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Originally Posted by PhantomWolf
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Originally Posted by Tim_t7
But like you I do wonder how much guesswork had to go into choosing a suitable landing site. Could a flat surface be detected from Earth at that time?
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Given that Apollo 11's offical landing site was a boulder field and Armstrong had to find a new spot to set down nearly running out of fuel in the process, I think that answers the question.  |
No. The official landing site was fine. But due to some unaccounted effects on undocking, Eagle landed some miles long, outside the landing ellipse. Stafford and Cernan had already warned them that at the long end of the landing ellipse they would be going into a boulder field, which they should avoid.
And the computer was trying to bring them down right into a crater with even bigger rocks inside. So Armstrong took over and had to make a long landing even longer.
Harald