Orbiter photos show lunar modules from first 2 moon landings more than 50 years later

Recent photographs taken by the Indian Space Research Organization of the Moon Orbiter, known as Chandrayaan 2, clearly show Apollo 11 and the Apollo 12 landing sites more than 50 years later.

The photos were taken by the Chandrayaan 2 orbiter in April 2021 and were reviewed on Curiosity's X page – which publishes about space exploration – on Wednesday.

“Image of Apollo 11 and 12 taken into Indian lunar orbit. Uncomfortable shades of moon landing,” Curiosity wrote on X, along with overlay photos that show the landing vehicles on surface of the moonField

Apollo 11 landed on the Moon on July 20, 1969, making Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin The first people to walk on the surface.

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Images of Apollo 11 and 12 landing vehicles

Recent photographs taken by the Indian Space Research Organization of the Moon Orbiter, known as Chandrayaan 2, clearly show the landing sites of Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 more than 50 years later. (Indian Space Research Organization)

Astronaut Michael Collins, the third man on the Apollo 11 mission, remained in orbit while Aldrin and Armstrong walked on the moon.

The lunar module, known as Eagle, was abandoned in lunar orbit after its mishap with the Command Module Collins the next day, and Eagle eventually returned to the lunar surface.

Apollo 12 was NASA's second mission to land on the Moon on November 19, 1969, in which Charles “Pete” Conrad and Alan Bean became the third and fourth men to walk on its surface.

Apollo 11 mission

Apollo 11 Astronaut Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin deploys a scientific experiment package on the surface of the Moon. The lunar module is in the background, as is the United States flag. (Photo by Neil Armstrong/NASA/Getty Images) (Neil Armstrong/NASA/Getty Images)

The Apollo missions continued until December 1972, when the program was canceled and astronaut Eugene Chernan became the last person to walk on the Moon.

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The Chandrayaan-2 mission launched on July 22, 2019, exactly 50 years after the Apollo 11 mission and two years before it captured images of the 1969 Lunar Landers.

Apollo 12 mission

Outside NASA's Apollo 12 'Intrepid' Lunar module, American astronaut Alan Bean unloads equipment from the Modular Equipment Assembly Assembly (MESA) on the lunar surface, November 19, 1969. (NASA/Intermediate Archives/Getty Images)

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India also launched Chandrayaan-3 last year, which became the first mission to successfully capture the moon's south pole.

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