Apollo 17 Voice Transcript Pertaining to the Geology of the Landing

364 Pages·2010·11.29 MB·English

by  Norman G. Bailey

APOLLO 17 VOICE TRANSCRIPT
PERTAINING TO THE GEOLOGY OF THE LANDING SITE
APOLLO 17 VOICE TRANSCRIPT
Pertaining to the geology of the landing site
by
N.G. Bailey and G.E. Ulrich
U.s. Geological Survey
Branch of Astrogeology
Flagstaff, Arizona
1975
BIBLIOGRAPHICDATA 11. Report No. USGS-GD-74-031 ,2. 3. Recipient's Accession No.
SHEET .'
4. Title andSubtitle 5. Report Date
Apollo 17 Voice Transcript 1975
Pertaining to the Geology of the Landing Site 6.
7. Author(s) 8. Performing OrganizationRept,
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 Sponsoring OrganizationName and Address 13. Typeof Report & Period
Covered
Same Final
14.
1S.SupplementaryNotes
This is Apollo Voice Transcript Volume No. 6 of a series produced for the six
manned lunar landings.
16. Abstracts
This document is an edited record of the conversations between the Apollo 17 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, photographic
and sample numbers. The report also includes a glossary, landing site Illi'\P, and
sample table. \
17. Key Words and DocumentAoalysis. 170. 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. Idenrifiers/Open-Ended Terms
Apollo 17
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, Report) 361
'l'NCLASSIF En
Springfield, VA 22151 20. SecurityClass (This 22. Price
Page
UNCLASSIFIED
-_."'-'
FORMNTI5-35(10-70) U5~.....0MMDC40329P71
CONTENTS
Page
Introduction. Z
Acknowledgments 2
Glossary of terms, abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols 3
Explanation of keywording 7
Geologic condensation of the Apollo 17 voice transcript 9
Descent • • 9
LM Window • 10
EVA ~ 20
EVA 1 debriefing 72
EVA 2 82
EVA 2 debriefing 186
EVA 3 briefing 189
. .
EVA 3 • 194
Pre U ftoff • • 304
OrbitaI • 311
Transearth Coast • 343
References • • 36/
ILLUSTRATION
Figure I. Apo/lo /7 1anding site showing LM location and area traversed by astronauts during EVAs • 8
TABLE
TabIe L Apollo 17 sample listing cross-referenced to Apollo Elapsed Times 349
INTRODUCTION
The sixth and last of the Apollo program manned lunar landings occurred on December II, 1972
when the lunar module Challenger landed in the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon. The Apollo 17
crew spent 22.1 hours in surface exploration and traversed approximately 35 km with the lunar roving
vehicle.
This document is an edited record of the conversations between astronauts Eugene A. Cernan and
Harrison H. Schmitt on the lunar surface and EVA capcom Robert A. Parker at Mission Control in
Houston during the descent, landing, and 75 hours of lunar stay time. It also contains landing site
observations from the orbiting command module America by command module pi lot Ronald E. Evans whi Ie
the LM was on the Moon, by al I three astronauts prior to command module-lunar module separation, and
after docking and reentry of the surface explorers back into the command module. Conversations of
interest are also included from the transearth phase of the mission. It: is a condensation hopefully
of all 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 deleted the words of mechanical housekeeping and engineering
data whi Ie attempting not to lose the personal and phi losophical 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
Iisted chronologically with each Individual comment preceded by the day, hour, minute and~
occasionally, second when the statement was made. These times are Apollo Elapsed Time (AETl which
is the true mission-elapsed time after Iiftoff· from Cape Kennedy at 12:33 a.m. E.S.T. on December
7, 1972.
Figure I shows the landing site area that was described, sampled, and photographed by the
Apollo 17 crewmen.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The assistance of Apollo 17 EVA capcom Robert A. Parker who reviewed his portion of the
transcript is gratefully acknowledged. R. L. Sutton, U. S. Geological Survey gave valuable
assistance with the sample and photo indexing. The cover illustration and figure I were prepared by
R. E. Sabala, U. S. Geological Survey. This report was dupl icated by J. L. Remy, U. S. Geological
Survey. Thanks are due to Cyndee Condit for 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. WI3,672.
2
GLOSSARY OF TERMS, ABBREV1AHONS,AGR{)NYMS~ AND SYMBOLS
AP{)LLO 17 CREW
cc
-CapSLJie ConmunIcater (-Robert A~ Parker during EVAs.. other astronauts duringother
°tlmep.er-iods)
CDR ~mmander(Eugene-A. Cel"l"lan~
CW Command Module Pi lot-,{Ronaid E;,Evans')
iMP Lunar Module Pilot -{Harrison t1.Scnmitt)
:Mce
MlssloR GontrolCenter tunIdentlHedvolce) ,
AET Apocllo Elapsed Tlme-- after fauncn from earth (days-brs-mins-secs)
AlSEP Apotlo Lunar Surface Experiments Package
13&19 £:1ack and WhIte
BSL"SS B.uddy Secondary Life Support System
'CM, CSM Command Module.. COIlIIlaod ServkeModule.#"i\merka"
COMP :Comprehensive SalTlPl:e - sample re:fereneeln transcript keywording
CaNT Conthrgency SalTlPle - bag ·of 5011 and rockscoHectedearlyin the EVA - sample
reference:intr-ansc-rlpt i<.eywording
Cape Cape Kennedy
Core -Drive tube coring .(levice for coll ecting soI I sarnp'les
~RE {Cosmic R~y~ -CosmJc Ray Experiment
CSVC Core Sample Vacuum'ContaIner - for storage-of chemlcally ultrac1ean drive tube sample
BAG Data Acqut.slt lon -camer.a,16 mm
DOC Documented Sample -soli andlorrocks thcat are documented by photography before end
aft:er safilpUng
DSEA Data Storage Equloment Assembly
EP 4 ExpfosIve Package number 4 of SelsmJc Profiling Experiment
3
GLOSSARY CONT'D.
ETB Equipment Transfer Bag for transport of items between LM hatch and lunar surface
EVA E~traveh,icular Actlvltv ast roneut activities on the lunar surface
r-
FSR Footbal I-Sized Rock
GCTA Ground Control led Television Assembly
HFE Heat Flow Experiment
IPS Inches Per Second
..-' - :;-,j'
ISA Interim Stowage Assembly
and A~1Iysis'training
Land A "Landing display at Cape Kennedy
. ~p,
':':' ....J
LCG Liquid Cooled Garment
LEAM Lunar Ejecta and Meteorites experiment..
.
.:.
LEC Lunar Equipment Conveyor
- i ~;_
.':.~
LM Lunar Module,' "Challenger"
. ,J.--. spect~ometeT'~-"
LMS tunar Mass'
",'.J' '-:'"...;
LOS loss 'otsignal
LRV Lunar Roving Vehicle - "Rover"
LSG Lunar Surface Grav,imeter'
LSPE Lunar Seismic Profi ILng Experiment ,.,.~-~ .::,:",,: .
LSRK Loose Rock"
Mag/Mags Magazine/Magazines - photoqnaphic, ·1"....... . ".'
MESA , , Mod,lJlarizedEquJpmentStow~"geAssemotv> a~,!'itorage area on the LM that contains
;~- ;:" 'dj.·,
science equipment "
.<:
4
GLOSSARY CONrJD~
r-oCR Mission Operations Conterol Room
Neutron Flux Lunar -Neut-ron Probe Exper-iment
.pAN Panorama of 70-mmphotograp'hs
PlSS Primary Life :SuP'POrt SY5t~ for space 5U1t
PHO Photo, photograph
HHSSC Right Han~ Side ~towageConsoJ~
RTG Radio.lsotope ThermaeIect~ic Generator
S-iVB Saturn 48 Rocket
SCB Samp-)e ColIection Bag
SEP Surface EIectricat Properties experl-ment
SESC SpeciarEnvir"OnmentaJ Sample-funtalner
SRC Sample Return Container, "Rock Box"
Strut One of four legs on the LM
Plus-Z Strut Forward leg on which the ladder is meunted
-Minus-Z Strut Rear leg of L"M
PIus-Y Strut RIght leg of lM·
Minus-Y Str.ut left ieg of the ~~
SWP SWP crater just west of Station 8
T 38 Jettraining plane
.:rCA Time Centered Above
TGE Traverse Gravimeter ExperlmeAt
VIP (site) "Very Important Place" -final parKing site of tRY
GLOSSARY CONT'D.
*** Garbled or cl ipped transmission_
Deletions between statements of statements that are not geolo1ical Iy relevant
Pause by speaker
:.
Interruption by,anoth~r speaker, or abrupt termi.na~ion of a recording
(words) Exolanation of words probably said that were.garbled ~urinq transmission, or additional
explanation by editor
(words?) Explanation of words pos.sib-l"y, said that were garbled during transmission, or additional
explanation by edItor,::_
6
EXPLAi4ATlONOF KEYWORD1NG
The purpose of the keywords enclosed in parentheses to the right of the transcript is to inform
the reader of either the phase of the mission <DESCENT, ORBITAL, etc.J during which the statements
were made, or the particular location or station -{LM, ALSEP, I, LRV I, etc.} where the speaker was,
or between which locations. fLM-ALSfP, SEP-I, etc.> the speaker was traversino. There are atso
separate sample (SAMP xxxxx) and photo (PHOxxx 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 are cross-indexed to the sample numbers in that
Iine, The occasional exceotions can be inferred from the context of the transcript --AET 04 23 39+
where the sample numbers 71130,35-36 are not necessarily referenced to the closeup stereo photo
numbers keyed in the same line. Where remarks in the beqinning of a statement were not either
specifical Iy nor generaIIy about the sampl ing or photography mentioned later in the same statement,
the keywording was placed in the particular line containing the first mention of the referenced
activity as with SAMP 71040-49, 75 in the statement made at 04 23 34+. Temporary stops for sampl ing
(LRV I, LRV 2, etc.> and emplacing exoloslve charge 4 (EP 4> during the EVA 2 traverse are also
keyworded.
Because the taking of specific pnotos was not always mentioned, we have keyed al I photos known
to show a sample or its location in the first line that contains samp1e keywording at the time the
sampIe was coIlected,
Photo keys pIaced in the "- - _If lines (where non-reIevant statements are deleted) show the
interval when those particular photos were taken even though not mentioned.
Conventions used in keyword sampIe and photo numbedng:
SAMP 70018 Sample number 70018
SAMP CDRE 70001-10 - Sample core 70001 through 70010 ~nclusive
SAMP 71050,55 Sample numbers 71050 and 71055
SAMP 71040-49,75 - Sample numbers 7r040 through 71049 and sample number
71075
SAMP? Samp1e for which the number is unknown
PHO 136 20720 - Magazine 136, frame 20210
PHO 147 22492-520 - Magazine 147, frames 22492 throuqh 2252D lnclusJve
PHO? Photo or photos taken thar have I'lotbeen ident~fied
7