What could make a crater that looks like that? How about the third stage booster rocket from Apollo 13? The Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo 13 consisted of three stages. The first two stages of the Saturn V fell back to Earth. The third stage of the Saturn V rocket launched Apollo 13 towards the moon. On the way towards the moon, at about 322,000 kilometers from Earth, the number two oxygen tank ruptured, damaged the number one oxygen tank, and left Apollo 13 on battery power. Apollo 13 never made it to the moon, and the mission had to be aborted. The Apollo 13 mission was termed a “successful failure.”
Meanwhile, the third stage booster rocket did make it into lunar orbit, and eventually crashed onto the surface of the moon. Its impact was felt by the Apollo 12 seismic station, which was 135 km away. The picture to the right was taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC).
On April 14th 1970, the Apollo 13 Saturn IVB upper stage impacted the moon north of Mare Cognitum, at -2.55° latitude, -27.88° East longitude. The impact crater, which is roughly 30 meters in diameter, is clearly visible in LROC NAC image M109420042LE. Credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University
