A Traditional Scandinavian Folk Tale, with thanks to Frank O'Brien.
One day, a man came into a village, and was very hungry. He went to where some women were tending a fire, and said, "Please, ladies, I am hungry and need a pot of water to make some soup."
"But of course, old man, but what are you going to make it with? You don't have any food with you."
The man smiled, and said, "But I do. I have a nail, and it makes the most wonderful soup. I would be happy to share it with you."
The ladies, of course, were skeptical. But, soon, a pot of water was boiling, and the man pulled out a small, carefully folded, piece of cloth.
"Here is the secret to my soup." He opened up the cloth, and pulled out a simple nail. "Now is the time to add it to the water!" With that, he dropped the nail in the pot. "Now, my soup is good, but it would be even better if I had an onion or two in it."
"I'll be happy to get you one", said one of the women. "And perhaps a carrot as well?"
"That would be very nice." And the onions and carrots were added to the pot.
Soon, a small crowd started to assemble. "What are you making?", one of the onlookers asked.
"Why, soup, and it's made with only a nail! It will be delicious."
The onlooker grumbled. "How can soup be delicious when made with only a nail? That's crazy! It needs some beans and potatoes to make it rich. Here, let me get you some." He went away, and returned with beans and potatoes that were quickly added. Seeing this, other villagers came with their gifts of meat, tomatoes and other vegetables. The pot literally overflowed with contributions from the people.
As the pot filled, the crowd grew larger. The soup was ready. Everyone had a bowl and more. As the old man retrieved his nail from the pot, one of the crowd exclaimed: "Thank you, old man for your soup. It was the best we have ever had. And to think, it was made with only a nail!"
And that is the story of the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. My thanks to the Journal readers and volunteers, who have contributed so much.
Journal Contributor Markus Mehring notes that there is a similar German folktale known as 'Stone Soup'.
(A sequel to Nail Soup can be found at the end of this file.)
The following is a list of recent corrections and additions to the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal. Corrections made prior to 31 May 1999 - that is, corrections already incorporated in the CD-ROM version of the Journal - are credited in the Acknowledgements section.
Our e-mail address is
Ken and I are having to scale back our Apollo activities for the time being; and will concentrate on a few specific actvities that make best use of available time. Please don't hesitate to let us know about errors. We apologize to those whose contributions have not yet been added to the Journal. We will do our best to get everything added, but can not make any promises about when that might happen. With thanks to everyone for their help and patience.
Regretably, the ALSJ DVD-ROM set is no longer available.
A new book
The Apollo Guidance Computer
by Frank O'Brien
describes the AGC and its use. The book is best suited for computer science students and professionals. Although I found some parts of it challenging, I certainly got an appreciation of the impressive achievement the AGC represents.
See,also,
How Apollo Flew to the Moon by AFJ Editor David Woods,
which is a well-written account of an composite mission
told from an operational - systems and procedures - point of view. A second edition includes discussion of the lunar surface activities from David's unique perspective.
And
Exploring the Moon by David Harland, a thorough and readable, "travelogue-style approach"
to lunar surface operations, based on the ALSJ.
All are available from onliine retailers.
Thoas Schwagmeier has documented recent work he's done prepare the site for future visitors.
Colin has also provided a stereo version of the audio clip with the Onboard audio in the right channel and the Flight Director's Loop combined with the Air-to-Ground audio in the left channel.
Ken Glover has provided a 16-mm clip (9 min 10 sec, 79 Mb mpg that starts at 124:22:06
Ulli Lotzmann has provided close-up photographs of Charlie Duke's flown left EVA Glove.
A question from Portland Monthly writer Sierra Jenkins concerning a fragment of Oregon basalt that Jim Irwin was said to have left on the Moon at Hadley has led to a fun - and fruitful - investigation. See the caption for AS15-88-11867.
Dean Eppler at NASA Johnson has provided high-resolution photographs of two strap-on pockets currently displayed with Charlie Duke's training suit in Building B34. This investigation grew into a general study of the use of strap-on pockets by the lunar surface crews.
Thomas Schawgmeier has provided a re-formatted version of the Apollo 11 Final Flight Plan ( 10.5 Mb PDF ).
Larry McGlynn has provided high-resolution scans of the flown Apollo 11 Star Chart ( HTML link ), the Apollo 16 Star Chart and Star List ( 0.5 Mb ), and Apollo 16 Orbital Monitor Chart, Sheet 21 ( 376k ), showing the landing site.
Check out the story of the Apollo 15 Prime Crew's color coded Corvettes
with thanks to Ed Hengeveld, Ron Creel, Don McMillan, and Anthony Young.
The LM Environmental Control section of the Grumman Apollo 11 News Reference is now available.
The pages from the EMU Handbook dealing with the LEVA have been adapted as a separate document.
About two months ago, Thomas Schwagmeier produced an elegant re-draft of the the Apollo 11 traverse map ( 238k ), which is Figure 3-16 in the Apollo 11 Preliminary Science Report. My apologies to Thomas for not having given proper credit at that time.
At about the same time, Thomas Schwagmeier also re-drafted the Apollo 11 Photo Map ( 196k ), which is Figure 3-15 in the Apollo 11 Preliminary Science Report.
Joe O'Dea and Thomas Schwagmeier have collaborated to produce an overlay of the Apollo 11 traverse on a football (soccer) pitch, a comparison of greater interest to readers outside North America than the prior overlay on a baseball diamond. ;-)
Thomas Schwagmeier has created a high-quality superposition of the A11 traverse on a baseball diamond, replacing the crude version I did in November.
I am slowly adding links to Apollo Exerience Reports via a dedicated page.
Markus notes that the down-Sun horizon features in AS11-40-5882 and 5882a are rim segment of the set of overlapping craters west of the landing site, as caqn be seen in a comparison with AS11-37-5447.
Markus Mehring has provided cross-references between TARGA filenames of the low-res images done for the ALSJ by JSC and the corresponding NASA photo ID numbers.
I have completed addition of MP3 Audio for Apollo 17; with thanks to Dave Shaffer.
Bob Fry has assembled a number of Apollo 17 pans and 500-mm sequences.
Harald Kucharek calls attention to an account of the Famous SPAN Coffee Spill in the wonderful book Apollo EECOM: Journey of a Lifetime by Sy Liebergot with David Harland.
Andy Chaikin has contributed frame sequences of interest from the Apollo 11 DAC mounted in Buzz's window. These are linked in the EVA chapters called One Small Step and Mobility and Photography.
An extract of the Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report chapter on the various lineations seen on the Apennine Front has been prepared in HTML format with good quality image scans provided by Stephen Tellier at the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
David Nathan has combined the existing 300 DPI scans of 21493 and 21496 into a detail from Gene's Station 6 pan showing Jack returning to the Rover with the gnomon. David writes, " I sized the photos appropriately, adjusted the color, removed dust and scratches, and touched up the line that joined the two photos. I also extended the black sky on the left. I don't think this takes away from the image. I think this will look good printed at about 24x36 inches (60X90 cm), maybe even a little bigger."
A large PDF document detailing Flight Controller assignments for missions from Apollo/Saturn 201 to Apollo 17 has been added.
A new Apollo 16 chapter consisting of a portion of the comm between Ken Mattingly and Stu Roosa concerning the landing site has been added. the selected portion of the conversation starts shortly after John and Charlie started their post-EVA-1 rest period.
I apologize for not including notes here in recent months. Kipp and his team of photo scanners have been very productive and the various image libraries continue to grow.
Ulli Lotzmann has provided a December 2002 sketch of Pete Conrad with some 'stuff'.
The Alan Bean Online Gallery now resides at a dedicated site. Enjoy!
John 'Eagle-Eye' Pfannerstill has spotted Dave Scott affixing the LRV commemorative sign to the righthand side of the console at 163:42:00
For those who have not yet dug into Mark Gray's wonderful Apollo 15 DVD set, keep an eye out for some brief snippets of TV from the drive from STation 9 to Hadley Rille, starting at 165:16:09
Updated Video and Movie Libraries are now available for Apollo 11, 12, and 14;
with thanks to Joe O'Dea.
A discussion of a pattern of reflected sunlight that can be seen on the Apollo 17 high-gain antenna umbrella during the EVA-3 Closout is available;
with thanks to the contributors mentioned in the discussion.
New MP3 audio clips are being added to the Apollo 16 text chapters;
with thanks to Roland Speth.
Additional material has been added to the Apollo 17 post-landing discussion of LLTV training, which is now available as a separate file;
with thanks to Jack Schmitt
Ron Wells has created a PDF version of a very useful Boeing document describing the Apollo 17 Lunar Roving Vehicle 5.3Mb .
A searchable PDF version of the Apollo 17 Technical Debrief is now available;
with thanks to Ron Wells
J.L. Pickering has uncovered two fascinating pictures. One is a piece of pre-mission Grumman artwork for Apollo 17. This striking portrayal has a number of problems, discovery of which is left as an exercise for the reader. The second image is an un-numbered Apollo 14 training photo which shows Al Shepard and Ed Mitchell practising the collection of a football-sized rock sample. Note, also, the Florida native in the foreground. See the discussion following 117:50:12.
Gary Neff has produced a high-quality digitization of the DAC record of Neil's Small Step. He has also combined synchronized version of the DAC and TV records in a single presentation. Both are linked after 109:22:06.
Short 8-mm film clips shot by Ed Dempsey during Apollo 14 training show Al Shepard and Ed Mitchell as
(1) Al dons his helmet and LEVA, (2) Al and Ed deploy the MET;
with thanks to Frederic Artner and Ken Glover.
Ulli Lotzmann has produced an enhanced version of AS11-40-5894 which clearly shows that Neil has his side visor down.
Mick Hyde points out that, during the SEP deployment at 123:01:25 Jack Schmitt actually sang 'I was strolling in the (pause) Taurus one day' and not "I was strolling in the (pause) park one day'. This realization explains Jack's next statement.
A photo has been added of the Apollo 15 crew at the U.S. Air Force Academy with one of the Academy's falcon mascots;
with thanks to Harald Kucharek.
David Harland has used some of Kipp Teague's high resolution scans of images from the Apollo 15 SEVA color pan to create a mini-pan of Mt. Hadley Delta and Silver Spur.
David Harland as used high-resolution scans of AS11-40-5847 and 5848 by Kipp Teague to create a mini-pan showing the double crater below Neil's window.
Bob Farwell has created a collage to show all twelve of the Moonwalkers at Taurus-Littrow. Bob used astronaut images from various pre-flight crew portraits.
Ulli Lotzmann has located a diagram showing equipment stowage in the Apollo 15 MESA. Links are being added to the appropriate text chapters.
With help from NASA HQ, accessibility of the Journal for people with disabilities has been improved. Please let me know about any errors that may have slipped in.
A variety of corrections have been made;
with thanks to Tom Powers and Karstein Lomundal.
Apollo 17 RealVideo is now available to the end of Station 9;
with thanks to Ken Glover
A variety of HTML errors have been corrected;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
New QuickTime clips are being added to a15.clsout3 and a15.launch:
with thanks to Peter Dayton.
RealVideo clips for all of the Apollo 17 TV up to the end of EVA-2 are now available;
with thanks to Ken Glover
New QuickTime clips are being added to a15.rille;
with thanks to Pete Dayton
Recent photographs of the Apollo 12 core-tube bit and geology hammer that Al Bean uses to texture his paintings are linked in a12.clsout1 and a12.halo;
with thanks to Ulli Lotzmann.
Links to maps and checklist pages are being added to the Apollo 16 traverse discussions.
The 16-mm landing film for Apollo 16 is now available;
with thanks to Gary Neff.
Labelled details from Apollo 16 Pan camera frame 4623 are being added to a16.landing and other chapters for greater clarity of the discussion.
Additional comments concerning designation of Apollo 11's black, IVA camera as a back-up to the silver, EVA camera have been added to a11.step;
with thanks to Markus Mehring and Ulli Lotzmann.
New hi-res video clips are being added to Apollo 15;
with thanks to Pete Dayton.
A variety of additions are being made to the Apollo 11 commentary;
with thanks to Ulli Lotzmann.
Links to various Apollo 16 traverse maps are being added to the appropriate text chapters.
A note has been added after 109:16:34 concerning the second, IVA Hasselblad in the Apollo 11 LM;
with thanks to Markus Mehring.
Additional details have been added to the presentation of the Apollo 12 cuff checklists
with thanks to Ulli Lotzmann and Ernie Reyes.
Lennie Waugh was assembled a mini-pan showing the view out Ed Mitchell's window after the PLSS jettison. The view includes Turtle Rock, the javelin, one of the golf balls, the TV camera, the U.S. flag, the MET, the S-Band antenna, both PLSSs, the ALSEP, and the various sets of footprints made on the trips to and from the ALSEP.
A variety of errors have been corrected:
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux, Harald Kucharek, and Mike Poliszuk.
As far as I know, all the LMs had plaques affixed to the ladder strut, but only on Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 was it mentioned by the crews. Journal Contributor George Green reminds us that, in the Ron Howard film Apollo 13, Tom Hanks, playing Jim Lovell, is shown in the LM with a plaque. This undoubtedly represents a replacement plaque flown in the actual spacecraft because of the very late crew change. Technicians did have access to the LM until not long before launch. For example, Apollo 16 photo 72-H-425 shows a technician with the plaque for that mission on 12 April 1972, four days prior to launch. In the case of Apollo 13, it is possible that the replacement plaque (scan by Frederic Artner) was not completed in time for installation. This comment has been added to a17.clsout3.
Frederic Artner has provided an Apollo 16 training photo showing John Young (operating the handcontroller) and Charlie Duke (pointing at the TV monitor) practicing a Rover traverse two days prior to launch. The image on the monitor comes from the Landing and Ascent (L&A) facility which consists of a site model suspended above a TV which moved in response to commands from either the LM simulator or this LRV simulator.
Di and I have just returned from Sydney where we had the great pleasure of attending the opening of Mike Light's Full Moon at the Museum of Contemporary Art. The show runs 'til March and I highly recommend it.
An April 1966 LM Orientation Course <2.6Mb PDF) is now available in the Journal;
courtesy Glen Swanson, JSC History.
Al Shepard and Ed Mitchell had a frustrating time in their search for Cone Crater. During a recent effort to improve the discussion of this EVA, Lennie Waugh uncovered the <a14/a14-where.jpg" map of a previously unknown portion of the traverse.
Ulli Lotzmann has captured - from the 16mm film shot out Al Bean's window - a frame showing Pete Conrad leaving the LM with the bolt cutters mounted on the back of his PLSS. This 16mm sequence is the only photographic record from the mission showing the bolt cutters.
Harald Kucharek notes that the rear panels on the Apollo 16 Ascent stage can be seen to buckle during the first few seconds of liftoff. See the discussion and links at 175:29:50
A variety of html errors have been fixed;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
A large number of html formatting errors related to the A15, 16, and 17 Real Video clips have been fixed;
with thanks to Harald Kucharek. The discussion of the Apollo 14 trek to Cone Crater in a14.staA and a14.tocone is being extensively revised and expanded;
with thanks to Lennie Waugh and Brian McInall.
The complete Apollo 11 Flight Plan is available as a 10.4 Mb PDF document;
with thanks to Glen Swanson, JSC Historian.
RealVideo has been added to a12.eva1prelim;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Where has the year gone!!!!
Lennie Waugh has assembled Charlie Duke's partial pan of the base of House Rock.
Markus Mehring and Mick Hyde have provided comparison material for Apollo 11 Earthrise picture AS11-44-6550.
Apollo 14 document Final Lunar Surface Procedures is now linked. It is an 8Mb PDF document;
with thanks to Glen Swanson, JSC Historian.
Updates available on the NASA server are current for Apollo 14 and 15.
The Nailsoup Collaboration has produced new discussions of images AS17-149-22857 and 22859 which are photos taken by Ron Evans during rendezvous showing Gene Cernan inside the LM. Check out the A17 image library.
Derek Henderson notes that a detailed account of the role played by the Parkes Radio Observatory, Australia, in the reception of the Apollo 11 TV signal has been compiled by John Sarkissian. I recommend this site highly and, also, a new Australian film "The Dish" which deals with some of the same material. The film takes considerable liberties with events in Australia; and the characters are clearly fictitious. But the result is a film that is both funny and moving. Di and I both enjoyed it thoroughly. An assessment of the historical accuracy - or lack thereof - of the film and a summary of the contribution of NASA's Honeysuckle Creek receiving station - a contribution almost completely ignored in the film - has been written by Mike Dinn, who was Deputy Directory of Honeysuckle Creek during the Apollo years.
A 115-gram fragment of Apollo 14 sample 1431, a breccia, has become a NASA display sample and was photographed by Kipp Teague while on exhibit at Lynchburg College, Lynchburg, Virginia on 28 October 2000.
Errors in the links to Peter Dayton's Apollo 17 clips for Station 6, 7, and 8 have been fixed;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
Adam Bootle has adapted an article from the Apollo Lunar Module News Reference (1968) on the Crewman Optical Alignment Sight (COAS).
Gary Neff has adapted an article on the Cross-Pointers from the LM Apollo Operations Handbook, Vol. 1.
Markus Mehring has produced a rectified close-up of Neil's reflection in Buzz's visor in AS11-40-5903. "I scanned the best and largest print I had available, removed the roughly 5 degree tilt that the original has in relation to the horizon, mirrored it, adjusted color in order to somewhat get rid of the golden tint of the visor, and reprojected it flat in order to kill as much spherical appearance as tolerable - hence the smear on the edges, which is impossible to avoid."
David Woods calls our attention to a lovely discussion in the Apollo 15 Preliminary Science Report of the Hammer and Feather experiment. That discussion has been included at the end of the sequence following 167:21:58.
Jon Hancock has used one of Neil's pictures of Buzz on the footpad along with two taken a few seconds earlier of the area under the descent stage to create a mini-pan.
Lennie Waugh has assembled a post-EVA-3 mini-pan showing the tracks Jack Schmitt made carrying the ALSEP packages out to the ALSEP site and those he made when he made on other runs. See the discussion and links at 121:34:39.
A variety of corrections have been made to the Apollo 14 chapters;
with thanks to Stephanie Hanus.
An Apollo 15 photo which shows the attachment point in the LM cabin overhead for the clothesline-style LEC. See the discussion in a15.lrvdep;
with thanks to Gary Neff, John Duncan, and Gary Kitmacher.
Updates available on the NASA server are now current for Apollo 12.
Harald Kucharek has just alerted me to some marvelous work by Jim Scotti in locating photographs showing the A17 geology hammer in flight after Jack Schmitt threw it in the general direction of the ALSEP site, a photo showing a spray of dust thrown up by the hammer's impact, and post-EVA photos taken out the LM windows showing the hammer at its final resting place. See the discussion at 170:29:44
Chris Gainor notes that Gene Kranz discusses the Singing Wheel, a flight controller's after-work hangout, on p.152 in 'Failure is Not an Option'. The Wheel is mentioned in a16.eva2post.
A variety of broken links have been fixed;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
A variety of Apollo 15 corrections have been made;
with thanks to Mike Poliszuk.
Updates available on the NASA server are now current for Apollo 11 and Apollo 17.
A discussion has bee added of the song 'Tiptoe through the Tulips', sung by Jack Schmitt at Apollo 17's Station 9;
with thanks to Harald Kucharek for the suggestion.
A variety of corrections have been made in Apollo 17;
with thanks to Stephanie Hanus.
Adam Bootle has assembled three 500-mm strips of Hadley Rille taken by Dave Scott at about 165:28:46.
Owen Merrick, Brian McInall, and Markus Mehring have called my attention to the fact that we can see Buzz peering over at Neil in a detail from Kipp Teague's high-resolution version of AS11-40-5875. See the discussion at 110:10:33 for more details for Apollophiles.
Updates available on the NASA server are now current for Apollo 16.
Missing caption sequences in Apollo 16 magazines 108, 109, and 110 have been added in images16.
New video clips have been added to a17.sta8;
with thanks to Pete Dayton.
New video clips are being added to a11.step;
with thanks to Rob Godwin and Ken Glover.
Updates available on the NASA server are now current for Apollo 15.
New video clips have been added to a17.sta6 and a17.sta7:
with thanks to Pete Dayton.
Marv Hein has scanned and formatted MIT Instrumentation Laboratory Document E-1344, Apollo Guidance and Navigation: Considerations of Apollo IMU Gimbal Lock by David Hoag, April 1963. It is linked in www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/gimbals.html
Adam Bootle has assembled a discussion of the Alignment Optical Telescope (AOT).
Updates available on the NASA server are now current for Apollo 14.
The faulty version of a16v.1240739.mov, showing Charlie collecting Big Muley, has been replaced;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux and Pete Dayton.
New video clips have been added to a17.trvsta4 and a17.sta5;
with thanks to Pete Dayton.
Updates are now current for Apollo 11 and Apollo 12.
Ken Glover had completed the conversion of the Apollo 16 video to Real Video. Well done, Ken!
Mick Hyde has produced an MPEG clip of the Apollo 15 lunar lift-off as seen from the LMP window. (1 min 02 sec; 1.9Mb) and of the descent (1 min 39 sec; 3.0 Mb)
A good copy of a16v.1665417.rm has been reloaded;
with thanks to Gary Matylewicz.
A number of very interesting Apollo 13 training photos are now linked in images13.html:
with thanks to Kipp Teague and Ed Hengeveld.
Marv Hein continues to produce VR versions of various pans. Check the imagexx.html files for availability.
Links are being made in the text and the various imagexx files to high-resolution scans by Kipp Teague and others. Check the imagexx.html files.
Updates are current for Apollo 16 and Apollo 17.
A variety of errors are being fixed;
with thanks to Harald Kucharek and Thierry Bisiaux.
Marv Hein has created a VR version of Al Shepard's Station B-1 pan from the assembled pan by David Harland.
New sections are being added to the Apollo 17 Professional Paper;
with thanks to Brian McInall.
Ken Glover's Apollo 16 RealVideo clips are now being added to a16.house_rock.html. All video
Very short (1 min and less), 1-2 Mb high-quality QuickTime clips are being added to a17.alsepoff, and a17.alsepdep;
with thanks to Peter Dayton.
Very short (1 min and less), 4-7 Mb highest-quality MPEG clips are being added to a11.step, a11.mobility, a15.clsout2, a15.clsout3, a16.sta9, a16.sta10, a17.clsout2, a17.clsout3, a17.sta6, and a17.launch;
with thanks to Kipp Teague. For more clips that have not yet been linked to the ALSJ, visit Kipp's Apollo Archive.
Corrections have been made in this corrections file;
with thanks to Tom Powers.
Numerous corrections are being made to the Apollo 15 and 16 files;
with thanks to Harald Kucharek.
Numerous images from Kipp Teague's collection are being added to the imagesxx files, along with appropriate links in the text files;
with thanks to Kipp Teague, Ed Hengeveld, Ricardo Salamé, J. L. Pickering, and Scott Cornish.
QuickTime Video Clips are being added to the Apollo 17 files
with thanks to Peter Dayton.
Various broken links are being corrected;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux
Harald Kucharek notes that, in Kipp Teague's very-high-resolution version of AS12-49-7278, we see that Al Bean's cuff checklist is open to pages 12/13.
Fred Martin was a real time participant in the effort to understand the program alarms that occurred during the Apollo 11 descent and to make sure that there was no repetition during the ascent. He has provided a discussion of these events.
A frame taken during the first seconds of the ascent taken with the 16-mm camera mounted in Jack Schmitt's window shows the Descent Stage, the ALSEP instruments and various tracks between the two sites, especially those made by Jack Schmitt as he carried the ALSEP packages out to the eventual deployment site. See the dialog starting at 118:50:53;
with thanks to Brian McInall.
All of the Apollo 16 EVA-2 video is now available;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
New hi-res video clips are being added to a16.sta1, a16.sta2, a16.sta4:
with thanks to Pete Dayton.
Harald Kucharek notes that, in his book Failure is not an Option, Gene Kranz says that 'Stay NoStay' originated with Howard Tindall in one instance from the legendary series of Tindallgrams: "Once we get to the Moon, does Go mean 'Stay' on the surface, and does NoGo mean abort from the surface? I think the Go NoGo decision should be changed to Stay NoStay or something like this." Tindall can be seen standing, third from the left, next to Deke Slayton, in Apollo 13 photo S70-35013.
The long-lost drawing of the surface marks made by the Surveyor III footpads and scoop has been located;
with thanks to Marv Hein and the ever-persistent Thierry Bisiaux.
Various corrections are underway;
with thanks Mike Poliszuk.
We have six new hi-res video clips. 'The Hammer and the Feather' at 167:22:06 in Apollo 15; and a 'Navy Salute' at 120:25:02, 'Something Pulled Loose' at 121:21:21, 'Fell Down' at 121:29:52, 'Rammer-Jammer' at 121:52:04, and 'Don't think it's going in too well' at 146:49:41 in Apollo 16;
with thanks to Pete Dayton.
David Harland has provided a photo for alsj.funpix showing Toonseman Glover with Toonse's friend, John Young.
An error in images17 has been corrected. As can be seen by reading the various figure captions, Apollo 17 magazine 134/B was not only used by Jack Schmitt during EVA-1 but, also, by Gene Cernan during both EVA-1 and EVA-3;
with thanks to Richard Orloff.
A diagram and discussion of the Interim Stowage Assembly are being added to apollo.glossary and other files;
with thanks to David Woods.
Markus Mehring has provided a corrected version of help.html and a rectified photo of a label that was one each of the Hasselblad magazines. The label reads 'Remove Darkslide / Before Installing Magazine'.
Richard Orloff notes that it is Bill Anders at the left in Apollo 11 photo KSC-69PC-368.
Pete Dayton has begun production of short .mov clips from the Apollo TV to complement the far more complete RealVideo clips being produced by Ken Glover. Pete's work will focus on short sequences highlighting sequences of exceptional interest for those without RealVideo capability or who wish to download particular clips. The first clip shows John Young retrieving dropped sample bags at the rim of North Ray Crater at about 166:57:55.
Selected RealVideo clips are being added to Apollo 11;
with thanks to Ken glover and Rob Godwin. The complete A11 video is available in Rob's "Apollo 11 - The NASA Mission Reports".
Adam Bootle has assembled a vertical sequence of 500-mm photos of Mt. Hadley taken from Station 6 and a vertical sequence of the west wall of Hadley Rille taken from Station 9a.
The correct spelling of 'Madalyn Murray O'Hair' replaces erroneous spellings in a number of places;
with thanks to Chris Gainor.
Corrections to the technical description of the LLTV have been made in a number of places;
with thanks to Chris Gainor and Ed Hengeveld
Di and I are back from a little R&R in Sydney where we had the thrill of spending a couple of hours examining in great detail an Aussie-built reproduction of Captain Cook's Endeavour. The replica has just returned to Australia at the end of a four-year circumnavigation of the globe, with stops at numerous ports. The Apollo 15 Command Module was named for this first Endeavour and a fragment believed to be from the original flew to the Moon with the crew. After Cook's voyage, Endeavour was sold by the British Navy and is believed to have sunk at New Port, Rhode Island. Subsequent research suggests that wreck from which the fragment was recovered may have been that of Resolution, Cook's Command vessel on the second and third voyages, which - astonishingly - also met its end at Newport. Appropriate notes are being added to the Apollo 15 text.
A correction has been made to the caption of AS16-113-18335 in images.16;
with thanks to Richard Orloff.
Addition of Apollo 16 video is now complete to the end of Station 6;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Explanations of various cultural references - sock it to me (a16.lrvdep), Scrooge (a12.clsout1) - are being added:
with thanks to Harald Kucharek.
Doug Starfield pointed me at a 1997 obituary for Marcus Langseth, the P.I. on the Heat Flow experiment. Appropriate links are being added to Apollos 15, 16, and 17.
A variety of html errors and others have been fixed;
with thanks to Tomas Lundberg.
A discussion and diagrams concerning gimbal lock and Mike Collins' wish for a 'fourth gimbal for Christmas' have been added to a11.postland;
with thanks to Paul Fjeld and Tom Neal.
Corrections have been made to lrvhand, apollo.glossary, and a11.summary;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
Many of the pages in the Apollo 12 checklists feature small cartoons which, we now know, were drawn by Ernie Reyes, a member of the crew operations team and responsible for stowing various items in both the Command Module and the Lunar Module;
with thanks to Ulli Lotzmann.
Garry Tee has contributed a personal story about the re-entry of Apollo 14, which can be found at the end of a14.launch.
Corrections from error lists compiled by Harald Kucharek - aka Big Brother - continue to be made.
A correction has been made to a16.eva1prep. Jim Lovell was, of course, the first Commander to have distinguishing stripes on his suit;
with thanks to Derek Henderson.
Additional comments regarding Dick Gordon's visual sighting of Intrepid on the lunar surface have been added to a12.eva1prep;
with thanks to Glen Swanson.
A comment on Joe Allen's reference to the debate over manned versus unmanned space exploration has been added to a15.sta2;
with thanks to Olivier Dulieu.
A comment has been added to a17.sta1 at 122:32:24 concerning perceptions of shadow length;
with thanks to David Harland.
Matt Gibbons has produced a fun treatment of a Hadley Rille pan that he calls Shooting the Rapids
Corrections and commentary have been added to a15.landing;
with thanks to Mike Poliszuk.
Brian McInall has produced assembled versions of the five Apollo 11 pans. See the Images file.
Apollo 16 EVA-2 video is now being added;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
An image of the Omega Speedmaster Professional wristwatches used by all the Gemini and Apollo astronauts has been added in appropriate places throughout the Journal;
with thanks to Marv Hein.
A comment about Al Bean's passion for ketchup has been added to a12.postland;
with thanks to Ulli Lotzmann.
I have been off-line for about ten days due to a bad logic board in my iMac. I apologize to those who have been suffering withdrawal symptoms due to the lack of new Apollo 16 video clips. ;-)
RealVideo is currently being added to a16.sta2;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Corrections from error lists compiled by Harald Kucharek continue to be made.
Adam Bootle has assembled a portion of a pan that Charlie Duke took from north of the A16 LM at the start of EVA-2.
A correction has been made to alsj.funpix;
with thanks to Tom and Audrey Powers.
A little fine-tuning and error correction has been done to the new discussion and maps for the Apollo 15 EVA-2 traverse;
with thanks to Ken Rattee.
The Apollo 17 Photo Index has been added to the Journal;
with thanks to Ron Wells.
New scans by Kipp Teague are being added to the Journal. A marvelous example is AS14-66-9338, taken by Ed Mitchell after PLSS jettison which shows the tracks he and Al Shepard made during the outbound and inbound traverses to the ALSEP deployment site.
Links have been added in images11 to new scans by Kipp Teague.
A variety of broken links have been repaired;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
Corrections have been made to a15.eva1wake and a15.seva;
with thanks to Mike Poliszuk.
An html error in a15.sta8 has been fixed;
with thanks to Lennie Waugh
Numerous corrections are being made throughout the Journal;
with thanks to Harald Kucharek.
RealVideo is now available up to the end of a16.deepcore;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
A sequencing error in the reproductions of the Apollo 12 cuff checklists has been sorted out;
with thanks to Ulli Lotzmann and Al and Leslie Bean.
Ken Glover has scanned NASA photo S67-33609, which shows Ken Mattingly (left) and Neil Armstrong (right) during a geology filed trip in Iceland in 1967. Ken scanned the image from Gene Simmon's 'On the Moon with Apollo 16 - A Guidebook to the Descartes Region'.
RealVideo clips are being added to a16.lrvload.html;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Ken Glover has extracted a RealVideo clip from the NASA film 'In the Mountains of the Moon' showing Ed Fendell operating the Rover TV during the Station 2 activities.
The Apollo 16 Lunar Surface Procedures volume is now available.
All of the Apollo 15 video is now available;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
The missing page LMP-29 from Charlie Duke's EVA-1 checklist has been restored;
with thanks to Derek Henderson and others.
A comment relating a problem of mixed units during Apollo 12 and the recent loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter has been added to a12.posteva1.html after 120:53:57;
with thanks to Harald Kucharek.
Corrections have been made in a11.clsout, a11.mobility, a11.postland, a11.step;
with thanks to Harald Kucharek.
The addition of Apollo 15 RealVideo clips is now complete thru the end of a15.clsout3 and are now being added to a15.launch;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Gary Neff has produced a film clip of Buzz in Eagle during the checkout in lunar orbit.
HTML errors in a15.trvlm3 have been corrected. The Real video links in that chapter should now work;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
Mauro Freschi has produced a glorious Super Patch for the entire Apollo program.
Danny Caes notes that the figurine called "Fallen Astronaut" which was left at the Apollo 15 VIP site by Dave Scott was the work of Belgian artist Paul van Hoeydonck. See the discussion in a15.clsout3.
Corrections have been made to apollo.biblio, apollo.engin and to the 24 January entry below;
with thanks to Harald Kucharek.
Ken Rattee has produced an excellent new map of the Apollo 15 EVA-2 traverse. Ken noticed that the corresponding map in the contains significant errors and undertook a detailed comparison of the LRV nav readouts and the crew description of the features they passed during both the outbound and inbound portions of the traverse. To support Ken's analysis, I have extracted details of Pan Camera frame 9809 showing the northern, central, and southern portions of the traverse. Links to Ken's map, the Pan Camera details, and to maps taken from the Apollo 15 Lunar Surface Procedures volume have been added to the relevant chapters along with new and/or revised commentary. The relevant chapters are a15.postland, a15.postseva, a15.elbowtrv, a15.trvsta2, a15.trvsta6, a15.sta6a, a15.trvsta4, a15.trvlm2. David Harland also contributed to the new discussion with regard to the notable crater in the east wall of Last Crater which can be seen in a Dave Scott SEVA pan.
All of the Apollo 15 video to the end of Station 10 is now available;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
The discussion of John Young's Great Sneak at Station 9 has been improved - I hope;
with very belated thanks to David Harland.
Ulli Lotzmann has provided an irreverent portrait, 108-KSC-369C-317/8, of the All-Navy crew of Apollo 12 taken on 22 October 1969; a detail of AS12-47-6921 showing Pete at the Central Station with the magnetometer in the foreground and the smaller of the two mounds in the background; NASA photo S69-39600 showing Pete Conrad and Al Bean, and, behind them, their backups, Dave Scott (behind Al) and Jim Irwin, monitoring Apollo 11 activities after the landing; and photo S69-34035 showing Pete Conrad and Al Bean examining the Passive Seismometer. The fact that they are wearing white gloves, caps, etc suggests that this is the flight hardware. The object in the foreground is the folded-up Hand Tool Carrier (HTC).
During preparation of the ALSJ, I was under the impression that the boots had been brought back to Earth and that Al used his to texture his painting in later years. In a 1999 fax to Ulrich Lotzmann, Alan assures us that both pairs of lunar boots are "still on the Moon". He uses duplicates to texture his paintings.
Apollo 15 video is now available in a15.sta9;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Apollo 15 video is now available in a15.coreextract.html up to the end of TV transmissions during operations at the LM prior to the EVA-3 traverse;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Amanda Young at the National Air and Space Museum has confirmed that the Apollo 12 rock box on display is Serial Number 1008.
Gary Neff's version of the Apollo 17 Landing movie is now available after 112:58:45 in a17.landing.
A note about pre-flight plans to jettison the Apollo 11 lunar boots has been added to a11.evaprep after 108:32:40
with thanks to Harald Kucharek.
Steve Cybulski correctly points out that the Gemini 12 crew did not attempt a first orbit rendezvous. An error has been corrected in apollo.precurs.
Links to the LRV Operations Handbook have been added to a15.lrvdep, a15.lrvload and other relevant Apollo 15 chapters;
with thanks to Ry Alford.
Corrections have been made to images11 and images17;
with thanks to Richard Orloff.
Our first grandchild, Lolita Dianne Olle, was born at 12:13 this morning, Eastern Australia Time. She is named for her grandmothers and, of course, my Dianne is "over the Moon"! The last of the Apollo 15 EVA-2 RealVideo clips have been added to a15.sta8 and a15.clsout2;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Addition of Apollo 15 Real Video clips has been completed to the end of a15.heatflow2;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Figures 4-6, 14-41, 14-42, 14-43, and 14-44, from the Apollo 15 Mission Report are now available and are linked in a15.alsepdep, a15.heatflow2, and images15 as appropriate.
Mick Hyde has provided a screen shot showing the non-default settings that should be used for RealPlayer G2 version 6.
Ulrich Lotzmann has provided a detail from AS12-46-6728 which shows the lens of the 16-mm DAC behind Al Bean's window, and a detail from 6727 which shows the TV camera on the MESA. Ulli notes that the TV camera is upside down, which is a result of Pete having moved it at 115:43:38 in a12.eva1prelim.
Additional captions have been added to surface12.html and an error in a16.eva1prep has been fixed;
with thanks to Derek Henderson.
A 1968 discussion of the Lunar Flyer has been added to a15.elbowtrv;
with thanks to Mick Hyde.
The Apollo 15 collection of RealVideo is now complete to the end of a15.spur. Further clips are now being added to a15.heatflow2;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
A reasonably good image of Al Worden doing his EVA is available from a 16-mm film shot by Dave Scott from the hatch. The image is S71-43202 and is linked in images15;
with thanks to Adam Bootle.
John Pfannerstill has produced three hi-res scans from Apollo 16 Pan Camera frame 4623 showing the northern area up to North Ray Crater, the central area around the LM, and the area south to South Ray Crater and Stone Mountain. A detail shows the craters visited on the EVA-1 traverse. Links have also been added to a16.window and a16.trvsta1.
An error recently introduced in a11.step has been fixed;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux and John Burton.
Real Audio is being added to Apollo 17, starting just prior to PDI at 112:48:56 in a17.landing;
with thanks to Gordon Roxburgh.
Ulli Lotzmann has provided photos of an Apollo 12 rock box, probably 1008, and of the Surveyor III TV camera, both on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
Ron Wells has provided improved versions of his high resolution scan of Apollo 17 Pan Camera frame 2309 and of the labeled version.
I have created a detail of the area of the Apollo 16 Pan Camera frame that shows the LM and the EVA-1 traverse.
Corrections have been made to a17.sta9 and new versions of the images a14.2ls1-eva2.gif and Schmitt-Brett.gif have been uploaded;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
Markus Mehring suggests that the fact that the LEC attachment was at the top of the LM cabin may explain why the LMPs didn't remember much about the attachment, it having rarely been directly in their field-of-view. See a11.step.
The broken link to Adam Bootle's Air force Salute has been fixed in alsj.funpix.html. In addition, Adam points out that the astronaut shown in ap12-KSC-69PC-546 is Al Bean and not Pete Conrad, based on the evidence of the dirt on astronaut's right leg.
All of the Apollo 15 Station 6 video is now available as RealVideo clips
with thanks to Ken Glover.
A picture of Fred Haise doing geology training for Apollo 13 has been added to a14.crew, a14.eva2prep, and a12.clsout2;
with thanks to Adam Bootle
Karl Dodenhoff has located a drawing showing details of the operation and LM-cabin attachment of the Lunar Equipment Conveyor (LEC);
with thanks to Karl, Ken Glover, Gary Neff, and Greg Bondar.
John Burton, Chris Gainor, and Ulrich Lotzmann have pointed out that Neil and Buzz did, indeed, have name tags on the backs of their PLSSs. See the discussion following 109:52:27
Lotzmann also notes that, like Buzz, Neil saluted after the end of President Nixon's remarks at 110:18:21 in a11.mobility.
John Pfannerstill has scanned a portion of Apollo 15 Pan Camera frame 9430, which was taken during CSM Rev 27 at 23:52:54.7 GMT on 31 July 1971 from an altitude of 102.82 km. The Ground Elapsed Time was 130:18:54, which was during the period after EVA-1 when Dave and Jim were recharging their PLSSs.
Corrections have been made to a16.window;
with thanks to Derek Henderson.
RealVideo clips are now available for a16.sta6abv;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
John Pfannerstill has provided a hi-res scan of a mosaic covering the Fra Mauro site Relevant links have been added to the a14.landing and the chapters covering the A14 EVA-2 traverse.
Corrections have been made to a14.crew;
with thanks to Jodi Gendrich.
A link error to the first RealVideo file in a15.alsepdep has been fixed;
with thanks to Lennie Waugh.
Corrections have been made to a12.landing, a12.tvtrbls, a12.launch, and a15.landing;
with thanks to Tomas Lundberg.
Fortunately, Ken glover has not been distracted by the tennis and all of the Apollo 15 EVA-1 video is now available.
John Pfannerstill has provided a high-resolution scan of a composite of Lunar Orbiter photos showing the Apollo 12 landing site. A lower-res version provides reference and a detail shows Head Crater and the larger of the two mounds on the north rim.
The Australian Open Tennis Championships start today and my output will probably be down a bit over the next couple of weeks. ;-)
A number of missing - and long overdue - links to Apollo 17 RealVideo clips have been added to various EVA-3 chapters;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux and apologies to Mick Hyde.
One of Ken Glover's new RealVideo clips shows Jim Irwin as he tries to attach the SIDE cable to the Central Station. Jim looses his balance and spins around as he tries to catch himself. Because Dave has already attached the heatflow cable, it is easy to imagine that Jim narrowly missed a loss like the one experienced during Apollo 16.
Addition of the available TV to the end of a15.sta2 is complete
with thanks to Ken Glover.
I have always had trouble seeing the Snowman and in understanding how it got its name, but now have a hypothesis, which is discussed at 110:05:16 in a12.landing.
Some changes in speaker identification have been made immediately following the Apollo 12 touchdown. As I discussed with Pete and Al during our 1991 review of the mission, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish the two voices and even they sometimes had trouble making identifications The present changes were suggested by Tomas Lundberg.
We now have a picture of the pliers used by Pete and Al to repair the scale that broke while they were weighing samples following the first Apollo 12 EVA; with thanks to Ulrich Lotzmann.
Addition of the available TV to a15.elbow is complete;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Gary Neff's excellent discussion of the Apollo 12 16-mm landing movie is now available on the NASA HQ server and is linked in a12.landing. In addition, Gary and I are now confident in the transcription of Pete's remark at 110:29:27, shortly after seeing Surveyor Crater at P64. Previously, I hadn't been able to "hear" what Pete said and had "garbled" instead of "targeted". As soon as Gary drew my attention to the possibility, I knew that was right. Good ears, Gary!
All the existing video for a15.trv1prep and a15.elbowtrv is now linked in those chapters;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Grant Heiken has provided a copy of a signed document formalizing a series of bets between Jack Schmitt and Robin Brett concerning the answers to specific geologic questions to be answered by Apollo 17. I have linked the document in the Apollo 15 transcript because of a discussion there about another Schmitt bet that resulted in the naming of St. George Crater at the Hadley site.
Happy New Year!
All available video for the Apollo 15 surface operations covered in a15.lrvdep and lrvload has been linked. Work has begun on trv1prep;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
Numerous undefined anchors are being corrected;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux
I have begun to upload new versions of various files which have been corrected by Mike Poliszuk to remove all instances of links not putting images, etc on a new page. I will not list the individual files here. The process is going to take several weeks.
Thanks Mike.
RealVideo Clips have been added to a15.lrvdep thru installation of the LCRU on the Rover;
with thanks to Ken Glover.
A comment on the likely effect of reflected sunlight at high solar elevations on suit temperatures has been added to a12.trvhead.html;
with thanks to Phil Karn.
A note regarding the source of the Playmate pictures in the A12 cuff checklists has been added to a12.halo.html;
with thanks to dedicated researcher Ken Glover.
A factual error at 113:21:01 in the Apollo 14 commentary regarding the drink port in the bubble helmet has been corrected, with thanks to Mike Poliszuk and Dave Scott. The drink ports were intended for emergency use only and were never used.
While on the subject of 'Dual Photos', Adam Bootle has created a lovely fun picture showing Dave Scott (right) and Jim Irwin (left) saluting for the camera at Hadley.
Corrections have been made to a17.sta6, a17.sta8, and a17.clsout3;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
As has been pointed out by Cedomir Igaly, Damir Lozovina, Karl Dodenhoff, and other readers, the Apollo 17 video stills no longer exist. The non-functional links have been removed from video17.
Eric Nelson has produced a red/blue stereoview of a portion of the Station 10 boulder with very large vesicles.
RealVideo clips have been added, starting at 120:11:56.
A comment by USGS geologist Gerald Schaber - for whom Schaber Hill at the Hadley site is named - has been added at 123:48:21 concerning the small, glassy crater and associated rock fragment photographed by Scott and Irwin during the return to the LM at the end of EVA-1.
Four new RealVideo clips have been added, starting at 120:00:31.
Ken Glover is producing a series of RealVideo clips, starting with the first TV of A15 EVA-1 at 119:52:36. Please let me know if you have either success or frustration playing the clips. With apologies in advance to anyone who experiences the latter.
In response to a question by Eric Nelson to the sci.space.history newsgroup, I have digitized an October 12, 1972 Bell Labs memo which shows expected views of the Scarp from the LM windows and from three points along the EVA-2 outbound traverse to Hole-in-the-Wall.
Ken Glover has produced two new RealVideo clips. One shows Jack Schmitt throwing the geology hammer at the end of A17 EVA-3. The other shows the accidental heat-flow cable breakage during the A16 ALSEP deployment.
An additional segment of Jim Irwin's Station 10 pan has been added at 166:18:56;with belated thanks to David Harland.CDR-15, for the infamous 'Station 8' activities is now link;
with thanks to Frank O'Brien.
A variety of html errors and typos are being corrected;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux, Cedomir Igaly, Damir Lozovina, Karl Dodenhoff, and Brian Lawrence.
Ken Glover has produced a short RealVideo clip showing Jack Schmitt taking a pan at Station 6 and another clip showing Jack and Gene sampling at Station 8. Real Player G2 - available via a free download - is required to play the clips.
Gary Neff has produced a high quality version of the Apollo 12 16mm film shot during the landing. The file is very large at (10Mb). Depending your available modem speed, etc., this download can take an hour or more. We advise doing a download to hard disk of both the movie file and the landing chapter so that they can be reviewed off-line.
Gary Neff notes that Figure 5-6 in the Apollo 11 Mission Report, which presents the pitch and roll information for the final phase, is mis-labeled. The titles of the two charts are reversed. The top chart actually shows pitch angle and the bottom chart shows roll angle.
Markus Mehring has produced a detail from AS16-114-18436 showing the list of targets for the UV camera.
Adam Bootle sends a 'fun picture' of Pete Conrad and Al Bean posing next to Surveyor III.
Mauro Freschi Furlan has provided a re-labeled photo of the top of the Remote Control Unit (RCU).
Corrections have been made to lrvhand.html;
with thanks to Lennie Waugh, Cedomir Igaly, Damir Lozovina, and Karl Dodenhoff
Jørgen Bak notes that, in images11.html, I incorrectly stated that there are four images showing Neil on AS11-40. There are five, not counting the photo showing Neil reflected in Buzz's visor. The five are 5886, 5894, 5895, 5896, and 5916.
An additional Dave Scott comment on the playing of the Air Force Song during the Apollo 15 LM launch has been added;
with thanks to David Woods.
Markus Mehring has produced a rectified version of AS16-117-18841, which shows the Duke family portrait Charlie left on the lunar surface at the Descartes landing site.
Information on the famous LM "Parker" valves has been added to a12.landing, a14.postland, a16.landing, and a17.landing;
with thanks to Frank O'Brien and Neville Kidger. Neville works for Parker-Hannifin PLC and it was a unit of that company that made the valves. They were the propellant isolation or shut-off valves in the LM RCS.
Detail about the operation of the LM 16mm sequence camera during the Apollo 11 landing has been added to a11.landing;
with thanks to Mike Caplinger, who is the systems engineer at Malin Space Science Systems for the Mars Descent Imager on-board the Polar Lander.
Corrections have been made to a15.trvsta6;
with thanks to David Harland.
I have been making numerous cosmetic corrections;
with thanks to Brian Lawrence.
Comments about the Low-Level or Propellant Quantity Light have been added to a12.landing along with a link to a pertinent Tindallgram;
with thanks to Mike Harney and Paul Fjeld.
All pages from the Lunar Rover Operations Handbook are now available.
Kipp Teague has produced a detail scan of the A15 Red Bible.
Keith Wilson has discovered that Apollo 15 photo AS15-88-11901 shows a red bible that Dave Scott left propped against the handcontroller on the LRV at the VIP site at the end of EVA-3. See the notes following 167:49:38
I have been digitizing the Lunar Roving Vehicle Operations Handbook, portions of which are now available at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/lrvhand.html
Simon Atkinson notes that the astronaut standing on top of Tracy's rock in David Harland's marvelous Geology 101 is really Jim Irwin and not Dave Scott.
For a number of years I have believed that Charlie Duke took the pan containing frames AS16-116-18592 to 18614. Bob Fry has just pointed out that the astronaut in frame 18607 does not have red stripes on his suit and, therefore, must be Charlie. I have reviewed the Apollo 16 video and find abundant evidence that John had his camera throughout the Station 11 activities and, therefore, that it was he that took the pan. Way to go, Bob!
Corrections have been made to surcl.html, plss.html, a11.clsout, a11.mobility, video11;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
George Giusti has made a plausible connection between the Lunar Sounder and the Orange Soil at Shorty that may have the basis of Gene Cernan's thought, at the moment of discovery, that the sounder might get some useful data. A comment has been added to a17.sta4;
with thanks to George Giusti
David Harland has assembled the portion of John Young's Station 1 pan showing both Flag and Plum craters and the isthmus between them.
David Harland has combined two frames from the Geophone 3 pan, AS17-147-22560 and 561, to make a portrait of Geophone Rock.
A link has been added to apollo.biblio to a NASA HQ site containing various technical diagrams and drawings for the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Scanning was done by Journal Contributor Kipp Teague.
Biographies have been added to apollo.acknoldg.html for Journal Contributors Markus Mehring and Thierry Bisiaux.
Corrections have been made to a11.landing, audio12, a12.landing, audio14, a14.landing, a15.postseva, a15.sta6abv, a15.sta6crtr, a15.summary, a15.trv1prep, a15.trvlm1, a15.trvsta6, a16.alsepoff, a16.lrvdep, a16.summary, a16.trvlm1, a17.lrvdep, a17.postland, a17.sta1;
with thanks to Brian Lawrence.
A link has been added in apollo.biblio to James Tomayko's Computers in Spaceflight: The NASA Experience
A note about a warning label on the Hasselblad cameras about not touching the Reseau plate has been added to a12.surveyor;
with thanks to Markus Mehring.
David Harland has assembled Al Shepard's Station B1 pan.
Corrections have been made to a14.trvstaf, a14.stafg, a14.clsout2, a14.launch, a15eva2wake, a15.eva2prep;
with thanks to David Harland.
Corrections have been made to a12.surveyor;
with thanks to Markus Mehring.
Biographical material about the late Eugene Shoemaker has been added to a14.staA, a15.lrvload, a15.eva1post, a17.sta2;
with thanks to Ron Wells.
In a recent exchange of e-mail, Kipp Teague, Wil Taylor, and I realized that the buckled panels on the rear of the Apollo 16 LM that Charlie Duke photographed early in EVA-1 became even more stressed during lift-off than they had during the landing, as can be seen in a comparison of 113-18331 and 122-19533
Corrections have been made to a14.staA, a14.tocone;
with thanks to David Harland.
Corrections have been made to a15.trvlm3, a16.lrvload, a16.sta5, a16.lrvdep, a17.deepcore, a17.trvsta4;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux.
Michael Trachtenberg notes that the picture of Gene Cernan in a17.crew is his formal Apollo 10 portrait.
Corrections have been made to a12.clsout2, a12.eva1prelim, a12.halo, a12.landing, a12.postland, a14.alsepdep, images14, a15.eva1prep;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux
A post-Apollo comment from PAO's Brian Duff on the lack of colorful language during Apollo 12 has been added to a12.eva1prelim;
with thanks to Andy Chaikin.
Corrections have been made to a11.clsout, a11.mobility, a11.summary;
with thanks to Thierry Bisiaux
Additional information has been added to the imagesxx.html files;
with thanks to Brian Lawrence.
Numerous minor correction have been made to various files;
with thanks to Brian Lawrence.
Notes on Neil Armstrong's use of his side visor during the contingency sample collection has been added to a11.step and a12.trvhead;
with thanks to Andy Chaikin.
Comments on the North Complex at the Apollo 15 site have been added to a15.trvlm2.html;
with thanks to geologist Gerald Schaber, for whom Schaber Hill is named.
An error in a14.crew has been corrected;
with thanks to Jack Kozak.
References to Winston Churchill's 13 May 1940 "Victory" speech before the House of Commons have been added to a17.site, a17.eva2wake, and a17.trvsta5, and ;
with thanks to Brian Lawrence.
Corrections and additions have been made to a15.coreextract, a15.trvsta6, a17.eva1post, a17.trvsta2;
with thanks to David Harland.
Di and I are now settled - more or less - in Australia and I am slowly getting back to work on the Journal.
I have just added the sad news of Pete Conrad's death to a12.crew.
Great News from Ken Glover! He has the ALSJ CDs and is starting to mail copies to folks who have pre-ordered. The price is $US40 plus shipping. My thanks to Ken and Frank O'Brien who honchoed the production, and to Brian Lawrence, Markus Mehring, and Thierry Bisiaux who worked their butts off during April and May getting the Journal ready for publication.
A Shocking Exposé by Frank O'Brien
Little did the villagers realize that Nail Soup contains powerful, addictive drugs and that the consequences of eating but a single bowl are inevitably tragic.
The time is the present, but the setting is more like that of "1984"....
Eric McGreedy - for this is the old man's true name - has enslaved legions of unsuspecting idealists and daily forces them to do his bidding as he builds an vast empire known only as "ALSJ", a empire dedicated to the accumulation of a immense store of arcane knowledge . "Ex Luna Insomnia" is the cruel slogan crudely carved into the portals of his numerous sweatshops.
Toiling late into the night, and under brutal conditions, pathetic souls endure what they have come to call "ALSJ Agony", feverishly churning out pans and scans and clips. Others, with thick glasses and failing sight, the inevitable results of long nights spent working in monastic cells lit by only solitary candles, proofread every one of the millions of words generated. One of the readers is asked why he toils so hard.
"We feel a kinship with the scanning people. Their work is so hard and thankless. Their only company is the quiet whine of the scanner and the soft chatter of a hard drive. The lucky ones work with pictures and get to see new and different images every day!"
Scene: Another Journal sweatshop. A lowly figure pushes forward, out from the bleak masses....
"More gruel, sir. Please"
"More gruel?! Away with you!"
Ooppss..sorry.... Wrong clip...... OK, here it is.....
Scene: Another Journal sweatshop. A lowly figure pushes forward, out from the bleak masses...
"More documents to scan, sir. Please."
Slowly, McGreedy turns his hunched frame around. "More documents?!? Bah!"
"Please, sir. If you would, sir."
Annoyed, McGreedy rummages though his waistcoat pockets. Finally, he pulls out a torn and crumpled scrap of paper. Barely legible are the words "Surface Checklist". Throwing the wad of paper in the corner, he grouses, "There. Now be off with you!"
Scene: The NASA computer room. The computation engines are humming mightily. Sweat pouring off their bodies, bleary-eyed workers stoke the systems, shoveling more and more data into the already overwhelmed machines. A bos'n whistle sounds.
"McGreedy to Engineering. What's going on down there? I need more disk space!"
The Chief Engineer, the brave Woody, answers in his characteristic Scottish brogue.
"Cap'n, I canna give you any more. The systems are gonna blow!"
To be continued.........
