NASA's Apollo Lunar Surface Journal (ALSJ)^[1] records the details of each mission's time on the lunar surface as a timeline of the activities undertaken, the dialogue between the crew and Mission Control, and the relevant documentary records. Each photograph taken on the mission is catalogued there and each photographic sequence is also recorded. This page tabulates the Apollo 15 panoramas and, where appropriate, provides updated representations of the panoramas blended using more recent technologies than the originals.

Apollo 15 was the first of Apollo's "J Missions" using an enhanced Lunar Module that was capable of supporting a 2-day stay on the lunar surface *and* the delivery of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV or "Rover") to the surface to allow the crew to extend the range of their exploration and to provide remote TV coverage. The crew are recorded as having been particularly enthusiastic about the scientific aspects of the mission and had actively sought additional training by the ground-based scientists in the months leading up to launch. Although the landing site had not been covered by High Resolution photography from the preceding Lunar Orbiter program, the proximity of Hadley Rille, was sufficient for it to be selected. Consequently, the mission's commander, Dave Scott proposed and actioned an additional EVA not long after the landing. This "Stand-up EVA" (SEVA) simply consisted of opening the LM's docking hatch on the top of the vehicle (i.e. not the door used to climb down to the surface) to gain a high vantage point from which to survey the area and assist in the planning of the subsequent EVAs. (This was the only mission to feature an SEVA.)

In terms of photography, Apollo 15's crew proved to be as enthusiastic at that as they were to the science in general; they took a total of 1148 frames whilst on the Moon, a large number of which were components of almost 150 distinct panoramas. These range from seemingly mundane sequences of rock fields for post-mission analysis by teams of geologists, through to spectacular coverage of Hadley Rille and the surrounding mountains.

To assist in gaining bearings, the Lunar Module (LM) Falcon, landed with its door and ladder leg (AKA "+Z strut") pointing approximately 20° north of due west. The Sun's elevation^[2] was around 13° for the SEVA, 19°-22° for EVA 1, 31°-35° for EVA 2, and 42°-44° for EVA 3.

The higher elevations of the Sun across the EVAs can be seen through the improvement in the quality of the panoramas; the Sun itself, and any resulting lens flair, are barely noticeable whereas they featured prominently in the proceeding missions.

As mentioned above, Apollo 15 was the only mission to have a Stand-up EVA (SEVA).

[So many panoramas were taken during the EVAs that they are better tabulated for each individual EVA]

The crew's priority on the first EVA was the deployment of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) which would enable them to drive rather than walk to remote locations. An added bonus was that the LRV was equiped with a TV camera that could be controlled remotely from Mission Control (unlike the tripod camera they also had); the quicker they got it set up, the quicker pictures would reach the science teams and the public at large. Consequently, they skipped the by-now "traditional" taking of "Tourist Shots" such as descending the ladder and saluting the flag at the beginning of the mission and pushed on to start exploring further afield.

[So many panoramas were taken during the EVAs that they are better tabulated for each individual EVA]

It was during the second EVA that Scott discovered what became known as the "Genesis Rock", this anorthosite is believed to be a sample of the Moon's early crust, which had been a major objective during the selection of the site for the mission. Although the ALSJ records the finding of this as a "Panorama", the image is simply a collage of five disjoint images.

[So many panoramas were taken during the EVAs that they are better tabulated for each individual EVA]

A large proportion of the EVA 3 panoramas were intended for subsequent geological analysis.

• Mission Flight Number
• Time (MET) Time since lift-off (MET - Mission Elapsed Time)
• EVA # Moonwalk number
• Location Title as extracted from source (i.e. ALSJ/LPI)
• Astronaut Who took the images
• Magazine NASA film canister number
• Type Either Colour or Monochrome
• Start Frame First frame of the panoramic sequence
• End Frame Last frame of the panoramic sequence
• Alternate Panorama Unofficial panorama generated by a non-NASA organisation
• Source Where the panorama was sourced from (Typically ALSJ^[5] or LPI^[6])
• Reference Panorama Image referred to by ALSJ/LPI for the given location
• ALSJ Alternate Alternate image(s) referred to by ALSJ/LPI for the given location
• Notes Addtional detail

These tables catalogue the panoramic photos captured during the Apollo 15 mission. Entries in the 'Alternate Panorama' column have created using panorama blending software using the High Resolution scans of the original frames held as the "Project Apollo Archive" on Flickr.^[7] Where a Reference Panorama is pre-existing, that has been used in preference to creating a new variant, unless there is additional value to be gained by regenerating it. Apart from some source image masking, all such new variants have been created using the minimum of processing, relying on the software package's inherent blending and optimisation capabilities - typically, such panoramas have been created within 3–5 minutes as they are intended to be 'representations' rather than 'definitive' examples. Consequently, brightness and contrast levels, as well as some frame-edges, have not been adjusted.

All 4-digit image references relate to the last 4 digits of the image names. The full image names follow the format AS12-MM-IIII, where MM relates to the Magazine number and IIII is the identifier.

EVA images include the overlaying of Réseau plate "crosses" to assist in their post-mission evaluation.

All tabular data, such as time and image identifiers, has been extracted from the ALSJ. The entries in the 'Location' column relate to the term used for the panorama as listed in the ALSJ's 'Assembled Panoramas' section.^[8]