Apollo 15 Lunar Surface Journal

 

Station 6 Crater The Green Boulder

 

Traverse to Station 6a

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 1996 by Eric M. Jones.
All rights reserved.
Scan credits in the Image Library
Last revised 26 June 2014.

 

MP3 Audio Clip ( 4 min 23 sec ) by David Shaffer

144:57:21 Scott: Okay, Joe. (Pause)

144:57:29 Irwin: (Perhaps reaching for the map) Got it. (Long Pause)

144:57:49 Allen: Rover, do you read Houston?

144:57:54 Irwin: Yes.

144:57:55 Scott: Yeah, I'm working, Joe.

144:57:56 Allen: Okay.

[Dave is probably climbing into his seat.]
144:57:57 Scott: Okay, Jim. Here we go. (Pause) Can you turn on the 2 Drive Power for me? (Pause)

144:58:10 Irwin: The up?

144:58:11 Scott: Yeah, the up one's up, and the down one's down. Can you...Oh, I'll get them. You're in as bad a position as I am.

144:58:17 Irwin: They're On.

144:58:18 Scott: Okay. (Pause) What's this stuff? Okay, Houston. We're moving out.

144:58:32 Allen: Roger. Got your mark. Dave, we're thinking we want to drive over towards that large block, and if you think it's reasonable, we'll ask about a 15-minute stop there. And afterwards, we'll move on towards the fresh crater. What do you think?

144:58:49 Scott: Oh, I think that's a good idea. I don't think we're going to get any more variety of anything by going farther to the east on the Front, Joe. I think we've seen the variety that we're going to see, except for working our way back.

144:59:06 Allen: Dave, we agree precisely with that down here. We think...From your descriptions, that's exactly what we've been reading and that's why we want you to move to the west.

144:59:19 Scott: Okay. Now here's a little fresh crater, Jim, with white albedo, but I think that's probably a secondary. I don't think that's excavated anything, do you?

144:59:27 Irwin: No.

[Jones - "There is a noticeable amount of static in the comm. You're driving along the contour, tilted north, and I wonder if the Earth might be on the edge of the main lobe."]
144:59:29 Scott: Let's head for that block.

144:59:30 Irwin: Yeah. I lost that block. I hope you...It's just over the ridge, I guess.

144:59:36 Scott: Yeah. Yes, we'll take it sort of slow here going down-Sun.

[Scott, from a 1996 letter - "The problem was washout at zero-phase."]
144:59:40 Irwin: Yeah, we're heading 278.

144:59:44 Allen: Roger, Jim. And you might want to start the DAC.

144:59:46 Irwin: Bearing 345; range...(Responding to Joe) Yeah, I'm glad you reminded me. (Pause) Remind me to stop it when we get there. (Pause) Boy, you know, looking upslope, look how much more hummocky it is. It's just a different terrain.

145:00:13 Scott: It sure is. It sure is. (Thinking about it) Pretty hummocky and driving is much sportier.

145:00:25 Irwin: Yep.

145:00:27 Scott: Ooh. Hang on. Hang on; there we go. This Rover is super!

145:00:37 Allen: Oh, mercy yes!

[They are approaching the Station 6a boulder, which is on a 15 degree slope. Photo AS15-90- 12192 shows the inbound Rover tracks. Note that, because of the slope, the rear wheels did not exactly track the front wheels and created a pair of tracks slightly offset from those made by the front wheels. Note, also, the patches of soil clods created by the passage of the wheels and the downslope motion of those clods.]
145:00:38 Scott: Best tractor I ever drove.

145:00:43 Irwin: Do we stay above it?

145:00:45 Scott: Yeah. (Laughing) Oh, yes!

145:00:47 Irwin: I hope you stay above it. (Pause)

145:00:53 Scott: Whoa, hoo. Ho, ho, ho. (Laughing) What do you think we ought to do here, Jim?

145:00:58 Irwin: Stop.

145:00:59 Scott: Whoa; that a boy. (Pause)

145:01:06 Irwin: I wish I could lean uphill! (Laughs)

[Because they are driving west on a slope that dips down, to the north, Jim is in the "down" seat. They have stopped above the Station 6a boulder. A portion of Jim's Station 6a pan assembled by David Harland and centered on the boulder gives an indication of the steep slope. Post-mission analysis of photographs puts them about 250 meters south southeast of Spur Crater and about 130 meters above the mare surface. The large craters on the mare beyond the boulder are the members of the South Cluster.]
145:01:11 Scott: Okay; Rover's stopped.

 

Station 6 Crater Apollo 15 Journal The Green Boulder