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Geology Station 2 Geology Station 3 at Ballet Crater

 

Traverse to Geology Station 3

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 1995 by Eric M. Jones.
All rights reserved.
Scan credits in the Image Library
Audio clips by Dave Shaffer.
Last revised 2 April 2015.

 

MP3 Audio Clip starting at 143:46:34 ( 20 min 01 sec )

143:46:49 Schmitt: (Looking at the traverse map, LMP-14) Okay, Geno, more or less follow our tracks back until we get over the big hump and then we can start picking our way to (Station) 3. I've got 3 pretty well spotted.

143:47:02 Cernan: Okay; low-gain is set, and heading about 035...Oh, let me set this thing out of the way again. This has been giving me more trouble.

143:47:18 Schmitt: What's that? The hammer?

143:47:20 Cernan: Yeah, the handle.

143:47:22 Schmitt: Oh, getting caught in there?

[The hammer is in the pocket on Gene's right shin and is probably catching on the bottom of the console.]
143:47:25 Cernan: Okay, Bob. We're ready, we're rolling. You need any readings?

143:47:30 Parker: No, no readings called out (in the checklist). And when you get going, I'll give you a little advice on what we're going to do on the way to Station 3.

[They are now about 3 hours 12 minutes into the EVA. As indicated on CDR-15 ( 29k), they had planned to leave at 2:52. Half of the twnety minute difference is due to the 10 minute extension that Houston offered and Gene accepted. The plan is to shorten Station 4 by those 10 minutes. A figure from an EVA-2 planning document by P.E. Reynolds of Bell Labs ( 50k ) shows the planned Return Distances and EVA Elapsed Times at various stages in the EVA. I have added the data for the actual EVA as dashed lines. The PLSS O2 and H2O walkback limits are shown as diagonal lines on the righthand side and, as they leave Station 2, they have about a half hour buffer. Note that the actual return distances from the various stations are great than those assumed in planning because Gene landed east of his target point to avoid Geophone Rock.]
143:47:41 Schmitt: Well, let me tell you a few things first, Bob.

143:47:43 Parker: Okay, start telling me.

[Cernan - (Laughing) "This is a typical exchange between Jack and Bob. Sometimes it almost got to be a test of wills."]

[Schmitt - "We were there to learn. I wanted to be sure that I didn't get distracted and forget some pertinent observation. The Backroom wanted as much information as we could give them and during this time when we were driving away from the station was a good time to do the equivalent of making some field notes."]

143:47:45 Schmitt: I think those two...

143:47:47 Cernan: We're rolling!

143:47:50 Schmitt: All right. Those two major kinds of blocks that we sampled there...(they were) about the (only) two varieties we saw in the area, (and) it's a long extrapolation I realize, but they do resemble in color, and I believe in texture, the blue-gray rocks and the light-tan rocks up on the Massif. So I feel confident that - fairly confident - that we sampled at least the two major units visible from a distance in the South Massif.

[Jack sounds a little tired.]
143:48:24 Parker: Excellent. Excellent.

143:48:28 Schmitt: I think that there is some...(correcting himself) a lot of post-mission work to be done on correlating the angularity and possibly even the albedos of the rocks we sampled with those on the Massif. We should have good pictures of both from a distance and up close.

143:48:48 Parker: Okay. I'm reminded...

143:48:51 Schmitt: So we may be able (garbled)...

143:48:52 Parker: ...that extrapolation is the nature of our art.

143:48:55 Cernan: (A slow, deliberate laugh) Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha.

[Schmitt - "I think that this is the pilot laughing at the scientist's admission of imprecision."]
143:49:03 Schmitt: And, Bob, I'm not going to...How am I on the film?

143:49:06 Cernan: Oh, my golly! Look at that valley!

143:49:10 Parker: Stand by. I'll get that for you, Jack...

143:49:11 Cernan: I think there's a...

143:49:11 Parker: I think you're doing fairly well, now. And before you guys get too far, a couple of comments we want to do on the way. There is a Rover sample stop in your checklist, it used to be at 073 and 6.3; it's the first thing there, halfway out to Hole-in-the-Wall. And we're now going to have that Rover sample stop at 078 and 7.0. That should be along your tracks going home. So, about 078 and 7.0, we'll have the Rover sample stop. And the gravimeter people have won today, and we're going to stop and get off the Rover and get a gravimeter reading at that location. We're taking out (time from) some stop, I'm not sure quite where. And right now, Jack, you're right-on on the film says a little note in front of me.

143:50:00 Schmitt: Okay. I'll take pictures, then.

[The planned Rover sample stop is not shown on the checklist map on LMP/CDR-14 but, rather, on the list of traverse tasks on LMP/CDR-15. AS17-138- 21075 and 21076 are taken during the next minute or so.]
143:50:03 Cernan: Bob, we're on the top, coming off the highest lobe of the Scarp looking back into the valley. And it's quite a scene back there, but we still cannot see the LM. (Pause) That may be it. I don't know.
[They are about 300 meters from Station 2.]
143:50:16 Schmitt: Hey, turn a partial pan; I know it's into the Sun.
[Jack will take a series of pictures as Gene turns the Rover in a circle. These pictures are AS17-138- 21077 to 21092. Because of the glare of the Sun, the up-Sun frames - 21079 and 21080 - don't show much detail.]
143:50:20 Cernan: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Okay. Let's take one from right here. I want the whole thing (that is, the whole valley). (Pause) You ready to start?

143:50:26 Schmitt: Yeah, I got it.

143:50:27 Cernan: Start taking. Take the whole thing.

143:50:32 Schmitt: Go ahead.

143:50:34 Cernan: Get around this crater.

143:50:35 Schmitt: I got a pan down the valley. This is just going to be right into the (Sun)...

143:50:39 Cernan: Yeah. Don't take that one. Get it up as we come around. You get it?

143:50:41 Schmitt: There we go.

143:50:42 Cernan: Okay. That's the one we want. And you got the valley?

143:50:47 Schmitt: Yeah. Keep going.

[The whirring sound of film advancing in Jack's camera can be heard.]
143:50:48 Cernan: Okay.

143:50:49 Schmitt: Keep turning around over there, and I'll get that Scarp. That's beautiful.

143:50:54 Cernan: Isn't that something? Man, you talk about a mysterious looking place. (Pause)

143:51:03 Schmitt: They can cut some frames - some parts of those pictures out - and make a nice photograph. (Laughing) (With the) TV camera, (and) maps (in the way). (Pause)

[The pan turned out to be relatively uninteresting because of the Sun glare. Pictures taken during the next minute or two are AS17-138- 21093, 21094, and 21095.]
143:51:13 Schmitt: Okay, looking at the light mantle: No more comments except that by that rake sample and just looking, there's certainly are fewer fragments than we saw at Station 2. The main thing that we can tell about the light mantle and when we're on it, of course, is the light-colored craters. The fresher craters all appear to be light colored. As they get older, the albedo goes down and potentially (that can be explained if the craters) have been dusted with material from the dark mantle or from other sites. Either that or it's just the lunar patination that we're all familiar with.
[The light color of the small, fresh craters is probably related to the light layer of soil that Gene noted (at 143:41:45) a short distance below the surface. In just a few minutes, they will find more of it at the Scarp Gravimeter stop. The 'patination' process to which Jack refers comes in two varieties: (1) small impacts on boulders create a patina of brownish glass and (2) small impacts in the soil create small blobs of glass which tend to darken a soil as it ages.]
143:52:xx Cernan: You know, it's a shame. They could have had TV coming down here because my heading isn't going to change much at all. The high-gain could have been on the whole time.

143:52:xx Schmitt: Bob, none of the craters out here in the light mantle appear to show bedrock. Almost all of them are instant rock craters.

143:52:25 Cernan: Say, Bob. Give me that bearing and range again for the...

143:52:28 Schmitt: 7.0 right here.

143:52:30 Parker: 078 and 7.0.

143:52:32 Cernan: ...up on the hill. How about 071 and 7.0? Will that do?

143:52:38 Parker: Yeah. I think that that will be enough to hack it.

143:52:44 Cernan: Well, if not, we can go down there.

143:52:46 Parker: No, no, no. Good Lord. Stay on the road you're on.

143:52:52 Cernan: Well, I'm not on any road, but I'm stopping here.

143:52:56 Parker: I thought you guys were making a road.

143:52:57 Cernan: 071.

143:52:58 Parker: Roger.

143:52:59 Cernan: Let me turn it off.

143:53:02 Parker: Yeah, also...

143:53:03 Cernan: (Garbled) 9.8 and 7.0.

143:53:07 Parker: Okay. And the Rover numbers (roll and pitch) should be fairly flat for the ole gravimeter.

143:53:15 Schmitt: Uh, oh.

143:53:16 Cernan: (Responding to Parker) Well...That means we have to change here.

143:53:19 Schmitt: Hey, right over here to my right...

143:53:21 Cernan: Okay.

143:53:22 Schmitt: Maybe it's the best we can do, but it's still going to be on a slope.

143:53:25 Cernan: Well, I'll level it off on a (garbled)...

[Because they will take the gravimeter reading without putting the instrument on the ground, Gene is trying to level the Rover by using a crater rim to prop up one or more of the wheels.]
143:53:26 Cernan: (Garbled)?

143:53:28 Schmitt: Yeah; go ahead. I'm off (the Rover). Do you see...

143:53:31 Cernan: Yeah, I see it. Right there.

143:53:32 Schmitt: On the rim of that crater that's built up a little bit? (Brief static)

143:53:36 Cernan: Right up here.

143:53:39 Schmitt: What's your...Can you tell your roll?

143:53:43 Cernan: Okay, now that's about zero (roll) right there.

143:53:45 Schmitt: What's your roll?

143:53:48 Cernan: Let me turn this off. Boy, this roll indicator isn't very...Oh; zero.

143:53:52 Schmitt: Zero?

143:53:53 Cernan: Yeah.

143:53:54 Schmitt: I'll punch it (the gravimeter). You'll change it (the roll) as soon as you get off.

143:53:57 Cernan: Now it's zero.

[Note, that it is very difficult to decide who has said what during the last few lines, a fact which also makes it difficult to decide what has been happening. The person speaking at 143:53:54 sounds like Gene, but this section doesn't make sense unless the speaker is actually Jack or, alternatively, unless Jack didn't get off the Rover at 143:53:28.]
143:53:59 Schmitt: Oh, you got to get off anyway.

143:54:01 Cernan: Do I have to get off for this?

143:54:02 Parker: Roger. Both of you get off.

143:54:03 Schmitt: (Because of the) gravimeter reading.

143:54:04 Cernan: Why should I have to get off?

143:54:06 Parker: So you don't move the ole gravimeter.

[This is evidently not standard procedure and, at least in this instance, improvising costs precious time.]
143:54:07 Schmitt: Think you can hold still?

143:54:08 Cernan: Yeah. I'll hold still.

143:54:09 Parker: No. Negative on that, Gene.

143:54:10 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. (To Gene) Give me your sampler 'cause that's the other thing I have to do.

143:54:14 Parker: Yeah. We'll get Rover samples, at least.

143:54:16 Cernan: Unless you need me off?

143:54:18 Parker: Roger. We want Gene and Jack both off.

143:54:20 Cernan: Well, if you need me off; Jack, just punched it.

143:54:22 Schmitt: Okay. Hold still. They don't know anything about your PLSS noise.

[Jack is suggesting that vibrations produced by Gene's fans and pumps might disturb the TGE.]
143:54:26 Cernan: I better get off.

143:54:27 Schmitt: Yeah, I think you oughta.

143:54:28 Parker: Gene, we'd like both of you off.

143:54:30 Cernan: 071, 9.8, and 7.0, Bob.

143:54:36 Parker: Got that. (Long Pause)

[This location is plotted as Station 2a in Figure 6 and Figure 7B in the USGS Apollo 17 Professional Paper.]
143:54:53 Cernan: Don't push it yet...Did you?

143:54:55 Schmitt: No. (Pause)

143:55:02 Cernan: (Now off the Rover) Okay. Go ahead and push it.

143:55:06 Schmitt: Let me wait until it settles down here.

[They may be standing at the gate, waiting for the Rover to quiet.]
143:55:12 Cernan: This thing is all (garbled, possibly "taped shut"), isn't it? This thing doesn't change.
[There had been some discussion of taping the SEP covers at 140:47:54, but no decision was made. Unless Jack did some taping without comment - which seems unlikely, the covers won't be taped until the start of EVA-3 at 164:00:57. Consequently, the identity of "this thing" remains a mystery.]
143:55:17 Schmitt: No, that should be good...

143:55:19 Cernan: Yes, it does change.

143:55:21 Schmitt: A couple of times.

143:55:22 Cernan: Huh?

143:55:23 Schmitt: Cycle it a couple of times.

143:55:24 Cernan: No, the settings.

143:55:25 Schmitt: Oh, I don't know...Yeah, they'll change. Okay. Quiet Rover. Gravity. Mark it.

143:55:33 Parker: Copy that.

143:55:35 Cernan: Say, Bob, I need a quick f-stop for the 500.

143:55:38 Parker: Standby.

143:55:40 Schmitt: It's the same film.

143:55:41 Parker: Stand by.

143:55:45 Schmitt: Hey, Bob, can I punch it (the gravimeter) again?

143:55:49 Parker: Ah...Yeah. Go to Standby and then punch it again.

143:55:50 Schmitt: You don't have to wait for it to time out, do you?

143:55:54 Cernan: Standby, Jack. (Hearing Parker) Okay.

143:55:56 Schmitt: Mark it.

143:55:57 Parker: Copy that. (Long Pause)

143:56:12 Parker: Okay. And, Geno, f-stop for the 500 millimeter should be the same as for the 70.

143:56:18 Cernan: Okay. (Long Pause)

143:56:36 Parker: And, Jack, I presume you're getting some Rover samples here off the Rover. (Long Pause)

143:56:58 Schmitt: Bag 30 Easy.

[Schmitt - "Note the change from 'Echo'."]

[This is a 288-gram soil sample, 73121.]

143:57:05 Parker: Copy. 30 Easy. Are you guys finding much in the way of rocks here?

143:57:15 Schmitt: I'm looking. I'm going to get you some instant rock out of a small pit crater...(correcting himself) pit-bottom crater.

[AS17-138- 21096 and 21097 are "befores" of the pit-bottom crater.]
143:57:25 Cernan: Bob, up to frame count 36 is the outcrop - or boulders - at the top of the South Massif.

143:57:36 Parker: Okay. (Pause)

[Gene panned from left to right along the summit. The pictures are AS17-144- 22003 to 22009.]

[Next, Gene did a right-to-left pan down the left flank of the mountain. These frames are AS17-144- 22010 to 22015.]

[Jack is using the LRV Sampler.]

143:57:44 Schmitt: Bag 31 Easy. Instant rock out of a 2-meter pit bottom crater - off the inner wall.

143:57:56 Parker: Copy that.

143:57:57 Schmitt: Well, let's make it 30 centimeters down from the rim.

143:58:03 Parker: Okay. (Long Pause)

[This is a 238-gram soil sample, 73131.]
. 143:58:29 Parker: Okay, 17. We've got about 30 seconds left for that gravimeter reading. You want to start finishing up your tasks and getting back toward the Rover.

143:58:43 Schmitt: Okay. (Pause)

143:58:49 Cernan: Okay, Bob. And through frame count 57 are the North Massif from part of the western portions to part of the eastern portions.

143:59:00 Parker: Okay; and what was that frame count? (Pause) Okay. Copy the 57, there.

[Frames AS17-144- 22016 to 22026 show western end of the North Massif summit.]

[Frames 22024, 22025, and 22026 are excellent photos of the Scarp on the North Massif.]

[Frames AS17-144- 22027 to 22032 show the peak at the eastern end of the North Massif that forms the west side of Wessex Cleft.]

[Frames AS17-144- 22033 to 22035 show the Sculptured Hills peak that forms the east side of Wessex Cleft ( 63k or 684k ).]

143:59:16 Schmitt: Here's something different...Here's a little...(Long Pause)

143:59:30 Parker: And, guys, we're ready for the gravimeter reading. And we'd like a frame count on you, Jack. I guess if you'd prefer...

143:59:35 Schmitt: A chunk of yellow-brown rock that apparently has several spots behind it, probably indicating direction from which it came...Oh, no...What is that? That's a reflection. (Laughs) That really fooled me. A reflection off the Mylar. (Laughs) Crazy. Well, what the heck, I'll sample it anyway.

[The rock isn't yellowish-brown after all. The spots of color are produced by sunlight reflected off the gold-colored foil on the LCRU blankets. Jack's black & white "before" photos of the spots of orange light are AS17-138- 21098 and 21099.]

[Schmitt - "It really did look yellow or orangish and it's interesting that later on I hesitate on calling the orange soil 'orange' at Shorty, because I had already been fooled."]

144:00:07 Cernan: Okay. Let me get my (low-gain) antenna set so...It's not quite...

144:00:10 Schmitt: Is it (the gravimeter) through reading?

[Jack wants to put the sample in the SCB on the Accessory Staff.]
144:00:12 Cernan: Yeah, it's through reading. (Pause) (You'll) probably read us better now, Bob.
[Gene forgot to re-aim the low-gain antenna when he parked the Rover at this stop. However, the signal quality wasn't noticeably different from normal and didn't change just now when he re-aimed the antenna, probably because Houston had switched to reception through the LM, rather than the Rover low-gain antenna, as indicated below.]
144:00:24 Cernan: I've got (West) Family Mountain and some of the hills way off to the right (north) of Family Mountain. I'm at (frame count) 67 on the 500 and I'll give you the reading on the gravimeter.
[These photos are AS17-144- 22036 to 22045. See a discussion of these photos and the identity of Family Mountain.]
144:00:30 Parker: Okay. Copy. 67 and Family Mountain.

144:00:35 Cernan: Did you get the other words on the 500?

144:00:36 Parker: Roger. Copied them all.

144:00:41 Cernan: Well, you were reading at probably a 90-degree low-gain angle.

144:00:45 Parker: Roger. We've been reading through the LM also.

144:00:46 Schmitt: Thirty-two Easy is just another small fragment. (To Gene) You know what I need?

144:00:53 Cernan: Okay, 670, 123, 501; 670, 123, 501.

144:01:00 Parker: Okay. Copy that, Geno. And we're ready for you guys to go on at your earliest convenience.

144:01:06 Schmitt: (To Houston) Do you want me to load (more bags into) the LRV sampler? (To Gene) Go ahead.

[Gene may be getting some Dixie cups to put in the sampler.]
144:01:09 Cernan: Yeah, There you go. (Long Pause)

144:01:28 Parker: And, Jack, is that your last LRV sample bag?

144:01:32 Schmitt: I only had one left, but it (meaning the sampler)'s loaded now.

144:01:35 Parker: Okay. (Pause)

144:01:44 Cernan: You did get the (gravimeter) reading, right, Bob?

144:01:46 Parker: Roger. Got the reading.

144:01:51 Cernan: Okay. We're buttoning up.

144:01:53 Parker: Okay. And if you don't have one left for that sample at Hole-in-the-Wall, Jack, we'd like you to get a new set of sample bags.

144:02:03 Schmitt: We got it.

144:02:04 Parker: Okay. Got it. (Pause) And still understand that thirty-two Echo was your last sample.

144:02:13 Schmitt: Thirty-two Echo. Got three (samples) here.

144:02:15 Parker: Okay.

144:02:16 Schmitt: Oh, oh.

[Apparently, Gene has fallen while trying to get on the Rover and, as he will comment in a moment, has uncovered some light-colored soil in the process.]
144:02:18 Schmitt: Okay?

144:02:20 Cernan: Yeah.

144:02:23 Schmitt: Need some help?

144:02:24 Cernan: Nope. I've got the Rover.

[Gene is probably holding on to the Rover as he pulls himself to his feet.]
144:02:27 Schmitt: Was that me?

144:02:28 Cernan: No. That was interesting. Bob, about 2 inches below the surface here, you run into that blue-gray material down there and it's in little clods, and it breaks apart in your hands.

144:02:47 Schmitt: Yeah, that's right.

144:02:48 Cernan: Did you get some of that in your Rover sample?

144:02:50 Schmitt: No, but I got it out of that instant rock crater.

144:02:55 Cernan: We oughta...Just grab a quick Rover sample and we'll take off.

144:02:56 Schmitt: That's why...

144:02:58 Cernan: That was a pretty interesting (laughing) episode.

[That is, it was a serendipitous stumble.]
144:03:04 Schmitt: Yeah. Well, you know, we haven't been trenching like we should or we would have...

144:03:06 Cernan: (Finishing Jack's thought) We would have found it.

144:03:09 Schmitt: But, really those craters are giving us the same information: that there's a light-colored material underneath. (Pause)

144:03:23 Parker: Okay. 17, we're ready for you guys to move on and we'd like to eliminate the Rover sample at Hole-in-the-Wall.

[This is the sample stop at 080/5.5 listed on LMP/CDR-15.]
144:03:34 Cernan: Okay, Bob. We're getting on now.

144:03:37 Parker: Copy that.

144:03:41 Cernan: We got on a minute ago. (Chuckles)

[That is, Gene was getting on the Rover when he fell.]
144:03:47 Parker: And, do I understand that these Rover samples, Jack, are in your pockets?

144:03:53 Schmitt: No. They're in the bag on the Rover.

144:03:56 Parker: Okay.

[Jack is referring to the SCB hanging from the accessory staff.]
144:03:58 Schmitt: Forty Yankee.

144:03:59 Parker: Copy that.

[This is a 346-gram soil sample, 73141.]
144:04:02 Schmitt: That's light-colored soil from a depth of about...It's mixed with a little of the upper surface, but (it's) mostly light-colored soil from a depth of about 15 centimeters.

144:04:17 Cernan: Wonder what I'd do for an encore? (Pause)

144:04:26 Schmitt: It looks like the light mantle in here is covered with dark to a depth of about 5 or 10 centimeters.

[Schmitt - "All over the Moon, the gardening process reaches a fraction of a centimeter deeper every million years, and the depth to the light material is fairly consistent with an avalanche age of about 100 million years that was determined from solar-wind exposure measurements."]

[Simulations of the gardening process described in the Lunar Sourcebook (1991, p.89) suggest that the rate at which the gardened layer thickens slows with time. The decreasing rate is due to the rarity of larger impactors. In a typical simulation, the depth to which soil is turned over once might be 0.6 cm after a million years, 1.5 cm after ten million years, and 4 cm after a hundred million years. However, at any given place, the history of the regolith will be very complex and variations on vertical scales of a few tens of centimeters can be expected over periods of a few tens of millions of years.]

144:04:40 Cernan: You might want to go Min, Jack, on your diverter.

144:04:43 Schmitt: Right now, I'm sort of warm.

144:04:44 Cernan: Okay. When we start driving, you might want to go...I'm going to zap myself with a cold. (Pause)

144:04:51 Schmitt: I can do it on here.

[There is a cut-out in the seat through which Jack can reach his PLSS controls.]
144:04:54 Cernan: Did you take any pictures at all while you were there?

144:04:55 Schmitt: Oh, yeah. I didn't take a pan. Why don't you turn right to (garbled)?

144:05:02 Cernan: Okay, Bob. If you read, we're rolling.

144:05:04 Parker: Okay. Mark that.

144:05:07 Cernan: Making a right-hand turn for a pan.

144:05:09 Schmitt: (Turn) left.

[Schmitt - "If he turned right, it tended to force me to take pictures through the TV antenna; whereas, if he turned left, I got a better field-of-view".]
144:05:15 Cernan: Let me see where we're going. I (static) again. You know, a little more and that hole would have been in the way.

144:05:26 Schmitt: We left some of our litter. Not a complete pan but it will show the location. (Pause)

144:05:37 Schmitt: Okay. LMP frame count (is) 80.

144:05:40 Parker: Copy that; 80.

[The photographs in Jack's LRV pan are AS17-138- 21100 to 21108.]
144:05:44 Schmitt: Okay. Geno, you're heading for a spot that's about 080/5.5, approximately.
[Schmitt - "This is the nominal location of the planned LRV sample, which I read from the cuff checklist without remembering that they had already cancelled it."]
144:05:51 Parker: Yeah, you guys following tracks home or not?

144:05:53 Cernan: Do you have an update? (Answering Parker) No.

144:06:03 Parker: Okay; and...Roger. (Pause) Hole-in-the-Wall should be at about 080 and maybe 5.7. And we're not going to stop to get a Rover sample at Hole-in-the-Wall.

144:06:13 Cernan: What about Station 3? (Pause, listening to Parker) Okay, that sounds reasonable because it's just nothing but lots of rolling terrain.

144:06:25 Schmitt: Okay. Bob, I think we have a good sample of only-partially-contaminated light mantle in that last Rover sample that Gene accidentally discovered was right under our feet. It's almost certainly the light-colored material that we've been talking about in the walls of the craters. And, as a matter of fact, that instant rock sample I took was light-colored and probably represents the same stuff, indurated slightly.

144:06:56 Cernan: That light-colored mantle has that bluish tint that you saw in those rocks.

144:07:01 Schmitt: Yeah. (To Parker) I still don't think there's anything...We ought to...We ought to get a core in this light mantle sometime; and probably Station 3 is going to be the place. I hope that's still in the agenda.

144:07:19 Parker: Rog. It's still in the agenda.

[The next five photographs taken during the drive to the top of Hole-in-the-Wall are AS17-138- 21109 to 21113.]
144:07:24 Cernan: Say, Bob, can you update the mileage on Station 3?

144:07:29 Parker: Okay, you want mileage to it or do you want the range and bearing at it?

144:07:35 Cernan: Well, range and bearing at it.

144:07:37 Parker: Okay. Stand by.

144:07:42 Cernan: Because Hole-in-the-Wall is fairly nebulous.

144:07:45 Parker: Okay, we're going to say about 089 and 6.1 for Station 3.

144:07:53 Cernan: Okay. (Pause)

[The checklist gives a Station 3 position of 087/5.6 and they will actually stop at 087/6.0.]
MP3 Audio Clip ( 18 min 30 sec )

144:08:02 Parker: Do you want to give us another range and bearing right now?

144:08:03 Cernan: Do you get the feeling that we're the only ones out here, Jack? Looking around...(Responding to Parker) 073 (bearing to the SEP transmitter), 10.3 (distance driven), 6.6 (distance to the SEP transmitter).

144:08:10 Parker: Copy that. (Pause)

144:08:16 Schmitt: Bob, I have a feeling that whatever darkens the...Ooh, there's a beautiful little glass-lined crater...pit-bottom crater. Whatever darkens the light mantle is not a one-time-only mantling of darker material. It's something that happens over a period of time, continually, because craters of all sizes and apparent degradation are darkened and there are lighter craters that are light to varying degrees. It seems to be a continuum of albedo change.

144:09:08 Cernan: You know that little crater on the side of the North Massif that we're thinking about going to doesn't look nearly as light-colored or haloed as it does in (overhead) pictures, does it?

144:09:18 Schmitt: You mean Hanover? Yeah, (I agree). No, (it isn't as light-colored as it seemed in the overhead pictures). (Pause)

144:09:32 Cernan: Now, let's see where we are, I don't want to run into that big crater at the foot of the (Scarp)...

144:09:38 Schmitt: I think you're almost to the rim.

144:09:39 Cernan: Yeah, I want to go down here if I can. My tracks are over there to the left, I haven't crossed them yet.

144:09:45 Schmitt: 073, 6.3 (bearing and range to the SEP transmitter).

144:09:49 Parker: Copy that.

144:09:52 Schmitt: LMP's frame count is 86.

144:09:58 Parker: Copy 86. (Pause)

[Jack's most recent picture is AS17-138- 21113, which shows the outer (east) bounding ridge that defines Hole-in-the-Wall.]
144:10:09 Schmitt: Boy, that's a sight, isn't it?

144:10:12 Cernan: That's spectacular.

[Gene has turned north and they can now look along the scalloped, multi-lobed edge of the Scarp toward Hanover and the North Massif. Jack's next five photos, AS17-138- 21114 to 21118 show all of these features with considerable clarity. Gene's photo AS17-137- 20980 was also taken at about this time.]
144:10:14 Schmitt: I don't know why something that's all approximately the same hue should...

144:10:20 Cernan: The lack of color has got to contribute to the inability to judge distance.

[Cernan - "Ever since I've been back from the Moon, I've attributed the difficulty we had in judging size and distance to the lack of references like telephone poles, roads, trees, and so forth. I'd forgotten that I said this about the lack of color contributing to the problem, and I'm sure it's true. It's interesting that I made the observation at this point in the traverse. Here we were, high up on top of the Scarp in very hummocky, rolling terrain, looking out across the valley and across to the North Massif. You've got a bland-looking landscape, and I'm sure that what I was seeing were foreground features that just blended into the background. I'm sure that the overall gray color and the lack of major color changes contributed to the inability to develop accurate depth perception."]
144:10:25 Schmitt: See the lobes coming out...(See what looks like) lobes coming out from the Scarp. The Scarp, rather than being a line in there on the plain, appears to be lobes. I got a couple of shots of that. Whereas when it gets up on the (North) Massif, it's a fairly continuous curve; although it does appear to be younger; at least there's less relief on it for the first few kilometers of that bend there (on the North Massif).
[Schmitt - "We don't know for sure, but the Scarp is probably an actual fault scarp and, out to about halfway across the valley, toward the South Massif, the landslide material is draped over it. And what I'm commenting on here is that on the southern end of the Scarp where we are now, the Scarp seems to be a series of scarps or steps whereas up to the north it seems to be one continuous line."]
144:11:00 Cernan: We're going to have to go down like the way we came (up) because there's that big crater down at the bottom, I'm afraid.

144:11:05 Parker: Yeah, I think we agree with that suggestion, too.

144:11:13 Schmitt: Bob, the so-called Scarp impresses me as less of a scarp than a series of lobes which roughly have a north-south trend. And we've been driving over various hummocks within those lobes. (Pause)

144:11:42 Parker: Okay, copy that.

144:11:47 Cernan: I think we made a gross mistake in not trying to let them get TV. My heading hasn't changed much at all here. They would have had a spectacular view. Look at it out in that valley, Jack.

144:11:56 Schmitt: Yeah.

144:11:59 Cernan: Good lord. I still don't know where the LM is...I see it, I think. The shadow...A blob. It's the only sharp shadow out there right in the...because you sure can't make out the craters from here, can you? Okay, hold on. Over the hill and down the rail. (Pause) Man, I tell you, this machine is fantastic.

144:12:33 Schmitt: Yeah. Watch it. (Laughs)

[Jack's six photos, AS17-138- 21119 to 21124 cover the northward drive to this point.]

[The next six photos, AS17-138- 21125 to 21130 show the descent to the bottom of Hole-in-the-Wall.]

144:12:36 Cernan: Quite a machine.

144:12:38 Schmitt: Likes to spin when you turn going down hill.

144:12:40 Cernan: Quite a machine. (Pause)

144:12:46 Schmitt: I think you've got something right ahead of you.

144:12:48 Cernan: I got it.

144:12:49 Schmitt: See the instant rock.

144:12:51 Cernan: I got it. There's that crater (at the bottom of Hole-in-the-Wall). It doesn't look nearly as bad from here, but it sure is deep when you get up there. I'll meander around and over this next little lobe then I'll head down that next one - the first lobe we came up - and then along it.

144:13:08 Schmitt: Okay, there's Lara, and I think we can see Station...Watch it, watch it, watch it. (Pause)

144:13:17 Cernan: Okay, I'm going through it slow. (Pause)

144:13:26 Schmitt: Beautiful. (Laughs) I figured we'd buckle the LCRU with that one.

[The LCRU hangs off the front of the Rover and, if the nose were to pitch down into a particularly steep-walled crater, there would be a chance of having the LCRU hit the surface.]
144:13:33 Cernan: I bet they can watch this road. (Laughing) My heart rate just dictates the kind of terrain we're going over.
[NASA Public Affairs reports that both Gene and Jack have heart rates in the 80s.]

[Cernan - "Listening to the tapes, I'm really starting to re-live the ride. This ride up to Station 2 and back is much clearer in my memory than the ride to and from Station 1 was, because this was really spectacular terrain and driving the Rover and riding on it was really a challenge and was really fun. It was not your ordinary trip to the Moon. This was a unique place, probably the most unique and challenging for the use of the Rover because of the heights to which we climbed and the terrain which we were in. The lobes of the Scarp weren't vertical cliffs; they were lobes, as Jack describes, or rounded plateaus and they made it a challenging ride. You can hear it in our voices and see it in some of the pictures. It's a shame that the TV pictures and the still pictures don't really give a full appreciation of how steep some of those rolling hills were in this part of the valley. All you'd need would be a fishing pond and a few trees and it would be a great place to build a house."]

144:13:45 Schmitt: Okay...(Pause) Houston, we're navigating and not talking. Sorry. But the light mantle is a uniform surface and I think you've heard just about everything we have to say so far.

144:14:05 Parker: Roger. Your comm's great and you guys are doing (garbled).

144:14:07 Schmitt: The fragment population hasn't changed, nor has the crater population, as near as I can tell. I hope the LRV photos will give you more details than that. Okay, Gene, do you have the target over there, that set of...

144:14:28 Cernan: Yeah, I got to get over to this next knoll and I'm going to be off the Scarp. We're about three-quarters of the way down. (Pause) Isn't that sharp shadow out there the LM? See it way out there? Almost under the Sun. It's got to be. It's the only sharp shadow out there. Right under the Sun, straight down there.

144:14:54 Schmitt: Probably.

144:14:56 Cernan: Okay, I'm going to try to make it down this. Hold on!

144:14:59 Schmitt: (Garbled)

144:15:00 Cernan: This is the one we climbed up.

144:15:01 Schmitt: Oh, there's Nemo (Crater) over there to my right.

144:15:03 Cernan: Yes, sir, this is the one we climbed up. Would you believe that?

144:15:05 Schmitt: Well, I don't know.

144:15:06 Cernan: Yeah, I would.

144:15:10 Schmitt: The problem is any crater on the side...

144:15:13 Cernan: I don't want to give us a roll...I'll use...

144:15:18 Schmitt: I think you're all right.

144:15:20 Cernan: We're all right. I don't know, that's got...

144:15:23 Schmitt: Keep your speed down because if you have to turn, it doesn't like it on a downhill slope.

[On Apollo 15, Dave Scott did an unintended 180 degree spin-out as he and Jim Irwin drove down off the Apennine Front.]

[Cernan - "One-sixth gravity just did not hold the Rover to the ground very well. You always bounced around a lot and, if you had any speed, that just aggravated the bounce. Where 'the rubber meets the road' (an advertising slogan of the Firestone Tire Company in the 70's) was not a very tight fit and, if you were going downhill and you had to turn left or right, the tendency of the Rover to spin or roll was pretty great."]

144:15:26 Cernan: Man, that's got to be...(The) pitch-angle (indicator)'s pegged, and I don't know what that means. (Pause) Okay! Right off the Scarp!...

144:15:42 Schmitt: We're off the Scarp.

144:15:45 Parker: You guys cut each other out but I take it that means you're at the edge of the Scarp.

144:15:50 Schmitt: We're off!

144:15:51 Cernan: We're off! We came down!

144:15:52 Parker: Roger. You're down the Scarp.

[AS17-138- 21131, the first of five pictures taken at about this point.]
144:15:53 Cernan: Hey, will you look at the hill we came down! Same one we went up?

144:15:57 Schmitt: I'd rather not.

144:16:00 Cernan: Oh, I don't know, I'm impressed. (Pause) Okay, now where we got to go? (I'm headed) 345 (NNW) roughly. And we want to go to (a bearing and range of) 087/6.1...

144:16:09 Schmitt: Okay. You're...I think you're headed right...right for where we want.

144:16:12 Cernan: Yep.

144:16:13 Schmitt: See that bright crater? You can just start to see Station 3 over there now.

144:16:17 Cernan: Okay, navigation says I've got more than 90 degrees...I should be increasing range. Bob, we're at 079, 11.5, and 5.7.

[Gene wants to go to 087/6.1 and is currently at 079/5.7. He is driving on a heading which is a bit more than 90 degrees from the LM bearing and, therefore, is increasing both his range and bearing.]

[Cernan - "This is the way I think when I'm flying an airplane: to increase both bearing and range, I need to be more than ninety degrees to the left of the LM bearing. And if I wanted to stay at the same range and increase my bearing, then I'd 'fly an arc' and keep my heading at 90 degrees to the LM bearing."]

144:16:24 Parker: Okay, beautiful, guys. Really going smooth.

144:16:26 Cernan: And I'm headed northwest.

144:16:31 Parker: Roger. In fact, we understand it's been going so smooth down here that they haven't even spilled any coffee in the SPAN room yet this mission.

[Schmitt - "The SPAN room was where the troubleshooting started when there was a problem. It was an engineering room, and I used to spend a lot of time in the SPAN room with other missions when I was helping out with various engineering problems. One time I was in there with George Abbey - and I can't remember now quite why it happened - but, up above their consoles, the people in the SPAN room had a pegboard where they stuck all their messages, and it wasn't structurally very sound. Somehow I hit the board, which knocked over the coffee cups they had in front of it, and the coffee spilled onto the consoles."]
144:16:42 Schmitt: Thorson must not be on duty.
[Schmitt - "Dick Thorson was the guy who was on duty in the SPAN room the day I spilled the coffee"]
144:16:46 Cernan: I'm glad we don't have any (coffee) sitting on the LCRU!
[See an account of the Famous SPAN Coffee Spill from the Apollo 17 Fifteenth Anniversary Reunion.]
144:16:52 Schmitt: Right over there is Station 3, I think. Oh, actually, I guess...Hmm. (Pause) I guess they would want it...Is there?...I can just start to see two craters...

144:17:05 Cernan: You know what the problem is?

144:17:06 Schmitt: ...that are closer to Lara.

144:17:07 Cernan: I got a full planar view of the high-gain and I can't see a thing out there.

144:17:11 Schmitt: That's right.

[Two frames taken at the end of the EVA-3 traverse indicate the nature of Gene's problem. AS17-134- 20476 is a tourist picture of Gene taken from in front of the Rover and shows the TV antenna mounted forward of his seat. Jack was standing fairly close to the vehicle and the antenna isn't as tall as it appears in this image. AS17-143- 21924, taken from behind the Rover gives a better indication of the antenna's potential for blocking Gene's view. In this frame, the antenna is pointed to the side and doesn't block Gene's view very much. However, on this drive to Station 3, the antenna is apparently pointed fore or aft and Gene has to look through the full antenna. As can be seen in AS17-143- 21932, which is one of Gene's picture of the Rover parked at the VIP site, we can see that the antenna is relatively transparent when there is no sunlight reflecting off the wire mesh into the line-of-sight. During this drive to Station 3, the combination of the Rover heading and antenna pointing is such that there is enough sunlight reflecting off the antenna into Gene's eyes to make the antenna appear opaque. The effect is illustrated in AS17-134- 20453, a picture taken from the front of the Rover.]

[A V.I.P. is a Very Important Person and at the Cape, the V.I.P. site is a set of viewing stands as close to a launch as anyone is allowed. Admission to this viewing area is by invitation only. At the end of the third EVA on each of the J missions, the Rover was parked about 100 meters east of the LM so that the world could get TV coverage of the LM launch. This was known as the V.I.P. site.]

144:17:13 Cernan: Full planar view. All I can do is see underneath it. (Pause) Gonna take it (a crater) broadside. See, I can't see a lot of craters now that they're out in front. Oh, I guess I can see them, most(ly). Here's a nice sharp little hole; look at that.

144:17:32 Schmitt: Yep. Bob, the texture of the light mantle - (that is, the) surface texture - is really no different on the Scarp, on its flank, or out here to the east of the Scarp. Fragment population, crater population, everything looks about the same. If there is such a thing as a light mantle, it seems to be uniform across the Scarp.

144:17:59 Parker: Okay, I copy that, Jack.

144:18:01 Schmitt: There are your tracks. Hey! We crossed somebody's tracks!

[AS17-138- 21136 shows the outbound tracks and 21137 shows the Scarp lobes.]
144:18:07 Cernan: We sure did. We just made a loop.

144:18:07 Parker: Hope they look like yours.

144:18:12 Schmitt: That was at 081/5.7.

144:18:16 Parker: Okay, copy 081/5.7. Do they look like your tracks?

144:18:22 Schmitt: Well, here's another set.

144:18:23 Cernan: Yeah, this is where we went to the big crater and I came southeast in order to get around it, remember? We saw that hole?

144:18:30 Schmitt: Yeah.

144:18:35 Cernan: Look at that big turn I made. Ha ha! That was a quick change of mind when we came over that ridge.

144:18:42 Schmitt: Yes, sir.

144:18:45 Cernan: Okay, we're still headed northwest, Bob. (Pause)

[Jack's last five photos taken during the drive to Station 3 are AS17-138- 21138 to 21142.]
144:18:51 Schmitt: Okay, Bob, I guess one thing we don't have a handle on yet is - (and) I think we sampled them once in a Rover sample - what are the fragments out here (that are) mixed with the light mantle?

144:19:07 Parker: Okay, I copy that.

144:19:08 Schmitt: I think I got one at our last gravimeter stop, a small one, and I guess there's one other Rover sample, but, at Station 3, we probably ought to make sure we get a representative suite of those fragments.

144:19:21 Parker: Roger. Agree to that.

144:19:25 Cernan: Hey, Bob, how long have we been out?

144:19:28 Parker: Say there again, Gene? (Pause) How long have you been out?

144:19:32 Cernan: How long have we been out?

144:19:34 Parker: Three plus four five, (that is, three hours, forty-five minutes since depressurizing the cabin to below 3.5 psi).

144:19:40 Cernan: Thank you. We're at 083/5.7. (Pause)

144:19:54 Schmitt: Well, it certainly doesn't look like the geology of Norway, but it certainly is interesting. (Pause)

[Jack had done his Ph.D. dissertation work in Norway for a year and a half. Several of the names he gave to features in the valley have Norwegian origins.]
144:20:00 Cernan: That must be Lara right there, huh?

144:20:01 Schmitt: Yeah.

144:20:02 Cernan: On the left. You can see the blocks on the other side of her.

144:20:04 Schmitt: That's right. I told them about those earlier. That's the only...I think, Gene, you want to bear a little bit...

144:20:09 Cernan: Hold on...

144:20:10 Schmitt: ...a little bit to the left. See those two craters, two bright craters, that are just this side of Lara?

144:20:18 Cernan: No...well...I'm not...

144:20:17 Schmitt: You're pointed right...almost right at them, now.

144:20:22 Cernan: Okay, I can barely see them now through that high-gain.

144:20:23 Schmitt: Okay.

144:20:24 Cernan: But I can see...I know where we're going now.

144:20:25 Schmitt: Those are the two I think they wanted us to be at, and I think that's a good choice - if we can get up there.

144:20:30 Cernan: Ah. I want to get some 500s (of) the way that scarp flows up on top of...Well, it looks like it flows up on top of the North Massif. Now it may look like the North Massif may drape material down upon it. Look at that.

144:20:43 Schmitt: Well, (pause) not really. The texture is so different. It just doesn't look like as old a surface.

144:20:51 Cernan: But definitely different. (Pause)

144:20:53 Schmitt: Yeah. (Pause) Wish they had never said anything about pictures, because I've tended to not take enough (in order) to do better.

144:21:04 Parker: Okay, but Jack, you're doing quite well in the picture department...

144:21:06 Cernan: (Giving a range and bearing) 085/5.8

144:21:06 Parker: ...You're not getting too far behind or ahead. Copy that (bearing and range), Gene.

144:21:11 Schmitt: No, but I mean I'm not sure I'm getting the coverage I should.

144:21:17 Parker: Okay. We'll look at the frame counts when you get to Station 3.

144:21:21 Schmitt: Oop, oop! (Pause) Oh, there's another big crater with a pit in it.

144:21:31 Cernan: (Nonchalantly laying claim to a lunar speed record) What was it, 17-1/2 or 18 clicks we hit coming down the Scarp, Jack?

144:21:36 Schmitt: I don't...(Laughs) I'm in Min cooling now. (Pause)

[Cernan - "I may have been exaggerating a little about 17-1/2 or 18 clicks, but I know we were going at least 14 or 15 clicks coming down there. We were really moving. (Smiling) But, then, what can I say? There it is, documented: 17-1/2 or 18 clicks."]
144:21:54 Cernan: Oh, look at that. Wait until you get over here and look at that South Massif.
[Unless Gene has mis-spoken, he has turned enough that he can look south toward the mountain.]
144:21:58 Schmitt: Is that...

144:22:01 Cernan: Well, I don't know where we're going to get a good...(Pause)

144:22:08 Schmitt: Well, let's see. You know, that big block up there might be worth going to.

144:22:13 Cernan: 087 at 5.9. I think that's the best station we've got right here.

144:22:16 Schmitt: Well...

144:22:17 Cernan: Let's see what's over on your right. Let's see if we can get at that scarp over there.

[Gene is driving in a northwesterly direction and "on your right" could be north along the Scarp.]
144:22:22 Schmitt: I've sort of lost track (of the two bright craters)...

144:22:23 Cernan: We're about there (pointing at the map).

144:22:24 Parker: I think we expected you guys to be a little bit farther north...

144:22:26 Cernan: I think we want to be more to the left.

144:22:26 Parker: ...We were guessing a heading (means "reading") of 080 for the bearing (to the LM) which really kind of says you were going a bit farther north than this.

[Parker is confused. 080 was the bearing at the cancelled LRV stop. Houston estimates that Station 3 will be at 089/6.1. Gene is currently at 087/5.9, a short distance southeast of where they want to be.]
144:22:35 Cernan: Well, there's that fresh crater, there, Jack.
[They are planning to stop near one or the other of two fresh, 15-to-20 meter craters in the area. One of them is in sight.]
144:22:38 Cernan: (Realizing that what Parker has just said doesn't make sense) 080?
[Cernan - "We were going north and, as we did, the bearings to the LM were going to get higher and higher. We would have had to have gone south to get to a bearing of 080."]
144:22:40 Parker: Roger. 080 is where we think...

144:22:42 Schmitt: All of a sudden I've lost track.

144:22:45 Parker: Standby.

144:22:47 Schmitt: There's nothing wrong with that except that...(Pause) I think we ought to go back to that big block.

144:22:51 Cernan: Heading 080 is...Heading north is not going to...

144:22:54 Parker: Roger. I just realized that, Geno.

144:22:58 Cernan: I'm 087 now!

144:22:59 Parker: Yeah, I realize that, Gene; my mistake. Somebody's got a wrong thing down here.

144:23:07 Schmitt: Gene, I think...

144:23:08 Parker: That's the Hole-in-the-Wall (stop). My mistake.

144:23:13 Schmitt: I think we need to go back there a little bit.

144:23:15 Cernan: Yeah, we're at 087/6.0. I think that's probably (garbled). Let me get up on the top, here.

144:23:19 Parker: Okay, 17, that's a great stop. That was my mistake, I was reading the Hole-in-the-Wall coordinate.

144:23:25 Schmitt: All right, Bob, we've got us some boulders over here that are in the light mantle.

144:23:32 Parker: Okay, now, let me brief you on Station 3. It's going to be a very brief station to make up for the...

144:23:36 Schmitt: We can see a little bit down into Lara, now, too.

144:23:38 Parker: Okay, it will be a brief station to make up for the time we added on at the...

[For the next few moments, we have a period of overlapping conversation. Gene, with Jack's help, is orienting the Rover so that it is level and the sun-shadow device reads zero. They will ignore Parker until they are finished. Some of the Rover dialog is lost under Parker.]
144:23:40 Schmitt: How'd we get up here, again?

144:23:42 Cernan: I just drove (garbled). (Pause) (Garbled) 045 (Garbled)

144:23:48 Parker: ...First of all, remember we want to get the Nav update. Let me go into a heading of 270 more or less and give us the Nav readout so we can start that here.

144:24:00 Cernan: (To Jack) Can you get where you want to from here? No, this is no good. I wanted to get a high spot. (Pause) Yeah, let's...Let me park down here, Jack.

144:24:09 Schmitt: Well, you should have stayed up there.

144:24:12 Cernan: Yeah, I want...(Pause) This is good right here. (Pause)

144:24:16 Schmitt: It's not going to be very level for the gravimeter.

144:24:18 Parker: Gene, remember, we want to head for the west so we can get the Nav update.

144:24:27 Schmitt: (Garbled) you park right out here and we can work those blocks right up behind us.

144:24:30 Cernan: (To Parker) Okay, you want a Nav update here?

144:24:32 Parker: Roger. That's affirm.

144:24:34 Schmitt: (To Gene) You need to get your (low-gain) antenna.

144:24:39 Cernan: Why don't you get off, Jack? Oh, I was looking at the wrong dang (checklist page)...Oh, no, I'm not. Okay. I'll get a Nav update (as per CDR-15). (Pause) (To Jack) Get off and look around. I'll give them a Nav update, Jack, and we'll press on. (Pause) Yes, sir, you're right, Bob. (To Jack) Hey, get your (scoop)...

144:25:05 Schmitt: I will. (Long Pause)

144:25:20 Cernan: Okay?

144:25:21 Schmitt: Go ahead.

144:25:22 Cernan: What do you need? Take your scoop or whatever you need.

144:25:24 Schmitt: Oh, you're going to move?

144:25:25 Cernan: Yeah. I want to give them a Nav update real quick.

144:25:27 Schmitt: Oh, I'm sorry. (Pause) Okay. I've got the scoop (off the gate).

[They are now about 3 hours 50 minutes into the EVA. As indicated on CDR-15 ( 29k), they had planned to arrive at 3:19. A figure from an EVA-2 planning document by P.E. Reynolds of Bell Labs ( 50k ) shows the planned Return Distances and EVA Elapsed Times at various stages in the EVA. I have added the data for the actual EVA as dashed lines. The PLSS O2 and H2O walkback limits are shown as diagonal lines on the righthand side and, as they arrive at Station 3, they will have to leave again in no more than about 42 minutes because of walkback. As indicated in CDR-15 ( 29k), they had planned to spend 45 minutes at Station 3. Note that the drive from Station 2 to Station 3 has taken longer than assumed by Reynolds, primarily because of the Scarp Gravimeter stop. Note, also, that the actual return distances from the various stations are greater than those assumed in planning because Gene landed east of his target point to avoid Geophone Rock.]
144:25:31 Parker: Okay. And, Jack, an update for you. We're going to want you to do some documented sampling on your own. I'll get with you guys on the rest of the station plan, shortly. Go ahead, Gene, we're ready.

144:25:46 Schmitt: (To Gene) Okay, I ought to get the gnomon, I guess.

144:25:49 Cernan: Okay, let me find a level spot; I'll come back towards you.

144:25:53 Schmitt: I'll get it. (Pause)

144:25:58 Cernan: Well, there is no (level spot). Well, okay, if you got any...

144:26:00 Schmitt: No, go ahead, make your park.

144:26:02 Cernan: Yeah, I'm looking for a level spot, but my God, there sure aren't very many.

144:26:08 Schmitt: That's probably pretty good. (Pause)

144:26:13 Cernan: It will be in a minute.

MP3 Audio Clip ( 21 min 05 sec )

144:26:14 Parker: It doesn't have to be all that level, Gene. (Long Pause)

144:26:27 Cernan: Okay; 087,12.6, 6.0.

[The bearing to the LM is 087 (east), the range is 6.0 kilometers, and they've driven 12.6 kilometers. The latter figure includes about an 800 meter excess over the map distance due to the need to drive around craters. The map distance to Station 3 is the sum of the 0.3 kilometer eastward displacement of the SEP transmitter from it's planned location, 6.1 kilometers from the planned SEP site to Hole-in-the-Wall, 2.3 kilometers from there to Nansen, another 2.3 kilometers back to Hole in the Wall, and 0.8 kilometers from there to Station 3.]

 

Geology Station 2 Apollo 17 Journal Geology Station 3 at Ballet Crater