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Aviation History
1972
1972 - 3384.PDF
894 APOLLO 17 rising about 6,000-9,000ft above the valley floor. Linking the East and North Massifs are the lower Sculptured Hills. The western end is also closed by low hills, the nearest named Family Mountain, and at their junction with the South Massif there is a landslide which was one of the prime factors in site selection. The other was the dark, volcanic-looking dust which covers the valley floor. The tone of the visit was set early in the surface activity. As the astronauts prepared for the first EVA Cernan suddenly found himself unable to remember what to do next. Schmitt, reading the checklist, said: "Well, the next thing it says is that Gene gets out." So he did. On his knees and backing out, he was not even sure whether he was making progress. "I think you're getting out," observed Schmitt, "because there's not as much of you in here as there used to be." And so, at 0500 GMT on December 11, Eugene Cernan became the eleventh man to stand on the Moon, with the words: "As I step on to the surface here at Taurus-Littrow, I dedicate the first step to all those who made it possible." Schmitt, a geologist and the first scientist to go to the Moon, was quickly engrossed in the "geological para dise" in which he found himself. "Jack, just stop," Cernan appealed, "you owe yourself 30sec to look up over the South Massif and look at the Earth." "The Earth?" retorted Schmitt, "when you've seen one Earth you've seen them all." "No you haven't," replied Cernan, "when you begin to believe that. . ." and his voice trailed off. Ride round the valley The first EVA was largely devoted to setting up the Alsep and drilling a hole for the previously ill-fated heat- flow experiment. On Apollo 15 the drill could not be operated properly and on Apollo 16 John Young tripped over the cable and broke it off. This time the cable had been made unbreakable and installation was successful. Cernan also drilled a couple of 8ft-deep holes to obtain core samples. The work was harder than anticipated and the extra exertion depleted his oxygen supply enough to cut short the excursion. Both astronauts had also been extremely active in their jubilation, resulting in a couple of tumbles and an accidental knock against the lunar rover which broke off half the right-hand rear dustguard. They taped the dustguard on again before setting out on a trip which covered only 1 • 8 miles and stopped short of their destination, called Steno Crater. Outbound navi gation proved harder than expected and Cernan finally confessed: "We're not where you think we are—we're not sure where we are." And there they stayed. The planned lhr stop was cut by half and the dustguard fell off again, so the astronauts returned to base beneath their own private duststorm and bearing about 291b of rock. The EVA ended about 15min short of the planned 7hr and was considered relatively unproductive, except for a stream of geological terminology issuing from Schmitt. The total working day had lasted more than 23hr and the crew were granted an extra hour's sleep before "The Ride of the Valkyries" echoed through the silent space craft and summoned them back to work. Meanwhile, 60 miles above them, Ron Evans orbited on, managing the comprehensive array of instruments and cameras in the Sim bay of the service module. He, too, reported sighting the brief light flash on the surface 24hr after Schmitt had seen it. Back out on the surface at 2335 GMT, Cernan and Schmitt first built a makeshift dustguard by taping together used plastic map sheets under direction from Houston. They set out late on the four-mile trip to the prime objec tive of the mission, the landslide at the foot of the 7,790ft- high South Massif. Driving up a gentle slope, they reached the base of a 300ft cliff at 0127 GMT. Schmitt continued earning his scientific part in the mission with analysis of his environment, to the point where scientists at Houston FLIGHT International, 21 December (972 found themselves able to judge that the dark surface soil of the valley floor was probably ash and cinder dating from the last volcanic upheavals on the Moon, about 1,000 million years ago. For nearly l^hr they explored this and another site further north before starting back. They were about three- quarters of the way home when they came across the discovery of the day. In a small crater called Shorty was a large patch of orange soil. The central portion was actually crimson, and the astronauts dug trenches and took deep core samples while scientists on Earth argued over its significance. Initial speculation centred on iron oxidation caused by escaping water vapour. Schmitt observed: "I think we might have to consider that we have a volcanic vent. I'm not sure how to prove it." The second EVA ended at 0706 GMT after 7hr 37min, during which the astronauts had travelled 12 miles, 19km and ranged further from base than had any previous crew. It was 2316 GMT on December 13 when Cernan climbed back down to the surface to begin the last surface expedition of the Apollo Moon programme. This time it was to the North Massif. It was 170°F on the surface as they set out on the final expedition. One objective was a 260ft-wide crater, Van Serg, which appeared similar in aerial photographs to that in which the orange soil had been found. The crater proved disappointingly unproductive in this respect, but the presence of a light subsurface layer demanded an hour's investigation, twice the scheduled time. The North Massif produced material which seemed to have been formed by cooling of molten material, compared with pressure-compacted rocks found at the South Massif on the previous day. The last stop was on the slopes of the Sculptured Hills. By then the outer layers of the astronauts' gloves had been worn through and Schmitt had worn out the grip on his hammer. His gold sun-visor was scratched but attempts to work with it raised were baulked by the glare. The excursion as a whole was uneventful but yielded a number of notable finds, including a large ejecta boulder thought to have been rich with minerals. As they prepared for the drive back, Cernan summarised the practical success by noting that "when we finish with station 8 (the Sculptured Hills) we will have covered the whole valley from corner to corner." "That was the idea," replied Schmitt. "But I didn't ever think we'd really get quite that far," Cernan replied. Back on Earth Dr Noel Hinners, Nasa's chief lunar geologist, commented: "It's very, very sad; we're just learning where to go up there. This is the first flight where we've been smart enough to outsmart it [the Moon]." Schmitt and Cernan climbed back into the lunar module for the last time at 0742 GMT on December 14. The final EVA had lasted 7hr 16min, bringing the total excursion time to 22hr 5min, exceeding that of Apollo 16 by nearly 2hr. Just before re-boarding, Jack Schmitt responded to a goodwill message from Nasa administrator James Fletcher, saying: "But this valley . . . has seen mankind complete its first evolutionary steps into the universe, leaving the planet Earth and going forward into the universe. I think there is no more significant contribution that Apollo has made to history. It's not often you can foretell history, but I think we can in this case. And I think everybody ought to feel very proud of the fact." The last words were Cernan's: "I'm on the surface and, as I take the last step from the surface and start back home, I believe history will record that America and Challenger today have forged the destiny for tomorrow. As we leave the Moon and Taurus-Littrow we leave as we came—and, God willing, we shall return—with peace and hope for all mankind." But the final message was mutely written on a black- rimmed aluminium plaque signed by Cernan, Evans, Schmitt and President Nixon, which read: "Here man completed his first exploration of the Moon, December 1972 A.D. May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind." T.W-W.
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