Most PAO comments during Apollo 17's surface exploration are concerned with Gene's and Jack's time on the Moon. Only those comments that include mentions of Ron and the CSM are included here.
124:22:48 - This is Apollo Control at 124 hours, 23 minutes. We've completed a shift handover in Mission Control. Our Flight Director Gene Kranz and his team of flight controllers are replacing the Pete Frank team. Our spacecraft communicator on this shift is astronaut Joe Allen. And aboard Challenger on the lunar surface, Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan are in the process of getting the Lunar Module reconfigured, ready for their sleep period which the Flight Plan calls for them to begin at 128 hours or about 3½ hours from now. After they complete the reconfiguration of the Lunar Module and get the cabin more or less ship shape, they'll have an evening meal, eat period before retiring. And aboard the Command Module, we said goodnight to Ron Evans on the last revolution, the 18th revolution of the Moon for the CSM, and we're just about to reacquire the Command Module, now on its 19th revolution, presuming that Ron Evans will be asleep. During the EVA, Evans was primarily involved with running the Lunar Sounder experiment. This was one of the major activities aboard the Command Module. That experiment appeared to be functioning well, obtaining surface and sub-surface data on the lunar stratigraphic sequences and structure. We have a change of shift briefing, which will begin in a little less than 15 minutes in the News Center Briefing Room, Building 1.
124:33:34 - This is Apollo Control at 124 hours, 37 minutes. The participants for the change of shift press briefing are now on their way to the briefing room in Building 1. That conference should begin shortly. Here in Mission Control, Flight Director Gene status - or Gene Kranz rather has gotten a status from his flight controllers on both vehicles, both Challenger and America and both spacecraft appear to be in very good shape at this time. Aboard Challenger on the lunar surface, Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt will now be involved in getting out of their space suits, getting the spacecraft cleaned up and ready for their sleep period and we expect to debrief them on the first EVA in about 15 minutes. Ron Evans now into his scheduled rest period. America in the 19th revolution of the Moon at the present time. And, during our change of shift briefing, we'll be recording any conversation with the crew on the lunar surface for playback immediately following that briefing. At 124 hours, 38 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
125:52:01 - This is Apollo Control. It now appears that the crew aboard Challenger on the lunar surface, Jack Schmitt and Gene Cernan, will be ready to begin the EVA debriefing in about 20 minutes. We're estimating that they'll reach that point in the Flight Plan at about 126 hours, 10 minutes. And the debriefing will run 15 to 20 minutes. Ron Evans aboard America has been asleep now for about an hour and a half. We'll be waking him up at the Ground Elapsed Time of 131 hours, 20 minutes after about 8 hours of rest. America is presently in an orbit, 69.9 by 53.5 nautical miles [129.5 by 99.1 km], on the backside of the Moon in its 19th revolution, just about to cross over to the 20th revolution the beginning the 20th revolution, and we'll be reacquiring contact with that spacecraft in about 30 minutes.
126:54:12 - Ron Evans, aboard America, now in his 20th revolution of the Moon, just passed over the landing site a few minutes ago, and appears to be sleeping soundly. Ron has been asleep for about 3 hours now. And telemetry data on America shows the vehicle to be functioning normally, as are all of the scientific instruments with a couple of relatively minor exceptions. The Mapping Camera has not been retracted. It was somewhat slow to retract the last few times that that maneuver was performed and the camera has been left in the extended position, which is the normal operating position for the Mapping Camera. And we expect, as you heard CapCom Joe Allen advise the crew, that Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt will begin eating shortly, and we hope to get them tucked in for bed by about 128:00 hours or about 1 hour from now.
127:33:10 - This is Apollo Control at 127 hours, 33 minutes. The CSM America has just gone behind the Moon now on the 20th revolution. The spacecraft looking very good when last we had telemetry data on it. And Ron Evans continuing to sleep soundly. He's been asleep now for about 3½ hours. On the lunar surface, Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt aboard Challenger are eating at this time, and we hope to get them to bed by about 128 hours or about 27 minutes from now.
127:57:54 - This is Apollo Control at 127 hours, 58 minutes. And the crew aboard Challenger on the lunar surface are now getting configured to begin their sleep period. Among the things in the checklist that they have done is to turn - turn off the power amplifier which accounts for the somewhat noisier communications that we're getting. This is a normal presleep configuration and we don't expect to be communicating with the crew a great deal in the next hour and of course, none while they're in their sleep period. As you heard in the last exchange between CapCom Joe Allen and Gene Cernan, the crew will probably be getting the sleep period about one hour later than the Flight Plan calls for, at around 129 hours rather than the nominal Flight Plan time of 128 hours. We plan to allow them the full 8 hours for their rest period which means that they'll be waking up just prior to 137 hours; about 136 hours, 55 minutes be the wakeup time. And this would also slip the start of EVA-2 by about one hour giving us a start time for EVA-2 of 140 hours, 10 minutes or about 5:03 pm Central Standard Time. There is a one and a half hour pad following EVA-2 and EVA-3. This is identified in the Flight Plan as MCC conference and amounts to one and a half hours that can be used to make up lost time after the second EVA and the third EVA. We would expect to make up the lost hour after the first EVA; however, if we again are running somewhat late after the second - after the second EVA rather and if we are running somewhat late after the second EVA we still have the hour and a half pad after the third EVA and would of course expect to be back on the nominal Flight Plan in time for an on-time lift-off from the lunar surface. But, again, based on the one-hour late beginning of the sleep time and our plans to give the crew a full eight hours of sleep, we would expect the EVA-2 to begin one hour late; at 140 hours, 10 minutes or about 5:03 pm Central Standard Time. We'll continue to leave the communication circuit, PAO release line up live until it appears Cernan and Schmitt have begun their sleep period - have actually gone to sleep. We'll be reacquiring the Command Module in about 21 minutes. That vehicle now on its 21st revolution around the Moon. And Ron Evans now about four hours into his scheduled eight-hour sleep period. At 128 hours, 2 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
128:54:10 - This is Apollo Control at 128 hours, 54 minutes. Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt aboard Challenger on the lunar surface have turned off the voice subcarrier, we don't expect to hear from them any further. However, we do not believe at this time that they have begun their sleep period. Cernan reported about an hour ago that it didn't look as if they would actually begin the sleep period until about 129 hours. So we would expect that they're probably very close to beginning and will actually get to sleep within the next 10 or 15 minutes. Ron Evans aboard the Command Module crossed over the landing site some 10 or 15 minutes ago. America now in its 21st revolution of the Moon. And Evans has been sleeping soundly for nearly 5 hours. We do plan to let Cernan and Schmitt sleep a full 8 hours which means that they'll be getting up about an hour later than the Flight Plan time. This will also slip the start of EVA 2 by about 1 hour. Because of the noise on the air-to-ground line, with the Lunar Module operating with its power amplifier off, which is the normal configuration for a sleep period, we're going to take the release line down. We'll record any conversations we get with the crew. Also, we would have a pretty good chance of getting the lines up in the event that they plan to give us a call because we'll see the voice subcarrier come on first. But in any event, either live or playback, we'll come up very shortly after any - any conversations with Challenger on the lunar surface or America in orbit around the Moon. At 128 hours and 56 minutes, this is Apollo Control, Houston.
The available audio ends at this point. Recordings that are available to the journal resume at 136:26:58.
129:30:00 - This is Apollo Control with 129 hours, 30 minutes. About 28 minutes we had one brief transmission from Challenger on the lunar surface. Gene Cernan called to say that he and Jack Schmitt were beginning their sleep period and would see us in the morning which will be at a Ground Elapsed Time of 136 hours, 55 minutes. We plan to give them the full 8-hour sleep period called for in the Flight Plan. Also, Ron Evans, continuing to sleep soundly aboard the orbiting Command Service Module America, completing it's 21st revolution of the Moon. And we're about to lose radio contact with the Command Module as it goes behind the Moon on that revolution. Both vehicles continuing to perform normally and good solid data from both the Command and Service Module and the Lunar Module. Wakeup time for Evans aboard America is 131 hours, 20 minutes. 31 minutes, this is Apollo Control, Houston and we'll replay that very brief segment of tape from the Lunar Module Challenger.
It is wakeup time for Ron in spacecraft America.
131:23:00 Fullerton: Hello, America; this is Houston. Good morning, sir.
Evans: Roberta?
Fullerton: Hey there, Ron. I heard some signs of life there.
Evans: Let's see. I - got my Duplex, Off, there so I won't talk to those guys on the surface.
Fullerton: That's a good idea. We don't want to wake them up.
Evans: [Laughter.]
Fullerton: Ron, we're going to be going LOS here in about 3 minutes. Just wanted to get you up. We're letting the LMies sleep over - sleep in an extra hour this morning. Over.
Evans: Oh, okay. I'll get my Flight Plan out here and see what I'm supposed to be doing. Probably just eating though, I think, isn't it?
Fullerton: That's right. Get up, turn the VHF A, Off, change your canister, and have breakfast.
131:25:49 Evans: Okay. Sounds good. That's what we'll do then.
Very long comm break.
131:51:XX Begin Lunar Rev 23
132:23:05 Fullerton: Hello there, America. How's breakfast this morning?
Evans: Scrambled eggs and bacon. Not bad at all.
Fullerton: Sounds better than what I had.
Evans: It's really not bad. Cocoa and orange juice along with it. Even have four toasted bread cubes.
Fullerton: Very good.
Evans: Hey, Gordo. Do you have any sort of - some kind of a ground truth wrap-up of the first EVA as far as the type of material they ran across down there and things like that?
Fullerton: Ron, I kind of personally - on and off. Let me work on a good summary, and I'll come back to you on that.
Evans: Okay. Nothing elaborate but just - you know...
Fullerton: Okay. Talking about the America though, your consumables - You're 3.8 percent high on RCS quantity. On the O2, well - all the points of the three tanks have fallen between the - the two sets of lines on your graph with a total result as on O2 you're about 10 pounds below the average quantity expected. However, your trend is paralleling the lines and that's of absolutely no concern. On hydrogen, my best guess is you're probably a little bit high, total. Your Tank 1 is right on the line; Tank 2 is - oh, about 6 or 7 percent high; and Tank B is about 4 percent high, so you're fat on hydrogen. Over.
Evans: That doesn't sound too bad then, does it?
Fullerton: No. It sounds great.
132:25:45 Evans: Sounds good, I think.
Long comm break.
132:28:56 Evans: Houston, America. I can give you the old CMP's medical log, if you want to do it.
Fullerton: Okay, Ron. Go ahead.
Evans: Okay. PRD is - You didn't cut out on me [Laughter]. My orange juice is leaking. Okay. PRD is 15038. Had about 6 hours of good sleep. Took me about an hour to get things squared away last night. Then I woke up early this morning. Didn't take any medication. And I had four cans of fluid.
Fullerton: Okay.
Evans: Okay, on the menu. Did I give you day 5, meal A, yesterday or not?
Fullerton: I guess you did not.
Evans: Okay. Spiced oat cereal, sausage patties, instant breakfast, coffee, and a half an ambrosia. Okay. Four frankfurters, ate the pears, chocolate pudding, grape drink, and, in addition, I had a grape punch, package of brownies, package of graham crackers, and two gingerbreads. Yes, for the bottom one there, I had turkey and gravy, and an orange beverage, and if I find my chocolate bar, I'm going to eat it today. But I didn't eat it yet. Oh, yes, and I had the vitamins yesterday too.
Graham crackers were unknown to this editor of the AFJ (Woods). A little internet checking revealed that they are a sweet cracker, usually flavoured with cinnamon or honey and generally eaten as a snack.
Fullerton: Okay, Ron.
132:32:09 Fullerton: Ron, if you'd like, I could give you a summary of the EVA-1. I'm just sort of editing the report put out by the back room on that.
Evans: Sure. Go ahead, Gordo; Appreciate it.
Fullerton: Okay. I'll read a few selected excerpts here. The surface around the landing site is generally an undulating plain, which was somewhat rougher and had a greater abundance of blocks than was expected by the astronauts. It is saturated with small craters not exceeding a few centimeters in size but not with larger craters. Small craters commonly have glass on their floors. Boulders ranging from about ½-meter to 4 meters are common. All of them are partially buried or covered with the dust of the dark mantle. In one locality, a crater of about 1-meter deep penetrated the relatively fine dark surface material and excavated small blocks. Other shallower craters in this area did not fully penetrate the mantle. This fact, together with the abundance of small boulders on and near the surface, indicates that the dark mantle is relatively thin. A minor amount of dust noted upon landing suggested a thin layer of fine grain unconsolidated material. Footprints and LRV tracks left firm impressions in the fine grain material when darker material was kicked up from underneath. At the ALSEP site, the drill encountered harder material several times and definitely seem to reach harder material at about a 7-foot depth. The deep drill core apparently also bottomed in harder material. In the core, the material was noted to be cohesive, and it contained more fragments than did the surficial material. Predominant rock type between the LM and Steno Crater is medium grained, vesicular or nonvesicular basalts or gabbro. They contain about equal amounts of plagioclase and pyroxene along with less abundant opaque material. The guys took a total of - well, they took a lot of pictures. They had 229 color and 197 black-and-white during EVA-1. And they got 17 samples in addition to the deep drill core. Three were large, unbagged rocks, and the total, excluding the core, estimated to weigh about 13 kilograms so far, and they traveled about 3 kilometers in the Rover. As a summary conclusion, the observations made on the first EVA support the premission interpretation that at least the upper part of the subfloor materials consist of basaltic lava flow. The overlying dark mantle may be part of the regolith on subfloor material, but the possibility that it is an independent unit remains open and will be tested by observations on second and third EVAs. Both the dark mantle and upper subfloor units contain remarkably little foreign material between the ALSEP site and Steno with suggests comparatively young ages. Over.
Evans: Hey, that sounds like a good report there. They - sounds like they got a lot of stuff done and also getting a lot of good information out of it already.
Fullerton: Yes. I think that's a safe conclusion. They're going to get a lot more today.
132:35:52 Evans: Oh, you bet.
Comm break.
132:38:01 Fullerton: Ron, for your information, the ALSEP seems to be working pretty well. The central station and all the experiments with the exception of one are working normally. The one that's giving them trouble is the LEAM, and the data on the LEAM doesn't seem to want to sync up properly. They're thinking that one over and maybe have something for them to try to get that to - to work right. Over.
132:38:33 Evans: Oh. Okay. Mighty fine.
Very long comm break.
132:51:45 Fullerton: America, Houston. I have a couple of Flight Plan updates to give you. We suggest you take them down before you start the P52, at your convenience. Just so we don't interrupt your preparation for the zodiacal light.
Evans: Okay. Got mag XX from the camera, finally. Something about the zero g - it kind of pulls that crazy little cassette back out of the way, and you have a heck of a time getting the lid closed on that.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: Okay. Ready for updates.
Fullerton: Okay. Your T-start time for zodiacal light, goes in there at 133:25, is 133...
Evans: Okay. Have it.
Fullerton: ...28:03.
Evans: T-start, 133:28:03.
Fullerton: That's correct, and then flip the page over to 134:35.
Evans: Okay.
Fullerton: And write in "Charge Battery A."
Evans: Charge Batt A at 134:35.
132:53:12 Fullerton: Affirmative. At bottom of the same column, at 134:54, delete "Mapping Camera, Retract." And also a couple of lines later, delete "Mapping Camera/Laser Altimeter Cover, Closed."
132:53:36 Evans: Okay. We deleted the retraction of the Mapping Camera and also deleted covering the - closing the Mapping Camera/laser altimeter.
Fullerton: That's affirmative. Above that whole sequence, we have some verifies for you. You can write this in about 134:50. Actually, you better start - start a little higher to have room. "Verify all VHF Off for sounder pass." And here are the - the steps. "VHF AM, A and B, Off. VHF AM, Receive Only, Off. VHF Beacon, Off. And VHF Ranging, Off." Four steps there. Over.
132:54:46 Evans: Okay. We'll just verify that all VHF is Off for sounder operations. VHF, A and B, Off. Receive, Off. And Receive Only, Off. Beacon, Off. And Ranging, Off.
Fullerton: Okay. That's all you got...
132:55:00 Evans: Ranging is Off. Beacon has been Off. Receive Only is On. Okay.
Evans: Hey, Gordy. How's the fidelity on my transmissions with the way I got the microphone set now?
Fullerton: Okay, Ron. You sound pretty good to me.
Evans: Okay. I don't have this comm carrier on very tight. I just wanted to make sure I was still coming through all right.
Fullerton: Yes, think it's perfectly adequate.
Evans: Okay.
132:58:22 Fullerton: Ron, we'd like High Gain to Auto.
132:58:27 Evans: High Gain to Auto. You have it.
Fullerton: Thank you.
Evans: [Cough.]
Fullerton: Looks like another good one, Ron.
Evans: Okay.
Fullerton: Was it good? Torque them up.
132:59:51 Evans: [Garble] at 133:01.
Fullerton: Okay.
Long comm break.
133:05:58 Fullerton: America, Houston. Give us Accept, and we give you a vector.
133:06:07 Evans: Okay. You have Accept.
Comm break.
133:08:14 Fullerton: America, Houston. It's your computer now.
Evans: Okay. Back to Block.
Comm break.
133:11:36 Evans: Okay. I'm going to enable jets Charlie 3 and Dog 3. Disable Bravo 3 and Alpha 3.
Fullerton: Okay, Ron.
Fullerton: Ron, Just for general information on your platform drift rates. Not too bad. X is minus 0.007 degrees per hour, Y - min - plus 0.002, and Z is really hard to believe. It's a minus 0.0003 degrees per hour.
Evans: [Laughter] Hey, that's beautiful.
Fullerton: That's got to be some kind of record.
Evans: Boy, I guess.
Fullerton: We may just cancel all further P52s.
Evans: [Laughter] Yes, they're kind of easy here in lunar orbit. All except that one that I didn't get done on time yesterday. By the time I got around to doing it, I was pointing right at the Moon. Roll and pitch. It was daylight, and I couldn't see any stars. Finally got to the right attitude, so that the PICAPAR would work.
Fullerton: Roger.
133:21:30 Evans: Well, Gordo. Looks like I'll lose you right in the middle of this zodiacal light sequencer.
Fullerton: That's right. We aren't going to be able to be much help. I'll give you a little warning before T-start. But you're on your own after that, I guess.
Evans: [Laughter] Okay.
Long comm break.
133:27:31 Fullerton: Ron, you have about 30 seconds now until T-start.
Evans: Ah, hah. Okay. 28:03, we'll start the clock.
Fullerton: That's affirm.
133:28:49 Fullerton: Ron, it's about time - coming up on time to start the 90-second exposure.
Evans: Okay.
133:30:19 Fullerton: Coming up on time to close the shutter now.
Evans: Okay.
Fullerton: Okay, America. We're just about LOS. See you on the other side.
133:31:43 Evans: Okay, Gordo. Thank you much.
Very long comm break.
Evans (onboard): [Garble.] Eight will go into 60 [garble], and 10 will go into 40 [garble].
133:35:00 Evans (onboard): Hey, and we started that one after - for the record, started it at 29:09 for the 90-second one. And then - I mean at 28:09, started at 28:09 for the 90-second one. And then we set the clock and started the rest of them on time. So that the 60-one - 60-second one started right at 5 minutes. The next one will be at 8 minutes for the 60-seconder, 10 minutes for 40-second, and [garble] on the 20-second.
Evans (onboard): Gosh-darn thing [garble] took a picture [garble] about 60 seconds [garble]. Okay, 10 will be at 40 seconds.
Evans (onboard): [Garble] think [garble].
133:38:51 Evans (onboard): Okay. Switch 11:30, we get a 20-second one; 13:00 - Okay, 11:30, we get 20 second; 13:00, we get a 10-[garble].
Evans (onboard): 13:00...
Evans (onboard): Okay [garble].
Evans (onboard): Eleven. Need another two.
Evans (onboard): [Garble] 13:30.
133:42:47 Evans (onboard): [Garble] 50.
Evans (onboard): [Garble] - Wow, does the Sun come up! [Laughter]
Evans (onboard): Okay. Cover [garble] up out there.
Evans (onboard): [Garble] 14:50 would have been a 30. Okay, that's right. Yes. That's right 14:50 would have been 1/30, so that's all right. Worked out good - worked out good. We got that one all except for the 8-minute one, Somehow I must not have had it all the way into the T. Okay. [Garble]. Let's see.
Evans (onboard): [Garble].
133:45:34 Evans (onboard): [Whistling]
Evans (onboard): Okay.
133:48:29 Evans (onboard): Okay, here we go at 48, I guess it is. Laser Altimeter, On. [Garble] we got a barber pole.
133:48:46 Evans (onboard): Okay, Mapping Camera, On. [Garble] Motion, barber pole plus 4. There's a barber pole. [Garble] could have had that a little sooner. Oh, we got the time [garble] craters.
133:50:38 Evans (onboard): Warm.
133:50:XX Begin Lunar Rev 24
134:01:46 Evans (onboard): Well, we'll come across Gagarin and Agassiz [sic] now. You can see the - it looks like a rille going back through - towards the south through Agassiz - cutting on across into a little crater to the south of Agassiz. You know, something that looks funny about that, even though it looks like a mare material, it looks like Agassiz is - slopes with a, maybe 10- or 15-degree slope from the west to the east, with a mare-type floor, at least a darker color - darker albedo floor. There's a lot of swirls in the floor. You - you can't see any topographic expression with those swirls at all. It almost looks like some of the - the light streaks, though, do come from - well, by gosh, they are - they're mixed up from ejecta probably from Bright Baby [?]. And Bright Baby is really right up to the - you can see the ejecta pattern on it, heading generally in a northeasterly direction.
134:06:50 Evans (onboard): Okay, coming across...
134:17:57 Evans: And out on the - on the sides of the wall, also, there's another fresh impact just south of ... I guess it's more west really.
Fullerton: Hello, America.
Evans: Okay, Houston. America's here. The - the zodiacal light sequence worked real well. Oddly enough, I ended up right [laughter] on the right setting with the right times and everything. The only thing is on the 8-minute - on the 8-minute picture, for some reason, I didn't notice that the shutter shut as soon as I took it instead of 60 seconds later. So we just missed that picture altogether.
Fullerton: Okay, Ron. Understand.
Evans: But the time we worked out good. It was about 2 seconds after the 14:50 - sequence. Not 2 seconds - about 1 second after the 14:50 sequence. And the Sun came up.
Fullerton: Okay.
Evans: It's going to be hard to - to determine any real relief around the vicinity of Saenger right in there, because it's right at the zero phase point now.
Fullerton: Roger.
134:23:14 Fullerton: Ron, here's some words on what we've been seeing in the sounder and the optical recorder when you get a free moment.
Evans: Okay. I'm just kind of looking out the window now, Gordo. Go ahead.
Fullerton: Okay. According to our rather crude read-out on film remaining, it looks like we're using more film than we should be in the recorder, and - it's - if you add up the amount of film used according to that telemetry compared to some times when the recorder has been On and also in Standby, it looks like there's a possibility they jive to show that we might be pulling film through the recorder in - while we're in Standby. This is unlikely because it takes a couple of failures that we don't think are really likely at all, but we're going to try to run a little test at 134:50, during that sequence of getting set up with the VHF sounder pass.
Fullerton: It will just involve a couple of switch throwings by you to try to conclusively prove that this is or is not the case. Over.
Evans: Oh, okay. Mighty fine. Sure. When you get to it there, just holler out the switches because I'll be over at the panel at that time.
Fullerton: Okay.
134:26:51 Evans: I kind of hope our telemetry is wrong. [Long pause.]
134:27:50 Evans: Microphone set now?
Comm break.
134:29:22 Evans: How'd you like to have the Pan Camera Power, On, here?
Fullerton: Okay. We're ready.
134:29:35 Evans: Okay. Mode is to Standby; Pan Camera Power is coming On.
Evans: You know, Houston, just west of Condorcet and on the edge of...
Fullerton: Okay. We need the Pan Camera, Off now, and then go...
134:31:14 Evans: ...the hills down in there. Oh, okay. Pan Camera is Off.
Fullerton: Roger. Go ahead.
Evans: But you get the same vertical - you get the same vertical streaking that we do on the edge of Serenitatis, off in the Massif units.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: Coming up at Picard now. Looking at it - a little bit from a distance, there's a darker albedo that goes about a half a crater in diameter from it. And then, on top of that darker albedo - It only goes out maybe a fourth of a crater diameter - there's a lighter type material - that seems to be covering it up. The lighter type material though only goes in a generally westerly - well, from the south around to the west side and then kind of from the northeast around to the northwest side, and it leaves the dark material draping down in the side of Picard on the east side of Picard.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: It looks like it's a - fairly easy to - When you go around the south to the west side, it has a light material on it. You can pretty well carry a light layer in the top portion of the wall all the way around to that - that part where it stops - where the light part stops. And then you come to a dark layer again - and then - as you continue around from the west to go on around to the north side. It's a little bit in shadow on the east side, so I can't tell for sure whether that light layer's in there or not. But starting on the south side, going around to the west again, you can see a layer of dark - dark material, although it - there doesn't seem to be a change in the slope - in the slope or the inner wall of the crater.
Fullerton: Okay.
Evans: And then just below - just below the dark layer, again a change in slope a little bit. It maintains that a slope throughout the - all the way down to the crater floor, where you get into the slump blocks. And then in the center of the crater, it looks like a maria-type film with - Yes, I'm about to lose sight of it again, but with something comparable to a central peak in it. And I'll have to get the rest of that a little bit later on.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: You know right west of - I think it's Yerkes or Yerkes or whatever it is - between there and Proclus, there's a real small crater I'm looking at with the binocs. And the reason it stands out is because it's a fresh - fresh crater and yet it's a dark - dark halo all the way around it.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: And it's also dark down on the inside of it. I still don't have a feeling for the relative size of things. I'll try to get that one in the next - next pass around through here. But that's what I would call a small, maybe even in the – thousand-meter bracket. Probably somewhere in there.
Fullerton: Roger, Ron.
Evans: Am I suppose to charge battery A here somewhere?
Fullerton: That's affirm when you get a chance. And also, you are due to turn some switches on panel 230.
134:37:29 Evans: Okay. Let's see, Battery Vent Valve is still on Vent, and we're not tied together. Bat Relay Bus Bat A is Out. Okay; 32 volts. Go to Bat Charger Bat A. About 2½ - 2 - 2¼ amps.
Fullerton: Okay.
Evans: And 34 volts on the charge.
Fullerton: Okay.
Evans: This work gets interesting. After that, I got to go to 230, huh?
Fullerton: Right.
134:38:19 Evans: Okay; let's - You want to get that Lunar Sounder stuff, now? Sounder's Standby; Recorder is On. Radar is On. Recorder is Off. Mode went to VHF.
Fullerton: Okay; sounds good.
134:38:50 Evans: And all the VH - all the VH switch - VHF/AM switches are verified, Off.
Fullerton: Ron, I got one more update for the Flight Plan, unless something interesting at the window. There is no - no hurry on that update.
Evans: Okay; let me take another look at the landing site, and then I'll get it. Okay?
Fullerton: Okay; fine.
134:39:57 Evans: Okay, the Sun's getting a little bit higher now. And as I look at the landing site and the albedo - differences in the color in there - the color in the Maraldi Gamma is the same as in the landing site itself. And, also, it looks like the type of material that we say is essentially covering the whole area - goes on out to and includes the annulus of Serenitatis.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: Let's see. Did I mention that - that it looks like - the flow out of Maraldi has gone on around it and down to, and almost encroaches on the Vitruvius A. But, it's breached out of the side of Maraldi. Gone around that depression and up to the side of Vitruvius A.
Fullerton: Roger, Ron.
Evans: You still get that same bluish - bluish-type tint from the area in the landing site. At station number 2, on the landslide - it's going to be a pretty good - pretty good little depression there. The scarp itself - it looks like they had picked the least-slope portion to go up it. And, that's kind of between Lara - I think Lara's the one, right - the crater just to the west of the scarp.
Fullerton: Roger. I haven't been on all your revs. You ever had any - anything you'd call a visual on the LM?
134:42:36 Evans: No, I really haven't looked that much, Gordo. See, my optics are always pointing up in the air; so I can't use the sextant. The binocs - I'm having a heck of a time holding them still enough to - to concentrate on anything very small.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: Oh, when we're coming around the dark annulus, follow it around, by Menelaus and Tacquet, and then - it kind of changes - seems to change colors a little bit when we get up to the Sulpicius Gallus.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: I guess the only thing you can say is that - the southern part there, in the Tacquet region, has a more of a bluish tint. And, then to me, this has more of a brownish tint to it when you get to the Sulpicius Gallus region.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: Hey, wait a minute. I'm just now passing Menelaus now. So, it changes color right at the - Tacquet and then - at about Tacquet and Menelaus. Sulpicius Gallus is just now coming up.
Evans: You know, I think Sun angle has got a heck of a lot to do with that, because this whole thing - in the Sulpicius Gallus region looks kind of brownish to me.
134:47:35 Fullerton: Okay.
Evans: I'll have to check that when the Sun gets a little bit higher when I'm coming across there again.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: Okay, Gordo. I guess I'd better get some work done here [laughter].
Fullerton: Okay. I would like you to go through all those switches as shown on the Flight Plan. And, whan you finish all of those with SM/AC Power, Off, I have a couple more for you.
Evans: Okay. I forgot to turn the lights on in here. I can't see in the dark.
Evans: Okay, Mapping Camera - Is that the right time? Let's see - 49? No, wait just a second on the Mapping Camera, there. It takes good terminator pictures, too, doesn't it?
Fullerton: Ron, go ahead and turn the Mapping Camera off. Just a minute or 2 ago, it started acting up. We'll turn it off now and troubleshoot it later.
134:50:38 Evans: Okay. The Mapping Camera is Off right now. Eight, 30 seconds. Okay, Mapping Camera is Standby. Image Motion is Off.
Evans: Okay, there we go - Standby. Now, Image Motion is Off. We got a barberpole ... - a gray, okay. Now Mapping Camera to Off. Laser Altimeter to Off. Okay, you want the Recorder to On, huh? All right. IR is going Off. Pan Camera, Self Test is going Off.
134:52:14 Fullerton: Wait until sunset on the next one.
Evans: And, the o - oh, okay. I can really tell sunset because the - that EVA pole that sticks out here by window 5. Looks like it's lit up now the way the Sun's shining on it.
Fullerton: Roger.
Evans: Hey, Gordo. How good is that VOX? Could you hear me chewing?
Fullerton: No, I can't hear you chewing. Hear you talking fine.
Evans: Okay. That's good, then.
Evans: That has to be sunset.
Fullerton: About the right time.
134:56:29 Evans: Okay, V is Off. Now, I'm gonna close the IR Cover, barber pole, gray; UV Cover, barber pole and gray. Okay, turn the old SM/AC Power, Off.
Fullerton: Okay, Ron. Now - now we want Lunar - Lunar Sounder Operate switch to Operate.
Evans: Okay. Go to Operate...
134:57:15 Evans: Now.
Fullerton: What we're doing this for is to get a readout of the film quantity.
Evans: Oh, I see.
Fullerton: Okay, we got her. You go back to Lunar Sounder Operate switch to Standby, now.
Evans: Okay, Lunar Sounder is in Standby.
Fullerton: Okay, that completes that test. I have a couple more additions to the Flight Plan for - for 136:35, is the first one.
Evans: Okay at 136: 35, Verb 48, (21102) and (01111).
Fullerton: Okay, that first one is three ones - 02.
Evans: Okay, three ones - 02 and a zero, four ones.
Fullerton: Right. What we're doing here is making a 20-degree roll by keeping P20 going, to allow them to cal the VHF - I guess they had some unexpected noise on the VHF sounder and they want to - slip this in as another check on it. So, the next step is 136:44 and at that time put in Verb 22, Noun 78 (plus 072.24), then Verb 58 Enter. Then some words, "When maneuver complete, wait 20 seconds." Then, a Verb 22, Noun 78 (plus 052.25). That's plus 052.25. And follow that with a Verb 58 Enter. And, then one more line - you still with me?
Evans: Yes, still with you. Got it.
Fullerton: Okay, at 136:47, write in "Verb 48" and we go back to (11101) and zero and four ones.
Evans: Okay. At 44, we - Verb 22, Noun 78 [sic] - that changes to 72.24 degrees. And Verb 58. Okay, then we - we're going to stay at that attitude for 20 seconds. Then change it hack to plus-X forward SIM bay attitude again. And as soon as we get back, we'll change our DAP back to two tenths of a degree per second.
Fullerton: That's right and what this will do is stick the VHF antenna right straight down at nadir for a count.
Evans: Okay.
Fullerton: Hey, at your convenience, we need Auto and High Gain.
135:02:34 Evans: You have Auto.
Evans: Pretty convenient when you're laying in the center couch [laughter].
Evans: [Humming.]
Fullerton: Ron, I got the morning news, if you're interested and I can watch the clock there for that Data System On time. Or Off time, rather. Okay, sure. Go ahead.
Fullerton: Okay. ...[Garble] setting up the camera.
Fullerton: Front pages around the country; they're headlining last night's EVA, as you might expect, with photographs taken from TV monitors showing Cernan and Schmitt doing their tasks. And by the way, their TV camera is spectacularly clear and sharp. It's almost like a regular studio TV. In other news, South Vietnam's President Thieu is...
135:05:47 Evans: Outstanding.
Fullerton: ...is suggesting that all prisoners of war be released before Christmas. He's also asked that all Vietnamese parties be included in peace negotiations. South Vietnam and the Viet Cong are not directly represented in the secret talks now underway in Paris. Meanwhile, Henry Kissinger met for more than four hours, yesterday, with Hanoi representative Bec Duc Tho. The two negotiators are expected to meet again this afternoon. The former President Harry Truman is still resting quietly although his condition remains serious, according to his doctors. American poet, Mark Van Doren, died at the age of 78. He was a professor of literature at Columbia and a winner of the 1940 Pulitzer Prize for his poetry. President Nixon announced, yesterday, that he wants to extend wage price control beyond the scheduled April 30 expiration. He also plans to freeze new hiring, promotions, and pay increases for executives of the Federal Government. I guess that doesn't include us. The Republican National Committee has a...
135:06:59 Evans: [Laughter] I don't think it does either.
Fullerton: ...a new chairman - George Bush of Houston, who is now ambassador to the United Nations. He will continue his UN post through the present session of the General Assembly. Both national political parties are now headed by Texans. I simply mention to you, Robert Strauss of Dallas became chairman of the Democratic National Committee last Saturday. And, when you see Jack again, you can tell him he has been replaced by the Nimbus 5 weather satellite which is operating in orbit after being launched from Vandenburg very early Monday morning.
135:07:41 Evans: [Laughter] Outstanding.
Fullerton: Joe Namath - I think you might have heard the football score last night - the Oakland Raiders got to Namath and the Jets in a - in the fourth quarter and beat them 24 to 16. Namath passed for more than 400 yards, but only scored one touchdown. And Houston weather, we've had two kinds of weather since you've left: it's been either cold and rainy, or chilly and rainy. And, it's foggy and drizzly here again today and temperatures are expected to rise to the mid 40's and go down to a low of 32 tonight. There you have it.
Evans: Gee, whiz. I thank you.
Fullerton: Any time. You need to get to the Data System switch. And turn on the sounder at - in about a minute.
Evans: Okay.
135:09:48 Evans: Okay. Data System is Off, 58, 59 - oops.
135:10:03 Evans: Mark it. Okay, went to Operate.
Fullerton: Okay.
Evans: All talkbacks are still gray.
Fullerton: Roger.
Long comm break.
135:28:16 Fullerton: America, Houston. About 3 minutes to LOS. Spacecraft looks good and the sounder's filling the Moon with RF energy, just the way it's supposed to. Over.
Evans: Hey, outstanding. Trying to consolidate all of my trash. Man, I didn't realize you had so much junk.
136:26:58 Fullerton: Okay. We copy that, Ron. The sounder still looks good, clicking right away. And the Mapping Camera funny I mentioned earlier - we haven't nailed down exactly what it is. Most likely, we think it's just an instrumentation erroneous indication. And so, we're going to continue with the normal schedule of activities on the Mapping Camera, except, of course, for the deploy and retraction.
136:27:29 Evans: Uh-huh. Okay. Well, hey, that - let's hope that's what it is then.
136:29:22 Evans: I'd like to change that instruct to frame 55 instead of 54. I just took a picture of the crater on the - well, I guess southwest of Crisium.
136:29:37 Fullerton: Okay, Ron...
136:29:37 Evans: [Garble] different. It's got a light-color - light-colored dike or something through the central peak in the bottom of the small crater. The crater's about - oh, 30 to 50 kilometers, I guess, in diameter.
136:29:56 Fullerton: Roger. [Pause.]
136:30:02 Evans: The small crater west of Condorcet.
136:33:26 Evans: You know, the Crater Peirce has got that same dark halo around its crater, and it extends out - again, you can see it real well out to about a half a crater diameter. You don't see any of the light-colored ejecta on top of it though, like you do on Picard.
136:33:47 Fullerton: Okay.
Long comm break.
Ken Mattingly has passed the CapCom console to Robert Overmyer.
136:40:30 Evans: Boy, that Scarp sure looks like a flow boundary to me.
136:40:30 Overmyer: Rog. On the landing site Scarp?
136:40:41 Evans: Yeah. [Camera actuation.] I don't know how you get it to go up the North Massif, but it sure looks like it runs that way - just from the shadows and everything. [Camera actuation.]
136:54:04 - This is Apollo Control at 136:54 Ground Elapsed Time. We have now shifted over to air/ground 1 for the first wake-up call to the crew of Challenger at the landing site, Taurus-Littrow. We have dropped the Command Service Module circuit air/ground 2. Live and listening on the Lunar Module circuit at 136:54, this is Apollo Control.
136:58:15 Overmyer: Ron, Houston here. We're coming up on some TEI-38 PAD, and some flight - and a solar corona PAD, and some Flight Plan update any time you're ready?
Evans: Okay. Let's see. I think I've got the - [garble].
Evans: Okay. Let's see. I'll get my TEI book here. Okay. All set for TEI-38.
Overmyer: Okay, Ron. TEI-38, SPS/G&N; 37580; plus 0.55, plus 0.97; 163:21:54.04; Noun 81s are plus 2668.0, minus 1238.0, minus 0414.1; roll, 181; pitch, 114; yaw, 338; rest of the PAD is not applicable. Good ole Sirius and Rigel for our set stars; 133, 200, 030. Ullage, four jets, 12 seconds - that's 12 seconds. And, the longitude of the Moon at the TIG time is minus 153.71. Over.
Evans: Okay. TEI-38 is SPS/G&N; 37580; plus 0.55, plus 0.97; TIG is 163:21:54.04; Noun 81s, plus 2668.0, minus 1238.0, minus 0414.1; roll, 181; pitch, 114, 338; Sirius and Rigel; 133, 200, 030; four jet, 12 seconds; longitude at TIG is a minus 153.71.
Overmyer: Good readback, Ron.
Interpretation of the PAD is as follows:
Purpose: This is an abort PAD for an early return home at the end of the 38th orbit if there is a problem that would end the mission.
System: The burn would use the SPS engine under the control of the Guidance and Navigation system.
CSM Weight (Noun 47): 37,580 pounds (17,046 kg).
Pitch and yaw trim (Noun 48): +0.55° and +0.97°.
Time of ignition, TIG (Noun 33): 163 hours, 21 minutes, 54.04 seconds.
Change in velocity (Noun 81), fps (m/s): X, +2,668.0 (+813.2); Y, -1238.0 (-377.3); Z, -414.1 (-126.2). These velocity components are expressed with respect to the local vertical frame of reference.
Spacecraft attitude: Roll, 181°; Pitch, 114°; Yaw, 338°. The attitude angles are given with respect to the current REFSMMAT.
GDC Align stars: Stars 15, (Sirius, Alpha Canis Majoris) and 12, (Rigel, Beta Orionis) are to be used to align the gyro assemblies if it is not possible to use the guidance platform for this purpose.
GDC Align angles: x, 133°; y, 200°; z, 30°.
There are two additional notes accompanying this PAD. In order to settle the SPS propellants in their tanks, four RCS jets should be fired for 12 seconds. At the moment of ignition, the spacecraft would be over a lunar longitude of 153.71°W.
Overmyer: Okay. All the rest of our read-up here is in the Flight Plan.
Evans: Okay. Just a second.
Evans: Okay. Go.
137:01:59 Fullerton: Okay. At 137:33, the solar corona photo PAD is T-start: 137:33:48. Over.
Evans: Okay. Solar corona PAD, 137:33:48.
Overmyer: Roger. Next one's over at 139:20.
Evans: Okay. Go.
Overmyer: Okay. The old one, delete "Mapping Camera/Laser Altimeter Cover, Open." And at 139:21, delete "Mapping Camera, Extend," since they're already there.
Evans: Okay. Got them.
137:02:54 Fullerton: Okay, Ron. At 139:21, where it says, "UV Cover, Open," move that down to 139:23. Make the following note. "Delay opening 2 minutes to check operating current with cover closed." We'll be checking that and giving you a cue on that.
Evans: Oh, okay.
Overmyer: And there's nothing - no problems expected there, Ron, We're just getting some extra data that OSO wants.
Evans: Okay. Good deal.
137:03:35 Fullerton: Okay. The next one is at 141:50.
Evans: 141...
Overmyer: 141:50.
Evans: 141:50; okay.
Overmyer: Okay. We got...
Evans: Okay, I got it.
Overmyer: We've got a little - seeing some funnies on the V/H Override, so after Pan Camera, Standby, Stereo, and Power, we want to add the following: V/H Override, High Altitude - High Alt.
Evans: Okay, V/H Override to High Altitude.
Overmyer: Okay, make...
Evans: After you get the Pan Camera Power, On.
Overmyer: Pardon me, Ron. I missed that.
Evans: That's right. That's - after you get the Pan Camera Power, On, V/H to High Altitude.
137:04:40 Overmyer: Rog. Okay, Ron. The next two are just a couple of info notes for you. I don't know where you want to write this one, but FAO would like to remind you that you don't have any margin on mag Lima Lima anymore; you used up all your margin on that mag. Everything else is needed for planned operation.
Evans: Uh-huh! Okay.
137:05:10 Overmyer: And, the last one just...
Evans: Discontinue spares on Lima Lima.
Overmyer: Roger. Just use Lima Lima as scheduled, but don't - don't use any spare shots on it. And the last one is just a sum up here, Ron.
Evans: Okay.
Overmyer: You obviously are aware of it, but you have not missed any Mapping Camera, Pan Camera, or Lunar Sounder operations to date. And we're all on schedule and right on the Flight Plan - outstanding Flight Plan.
Evans: Yeah. You bet it's an outstanding Flight Plan. That's great!
Overmyer: Yeah, Ron. I think you had a really outstanding Flight Plan to be flying at this time of the year, because the weather in Houston is so miserable that you can't believe it.
Evans: [Laughter] Oh, boy. That's what everybody keeps saying.
137:05:57 Overmyer: Rog. I just drove in, and it's kind of a sleety rain. It feels like it might snow at any moment, although it's really not that cold. The ceiling is probably down about 6 - 700 feet. It is really rotten out there.
Evans: [Laughter] Yeah, we did - we did pick a good time to make the flight then.
Overmyer: That's affirmative. It's been this way since you left.
Evans: [Laughter].
Overmyer: You guys - you realize, of course, that you're going to get...
Evans: Well, we want everybody to get [garble]...
Overmyer: ...blamed for that, because with two people on the Moon, that's what happens.
Evans: [Laughter] Yeah, right.
Overmyer: Okay. You can get back to work then, if you want.
Evans: Okay.
137:06:54 Evans: See if I can get my solar - solar corona squared away here.
Overmyer: Okay.
137:07:35 Evans: Okay. Solar corona is mag QQ, and we're on frame 69.
137:11:56 Evans: And, Houston; America. Let's see. You're going to send me over the hill in high bit rate this time for sure, are you? As usual [chuckle].
Overmyer: Stand by on that, Ron. Let me check in the go on that.
Evans: Looks like it.
Overmyer: That's affirmative, Ron. You'll be going over the hill in high bit rate.
137:24:42 Overmyer: Ron, we're coming up on 5 minutes to LOS and just want to update you. We went around the room, and the spacecraft is looking great. We just have one reminder and that's at the end of the solar corona period, please use only one protect frame - one protect frame per the Flight Plan or per the checklist. And the other thing is - the Lunar Sounder - the little check you did at the beginning of this pass - the recorder is pulling film as normal. The glitch we saw was a telemetry grit - glitch and the Lunar Sounder's looking great.
137:25:19 Evans: Hey, outstanding! That's good to hear. Sounds like we're getting kind of low on VHBW film though is what you're saying, huh?
Overmyer: On that particular magazine; yes, Ron. That's the problem, I think. Looking at the total thing is more - is which magazine has got what on it.
Evans: Oh, okay.
137:25:52 Overmyer: And we'll see you at 138:15 when you'll be just about eating. So give us a call if you want anything. We'll be listening.
Evans: Okay. I'll be on the loop. Oh - Hey, One thing. Can you check on mag - what do I have on the Nikon now, XX, I guess? It seems to me like - we just need that for another zodiacal light thing.
Overmyer: Okay. We got FAO working on that.
Evans: [Garble] know is, in other words, are there two or three frames available? Do we have two or three frames available on that one?
Overmyer: Okay. Let me check on it, Ron?
Evans: Okay.
137:26:44 Evans: I want to take a red and a blue picture of the landing site sometime.
Overmyer: It's going to take a little bit of chasing on that, Ron. We may not have the word before you go LOS, but we'll have it definitely when you come up AOS.
Evans: Oh, okay. Yeah, don't - No - no problem. I won't use it until we get to the landing site anyhow.
137:27:24 Overmyer: Okay, Ron. There are 18 spares on X-ray X-ray that you could use.
137:27:31 Evans: Oh, okay. Good.
Very long comm break.
137:31:09 Evans (onboard): Yes, let's get [garble].
137:32:47 Evans (onboard): 33:48. Okay. Here we go.
137:33:02 Evans (onboard): 33:48. Doesn't sound like the thing's working unless I talk right into it. Good thing it's not on the [garble]. Test 1, 2, 3...
137:33:26 Evans (onboard): How's that? 1, 2, 3, 4. Okay. That looks like that ought to work. 33:48, we start the clock. 07:48. That dear old clock.
137:33:56 Evans (onboard): Okay. Bit Rate is High. Checked that, yes. And tape was going. Okay. Let's see now.
137:34:03 - This is Apollo Control at 137 hours, 34 minutes. America with Ron Evans is behind the Moon. We'll acquire in 40 minutes on the 25th revolution.
137:34:11 Evans (onboard): 04:30, CMC's in Free. [Garble] start drifting. Okay. Oh, the old biemed's starting to itch. Took it off here after a bit and see what it's...
137:34:44 Evans (onboard): Okay. 04:30, we go to Free; 05:45, take a 10-second one; and at 06, we take a 4-second one and change at 06. Change, then take - At 06:10, we take a 1-second one; 06:20, take one-half. Skip one-fourth, skip 1/15. [Humming] I can sing.
Evans (onboard): [Humming] Boy, that's beautiful out there. Nothing but white sky full of stars in a black, black nothing. You can't tell it's the Moon; you can't tell it's anything. Black, round [garble] curves.
137:36:40 Evans (onboard): I'll be darned; there's Regulus. Getting another one right there - out there. Planets, huh? I better get back to work. Okay. I'll bet that's Saturn. No. Can't be Saturn. Something larger or something.
137:37:15 Evans (onboard): 03:22. The old CMC MODE switch. There it is. Go to Free at 04:30. Hold trigger down. Okay, I got a 10. Then we start at 06 with a 4-second. Then at 06:10 is a 1-second. Okay. Coming up on 04:30. Look at that. You get a - No, let's see, we want [garble] still 5 minutes early. At 05:45, you get the first one. Still get the [garble]. Find the Jobberdoo. There it is. Go to Free in 5 minutes.
137:38:54 Evans (onboard): Okay. CMC, Free, [garble]. Okay. [garble] 05:45, we want a 10-second one. Okay. 40, 2, 43, 44...
137:39:38 Evans (onboard): 45. At 55, we turn her Off - 5. Okay. At 06, we want a 4-second. 58, 59...
137:39:52 Evans (onboard): Mark it. 2, 3, 4. Okay. 06:10, 1. 06:10, we need a 1...
137:40:05 Evans (onboard): 1. One half at 06:20...
137:40:51 Evans (onboard): [Garble] the Moon? There it is. [Garble] at 7. That's 10 seconds early. Okay. The old sunrise came at 7. May have been a little bit early on that one. Yes, that's true. Light's on [garble]. I won't be surprised at sunset next time.
137:41:34 Evans (onboard): Okay. PCM Bit Rate, Low, next 7 minutes.
137:42:01 Evans (onboard): Hi, again. Fuel cell purge and the waste water dump here. Okay. Prime Heaters. Heaters - didn't have that On. [Garble] fuel cell purge is all it is. Okay. Oh, 2 - 2 minutes. Okay, 1, 50...
137:42:48 Evans (onboard): Mark. 2, 3.
Evans (onboard): Dump the old waste water. PCM, High, at 49. Okay. Oh, yes. [Garble] old door. [Garble].
137:43:39 Evans (onboard): Okay. Waste water is going. Okay. [Garble] dumped. Let's see, time to get the O2 up. Yes.
137:44:39 Evans (onboard): Okay. Just about 1 minute to - Okay. Let's see. Fuel cell purge. H2, but it works all right. Okay. Seems to be working okay. Little bit higher. I got the old waste water going. Now if I can hook up that Buss, get rid of that one.
137:45:40 Evans (onboard): Good one. Urine bag; here it comes. The old urine bag.
137:45:56 Evans (onboard): Okay. Dump. If I were in real g, those bubbles wouldn't go together. One big bubble; I don't know why. Bubbles everything we've got.
137:47:XX Begin Lunar Rev 26
137:47:57 Evans (onboard): Bit Rate to High at 49. [Garble].
Evans (onboard): [Humming] I wish I knew if that thing was working or not. I guess it is.
137:49:54 Evans (onboard): Forty percent.
137:50:30 Evans (onboard): Okay. Going to High Bit Rate.
137:50:49 Evans (onboard): Thirty percent, I guess. And look at the particles. I'll bet that'll screw up the lunar sounder. It is really snowing out there. [Humming] Holy mackerel, we've already passed Aitken. I wanted to take a look at it. There sure is some kind of a flow around there. You can see the flow marks - flow scarps up around the edges and in the southeast corner of - I mean, southwest corner, you can also see it on the south - I mean, the northwest corner. Up by the cloverleaf, itself, you can see where the flow - the material has flown up over the edge of the - crater wall. Started up the edge of the crater wall almost like that Scarp looks like around the land site. That's what it looks like to me. And let's see. How we doing on the waste water? [Garble] percent, okay. [Garble] the purge.
Evans: Well, I think I've got it back under control again.
Overmyer: What happened - you having problems?
Evans: Let's see. Let me go back to my - Well, I almost got into gimbal lock [laughter].
Overmyer: Okay. You almost got into gimbal lock. Go ahead...
Evans: Just at the last step of the - last step of the solar corona thing which says go back to CMC Auto - which wouldn't have been too bad, except as soon as you get a waste water dump, it really torques it around I guess. And, somewhere - you ought to be able to check it back on the tape - at about 137:50 - between 50 and probably - no, between 55 and 58, somewhere in there, I got the Gimbal Lock light and all those good deal things; and got her under control. Took her back. And we got back to SIM bay attitude at 137:59:20. In the meantime, while I was doing all that, looked like my waste water dropped down kind of low, too. How much are you reading down there?
138:18:25 Overmyer: Okay. Stand by on that, Ron.
Overmyer: We're reading 0.16 percent and 0.9 pound - 1.6 percent and 0.9 pounds, Ron.
Evans: I didn't quite make it to zero, did I?
Overmyer: Rog, that's affirm.
Evans: Okay. Caught that in time, anyway.
Overmyer: Hey, Ron, just a question, here. Pick up where you were briefing us there. Did you go to CMC Auto after the solar corona, or did you get the Gimbal Lock light prior to going to Auto.
138:20:04 Evans: [Laughter] I got it prior to going to Auto. I forgot to go to Auto after the solar corona thing.
Overmyer: Okay. We've got you.
Evans: The full cell purge and the waste water dump. Yes.
Evans: I saw it before it tumbled the platform, though.
Overmyer: Roger. We've got you, and the platform looks good then, too?
Evans: Oh, yeah. Platform's okay.
Evans: And if INCO's timing his bit rate forces there, high bit rate was - I mean going to low bit rate is about 137:42 - was pretty...
Overmyer: Okay. We copy that.
Evans: [Garble] this thing. Okay. And then going to high bit rate, I've got the high bit at 137:50:30. And I hit Low Bit Rate again at 138:08; went to High Bit Rate at 138:14.
138:22:05 Overmyer: Roger, Ron. We copy those times.
Overmyer: Sounds like you might have got your heartbeat going good for your eat period. Is that right, Ron?
138:23:17 Evans: [Laughter] Yeah, might have. I'm going to have some peanut butter now, if you guys don't care.
Overmyer: Roger. It's your eat period.
Evans: [Laughter] Okay.
Overmyer: At least he didn't forget this one. Ron, we've got some data here for you.
Evans: Yeah, that's right, by gosh. I've even got one scheduled. Go ahead.
Overmyer: We've got some data here for you, for - if you're planning on taking those red and blue filtered exposures across the landing site - if you want this information.
Evans: Oh, yeah. Okay; go ahead.
Overmyer: Okay, Ron. Here is - here it is. It's a Nikon - NK - November Kilo 55; VH - VW; mag X-ray X-ray. Okay. With the red-blue filtered exposure you want it at f/11, 1/125, one frame each filter; f/11, 1/250; one frame each filter. With no filter, expose at f/11, 1/1000. And if you want to use the polarizing filter, expose at f/11, 1/500 of a second.
138:25:25 Evans: Okay. Looks like we'll bracket it, there: f/11, 1/125, one frame on each filter; and f/11 at 1/250, one frame on each filter; and without a filter, one - f/11 at 1/1000; and polarizing F/11 at 1/500.
Overmyer: Okay. Here's a note that I'm not sure I understand totally, but let me read it to you. "Observe targets through viewfinder and shoot as desired with polarizing filter in different positions. Mark exposure times with polarizing filter as data analysis requires the incidence angle."
Evans: Okay. So we need the GET time when we take the picture.
Overmyer: That's - that's affirm - with the polarizer.
Evans: [Garble] Yeah. Yeah, with the polarizer. Right.
Overmyer: And there's another note here. Do not exceed 18 frames total for the above pictures. 18 frames total.
Evans: Okay.
Overmyer: And your TCA - TCA is - for the landing site - is 138:39:11.
Evans: Okay. TCA is 138:39:11.
Overmyer: And, Ron, if you'll just give us a Mark when you make the shot. That'll be close enough and we'll - we'll mark the time here on those polarizing ones. So we'll get the angle that way.
138:29:37 Evans: Lost the freaking camera. [Garble.]
Overmyer: Ron, we'd like Accept on the computer. We have a new state vector for you. Your downtrack there got to be in excess of 30,000 feet, and this has nothing to do with your backside water dump just now - it's just accumulation of errors in the path.
138:37:11 Overmyer: Okay, Ron, anytime you want to reach up and go Auto on the High Gain - your - your convenience.
Evans: Okay. Stand by. Is it 1/500? Yeah. Stand by.
138:38:37 Evans: Mark it. And the polarizer all the way to the left. Stand by.
138:38:45 Evans: Mark it. That's the polarizer all the way, counterclockwise.
Overmyer: Got you.
Evans: Okay. That's eight pictures. Okay. Stand by. Okay. Wait a minute. I lost the landing site. Stand by. Okay. Stand by.
138:39:34 Evans: Mark it. It's all the way to counterclockwise. Stand by.
138:39:42 Evans: Mark it. And that's all the way clockwise.
Overmyer: Roger. We got them.
Evans: Frame 23 and 24 - I mean - yeah, 23 and 24 were looking north along the ridges there. The other two polarizers - the two before that were looking at the landing site. Then I had three - three red ones at a 1/500 and 1/250 and a 1/25th and the rest 16. And, the blue one's at the same thing.
Evans: And we're sitting on frame number 25 on mag XX - that's XX [garble].
138:59:57 - This is Apollo Control at 138 hours, 59 minutes. America is in it's 26th revolution over the Ocean of Storms now. All going well with Ron Evans. Lunar Sounder experiment being performed and Ron taking a lot of pictures.
139:02:48 - This is Apollo Control. Bob Overmyer is the America CapCom. Stu Roosa is sitting there with him. Bob Parker will be the Challenger CapCom for the EVA. Gordon Fullerton has stayed over a little from his shift, getting ready to leave now. John Young is at the CapCom console also. Chuck Lewis is the Flight Director for America. Pete Frank the Flight Director for Challenger.
139:05:03 Overmyer: Ron, you should not see a tape motion light at LOS here, be - or - flag, because we've got the dump done and rewound ahead of time. They're rewinding it right now.
Evans: Oh, okay. Want me to configure the DSE, though, at 39:32 right?
139:08:49 Evans: How's the crew of Challenger? Are they getting about ready to go out again?
Overmyer: They're a little bit delayed, Ron, but there's no problem. They just slept a little longer and - Yeah, they're in their prep - pre-EVA prep.
Evans: Yeah.
Overmyer: And everything's going good.
Evans: Bet they're going to find that Scarp is a pretty good hill.
139:09:19 Overmyer: Roger. We understand.
Overmyer: America, Houston. At your convenience, Ron - no hurry on this - we'd like you to service your ZPN sensors on each side there. We're getting some bad data on that now.
Evans: They're itching [laughter].
Overmyer: Roger.
Evans: Yeah, it's pretty dry.
Overmyer: Rog. The - Dr. Z. recommends you might find a new location for them - Just move them around a little bit, and put some cream on the other ones.
Evans: Okay.
Overmyer: There's no hurry on that, Ron, I wouldn't interrupt what you're doing now to - for that - it's not critical.
Evans: Okay, I understand, Bob. I'll...
Overmyer: You sound like a tour...
Evans: I will as soon as I get a chance. Okay?
Overmyer: Roger. You sound like a tourist up there.
Evans: [Laughter] That's right.
Overmyer: Going to need a Kodak store here shortly, I'm afraid.
Evans: [Laughter]
Overmyer: Okay, Ron, you might want to look at your Flight Plan when you get a chance. We're coming up on a SIM bay reconfiguration here shortly.
Evans: Ah-ha. Okay.
Evans: 56, 57, 58, 59...
139:15:02 Evans: Mark it. It's Off.
Overmyer: Roger. We got it.
Evans: [Garble] wherever that is.
Evans: Okay. Recorder is going Off, not the Heaters. Radar is Off. Data System is On. Uh-oh. Should put the SM/AC Power switch up - up there in the [laughter] 230, as much as we use it.
Overmyer: Rog. I concur with that one. I thought it would only he in the simulation that it would get to you on that one.
Evans: [Laughter] Yeah. Okay. SM/AC Power is On. The old Mapper's going to Standby. IR is going On. Self Test is going to Heaters. UV is going On. Now, we're going to open IR and we're going to wait on UV.
139:17:19 Overmyer: We concur with that, Ron.
Evans: Okay.
Overmyer: We'll give you a cue on that UV Cover, Open, here.
139:17:33 Evans: Okay, there's the IR. Barber pole. And a gray.
Evans: Houston, America.
Overmyer: Go ahead, Ron.
Evans: Okay. Are you going to try to ship the back-side DSE back in there for this next pass - on the orbital science visuals and stuff?
Overmyer: Ron, we're calling for the DSE operation exactly as - as it is in the Flight Plan. Is that - do you concur with that?
Evans: Oh, yeah. I concur, but I mean - sure, that's - that's no problem there. But I mean getting it back to Houston before the end of the flight, you know.
Overmyer: Negative. That was not in the plans unless you want us to, Ron. We don't have any provision to - to - to record it and send it back here, until it comes back in the transcript form.
Evans: Okay, no problem. I'll paraphrase what I say then, and when I get into AOS over there.
Overmyer: Okay. No sweat. And if you have something you really want us to listen to, we can - we can bring up the loop to get it, but it takes a little effort, Ron. That's all.
Evans: Okay. Yeah. No, I - it's - let's don't do it, yet.
Overmyer: Ron, I just heard the voice quality has been real good. We've listened to it several different times, and it's been real good and we can bring it in without too much problem. Probably wouldn't be ready for the next rev, but we can get it in here without too much strain, if you want it brought in.
Evans: Okay. I think it might be worthwhile, especially on - on this particular one, where I'll be essentially talking all the way across, on this one.
139:20:32 Overmyer: Okay, Ron. You can UV Cover, Open, anytime.
Evans: [Garble.] Okay. Okay.
139:20:40 Evans: Off, Open, barber pole. And it's gray.
Overmyer: Ron, we need to precondition our H2 tanks again. We'd like H2 Tank 2 Fans to Off, please.
139:21:07 Evans: H2 Tank 2 Fans are Off.
Overmyer: Roger.
Overmyer: And, Ron, just a reminder, we will bring in that voice from the - the rev 27 backside pass.
Evans: Oh, okay, good. Thank you. Tell the Lunar Sounder guys I'm sorry if I pointed their antenna in the wrong direction there, for a short period of time.
Overmyer: No problem. Just one question, Ron, that is the Hasselblad we're hearing every once in a while, isn't it?
Evans: There's what?
Overmyer: Is that your camera running? Every once in a while?
Evans: [Garble.]
Overmyer: Yeah.
Evans: No, not now.
Overmyer: How about during this eat period - on this pass, were you running the camera quite a bit?
Evans: No. The only thing was - was the Nikon.
Overmyer: Okay, understand. We keep hearing something that sure sounds like the camera is chugging...
Evans: The - might have been picking up the tape re - no, it might have been the tape recorder. Might have been me, trying to clear my ears, you know?
139:25:29 Overmyer: Ron, we're a few minutes from LOS. And you're looking real good.
Evans: Okay, Robert. And thank you much. We'll see you on the other side.
Overmyer: Okeydoke. And I'll try and get through to the - the homefront here, maybe for this next pass. And you're going to he pretty busy, but I'll give you a little update.
139:29:01 - This is Apollo Control at 139 hours, 29 minutes. We've had Loss of Signal on America. As the spacecraft has gone behind the Moon on it's 26th revolution.
139:30:56 - This is Apollo Control at 139 hours, 30 minutes. America's orbit now 69.8 by 53.4 nautical miles [129.3 by 98.9 km]. We'll reacquire America in 42 minutes.
