crew

EP-95 ON THE MOON WITH APOLLO 16

[67] The Crew

The prime crew consists of John Young, Commander, Charlie Duke, LM pilot, and Ken Mattingly, CM pilot. Young was the pilot with Gus Grissom on the first manned Gemini flight almost exactly 7 years ago. A year later, he was command pilot on Gemini 10 with Mike Collins as the pilot. For Apollo missions, he was backup CM pilot on Apollo 7, CM pilot on 10, and backup commander on 13. Duke served as backup LM pilot for Apollo 13. Ken Mattingly was the CM pilot on Apollo 13. Because of exposure to German measles, Ken was removed from flight status on that mission only a few days before launch.

The Apollo 16 backup crew consists of Fred Haise, Commander, Stu Roosa, CM pilot, and Ed Mitchell, LM pilot. Several photographs of the prime and backup crews are shown in figures 79 through 86.

This crew, like previous ones has undergone intensive training during the past few months and somewhat more casual training during the last few....

FIGURE 79.-Astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke. Young holds a sample bag while Duke practices with the scoop. Note the gnomon. The backpacks simulate PLSS's. The cameras and tools are very similar to the flight articles. Note the layers in the distant wall. These layers are basalt flows. NASA PHOTO S-71-49398.

FIGURE: 80.- Astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke. They are shown here on a geology training trip to Taos, New Mexico. Note the hand tools and the microphones. Their observations are recorded on tape recorders and later analyzed to improved their powers of observation and techniques of reporting. The rocks in the background are basalts. NASA PHOTO S-71-51605.

...years. In addition to the many exercises needed to learn to fly proficiently their spacecraft, the astronauts have learned much about science, and in particular, about lunar science. After all, they will each spend many hours on the Moon or in orbit around the Moon performing scientific research. The surface astronauts have had tutorial sessions with many of the nation's best scientists. They are able to set up experiments, such as those of....

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FIGURE 81-The Rio Grande Gorge near Taos, New Mexico. This photograph symbolizes the beauty of the American West. The rocks are basalt. At one time in the past, they were continuous across the gorge. The steady erosion by the flowing water, now seen far below the surface, has cut the valley. Astronaut Charlie Duke is studying the geology. The horizon isn't really curved- the wide angle photographic lens produced this effect. NASA PHOTO S-71-61613.

FIGURE 82.-Astronauts Fred Haise and Ed Mitchell. Haise is about to shoot a series of photographs to document the sample to be collected. Mitchell is setting the gnomon in place. The rock on the surface and exposed in the walls of the Rio Grande gorge is basalt. If you look closely at the photograph you can see some holes in the rocks caused by gas when the rock was liquid. These holes are called vesicles and have an entirely different origin from the zap pits in lunar rocks. Some lunar rocks also contain vesicles as well as zap pits. NASA PHOTO S-71-49406.

FIGURE 83.-Fred and Ed meet a geological problem. Before each field exercise, several experienced geologists prepare maps in minute detail. Between the time that the maps were prepared for this exercise and the time they were used, this thin basalt flow, in Hawaii in September 1971, covered a part of the area. So the flow was not shown on the map. The astronauts recognized the flow, corrected the map and proceeded with the day's training. NASA PHOTO S-72-16313.

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FIGURE 84.-Astronauts John Young and Charlie Duke. Young is shooting a picture of the distant wall of the Rio Grande gorge near Taos, New Mexico with the 500 mm telephoto lens on the Hasselblad camera. The rocks exposed in the walls of the gorge are basalts. I believe they are similar to the ones that Young and Duke will collect at the Descartes site. The piles of loose and broken rocks that you see here at the foot of the walls are called talus, a term that you may hear during the 16 mission. The curved horizon is an optical effect of the wide angle lens used by A. Patnesky to take this photograph. NASA PHOTO S 71-61614.

FIGURE 85. -Astronaut Stu Roosa. Even though the CM pilot will not examine rocks on the Moon's surface, an understanding of geology is absolutely essential. Roosa is shown here studying intensely a piece of basalt. This picture, taken in Iceland four years ago, indicates the long and continued effort of the crew to learn as much as possible about the science which they will be doing on the mission. The hand lens, probably 10X, allows him to see more clearly the individual crystals and to recognize them. NASA PHOTO S-67-38510

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FIGURE 86.-Astronauts Ken Mattingly and Neil Armstrong. They are shown studying geology in Iceland about four years ago. Note the geologic hammer carried by Mattingly. NASA PHOTO S-67-38609.

....ALSEP, but more importantly, they understand the scientific purposes behind the various experiments.

Most of the time on the lunar surface during Apollo 16 will be spent observing geologic features and collecting samples. Obviously anyone can pick up rocks with which to fill boxes and bags. Only a person highly trained in the geosciences, however, can properly select those few rocks, from many, that are likely to yield the greatest scientific return when examined in minute detail in the laboratory back on Earth. The Apollo 16 crew has spent many hours studying rocks under the guidance of geologists from the U.S. Geological Survey, several universities, and NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center.