Portable Life Support Systems Backpack on the Moon (NASA, Moon, 7/17/09)

Sometimes history is very personal. This image shows a portable life support backpack that was left behind on the moon's surface during Apollo 17. But to a 30-year-old at Goddard Space Flight Center, this has a special meaning. Here's an except from the blog post of Noah Petro:

"For me, these photos have an additional dimension as they remind me of why I've always been interested in the moon. In the mid 1960s my father worked on the Apollo program, building parts for the astronauts' backpacks, known as the Portable Life Support Systems (PLSS). At the end of each lunar landing mission, in order to reduce the mass launched into lunar orbit, the astronauts would toss the PLSS' onto the lunar surface; they were left behind and quickly forgotten. However, those who built the PLSS did not forget them. Before the packs were finished and shipped off, the engineers would etch their signatures on parts of the PLSS frame. So when the packs were left on the moon, the signatures also remained as a permanent monument to their achievements. So now when I look at these amazing photos, I can't see those backpacks in these images, future images of the sites may show them, but I do see places where my dad's name will be found forever."

Read the whole post here:
blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/moon_missions/posts/post_124785677...

Image credit: NASA

Learn more about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) :
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/main/index.html

Learn more about the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS):
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LCROSS/main/index.html

Follow the "New Moon Missions" blog from NASA:
blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/moon_missions/

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Taken on: July 17, 2009

Tags:

nasa

moon missions

LCROSS

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite

moon mapping

Apollo

Atlas V

Centaur rocket

moon exploration

lunar

Noah Petro

PLSS

Portable Life Support System

bootprints on the moon

footprints on the moon

lunar surface

Rover Tracks

Human Space Flight

Manned Space Flight

Apollo 17

Apollo XVII

Taurus Littrow « less

Sets appears in: • Apollo 50th Anniversary • Solar System and Beyond more » • NASA History « less

Groups appears in: • Space Exploration • Apollo 11 40th Anniversary Celebrations Around the World

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