Apollo 16 Voice Transcript Pertaining to the Geology of the Landing Site

325 Pages·2010·9.67 MB·English

by  Norman G. Bailey

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APOLLO 16 VOICE TRANSCRIPT
PERTAINING TO THE GEOLOGY OF THE LANDING SITE
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APOLLO 16 VOICE TRANSCRIPT
Pertaining to the geology of the landIng site
by
N.G. Bailoey and G.E. Ulrich
U.s. Geol:ogical Survey
Branch of Astrogeology
F]agstaff~ Arizona
1915
I
BIBLIOGRAPHICDATA I. Report No. f2. 3. Recipientts Accession No.
SHEET USGS-GD-74-030
4. Tide andSubtitle 5. Report Date
Apollo 16 Voice Transcript 1975
Pertaining to the Geology of the Landing Site 6.
1.Aueborfs) 8. PerformingOrganizationRe-pt.
N. G. Bailey and G. E. Ulrich No.
9. PerformingOrganizationName andAddress 10. Project/Task/WorkUnit No.
U. S. Geological Survey
Branch of Astrogeology 11. Contract/Grant No.
601 East Cedar Avenue
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
12..Sponsorin~OrganizationName and Address 13. TypeofReport & Period
Covered
Same Final
14.
15.SupplementaryNotes
This is Apollo Voice Transcript Volume No. 5 of a series to be produced for the six
manned lunar landings.
16. Abstracts
This document is an edited record of the conversations between the Apollo 16 astro-
nauts and mission control pertaining to the geology of the landing site. It contains
all discussions and observations documenting the lunar landscape, its geologic
characteristics, the rocks and soils collected, and the lunar surface photographic
record along with supplementary remarks essential to the continuity of events during
the mission. This transcript is derived from audio tapes and the NASA Technical
Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription and includes time of transcription and, photograph
and sample numbers. The report also includes a glossary, landing site map, and
sample table.
17. KeyWordsandDocumentAnalysis. 17a. Descriptors
Astrogeology 0302
Astronauts 0509
Lunar bases 2201
Lunar craters 0302
Lunar dust 0302
Lunar geology 0302
Lunar photography 0301, 1405
Lunar rock 0302
Lunar topography 0302
17b. IdentifiersZOpen-EndedTerms
Apollo 16
03/B Astronomy and Astrophysics, Astrophysics
17c. COSATI Field/Group 22/A Space Technology, Astronautics
18.AvailabilityStatement 19•.SecurityClass (This 21. No-.of Pages
Releaseable to the public. Available from NTIS, Re~~~tfl <""IF En 323
Springfield, VA 22151 2U.SecurityClass (This 22. Price
Page
_. UNCLASSIFIED
FORMNTlS·315UO-70)
CONTENTS
Paqe
Introduction ••• 2
Acknowledgments 2
Glossary of terms, abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols 3
Explanation of keywor-ding 6
Geologic condensation of the Apollo 16 voice transciipt 8
...
Descent and LM Window 8
~
EVA I • 21
EVA Debriefing 81
EVA 2 Prebriefing • 87
EVA 2 • 91
Between EVA 2 and EVA 3 • 200
EVA 3 • 205
Pre Liftoff • 286
Transearth Coast 287
Separate communications between Command Module PUot and Mission Cont-rol•• 301
References • • • • • • • • • 323
ILLUSTRATION
Figure I. Apollo 16 landing site showing LM location and area traversed by astronauts during EVAs • •. 7
TABLE
Table I. Apo! 10 16 sample listing ~cross-referencedto Apollo Elapsed Times 310
INTRODUCTION
The Apollo 16 lunar module Orion landed in the Descartes region of the Moon on Apri I 21, 1972
to initiate the fifth manned exploration of the lunar surface. The Apollo 16 crew spent 20.2 hours
in surface exploration and traversed approximately 27 km on the lunar roving vehicle.
This document is an edl ted record of the conversations between astronauts John W. Young and
Charles M. Duke on the lunar surface and EVA capcom Anthony W. England at Mission Control in
Houston during the descent, landing, and 71 hours' of lunar stay time. It also contains -landlnq site
observations by command module pi lot Thomas K. Mattingly as weiI as remarks by al I three astronauts
during the transearth phase of the mission. It Is a condensation hopefully- of al I the verbal data
having geologic significance. All discussions and observations documenting the lunar landscape, its
geologic characteristics, the rocks and soi Is collected, and the photographic record are retained
along with the supplementary remarks essential to the continuity of events during the mission. We
have deIeted the words of mechanicaI housekeeping and engineering data whiIe attempting not to lose'
the personal and philosophical aspects of the exploration.
The sources of this voice transcript are the complete audio and video tapes recorded during the
EVAs and the Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription prepared by NASA. The voice record is
listed chronologically with each individual comment preceded by the day, hour, minute and second in
Apollo Elapsed Time (AET) when the statement was made. Apollo Elapsed Time is the true
mission-elapsed time after IHtoff from Cape Kennedy at 12:54 p.m, E.S.T. on Apri I 16, 1972.
Figure I shows the landing site area that was described, sampled and photographed by the Apollo
16 crewmen.'
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The assistance of Apollo 16,astronaut John W. Young, and EVA cap-com Anthony W. England who
reviewed their respective portions of the transcript is gratefully acknowledged. R. L. Sutton, U.
S. Geological Survey, gave valuable, assistance with th& <sample and photo index-ing. The cover
>:
illustration and figure I were prepared by R. E. Sabala, U. S. Geological Survey. This report
was duplicafed byJ. L. Remy, U. S. Geological Survey. Thanks are due to'Cyndee'Conditfor her
able communication with the WYLBUR text-editing program on the National Institutes of Health
Computer System which made possible the efficient editing and reproduction of the transcript. This
project was supported by NASA Order No W13,672.
2
GLOSSARY OF TERMS, ABBREVIATIONS, ACRONYMS, AND SYMBOLS
APOLLO 16 CREW
CC Capsule Communicator (Anthony W. England during the EVAs, other astronauts during
other time periods)
CDR Commander (John W. Young)
CMP Command Module Pi lot (Thomas K. Mattingly)
LMP lunar Module Pi lot (Charles M. Duke)
AET Apollo Elapsed Time - after launch from earth (days-hrs-mlns-secs)
AlSEP Apollo lunar Surface Experiments Package
BSlSS Buddy Secondary life Support System
CCW Counter Clockwise
CM Command Module, "Casper"
Core Drive tUbe coring device for collecting soil samples
CRE Cosmic Ray Experiment
CSVC Core Sample Vacuum Container - for storage of chemically ultralclean drive tube sample
DAC Data Acquisition Camera, 16 rom
DOC Documented Sample - soil and/or rocks that are documented by photography before and
after sampling
001 Descent Orbit Insertion
ETB Equipment Transfer Bag for transport of Items between lM hatch and lunar surface
EVA Extravehicular Activity - astronaut activities on the lunar surface
FS Map unit on the landing site geologic map
HEOC Hasselblad Electric Data Camera
3
GLOSSARY CONT'D.
HTC Hand Tool Carrier
Land A Landing and Analysis display at Cape Kennedy
LM Lunar Module, "Orion"
LPM Lunar Port3ble Magnetometer
LRL Lunar Receiving Laboratory
LRV Lunar Roving Vehicle - "Rover"
LSM Lunar Surface Magnetometer
Mag/Mags Magazine/Magazines - photographic
MESA Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly - a storage area on the LM that contains
science equipment
NAV Navigation
PAN Panorama of 70~mm photographs
PHO Photo, photographic reference In transcript keywordlng
PSE Passive Seismic Experiment
RAKE Rake Sample - sample reference in transcript keywording
RCU Remote'Control Unit
RTG Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator
SAMP SampIe refere~ce in ,tran,scrlpt keywordIng
SCB SampIe CoIIectIon Bag
SEQ Scientific Equipment Bay on the side of the L~n5r ~dule
SESC Spec!ai Environmenta I SampIe Container,
SRC Sample Return Container, "Rock Box"
SWC, Solar Wi nd Soiar-Wlnd Composition experiment
4
GLOSSARY CONT'D.
Strut One of four 1egs on the LM
PIus-Z Strut Forward leg on which the ladder is mounted
Minus-Z Strut Rear leg of LM
Plus-Y Strut Right leg of LM
Minus-Y Strut Left leg of the LM
TRENCH Trench Sample - sample reference in transcript keywori:Jing
UV Ultraviolet
we
A fresh 40-m crater 600 msouthwest of the LM
*** Garbled or clipped transmission
Deletions between statements of st~tements that are not geologically relevant
Pause by speaker
Interruption by another speaker, or abrupt termination of a recording
(words) Explanation of words probably said that were garbled during transmission
(words?) Explanation of words possibly said that were garbled during transmission
5
EXPLANATION OF KEYWORDING
The purpose of the keywords enclosed in parentheses to the r'ight of the transcript is to inform
the reader of either the phase of the mission (DESCENT, BETWEEN EVAs, etc.) during which the
statements were made, or the particula't"'>'ocation or"sTation (LM',' ALSEP" I'etc.) where the speaker
was, or between which locations (LM-ALSEP, 1-2 etc.) the speaker was traversing. There are also
separate sample (SAMP xxxxx) and photo (PHO xx xxxxx) keys to denote the particular samples and \'
photos either being described or taken at that particular moment. Normally, where both sample and
photo keys occur in the same line, the photo numbers arp c.ross-indexed 'tofhe sample numbers in that
Iine. The occasional exceptions can be inferred from the context of the transcript -- AET 05 02 04
01 -- where the core bit sample number is not referenced to the photos that'the!LMP mentioned.
Where remarks in the beginning of a statement were neither specifically nor generally about
the sampling or photography mentioned Iater in the same statement, the 'keywo'rding was pIaced In the
particular Iine containing the first mention of the referenced activities as with PHO 109 17828-36
in the statement made at 05 04 32 38.
Because the taking of specific photos was not always mentioned, we have keyed al I photos known
to show a sample or its location in"the first Iilie thatcontallis"sample keywordihg at the time the
sample was collected.
Photo keys placed in the "- - _" lines(where non-reI-E~Nan,ti'statenients 'are deIeted) show thew
interval when those particular photos were taken even though not mentioned.
Conventions .use'd In keywordsanipIe Clridphoto numbe-rihg:
SAMP CORE 60001-07 - Sample core 60001 through 60007 Inclusive
SAMP 60090, 95 - Sample numbers 60090 and 60095
PHO 11318296-310 - Maga'zIne 113'; frames 18296tnrough 18310 inc1usive
PHO DAC - Photographic reference to the Data Acquisition Camera
- mounted on the Rover
PHO? - Photo or photos taken that have not been identified
6
Thephotographic baseforthismap is Apollo 16
panoramiccamera frame AS16-4618. Thestation
locationsand traverse routesarefrom compilations
by the Apollo Field Geology InvestigationsTeam
underContract No.T-5874A.
EXPLANATION
LM coordinates: 8.990S Latitude
15.510 E Longitude
Figure I. Apollo 16 landing site showing LM location and area traversed by astronauts during EVAs.
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