Hadley–Apennine
Hadley–Apennine is bordered by the Montes Apenninus (often referred to as "Apennine Front"), a mountain range, and Hadley Rille, a meandering channel, on the east and west, respectively.
The feature, named from nearby Mons Hadley, is a channel that was likely formed by volcanic processes earlier in the history of the Moon.
This landing site was selected with the objectives of exploring the Apennine Front, Hadley Rille, and other geologic features in the area.
[9] The Marius Hills area in Oceanus Procellarum was also considered for Apollo 15, but mission planners determined that a landing on the edge of Mare Imbrium at the Hadley–Apennine site would be more scientifically fruitful than the Marius Hills alternative, and placing a seismometer at Hadley–Apennine, given the locations of seismic packages from previous Apollo expeditions, would create a more optimal configuration for seismic study.
The frontal escarpment of Mons Hadley Delta is believed to be an exposed segment of the pre-Imbrium impact lunar crust.
This made the mountain one of the mission's primary locations to visit, as doing so would allow the astronauts to obtain samples of the lunar crust as it was before the creation of Mare Imbrium.
[10] The area of the Apennine mountains between Mons Hadley and Silver Spur (a mountain just southeast of Mons Hadley Delta), although lacking an official designation on maps and other official mission literature, was informally referred to as the "Swann Range" by Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin, after mission geology team leader Gordon Swann.
[11] The composition of the samples collected by the Apollo 15 astronauts from the Apennine Front, other than KREEP (potassium, rare-earth elements, phosphorus) materials, included anorthosite, and recrystallized norite and breccia.
[10] Rima Hadley, a sinuous rille located west of the Apollo 15 landing site, begins in an area of low domes at an elongated crater, Béla, and runs on to the North along the Apennine Mountain Range.
[8] Although the Apollo 15 astronauts were to visit this feature, they were unable to do so due to time constraints and time-consuming issues in obtaining core samples.
