ATL Standard

The Emory Center for Digital Scholarship (ECDS) is presenting a digital learning hub in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 15 mission. 

The program was made possible through primary source records provided by Tracy L. Scott, a senior lecturer in sociology and director of undergraduate research in Emory’s Department of Sociology, and the daughter of Apollo 15 commander Col. David R. Scott. 

“For my eighth-grade autobiography assignment, I wrote, ‘The summer of 1971 I went to camp and my dad went to the moon.' As an ‘astronaut kid’ I was very nonchalant about the Apollo missions, as were many of us growing up in the communities of the early NASA era between 1962 to 1972.” Scott said in an article for Emory's news center.

The digital hub, which sustains records from the Apollo 15 mission, was created to "assemble, preserve and make available primary source records of Apollo for research, education, history and an example of a unique, human endeavor," according to the ECDS. In addition to primary accounts, the hub includes an interactive 3D model of the Lunar Module and onboard materials that were used during the mission.

“We are excited to share this unique collection of primary source documents, including the Apollo 15 Flight Data File, one of the most complete ‘as flown’ Apollo flight archives, shared in the Readux online reading and publishing app,” said Joanna Mundy, digital projects specialist at ECDS. 

For Scott, her personal experience with the Apollo 15 mission has provided her with a trove of material for the hub to use, including correspondence, subject files, photographs, photo albums, printed material, memorabilia, reel-to-reel tapes and audio cassettes. 

“Over time, I’ve come to appreciate the extraordinary nature of these historical events, even as I still view the individuals involved as ordinary people," Scott said in reference to her childhood being so tied to her father's work with NASA. 

Monday marked 50 years since the launch of the Apollo 15 mission, the fourth lunar landing for NASA but its first endeavor to explore the surface of the moon for scientific research. It was also the first time NASA had used the Lunar Roving Vehicle on the moon's surface.