# NASA source archive

Verified against official NASA/JPL catalog descriptions on 4 November 2026. Local files are resized/recompressed photographic derivatives; no AI images or unrelated substitutes. Credits and source links are also shown in exhibit galleries. Archive captions remain in English and are identified as source-language text.

## Photographs

| Local asset | NASA catalog and source | Credit / interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| `assets/images/apollo11.jpg` | [AS11-40-5927 · NASA Image Library](https://images.nasa.gov/details/as11-40-5927) | NASA. Complete Eagle **before ascent**, July 1969. The lower gold-covered portion is the descent stage. Not a photograph of the descent stage after departure. |
| `assets/images/rover.jpg` | [AS17-147-22527 · NASA Image Library](https://images.nasa.gov/details/as17-147-22527) | NASA/Harrison Schmitt. Cernan drives the Apollo 17 rover beside the lunar module. |
| `assets/images/rover-apollo15.jpg` | [AS15-88-11901 · NASA Image Library](https://images.nasa.gov/details/as15-88-11901) | NASA. Apollo 15 rover, a related mission shown only in the Apollo 17 gallery with a “Related mission” label. |
| `assets/images/reflector.jpg` | [AS11-40-5952 · JSC](https://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/SearchPhotos/photo.pl?frame=5952&mission=AS11&roll=40) | NASA/Neil Armstrong. Apollo 11 deployed laser ranging reflector. The site copy is colour-balanced by this project and its film borders are trimmed, because NASA offers no newer scan of this frame; no content was added, removed or retouched. |

The same neutral colour balance and border trim is applied to `apollo11-engine.jpg` (AS11-40-5921) and `apollo11-ladder.jpg` (AS11-40-5869), which also have no newer NASA scan. Their captions say so.
| `assets/images/opportunity.jpg` | [PIA22222 · Opportunity’s First Selfie](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia22222-opportunitys-first-selfie/) | NASA/JPL-Caltech. Photographic mosaic from sols 5000 and 5006 (2018). Out of focus because the camera was designed for nearby rocks. This is Opportunity, not a Spirit model or an artist’s rover illustration. |
| `assets/images/ingenuity.jpg` | [PIA25881 · Ingenuity at Two Years on Mars](https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/ingenuity-at-two-years-on-mars/) | NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS. Mastcam-Z enhanced-color photograph, 16 April 2023. Also used in the hero; its visual crop does not alter the archive frame. |
| `assets/images/first-flight.jpg` | [PIA24584 · Ingenuity’s First Black-and-White Image From the Air](https://science.nasa.gov/resource/ingenuitys-first-black-and-white-image-from-the-air/) | NASA/JPL-Caltech. Navigation-camera shadow photograph, first flight, 19 April 2021. |
| `assets/images/aerial.jpg` | [PIA24593 · First Aerial Color Image of Mars](https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/first-aerial-color-image-of-mars/) | NASA/JPL-Caltech. Flight 2, 22 April 2021. Shows terrain, not a view of the helicopter itself. |
| `assets/images/debris.jpg` | [PIA25219 · Rover’s Backshell Seen From the Air](https://science.nasa.gov/resource/rovers-backshell-seen-from-the-air/) | NASA/JPL-Caltech. Ingenuity flight 26, 19 April 2022. Discarded Perseverance backshell and parachute, not a crashed rover. |
| `assets/images/final.jpg` | [PIA26238 · SuperCam’s RMI Spots Ingenuity’s Broken Rotor](https://science.nasa.gov/resource/supercams-rmi-spots-ingenuitys-broken-rotor/) | NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS. Photographic mosaic, 24 February 2024; blade left, small helicopter right. |

Exact download URLs are retained in `scripts/download-assets.ps1`. Optimized files preserve the complete photographic frame; collection thumbnails and the hero use CSS crops. The cinematic viewer uses `object-fit:contain`, and the gallery opens full frames. Enhanced color and stitched mosaics are disclosed; they are photographs processed by mission teams, not synthetic renderings.

## Claims and teaching boundaries

| Claim | Primary reference |
|---|---|
| Eagle’s descent stage stayed at Tranquility Base; ascent stage carried the crew off the Moon in July 1969. | [NASA Apollo 11](https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-11/) |
| Apollo 17 used an electric lunar rover in Taurus-Littrow, December 1972, and left it on the Moon. | [NASA Apollo 17](https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-17/), [NASA Apollo by the Numbers](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/sp-4029.pdf) |
| Apollo reflectors return laser pulses; travel time measures Earth–Moon distance; the arrays need no electrical supply. | [JPL: The Apollo Experiment That Keeps on Giving](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/the-apollo-experiment-that-keeps-on-giving/) |
| Opportunity landed in 2004, explored nearly 15 years, found ancient-water evidence, lost contact in a 2018 storm; NASA closed the mission in 2019. | [NASA Opportunity mission](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mer-opportunity/) |
| Ingenuity first achieved powered, controlled flight on another planet on 19 April 2021. | [JPL first-flight announcement](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-succeeds-in-historic-first-flight/) |
| Planned for up to five test flights; completed 72; final flight 18 January 2024 and rotor damage ended flight operations. | [NASA Ingenuity mission conclusion](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ingenuity-mars-helicopter-ends-mission/) |
| Perseverance’s parachute and backshell aided descent in February 2021 and were photographed by Ingenuity in April 2022. | [NASA PIA25219](https://science.nasa.gov/resource/rovers-backshell-seen-from-the-air/) |
| Armstrong took manual control to avoid boulders and Eagle landed with only seconds of fuel left; sources give 20 to 45 seconds, so the story says “seconds”. Footpads sank only slightly (reports give 1 to 4 inches). | [NASA: One Giant Leap](https://www.nasa.gov/history/july-20-1969-one-giant-leap-for-mankind/), [NASA SP-4029](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history/SP-4029/Apollo_11a_Summary.htm), [One Small Step transcript](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/static/history//alsj/a11/a11.step.html) |
| The Apollo 17 rover ran on batteries, had woven steel-strand wheels, an antenna and TV camera, and travelled about 35.7 to 35.9 km (“more than 35 kilometers”). A replacement fender was made from four maps, tape and clamps, to keep “rooster tails of dust” off the crew. | [NASA Lunar Roving Vehicle](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_lrv.html), [NASA SP-4029 Apollo 17](https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_17a_Summary.htm), [Apollo 17 Replacement Fender](https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/A17NewFender.html), [NASA: Lunar Dust and Duct Tape](https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2022-december-14-lunar-dust-and-duct-tape/) |
| The Apollo 11 reflector holds 100 fused-silica corner cubes. “About two and a half seconds” is calculated from the Earth–Moon distance and the speed of light, not quoted. | [NASA ILRS Apollo 11 reflector](https://ilrs.gsfc.nasa.gov/missions/satellite_missions/current_missions/ap11_reflector.html) |
| Opportunity landed in Eagle crater in January 2004, about 20 days after its twin Spirit; last signal 10 June 2018; mission ended 13 February 2019; wind cleaned its solar panels in 2014. | [NASA Opportunity mission](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mer-opportunity/) |
| Perseverance’s parachute is 21.5 m wide and its pattern encodes “Dare Mighty Things”. Ingenuity’s flight 26 photos showed no canopy damage from supersonic airflow and may help future landings. | [NASA Mars Decoder Ring](https://science.nasa.gov/resource/mars-decoder-ring/), [NASA landing press kit](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/mars_2020/landing/mission/spacecraft/getting_to_mars/), [NASA: Helicopter spots landing gear](https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance/ingenuity-helicopter/nasas-mars-helicopter-spots-gear-that-helped-perseverance-rover-land/) |

The first-person stories are original **fictional personification**. Equipment does not have feelings or memories. Facts appear in a separate cited section. Translations do not inherit review status from English and all are currently marked unreviewed. No current operational status is asserted beyond the historical events described.

## Ingenuity flight lab and linked video

- **Air density:** The rounded classroom comparison is about **1% of Earth’s sea-level air density**, not oxygen percentage or the fraction of all atmospheric mass. [NASA/JPL quick facts](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/ingenuity/landing/quick_facts/) provides the general comparison. The [NASA/JPL first-flight analysis](https://science.nasa.gov/blog/what-were-learning-about-ingenuitys-flight-control-and-aerodynamic-performance/) measured approximately **1.3%** during flight one. Density depends on local conditions. Both the fact cards and narration use approximate wording.
- **Gravity:** Approximately **38%** of Earth’s surface gravity, from the same NASA/JPL quick facts. This helps make clear that gravity and air density are different quantities.
- **Rotors:** Approximately **2,400 revolutions per minute** is a nominal design figure, from [NASA/JPL spacecraft details](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/ingenuity/landing/mission/spacecraft/). The display explicitly states that speeds varied between flights, rather than treating this as a constant measured speed.
- **User-supplied video:** [YouTube video hW5akI5Rnyg, starting at 1:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW5akI5Rnyg&t=115s). NASA’s [25 January 2024 mission-ending announcement](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends/) embeds this same video ID. On 5 November, the source page’s duration/chapter metadata and sampled player frames were inspected for the three short excerpts. The caption endpoint returned no transcript. Science explanations remain independently verified against the primary sources above, rather than transcribed or attributed to a particular timestamp. See [clip review notes](VIDEO_CLIPS.md).

The optional player loads only after a visitor clicks, uses an English-original label, has no autoplay, and includes a direct YouTube fallback link. It is not downloaded, edited or revoiced. The photographic story, fact panel and scripts are served with the site. Switching language or artifact removes the embedded player; starting local narration removes it as well to avoid overlapping voices.

## The science it made possible and Laser the Moon

Checked against NASA and JPL pages on 5 November 2026. Text lives in `data/science.js`.

| Exhibit | Claim | Primary reference |
|---|---|---|
| Apollo 11 | 58 samples, 21.5 kg. | [Apollo collection and curation, NASA](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/02_allton_corrected_apollo.pdf) |
| Apollo 17 rover | About 110 kg of samples returned by the mission. Orange soil from Shorty Crater holds volcanic glass from about 3.5 billion years ago. The 110 kg is the mission total, not rover cargo. | [Same NASA report](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/02_allton_corrected_apollo.pdf), [Sample 74220](https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/lunar/lsc/74220.pdf), [NASA ARES](https://ares.jsc.nasa.gov/interaction/lmdp/diskdetails.cfm?disk=80&class=Orange+Soil) |
| Reflector | The Moon recedes about 3.8 cm a year, the arrays need no power and still return data, and the data shows a fluid core. | [JPL: The Apollo Experiment That Keeps on Giving](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/the-apollo-experiment-that-keeps-on-giving/) |
| Opportunity | Designed for 90 sols, worked almost 15 years, drove 45.16 km, and found evidence Mars may once have been able to sustain microbial life. | [NASA Opportunity mission](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mer-opportunity/) |
| Ingenuity | 72 flights, up to 5 planned, 48 airfields, aerial scout for Perseverance, paving the way for future flight. | [NASA mission conclusion](https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/after-three-years-on-mars-nasas-ingenuity-helicopter-mission-ends/) |
| Landing debris | Parachute 21.5 m wide, the biggest deployed on Mars. Backshell hit at about 126 km/h. Images could help safer future landings. | [NASA: gear that helped Perseverance land](https://www.nasa.gov/missions/mars-2020-perseverance/ingenuity-helicopter/nasas-mars-helicopter-spots-gear-that-helped-perseverance-rover-land/) |
| Laser the Moon | Mean perigee 363,300 km and mean apogee 405,500 km. | [NASA Moon fact sheet](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/moonfact.html) |

Laser the Moon is a classroom simulation, not live data. Each shot picks a distance within the range above, using the true speed of light. Students calculate with the rounded 300,000 km/s, and answers within 2% count as correct. The drift message assumes a steady 3.8 cm a year since 1969.

## Reuse notes

Read [NASA image and media guidelines](https://www.nasa.gov/nasa-brand-center/images-and-media/) and [JPL image use policy](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jpl-image-use-policy/). Retain mission-partner credits. No NASA insignia or claim of endorsement is used. Fonts are distributed under their included SIL Open Font License files (Inter, Noto Nastaliq Urdu, Noto Naskh Arabic, Noto Sans SC), downloaded from the Google Fonts source repository. Original site code and educational prose may be reused for this student project; NASA imagery and font licensing remain separate.


Expanded photographic collections: see [IMAGE_COLLECTIONS.md](IMAGE_COLLECTIONS.md) for every gallery image, exact archive ID, credit, caption and NASA source. Apollo 15 is labeled as a related experiment; it is not substituted for the Apollo 11 array.