This Lunar Orbiter image shows a part of the lunar surface within a crater upland basin where there are unusual large protuberances in an area measuring 750 by 550 feet (228 by 168 meters). The largest of these is 50 feet (15m) wide at the base and about 70 feet (21m) high. I never gave them much thought back in 1971 when I first read about them. But later on, in 1995, when I set up The Lunascan Project, the photo above was one of the first things I considered as a key target for research.  In the June 1971 issue  of the NICAP UFO Investigator, on page 4 under Q/A (questions and answers), T.F. of Hope, Arizona wrote:

"Q.  Are copies of the "lunar tower" pictures referred to in your April ( 1971) issue available from NICAP?

"A.  NICAP does not have copies of these pictures available for general distribution. They were taken in November1966 by NASA's Lunar Orbiter spacecraft (not Ranger, as stated by NICAP's interviewer) and are available only from NASA. The principal photograph showing the "towers" is picture No. 86-H-758, ...... Scientists now believe that the lunar features casting the strange shadows are not as tall as originally assumed and therefore cannot properly be described as "towers." They are probably more like cubes or pyramids in shape. The shadows appear elongated because the terrain on which they fall slopes downward, away from the protuberances, distorting the shadows' true shapes."

In 1995 I pondered these questions: Where were these towers on the Moon? Were they on the nearside or the far side? On what Rukl Chart (lunar section) did they fall and what were they near? And most of all: What were they? Richard Hoagland had never mentioned them, yet he HAD mentioned something similar, the Shard. Were these objects the same things or something else? And, even more interesting, were these alleged artifacts in the same area or region? It didn't take us too long to find out. After 24 years the "Blair Cuspids" were "re-discovered". With the help of the VGL group (Lan Fleming, Jon Floyd, Mike Lomax, and Bill Kohler) and David Williams of NSSDC (National Space & Science Data Center), the Lunascan Project was able to solve the initial mystery of WHERE these towers were located, but many new questions and mysteries cropped up. Maybe the explanation put forth in 1971 was a little too simple an answer.

First of all, sometime later NASA had changed the ID numbers of all orbiter photos. LO2-61-H3 was the new number of the image, replacing 86 H 758. It was taken by Lunar Orbiter II. After VGL got involved in our research, and I had been working with David Williams of NSSDC (National Space & Science Data Center) at Greenbelt, MD, we discovered that there was another image. Williams told me that the next image on the orbiter's footprint was LO2-62-H3, and it included an overlap which showed the cuspids!!!

This directory leads to the full story of the rediscovery of The Blair Cuspids in 1995, the attempt to get a private company to do a flyover ten years later, and now the hopes of finding hi-res images of the site from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.