Van Serg is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in Taurus–Littrow valley. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited it in 1972, on the Apollo 17 mission, during EVA 3. Van Serg was designated Geology Station 9.
To the northwest is Shakespeare and to the northeast are Cochise and Geology Station 8 at the base of the Sculptured Hills. To the south is Sherlock, and to the southwest are the Apollo 17 landing site and the large crater Camelot.
Name The crater was named by the astronauts after Harvard University geology professor Hugh McKinstry, who, according to their explanation, sometimes wrote satire under the pseudonym "Nicholas Van Serg".The Valley of Taurus–Littrow, Apollo 17 Lunar Surface Journal, Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright 1995 by Eric M. Jones In fact, McKinstry's pseudonym was Nicholas Vanserg.Vanserg, Nicholas. "Mathmanship." American Scientist, vol. 46, no. 2, 1958, pp. 94A–98A. JSTOR.
Songwriter, humorist and academic Tom Lehrer, who attended and taught at Harvard, suggested that McKinstry's pseudonym was inspired by the name of the Vanserg Building at Harvard, which is an acronym of its original tenants: Veterans Administration, Naval Science, Electronic Research, and Graduate dining hall. Since it was a temporary building, it never got a "real" name. (, his wooden building still exists.Vanserg building) A slightly different list of tenants reported is "Veterans Administration, Naval Science, Electronic Research, and Graduate School".p. 144Note: The full name for VA was "Veterans' Administration Guidance Center", where "Veterans' Administration" refers to the United States Veterans' Administration now known as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. These centers were established after WWII in all major educational institutions.
Samples The following samples were collected from Van Serg crater (Station 9), as listed in Table 7-I of the Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report.Apollo 17 Preliminary Science Report (NASA Special Publication 330). Scientific and Technical Information Office, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. 1973. The "Rock Type" is from the table, and the "Lithology" is from the Lunar Sample Compendium of the Lunar and Planetary Institute or NASA's Lunar Sample Catalog.
Sample In Situ Photo Rock Type Lithology Photo 79002/01 (Double drive tube) Regolith Regolith79002/01 - 79035 Dark matrix breccia Soil Breccia79035 - 79115 Dark matrix breccia Regolith Breccia79115/79135 - 79125 Dark matrix breccia Microbreccia79125 - 79135 Dark matrix breccia Regolith Breccia79115/79135 79155 - Coarse basalt Shocked Basalt79155 - 79175 Agglutinate Regolith Breccia79175 - 79195 Dark matrix breccia Regolith Breccia79195 - 79215 Brecciated troctolite Feldspathic Granulitic Impactite79215 - 79225 Friable dark matrix breccia Friable Microbreccia79225 - 79226 Friable dark matrix breccia Friable Microbreccia79226 - 79227 and 79228 Friable clods Clod79227/79228 - 79245 Crystalline High Grade Metaclastic79245 - 79265 Fine basalt High-Ti Mare Basalt79265 - 79515 Medium basalt Ilmenite Basalt79515 - 79516 Fine basalt Vitrophyric Ilmenite Basalt79516 - 79517 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia79517 - 79518 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia797518 - 79519 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia79519 - 79525 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia79525 - 79526 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia79526 - 79527 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia79527 - 79528 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia79528 - 79529 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia79529 - 79535 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia79535 - 79536 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia79536 - 79537 Dark matrix breccia Dark Matrix Breccia79537 -
References
External links 43D1S2(25) Apollo 17 Traverses at Lunar and Planetary Institute Geological Investigation of the Taurus-Littrow Valley: Apollo 17 Landing Site