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Wake-up and Preparations for EVA-2 Climbing Cone Ridge

 

On the Way to Cone Ridge: Geology Station A

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 1995 by Eric M. Jones.
All rights reserved.
Scan credits in the Image Library.
Video credits in the Video Library.
Except where noted, MP3 audio clips by Thomas Schwagmeier and video clips by Ken Glover.
Last revised 12 May 2021.

 

[Brian McInall has produced a planimetric map of both EVAs using LRO imagery.]
[Al and Ed have just opened the forward hatch and Al is ready to go out.]
RealVideo Clip (4 min 27 sec)

MP3 Audio Clip (Glover) (38 min 52 sec)

MP3 Audio Clip (Schwagmeier) (1 hr 13 min 12 sec)

131:12:46 Mitchell: Watch the hatch cover. Kick it closed with your knee...I mean the handle cover. (Pause)

[This is probably a cover on the exterior handle.]

[Mitchell - "The handle wasn't a 'T'. It was a regular handle, and I think there was a little cover that came up and hooked over the end of it to hold it in place. And you had to release that cover to operate it. That would prevent you from hooking anything on that handle. I'm not sure that's true, but that picture comes to mind."]

131:12:56 Shepard: Okay. (Pause)

131:13:06 Mitchell: Okay. You're going to have to lean toward me.

131:13:09 Shepard: All right.

131:13:10 Mitchell: You're hung up on the purse. There you go.

131:13:12 Shepard: Coming over your way.

131:13:14 Mitchell: Okay. Okay. Now hold it (that is, "stay still") while I get your hatch...(correcting himself) get your (PLSS/OPS) antenna. Okay. You're Go. Go right on out. (Pause)

131:13:37 Mitchell: Back straight on out. Now you're in good shape.

131:13:44 Shepard: Okay, Houston. Al is on the porch.

131:13:47 Haise: Roger, Al. (Long Pause)

131:14:04 Shepard: Okay. (As per his cuff checklist at 0+10) I'm ready for jettison bag, Ed.

131:14:07 Mitchell: Okay. Let me get my (cuff) checklist open here. (Long Pause)

131:14:32 Shepard: Okay. Got it. (Pause) And it's clear.

131:14:54 Mitchell: Okay. (Long Pause)

[Al has dropped the jett bag over the side porch rail and reports that it will not be in their way.]
131:15:10 Mitchell: Wait a minute. I'll come down and get it (meaning the LEC, which Al will hand in to Ed.)

131:15:12 Shepard: That's all right.

131:15:17 Mitchell: Just hand it to me, I'm right here.

131:15:20 Shepard: Okay.

[Comm Break while Al climbs down the ladder and Ed double-checks the contents of the ETB and gets it ready to go down on the LEC. Al appears to hop down the ladder, rather than step down, letting his hands slide along the rail as he goes from rung to rung. It appears to be an effortless, confident performance.]
RealVideo Clip (3 min 53 sec)

131:17:04 Haise: Okay. We got...

131:17:05 Shepard: Okay, Houston, Al's on the surface.

131:17:06 Haise: Roger, Al. And we got a good picture here, and...

131:17:09 Mitchell: Okay, Al, the LEC (garbled).

131:17:10 Haise: ...we just saw you hop off.

131:17:13 Shepard: Okay.

131:17:16 Mitchell: And the LEC's ready to... (correcting himself) ETB's ready to come down. (Pause)

[Al has gone to the left side of the ladder to get the dangling end of the LEC and then gets in position directly west of the hatch.]
131:17:30 Mitchell: Wait a minute. Let me get a little tension on it (the LEC). Okay.

131:17:35 Shepard: Okay. Coming down. (Long Pause) Okay. Slow it just a sec.

131:17:59 Mitchell: Okay.

[The ETB is now at about helmet height and Al walks in toward the MESA to grab it.]
131:18:02 Shepard: Okay. I've got it.

131:18:06 Mitchell: (Garbled).

131:18:07 Shepard: Let it go.

131:18:09 Mitchell: I'm checking the circuit breakers. (Long Pause)

[Al has gone off-camera to the right to get the MET.]
131:18:59 Mitchell: Okay. Houston, I'm...Ed's ready to egress. (Long Pause)
[Al puts the MET in approximately the same position it was in at the end of the first EVA. He is at 0+21 in his checklist. Ed is also at 0+21 in his own checklist.]
131:19:19 Mitchell: Houston, Ed...

131:19:20 Haise: Roger, Ed. You're cleared to come out.

131:19:26 Mitchell: Okay. (Long Pause)

[Jones - "Was it nice to get out of that confined cabin?"]

[Mitchell - "Oh, yes. We were looking forward to getting out. I remember feeling the tension of wanting to get on with it and wanting to get out and explore, but hating to see the clock tick away. Because it was closer to having to go home. There was a lot of ambivalence there. We couldn't stop the departure, but we would have liked to have slowed time and, yet, at the same time, enjoy being out there."]

131:19:54 Mitchell: And Houston, Ed's on the porch.

131:19:56 Haise: Roger, Ed.

MPG Video Clip ( 45 sec; 7.8 Mb )

131:20:03 Mitchell: Starting down the ladder. (Long Pause)

[Ed hops down the ladder, albeit more slowly than Al did.]
131:20:22 Mitchell: Well, it's nice to be out in the sunny day again.

131:20:25 Shepard: (As Ed jumps off the bottom rung) Yeah, it's a beautiful day here in Fra Mauro Base.

131:20:29 Haise: Sun ought to be a little higher today.

[It has been about 16 hours since the start of the first EVA and the Sun is now about 8 degrees higher in the sky.]
RealVideo Clip (2 min 06 sec)

131:20:35 Shepard: Yup, going on oxygen today.

131:20:40 Mitchell: Beautiful day for a game of golf. (Pause) Okay. (Long Pause as Ed reads his checklist)

[Jones - "'Going on oxygen today'? What does that mean?"]

[Mitchell - "It's a kind of obtuse reference, a play on words. Fred says that the Sun ought to be a little higher in the sky, but Al's interpreting it as a little higher emotionally. And pilots go on 100% oxygen to get a high."]

[Jones - "A pilot's version of glue sniffing?"]

[Mitchell - "Yeah."]

[Jones - "And you were in on the golf conspiracy?"]

[Mitchell - "Yeah. And that's the reference."]

131:21:20 Shepard: Ed, I started to get a picture of home sweet home (meaning Earth) right straight up there.

131:21:25 Mitchell: Yup.

[In the TV, it does not appear that Al tries to take the picture at this time. He will take a series of them at the end of the EVA, at 135:03:42.]
131:21:27 Mitchell: Could you undo my EVA (PLSS/OPS) antenna, please?

131:21:30 Shepard: Okay. (Long Pause as Ed moves in closer to the spacecraft, perhaps to grab the edge of the MESA or one of the ladder support struts so that he can bend down to give Al access to the antenna) Okay, you're now undone.

131:21:46 Mitchell: Okay. I've been undone before.

131:21:52 Shepard: Never like this! (Pause)

[Al seems more playful than he did during much of the first EVA.]
131:22:02 Mitchell: Al?

131:22:03 Shepard: Yeah.

131:22:04 Mitchell: One more problem here. (Is) my gold visor's caught? I can't seem to...(Pause)

131:22:13 Shepard: Okay.

131:22:14 Mitchell: ...pull it down. (Pause)

[The gold-plated visor provides protection against ultraviolet light and can be raised or lowered. It is part of the LEVA or Lunar Extravehicular Visor Assembly. Ed's gold-visor is stuck, possibly because of dust in the hinge or because of interference with the fabric covering on the LEVA. Al is at the MET to install some weigh bags and Ed joins him so that Al can fix the visor. NASA diagram 70-H-1391 shows the stowage/attachment locations of equipment - other than the HTC - on the MET.]
131:22:23 Shepard: Okay.

131:22:25 Mitchell: Good enough. Thank you. Want some help?

131:22:28 Shepard: No, it's okay. All righty.

RealVideo Clip (2 min 27 sec)

131:22:32 Mitchell: Okay, we're all set. (Long Pause as Ed goes to the MESA)

[For the next several minutes, they will transfer equipment from the ETB and the MESA to the MET, as per Ed's checklist at 0+26 and Al's at 0+21.]
131:23:20 Mitchell: (Back at the MET) (I'll) put the two spares (meaning the spare film mags) right up here.

131:23:26 Shepard: Okay.

131:23:28 Mitchell: They'll fit up there okay. (Long Pause as Al goes to the MESA and returns) Watch your foot! Back up. (Pause) Okay.

[Al catches his right foot on one of the cables and, feeling it pull, hops several times on his left foot, with his right foot raised behind him, to keep from pulling the cable any more than he already has. He then lowers his right foot and turns clockwise toward the spacecraft to free his foot and then completes the turn.]
131:24:11 Haise: That's a pretty neat jig there.

131:24:16 Shepard: Yeah. (Long Pause)

[Although Al is standing between Ed and the TV, Ed can be seen going to his knees to pick something up, perhaps the map.]
RealVideo Clip (3 min 21 sec)

131:24:36 Shepard: Okay, while you're down there, pick up the (extension) handle. (Pause) Okay, very good. (Long Pause)

[Jones - "You are actually down on your knees, but you have the MET to hold on to."]

[Mitchell - "Yes; but you had to be very careful of that, though. You'd turn the damn thing over if you tried to use it to get up."]

[Although Al blocks our view of Ed's hands, he is leaning at least a little forward as he grabs the dropped objects. Then, just before he rises, he rotates his torso back until his PLSS is over his lower legs. Once he is up, he kicks his feet forward to get them under his center of mass. He may have used the extension handle to push himself back. Members of the later crews sometimes rose from their hands and knees by pushing hard with their arms to rotate their center of mass up and back so that they could then use their legs to rise. Here, it does not appear that Ed is leaning far enough forward to use his arms to push himself back.]

131:24:57 Mitchell: Be able to read it?

131:25:00 Shepard: Well, I think so, after we...

131:25:02 Mitchell: Clean it off a little.

131:25:05 Shepard: Brush it off, maybe. (Garbled) easy.

131:25:12 Mitchell: Here, you want the brush? (Pause)

131:25:19 Shepard: Get a clean little (lens) brush out of there. (Long Pause)

[They are at the front of the MET, cleaning the map.]
131:26:04 Mitchell: Okay. Let's turn it over. (Long Pause) Little things proceed to eat your timeline up.
[Comm Break]
RealVideo Clip (3 min 56 sec)

131:27:31 Haise: And, Al and Ed, we've got about 10 minutes left now to complete the MET load.

131:27:40 Mitchell: Okay, Fredo. It'll be completed easily in that time.

131:27:46 Haise: Very good. We're going to need all (the time) we can get. (Long Pause)

[The following indicates that Al is at the next-to-last line in the 0+21 paragraph in his checklist and seems to be wondering why Houston wants them to leave the second organic sample out of the EVA-2 SRC.]
131:28:02 Shepard: Okay. In accordance with your desires (at 130:27:47), we are leaving the organic sample out of SRC number 2. Is that correct?

131:28:09 Mitchell: No, no. That isn't the sample he referred to, I don't believe. (They want us to skip the contamination) sample (from) underneath the LM.

[Thomas Schwagmeier suggests that this statement clearly indicates that, sometime before this conversation, Ed thought about what Fred said at 130:27:47 and concluded that Fred meant the contamination sample rather than the organic sample. I agree with Schwagmeier.]
131:28:21 Haise: Stand by, Al.

131:28:24 Shepard: Did you read, Houston? (Pause)

131:28:36 Haise: Okay, Al. The word is: continue as nominal now.

131:28:44 Shepard: Okay.

[Fred is telling them to put the second organic sample in the EVA-2 SRC, as planned.]

[Comm Break]

131:29:48 Mitchell: Son of a gun. One of us is going to jerk that (S-band or TV) cable out yet.

131:29:51 Shepard: Okay. (As per Al's checklist at 0+26) Let's run over the MET stowage. We have the BSLSS (Buddy Secondary Life Support System).

131:29:53 Mitchell: (Garbled).

131:29:56 Shepard: Extension handle; and two pairs of tongs. (Pause) Okay, we have two core-tube-cap assemblies. We have a (100-foot) tether and a gnomon. We have a hammer, we have a small scoop, six core tubes. 35-bag dispenser, trenching tool, a 16-millimeter camera and...May I have that lens brush again please? (Pause)

[In the video clip, Al is on the left and reaches across so Ed can give his the lens brush. Al may have noticed some dust on the DAC.]
131:30:44 Shepard: (As Ed hands him the brush) Okay, thank you. (Long Pause)
[Jones - "There is a reference later on (at 135:10:33) to a 100-foot tether, which sounds like a belaying tether."]

[Mitchell - "Yes. But the tether and gnomon went together (on the same line in Al's checklist), and that bothers me a little bit. Unless they're stowed right in the same place on the MET. We went around and checked things by their location. But I'm pretty sure that's what you'd call the belaying tether."]

RealVideo Clip (3 min 15 sec)

131:31:19 Shepard: Okay. We can load up the (16-mm) mag right here if we want.

131:31:26 Mitchell: Okay, I'll have some mags there in a minute.

131:31:28 Shepard: Okay. (Long Pause) Okay; I got it. Houston, on the sixteen millimeter we're putting magazine Hotel-Hotel.

131:32:12 Haise: Roger, Al; Hotel-Hotel.

131:32:16 Shepard: Roger. (Long Pause) Help you there?

131:32:55 Mitchell: I'm getting it.

131:33:02 Shepard: (Garbled) out yet.

131:33:03 Mitchell: Yeah; there's some more in there. And Houston, the sixteen millimeter mags; I've put Foxtrot-Foxtrot and (pause) G-G, George-George, in the MET storage.

131:33:22 Haise: Roger, Ed.

131:33:23 Mitchell: I'm putting Hasselblad Kilo-Kilo in one of the MET stowage areas.

131:33:36 Haise: Roger. Kilo-Kilo Hasselblad mag.

131:33:42 Mitchell: Yeah. (Long Pause) 131:34:02 Mitchell: Okay, I've got the close-up (Gold) camera turned on. (Is) that all the mags?

131:34:09 Shepard: There's one more Hasselblad back there. (Pause) Okay, the extra sixteen millimeter going in here.

[The Hasselblad magazine is undoubtedly J-J, as Ed mentioned to Houston when they were back in the cabin doing ETB stowage after EVA-1 at 119:50:37. The extra sixteen millimeter mag is probably Delta-Delta, as CapCom Gordon Fullerton mentioned moments earlier at 119:46:55]
RealVideo Clip (3 min 13 sec)

131:34:29 Mitchell: Okay. (Pause)

131:34:36 Shepard: Okay; a sixteen millimeter camera and two and a half magazines; two SESCs (Special Environmental Sample Containers) and an MSSC (Magnetic Shield Sample Container); two 70-millimeter cameras; and one extra magazine, black and white; and we have a partial magazine of color. Close-up camera is turned on. And we need some more weigh bags. (Pause)

131:35:04 Mitchell: Have you gotten the polarizing filter and the TDS (Thermal Degradation Sample) yet, Al?

131:35:11 Shepard: The polarizing filter is already in, and the TDS I'm getting now.

131:35:21 Mitchell: Okay. So it looks like the MET stowage is complete. Let me look at my (cuff check)list; 70-millimeter mags...

131:35:31 Shepard: Negative; we need some more weigh bags.

131:35:34 Haise: Rog, Al and Ed. I show you short the weigh bags, the MESA brush, and a map.

131:35:42 Mitchell: Okay; the MESA brush is there and the map is there.

131:35:46 Haise: Roger.

131:35:47 Shepard: Okay, here we come.

131:35:51 Mitchell: Have to close that. (Long Pause)

131:36:21 Shepard: Okay; the TDS sample is on.

131:36:30 Mitchell: Okay. And we need two weigh bags on. (Pause)

131:36:40 Shepard: That's all the weigh bags we have there.

131:36:43 Mitchell: Pardon?

131:36:44 Shepard: That's all the weigh bags we have there; we have two more in here.

131:36:48 Mitchell: Okay.

131:36:49 Shepard: We'll have a total of four. (Pause)

131:36:54 Mitchell: Why don't (we) stow them on the outside (garbled).

131:36:58 Shepard: Okay; why don't you put this one on the back. (Pause) And I'll put this one down here. (Long Pause)

131:37:34 Shepard: Okay, the MET's loaded, Houston.

RealVideo Clip (3 min 27 sec)

131:37:37 Haise: Roger, Al. The MET's loaded. (Pause)

131:37:47 Shepard: Okay. We'll go to pick up the...

131:37:50 Mitchell: LPM (Lunar Portable Magnetometer) right now.

131:37:51 Shepard: ...LPM; and then, we'll move the television camera after that.

131:37:55 Haise: Okay. We're right about on the timeline.

[Ed is at 0+30 in his checklist.]
131:37:56 Mitchell: Just watch the cables (garbled). Got it.

131:38:01 Shepard: Okay. I got it.

131:38:05 Mitchell: Okay. Watch the cable.

131:38:07 Shepard: I'll go around the S-band. (Long Pause)

[Al moves the MET around the S-band antenna and then around the rear of the LM to a position southeast of the spacecraft while Ed goes around the ladder to the Scientific Equipment (SEQ) Bay, on the southeast face of the Descent Stage, to off-load the Lunar Portable Magnetometer (LPM). Al is also at 0+30 in his checklist.]
131:38:29 Haise: You really look neat there.

131:38:35 Shepard: Say again.

131:38:36 Haise: I said that really looks neat. I can see it (the MET) bouncing a little bit, and your tracks are quite visible (in the TV picture).

131:38:44 Mitchell: It bounces a little. (Pause)

[NASA photo S70-27169 shows Bruce McCandless testing MET stability in the 1/6th-g aircraft.]
131:38:54 Shepard: Okay, up on top of the hill. (Long Pause)
[Al is positioning the MET with the back end pointed in towards the SEQ Bay so they can load the Magnetometer onto the MET.]
131:39:24 Shepard: And we're fairly level, there. (Long Pause)

131:39:46 Mitchell: Okay. The pallet's removed; the (SEQ Bay) thermal cover is replaced. (Long Pause as Ed takes the LPM to the MET)

131:40:02 Shepard: Okay; let's do this slow. (Long Pause)

131:40:20 Mitchell: Okay. It's all yours.

131:40:25 Shepard: Okay. (Pause)

131:40:35 Mitchell: Wait a minute; I'll give you a little more slack. (Need) help there?

131:40:41 Shepard: Got it. (Long Pause)

RealVideo Clip (4 min 16 sec)

131:41:00 Shepard: (Installing the LPM sensor on the tripod in orientation) Number 1, in the Sun. (Pause) Okay. I got it.

131:41:17 Mitchell: Okay. All right, we'll take off the electronics package (from the pallet and install it on the MET along with the cable reel). (Pause) Throw away the caging device. (Pause) High scale, On. (Long Pause as Al stows the tripod on the MET)

131:42:28 Shepard: Wait a minute; (garbled) caught there. Okay. Clear. (Pause)

131:42:47 Mitchell: Houston, you wanted LPM temperature. It's 125.

131:42:51 Haise: Roger, Ed. 125. (Long Pause)

[Ed has just looked at a patch called a tempa-label on the LPM. It has a series of spots which change from white to black successively higher temperatures. A detail from Apollo 13 training photo 70-H-103 shows a tempa-label on the handle of a fuel-transfer tool.]
131:43:16 Mitchell: Okay?

131:43:17 Shepard: Okay. (Pause) All right.

131:43:26 Mitchell: And, Houston, the LPM is loaded on board the MET. (To Al) I'll start on out (with the MET), if you'll turn the (TV) camera around.

131:43:35 Shepard: Yeah. I just wanted to get a good direction. Actually. Our (line of) sight to (Station) A (is) directly toward the center of the (Cone) crater...

131:43:48 Mitchell: Yeah, that's right over that way.

131:43:51 Shepard: And it's...(counting map squares) two...six. About 350 meters, a thousand feet.

131:43:59 Mitchell: Okay. We'll start off that direction and take a look around.

[On the EVA-2 traverse map, the LM is at about CQ.3/65.9 and the planned Station A location is at CU.4/72.3. See, also, a detail of the western portion of the map ( 0.6 Mb ). Note that this is the map Al and Ed will use during the traverse. Compare with the post-flight USGS map (4.1 Mb) from Professional Paper 880. Journal Contributor Lennie Waugh has created a companion map which shows station activities and event times and identifies - or suggests identifications for - craters and other features mentioned during the traverse. Waugh has also created a labeled frame from the 16-mm film that was shot thru Ed's window during the landing. This labeled image is particularly relevant to the later stages of the traverse.]

[Four detailed maps are available for the LM-to-A portion of the traverse: (1) Lennie Waugh's segment diagram; (2) a detail from the USGS map; (3) Waugh's revision using an August 2009 image from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter camera, that shows track made by the crew and the MET and includes a video screen grab by Waugh showing Shepard’s and Mitchell’s locations at 131:49:06; and (4) an annotated map of the traverse to Station A by Thomas Scwagmeier, also based on LROC images.]

131:44:02 Shepard: Okay, and I'll aim the camera towards Cone.

131:44:06 Mitchell: Okay.

[Jones - "On the video, the two of you were looking up toward Cone, which must have been interesting with the Sun that low."]

[Mitchell - "Of course, the Sun's moved up a little bit."]

[Jones - "You've got the MET. And you're going to pull it out to Station A."]

131:44:10 Shepard: Okay, Houston. We're going to try to put the TV camera in the shade (of the LM), and aim it up toward Cone. I'm not sure we're going to be successful in doing that.

131:44:24 Haise: Okay, Al. We don't want to tarry too long on that one...

131:44:27 Shepard: And I'll...

131:44:28 Haise: ...We're about 2 minutes behind starting out. And, the settings, you can leave them just as they are right now.

131:44:39 Shepard: Say again.

131:44:40 Haise: Okay. The settings that are on the TV right now are good.

131:44:48 Shepard: You don't want to aim it toward Cone Crater?

131:44:51 Haise: That's affirm, Al. You can do that task, but we won't worry too much about fineness on aiming it. The settings on the camera right now should be good.

RealVideo Clip (3 min 27 sec)

131:45:03 Shepard: Okay. We'll aim it up toward Cone. It's going to be fairly close to the Sun.

131:45:11 Haise: Roger, Al.

131:45:12 Shepard: We'll see what happens. (Long Pause as Al re-aims the TV, pointing at the ground to avoid a repeat of the Apollo 12 loss) Do you have the image of the Sun, yet? (Pause) Do you have the image of the Sun, yet?

131:45:42 Haise: Okay. We have a little bit of a glare there, but we have a picture, Al.

131:45:48 Shepard: I'm going to bring you a little further to the right.

131:45:49 Haise: Roger, Al. I think we can see the slopes...

131:45:52 Shepard: How's that?

131:45:54 Haise: Left (north) flank of Cone coming in.

131:46:00 Shepard: Okay. (Pause) Okay, you're looking at Cone.

131:46:08 Haise: Roger, Al. We have little bit of a glare across the center; but in the background, we can see the crest of Cone.

131:46:19 Shepard: Okay. Okay, we will probably be off the camera to the right. (Long Pause as Al runs up-Sun to join Ed)

[We see Al run out to join Ed, who has moved a ways east with the MET. By the time Al reaches Ed, very little detail is visible. There is no more useful TV until they return to the LM at the end of the EVA.]
131:46:44 Mitchell: Think we ought to check our position right about here, Al. See if we can find out where we are. (Long Pause)

131:47:03 Shepard: Okay. While you're checking your position, I'll be using the close-up (camera). (Long Pause) Okay. Taking the picture of the MET track, Houston.

131:47:29 Haise: Rog, Al.

[Al takes two stereopairs of the MET track. The first photo of the first pair is AS14-77-10357A. He will take a total of 18 Gold camera views during this EVA - 17 stereopairs and one, final, non-stereo image.]
131:47:30 Shepard: With the close-up (camera) and the sun is at 11 o'clock. (Long Pause) Okay; 301 and (30)2. MET tracks (with Sun) at 11; 303, and (30)4; footprints, Sun at 10 o'clock.
[AS14-77-10360A ( 57k ) is half of stereopair 304. Scan courtesy Ken MacTaggart.]

[Erwin D'Hoore has created re-blue anaglyphs from the stereo images of the MET tracks - 301 and 302 - and of the stereo images of his bootprints - 303 and 304.

RealVideo Clip (3 min 10 sec)

131:48:22 Haise: Roger, Al. I copied the frame numbers. And we still have you in the (TV) picture.

131:48:30 Shepard: Okay. (To Ed) Head on out, man.

131:48:31 Mitchell: Yeah, let's go.

131:48:32 Shepard: You got it?

131:48:33 Mitchell: I don't know exactly where we are.

131:48:35 Shepard: Well, keep the map in your hand...

131:48:36 Mitchell: Right.

131:48:37 Shepard: ...and keep going. I got this (perhaps the MET).

131:48:39 Mitchell: Okay. If I can locate a familiar crater...

[Jones - "Is it right that you have the map in hand and Al grabs the MET. Commander's prerogative?"]

[Mitchell - "It was kind of my job to do the navigation. I was kind of the budget-keeper. Keep us on course, make sure we are where we're supposed to be and so that's just kind of the way we worked together. Al concentrated on doing; I concentrated on getting us there, keeping us on procedure and on the time-line as much as possible."]

[Jones - "By the time the J-mission crews came along, the Rover was a respectable vehicle. And there wasn't any way a Commander was going to let an LMP drive." (Ed agreed.) "The MET does not fall in that category?" (It didn't.)]

[The LM is near map coordinates CQ.3/65.9 ( 0.6 Mb ) and the planned Station A location is at CU.4/72.3. Compare with the corresponding segment diagram; the USGS map; Lennie Waugh's 2009 revision based on the August LROC image; and Thomas Schwagmeier's map of the traverse to Station A.]

131:48:46 Shepard: Okay, Houston. We're headed just about toward the center of Cone Crater.

131:48:52 Mitchell: Okay, Al. Is this North Triplet right here to our right? It is, isn't it?

131:48:58 Shepard: Yes, sir.

131:48:59 Mitchell: Okay. This nice big depression over here. (Pause)

131:49:06 Shepard: Houston, we're again proceeding directly toward the center of the crater (that is, toward the center of Cone, toward) point A. As Ed pointed out, we're passing north of North Triplet. The area over which we are passing again, of course, is pockmarked by craters. However, the land is generally flat right here. We have sort of a...(Pause) I was going to say "mesa" but I really don't think it's a mesa. It's more of a ridge, which extends to the southeast, almost normal to our path of travel. (To Ed) I think point A is probably down in that valley.

[Mitchell - "It's a ridge and then it's just a slope down and then it starts back up toward Cone Crater again. It's kind of like sand dunes. And I'd say it's 20 feet from the top down into a gently-sloping valley and then back up again toward the shoulder of Cone Crater."]

[Jones - "What kind of crest-to-crest distances? 100 meters?"]

[Mitchell - "Since they were caused by meteor impact, it's more random than that. I don't recall anything systematic."]

MP3 Audio Clip by Ken Glover (37 min 48 sec)

131:49:57 Mitchell: Yeah. Look, Al. I've spotted it. See the crater almost directly up-Sun from us, in the valley? Right in the middle valley?

131:50:04 Shepard: Right.

131:50:05 Mitchell: That's Weird...

131:50:06 Shepard: Okay.

131:50:07 Mitchell: ...and if we head to the north of that, we're in business.

131:50:09 Shepard: Okay. That means that point A is, in fact, down in the valley.

131:50:14 Haise: Roger, Al. (Pause)

[As can be seen in various panels within the A-B segment of the traverse map, Weird is a distinctive cluster of at least three overlapping craters that fills the traverse map square ( 0.6 Mb ) bounded by the CR, CS, 72, and 73 grid lines. As can be seen most clearly in GoneToPlaid's deconvolved version of LROC image M127049821, the largest and probably the oldest of the three craters that make up the Weird cluster is on the north, a second crater that may be younger than the northern crater forms the southwest portion of the cluster, and the third crater, which is by far the youngest and freshest component of Weird is on the southeast. The fresh component is labeled as 1202 in the Post-mission analysis of the photographs indicate that they will do Station A at about CS.3/68.6, about 200 meters west and a little north of Weird. See, also, the 2009 revision.The eastern slope of the valley they are traversing may be the relatively dark, 100-meter-wide swath (light in the August 2009 LROC image) that runs SSW to NNE through CS.0/68.0. The eastern slope would be relatively dark in the Lunar Orbiter photos, which were taken with the Sun low in the east, because it slopes away from the Sun. The crest of the eastern ridge passes through about CS.0/69.0, with the relatively light, 50-meter-wide band east of there being the sun-facing, western wall of the next valley.]
131:50:21 Shepard: There seem to be quite a few large rocks as we progress along here. I see rocks of up to 2 or 3 feet in size, and one would fairly easily postulate these came directly from Cone Crater. Of course, we'll get samples of these a little further along.

131:50:50 Mitchell: A little further to the left. (Pause) Okay. Point A, Al, is not quite in the valley. It's right beyond over here. (Pause)

[Ed is probably stopping every once in a while to check his bearings, while Al goes ahead with the MET.]
131:51:11 Shepard: Okay. (Garbled) fairly subdued craters now.

131:51:15 Mitchell: Yeah.

131:51:16 Haise: Okay. Is there any basic change in the...

131:51:17 Mitchell: Okay, this is (garbled) we're going through right here.

131:51:20 Haise: Any basic change in the surface texture as you're heading out across toward A, there?

131:51:27 Mitchell: No. It looks all the same, Fredo.

RealVideo Clip (12 min 18 sec)

131:51:30 Haise: That's what I was afraid of.

131:51:32 Mitchell: We're...Fredo, see the crater 60 meters to the west of point A? (Pause)

[This is the fresh, 10-meter crater at CU.5/71.0 ( 0.6 Mb ). See, also, the segment diagram and the August 2009 revision. The crater is actually about 220m northeast of their current position and, clearly, Ed thinks they have been moving a lot more quickly than they have been in reality.]
131:51:45 Haise: Roger, Ed.

131:51:46 Mitchell: The rather sharp one?

131:51:48 Haise: Okay. I think I have it on the chart.

131:51:50 Mitchell: Okay. We're coming up on that one right...(Stops talking to listen) Okay, we're coming up on that one right now. It's the sharper one in the east, north-south line of about three craters. And our traverse, supposedly, passes right between them. Got it?

131:52:06 Haise: Okay. We got you right on the map, Ed.

131:52:11 Mitchell: Okay. The kind of doublet crater, supposedly just south of our track at 71 and CT...and CT 0.3. We're passing exactly on the south rim of those two, now.

131:52:32 Haise: Roger, Ed.

[In reality, they may be passing a smaller pair of craters at CS.0/ 68.0 ( 0.6 Mb ). These are the craters just above the traverse track and slightly to the left of the label '624' on the USGS map. The August 2009 LROC image shows that they passed just south of these two craters.]

[Public Affairs reports that Al's heart rate is 84 beats per minute and Ed's is 90. Figure 10-5 in the Apollo 14 Mission Report shows the crew's heart rates during EVA-2.]

131:52:37 Shepard: Probably A right here, is it not?

131:52:38 Mitchell: It's right over here to our left a little bit, Al. I believe. (Pause) Well, let me see.

131:52:52 Haise: And one other...

131:52:53 Mitchell: (Garbled).

131:52:53 Haise: ...question from here. Did the blocks you described as you moved across there, do they appear to be in the form of rays from Cone or are they pretty widely spread?

[Jones - "When I was going through this the first time, it seemed to me a little unusual that the Backroom would be peppering you with questions this early in the traverse."]

[Mitchell - "They obviously did that every time. They wanted to know answers we weren't quite ready to give them. And they did use that in kind of the form of cue. 'Hey, guys, we want you to tell us about this when you see it.'"]

[Jones - "Would there have been the equivalent of a Backroom on any of the field exercises?"]

[Mitchell - "Oh, yeah. Yeah, we practiced it that way. When we worked with radios and had geologists in the field in the later stages of exercises. We had a little harness on with a radio sticking up on it and they'd go play Backroom and work it from the van or from some vantage point. And we practiced doing that."]

[Jones - "Were there any people you worked with particularly?"]

[Mitchell - "Gordon Swann (and) Bill Muehlberger. (On the other hand) Gene Shoemaker seldom came around. (I asked about Lee Silver). Lee went along when we were doing geologic studies, but I don't recall that Lee did anything with regard to our training exercises, as far as getting ready for the lunar surface activities."]

[Jones - "Now, I understand that Jack Schmitt was heavily involved in, at least, developing the training program for you guys. Would he have been involved in the field exercises?"]

[Mitchell - "As I recall, by the time we were doing that sort of exercises, Jack was involved in his own crew training (as a member of the Apollo 15 backup crew). And he wasn't really that involved in our training."]

131:53:09 Shepard: No. We don't see any ray pattern, I would say. They're fairly generally scattered.

131:53:14 Mitchell: They may form a pattern when we get to the top and can look at them in plan view, Fredo.

131:53:20 Haise: Very good.

131:53:22 Shepard: How about right here in the center of these three are A.

131:53:26 Mitchell: (Tentatively) Okay.

131:53:28 Shepard: Buy that? (Pause)

131:53:34 Mitchell: Well, it's pretty close. I don't think it's exactly at A, but it's close.

131:53:39 Haise: Okay, I'll...

131:53:40 Mitchell: (Garbled), I guess.

131:53:41 Haise: I'll clock you at A, right now.

131:53:44 Mitchell: Okay. That large crater to your right, Al, just doesn't show up. Ah ha! It does, too. That's the one. Just beyond that is A.

131:53:56 Shepard: That's what I thought. About 20 feet ahead of me, right?

131:53:59 Mitchell: Yup, yup.

[Jones - "The thing that occurs to me about why they might have been interested in such relative precision was sampling along as you get deeper into the ejecta blanket on Cone."]

[Mitchell - "Yeah. That was the main thing. They wanted to place, fairly accurately, to be able to see the progression of size, change in texture. The idea being that corresponded to the depth within Cone Crater. They were kind of insistent that we get our locations as precisely as possible."]

[Jones - "Since, fairly quickly, you were far enough away from the LM that even a 'locator' wouldn't give a very accurate distance."]

[Mitchell - "Yeah. No, we did it all from the pans. Took a pan from a place and that way they were able to triangulate on the prominent features and backtrack us."]

[The first page of the EVA-2 cuff checklists contains some simple guidelines for determining distance from the LM - when the LM is in view. Evidently, they have not done that check because, if they had, they probably would have realized that, rather than being about 400 meters from the LM, they are near CS.3/68.6 ( 0.6 Mb ) and are only about 170 meters from the spacecraft.]

[Ed left the LM with the MET at about 131:44:06 and, after moving east a relatively short way, stopped for perhaps two minutes (131:46:44 to 131:48:37) while he consulted the map and waited for Al to catch up. During the traverse to Station A, they were actually on the move for about 8 minutes and travelled about 190 meters. Their average speed, therefore, was about 24 meters per minute or 1.4 km/hr. This is slow by the standards of runs on other missions, primarily because of the need to pull the MET and consult the map. During a run from Sharp Crater eastward toward Surveyor Crater, Pete Conrad and Al Bean did 220 m in 3 minutes 20 seconds for an average speed of about 66 meters per minute. Running speeds over similar distances during Apollo 15, 16, and 17 were as much as 90 meters/minute, in part because the crews for those missions had the advantage of a more flexible suit.]

131:54:00 Shepard: Okay, babe. Fred, the surface, here - we spoke about that - is textured. It is, of course, a very fine-grain, dusty regolith, much the same as we have in the vicinity of the LM. But, there seems to be small pebbles - more small pebbles - here on the surface than we had back around the LM area. And the population of larger rocks, perhaps small boulder size, is more prevalent here. Okay, this is probably pretty good.

131:54:32 Mitchell: Yeah, this a good place for A and I might also comment, Fredo, that we have an appearance here, quite often, like raindrops; (like) a very few raindrops have splattered the surface. It gives you that appearance. Obviously, they haven't; but it's that sort of texture. In places.

131:54:52 Shepard: Yeah, I think...I was just about to say that there's a relationship between the texture and these small surface pebbles. Okay, point A.

131:55:04 Mitchell: Okay, at point A, (pause) we do a double core (and) LPM. I'll start with the LPM and a pan.

131:55:13 Shepard: Okay, I'll start with the TDS (Thermal Degradation Sample). (Pause)

131:55:23 Shepard: Fred, did you read? We're (garbled)...

131:55:26 Haise: Roger, I copied all of that.

131:55:36 Shepard: The point where we're sampling is (pause) just about in the center of three craters of almost equal size. I would say, perhaps, 20 meters in diameter. The ones to the north and south are more fresh, more sharp; the one to the west is more subdued. I'm pretty sure we're just about where point A is on the map; as I recall, it fits the description of it. (Long Pause)

[One can compare the appearance on the traverse map ( 0.6 Mb ) of the area around planned Station A location (CU.4/72.3) and the actual location (CS.3/68.6) and find obvious differences in the crater patterns; however, from Al's and Ed's point-of-view, the craters are not easy to sort out and the potential for confusion is easy to understand.]

A USGS shaded relief map of the immediate area around Station A gives the relative positions of the MET, the various craters, and the sample locations. Scan by Brian McInall. See, also, Lennie Waugh's 2009 composite based on the August 2009 LROC image.]

[The TDS experiment consists of two panels containing samples of various surfaces. As indicated in Al's checklist, he will put each of them on the ground, photograph them with the close-up camera, sprinkle dust on them, take more close-up photos, brush them off, take more close-up photos and, finally, re-bag them for return to Earth for examination. According to the NASA Public Affairs commentator, the purpose of the experiment was to get some data on the degree to which dust would adhere to various paints being considered for the Lunar Rover.]

[Shepard, from the 1971 Technical Debrief - "I was surprised that there was little adherence of the surface dust. I expect a little bit more. It didn't adhere very much."]

131:56:39 Shepard: Okay. In the TDS, Houston; serial number 1002. (Long Pause) And the frame counter on the close-up (camera) is now 305.

131:57:20 Haise: Roger. Serial number 1002 and 305.

131:57:28 Shepard: Rog. And I'm now dusting that sample (that is, sprinkling it with dust). (Pause) Remark before I start, that number 3 block on this sample appears to have a smudge on it, before I start. A very light, black smudge.

131:57:51 Haise: Okay. We copy, Al.

131:57:55 Shepard: Okay.

[Gold camera image AS14-77-10362B ( 52k ) shows the smudge on block number 3.]
131:57:58 Mitchell: Okay, Fred. The LPM is in place; It's leveled and aligned, and I'm returning to the MET.

131:58:05 Haise: Okay. Give me a call when you get there, and I'll start the timing.

131:58:14 Mitchell: Okay. I'm here, now.

131:58:16 Haise: Starting the clock.

[Ed has deployed the magnetometer and is going back to the MET to read the output device. He has to wait 60 seconds before reading the meter.]

[Mitchell - "It was a slow-reacting instrument and, obviously, in a low magnetic field, it would take a while for it to settle out, if it had any sensitivity. I don't know how they zeroed out - or biased out - anything about me or the suits or the PLSS or any of that stuff. But that was the procedure. It had a cable on it. I had to unwind it and put the instrument in one place and then went back to the MET. I had to do three positions and then rewind the cable and stow the LPM."]

[The magnetometer contains three orthogonal fluxgate sensors which, together, provide a three-measurement of the local magnetic field strength. In making measurements in 'three positions', Ed is not moving the tripod but, rather, is rotating the instrument head 180 degrees around a horizontal axis - thereby making the top of the sensor the bottom and the bottom the top - and then, to get to the third position, rotating the sensor 180 degrees around the vertical axis.]

131:58:21 Mitchell: Okay. May I get a Hasselblad?

131:58:23 Shepard: Sure. You may have a Hasselblad. What would you like?

131:58:28 Mitchell: I'll take mine, if you don't mind.

131:58:30 Shepard: Okay, Señor!

[See the discussion at 113:59:48.]
131:58:34 Mitchell: Cross-Sun. I want f/8. (Pause) 1/250th.

131:59:07 Mitchell: And, Houston. The "locator" shot for the placement of the MET...(correcting himself) of the LPM is frame 7, magazine M-M.

[This photo is the first one that Ed took on this magazine. In 2004, NASA Johnson began to scan the original film from all the mission at high-resolution. The first frame from magazine 68/MM is 9393a and shows the LPM.]
131:59:20 Haise: Roger. And you can go with reading.

131:59:23 Mitchell: I'll take two of them.

131:59:28 Mitchell: Okay, I took two shots of that for your "locators".

[The last of these evidently resulted in the unnumbered frame showing the LPM. Journal Contributor Ken MacTaggart notes that a comparison of near-surface details in the unnumbered frame and in Ed's pan suggests that Ed took the locator from next to the MET, as also suggested by the dialog. In addition, Ken notes that the prominent rock on the right doesn't appear in Ed's pan, indicating that Ed took the pan from a spot very near the rock. This rock can also be seen near the right edge of AS14-68-9409 a down-Sun Ed will take of a sample collected east of the LM. For some reason, the rock is not shown in the Station A shaded relief map.]
131:59:32 Haise: Roger, Ed. And, we're Go for the readings.

131:59:37 Mitchell: Okay. Be there in just a second. (Pause)

131:59:51 Mitchell: Ahh, Fredo?

131:59:59 Haise: Go ahead, Ed.

132:00:00 Mitchell: Okay. I'm on high scale. X is 9.6; Y 4.2; Z, 7.3.

132:00:19 Haise: Okay. Copied.

132:00:22 Mitchell: (X is) 9.6; Y, 3.8; Z, 6.7; X, 9.6; Y, 3.7; Z, 6.5.

[The LM coordinate system is such that plus-x is toward the zenith, plus-y is east, and plus-z is north. After analysis, the results were -93, +38, and -24 gammas (a measure of magnetic field strength) for the three components, respectively.]
132:00:50 Haise: Okay. I got all readings, Ed.

132:00:56 Mitchell: And that was the high-scale reading.

132:00:58 Haise: Roger. High-scale. (Long Pause)

132:01:25 Shepard: And, Al is now verifying the second TDS, serial number 1001. (Long Pause)

132:02:21 Mitchell: Okay, Fredo; I'm leaving the LPM (orientation) number 2, and...(Pause)

132:02:38 Haise: Okay. Let me know when you're back at the MET.

132:02:44 Mitchell: Okay. Just a second. I wanted to tell you that in my leveling of these things, the bubble is tangent to the inner circle to the north, on both the first and the second alignment.

132:03:00 Haise: Roger. Copy, Ed. (Pause)

132:03:08 Mitchell: And I'm back at the MET.

132:03:13 Haise: Okay, and the clock's starting again.

132:03:19 Mitchell: Okay. (Pause)

132:03:27 Haise: And, while we got a few seconds there, Ed. The raindrop pattern you mentioned, is it pretty general or is it just here and there that you noted this texture?

132:03:40 Mitchell: It seems to be fairly general, Fred. (Long Pause)

132:03:54 Shepard: Okay, Houston, the TDS sampling is complete, and the final counter - (on the) close-up (camera) - is reading 311.

132:04:06 Haise: Roger, Al. I copied on 1001, serial number; final count, 311. And Ed, you're Go for the readings.

132:04:18 Mitchell: Okay. (Pause)

132:04:26 Shepard: (Bagging the TDS) Get in there, baby! Okay.

132:04:36 Mitchell: Okay, Fredo. On high-scale again; X, 01.1...Hold it. Now, hold it a minute. Oh, okay. (Pause) Rog. You bumped the MET. I was afraid you were going to turn it over.

[During the 1991 mission review, Ed and I were a little confused about the LPM - in particular, whether or not he read the meter at the MET.]

[Mitchell - "I was right. The meter to read is at the MET and I carried the head out. That's why I came back to the MET. This clears it up, because as Al was putting his TDS back on, he apparently bumped the MET and I was afraid he was going to tip the MET."]

132:04:54 Mitchell: X, 1.1; Y, 3.7; Z, 4.0; X, 1.1; Y, 3...No, Y is 4.0; Z, 3.7; X, 1.1; Y, 3.9; Z, 3.6. Over.
[Mitchell - "I think the reason for the multiple readings is to see if there are any transients, to see if it stabilized out."]

[Jones - "Was it a needle gauge that was a little hard to read?"]

[Mitchell - "Everything was hard to read. Trying to read through the gold visor and, invariably, they gave you a little bitty meter to read. You had to look through glass, and parallax was a problem. Being in a pressure suit and not being able, always, to hunch over to get parallax to zero, like you'd want to, was a real operational constraint."]

[Jones - "Little tiny gauges because of weight constraints?"]

[Mitchell - "Yes. And everything was so light. If you bumped the MET, you'd think the damn thing was going to fall over on you."]

132:05:40 Haise: Okay, Ed. We've got all of your readings.

132:05:46 Mitchell: Okay. Returning (for) the third one (that is, the final orientation).

132:05:50 Shepard: Okay, we got close-up shots: 12, 13, and 14. All at 9 o'clock shadow, 12 and 14 are two typical examples of the raindrop-textured pattern of which Ed spoke. Now, 13 is a picture of a foot track...

[Erwin D'Hoore has produced red-blue anaglyphs for 312, 313, and 314.]
132:06:12 Mitchell: (Garbled).

132:06:13 Shepard: ...a foot track in the same area.

132:06:21 Haise: Roger, Al.

132:06:23 Shepard: And I see a fairly large rock here at the north of these three craters. It's embedded right at the rim. It's about 2 feet long. I can see some crystals in it. It has a good fillet pattern. I'm shooting a close-up of that (with the Gold Camera). And the Sun angle again will be 9 o'clock.

132:06:46 Haise: Roger, Al. (Long Pause)

[Erwin D'Hoore has produced a red-blue anaglyph of 315.]
132:07:02 Haise: Okay, and Al, a word from the Backroom says go at least two crater diameters away from, I guess, the crater you're just describing, when you get ready to take the double core.
[The geologists in the Science Backroom want to get a profile of the top of the Cone Crater ejecta blanket and, if Al is closer than two diameters of a smaller crater, he would get an inverted section of the Cone blanket.]
132:07:17 Shepard: Okay, we'll try to put it in the center of the three craters to get all three...Well, to get whatever stratigraphy we have here, and the last (Gold Camera) fillets picture - shadow 9 o'clock - was 18. (Pause)

132:07:40 Haise: Rog, Al.

[Erwin D'Hoore has produced red-blue anaglyphs of 316 and 317. The last of these appears to be light-struck.]
132:07:46 Shepard: Okay. (Pause) And since I've already taken a couple of (Gold Camera) pictures of the MET tracks, I won't do any more of that here, and probably won't again unless we see some difference in these tracks. They're fairly...what you might expect because they're smooth; they're well packed and vary in depth only as a function of the surface tension.

132:08:24 Mitchell: Fredo, I've left the LPM, returning to the MET. Had a little trouble with it that time. The bubble is tangent on the east side of the center ring.

[Jones - "You just moved the legs around until it was level?"]

[Mitchell - "Move it around and try to get the bubble centered. I think there were two scribed rings. And you tried to get it centered."]

132:08:34 Haise: Okay. On the east side. Let me know when you get there.

132:08:39 Mitchell: I'm at the MET.

132:08:41 Haise: Starting the clock. (Long Pause)

132:09:00 Shepard: Okay, I'll set up for the double core here.

132:09:02 Mitchell: Okay, I'll be with you in a second. I have a pan to take, and I'll be right with you. Be careful with the Velcro on the tongue. You can see it came off, except for one patch.

[Ed believes that the tongue is the MET handle. According to Section 3 of the Apollo 14 Mission Report, "Two of the three pieces of Velcro which held the lunar maps on the transporter handles came off at the beginning of the first extravehicular activity. These pieces had been glued on a surface having a different finish than the one to which the Velcro adhered." Figure A-2 from the Apollo 14 Mission Report shows approximately where the map would have been secured by the Velcro pieces. A detail from training photo KSC-70PC-679 shows what appear to be the three pieces of Velcro on the tongue. Finally, a detail from AS14-68-9404 shows the remaining piece and the locations of the two that fell off during EVA-1. Failure of the adhesive may have been due to solar heating of the metal tubing to which the two pieces were attached.]

[At the time of the mission review with Ed, I was unaware of the relevant discussion in the Mission Report.]

[Jones - "What was the function of the Velcro?"]

[Mitchell - (Hesitant) "I think we used it to strap things on the MET. Core tubes. What was the 12 tool carrier called? (HTC) The Hand Tool Carrier sat on the front of the MET, as I recall, it was Velcro-strapped on to it. And the Velcro strap on the tongue is what held it on."]

[Note added in 2007 - A detail from training photo KSC-70PC-684 may show additional pieces of Velcro on the front of the MET, but none that are clearly associated with the HTC.]

[After we finished discussing the Velcro, I turned the tape recorder off - and missed a remark which I then summarized for the tape.]

[Jones - "You just said that, when I ask questions, images of these things flash back in your head. You trained for this for over a year, so it wasn't like it was a one-time experience. Lots of chances for that to go into long-term memory."]

132:09:11 Shepard: Yeah, I understand. Why don't we just...Appears to me it's about the right size.

132:09:17 Mitchell: It'll go in that outer pocket fine. I'll carry it...or, one of us can carry it when we go up between (garbled).

132:09:22 Shepard: (Garbled) go down that way. Also, 16-millimeter Mag.

132:09:26 Mitchell: Okay.

132:09:28 Shepard: Okay. Core tubes.

132:09:35 Mitchell: Okay, Fredo. You about ready?

132:09:38 Haise: Okay, one minute (is up). Go ahead.

132:09:44 Mitchell: Okay, Y - this is high-scale. Y is 1.0. I'm sorry. X is 1.0; Y is 8.1; Z is 6.6. Second set: X is 1.0; Y is 8.1; Z is 6.6. Third set: X is 1.0; Y, 8.1; Z is 6.65.

132:10:20 Haise: Roger, Ed. And I assume all of those were high scale again.

132:10:27 Mitchell: Beg your pardon? Those were all high-scale. That's affirm.

132:10:30 Haise: Okay. We got them. (Pause)

132:10:38 Shepard: Okay. The bottom core tube will be number 2. No tab. Top core tube will be number 3. No tab.

132:10:54 Haise: Roger, Al. Top, number 3, no tab; bottom, number 2, no tab.

132:11:03 Shepard: That is correct. (Long Pause)

[Mitchell - "All of them were numbered either one, two, or three, but we had several ones, several twos, several threes. And, I don't remember what 'tab' meant - maybe there was a little flag on it or something. But, they were different. Tab or no tab, flag or no flag. So we could keep them straight."]

[On the later missions, each core tube had a unique number.]

132:12:04 Mitchell: (To himself) Okay. I need a pair of tongs.

132:12:14 Haise: And have you started reeling it (the LPM ribbon cable) up yet, Ed?

132:12:19 Mitchell: I'm starting it right now, Fred.

132:12:22 Haise: Yeah. I just...

132:12:23 Mitchell: The electronics are in the box, and I'm (pause) picking up the reel, now. (Long Pause)

[Operation of the LPM cable reel is illustrated in figure 14-32 from the Apollo 14 Mission Report.]
132:13:22 Shepard: Oh, no!

132:13:24 Mitchell: What's the matter?

[Comm Break. Al may be assembling the double core.]
132:14:28 Mitchell: This is a can of worms. Agh!

132:14:31 Haise: You're having some problem reeling it in there, Ed?

132:14:38 Mitchell: Yeah. An awful lot of problem with it, Fred. The set in the cable is so much that if I ever let go of the handle, it winds down about three or four turns on me - at least - and then I have to take it back out. And the cable is all bunched up and curled out here. I'm not sure I'm going to get wound or not.

RealVideo Clip (0 min 49 sec)

132:15:00 Haise: Roger, Ed. (Pause)

[Mitchell - "I had the same problem in training. But not nearly as severely as with the flight equipment on the Moon. And it's kind of like backlash. As I recall, in turning it, you have to turn loose of it and get another grip and turn it some more. But, when you turned loose of it, it'd spin back out on you. So it was a pain in the ass."]

[Jones - "The Apollo 16 LPM had a ribbon cable (about 2 inches wide). Was yours the same?"]

[Mitchell - "Yeah. Same thing. And it had a lot of set. And it was stiff. It was just a badly designed piece of equipment for lunar surface work."]

[Mitchell, from the 1971 Technical Debrief - "The LPM cable was very difficult to roll up. The spring in it and the backlash were such that I could roll four or five rolls and not crank up appreciably any of the tape. It was just tightening up inside the reel. When I loosened my grip to grab it again, it would unwind three or four turns. In addition, the tape was rolling up in bends, and it looked like a giant bow, very fluffy with lots of bends all balled up around the reel. It was really a mess to handle. It took about two or three times as much time as expected to get the cable reeled in the first time. I would have objected strenuously if I had to do it a second time, and we had planned three measurements. I was seriously considering just trailing that ribbon behind us and taking our chances with it. It was really difficult. It was complicated by the fact that my glove problem was making the mobility in my right hand difficult."]

[According to the Apollo 14 Mission Report, "corrective action for Apollo 16 consists of adding a ratchet-and-pawl locking device for activation with the gloved hand, and providing a better grip for the reel and crank." Because of the design change, John Young had relatively little problem rewinding the LPM cable.]

[Mitchell, from the 1971 Technical Debrief - "I might say, in defense of the LPM, it gave good readings. We had to stay on high-scale most of the time, so obviously there was a magnetic field that we were measuring."]

132:15:13 Mitchell: Try a different method of holding it. (Pause)
[Mitchell - "I hated to use that LPM, because it just tore your wrist up, winding it back up. I remember in training and on the surface, not only did you have this problem (of the ribbon snarling) which was frustrating, but it was terribly difficult on the wrist. And with my glove cable problem I had, it was doubly difficult. So it was a pretty frustrating thing."]

[Jones - "The crank was on the right side (as shown in NASA photo S70-56721)?"]

[Mitchell - "Yeah, so I had to use the right hand."]

[Jones - "And you were abrading on the wrist ring?"]

[Mitchell - "Yup."]

132:15:25 Shepard: Okay, Houston. A couple of quick stereos in the "locator" of the core tube as it's about to be driven; and, in the "locator", the LM is in the background.

132:15:40 Haise: Roger, Al. (Long Pause)

[Al has taken a stereopair from the north of the core tube, stepping to his right between frames. The pictures are AS14-64- 9046 and 9047. He then went around to the east of the core tube and took 9048 across it toward the LM. The shaded relief map shows the location and aiming direction of each of the photographs.]
RealVideo Clip (8 min 42 sec)

132:16:02 Mitchell: Okay, Fredo. I got the LPM reel reeled in just enough to keep it off the ground. I'm trailing a can of spaghetti here.

132:16:13 Haise: Okay, Ed. (Pause)

132:16:24 Mitchell: Al, you haven't taken a pan, have you?

132:16:28 Shepard: Nope.

132:16:29 Mitchell: Okay. I'm starting with the pan.

132:16:35 Haise: Okay. Just in the way of bookkeeping, we need the double core, and the pan, and a sample.

132:16:44 Mitchell: Okay.

Ed's Station A Pan ( frames AS14-68- 9394 to 9408 )

[Comm Break]
132:18:16 Shepard: Okay, Houston. We've got almost two complete tubes here, about one and seven-eighths tubes, I would say.

132:18:28 Haise: Roger, Al. (Long Pause)

[Shepard, from the 1971 Technical Debrief - "Point A is where I took the double core. It went down all the way. It went down relatively easy for the first section. The next half - of the second core - wasn't bad, requiring just general tapping. Then I had to bang it very hard to get the last half of the top core. But I did get it. I got 1-3/4 to 1-7/8. That's about the deepest penetration we had."]

[Pans usually take about a minute and a half and, because Ed doesn't finish until 19:16, Al may have just finished driving the core tube in. If so, then, during this comm break, he extracts it and takes it over toward the MET to begin disassembly and capping.]

132:19:16 Mitchell: Okay, Houston. The pan is completed. I took it from the rim of a old crater with a fresh crater right in the bottom of it, and several small ones around it.
[The location from which Ed took the pan is indicated in the shaded relief map by the cross and the label 'Pan 6'.]
132:19:30 Shepard: Yeah. That's a fairly blocky one, that new one. I think if we take samples from right along that rim there, you'd probably get some of that from the bottom.

132:19:35 Mitchell: Yeah. Okay.

132:19:38 Haise: Okay. We copied, Al and Ed.

132:19:40 Mitchell: (Garbled) just a minute. (Pause)

132:19:50 Shepard: Okay. And the core bit, just for the fun of it, is going in bag 2 November. (Pause) If we can get it back.

[Shepard, from the 1971 Technical Debrief - "I suggested that we use the tip of that thing (that is, the bit from the double core) for the bug sample (that is, a sample to be examined for signs of native lunar organisms). We brought the bit back in a separate bag."]

[Although the bit undoubtedly did not yield any lunar organisms, it may have yielded practical information on abrasion and wear.]

132:20:00 Haise: And Al, they'd like a description of the surface where you drove the core tube. (Long Pause)

132:20:31 Shepard: Okay, Fred. The surface was the same textured pattern of which we spoke coming up in this traverse.

132:20:46 Mitchell: Uh oh.

132:20:48 Shepard: What?

132:20:49 Mitchell: Where's our color chart? (Pause)

[The color chart/gray scale in question is supposed to be attached to one of the legs of the gnomon. When taking documented samples, they will position the gnomon with the chart facing the Sun to provide calibration during photoprocessing.]
132:21:02 Shepard: Here you go. Got it? (To Haise) Did you read the core tip?

132:21:09 Haise: Roger, Al. We've got that, and for your information, we're about 5 minutes behind, in the total timeline, for departing A.

132:21:23 Shepard: Okay. (Pause) Continuing our description of the surface, it appears to be a scattered population of very small blocks, some of which Ed is going to photograph here in his documented sample. I believe they came from the crater to the north of the sampling sites. Other than that, the double-core sample site is not unique to the traverse, so far. The first core went in fairly easily. Had some increasing difficulty with the last core.

132:22:25 Haise: Roger, Al. (Long Pause)

132:22:52 Mitchell: (To himself as he adjusts his camera settings) Okay. Seven. (Pause)

132:23:05 Shepard: Get that by yourself?

132:23:06 Mitchell: Yup. (Long Pause)

[Ed's photos of the Station A documented sample are a down-Sun "locator", AS14-68- 9409, showing the LM, the MET, and the gnomon, a stereopair, 9410 and 9411, taken from the southeast, an "after", 9412, which he also took from the southeast, and a second "after", 9413, taken from the east. The last of these is blurred, either because he forgot to reset the focus setting or moved while he was taking it. See the shaded relief map for photo locations and aiming directions.]
132:23:59 Mitchell: And, Houston, the rock I'm sampling seems to be a fairly typical one of this little crater - multiple crater - that we're working around right now near A. And it's going into the bag 3 November.

132:24:23 Haise: Roger, Ed. Copy, 3 November.

132:24:28 Mitchell: Oops. It's breaking apart on me as I pick it up. I'll try to get most of the pieces.

[These samples are 14041 to 14046.]
132:24:35 Haise: Roger, Ed. And we need to move on here to B; and before we depart A, we're going to need an EMU check.

132:24:52 Shepard: Okay. This is Al's EMU: reading 3.75; oxygen is reading 71; I have no flags; I'm on Min cooling; and I'm comfortable.

132:25:03 Mitchell: Al?

132:25:04 Shepard: Yeah.

132:25:06 Mitchell: Can you hand me another baggy?

[At the time of Apollo 14, commercial, plastic sandwich bags were marketed under the brand name Baggies.]
132:25:08 Shepard: Okay.

132:25:11 Mitchell: Houston, I can't get all of this sample in 3-N. Consequently, it'll go into 3-N and the next one. (Pause) It looked like it was fractured, and when I picked it up, it fractured into about four pieces.

132:25:31 Shepard: (Grunting) Okay. (Pause)

132:25:37 Haise: Roger, Ed. (Long Pause)

 

Wake-up and Preparations for EVA-2 Apollo 14 Journal Climbing Cone Ridge