Archimedes and the Hadley Rille, landing site of the Apollo 15.
Hadley Rille is a V-shaped gorge paralleling the Apennines along the eastern edge of Mare Imbrium. The rille meanders down from an elongated depression in the mountains and across the Palus Putredinis (Swamp of Decay), merging with a second rille about 62 miles (100 kilometers) to the north. Hadley Rille averages about a kilometer and a half in width and about 1,300 feet (400 meters) in depth throughout most of its length. Large rocks have rolled down to the rille floor from fresh exposures of what are thought to be stratified mare beds along tops of the rille walls. Geologists were curious about the origin of the Moon's sinuous rilles, and some scientists believe the rilles were caused by some sort of fluid flow mechanism--possible volcanic. Mount Hadley, Hadley Rille and the various Hadley craters in the region of the landing site are named for British scientist-mathematician John Hadley (1682-1744) who made improvements in reflector telescope design and invented the reflecting quadrant ancestor of the mariner's sextant.

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Launch:  July 26, 1971