
9257
N/A
ALSJ
Assembled from later releases of Hi-Res scans
XIV
114:53:38
EVA 1
LM 4 O'clock Pan Artistic
Shepherd
66
Colour
9236
9257
N/A
ALSJ
As listed on ALSJ
XIV
114:53:38
EVA 1
LM 4 O'clock Pan 3rd Version
Shepherd
66
Colour
9236
9257
N/A
ALSJ
As listed on ALSJ
XIV
114:53:38
EVA 1
LM 4 O'clock Pan LM
Shepherd
66
Colour
9250
9254
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-panorama featuring just the LM. [This appears to be an error in the ALSJ; This description states that it is AS14-66-9250 through 9255, and yet the displayed image is only 9254 to 9255]
XIV
114:53:38
EVA 1
LM 4 O'clock Pan LM - Alternate
Shepherd
66
Colour
9250
9257
ALSJ
N/A
Sub-panorama featuring the LM and immediate vicinity - alternate to LM 4 O'clock Pan LM above.
XIV
114:53:38
EVA 1
LM 4 O'clock Pan Portrait
Shepherd
66
Colour
9254
9255
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-Panorama featuring just the LM
XIV
114:53:38
EVA 1
LM 8 O'clock Pan
Shepherd
66
Colour
9271
9293
N/A
ALSJ
[A possible error in the ALSJ timetime - this image is indexed at the same time (114:53:38) as the LM 4 O'clock Pan above.]
XIV
114:57:20
EVA 1
LM 12 O'clock Pan
Shepherd
66
Colour
9294
9316
N/A
ALSJ
XIV
114:57:20
EVA 1
LM 12 O'clock Pan East Hi-Res
Shepherd
66
Colour
9298
9312
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-panorama
XIV
114:57:20
EVA 1
LM 12 O'clock Pan West Hi-Res
Shepherd
66
Colour
9294
9316
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-panorama - 9310-9316 then 9294-9300
XIV
114:57:20
EVA 1
LM 12 O'clock Pan Cone
Shepherd
66
Colour
9305
9306
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-panorama - Cone Ridge just to the left of the spacecraft
XIV
132:16:44
EVA 2
Station A Pan
Mitchell
68
Colour
9394
9408
N/A
ALSJ
XIV
132:16:44
EVA 2
Station A Pan Minipan
Mitchell
68
Colour
9404
9405
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-panorama of Apollo 14 - Station A Pan above.
XIV
132:16:44
EVA 2
Station A Pan Hi-Res
Mitchell
69
Colour
9404
9407
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-panorama of Apollo 14 - Station A Pan above.
XIV
132:34:22
EVA 2
Station B Pan
Shepherd
64
Mono
9049
9072
N/A
ALSJ
XIV
132:50:31
EVA 2
Station B1 Pan - Profile
Shepherd
64
Mono
9075
9097
N/A
ALSJ
A subtle variation between this and the 'Back' variant (below) - this uses 9089 to show Mitchell in profile
XIV
132:50:31
EVA 2
Station B1 Pan - Back
Shepherd
64
Mono
9075
9097
N/A
ALSJ
This uses 9088 to show Mitchell's back - see 'Profile' variant above
XIV
132:50:31
EVA 2
Station B1 Pan - Mini-pan
Shepherd
64
Mono
9088
9089
ALSJ
Sub-panorama
XIV
132:57:52
EVA 2
Station B2 Pan
Mitchell
68
Mono
9415
9429
N/A
ALSJ
XIV
132:57:52
EVA 2
Station B2 Pan North
Mitchell
68
Mono
9415
9425
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-Panorama - Annotated
XIV
132:57:52
EVA 2
Station B2 Pan Sun View
Mitchell
68
Mono
9421
9422
N/A
ALSJ
XIV
133:14:34
EVA 2
Station B3 Pan
Mitchell
68
Mono
9430
9442
N/A
ALSJ
This is an unusual sequence, left-to-right it runs 9439-9442, then 9430-9438 - it's almost as if Mitchell realised he could capture a larger pan by adding more component shots at the end
XIV
133:14:34
EVA 2
Station B3 North
Mitchell
68
Mono
9430
9438
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-panorama (Incorrectly marked in ALSJ as being at 132:57:52)
XIV
133:23:40
EVA 2
Station C-Prime Pan
Shepherd
64
Mono
9098
9122
N/A
ALSJ
XIV
133:23:40
EVA 2
Station C-Prime Pan Hi-Res South
Shepherd
64
Mono
9111
9121
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-panorama
XIV
133:23:40
EVA 2
Station C-Prime Pan Hi-Res North
Shepherd
64
Mono
9098
9107
N/A
ALSJ
Sub-panorama
XIV
133:23:40
EVA 2
Station C-Prime Pan Hi-Res MET
Shepherd
64
Mono
9119
9122
N/A
ALSJ
(ASLJ has incorrectly labelled the source images for this, it should read AS-64-9119-9122 (Not 9019-9022))
XIV
133:23:40
EVA 2
Station C-Prime Pan Hi-Res Mini-pan
Shepherd
64
Mono
9117
9120
N/A
ALSJ
XIV
133:40:48
EVA 2
Station C1 Pan
Mitchell
68
Mono
9448
9451
N/A
ALSJ
Unusual "broken" panorama. The original sources do not overlap. Included because referenced by both ALSJ and the Preliminary Science Report.
These tables catalogue the panoramic photos captured during the Apollo 14 mission. Those thumbnails in the "Reference Panorama" and "Notes" columns have been included from 'official' NASA resources such as ALSJ and LPI. Entries in the 'Panorama' column have created using panorama blending software using the High Resolution scans of the original frames held as the "Project Apollo Archive" on Flickr.[5] Where a Reference Panorama is pre-existing, that has been used in preference to creating a new variant, unless there is a additional value to be gained by regenerating it. Apart from some source image masking, all such new variants have been created using the minimum of processing, relying on the software package's inherent blending and optimisation capabilities - typically, such panoramas have been created within 3-5 minutes as they are intended to be 'representations' rather than 'definitive' examples. Consequently, brightness and contrast levels, as well as some frame-edges, have not been adjusted. EVA images include the overlaying of Réseau plate "crosses" to assist in their post-mission evaluation.
All 4-digit image references relate to the last 4 digits of the image names. The full image names follow the format AS12-MM-NNNN, where MM relates to the Magazine number and NNNN is the identifier.
All tabular data, such as time and image identifiers, has been extracted from the ALSJ. The entries in the 'Location' column relate to the term used for the panorama as listed in the ALSJ's 'Assembled Panoramas' section