Draft:Apollo Panoramic Photography

Between July 1969 and December 1972, the Apollo landings brought a massive leap forward in both quality and variety of Lunar Panoramic photographs. Prior to this, the capturing of images was restricted to an approach that did not require returning physical media back to Earth; hence early digital media techniques were utilised that typically involved some electromechanical approach, such as photometric scanning, with the results being returned home via a radio transmission.

Throughout the landing phase of the Apollo program, the mission profiles moved away from the initial astronautical challenge of "can we actually land" to a more considered "Let's do some meaningful science when we get there" mindset, and the astronaut's pre-launch training certainly emphasised this. Apollo 11's crew only had one geology-related field exercise, whereas Apollo 17's Jack Schmitt had a PhD in Geology before even becoming an astronaut. The same is reflected in the number of photos taken on the surface by the crews inceasing from the 122 shot on Apollo 11 to almost 2500 on Apollo 17.

The Missions

 * Apollo 11
 * Apollo 12