21 April 1972
First Quarter, 56% lit
Apollo 16 lands
Young and Duke landed in the lunar highlands while, from Earth, the Moon was a first quarter, half of it in darkness.
Landings were deliberately timed for local lunar morning, with the Sun low behind the module, so shadows made the boulders visible. A landing at lunar noon would have been onto a flat, shadowless glare.
- Date
- 21 April 1972
- Moon computed for
- 02:00 local time, UTC
- Phase
- First Quarter
- Illuminated
- 56%
Source: NASA Apollo 16 mission report (opens in a new tab)