503 a
The Haemus mountains on the southwest border of the Sea of Serenity near Sulpicius Gallus photographed looking west with the 80mm lens. Latitude / longitude: 1.5 N 7 E.

079:26:59 Scott: Houston, as we cross out of Serenitatis into the Apennines, why, it’s just - unreal. You know, those are very poor descriptive terms, but the - mountains jut up out of the ‘ocean’ here in great relief. I’m sure the guys who’ve been here before can probably sit down over a cup of coffee and tell you. But the relief is really pervasive.
079:27:35 Henize: You’re the first man to fly over this mountain range, Dave. I guess pretty soon you’re going to be over the - over the landing site, aren’t you?
079:27:48 Scott: Rog, but I’m afraid it’ll be dark today.
079:27:51 Henize: That’s right.
079:27:57 Worden: Karl, this is Al again. Looking down into the Sulpicius Gallus area, looking at some of the wrinkled ridges and some of the rilles - the arcuate rilles down there, I can make out some distinct color patterns that seem to run parallel to the arcuate rilles - and along the wrinkled ridges, and there is a very subtle darker color, again almost as if it was - some kind of cinder fallout along the ridges and along some of the rilles.

503 b
Soon after crossing the lunar farside terminator, Worden captured this view looking south of Crater O’day (in the center, 80 km in diameter with a central peak and three younger craters puncturing its rim) on the west rim of the Sea of Ingenuity (at the left) from an altitude of 90km with the 80mm lens. Latitude / longitude: 30 S 158.5 E.

080:44:44 Scott: Is that on the edge of ...? Of Ingenuity, huh?
080:45:22 Scott: I can keep you posted here about - You take - you take photos until about 49 here.

503 c
The photograph was taken looking south toward the horizon with the 80mm lens as the Command Module Endeavour and the LM Falcon were still docked in lunar orbit. Latitude / longitude: 17.5 S 127.5 E.

“Tsiolkovsky is a large, 200-km crater on the far Moon’s side which was first photographed by the Soviet probe Luna 3 on 7 October 1959. In the poor imagery of the time, its dark, mare-like interior made it stand out from the other craters that pepper the far-side. The triumphant Soviets, in the manner of all explorers, promptly and appropriately named it after the Polish-Russian pioneer of spaceflight theory, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935). A dominant, W-shaped central peak of light coloured highland material rising out of the dark material makes this crater particularly distinctive and striking“ (from the AFJ journal at 083:16:51).

From the mission transcript as the crew acquired communication with Mission Control on Earth after their third pass over the lunar farside:

083:16:41 Scott: And I’ll tell you, it’s really spectacular, when you can see the central peak of Tsiolkovsky coming up over the horizon before you see the rim.

503 d
The astronauts named their Command Module Endeavour in honor of the eighteenth-century sailing ship Captain James Cook used for the first extensive science voyages.

The photograph was taken by Scott and Irwin with the 60mm lens of the Hasselblad lunar surface camera just before powered descent initiation of the LM in the 12th revolution of the Moon, only 15 km above the Eastern Sea of Serenity, south of the crater Le Monnier. Latitude / longitude: 24° N / 30° E.

While astronauts David Scott and James Irwin descended in the LM to explore the moon, Alfred Worden flew solo in Endeavour in lunar orbit.

Worden described the experience this way: “Total isolation. I thought it was great. I loved it back there. I guess that’s the mentality of a fighter pilot, likes to be in the machine by himself, doesn’t particularly care to have to relate to anybody outside the machine. I was there by myself after Dave and Jim went down to the surface, which was good, and on the backside of the Moon, where I wasn’t even talking to the ground, it was better yet. I still did everything that I needed to do, but I sensed a freedom about what I did, that you don’t get if you’ve got the radio on…” (Chaikin, Voices, p. 111).