apollo 17 at taurus littrow

8/8/2019 Apollo 17 at Taurus Littrow

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(NASA- p - ILL)LITTROW (NASA)$1.25

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Apollo 17t Taurus-L ittrowText by David A. Anderton


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Preface0The Apol lo 17 mission marked the endof the f l ight phase of lunar exploration.But in terms of analysis and understand-

ing of the Moon, the Apollo 17 missionmarked a p oint that was very near thebeginning.For the past three years, experimentsplaced on earlier Apollo missions havetransmitted their measurem ents back tostations on Earth, sending dots andtraces that slowly have drawn a pictureof the Moon.More than 23 bil l ion data points hadbeen rec eived before the arrival of theApol lo 17 astronauts on the M oon;

additional tens of bil l ions wil l be addedfrom the long l ifetime experiments left bythat mission.Years from now, those measurementswill stil l be adding to the know ledge ofthe Moon, the phenom ena that formed it ,and the cataclysms that m olded its earlyhistory.So af ter the c entur ies of phi losophiz-ing, of observing from the Earth, ofassuming and hypothesizing and postu-lat ing and g uessing, the first hard factshave beco me available with which todescribe the evolution of another planet.


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The crew of Apollo 17: Commander Eugene A.Cernan, seated on the lunar rover; commandmodule pilot Ronald E. Evans, standing atright; lunar module pilot Harrison H.Schmitt, standing at left.

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Nothing can prepare yo u for the sightsan Apollo launching.on, fi lm, m agnetic tapes ander of the experience.The towering launch vehicle looms

single launchin space suits, their

to theon its surface, andgain safely.Thousands of items, tucked away in

the spacecraft structure cramodule. In spite ofs equipm ent, the crew's quartersic meters (71 cubic feet) perof habitable volume. That's about

eating and sleepps out and back.Below the comm and module is thecal service module, the nam e for

es, and the other com ponents thatce and suppo rt the crew andntil the last leg of theAnd below that sits the lunar module,y panels that conceal its

y with them to the M oon a lunaro astronauts to

The lunar module stands seven metersfirst astronaut towil l pause

The lunar module has two stages.escent to the

Moon. F or ascent, after the lunar explora-tion has been completed, the upper stageseparates and serves as a single space-craft for ascent, rendezvous and dockingwith the comman d modu le in lunar orbit.The weight of the lunar module aloneis more than 16,000 kilograms (35,000Ibs), a phenomenal number to thosefamiliar with the early days of spaceflight,when payloads were me asured by afew kilograms, and as few as one. Alarge, loaded moving van weighs on theorder of 16,000 kilograms (35,000 Ibs),for comparison. Or think of it in terms ofeight compact cars. It's a lot of weight totransport to the Moon.So there they stand, stretching almost25 m eters (82 feet) from the base of thelunar module hou sing to the t ip of therocket motors on the escape systemtower. And below them, for another 84meters (275 feet), are stacked the threecylindrical stages of the launch vehicle.Start nearest the spacecraft, with thethird stage, the Saturn S-IVB, almostseven meters (23 feet) in diameter andjust over 18 meters (59 feet) high. It isloaded with l iquid hydrogen and liquidoxygen propellants for its single J-2 enginewhich will deliver 926,367 newtons ofthrust in the final phase of the pow eredflight.The third stage and the spacecraft wil lbe brought up to speed by the secondstage, the Saturn S-Il, a 10-by 25 -meter(32.8- by 82 -foot) cylinder with five J-2liquid rocket engines delivering morethan 5 m illion newtons of thrust.That performance seems almost insig-nificant when compared to the first stage,the mighty Saturn S-IC, again 10 meters(32.8 feet) in diameter, but peaking atmore than 42 meters (138 feet) high. Ati ts base are f ive F-i rocket engines, fourin a cruciform around a central unit, andeach good for almost 7 million newtonsof thrust at takeoff.Ready to go, the whole assembly ofspacecraft and launch vehicle towers119 m eters (363 feet) above the launchingpad, and weighs almost 3 m illion kilograms(7 m illion lbs).

Astronaut Ron Evans gets a last hug beforeentering the van to ride to the launch site.


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Night Launch

I t is the warm, m uggy evening ofDecem ber 6 on a sandy cape area eastof Orlando, Florida, where the BananaRiver winds through marshes, whereherons, pel icans, and al l igators search thewaters. Stretching toward the sky atPad A, Launch Com plex 39, the hugerocket is l i t by banks of search l ights,del ineating i ts w hiteness against thedarkening skies. The countdown isroutine, smooth.At 3 hours and 30 minutes beforescheduled launch , there is a hold t imebuil t into the sched ule. The clocks stopfor one hour. Less than half an hourlater, the doors of the M anned Sp acecraftOpe rations Building open, and the A pollo17 crew w alk toward their transfer van,headed for their f light to the Moon.Eugene A. Cernan and R onald E. Evansand Ha rrison H. Schmitt: white and bulkyin their f l ight suits, carrying the ir portablebreathing and cooling system s, theirfaces shielded by the clear visors of theirnear-spherical helmets. Flashguns f i rebri l liant l ights against their bod ies; Evanshesitates, raises his right arm, bum pshis body toward the cameras.From the observation site, this hasbeen seen on television m onitors that dotthe area. In the grandstand, there arethousands of reporters, writers, research-ers. Ahead of the grandstand, betweeni t and the small body of water in whoseblack surface the Apollo rocket is re-f lected, stand dozens of cameramen. An doff at remote sites there are othercameras and cameram en, television andmovie, sti l l and record ing came ras, tomake this last f l ight perhaps the m ostthoroughly documen ted of al l .The countdow n goes on , f lawlessly.Across the way perhaps a quarter of amile, a pa rade of off icial vehicles, blueand red do me l ights f lashing, make s itsslow way out toward the launch site.Cernan, Evans and Schmitt are on theway to the M oon by van and auto, rol l ingon rubber t ires at a few miles per hour,gingerly, easily, toward the waitingspacecraft. Two hours and 40 m inutesbefore the scheduled departure, theyclamber aboard the command module.They "ingress" the module, in NASA'sawkward bu t precise terminology.And then the checks of systems be gin,right down to the f inal range safetychecks. Two helicopters, one w ith ahigh-powere d searchlight, patrol thebeach area.

The searchlights at Launch Complex39 bathe the scene in near-dayl ight,catching the wisps of venting oxygen asthey drift slowly westwa rd from thelaunch pad. The clock goes through T-5 minutes, and the count proceeds.Now at T -3 minutes, 6 seconds, theautom atic sequencer starts to controlthe countdown. It performs each task,verifies that it is done, rem oves an inter-lock that prevents the next task frombeing done prematurely, or from beingomitted, and does the next task. It doeseach, right down to 30 seconds, and theclock stops. Apol lo control come s on theair to announce a hold, as i t wi ll do overthe next two and one -half hours while theproblem a signal that the third-stagel iquid oxygen tanks had not been pres-surizedis solved by wo rking out asafe alternate around that signal.That alternate was developed on a"breadboard"a work ing dupl icate ofthe complex control systems by engi-neers at the Ma rshall Space Fl ight Centerin Huntsvi l le, Alabam a. Their solutionwas a w orkaround which they checkedand rec hecked to verify its rel iabili ty. Itworked, and passed the che cks, and thecommunications l inks between the twoNAS A Cen ters carried the detai ls of thealternate procedure to the control roomat the Kennedy Space Center.Finally, after a second pro longed holdat T-8 minutes, the f inal countdownbegins, continues through the 30 secondmark to cheers from the wa tchers, andapproaches the T-10 second mark.Apollo Saturn Launch C ontrol: "Tennine. . . eigh t. . . seven ... ignit ionsequence started . . . al l engines arestarted . . . we h ave ign it ion.... ..There is a short, intense burst of whiteflame at the bottom of the Saturn f irststage; i t blossoms to a huge bu rningwhiteness, bright as the Sun, spreadingoutward through bi llowing c louds ofsteam and is surrounded, but notswallowed, in bright orange sheets off ire from the f ive rocket engines."Two . . . one. . . zero. .. we hav e al i ftoff. We have a l i f toff and it 's l ightingup the a rea, i t 's just l ike dayl ight here atKennedy Spac e Center as the Saturn Vis moving off the pad. It has now clearedthe tower."The enormous bulk of launch vehicleand spacecraft moved slowly, ponder-ously upward through the steam andf lame. The only noise was the com-

mentary from launch control and thecheering of the crowd in the grandstand.The rocket began to c l imb into thenight, above the searchl ights now butneeding n o other l ight than the f ire in i tsengines and the incand escent foxtai l off lame streaming behind i t .And then, perhaps fi fteen secondslater, the noise hit, a blasting, snapp ing,crackl ing roar unl ike any noise before.The physical impact stopped the breath-ing momentari ly, and then the metal roofof the grandstand beg an to ratt le andshake under the hamm ering of the shockwaves from the engine. They soundedl ike a rapid-f ire series of cann on sho tsfrom a few yards awa y, sharp explosivebangs that w ere startl ing, unsteady,high-pitched and roaring at the sametime.And throug h al l the blasting thelaunch vehicle slowly climbed throug hthe blackness, i ts f ive-forked flamestreaming o range l ight, i lluminating theupturned faces of the shouting crowd. Itbega n to turn into i ts slow curving p athdownrange, and the f lames began toopen up behind the rocket l ike a p aleorange umb rel la of f i re as the atmosphereth inned an d reduced the external pres-sure on the eng ines. The individualrocket engines burned l ike bright dots oforange be hind the vei l of paler orangeas the Saturn booster continued to turndownrange and the f iery umbrella keptopening ou tward, seem ing to f i ll the skyand cover the Cape.Then the center engine was shut downautomatical ly and a few seconds later,the outboard engines blinked out to-gether. There was a b rief pause, andthen the w hite f ireball of the second -stageengines ignit ing l i t up the sky l ike al ightning stroke, a nd stabi l ized into aburning sphere of white l ight streakingtoward the M oon l ike a rising star.

Foxtail flame from five rocket engines in theSaturn lights the sky and the ground around thelaunch complex. Photograph for Time, Inc. byTony Linck.


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,-.--From The Earth To The MoonThe approach path to Taurus-Li t trow val ley isvis ib le against the mountain bases at the leftin th is v iew from the lunar m odule. TheSculptured Hi l ls are the bumpy terra in at thebo t tom. The comm and /se rv ice modu le is seenin the d istance. A bou t 1 2 m inu tes a f t e r l if t o f f, t heo n - b o a r d c o m p u t e r s r e a d o u t th em a x im u m a n d m i n im u m a l t it u d e s o f t h eE a r t h o r b i t t h a t h a d j u s t b e e n e s t a b -l i s h e d . B u t t h is wa s s im p ly a p a rk in go r b i t fo r a s h o r t t im e , a t i m e t o c a t c h t h eb re a th , f i g u ra t i v e l y s p e a k in g , a n d to g e tr e a d y f o r t h e r o c k e t e n g i n e f i r in g t h a t w o u l d l a u n c h th e c o m m a n d a n d s e r v i c em o d u l e s a c r o s s t h e l o n g b l a c kn e s st o w a r d t h e t i n y M o o n .A bou t 3 hou r s l a t e r , t he S a tu r nS - I VB s t a g e b e g a n i ts s e c o n d b u r n ,t h r u s t in g t h e s p a c e c r a f t o u t o f i t s p a r k in go r b i t a n d h e a d i n g i t i n to s p a c e . F o ra l m o s t s i x m i n u t e s t h e r o c k e t e n g i n e-


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Separation and Descent

nd) to thehe speeding s pacecraft. Now

That, too, was a rou tine trip. But theutsSchmit t, who had not beenrbit, or the flight

ck:". . . we hadpletely weather-free pass

y was som ething l ike I 've never se enere patterns l ike I' t seen in textbooks......Schm itt, the geologist, became inter-t terns that he"I t looks like M exico in general isthough there is a ban d ofs that start from

exicos ISouthern C ali fornia looks l iken pretty good shap e today, butalifornia looks l ike it 's prob-

of clear weather . . . stretches

And Cap com answ ered, ". . . you're aan we ather satell ite."Later, Schm itt called in with thisf theseld describe things

erms that m ight transmit atnly hope that som e

xpress these things."The long hours passed, and then thethe primary target of

It was the smo othest landing, closestto the planned touchdow n point, of anyof the Apo llo missions. 'Challenger,"the lunar module, had undocked andseparated from "America," the command/service mo dule, earl ier, and its astro-nauts had completed the seconddescent orbit insertion maneuver withoutincident.And n ow it was time to start the f inaldescent toward the lunar surface.Astronauts Cernan a nd Schm itt, inconstant contact with Mission Con trol atHouston, completed check after checkpreliminary to the actual f ir ing of thedescent engine that would lower them tothe Moon. The checks completed and thego-ahe ad given, the f inal detai ls of thepre-ignition sequence cam e over thevoice l ink from Ch allenger:"Ten secon ds. . . fuel ullage; we'vegot ullage . . . two . . . one. . . ignition,ignition Houston . . . attitude looksgood......The descent engine had fired, applyingi ts thrust to brake the coasting speed ofChallenger and m ove it out of the lunartransfer orbit toward the vertical descentand touchdown."Challenger, you're go for enter," saidMission Control, and the f inal proceduresbegan on board the lunar module. Theywere closing in on the landing site, andrecognizing its features: "Okay, I 've gotthe South Massif ..... ye got Nansen,I 've got Lara and I've got the scarp .oh, are we com ing in . . . oh, baby!"Now just a hundred feet above thesurface, the commen tary came fast asChallenger eased toward touchdown."Eighty feet. . . going down at threegetting a little dust . . . very littledust.. . stand by for touchd owndown two . . . feels good . . . twentyfeet . . . ten feet . . . contact!" Then theengine shutdowns, the switch closings,and the two astronauts had arrived atthe surface."Okay, Houston, the Challenger haslanded . . . tel l Am erica that Challengeris at Taurus-Littrow."There wa s a brief t ime w hile the crewcompleted more checks and waited forpermission from Mission Control to go onwith the planned phases of the m issionthat would take them to the opening ofthe hatch and the exit onto the Moon."I ' ll check eve rything again. Let's justdouble-check. Okay. That hasn't changed

i t looks good . . . the manifold hasn'tchanged . . . the RCS hasn't changed ascent water hasn't cha nged ... thebatteries haven't cha nged."Oh, my golly, only we have changed!"They had, just as other astronautcrews before them had changed. Som e-how, the emotions of the mom ent, theenormity of the task just completed, theawe of being on the M oon, the starkbeauty of i ts features, reach throughthe outer she ll of objectivity andmachinery that shields the astronauts."Only we have changed !" He said itfor all of them , and for all of mankind.Man is on the Moon, and we've changed.

Challenger, the lunar module, has justseparated from America, the command module,prior to the LM's descent to the lunar surface.


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Sculptured Hills

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Astronaut Schmit t , the lunar module ( lef t ) andthe lunar rover ( r i gh t ) pose w i th t he Am er icanf lag at the T aurus-L i t trow ba se" T h e n e x t t h in g i t s a y s i s t h a t G e n et ." A s t r o n a u t J a c k S c h m i tt ,i ng t he ch eck l i s t b e f o r e t he i r fi r s to v e s o u t s i d e t h e p r o t e c t iv e e n v i r o n m e n tu n a r m o d u l e , h a d c o m e t o t h a tT h i s w a s t h e b e g i n n i n g o f th e f i r s tc t i v i ty (EVA ) , theja r g o n f o r m o v i n g a n d w o r k in g o na c e . C e r n a n , o n h a n d s a n da n d b a c k i n g o u t o f th e t i n yu n a r m o d u l e ,

o r h u n g u p .C e r n a n : H o w a r e m y le g s ? A m IS ch m i t t: W e l l , I don ' t know . I can ' t see. . . I t h ink you ' re g e t t i ng ou t

a s m u c h o fCernan: Okay.. . my legs are outa n d e r i s o n th e p o r c h o fA n d n o w C e r n a n i s b a c k in g d o w n t h ea d d e r . "I 'm o n t h e f o o t p a d . A n d ,, as I s tep o f f a t the su r face a tr u s - L i t tr o w , I ' d l i ke t o d e d i c a t e t h er s t s t e p o f A p o l l o 1 7 t o a l l th o s e w h om ade i t pos s ib le . "T h e n i t w a s S c h m i tt 's t u r n t o d e s c e n dh e l a d d e r a n d t o s t e p o n t o t h e l u n a ru r f a c e . A f t e r a q u i c k w a l ka r o u n dinspec t ion , and a f i r s t l ook a t the su r facel a n d in g s i t e , C e r n a n a n d

c h m i tt f re e d t h e l u n a r r o v e r f r o m i t sb e r t h , t u c k e d i n t o t h e l u n a r m o d u l e . Itc a m e o u t , u n f o ld i n g a s i t c a m e , a n ds tood read y fo r wo rk . S ixteen m inu tesla te r , a f te r a b i t o f d i f fi cu l ty ge t t i ng thev e h i c l e l o c ke d t o g e t h e r , C e r n a n c l im b e dabo a rd fo r a tes t d r i ve ." C a n 't s e e t h e r e a r o n e s , b u t I k n o wt h e f r o n t o n e s t u r n , a n d i t d o e s m o v e .Hous ton , Cha l lenge r ' s bab y i s on theroad."T h e t e s t d ri v e o v e r , Ce r n a n a n dS c h m i tt b e g a n t o e x p l o r e t h e a r e a ,S c h m i tt p ic k in g u p r o c ks a n d c o m m e n t -i ng on the i r appa ren t s t ruc tu re . Theyf u m b l e d , s t u m b l e d a n d f e ll , g e t ti n g u s e dto the s t range fee l ings o f mov ing inone -s ix th the g ra v i ty fo rce o f the Ea r th .C e r n a n w a r n e d S c h m i tt : "Y o u ' v e j u s t g o tto take i t easy un t i l you lea rn to w o rk ino n e - s i xt h g , " a n d S c h m i tt a n s w e r e d ," W e l l, I h a v e n ' t l e a r n e d t o p i c k u p r o c k sw h i c h i s a v e r y e m b a r r a s s i n g t h i n g f o r ageologis t . "A nd the n , jus t be fo re they a t tachedt h e t e l e v is i o n c a m e r a , C e r n a n c a l le d

o v e r t o S c h m i tt , w h o w a s w o r k in g h a r da t l oad ing the rov e r : "Hey , Jack , jus ts top . You owe y ou rse l f 30 second s tol o o k u p o v e r t h e S o u t h M a s s i f a n d l o o ka t t he E ar th ."T h e y a s s e m b l e d a n d f l e w t h e f la g , a n da f t e r t h e n o w - r it u a l s a l u t e s a n d p i c t u re s ,Ce rna n ta lked to Hous ton : " . . . th i s f l aghas f l own in the MOCR (Miss ion Ope r -a t ions Con t ro l Room ) s inc e A po l l o 1 1,and we ve ry p rou d ly dep loy i t . . . i nh o n o r o f a l l t h o s e p e o p l e w h o h a v ew o r k e d s o h a r d t o p u t u s h e r e .T h e n t h e y u n l o a d e d t h e A p o l l o L u n a rS u r f a c e E x p e r im e n t s P a c k a g e ( A L S E P ) ,a n d a s s e m b l e d i t i n t o a b a r b e l l p a c k a g ef o r e a s i e r c a r r yi n g . S c h m i tt m a d e ag r a v i m e t e r r e a d i n g f o r c a l ib r a t i o n o ft h a t i n s tr u m e n t , a n d t h e y w e r e o f f t od e p l o y t h e A L S E P , S c h m i tt l o p i n g i n tothe d is tance c a r ry ing the un i t . Bu t Ce rnanh a d k n o c k e d a f e n d e r o f f t h e r o v e r b yc a t c h i n g i t w i t h h i s h a m m e r , a n d s t a ye db e h i n d t o f i x it . H e m a d e a t e m p o r a r yb i n d i n g f r o m a n a d h e s i v e t a p e , a n d j o in e dS c h m i tt a t t h e A L S E P s it e .I t w a s C e r n a n ' s jo b t o d r i ll t h e t w oh o l e s f o r t h e h e a t p r o b e e x p e r im e n t ." M a n , i s t h a t t h in g b i t in g , " h e s a i d a b o u tt he d r i l l. An d l a t e r , he ad de d , " I'm i ns o m e t h in g t o u g h d o w n t h e r e n o wm u s t b e i n t h e m o t h e r l o d e . .. . B o y ,t he o l d f ing e r s r e a l l y su f f e r on t he se . . .. ..B u t h e c o m p l e t e d t h e jo b , w i th b o t hp r o b e s d r i v e n t o t h e ir p l a n n e d d e p t h ."Hey , Bob , jus t ou t o f cu r ios i ty , wh a tk in d o f h e a r t r a t e h a s t h i s d r il l b e e np r o d u c i n g o n m e ? " C e r n a n q u e r i e d . A n dC a p c o m a n s w e r e d , " .. . y o u ' v e b e e nrunn ing a t 120 pu lse spee d w i th peakso f 14 0 to 15 0 f rom t im e to t ime . "C e r n a n h a d t o d r i ll a g a i n , t h i s ti m e at e n - f o o t p r o b e f o r t h e n e u t r o n f lu xe x p e r im e n t . H e w a s b e g i n n i n g t o f e e l th ee f f e c ts o f t h e u n a c c u s t o m e d s t r a i n o fw o r k in g a g a i n s t t h e c o n s t r a in t o f t h ep r e s s u r e s u i t , a n d c o m p l a in e d o f a r mp a i n s w h e n t h i s jo b w a s d o n e .T h e n e x t ta s k w a s a r o v e r r i d e t o ap o i n t n e a r t h e c r a t e r S t e n o , n a m e d a f t e rN icho las S ten on is , a 17 th cen tu ry Dan ishsc ien t i s t . On the w ay , the rove r s toppedb r ie f ly a t the s i te se lec ted fo r theS u r face E lec t r ica l P rope r t ies (S EP )e x p e r im e n t , a n d S c h m i tt p l a c e d t h et r a n s m i t te r o n t h e s u r f a c e . O n t o w a r dS t e n o t h e y w e n t , a n d c o l l e c ti n g r o c ks a m p l e s , ta k i n g p h o t o s , a n d m a k i n ga g r a v i m e t e r re a d i n g f o r a n o t h e r p o i n to n t h e g r a v i ty p r o f i le t r a v e r s e .

Astronau t Cernan, at the wh eel , checks thelunar rover in a short test r ide.


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Finished wi th the check r ide, the lunar rover isready to rol l .T h e n i t w a s b a c k t o t h e S u r f a c eca l P rope r t ies expe r imen t (SE P )n t o f i ts t ransm i t te r

as , p lac ing them ca re fu l l yang led t i r e t racks d r i venb a c k t h e b ro k e n t a p e g a v e w a y o ns los th e r e o n t h e s u r f a c e . "O h , i t p r e tt yes me s ick a t l o s ing tha t

B a c k a t t h e l u n a r m o d u l e a f t e r t h e s es , Ce rnan and Schmi t t dus ted o f f thee re ge t t i ng ready to re - en te rC e r n a n w a s s t a r tl e d b yt h in g . H e y , s o m e t h i n g ju s t h i t h e r e !t b lew ? Hey , wha t i s tha t? " Schmi t tt h e a n s w e r . " It 's t h e s t y r o fo a m o f fn an ten na b ack ing . "C a p c o m c a l l e d w i th a r e q u e s t fo r aon o f wha t happene dthe ex ten t o f then k a n d w o r khe as t ron au ts , and to ge t b ack toi th some tem pora ry f ix if poss ible .s u r fa c e ,nd Schm i t t spen t the t ime

a s k e d C e r n a n , a n d S c h m i t tus t w a i t un t i l I show y ouook o f y ou . "A l l o f the expe r imen ts ha d b eeny , a n d a l l w e r e c h e c k e de . They had m a de 6ing s w i th t he g rav im ete r , p lac ed 2

19 7 blac k -and-wh i te pi c tu res ,e c t e d o n e d e e p d r i l l c o re a n d 1 7ke f ragmen ts , aT h e n u p t h e l a d d e r a n d i n t o th e l u n a rl e , end ing the f ir s t EVA. They c los edd r e p r e s s u r iz e d t h e m o d u l e .m e o f t h e E V A wa s 7 h o u r s ,nu tes an d 13 s ec onds , and the reo t i re d a s t r o n a u t s a t t h e e n d o f" O h , w h a t a n i c e d a y . . . th e r e ' s n o t a, " sa id Schm i t t as hedow n the ladde r fo r then e d C e r n a n o n t h ed , a f te r the us ua l f i r s t- th ing

e r . Th is h is to ry -mak ingthe f i rs t au tomo t ive repa i r on theh a d b e e n f ig u r e d o u t a t M S Ci le t h e c r e w s l e p t. E s s e n t i a l ly i t

con s is ted o f tap ing toge the r fou rp l a s ti c iz e d m a p s h e e t s t h a t w o u l d n o t b eused , fo ld ing them on ce and fas ten ingthem to the fende r ra i ls w i th c lampsc a n n i b a l iz e d f r o m t h e o p t ic a l a l i g n m e n tte lescope lamp.T h e r e a s o n f o r th e s e r io u s n e s s o f t h isa p p a r e n t ly m i n o r p r o b l e m w a s t h e d u s tp l u m e t h r o w n u p b y t h e l u n a r r o v e rwh ee l . W i thou t tha t rea r fende r , thes u r fa c e d u s t w a s t h r o w n o n t o t h eas t ronau ts and the eq u ipmen t on ther o v e r , a g gr a v a t in g a n a l r e a d y a n n o y i n gs i tua t ion .T h e f e n d e r f ix w o r k e d , a n d t h e d a y ' stasks began.T h e f ir s t s t o p w a s s c h e d u l e d t o b eS ta t io n 2 , n e a r t h e c r a t e r N a n s e n , n a m e da f te r F r id t jo f N ansen , a N o rw eg ian A rc t i ce x p lo r e r . O n t h e w a y , t h e y d r o v e s o u t h o fthe c ra te r Came lo t , and Schmi t t de -s c r i be d a s t h e y r o d e : "T h e s u r f a c e i sno t cha ng ing in te rms o f the de ta i l . Thesu r face tex tu re o f the f ine g ra inedrego l i th s t i ll i s a ra ind ro p pa t te rn .O c c a s i o n a l c r a t e r s s h o w l ig h t e r c o l o r e de jec tas a l l t he wa y dow n to , say , ha l f ame te r in s iz e . . . . Mos t o f the b r igh te rc ra te rs h ave a l i tt l e cen t ra l p i t in theb o t tom w h ich i s g lass l i ned . The p i t ismay b e a f if th o f the d iame te r o f thecra ter i tse l f . "A ft e r m o r e t h a n a n h o u r , d u r i n g w h i c hthey had s topped fo r samples and to se tt w o m o r e e x p lo s i v e c h a r g e s , C e r n a n a n dSchmi t t a r r i ved a t S ta t ion 2 , l y ing a t theb ase o f the Sou th Ma ss i f , a t the con tac ta r e a b e t w e e n t h e m a s s i f a n d t h e l u n a rman t le . He re the samples and ob se rva -t io n s w e r e d i r e c t e d t o w a r d d e s c r i bi n g t h emass i f b ed rock and the l igh t man t le .Ce rnan an d Schmi t t spen t a lmos t anh o u r h e r e , g a t h e r i n g s a m p l e s a n d p h o t o -g r a p h ic a l ly d o c u m e n t i n g t h e m a n d t h er e g io n . T h e n t h e y d r o v e t h e r o v e r o nt o w a r d S t a ti o n 3 , t h e c r a t e r L a r a , n a m e daf t e r the h e r o i ne o f "Dr. Zh i va go . "T h e s a m e s a m p l i n g r o u t in e f o l lo w e d ,a n d t h e y p a c k e d t h e s p e c i m e n s a n dhead ed on to S ta t ion 4 , the c ra te rSho r t y , named a f te r a cha rac te r i nR icha rd Brau t igan 's nove l , "T rou t F ish ingi n Am er i c a . "A nd the re , a lmos t fi ve hou rs in to theE VA , Schmi t t wa s s tand ing on the r im o fSho r t y and ca lmly desc r ib ing i t s phy s ica lappea ranc e . F in ished , he sa id tha t hew a s g o i n g to t a k e a p a n o r a m i c s h o t w i t ht h e c a m e r a . H e m o v e d t o d o s o , a n d t h e nh i s e x c i te d v o i c e c u t t h r o u g h t h e

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Astronaut Schmit t deploys the SurfaceElect r ical Propert ies e xperiment . In thebackground is the South Massi f .


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14/36

Station 4 with the lunar rover on the rim ofShorty Crater. The Family Mountains are in thebackground.

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15/36

At S ta t i on 6 As t ronau t Schmi t t ch ips a samp lefrom a large boulder.

i s s io n s : " Th e r e i s o r a n g e s o i l! "Cern an : "W el l , don ' t m ove i t t i ll Ii t ."S c hm i t t: "I t' s a l l ove r , o ra ng e ! "Cern an : "D on ' t m o ve i t t il l I s ee i t . "S c h m i tt : "I s t ir r e d i t u p w i th m y f e e t . "Cern an : "Hey, i t is , I c an s ee i t f romS chmi t t : " I t ' s o rang e ! "C e r n a n : "W a i t a m i n u t e , le t m e p u t m y

still o r ang e ! "Sc h m i t t: "Sure i s . Crazy . Orang e' s a l m o s t t h e s a m e c o l o r a s t h e L M Py c a m e r a . "C e r n a n : " T h a t i s o r a n g e , J a c k ."Q u o t i n g t h e w o r d s d o e s n ' t c o n v e y t h eo f e x c i te m e n t t h a t t h i s d is c o v e r y. A n d w h y? Be c a u s e t h e p r e s e n c eh e r e d d i s h -o r a n g e m a t e r i a l a r o u n do i n t s t o i ts v o l c a n i c o r i g i n ,s u g g e s t s v o l c a n i c a c t i vi ty b o t he f o r e a n d a f t e r t h e f o r m a t i o n o f t h eig h t m an t l e .S a i d S c h m i tt : " If I e v e r s a w a c l a s s i cl t e r a t io n h a l o a r o u n d a v o l c a n i c c r a t e r ,. It ' s e l li ps o ida l . I t ap pe ars to b eo n e d . T h e r e ' s o n e s a m p l e w e d i d n ' te t . W e d idn ' t ge t t he m ore ye l l ow y s tu f f ,we got the center portion......Af te r t h i s , the re s t o f t he E V A w asa l m o s t a n t i -c l im a c t i c . Th e y d r o v e o n t oS t a t i o n 5 a t C a m e l o t c r a t e r , c o ll e c t e ds a m p l e s , a n d t h e n p u s h e d o n t o t h eA L S E P s i t e f o r a n o t h e r c h e c k o f t h e l u n a r

s u r f a c e g r a v im e t e r . I n d i c a ti o n s w e r et h a t t h e i n s t ru m e n t w a s n o t w o r ki n g , a n dt h e s c i e n t i s ts b a c k i n H o u s t o n w a n t e dt o m a k e c e r t a i n th a t i t h a d b e e n c o r r e c t l yi n s ta l l e d a n d w a s l e v e l. S c h m i ttcon f i r med t ha t .T h e y a r r iv e d b a c k a t t h e l u n a r m o d u l e ,c l e a n e d u p t h e r o v e r a n d t u r n e d o f f th et e l e vi s io n c a m e r a . It h a d b e e n a s e c o n df u l l d a y . T h e y h a d t r a v e l e d a d i s t a n c e o fa b o u t 2 0 k i lo m e t e r s ( 12 m i le s ) a n d h a dwor k ed on t he M oo n f o r 7 hou r s , 37m i n u t e s a n d 2 2 s e c o n d s . T h e y h a d t a k e n2 1 8 c o l o r p h o t o g r a p h s a n d 6 2 7 b l a c k -a n d - w h i te p h o t o g r a p h s , a n d c o l le c t e d5 6 s a m p l e s w e ig h i n g a b o u t 3 6 k il o g r a m s(8 0 pounds ) . T he s c ien t i f i c exper im en tsw e r e w o r k in g p r o p e r l y, e x c e p t f o r t h el una r su r f ace g r av ime te r .I n th e f i n a l m i n u t e s b e f o r e m o u n t i n gt h e l a d d e r a n d e n t e r i n g t h e lu n a r m o d u l e ,C e r n a n l o o k e d a r o u n d . "I s t a n d o u t h e r ea n d I lo o k a t t h a t f l a g , a n d I l o o k a t t h erover , and I look a t t hos e f ee t . I t' s s t i llh a r d t o b e l ie v e . " A n d S c h m i tt a n s w e r e db y w o n d e r i n g w h a t th e y h a d d o n e t od e s e r v e b e i n g o u t th e r e .

s ab ou t 4 :30 W ed nesd a ya f t e r n o o n , a s I s t e p o u t o n t o t h e p l a i n so f T auru s - L i tt r ow 's bea u t i f u l va l l ey ," s a idA s t r o n a u t C e r n a n a t t h e s t a r t o f t h e t h i r dE V A . H e a n d S c h m i tt d i d th e i r u s u a lr o u t i n e c h e c k s a n d m a k e - re a d y t a s k sb e f o r e s e t t i n g o u t i n th e l u n a r r o v e r a b o u ta h a l f -h o u r l a t e r . T h e y d r o v e t o w a r dS t a t io n 6 a t t h e b a s e o f t h e N o r t h M a s s i f,s t o p p i n g o n t h e w a y a t a b o u t h a l f th ed i s t a n c e f o r s a m p l in g o f t h e s u r f a c e .T h e y p a u s e d a g a i n a t T u rn i n g P o i n tR o c k , n a m e d b e c a u s e i t w a s a p r o m i n e n tl a n d m a r k o n t h e i r c o u r s e a n d t h e p l a c ew h e r e t h e y w e r e t o t u r n t o h e a d t o w a r dS ta t i on 6 . Tha t r ock , pe r ha ps 6 m e te r sh i g h , w a s p h o t o g r a p h e d a n d o b s e r v e d a tc l o s e r a n g e b e f o r e t h e t ri p c o n t i n u e d .T h e y p a r k e d t h e l u n a r r o v e r o n t h es l o p e n e a r t h e b a s e o f th e m a s s i f a n db e g a n t h e ir s a m p l i n g a n d d o c u m e n t a t io n ." M a n , h e r e ' s a b i g w h i t e c l a s t , a n dt h e r e 's o n e o n t o p a b o u t a f o o t a n d ah a l f a c r o s s , a n d h e r e ' s o n e m u s t b e t w ofee t ac ro s s . . . th ree f ee t . . . and tha t ' si n t h e b l u e - g r a y ," r e p o r t e d C e r n a n ,d e s c r i b in g s o m e o f t h e l o c a l ro c k s o f at yp e t h a t g e o l o g i s t s h a v e l a b e l le d" b r e c c i a s ," o r r o c k s w h i c h a r e m a d e o ff r a g m e n t s o f s p e c i f ic m a t e r i a ls . B lu e -g r a y , o f c o u r s e , r e f e r s t o t h e c o l o r o fthe rock." Fe e l l i ke a k id p l a y in g i n a s a n d b o x , "s a i d t h e e x u b e r a n t C e r n a n , in t h e m i d d l eo f h i s re p o r t in g . A n d t h e n C a p c o m c a m eo n t h e a i r w it h i n s t r u c t io n s : " W e ' r e r e a d yfo r you gu ys to l eave th i s r oc k . . . ande i t h e r g e t t h e r a k e s o i l a n d c o r e s n e a rt h a t c r a t e r d o w n b e l o w t h e r o c k . . . o re l s e g o o n t o s o m e o t h e r d i ff e r e n t v a ri e t yof rock......S c h m i tt a n s w e r e d , " . . . g o i n g d o w nt o t h a t c r a t e r i s n o t a p r o b l e m ; g e t ti n gb ack up I s ."Capcom: "...it's not that vital to gett o t h a t c r a t e r . . . i f i t' s t h a t m u c h o f ajo b t o g e t d o w n t o i t a n d b a c k u p . "S c h m i tt : " O ka y . B o b , w e d o n ' t m o v ea r o u n d f r o m h e r e t o o m u c h . I t e l l y o u ,t h e s e s l o p e s a r e s o m e t h i n g e ls e . "

B e fo re the y le f t t he s i t e , Cerna n c a l l edi n a n a c c i d e n t r e p o r t : "H o u s t o n , w e ' v eg o t a c o u p l e o f d e n t e d t i r e s . " " W h a t ' s ad e n t e d t ir e ? " q u e r i e d C a p c o m , a n dC e r n a n r e s p o n d e d , "A d e n t e d t i re i s al i tt l e . . . go l f ba l l s ize o r s m a l le r i nde n ta-t io n i n t h e m e s h . H o w d o e s t h a t s o u n dt o y o u ? " "S o u n d s l ik e a d e n t e d t ir e , "s a i d C a p c o m . B u t th e d a m a g e w a sn e g l ig i b l e a n d w o u l d n o t p r e v e n t th el u n a r r o v e r f r o m c o n t i n u i n g t o d o i ts j o b .

Apol lo 17 Commander Cernan in the lunarm o d u l e .

13


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Astronaut Schmitt collects a samp'e of thlunar surface using his special rake

Moonlight through the window of the lunarmodule lights this photograph of Dr. Schmitt

From Station 6 to Station 7, just off theatter of athe lens of the television.e back wi th, "You knowt? I'm getting t ired of dusting. Myry tool's the dust brush......By working at both stations 6 and 7,

f the ma ssif, fi rst

assif, they continued theirip, with sam pling ande to travel, up hi l l orhi l l . . . like this two-legged hopMan, I can cover ground l ike a

Cernan continued to comment on theway it got into everything.we sure are giving this suspensionsee it. . . everything's gett ingitt, confirming that,y, everything is sti ff. Every-ul l of dust." But Cernan ha doint

nical quits moving."They left Station 8 after 47 m inutes of

atsby.After about a half hour of work in theadvised the astronautssuggested thatty, and then Schm itt's

ene, quickly. We can'twe can't leave this. This may be the

" answered C ernan, and thene mo re minutes.

belov.y here is that. . . this upper

d the l ight-

colored debris may be w hat's left overfrom the impact."Capcom, now concerned about theduration of their stay on the surface atthis distance from the pro tection of thelunar module, cam e on again: "Okay, Icopy. I understand. Bu t we'd l ike to getyou going, in case you didn't get theclue."But Schm itt, ever the professionalgeologist, was reluctant to leave thisexcit ing and un expected find, and Cernanseemed to share his v iew. Schmit t took

photos; they started to make ready to goback when Capcom reprieved them:"We've had a ch ange of heart. . . andwe're going to drop station 10 . . . andwe're going to get a double core herethen we're going to leave and goback......Cernan and S chmit t worked hardernow, with Ce rnan starting to drive thecore w hile Schm itt was sti l l arguing withCapcom about whether or not i t was evengoing to be possible. They got the core


17/36

Rake in hand, Dr. Schmitt sets out across thecollect samples.

15


18/36

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19/36

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20/36

The lunar module and the U.S. flag werephotographed during EVA 3. In the backgroundare the Sculptured Hills.

4.-. - _

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21/36

At the end o f EVA 3, Astronaut Cernan unve i lst he m iss ion p laque .

a p c o m a s k e d f o r a s p e c i a lp l e f r o m t h e s h a l lo w t r e n ch t h a th m i tt h a d d u g e a r li e r. C a p c o m a d d e d ,k e t o h a v e y o u m o v i n g i ntes . T ha t ' s w it h whee ls r o l li ng

T h e r e w a s m o r e a r gu m e n t , C e r n a nd i d n ' t k n o w i f t h a t c o u l dc o m i n s i s t in g , a n d C e r n a nc ia lp l e in 4 m i n u t e s . C a p c o m a g r e e da n d C e r n a n s a i d , " Le t ' sT h e y l e ft S ta t i o n 9 a n d h e a d e d b a c ko d u l e , c a l li n g in o b s e r v a -s t h e y p a s s e d c r a t e r s o n t h e w a y. A t a b o u t 5 h o u r s a n d 4 4 m i n u t e se t o u t , t h e y a r r iv e d b a c k

e b a s e f o r t h e l a s t ti m e t h i sp . T h e y s t il l h a d w o r k a t t h a t s i t e :t og r ap hy , a f ina l check o f the A LSE P ,t h e t a s k s o f c l e a n - u p a f t e r t h ee m w i th t h e l u n a r d u s t .h e r e w e r e s o m e o t h e r , n o n - w o r kh a t r e m a i n e d , t o o , a n d C e r n a n , a sa n d e r o f t h e A p o l l o 17 m i s s i o n , wa sk e s m a n . H e s p o k e t o t h e I n t e r n a -l Y o u t h S c i e n c e T o u r t h a t w a s i ny , w a t ch i n g s o m e o f t h eC e r n a n t o l d t h e m t h a t ,J a c k h a s p i ck e d u p a v e r y s i gn i f ic a n t. . . co m p o s e d o f m a n y f ra g m e n t s , o fa n y s iz e s a n d m a n y s h a p e s , p r o b a b ly

a l l p a r t s o f t h e M o o n , p r o b a b ly b il -f yea r s o ld . B u t a r o ck o f a l l s i z esa p e s , . . . a n d e v e n c o l o r s , th a tg ro w n t o g e t h e r to b e c o m e a c o -c k o u t la s t i n g th e n a t u r e o fr t o f l iv i n g t o g e t h e r i n a v e r ya n n e r . . . w e ' da r e a p i e c e o f t h i s r o c k w i th s oa n y o f t h e c o u n t r ie s t h r o u g h o u t t h ed . W e h o p e t h a t t h is w i ll b e a s y m b o lu r f e e l i n g s a r e . . . . ..A n d S ch m i tt a d d e d t h a t p o r ti o n s o fw i ll be s e n t to m u s e u m s o rf t h e c o u n t r ie sb y th e y o u n g p e o p l e i nT h e n C o m m a n d e r C e r n a n a ga i n ,k in g f o r A p o l l o 1 7 a n d a l l t h e A p o l loi s s i o n s t h a t c a m e b e f o r e : " W e 'd l i ke

f o u r s p a c e c r a f t. . . I' ll r e a dy s . . . 'H e r e m a np l e t e d h i s f i r s t e x p lo r a t i o n o f t h eb e r 1972 A . D . Ma y th et o f p e a c e i n w h i c h w e c a m e b ee c t e d i n t h e l i v e s o f a l l m a n k i n d . '

I t w a s a s e r i o u s m o m e n t , b u t it w a s n ' tt he f i na le o f t he sp ec tac le . Tha t f ina lew o u l d h a v e b e e n t h e l a s t r o u t in e c h e c k sb e f o r e b o a r d i n g t h e l u n a r m o d u l e . B u tC a p c o m h a d s o m e f in a l w o rd s a b o u t t h el u n a r s u r f a c e g ra v i m e t e r e x p e r im e n t ,wh ich s t i ll wasn ' t wo r k ing ; t he s c ien t i s t sw a n t e d t o m a k e o n e m o r e t ry .S o C a p c o m t o ld S c h m i tt "T a p s h a r p l yon t he g im ba l w it h t he UHT (Un ive r sa lH a n d l in g T o o l ) a n d t h e n r e v e r i fy t h eleve lS c h m i t t: "Y o u m e a n t a p o n t h e t h i n gt h a t s w i n gs ?"C a p c o m : "T h a t ' s w h a t t h e y s a y . "S c h m i tt : "Y o u a l w a ys w a n t e d t o d otha t , d i dn ' t y ou? "C a p c o m : "Y e a h , t h a t 's r i g h t. "

S c h m i tt : " H o w m u c h i s s h a r p l y? "C ap com : "Sha r p ly i s sha r p ly . I t ' sp r o bab ly no t hea v i l y , bu t sha r p ly . F a i r l yl ight , but sharp ly . "Schm i t t: "O kay , he r e i t g oes . I d i d I tt h a t w a s s o r t o f a m o d e r a t e t a p . "C a p c o m : "G o a h e a d a n d h i t i t h a r d e r . "Schm i t t: "O kay . O kay ? I can h i t i th a r d e r ye t ."T h a t d i d n ' t d o i t , a n d S c h m i tt w a sr e l e a s e d t o w o r k o n o t h e r t a s k s . B u t af e w m i n u t e s l a t e r , b a c k c a m e C a p c o m ,w i th m o r e i n s t r u c ti o n s . " W e ' d l i k e t or e t u r n t o t h e s u r f a c e g ra v i m e t e r , J a c kw e ' d l ik e y o u t o r a p e v e n m o r es h a r p l y, m o r e s t r o n g ly o n t h e g i m b a la n o t h e r t h r e e t im e s . "Schm i t t: "O kay , B ob . Her e com e ther a p s . A b o u t t h r e e t i m e s . O k a y. "C a p c o m : " O ka y , J a c k , th a t ' s r e a l lyf igh t i ng i t p r e t t y ha r d . "A n d s t i ll th e r e w e r e n o m e a s u r a b l er e s u l t s . A n d , a f t e r m o r e t a l k a n d t a s k s ,C a p c o m f in a l l y c lo s e d o u t t h e e x p e r im e n ta t t em p t : "O kay , Jack , we ' r e r ea dy t ol e a v e t h e A L SEP. "" I h a t e t o d o t h a t , B o b . I' m s o r r y a b o u tt h i s g r a v i m e t e r , " s a i d S c h m i t t .A n d C a p c o m r e s p o n d e d , " W e l l, yo u ' r en o t t h e o n l y o n e . . . t h e r e ' s a w h o l er o o m f u l l o f p e o p l e t h a t a r e s o r r y. "

Fo r t h e l a s t t im e , t h e y c lo s e d o u t th ec h e c k li s t , m o v e d t h e s a m p l e b a g s in t ot h e l u n a r m o d u l e , a n d p r e p a r e d f o r t h el a s t s te p s u p t h e l a d d e r ."O kay , y ou g uy s , sa y f a r ewe l l t o t heM o o n , " s a i d C a p c o m , a n d C e r n a nans wer ed , "B ob , t h i s is Gene , and I 'mo n t h e s u r f a c e . . . a s w e l e a v e t h eM o o n a t T a u r u s - Li tt r o w , w e l e a v e a s w ecam e, and , God w i ll ing , we sha l l r e tu r n ,w it h p e a c e a n d h o p e f o r a ll m a n k in d . "

Astronaut Schmi t t a t the lunar rover wi th SouthMassi f in the background.

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Ascent From Taurus-Littrow The nea r l y f u ll Moon looms serene ly in t heb lack sky for the crew o f Apol lo 17.

S

T h e m i s s io n o p e r a t io n s c o n t r o l r o o mi s a g a in c r o w d e d , i n c o n t r a s t to m u c h o ft h e f li gh t w h e n m a n y o f t h e c o n t r o l a n dm o n i t o r in g p o s i t i o n s a r e n o t n e e d e d . B u tn o w p e r h a p s f i ft y s p e c i a li s t s s it a tc o n s o l e s o n w h i c h a r e d i s p la y e dte lev is ion p res en ta t ions o f d a ta , cu rves ,p ic tu res . On the ed g es a re am be r l ig h tsi n a m a t r ix , w i t h a n o c c a s i o n a l o n eb l in k ing on and o f f . On the w a l l ahead ,t h e r e a r e t h r e e l a r g e p a n e l s . T h e l e f ts h o w s c o l u m n s o f p r i n t e d p a r a m e t e r sf o r th e a s c e n t . O n t h e c e n t e r p a n e l a r ef o u r g ra p h s , s h o w i n g p r e c o m p u t e dc u r v e s o f p e r fo r m a n c e f o r t h e a s c e n tpha se . On the r ig h t , the p ro jec tedt e le v i s io n p i c t u r e f r o m t h e s u r f a c e s h o w sm o m e n t a r i ly , th e n i s r e p l a c e d b y a n o t h e rchart .

C o m m u n i c a t io n s a r e e s t a b l i s h e db e t w e e n t h e s u r f a c e o f th e M o o n , t h eo r b i t in g m o d u le , a n d th e c o m m u n i c a t o ri n th e m i s s io n o p e r a t io n s c o n t r o l r o o m .T he re i s a p re - l i ft o f f go - no - g o chec k int h e r o o m , w i t h t h e v o i c e o f f l ig h t c o n t r o lq u e r y in g e a c h m a j o r de s k i n t u r n a n dg e t ti n g t h e s h a r p , " G o !" f r o m e a c h .Now the room is qu ie t , and thec o n t r o l le r ' s v o ic e c o m e s o n a g a i n ." M a k e y o u r tr a n s m i s s io n s n i c e a n d s l o w ,g uys . L e t ' s keep i t ve ry coo l . " An d the rei s a q u i e t a s s e n t a m o n g t h e d e s k s .O n t h e l u n a r s u r f a c e , C e r n a n a n dS c h m i tt h a v e c o m p l e t e d th e i r p r e p a r a -t io n s f o r t h e a s c e n t i n t o l u n a r o r b i t a n dt he rendezv ous w i th E vans i n t hec o m m a n d /s e r vi c e m o d u le . T h e yp ressu r iz e the luna r m od u le , and s ta r tt h e l a s t c h e c k l is t o f a c t i o n s b e f o r e t h ef ina l coun td ow n to ig n i ti on . Ce rnan te l l sw h a t h e i s g o i n g t o d o In t h o s e l a s ts e c o n d s , a n d S c h m i tt a c k n o w l e dg e s .C e r n a n ' s vo i c e c o m e s o n , c o u n t s d o w nt h e l a s t s e c o n d s . T h e w a t c h i n g a u d i e n c ein the v iew ing a rea see s , on te lev is ionsc reens , the sp id e ry - look ing luna rm od u le s tand ing d eso la te and lone ly ont h e s u r f a c e . T h e n t h e r e i s a b u r s t o fa c t i o n ; p a r ti c le s b l a s t a w a y f r o m t h einv is ib le f lam e o f the asce n t eng ine , andt h e u p p e r s t a g e o f t h e l u n a r m o d u led e t a c h e s s m o o t h l y a n d l i ft s i n t o t h e l u n a rheavens.S tead i ly , sm oo th ly , rap id ly i t r ises ,red uc ing in to a ba re ly recog n iz ab leg e o m e t r ic s o l i d , a n d t h e n t o a g lo w o fl ig h t in the b lack ness . A c ross thete lev is ion sc ree ns i t moves , o f f the low e rle f t -han d co rne r . T h e re i s a co l le c t ivei n t a k e o f b r e a t h b y t h o s e w a t c h i n g .

T h e n t h e d a t a p o i n t s a n d c o m m u n i c a t io n sc o m e r a p id ly .A c r o s s t h e p r o j e c t e d im a g e s a t t h ef r o n t o f t h e c o n t r o l r o o m , r e d a n d w h i t ed a t a p o i n t s m a r c h i n o r d e r ly l i n e s , e a s i n ga round the p re d raw n cu rves , a ligned w i thy e l lo w c u r v e s o n y e l lo w g r id s . T h e yc r o w d i n a l m o s t p e r f e c t a g r e e m e n t w i t hthe com pu ted d a ta , and the vo icesb e t w e e n g r o u n d a n d t h e a s c e n t s t a g ec o n t i n u e t o c o n f i r m t h a t a l l is g o i n g w e l l.S low ly the d a ta po in ts m ove a long ,s l o w l y a p p r o a c h i n g t h e e n d s o f t h e l i n e sa n d t h e a t ta i n m e n t o f l u n a r o r b i t . T h i s i sc r i ti c a l n o w ; t h e a s c e n t s t a g e m u s t o r b i tw i th in c lose ly d e f ined d imens ions tor e n d e z vo u s w i t h th e c o m m a n d /s e r v ic e m o d u l e in t h e i n k y r e a c h e s o fspace.A n d n o w t h e y r e a c h t h e e n d s o f t h el ines , and the red and w h i te c i rc les an dcrosse s h id e the nom ina l va lues f igu redea r l i e r as d a tum l ines . Ce rnan 's vo icec a l l s o f f th e o r b i ta l p a r a m e t e r s f r o m h i so n - b o a r d c o m p u t e r , a n d t h e c o n t r o lvo ice a f f irm s . T hey a re in luna r o rb i t .S o m e o n e i n t h e c o n t r o l r o o m s t a r t s t oapp laud . Eve ryone j o ins in a co l le c t iveg es tu re o f re l i e f , p r id e , j oy , en thus iasm.

An d they f i le ou t , i n tw os an d th rees , ast h e v o i c e s c o n t in u e t o a f f ir m t h e o r b i t ,t o d iscu ss t he adv i sab i li ty o f " tw ea k i ng"i t f o r m o r e p r e c i s e a l i gn m e n t o f t h e t w os p a c e c r a f t , a n d to w o r k o n f ix in g o ri m p r o v i n g t h e c o m m u n i c a t io n s w h i c ha r e g iv in g s o m e m i n o r p r o b l e m s .B u t th e m a j o r t a s k h a s b e e n d o n e .T h e M o o n i s b e l o w n o w a n d t h e y a r ewa i t ing fo r t he rendezv ous .T h e t e l e v is i o n c a m e r a m o u n t e d o n t h eluna r rove r sca ns the luna r su r face , s t i lli n a w id e - ang le se t t ing f rom t rack ingthe asce n t . T he re , appa ren t l y fa r o f f,s t a n d s t h e d e s c e n t s t a g e o f t h e l u n a rm od u le , a lone now , i t s task d one . T hec a m e r a z o o m s i n f o r a c l o s e r l o o k a t th em e ta l l ic sp id e r in p red a to ry po se , i tsg o ld en leg s g l is ten ing in the s t rong pa lel ig h t. T h e c a m e r a h o l d s o n t h e m o d u lef o r a m o m e n t , a n d th e n c u t s o f f . T h es c r e e n i s r i b b e d w i th b r i g h t b a n d s o fc o l o r , a n d t h e M o o n ' s s u r f a c e a n d t h elone ly m od u le a re b lo t ted from s ig h t .Ac olor te levis ion moni tor in Mission Contro lrecords the instant of l i f t-off as Challenger'sascen t stage begins the f i rst leg of Apol lo 17 'st r ip back to Earth.

2 0


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24/36

Challengers ascent stage is the rendezvoustarget as Ron Evans eases the command/service module through the docking maneuver.Astronaut Cernan's face is seen in triangularrendezvous and docking window on the rightof the LM,

22


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And now in lunar orbit, Challenger andtoward each other for the

ptical orbit around the M oon, closingum distance of 88.7 kilometers

Challenger saw A merica first, at about

t together for the final

Challenger, behind America, closederica, said: "I just started picking you

Soon after, both spacecraft movedonitorsarth, Challenger's ascent eng ine

odule. Then out of thee, checking in with"I can see your thrusters firing now,More exchanges of closing data, and

you look pretty."Then slowly, slowly the two vehiclesance between them , Evansproblems."

looking good.. . must be a cou pleThe first touching placed the two

latching and locking accomplished.There were some m inutes of maneuver-ing, backing off, recapture and thenChallenger spoke: "Okay . . . here hecomes. Bang, two good old barber poles!Okay, Houston, we're hard docked."The barber poles, indicators on thecomm and panels of Challenger,showed the latching. Challenger andAmerica once again were a singlespacecraft in lunar orbit.Evans removed the probe and drogueassemblies and passed them through theairlock to Cernan and Schmitt, alongwith a vacuum cleaner and a l ist of theitems that needed to be transferred fromChallenger to the comm and module.Emptied, Challenger's ascent stage w assealed off from the comm and module andthe three astronauts were back together

in the command module for another dayof work in lunar orbit before the start ofthe long voyage homeward."Don't let us bother you, Ro n," saidone of the returning astronauts. "Youjust go about and do w hatever you wantto do. W e'l l just get clean for the nextthree days."Then the Challenger ascent stage wasseparated and, behind the Moon, nudgedinto a trajectory that would take it dow nto do its last job: crash on the Moon toget one more set of data points on theseismic instrumentation.

A good view of the Scientific Instrument Modulebay is seen as the command/service moduleAmerica maneuvers near C hallengersascent stage prior to docking.

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Turning TowardThe P lanet Earth

"Bob, that's the m ost beautiful crescentEarth I 've ever seen," radioed one ofthe astronauts just before the end oftheir 67th revolution around the M oon.They were nearing the end of the longexploratory work that had begun withtheir f irst visual sightings of the lunarsurface, expanded through the work onthe surface by Cernan and Schmitt, andcontinued with visual observations ofthe Moon during the orbits after ascentand rendezvous.That phase w as to continue for onlyeight more turns around the Moon, andthen the trans-Earth injection burn wouldbe done, in the shadow of the Moon,after the 75th revolution. As theyemerged from behind the Moon,theywould be headed back toward E arthand splashdown in the Pacific.Now the last data were sent to updatecomputers for the burn. "Okay, Jack,here's the numbers you've been waitingfor," said Capcom. "TEl rev 75 SPS /G&N36 372 plus 063 plus 086. Noun 3 3 is236 420 8 35 plus 30398 m inus 01850......The signals went on in lengthyprocession, and soon after, the space-craft moved behind the Moon and signalwas lost.The times of signal loss always makefor tension. The success or failure ofoperations done behind the Moon neveris known until the spacecraft returnsto the near side and radio contact canbe re-established.There was an expected dividend onthis flight; it was to be only the secondtime that television from an Apollospacecraft could show pictures of thefar side of the Moon. The reason was thatthe burn on the far side would propelthe spacecraft into a higher altitude,enabling contact with the Earth to beestablished earlier than usual. Then theon-board television camera couldtransmit pictures of portions of thefar side.The first signals from the returningAmerica came via the 64-meter (210-foot)diameter antenna at G oldstone, Cali-fornia, and they were fol lowed almostimmediately by pictures of the far side,showing the crater Tsiolkovski. "Houston,do you read Am erica?" queried thespacecraft, and, after Houston affirmedit, Commander C ernan said, "Americahas found som e fair winds and fol lowingseas, and we're on our way home."

But even on that leg of the trip thework continued, with visual observationsof the Moon. Schmitt reviewed som e ofthe results:we have pretty good evidence asa result of the Apollo program that.basalt f lows . . . some three to fourbil lion years ago erupted on the Moonand fi l led ma ny of the lower areas thatexisted at the time. Not an awful lot hashappened to the Moon except for theimpact craters, some of the youngeronessince three bil lion years ago,which is one of the reasons it becomes

The Eratosthenes Crater and the southerntip of the Apennine range are seen below thelunar module.

so interesting to man. . . . The Moon'sfrozen in a period of history three billionyears and older, which is a period ofhistory w e cannot recognize very readilyon Earth because of the dynam icprocesses of m ountain building andoceans and weathering that are takingplace even at the present time. Under-standing that early history of the Moonmay mean an understanding of the earlyhistory of the Earth. And I think we'rewell on our way to a first-order under-standing of that history as a result ofthe program."

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27/36

ph

n from lunar orbit by Astronaut

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28/36

Return, Re-entry And Recovery

The trip home was as routine as anytrip back from the Moon could be. Therewas the excitement of Astronaut RonEvans' excursion outside the comma ndmodu le to retrieve the fi lm cassettesfrom the instrume nt bay in the servicemodule, and his euphoric commentsduring that spectacular space walk. Hegot the fi lm a nd returned it, and hecomm ented on the view, the externalcondit ion of the spacecraft, spoke to h istwo children, sang, and gen erallybehaved as others have who p ersonallyencounter space, freed of the shacklesof a confining spacecraft.The final test of the spacecraft and itssystems cam e during the last minutes ofthe fl ight and the blazing re-entry throughthe Earth's atmosphere. The comm andand service modules separated, andCernan maneuvered the commandmodu le to position it for the re-entry, i tsheat shield facing into the direction off l ight. And abou t 304 ho urs after thespacecra ft had l ifted off the pad at C apeKennedy, i t slammed into the Earth'satmosphe re, in a streaming, f laming divetoward the su rface. Behind i t trai led thetongues of f lame from the instantcombu stion and ionization of the heat-shield material.Then there was loss of radio contact,as the spacecraft plunged into theblackout zone, where the ionization fromthe burning he at shield hides all radiotransmission. After a long and agonizingthree minutes, voice contact camethrough again and then the atmospherebegan to slow the craft, the drag forcepressing the astronauts into theircontoured seats with more than six t imestheir normal weight.Then there was the welcome suddendeceleration as the three drogue para-chutes streamed behind the spacecraft,slowing it further. And, less than a minutelater, the three m ain braking parachutesstreamed, and blossomed behind andthen above the descending commandmodule. Down i t came, dropping s lowlytoward the calm b lue Pacif ic, andsplashed dow n into the pattern of three-foot waves within sight of the recoveryship.Cernan, Evans and Schm itt were backhome, back home on E arth, back homeon a sm all b lue wor ld in a dark corner ofthe galaxy.

Ron Evans retrieving exposed film and tapecassettes from the open bay in the side of theservice module during a "spacewalk' on thereturn trip to Earth.

Recovery helicopter uses its rescue sling tolift the astronauts from the life raft next to thefloating Apollo command module. U SSTiconderoga, the recovery carrier, lies in thebackground.

26


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30/36

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Science Results

The fl ight phase of the A pollo programnow is over; but the scientific analysisof i ts data has hardly begun. For m onthsand years to come, the measurementsfrom Apollo 17 and i ts predecessormissions wil l continue to p rovide basesfor understanding and argum ent aboutthe Moon, the E arth, and their veryancient histories.For science moves del iberatelysom emight say slowlyto analyze data takenduring experiments. The sheer volumeof dataalready measured in the tens ofbil lions of data pointsp recludes anyrapid results. Further, some of theexperiments that were emplaced on theMoon are designed for long-term ex-posure and a re intended to return rawdata for several years.But there a re prel iminary results fromsome of the tests. The lunar seismicprofi ling experiment, for ex ample, whichuses explosive charges to explore theinterior of the Moon, already has notedthe impulse of the lunar module ascentengine f ir ing, and the impact of the spentmodule after i t impacted back on theMoon. T he sma ll explosive charges lefton the surface were detonated after theastronauts had returned to lunar orbit,and showed that the sub-surface struc-ture of the Apollo 17 site was definitelydifferent from that of either Apollo15 or 16.That lunar modu le impact, plus themuch earl ier impact of the spent SaturnS-IVB stage, registered on the passiveseismology experiment previouslydeployed on the Moon. And these twoshocks, which doubled the amount ofprevious data, have shown the possibilitythat the Moon 's crust is considerablythinner than the 60 kilometers (37.2miles) earlier postulated. It's possible,said one scientist, that the thickness isonly 25 ki lometers. But there was promptdisagreement from another scientist,and the final results are yet to come.The heat f low from the lunar crustappears to co nfirm the results of Apollo15, which surprised the scientists withits high value. What this means is thatthe interior of the Moon may be w armerthan expected, and this in turn hints atlarge quantities of radioactive m aterialsin the lunar structure. There appearsto be a much higher concentration ofthose materials on the Moon than there ison the E arth, leading to further argu-

ments against the theory that the Moonwas torn from the mass of the Earth.First results from the lunar traversegravimeter show that there is a high-density material fil l ing the valley betweenthe North and South Massifs, with greaterthickness than expected. The implica-tion, then, is that the valley originally wasa very deep one, prior to its floodingfrom the Mare Serenitatis.Geological ly, there wa s a feel ing thateverything planned had been accom-plished. The surface samples, thedetai led documentation and o bservationof large boulders and surface features,and the visual descriptions of the surfaceby the astronauts during their EVA andorbital times, added immeasurably toman's knowledge of the Moon.The orbital science experiments,oriented toward geophysics in contrastto earl ier missions that concentrated ongeochemistry, worked to near-perfect ion.Five continuous revolutions' worth ofdata were o btained by the laser alt imeter,which added to alt i tude profi le data,and the c ontinuity of the data wil l helprecover gravity information as well.The panoramic and mapping cameras,which recorded the lunar surface onseveral miles of f i lm, should p roduce thebest series of maps yet developed forthe Moon.

The lunar sounder, designed to probethe depths of the M oon w ith electro-magnetic signals, acquired that dataalong a 49,000-kilometer (38,000-mile)track and returned more than 5 00 mil l ionsoundings. Al l of that data was recordedon fi lm, and wil l have to be processedand analyzed after the return to Earth.The infra-red scanning radiometerproduced coverage of abou t one-third ofthe surface area of the M oon, and madeabout 100 m i ll ion independent temp era-ture measurements, during both dayand night on the Moon. These points,which wil l produce thermal maps of theMoon, w ill lead to a new technique forexploration of planetary surfaces thatlack an atmosphere.The ultraviolet spectrometer experi-ment, whose prime function was tomeasure the lunar atmosphere, wasunable to detect evidence of any m ajoror even minor consti tuents of thatatmosphere. In fact, al l i t recorded w asone trace component of the lunaratmosphe re. Said the principal investiga-

tor of that experiment, "What's behindus is the rather startling discovery thatthe Moon simply is not de-gassing; i t hasnothing left in terms of an ything thatwould create an atmosphere."A panoramic view of the ALSEP site takenduring EVA 1. Seen are the gnomon andgeophones in the left foreground, with themain science station further away. The NorthMassif is in the background.

Taken during EVA 3, this photograph shows thedeployed ALSEP (Apollo Lunar SurfaceExperiment Package). The Lunar SurfaceGravimeter is in the foreground and theSculptured Hills are in the background.

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-_._-_1p.,i-.,.....-,..-,. i- - -.._3'. .- --.- -.-..--,-

Astronauts

Cernan, Evans and Schmi t t, the crewof Apollo 17, we re as typical or untypicalas any other astronaut crew. In theirlate thirties, al l three had long experiencein their special t ies. Cernan a nd Eva nswere from the Navy, and had been pi lots;both had engineering degrees. Schmittwas the first professional scientist togo on a space m ission, being a hard-rockgeologist.Eugene A. Cernan , born in Chicagoin 1934, was an engineering graduate inElectrical Engineering from PurdueUniversi ty, and holds a mas ter of sciencedegree in Ae ronautical Engineering fromthe U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.He was commissioned in the Navythrough the RO TC program at Purdue,entered f l ight training just after gradua -t ion, and has since logged more than3,800 hours of f l ight t ime. He is a Na vyCaptain, and w as one of the third groupof astronauts, selected in October 1963.Space fl ight is not new to Cernan. Heshared the G emini 9 mission as co-pi lot tocomm and pi lot Thom as P. Stafford, andcompleted a two-hour space walk out-side that spacecraft . He was lunar m odulepilot for the Apollo 10 mission, thedress rehe arsal for al l that came after,and f lew that spac ecraft to within 14.8ki lometers (8 nautical mi les) of theMoon's surface. On Apol lo 17, he wascrew commander.Ronald E. Evans was born in St.Francis, Kansas, in 1933. His trainingincluded a bachelor of science de-gree in Electrical Engineering from theUniversi ty of Kansas, and a ma ster ofscience degree in Aerona utical Engineer-ing from the U.S. Naval PostgraduateSchool. Commissioned after ROTC atthe Universi ty of Kansas, he f lew nava laircraft in tours of duty o n carriers. WhenNAS A noti f ied him of his select ion as a nastronaut in April 1966, he w as servingin the Pacif ic aboard the U SS Ticonde r-oga, the same ca rrier that was to becom ethe recovery ship for the astronauts ofApol lo 17 more than six years later.This flight is his first into space; but hehas been a backup and suppor t crewmember on earl ier Apol lo missions. Hewas Apol lo 17 command module pi lot.Harr ison H. Schm itt was born in SantaRita, New Mexico, in 1935, the son of amining geologist. His undergraduatework wa s done at Cali fornia Insti tute ofTechnology, and after post-graduate

studies at the University of O slo inNorway, he received his doctorate ingeology from Harvard U niversi ty.He wa s selected as an astronaut byNASA in June 1965 a nd went throughmore than a year of f l ight training tolearn the piloting skills necessary to themission. With more than 1665 hoursf lying t ime logged, Schm itt was selectedas the lunar m odule pi lot for the Ap ollo17 trip.

.

Eugene A. Cernan, Captain, U.S. NavyRonald E. Evans, Captain, U.S. NavyHarrison H Schmitt, PhD.

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he Next Steps In Space

Apol lo 17 has been cal led an end anda beginning. Mo re accurately, i t is animportant way-po int in the explorationof space by manned and unmannedspacecraft. Apol lo 17 was the last ofthe mann ed A pollo missions; but i t is farfrom being the last manned space f l ighteffort.At this mom ent, the f irst of the Skylaborbital workshops and its launch vehicleare standing assem bled in the hugeVehicle Assembly Building (VAB) atNASA's Kennedy Space C enter. Dueto be launched in m id 1973, theSkylabs wil l be used for a wide rangeof scienti fic and m edical experiments,a imed pr imari ly at understanding the re-quirements for long-term stays in space.In Skylab, the f irst emphasis w il l beproperly placed on a series of med icalexperiments to determine how wel lman ca n adapt to the condit ions of long-term exposure to the p ecul iar charac-teristics of space. A ddit ional ly, a numb erof solar astronomy exp eriments wil l beperformed, studying the Sun throughthe uncluttered distance between an on-board telescope and o ur primary star.Potential ly the m ost valuable of theSkylab experiments, in their possibleappl icat ions to the problems of everydayl ife, are a s eries of Earth surveys tha twi l l be ma de. Obs ervations of the Earth,from Skylab heights, wil l continue toyield more of the kind o f informationthat can be useful at ground level.Skylab draws on both the expertiseand the hardware of the Ap ol lo program.The Saturn V booster wil l place inorbit the workshop cluster, a structureconsisting o f the w orkshop itself,modif ied from a Saturn S-IVB stage,the Apol lo telescope mo unt, an airlockand a docking adapter. This clusterweighing 82,237 kilograms (181,300pounds) and spann ing 35.97 meters (118feet)wil l be orbited at a height of435 ki lometers (235 nautical miles) in anearly-circular path inclined at 50degrees to the Earth 's polar axis .About a d ay after the launch of theworkshop cluster, the f i rst mannedf l ightSkylab 2 wil l be launched.Lifted into orbit by a S aturn lB booster,the three-man crew wil l make the tripto their orbital home in a mo dif iedApol lo comma nd/service module.They wi l l rendezvous an d dock, and enterthe workshop for a t ime period of 28days to conduct the p lanned programs of

experimentation.Their laboratory wil l give them con-siderably more room to move aroundthan the Apo l lo astronauts enjoyed. Thetotal work volume o f the Skylab workshopcluster is 316.45 cubic meters (12,673cubic feet) which is about the size of afour-bedroom house.At the end of their 28-day stay, thecrew wi l l ready the workshop for a two-month dorm ant period. They wil l thenenter the command / service module,separate from the cluster, and returnto Earth.After two months, the second crew wil lmake its journey to the work-shop, this t ime for a stay of 56 days.But, having studied most of the medicalproblems in the earlier stay, this timeperiod wil l concentrate on the solar as-tronomy and Earth resources experiments.Skylab 4, the last of the plannedprogramm ed launches, wil l go aloft abouta month a fter the com pletion of thesecond m ission, and w il l also stay in orbitfor 56 days. Ea rth resources wi l l receivethe major share of the attention onthis trip.You can se e the evolut ion of the spaceprogram by studying the progress madefrom the early days of the one-manMercury f l ights. A program as daring asthe introduct ion of man into space m ust,of nece ssity, start at the f i rst step. An dso the first Mercury flights loftedastronauts into ba l l ist ic trajectoriesabove the E arth to check init ial problemsand reactions to mann ed space f l ight.Stay t ime was increased a s the orbitaltr ips were added. Two-man Gem initeams explored the concep ts of workingtogether to achieve longer stay t imesand to perform more use ful tasks.Then cam e Apo llo, with i ts long-termEarth orbits with a three-ma n crew.Apol lo 11, as the f i rst lunar landing,proved that the trip could be m ade safely.Apol lo 12 p roved that lunar landingscould be mad e precisely. Later Apol lomissions proved the usefulness of manas an exp lorer and scientist in spaceas he was on Earth.Then ca me Skylab, the logical nextstep, with i ts extended stay t imes in spaceand the opportunity to study Earthover extended periods. It 's too early topredict, but the Skylab work m ayprove to be the most valuable spaceexperiments ever und ertaken, in termsof direct appl ications to everyday

problems on Earth.Beyond S ky lab there are two programsof extreme interest. The f i rst is thejoint Apol lo-Soyuz test program, to bethe first international space effort.Ame rican astronauts, in an Apol lo space-craft, will rendezvous, dock, and visitan orbi t ing S oyuz. In turn, Soyuz crew-men w il l pass through the dockingmodu le and return the visit to the Apol lo.The target date for the launch isJuly 15, 1975.There is a deep and serious purposebehind this f i rst planned exper imentwith Apol lo and Soyuz. The f irst fl ightwill test the designs, the ability to worktogether, and the abi l i ty to com muni-cate and con trol a joint program . Laterspacecraft of both na tions wil l bedesigned so that they can rendezvousand dock with each other and w ith theirspace s tat ions in an extension of thatfirst cooperative joining in space.Final ly, the real bene fi ts of spa ceappea r to be achievable only i f someeconom ical means of gett ing to and fromorbit can be establ ished. I t is, at themome nt, costly to use a huge launchvehicle to loft one spacecraft into spaceonly to soon be discarde d in a f lamingplunge back into the Earth's atmosphere.One a nswer is the space shutt le, anairplane-l ike orbiter roug hly the size of acontemporary twin- jet airl iner. Strap-onsol id propel lant rockets wil l launchthe shu ttle init ially, and its own p ropul-sion system wil l take over as thesecond stage.The spa cious design of the shut t lewil l provide an enormo us amou nt ofspaceequivalent to the passengercabin volume of today's four-engined jetair transportsin which payloads canbe carried to and from space. Imaginethe convenience of carrying a completescientific satellite, plus the crew toma intain i t, to an orbit where i t can beparked an d watched. O r the abi l ity toretrieve an important satel l i te com muni-cation l ink, and replace some crit icalcomp onent wh ose l i fe is limited by t ime.The s huttle, after its trip into orbit,can l i terally f ly back to E arth, making aconventional landing at an airstrip.Two we eks later it can be ready foranother trip.The payoff here l ies in two areas:first, the convenience of the shuttle ingett ing to and from sp ace eas i ly andeconomical ly; second, in the econom ics

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V\ . . \

e. To take a pound of

l itt le as $160 perTo put that into perspective, you can

ercial air l inesfor abou t $10our weight.The space shutt le econom ics manot ever permit fares l ike thae wil l provide the only way to ms of spa ce readi ly and ichard

es of Am ericans and al l people.will conduct space science, me d

The space shuttle, a re-usable vehicle for travelfrom Earth to orbit and back again, promises toincrease the benefits of space research w hilelowering the costs of operations.


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Apollo 17ime of major flight events Epilogue1972Launch at Kennedy Space Center2:33 am., December 7 ". .. i f ever there was a fragile-appearing piece of blue in space, it'sSpacecraft enters lunar orbit:48 p.m., December 10 the Earth right now."

When much else has been forgottenLunar module lands at Taurus-Littrow:55 p.m., December 11 about the Ap ollo program, people willremember the astronauts' descriptions ofLiftoff from Moo n:55 p.m., December 14 their views of the Earth from space,Trans-Ea rth inject ion:35 p.m., December 16 a small, blue, lonesome sphere sailingthrough a dark galaxy. I t was the mannedSplashdown:24 p.m., December 17 spaceflight program that first gavepeople an awaren ess of just how smalland finite and limited are the resou rcesof spaceship Earth.Apollo 17VA on Moon The problems were defined more1972 clearly and mo re tellingly than everbefore. Manned space flights awakeneda worldwide consciousness that Earth,our hom e, was all we had to shareStart Duration Distance Rocks among bill ions of people of all colors anddriven with collected all philosophies. It underlined the fragil-LR V ity of this tiny blue sphere, the pitifullyFirst EVA:55 p.m. 7 hr. 12 mm. 4.4 km. (3 nmi.) 13 kg. (29 lb.) amounts of water and rainfall, snowDec. 11 pampas, broad steppes, hillside farmsSecond EVA 6:17 p.m. 7 hr. 37 mm. 20 km. (12 nmi.) 36 kg. (80 lb.) and rice paddies.Dec. 12 But Apo llo did mo re than define theThird EV A:23 p.m. 7 hr. 17 mm. 11.6 km. (6 nmi.) 66 kg.(145 lb.) problem. It began to suggest solutions.Dec 13 With men as trained observers in space,people could watch over their ownspaceship, could see the fouling of itsNote: All times Eastern Standard. water and the loss of its green lands,and could begin to plan solutions.Sensitive instrumen ts, cameras, spec-trometers, human eyes could see whatneeded to be done, and send back thecoordinates of trouble.It has been said that you can't beginto understand a problem until you canlook at it from a distance. The Apolloprogram, and the m anned space f lightsthat will surely follow, place mank indat that needed distance so that he canponder solutions to his problems.So it is interesting that scientists willbetter understand the o rigins of theMoon, and therefore, of the Earth.But it is vital that man finally has seenhis home from the de pths of space,and ha s understood , after all, how frailan abo de it really is.

Earth, the frail blue planet, as seen from thereturning Apollo 17.

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