Post-EVA Activities in the LM

Rocking and Rolling at Head Crater

 

Wake-up and EVA-2 Preparations

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 1995 by Eric M. Jones.
All rights reserved.
MP3 audio clips by Ken Glover.
Last revised 5 May 2017.

MP3 Audio Clip ( 10 min 51 sec ) PAO update

[At 128:51, NASA Public Affairs reports that the Flight Surgeon has indications that Pete and Al are stirring. The fact that Pete will go out the hatch at 131:37 - only 2 3/4 hours after the report of 'stirring' suggests that they have been working on Pete's suit for a while. See the discussion after 122:37:27. During the Technical Debrief after the flight, Pete said that he got 4 1/2 hours of sleep and then woke Al so he could adjust Pete's suit legs. Pete said that was an hour-long job. The nominal timeline allows for about 3 hours 10 minutes between wake-up and the start of the EVA. They will actually start the EVA at 131:29:27, which is only 2 1/2 hours from now. Clearly, they have already finished the suit adjustment, will have a quick breakfast and will race through the EVA preps. Pete's next transmission suggests that they have finished the boot adjustment - perhaps at the time of the call to Houston - and, if they had worked on it for an hour, that would put their actual wake-up at 128:00. If we take Pete at his word about getting 4 1/2 hours sleep, we can estimate that he drifted off about 123:30, not quite an hour after his last transmission to Houston.]

129:01:50 Conrad: Hello, Houston; Intrepid. How are you this morning?

129:01:58 Weitz: Good morning, Intrepid. How did you sleep?

129:02:05 Conrad: Short, but sweet. We're hustling right now, and we're going to eat breakfast, have a little talk with you, and get about our business.

129:02:15 Weitz: Sounds good.

[Comm Break]

[Bean - (Laughing) "It's a typical Conrad operation. 'We'll keep you informed; we're way ahead of it. We're going to do it.'"]

[Conrad - "'Yeah, and don't bother us.'"]

[Bean - "'Check in with us. We'll be ahead of this. We'll get going.' It's a classic Conrad statement."]

129:03:29 Weitz: It's 19:25 now, Al. (7:25 p.m. U.S. Central Standard Time)

129:03:40 Bean: Roger.

[Long Comm Break]

[Pete's Dosimeter reading is unchanged while Al's has clicked on the last digit, signifying 0.01 rad. The counters were not set to zero at the start of the mission so that there would be no doubt as to whose dosimeter was being read. Their average total skin dose for the mission was 0.58 rad, most of it accumulated during passage through the Van Allen Belts on the way to and from the Moon. To put these numbers in context, Journal Contributor Dave Hardin points out that the typical exposure from a chest x-ray is 0.1 rad and that each of us on Earth is subject to an annual exposure of 0.2 to 0.3 rad from background sources, the exact amount depending on where we live.]

129:08:20 Conrad: Sure can.

129:08:21 Weitz: Okay. When you get a chance, what I would like for you to do is: they are not getting the readings they expected from the CCIG (Cold Cathode Ion Gauge). If you can, we would like you to give a look-see at it with the monocular to see whether you can tell whether it is right side up and whether the port has been opened or not. Over.

[Journal Contributor Ulli Lotzmann notes that the 10x40 monocular was manufactured by Leitz, Germany, and modified by NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) Houston. It was based on the commercial binocular version.]

129:09:05 Weitz: Yeah, understand, Pete. They've given a command to open the ports, and the pressure has not gone down in it at the rate they expected.

129:09:24 Bean: When we left it last night, Houston, we left it sort of on its back facing about 80 degrees from the horizontal. That was the best we could do.

129:09:36 Weitz: Okay. Understand. (Long Pause)

129:09:54 Conrad: Unfortunately, Houston, it is on the opposite side of the SIDE, which is supposed to be lined up with my view of it. It does look like it's roughly the same position as we left it last night. But I can't really tell. We'll run over there after we get out and look.

129:10:14 Weitz: Okay. Thank you, Pete. (Long Pause) Intrepid, Houston. I have got a late change for you that came in a couple of hours ago. On the rocks you are bringing back in the jettison bag, Grumman has come through and, along the way, several people have decided that the allowable weight to be stowed in the bags on the deck there should be reduced from 35 pounds to 20 pounds. That's 14 pounds of rock and one 6-pound bag.

129:11:20 Conrad: I didn't quite get the end of that. Say it again.

129:11:25 Weitz: Okay. Stand by one, Pete. (Long Pause)

129:12:15 Conrad: Houston, while you are working that problem, I would like to know if there are any restrictions on when we go over the sill. (Pause)

129:12:28 Weitz: Okay. Stand by, Pete, and we will give you the word on that.

129:12:33 Conrad: Okay. I would like to go as soon as I can get ready without hurrying. And I've kind of got the suspicion, looking over the Prep card, (that) a good bit of this stuff is done, and it is pretty much a deal of hooking up the PLSSs and going. And I think we are going to be able to get out somewhere around 131:30 to 132, and let me look at the timeline and see what we should be doing then normally.

[Pete will go out the hatch at 131:37.]

129:13:43 Conrad: Okay. I'll give you a call in about 3 or 4 minutes. We have some sprucing up to do; and, while we are eating breakfast, you can give us the hot word on geology.

[Bean - (Laughing) "'You tell us this and we'll answer it if we feel like it.'"]

[Conrad - "'We got it made.'"]

[Bean - "That's exactly the feeling there."]

[Jones - "Conrad's on a roll."]

[Bean - "He really is, right there. It's just so typical."]

129:13:59 Weitz: Okay; sure will. Did you get that on the allowable weight of the materials to be brought back in the (spare) jettison bags being changed from 35 pounds to 20 pounds?

129:14:13 Conrad: Roger. How far down on the scale is that? I can't remember.

129:14:18 Weitz: It's 1 inch, Pete.

129:14:23 Conrad: One inch. Rog. (Long Pause)

129:14:52 Weitz: Intrepid, Houston. They want the TV camera brought back, so I've got some changes to your surface checklist to cover stowing it for return when you are ready to copy.

129:15:07 Conrad: Okay, wait one.

129:15:11 Bean: What (checklist) page?

129:15:12 Weitz: Okay. Page 65 to start with.

129:15:20 Bean: We're there. Go ahead.

129:15:22 Weitz: Okay. Down under the block that contains words "rest periods," about the fourth item down is "voice-to-voice." We want to insert in there a step to "stow utility towels from the hammocks in the upper boot box". These will be used, as I will describe to you later, to protect the TV camera when you stow it for return.

129:15:49 Conrad: Shucks. We already took them out to use to keep ourselves nice and clean.

129:15:54 Weitz: Okay. (Pause) Okay. Now, on page 67 of the surface checklist.

129:16:10 Conrad: Go.

129:16:14 Weitz: Okay. On the right-hand column under EVA-2 Prep, about the eighth or ninth line down, it says "remove ECS lithium hydroxide cartridge and bracket". Do not remove the bracket. Keep it on the engine cover. Over.

129:16:33 Bean: Good idea.

[This bracket held the replacement ECS Primary LiOH canister during the trip out from Earth.]

[Conrad - "There's two LiOH canister types. There are the ones that were on the MESA that go into the PLSSs, but there is also one that goes in the ECS System on the LM. So I guess it (the replacement ECS canister) was stowed on the engine cover, in the bracket, and that bracket was removable - because one of the other things we were going to do was to throw everything that was used out the hatch. So they want us to leave that bracket on there so we can tie the camera on it."]

[The replacement canister was actually stowed behind the engine cover, below the back corner of the ECS. See a detail from an Apollo 16 LM-close-out picture and a detail from the LM 10 (Apollo 15) LM handbook.

129:16:53 Conrad: Go.

129:16:54 Weitz: Okay. On the right-hand column under "LMP", next to the last step after "Verify circuit breaker," insert a step to open the TV circuit breaker.

129:17:08 Bean: Okay, Houston. In other words, you say to turn the TV on to begin with and then before I get out to open it. Is that the plan?

129:17:18 Weitz: That's affirmative, Al. I should have made that clear. They want to try one more look to see if something short of a miracle occurred, and then you will open the circuit breaker again before you get out.

129:17:33 Bean: Sounds good. Be sure to remind me because it's not on my cuff checklist, and I won't have this one (the LM checklist) out. And what's the latest thinking on that, too?

129:17:47 Weitz: You mean on why it didn't work, Al?

129:17:53 Bean: That's right.

129:17:57 Weitz: That hasn't been resolved yet.

129:18:02 Bean: Man, I worried about that one all night.

129:18:07 Weitz: Okay. Don't sweat it. On page 78 now. (Pause)

129:18:15 Conrad: Go.

129:18:17 Weitz: Okay. Under the "CDR". Now, we're going to have you use your Surveyor dismantling tool, I guess, on this TV camera - the (bolt) cutters - to get it apart. So add a couple of steps here, Pete, at the end of your list. We want you to cut the TV cable on the spacecraft side of the camera connector, below the adapter. And then stow the TV...

129:18:47 Conrad: Yeah. I understand.

129:18:48 Weitz: And then stow the TV camera in the ETB.

129:18:54 Conrad: Okay.

129:18:55 Weitz: Okay. We'll remind you of these steps since they're not on your checklist.

129:18:58 Bean: Also mention...(Stops to listen to Weitz) That's right, because they're not on the cuff.

129:19:02 Weitz: Rog. (Long Pause)

129:19:15 Conrad: Okay. Go ahead, Paul.

129:19:20 Weitz: Okay. Now, on page 93. (Long Pause)

129:19:34 Conrad: Go ahead.

129:19:35 Weitz: Okay. In the right-hand column, the fourth or fifth line up, after "Unstow 70 millimeter cameras," add a step to "unstow the TV camera from the ETB and stow on the engine cover."

129:19:52 Bean: Okay. Next step. (Pause)

129:20:00 Weitz: Okay. It's been written on page 97, Pete. (Pause)

129:20:10 Bean: Go ahead.

129:20:14 Weitz: Okay. Let me read it over here a minute, and I'll paraphrase it for you. We want to fold the TV camera. We're going to stow it in the lithium hydroxide canister (means "bracket").

129:20:24 Bean: Okay. Do you want us to pack it with the towels as best we can, huh?

129:20:28 Weitz: That's affirmative. And they want it...(Pause) Just wrap the remaining...Fold the handle; wrap the cable around the camera as best you can; and stow it in the lithium-hydroxide-canister bracket on the engine cover and stow it with the lens up. Over.

129:20:55 Bean: Okay. Now has anybody checked to make sure that we can fit the camera and all the cables and stuff in that fitting?

129:21:04 Weitz: That's affirm...

129:21:05 Bean: You probably can, but I don't know.

129:21:06 Weitz: That's affirmative. They had and...

129:21:10 Bean: Oop. (Pause) Okay. The only reason I wondered is in case it...We'll make it work.

129:21:20 Weitz: Rog. The lens will stick up. It's been checked out; the lens will protrude up out of the canister stowage about 6 (or) 7 inches and they then want you to wrap some utility straps around the end of the camera to hold it in place.

[A detail from a photo taken by Frank O'Brien of a LM simulator at the Cradle of Aviation Museum shows the stowage location for utility straps in the Right Hand Side Stowage Compartment (RHSSC).]

[Jones - "That's a new one for me: that you had some spare straps in the LM."]

129:21:52 Weitz: Okay. And one other thing, on your tiedown of this bag with the extra rocks in it, they want you to run an additional strap...Stand by one. (Pause) Okay. After you get the bag secured on the deck there between you, they want an additional strap run from the straps holding the bag down up to the ISA D-ring for additional support. Over.

[As indicated in the diagram, the Interim Stowage Assembly (ISA) is a set of soft-sided stowage bags on a framework that fits over Pete's PLSS when the latter is mounted on the wall behind his flight station. The ISA can also be seen on the left at Neil Armstrong's back in Apollo 11 training photo KSC-69PC-319 scan by Kipp Teague).]

129:22:37 Weitz: Okay. That takes care of our procedure changes this morning. I'll give your families a call and get the word back up to you in about 5 or 10 minutes.

129:22:48 Bean: Sounds good.

129:22:50 Conrad: What's the Yankee Clipper doing, sleeping?

129:22:52 Weitz: Yeah. He's cutting off a few Z's there. (Pause) Clipper's scheduled to sleep until 131:30, and our intention now is to let him sleep until then, if he does.

129:23:13 Conrad: Okay.

129:23:15 Weitz: Okay. I got a couple of messages for you here I'll read up to you. "The officers and crew of the USS Independent or - correction - of the USS Intrepid extend their best wishes to all three of you. They're following your progress closely as you write another intrepid chapter in American history. And, from the blue Caribbean, they wish you smooth sailing on your voyage across the vast ocean of space and their thoughts and prayers are with you."

129:23:47 Conrad: Thank you.

[Long Comm Break]

129:27:55 Conrad: Say, Houston; Intrepid. I'm going to bring the computer out of P06 and put it back to bed again.

129:28:06 Weitz: Stand by. (Long Pause)

[Journal Contributor Marv Hein suggests that, prior to this transmission, Pete brought the computer out of Standby and has run Program 06. This exchange is yet another indication that Apollo 12 was very much Pete's show and that he let Houston in on things when he thought it was appropriate.]

129:28:38 Weitz: That's fine, Pete. (Long Pause)

[Marv Hein notes that Pete's actions here are very similar to what he did at 121:34:11, after the first EVA.]

129:29:02 Weitz: Roger.

[Comm Break]

129:31:23 Conrad: Okay. Go ahead with the consumables update, and then the block data.

129:31:28 Weitz: All right. RCS (Reaction Control System) Alpha is 80 percent; Bravo is 76; oxygen is 76 (percent in the descent tank) and 96 (percent in the ascent tank); water, 47 and 99; and your amp hours (remaining) is 850 and 572.

[These values either agree with or exceed the anticipated values listed in a box on checklist page Sur-65. Those values are 78 and 74 percent for the RCS propellant, 65 and 91 percent for the oxygen; 50 and 100 percent for the water; and 901 and 572 amp-hours for the remaining electric power.]

129:32:51 Bean: Roger, Houston. We copied the consumables updates, and here are the lift-off times 132:11:35. 134:09:59. 136:08:25. 138:06:50.

129:33:07 Weitz: That's affirmative, Al. (Long Pause) Hello, Intrepid; Houston. I have a couple of words on your rendezvous radar self-test and your tapemeter, if you're interested in them now.

129:33:55 LM Crew: Go.

129:33:57 Weitz: Okay. Your rendezvous radar self-test was good. The checklist had the spec ("specification") values, not the actual values, which is the reason for the difference. They ran through them on the ground and it checked out four oh (4.0, meaning "perfect"). Your tapemeter perilune checks were also good. MPAD ran a solution through on the ground here using the actual CSM state vectors. They had been slightly perturbed, and they came up with the same values off the chart as you did.

129:34:30 Bean: Fantastic.

129:34:32 Weitz: How about that?

129:34:38 Bean: Okay. Then you think our tapemeter is going to be accurate during the rendezvous then? We can just use that data?

129:34:45 Weitz: That's affirmative.

[Comm Break]

129:37:37 Weitz: He (Ed Gibson)'ll be with you in a minute, Pete.

129:37:43 Conrad: Okay. (Long Pause)

129:38:17 Gibson: Pete and Al, Houston. We're ready to go with the traverse plan.

129:38:23 Conrad: Ho, ho, ho. Good morning.

129:38:27 Gibson: Good morning, good morning. We can pick it up at LSE 7-6G. I think that is the easiest way to follow it on your map.

129:38:39 Conrad: I have it right in my hand. Go.

[This is the Landing Site 4 traverse planning map, without, of course, the dark line drawn by somebody in Houston on the 'PAO' copy reproduced here.]

[NASA photo S69-59538 shows the actual traverse.]

129:40:18 Bean: Good recovery. (Pause)

129:40:24 Gibson: Take a stereopair of the rock prior to rolling and a stereopair of the track made by the rock after rolling. Okay; that's point 1. Do you copy?

129:40:36 Conrad: Yes, sir! We'll rock and roll! (Hearty LM laughter)

129:40:39 Bean: (Laughing) Hey, we've had a lot of training for that sort of thing on the geology trips we had.

[I asked about 'rocking and rolling' on geology trips.]

[Bean - "Well, all the time when we were doing those geology trips."]

[Conrad - "We were hustling!"]

[Bean - "Even on those when we were hustling, when we'd get up on some of these craters in Hawaii, we'd push rocks along the edge in and see if they'd bounce, and that sort of stuff."]

[Jones - "Normal adult-type stuff."]

[Conrad - (Laughing) "Right!"]

[Bean - "Normal adult stuff, just for fun. And we did more of that (on the early geology trips, before being assigned to Apollo 12). Not so much in the advanced (lunar mission) training. See, I said 'on those geology trips' and that was earlier training when we'd go up to Iceland or something. You know, you had to do something! God! Five or six days on those rock piles. Only a geologist could love it."]

[In his book To a Rocky Moon, Don Wilhelms does not list Pete and Al as being among the more notable geology students but does mention that "by all reports (from the geologists who worked with them on mission-specific training), they seemed interested in the geologic aspects of their mission."]

129:40:52 Gibson: (Laughing; with a good deal of Houston laughter audible in the background) Roger. We've got some happy looking geologists here. We have Uel Clanton back here, and he's betting that somewhere along the traverse, you'll find some "stuff".

129:41:08 Conrad: (Laughing) I think there's stuff all over the place.

[Conrad friend Ulrich Lotzmann has provided a December 2002 sketch of Pete with some 'stuff'. See the discussion following 115:15:47]

129:41:36 Conrad: Yeah. Look, we are going to go the other way around, I think. Let's go to ALSEP and then to (Station) 1. (Pause) That's the Head crater.

129:41:43 Gibson: Okay. Fine. Either way you want it. (Pause) Yeah; looking at the geometry...

129:41:51 Conrad: Okay, let me tell you another thing while you're standing there. I want to tell you, I do have Bench Crater in view from the window; Sharp Crater, I do not. So it looks to me like it would be relatively easy to go to ALSEP (and then) to the coordinates you gave me on Head Crater. And I am looking at it (Head Crater) right now, and I see several rocks which might do what you want us to do (and) which we might be able to roll down the side of that crater. And followed by one astronaut, probably. But anyhow, we will give that a whirl. And then, is the next point you want us to go Sharp? And, if so, let's press.

129:42:45 Gibson: No, Pete. The next one is Bench Crater and then we'd be moving on to Sharp.

129:42:54 Conrad: Okay,...

129:42:55 Gibson: What we would like to do is to move...

129:43:08 Conrad: ...I'd kind of like to do it the other way around and that way I am going around in a circle.

[The Site 4 Traverse has the Bench Crater stop - location "b" - on the southwest rim and, without moving that point, going to Sharp first would keep the crew from having to backtrack.]

129:43:24 Conrad: Okay. I'm with you. Give me the coordinates and we'll do it your way.

129:43:30 Gibson: Okay. Coordinates on that would be M-0 and 10.0, so you would be up on the north side.

129:43:32 Conrad: Great minds think alike. That is where I was poised (with his pencil).

[In the following transmission, the ‘plan’ Gibson mentions is probably a discussion of tasks for the EVA-2 traverse layed out for a landing at Site 4 near Sharp Crater. The task discussion is part of the LM Lunar Surface Maps package.]

129:44:08 Bean: I understand.

[At this point in Apollo, no one has a good handle on the depth of the regolith. However, two good indications are expected to be the depth of craters which have numerous boulders on their rims, and the depth of benches seen in larger craters. The bench, presumably, represents the point where the strength of the material being encountered by the impact object increased from that of soil to that of the underlying bedrock. In Bench Crater, the break in slope that characterizes a bench could be picked out in high-resolution Lunar Orbiter photos of the site.]

129:44:26 Conrad: Okay.

[As can be seen from the location of the white dotted line on LSE-7G, Bench Crater is near the supposed edge of the Copernican ray and the geologists want them to see if there are any visual differences looking along the contact and out across the ray. There weren't.]

[Ulli Lotzmann has provided an annotated telescopic view. Copernicus is the large, rayed crater north of the yellow box.]

129:45:11 Bean: Hold on for a second, Houston.

129:45:13 Gibson: Okay. (Long Pause)

129:45:31 Conrad: Okay. Go ahead. Houston.

129:45:35 Gibson: Okay. Last point on Sharp Crater is sample and describe differences across the contact of M-1/M-2 (as is marked in the upper left of the map), if it is apparent when you reach that region. (Pause) On your map, that shows up as a dotted line running northwest-southeast.

129:45:59 Conrad: Yeah. We've got it. (Pause) I can tell you right now, it is going to be pretty darn hard to do that. (If) you're looking cross-Sun, the material looks all the same. Looking down-Sun, it looks all the same, except it's a different color (than the cross-Sun color).

129:46:17 Gibson: Roger.

129:46:18 Conrad: It's really weird. I'm sure that you can see the stuff from far out; but down here, it might as well all be the same until you get right up on top of an individual rock.

129:46:28 Gibson: Roger; understand. Probably you might not see any color differences, but if you could keep your eye open for differences in rock types (and/or textures). (Pause) Moving on to the fourth point...

129:46:38 Conrad: We will.

129:46:40 Gibson: ...which is Halo Crater, as we have it called out there. At this point, you can try to join the two core tubes together and core through the thin ejecta of Crater 6, or Halo Crater. When you do that, you'll have to pull the pip pin off the one core tube which you make the bottom tube.

[Each of the core tubes contains a follower, which is an internal cap which sits on top of the entering soil. Once the core is extracted, an external cap is put on the bit end.]

[Bean - "I think the pin kept the follower from going out the back end. So that, then, when you put the cap on the front, you got it kind of stopped at both ends. By pulling out the pin, see, it let the follower - theoretically - go right into the second and up against the next follower. So you're pushing two followers up with the dirt. Otherwise, no matter if you drove ten, they'd never go over one depth."]

[Bean - "I think that (pin) kept us from having a cap on both ends, because then the follower acted as the cap for one end. And then we took off the bit - which I took one home, as you know - and then you put on the little cap and put them in the bag. Otherwise, carrying them around, that little follower could fall out and all the dirt would fall out in the bag."]

129:47:05 Conrad: Understand.

129:47:06 Gibson: ...and, if the tubes can't be joined, just take one on the rim and then one about 100 feet west of that location.

[As indicated in the description of anticipated tasks for the Site 4 traverse, the geologists expected to find, at Halo, "fresh material of young exposure age" which might "possibly be the least weathered materials on the traverse. The station is a compromise between distance from contamination sources (that is, the LM) and the availability of tools." They wanted a "core tube through the thin Halo Crater ejecta" into the presumably older material below. A double core would give them a longer section of the regolith column. At this early stage of Apollo, no one yet has a good feel for the rate at which the soil is overturned and mixed by impacts which don't penetrate to bedrock - the so-called gardening process.]

129:48:01 Conrad: Okay.

[Each small impact digs a crater in the regolith, throwing the ejecta out to a distance of two or three crater radii. If there are any rocks within this distance, the ejecta will splash against the rocks and form skirts of dirt - the fillets - on the sides toward the impact. Rocks on an older, weathered surface, will have skirts built up as the result of many nearby impacts and the skirts will tend to be symmetric. However, rocks on a young surface may show filleting from only one or two local impacts and, if so, would have asymmetric fillets which would yield information about the mechanics of the gardening process.]

[A sketch of the proposed traverse can be seen on map LSE 7-6G in the PAO copy of the map set.]

[The sketch map linked above seems to take into account (1) Pete's comments during EVA-1 about how steep a slope Surveyor III seemed to be sitting on and (2) his thought after the EVA at 121:16:33 that it might be a good idea to enter the crater from the west. For the moment, Gibson doesn't mention Houston's ideas on approaching the spacecraft at this point, probably because only Pete and Al can properly judge the circumstances. Ed does make one passing reference to the idea of approaching from the west at 133:36:55 when Pete and Al are taking a short rest before going into Surveyor Crater, suggesting that they avoid approaching from directly below the spacecraft. See the discussion associated with LSE 7-6G.]

129:49:35 Conrad: Okay. Now, the cover should be off; is that right?

129:49:41 Gibson: That's affirmative.

129:49:46 Conrad: If it's not off, should we try and take it off for you?

129:49:51 Gibson: Stand by. (Long Pause while Gibson gets an answer from the Principal Investigator)

129:50:12 Gibson: Pete, that's negative. If it's on there, leave it as it is.

129:50:22 Conrad: Understand.

[Long Comm Break]

MP3 Audio Clip ( 16 min 01 sec )
starts at about 129:53:54.

129:54:31 Conrad: Houston, one quickie. Do you want a core tube at Head Crater, or do you want us to skip that one?

129:54:39 Gibson: Stand by.

[Comm Break]

129:56:02 Bean: Understand. (Long Pause)

[At Sharp Crater they will be farther away from the LM than at any other point on the traverse and, therefore, they will have their best chance of collecting samples uncontaminated by micro-organisms brought from Earth. On the remote chance of finding non-terrestrial micro-organisms that might exist in the regolith, they will seal the "biological" core tube taken at Sharp in a vacuum can which, in turn, will be sealed inside the rock box. This double vacuum protection will then increase the chance that any biological materials found in the core are of lunar - rather than terrestrial - origin. No evidence of non-terrestrial biological activity was ever found in any of the Apollo samples.]

129:56:59 Bean: Thank you, Houston. That's a good way to do it.

129:57:03 Gibson: It'll be in about another 3 minutes that we're handing over.

[Very Long Comm Break. As seen from the Moon, the receiving station at Madrid is just rotating out of sight and, for the next eight hours or so, communications will be handled by the Goldstone receiving station in California. Ed's warning about the handover is a response to a request Pete made at 119:01:51 when the Honeysuckle-to-Madrid handover was made at the end of EVA-1.]

130:10:08 Bean: Houston, Intrepid.

130:10:10 Gibson: Intrepid, Houston. Go ahead.

130:10:15 Bean: A real interesting thing has happened to that solar wind collector. It's been sitting out there since yesterday, of course; and, when I left if yesterday, it was just a flat sheet of foil - you know - restrained at both ends; but as I look out there now, starting maybe a foot from the top, it has sort of folded back around the pole that's holding it. Looks almost like a sail in the wind around the pole. It's sort of bulging in the front and being bent back on the sides. It's real crazy. (Pause: Garbled under Gibson)

130:10:50 Gibson: We've got a fairly strong solar wind, I suspect, Al.

130:10:58 Bean: You may think you're kidding; I don't know.

130:11:01 Gibson: No, Al. I won't think you'd be kidding. It could be, maybe, the front part of that is just thermally expanding a lot more than the back. The back's probably radiating and the front's probably very hot. And just a thermal difference across it could do it. I'm meeting with a lot of approval back here on that idea.

130:11:22 Bean: Yeah, well, it looks like it's wrapped around the pole...That's the funny thing. It looks like the wind is blowing on it.

130:11:33 Gibson: Well, we've got two good ideas, so far. Maybe we can come up with a third.

[Very Long Comm Break. As Al will discover when he gets outside at 132:07:59, he is being fooled by the lighting. The solar wind panel is hanging normally.]

[As Pete indicates in the following exchange, they are near the bottom right-hand column of Sur-67 or, about 132:05 in the nominal flight plan. They called Houston an hour early and, by eating as they worked and/or talked to Houston, have gained another half hour. Readers following along in the checklist should note that the "-0:20" at the upper right of Sur-67 actually denotes 1 hour 20 minutes prior to the final depress, which was scheduled for 133:05. On the top of Sur-68, the "-0:59" denotes 59 minutes prior to the final depress and so on through the pages leading up to the final depress at :00 on Sur-72.]

[PAO announces at 130:26 that the change-of-shift press conference will begin 'shortly'.]

130:31:55 Gibson: Intrepid, Houston. Go ahead.

130:32:00 Conrad: Rog. The (Primary ECS) LiOH canister was changed out at 130:00:00. EVA Prep is almost complete to PLSS donning. We're just putting the stuff (an anti-fog agent) on our visors.

130:32:16 Gibson: Roger, Pete. We copy.

130:32:18 Conrad: Excuse me; "material".

130:32:23 CapCom: Copy.

[Long Comm Break. The person who replied to Pete's "material" may not have been Ed Gibson.]

[Conrad - "I called everything 'stuff', which was a real problem for Uel Clanton, who was with us through most of the geology training. Sometimes, when we'd have (field) exercises, all the heavies would come in."]

[Bean - "His bosses, the people that knew he was supposed to be training us."]

[Conrad - "And I'd keep calling it 'stuff'. And they kept saying 'that dumb sumbitch doesn't know anything.'"]

[Bean - (Laughing) "It reflected on him."]

[Conrad - "Uel really did tell me, you know, that they had this pool going down there (in Houston). And the other guys thought they were going to make a lot of money. Because they had a bet. Because Uel said, 'Don't worry, he won't do that when he's on the lunar surface. He'll use the right terms.' And so Uel was going to have to pay somebody a buck every time I said 'stuff'. (Laughing) I was very conscious of always saying 'material'. And, actually, I don't think I screwed up on the lunar surface. It was only in the spacecraft, when I wasn't thinking about it."]

[In the interest of historical accuracy - and with tongue firmly in cheek - I am forced to note that, although Captain Conrad made no use of the noun form of the word "stuff" in a geologic context while on the lunar surface during the first EVA - that is, discounting all usage of the verb form "to stuff", all usage of the noun form in a non-geologic context, and all usage of the noun form in a geologic context while inside the spacecraft - he had numerous lapses during the second EVA. Indeed, after finding seven unmistakable uses of the noun form in a geologic context during the first hour of the second EVA, I gave up searching.]

[The reason for these lapses is, of course, that Pete got too interested in the geology to pay attention to what he was saying and, after a further apology or two to Uel Clanton, got on with the work. In a 1995 conversation, Clanton told me that Pete's repeated transgressions cost him a total of $14.]

[Journal Contributor Dave Hardin counts 11 uses of "stuff" in a geologic context during EVA-2 by Pete and two - at 133:02:56 and 134:46:41 - by Al.]

[At 130:35, PAO discontinues the live feed ('release line') for the duration of the press conference.]

130:36:28 Gibson: Intrepid, Houston.

130:36:33 Bean: Go.

130:36:35 Gibson: Will you confirm that you did keep the bracket on the engine cover for TV camera stowage rather than putting it in the jettison bag - that is the ECS LiOH (garbled).

130:36:48 Bean: You better believe it; it's still there.

130:36:51 Gibson: Roger.

[Long Comm Break]

130:44:25 Conrad: Go ahead.

130:44:27 Gibson: Intrepid, one additional word on the CCIG. When you're...When you go out to the CCIG, we will leave the power on to the instrument and we'd like you to tell us what its status is before you touch it. If the status is such that we want it left in that configuration, you'll just move on. If you have to change its configuration, then we'll have to turn the power off and we'd like you to hold off going near it until we give you the clearance. We'll give you a reminder of this when you're on the way out.

130:45:06 Conrad: Understand.

[Long Comm Break]

130:49:08 Conrad: Go.

130:49:12 Gibson: Pete, Jane (garbled) sends her congratulations for a job well done. And Al, Sue has followed it all and is thrilled that you've really made it on the money. The children are fine; tired but happy, and they're going to continue following all the way through the second EVA.

130:49:36 Bean: Thank you, Ed.

130:49:37 Conrad: Roger; thank you.

[Long Comm Break]

130:56:15 Gibson: Roger, Intrepid. We're standing by.

130:56:22 Conrad: We're at the PLSS comm check, if you want to follow it.

130:56:25 Gibson: Roger. We're with you.

[Comm Break]

[As can be seen on page 3-108 of the Apollo 12 Flight Plan Revision B, they are at about 132:26 in the flight plan and are now about 1 hour 30 minutes ahead. As can be seen in the far right column, about 39 minutes are allocated for the remaining pre-EVA activities. In doing them, Pete and Al will gain another 10 minutes. For this EVA Prep, they are models of efficiency.]

130:57:55 Gibson: Intrepid, Houston. We read you loud and clear.

130:58:02 Bean: Roger. I just went to FM and TV and was unable to contact you. Had you all switched over to FM? Over.

130:58:10 Gibson: Stand by on that, Al. (Long Pause)

MP3 Audio Clip ( 37 min 33 sec )
starts at about 130:58:53

130:59:27 Gibson: Intrepid, Houston. We're configured for the FM. Let's give it another go.

130:59:34 Bean: Coming at you. (static; Long Pause)

131:00:17 Bean: Houston; Intrepid.

131:00:20 Gibson: Intrepid, Houston.

131:00:22 Bean: Okay. How do you read?

131:00:24 Gibson: We read you loud and clear.

131:00:28 Bean: Okay. We've got the TV going right now, also.

131:00:30 Gibson: Roger. (Pause)

RealVideo Clip ( 3 min 33 sec )

131:00:40 Conrad: (To Bean, who can be heard faintly responding to this comm checklist) VHF A Transmit/Receive; B, Receive; (now on Sur-69) LMP S-Band, T/R; ICS, T/R; Relay, On; Mode, VOX; (Pause) VHF A, Transmit/Receive; VHF B, Receive. Here come your Comm: VHF, Voice, On, Off, On, Off, High; Range, Off/Reset; Squelch A and B noise threshold plus 1-1/2; (Tape) recorder, On.

131:02:12 Bean (on-board): It's On.

131:02:12 Conrad: VHF Antenna to EVA.

131:02:14 Bean (on-board): EVA.

131:02:15 Conrad: Uplink Squelch, Enable.

131:02:16 Bean (on-board): Uplink Squelch is Enabled.

131:02:17 Conrad: LMP connect to PLSS Comm, audio CB.

131:02:18 Bean (on-board): Okay.

131:02:19 Conrad: (Garbled) PLSS mode, LMP, to A.

131:02:20 Bean: A.

131:02:23 Conrad: Hello there.

131:02:24 Bean: Read you loud and clear, Pete.

131:02:26 Conrad: Read you the same. Should have a (warning) tone on, a vent flag, a P (flag), and a Press flag O.

131:02:30 Bean: Got them.

131:02:31 Conrad: PLSS O2 Press gauge greater than 75 (percent).

131:02:33 Bean: It is.

131:02:34 Conrad: We have a good Comm check with me. No. I'm sorry, we don't need that. Commander going to PLSS Comm.

131:02:41 Bean: Okey-doke.

131:02:42 Conrad: Hold the (cue) card. (Long Pause)

[They are now at the top of the right-hand column on Sur-69.]

131:03:56 Conrad: Hello there. I read you loud and clear. I got a press O flag.

131:03:58 Bean: Read you the same.

131:04:00 Conrad: I got an O2 flag and I've got 80 percent (oxygen).

[The J mission crews had much higher percentages after a morning top-off of their oxygen tanks.]

131:04:10 Conrad: I've got an O2, Press, and a vent.

131:04:12 Bean: O2 will go out in a minute. Okay?

131:04:14 Conrad: Yeah.

131:04:15 Bean: Okay. PLSS O2 greater than 75?

131:04:16 Conrad: Yep.

131:04:17 Bean: Okay. Perform Comm (check with LMP)...Did that. PLSS mode...I'll go B and you go A. (Pause) How do you hear?

131:04:26 Conrad: Loud and clear.

131:04:27 Bean: Read you the same. Okay. PLSS mode, both of them, AR.

131:04:31 Conrad: Okay

131:04:32 Bean: How do you read?

131:04:33 Conrad: Loud and clear.

131:04:39 Bean: Houston, Intrepid. How do you read?

131:04:42 Gibson: Intrepid, we read you both loud and clear.

131:04:46 Conrad: Very good. Very good.

131:04:48 Bean: Okay, Houston, LMP's O2 quantity is 80 percent.

131:04:53 Gibson: 80 Percent. Copied.

131:04:55 Bean: Okay. And CDR, 80 percent also.

131:04:58 Gibson: Roger.

131:05:01 Bean: Okay. We are opening the TV circuit breaker right now.

131:05:04 Gibson: Roger.

[They will now do the procedures on Sur-70.]

131:05:18 Conrad: Okay.

131:05:20 Bean: Okay, Verify ECS Caution and H2O Sep(arator) component lights (are) On. Be on in a minute. (Pause) Yeah. Okay. Suit Gas Diverter (Valve), Pull/Egress.

131:05:30 Conrad: I'll get it.

131:05:31 Bean: Okay. (Pause)

131:05:34 Conrad: Pull/Egress.

131:05:35 Bean: Okay. Cabin Gas Return to Egress (Pause)

131:05:39 Conrad: Cabin Gas Return to Egress.

131:05:41 Bean: And verify that the Suit Circuit Relief (valve) is in Auto.

131:05:44 Conrad: Suit Circuit Relief is in Auto.

131:05:46 Bean: Okay. Connect to the OPSs.

131:05:50 Conrad: Okay. (Pause) Just a second. (Pause) There is your hose. Let me button your flap.

131:06:03 Bean: All right. (Long Pause)

131:06:24 Conrad: Now, if you'll turn the other way, I'll get your other side.

131:06:26 Bean: Just a second. (Long Pause) Okay. (I'll) turn to the right here. (Pause) Better? (Pause)

131:06:59 Conrad: (Garbled)

131:07:03 Bean: (Garbled) this way. (Pause)

131:07:07 Conrad: Easy does her. That's a boy. Master caution...

131:07:11 LM Crew: ...and H2O Sep light, and an ECS light.

131:07:13 Bean: That's the ones we wanted.

131:07:15 Conrad: Yep. Okay. Now, let me get it. Where are you going?

131:07:20 Bean: Down here just a little bit. (Pause)

131:07:25 Conrad: Why can't I get that to snap? Can't see, that's...(Pause) Okay, that's all snapped. Okay?

131:07:29 Bean: Okay. (Pause)

[I interpret the dialog here to mean that Pete has just snapped Al's OPS hose to the side of his PLSS. Although the next few lines are difficult to reconcile with the checklist, this may be the place where Pete changes Al's Suit Isolation Valve to Suit Disconnect, disconnects his LM oxygen hose, and connects his OPS hose to his suit.]

131:07:45 Bean: Okay. Did you trim this thing out here?

131:07:46 Conrad: Yeah. That's (garbled).

131:07:47 Bean: Okay. Let me do that to you now.

131:07:49 Conrad: Okay.

131:07:51 Bean: And we throw in a couple of purge valves then.

131:07:53 Conrad: Yes, I got the purge valves right now.

131:07:56 Bean: Okay.

131:07:58 Conrad: Let's just finish you off.

131:08:00 Bean: Okay. (Long Pause)

[Another possibility is that Pete is working on Al's hoses at this point.]

131:08:22 Conrad: Yes, sir.

131:08:22 Bean: Okay.

131:08:23 Conrad: It's verified locked.

131:08:24 Bean: Okay. Let me check you. Yours is in. And let me disconnect you from your (LM) suit hoses.

131:08:30 Conrad: Okay.

131:08:31 Bean: You're disconnect. (Pause) Okay; that's good. (Pause)

[Al probably has just changed Pete's Suit Isolation valve to Suit Disconnect.]

131:08:47 Bean: Okay. Tuck this in. (Long Pause)

131:09:01 Conrad: It's not in. You're going to have to do that; I can't see it.

131:09:04 Bean: I'll do it. (Pause) Okay. What you have to do...

131:09:10 Conrad: Purge valve.

131:09:11 Bean: Okay. Get it started and rotate it with...And then counter-rotate. There you go. (Pause) That's locked and that's locked; while I'm down here, let me...That's locked. Locked.

131:09:23 Conrad: Okay.

131:09:24 Bean: That's it.

131:09:25 Conrad: Hoses under the flap, huh? Let me check all yours. 1, 2.

131:09:30 Bean: Okay.

131:09:31 Conrad: Safety's in; safety's in; safety's in and that safety's in. Okay. They look good. (Pause)

[These "safeties" are the lock-locks of other missions. Each of the ring locks on the connectors has a safety which prevents the ring from opening accidentally.]

131:09:44 Conrad: Yeah.

131:09:45 Bean: Mine is. Okay. Take a drink (from the water gun (photo by Mick Hyde)) and (then) Descent H2O (valve), Closed.

131:09:48 Conrad: Okay. (Long Pause) Okay. (Long Pause)

[They are now at the top of the right-hand column on Sur-70 and the dialog becomes easy to follow again.]

131:10:31 Conrad: Okay.

131:10:33 Bean: Position mike.

131:10:36 Conrad: Okay.

131:10:37 Bean: PLSS fans, On.

131:10:38 Conrad: On.

131:10:39 Bean: "Vent flag (pause) (will clear in a minute). Don helmets, then visors."

131:10:45 Conrad: Okay. (Pause)

131:10:48 Bean: This one is yours.

131:10:51 Conrad: Okay.

131:10:52 Bean: Hold that. (Long Pause)

131:11:10 Conrad: Okey-dokey. (Long Pause; audible click) You got it.

131:11:28 Bean: Helmet's locked. (Long Pause; audible click)

131:11:44 Conrad: That sounded real good.

131:11:46 Bean: Yep.

131:11:49 Conrad: And your helmet is locked.

131:11:51 Bean: Okay.

131:11:52 Conrad: Hold still and I'll put this (LEVA) on.

131:11:53 Bean: All right. A bit cool in here today. Give you a little chilldown with this LCG.

[As they did prior to EVA-1, they are running the ECS LCG pump to cool themselves down before disconnecting from the LM water supply. They will not turn the PLSS cooling system on until the hatch is open, and they don't want to overheat.]

131:12:14 Bean: Wait a second.

131:12:17 Conrad: (Garbled) first, let me get it all down in the back and everything. Okay, hysters (that is, hoisters or self-doffing straps).

131:12:23 Bean: Okay. You got it.

131:12:25 Gibson: Intrepid, Houston.

131:12:26 Bean: (Garbled)

131:12:29 Conrad: Go, Houston.

131:12:31 Gibson: In looking at the TV, it appears we'll be leaving the TV off for this, so if you would keep that circuit breaker out and go to S-Band mode PM.

131:12:44 Bean: Okay. We'll do it in just a minute. (Pause)

131:12:55 Bean: (To Conrad) Okay. Up. Okay, Pete; look up.

131:13:05 Conrad: Houston, I'm sure sorry the TV didn't work. It's a beautiful sight to see Intrepid and Surveyor sitting here on this crater.

131:13:16 Gibson: Roger, Pete. We'll be waiting for those (70mm) pictures. (Pause)

131:13:25 Bean: Okay, lift up your PLSS.

131:13:26 Conrad: Okay. (Pause)

131:13:34 Bean: Okay. You're all buttoned in.

131:13:37 Conrad: Beautiful.

131:13:38 Bean: Okay. Next.

131:13:39 Conrad: Here's a pair of gloves for you.

131:13:41 Bean: Okay. "PLSS fan on; don helmet and visors." Okay. "LCG pump (circuit breaker) open." Okay. Right now.

131:13:49 Conrad: Okay. And you might as well get the TV and S-band reconfigured.

131:13:53 Bean: Okay. TV's still out, of course. (To Gibson) Okay. We're going to PM, Houston.

131:13:58 Gibson: Roger.

131:13:59 Bean: There's PM and (garbled) (Pause) "Disconnect LM (H2O) hoses and connect PLSS H2O hose and stow LM hoses." (Pause) Okay. (Pause) I'm going to turn around here, Pete.

131:14:31 Conrad: Okay. And I've got my (LM H2O) hoses off. How come we don't have our gloves on yet?

[Because of the difficulty of working with the gloves on, donning them is virtually the last step before cabin depressurization.]

131:14:41 Conrad: Okay. Very good. Can't see the checklist, that's all. (Pause) Go ahead and get all snakied-up (that is, get the PLSS hoses connected) there.

131:14:49 Bean: Okay. (Long Pause)

131:15:07 Conrad: Okay, my PLSS water is hooked up.

131:15:10 Bean: Okay, let me turn around.

131:15:12 Conrad: Okay; and I'm ready to do the hoses, (that is, stow the LM water hoses in brackets on the wall behind Al).

131:15:14 Bean: Okay. Get yours routed and hand them to me and I'll stick them in.

131:15:17 Conrad: Okay; coming up and over.

131:15:18 Bean: Okay.

131:15:19 Conrad: Turn around real easy. (Pause) Wait a minute, I've got to get over there (garbled). Coming over. (Long Pause) (What) am I hung up against?

131:15:55 Bean: I don't know; let me see. You look okay.

131:15:58 Conrad: I can't move in for some reason.

131:16:01 Bean: Move over my way just a little way.

131:16:03 Conrad: Never mind, I'm going to do it with these.

131:16:05 Bean: All right. You're kind of hung up on the flight data file.

[The data file is located behind Pete's station, on the leftside bulkhead above the place on the wall where his PLSS is stowed when not in use. Linked photo taken in 2002 by Frank O'Brien of a LM simulator at the Cradle of Aviation Museum.]

131:16:14 Bean: Looks good to me.

131:16:15 Conrad: Okay, that's pretty steamy. Here's a pair of gloves for you.

131:16:17 Bean: Let me grab that checklist again.

131:16:18 Conrad: Okay. (Pause)

131:16:26 Bean: "Verify the following: helmet and visors, locked and adjusted."

131:16:31 Conrad: You're okay.

131:16:38 Bean: Okay, you're locked and adjusted. (Pause) Okay, torso tiedown adjusted.

131:16:47 Conrad: I can see that you are locked. I can see it. (You're) in good shape.

131:16:53 Bean: Okay.

131:16:54 Conrad: Okay, torso tiedown.

131:16:55 Bean: Mine's okay.

131:16:56 Conrad: Mine's okay, too.

131:16:58 Bean: Okay. O2 connectors. Let me check all yours, then you can check all mine. (Pause) Those are vertical (garbled) locked. (Pause) Comm (connector) is locked; let me see about your water. (Pause) Water's locked. Everything's locked.

131:17:29 Conrad: Okay, you look good. I've been over these a couple of times, every safety...

131:17:32 Bean: Does the water look good?

131:17:33 Conrad: And I checked your water. It's in; it's locked; pins are flush.

131:17:38 Bean: Okay. Purge valves are all in. Okay, don EV gloves and lock them up.

131:17:48 Conrad: Okay, here's a pair for you. (Pause)

131:17:53 Bean: Thank you.

[Comm Break. They are now on Sur-71.]

131:19:18 Bean: The right one of mine didn't want to do it either. Take it off again. (Long Pause)

[Donning the gloves was never an easy task. The glove fitted into the wrist assembly fairly easily but, in order to operate the lock ring, you had to grasp two widely spaced tabs with the thumb and forefinger of the other hand, pull them toward the fingers of the glove and rotate the lock ring. Once that was done, you pushed in a lock-lock to secure the ring.]

131:19:38 Bean: (Showing Pete his glove) Pete? (Pause)

131:19:41 Conrad: Verified.

131:19:42 Bean: (To Pete) Pull this one open (for me). (Pause) Just a sec. (Pause)

131:19:56 Conrad: Why don't you just let me have it?

131:19:58 Bean: Okay. (Pause)

131:20:04 Conrad: There you go. (Long Pause) What's the matter?

131:20:20 Bean: This...this...(Pause)

131:20:23 Conrad: There you go. Now do it; push your (wrist lock) button down.

131:20:26 Bean: Turn yours in a smidgen.

131:20:28 Conrad: Huh?

131:20:30 Bean: Do it this way. (Pause)

131:20:40 Conrad: The left-hand one hangs up.

131:20:43 Bean: Doesn't want to do it, does it? There it did. I can't do it with your...(Pause)

131:20:52 Conrad: (Garbled) in there?

131:20:55 Bean: (Garbled) (Pause)

131:21:06 Conrad: It never fails, does it? The one time you don't want something to hang up (garbled) it's (the bubble helmet) going to start fogging up. There you go; let me look at it.

131:21:18 Bean: Got her.

131:21:19 Conrad: (Garbled) glove is out of there.

131:21:25 Bean: Everything looks good. (Pause) Can you see that lock?

131:21:34 Conrad: Okay; verify mine. (Pause)

131:21:38 Bean: I can't see it. (Garbled) That's locked. See this one. (Pause) It's locked. (Long Pause)

131:22:20 Bean: (PLSS) diverter (valve) is Min; (garbled) going to (PLSS LCG) pump on. (Long Pause)

131:22:36 Conrad: Verify it's locked. (Long Pause) (Garbled) tie this thing.

131:23:01 Bean: Okay. (Pause)

131:23:06 Conrad: Locked?

131:23:07 Bean: Yes, sir. (Pause) "PLSS Diverter, Min. PLSS pump (on to circulate water through the LCG)."

131:23:21 Conrad: My pump's On and I'm beginning to be sucked down. Let's get the cabin (that is, Pressure Regulators A and B) to Egress.

[Now that they have their helmets and gloves on, the suits are collapsing due to breathe down.]

131:23:27 Conrad: Press (Regs A & B).

131:23:28 Bean: Can you get them?

131:23:29 Conrad: Egress.

131:23:30 LM Crew: (Garbled)

131:23:31 Bean: Egress.

131:23:32 Conrad: Okay. The jettison bag is up. (As per Surface checklist page 67) the LHSSC (Left-Hand-Side Storage Container) is unstrapped. (As per checklist page 71) it's got (used) PLSS batteries (and) Li(OH) cartridges, (food waste, and urine bags).

131:23:40 Bean: (And) all the other (things)?

131:23:41 Conrad: Yeah.

131:23:42 Bean: Position ETB on engine cover.

131:23:44 Conrad: Where is it? (Pause)

131:23:48 Bean: Right here.

131:23:49 Conrad: Okay.

131:23:51 Bean: There you go.

131:23:54 Conrad: (Garbled), I got her.

131:23:55 Bean: Okay.

131:23:56 Conrad: Turn around.

131:23:57 Bean: Okay.

131:23:59 Conrad: Put it back on the engine cover that way.

131:24:01 Bean: Don't hurry. Let me get my CB (garbled under Pete).

[The next step is to verify the circuit breaker configuration on the panels on both sides of the cabin. In the following transmission, Pete is talking himself through his circuit breaker panel ( CB(11) ), comparing the breaker configuration with a cue card identical to checklist page Sur-22 (re-drafted by Thomas Schwagmeier). He starts on the bottom row. Note that the number printed to the right of each row is the number of breakers in the row that should be open. The open breakers are indicated by white dots, the closed breakers by black dots. His progress through the panel is a little hard to follow because he doesn't verbalize every check breaker or group of checked breakers. Note that his initial "One ‘in', one ‘out'" only makes sense if he is starting the first row (on the bottom of the diagram) from the right. Al's circuit-breaker panel is CB(16) and his changes are indicated on Sur-23.]

[During Apollo 11, Buzz broke off a circuit breaker with a corner of his PLSS and, for Apollo 12, guards were added to reduce the chances of either another broken breaker or of an ‘out' breaker being pushed ‘in'. A comparison between details from Apollo 11 LM inspection photo and Apollo 12 LM Close-out photo LM6-co07 illustrate differences between the circuit-breaker guards in the two spacecraft. Only the guard labelled 'c', appears not to have been modified.]

131:24:58 Bean: Okay. Same here. They all look good.

131:24:59 Conrad: Ready for a Press Integ(rity) check.

[That is, a pressure integrity check of the suits.]

131:25:14 Conrad: Yeah. Oh boy, does that feel better (with the suit partially inflated and no longer hanging on him)! (Pause) Got a O2 "O" flag; Press O flag.

131:25:15 Bean: Pressure's coming up good. (Long Pause)

131:25:45 Gordon: Hello Houston; Yankee Clipper.

131:25:49 Gibson: Yankee Clipper; Houston. We read you loud and clear. Good morning.

131:25:55 Gordon: Ah, good morning. (Garbled) Yankee Clipper. (Garbled); the batteries are on charge...

131:26:04 Conrad: Coming up. (Pause)

131:26:04 Gordon: ...the crew is ready for work; and Yankee Clipper's reporting for duty, sir.

131:26:08 Gibson: Roger, Dick. Your two friends are moving right ahead. They're just about ready to egress. They're running about an hour and a half ahead of time. They're pretty anxious to get out.

131:26:19 Gordon: Sounds good.

[The remainder of the conversation between Gibson and Gordon is omitted.]

131:26:27 Conrad: Okay.

131:26:33 Bean: Mine decided to regulate at 3.9 (psi) for some reason.

[The suits normally regulate at a pressure closer to 3.8 psi. However, the acceptable range is 3.7 to 4.0 psi and, consequently, this is only a matter of curiosity.]

131:26:40 Bean: You ready? (Pause)

131:26:45 Conrad: Okay.

131:26:47 Bean: See what that says.

131:26:48 Conrad: Mine's off.

131:26:49 Bean: Okay. Let's time it. We'll reset (the Digital Event Timer, or DET).

131:26:51 Conrad: Stop. (Garbled), thanks.

131:26:54 Bean: (Garbled) (Long Pause)

[Having turned the flow of oxygen off again, they are watching the slow decrease due to breathe-down and minor leaks. A decrease of more than 0.3 psi in one minute would indicate a suit leak. Usually, the decrease is only about 0.1 to 0.2 psi in one minute. On later missions, the astronauts will report the starting pressures and decreases to Houston.]

131:27:42 Pogue: Stand by, Pete. (Pause) You are Go for EVA, Pete.

131:27:50 Conrad: Okay, I'm going to get my ox(ygen back on). (Answering Pogue) Roger.

[Gibson has been reading engineering data up to Gordon and, in the interim, astronaut William Pogue is handling the LM CapCom chores.]

131:27:56 Conrad: Get my oxygen back on.

131:27:57 Bean: Okay. Same here. (Pause)

131:28:00 Conrad: My oxygen's back on. (Pause) There, I got a tone, and an O(2 flag, as expected). Looks good.

131:28:09 Bean: Confirmed. Okay, "Cabin Repress valve, Close".

131:28:12 Conrad: Okay. I'll get it.

[Again, it is easier for Pete to reach behind Al to get the ECS valve controls than for Al to turn around to get them.]

131:28:19 Conrad: Cabin Repress valve, Closed.

131:28:22 Bean: Okay.

131:28:23 Conrad: Wait a minute; it's not all the way. Okay, Closed. What else?

131:28:28 Bean: Okay. I'm going to drop the cabin (pressure) now through the forward dump valve. (Pause) Excuse me?

131:28:33 Conrad: You're hung up on something. You okay?

131:28:36 Bean: Not a lot of room.

131:28:39 Conrad: Yup. (Long Pause) Okay; 4 (psi); 3-1/2. There you go. (Pause) Okay.

[Under normal conditions, the cabin pressure is maintained at 4.6 psi. They have opened the dump valve, let the cabin pressure drop to 3.5 psi, and then closed the valve again so that they can watch the response of the suit pressure regulators and of the ECS.]

[As is shown in Figure 7-4 in the Apollo 12 Preliminary Science Report, the Cold Cathode Ion Gauge (CCIG) Pete and Al deployed during EVA-1 recorded the arrival of the vented oxygen. Similar experiments deployed by the Apollo 14 and Apollo 15 crews recorded arrivals in sufficient detail that the signal due to the initial venting down to 3.5 psia can be distinguished from the subsequent full depressurization.

131:29:05 Conrad: Okay, the suit loop (clears throat) is 4.1...

131:29:09 Bean: Mine's 4 8.

131:29:10 Conrad: ...my cuff gauge is 4.95.

131:29:13 Bean: Okay, cabin at 3.5.

131:29:15 Conrad: It is?

131:29:16 Bean: Yeah. LM suit circuit 3.6 to 4.3?

131:29:20 Conrad: It is.

131:29:22 Bean: PGA (Pressure Garment Assembly, the suit) greater than 4.8?

131:29:24 Conrad: And decaying.

131:29:25 Bean: Looks good.

131:29:26 Conrad: Go.

131:29:27 Bean: Start your watch.

[Conrad - "So we did start our watches. He's calling it out. So we started our watches at depress."]

[They are probably using the stopwatch function to time the EVA. See the discussion at 115:32:45.]

131:29:33 Bean: Got it started?

131:29:34 Conrad: Yeah.

131:29:36 Bean: Forward Dump valve to Open.

131:29:39 Conrad: It's Open.

131:29:42 Bean: Coming down, Pete. (Long Pause)

131:29:59 Conrad: Is something open?

131:30:00 Bean: No, that little (garbled) cap popped off. (Pause)

131:30:14 Conrad: Cabin's one pound.

131:30:15 Bean: Okay. (Long Pause)

131:30:29 Conrad: And I'm 5.0, and the suit loop is 4.0, and the cabin is a half. About 0.6 (psi).

131:30:35 Bean: Okay. (Long Pause)

[The hatch can be pulled open at about 0.2 psi. At pressures above 0.35, if the crew pulled hard enough, they would break the handle without opening or damaging the hatch. Note that Gibson is still talking with Gordon.]

131:31:02 Conrad: Roger. It looks good up here. (To Al) Okay, there goes a H2O (flag). Got one, too?

131:31:10 Bean: Yup; there it goes. (Garbled)

[Cabin pressure has dropped low enough for sublimator operation and sensors in the PLSSs are reporting that the sublimators are not yet seeing any flow of feedwater.]

131:31:20 Bean: Okay.

131:31:21 Conrad: Just let her bleed for a while.

131:31:22 Bean: Okay. (Long Pause)

131:31:46 Conrad: My suit's still 4.9. Why don't you jiggle on it (the hatch handle) a little bit and see (if it will open).

131:31:53 Bean: Okay.

131:31:56 Conrad: Probably still outgassing. All right, let her go for a while. Let her go...

131:32:04 Bean: Yeah. Still a little bit more.

131:32:07 Conrad: These suits are bleeding down, too. See? (Long Pause) They (the cabin pressure gauges)'re holding at about 0.2. (Pause) Now jiggle it.

131:32:31 Bean: Okay. Think I can get her now, Pete. (Pause)

131:32:41 Conrad: (Garbled)

131:32:42 Bean: Got her. (Pause) Okay. You hold her open.

131:32:44 Conrad: (Chuckling) All that stuff whistled out the door.

[Jones - "Does that count as a 'stuff'?"]

[Bean - "No, I guess that was 'stuff' stuff (rather than geologic 'materials')."]

131:32:46 Conrad: I got it open.

131:32:47 Bean: Got it?

131:32:48 Conrad: Yeah. (Pause)

131:32:55 Bean: Just a second. Got my foot by it.

131:33:00 Conrad: All right. There you go.

131:33:02 Bean: Okay. Now I've got to put this Dump valve to Auto. (Pause) Dump valve to Auto.

[With the Dump valve set in Auto, the astronauts could, if necessary, open the valve with a handle located on the outside of the hatch.]

131:33:16 Bean: Okay; (does) that Dump valve look in Auto?

131:33:18 Conrad: Let me check. I can't see. Yes, sir, it looks in Auto.

131:33:22 Bean: Okay. Now, let's just hold this door open right here like that. (I'll) get my feedwater on.

131:33:27 Conrad: Okay. (Long Pause) While we're standing here, why don't we jettison this gear? If you'll just back into the corner.

131:33:50 Bean: Just a second, Pete. Wait until the suit pressure goes down a little bit.

[The suit is difficult enough to bend at 3.8 psi. As the cabin depressurized, the relief valves in the suits could not keep pace and the relative pressure in the suits increased to about 5 psi. The suit pressures are probably now about 4.5 psi; and, at that pressure, the suits are very stiff indeed.]

131:34:04 Bean: (Garbled)

131:34:05 Conrad: (Garbled)

131:34:06 Bean: Set it there.

131:34:08 Conrad: Why don't you stick it (possibly the cue card) in the crack here...No; stick it in that crack right there.

131:34:11 Bean: There's a good spot.

131:34:12 Conrad: That a boy!

131:34:13 Bean: Yeah.

131:34:14 Conrad: (Garbled) I'm going to get this gear out of here. (Pause)

131:34:20 Bean: Just a minute. (Pause)

131:34:23 Conrad: (Would you) reach down there and make sure that my water is on all the way?

131:34:30 Bean: Okay. You'll have to turn.

131:34:31 Conrad: Okay.

131:34:33 Bean: Move your arm.

131:34:34 Conrad: Yeah, wait a minute. (Pause)

131:34:38 Bean: Turn further than that, please.

131:34:40 Conrad: Okay.

131:34:41 Bean: Wait, wait.

131:34:42 Conrad: That's outgassing (Al laughs). (Pause)

131:34:55 Bean: It's all the way on.

131:34:56 Conrad: Okay. My water light is out! I have a good boiler.

131:35:00 Bean: Mine isn't out yet.

131:35:02 Conrad: Okay. Now. Get rid of this bag of gear. (Pause) Back up.

[Conrad - "It's a garbage dump. You just push it (with your boot). It doesn't take much. It's just going to keep right on going. Remember, it's one-sixth g. You give it a little push and it's going to zip right out the hatch."]

[Al is referring to the 'CWEA Status' item at the middle of the righthand column on Sur-72. The ASC Press(ure) warning light on Panel 1 is on. The Preamps, ECS, and H2O SEP Comp(onent) Caution lights on Panel 2 are on.]

131:35:29 Bean: Did it make it?

131:35:30 Conrad: No, it's sitting on the front porch (garbled). My suit's still pretty high, 4.3.

[It is just possible to see the porch by leaning back.]