Geology Station 5

Ending the Second Day

 

EVA-2 Close-out

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 1995 by Eric M. Jones.
All rights reserved.
Scan credits in the Image Library.
Video credits in the Video Library.
Audio clips by Dave Shaffer.
Last revised 4 August 2017.

MP3 Audio Clip starting at 146:56:26 ( 7 min 24 sec )

146:56:48 Parker: And give us a mark when you're going.

146:56:54 Schmitt: Oh, I'm sorry...

146:56:55 Cernan: Bob...

146:56:56 Parker: And we don't have...

146:56:58 Schmitt: We've been going about a minute.

[Gene probably started to move at 146:55:39.]

146:57:05 Cernan: Okay, I never did give you that. It's 110 and 136.

146:57:11 Parker: Copy that, good enough. Thank you. (Pause)

146:57:17 Cernan: Never did get that for you.

146:57:19 Parker: That's okay.

146:57:20 Schmitt: But I tell you, the inner wall of Camelot to the east is certainly blocky.

[They are driving along the south rim of Camelot looking at the east, inner wall of the crater. Jack's photos of the east rim and associated ejecta are AS17-133- 20363 and 20364.]

146:57:31 Cernan: (Garbled) mantle, too, Jack.

146:57:32 Schmitt: Yeah, well, I don't know, you could see the other wall, too. It's...

146:57:35 Cernan: Hey, here's some Rover tracks!

146:57:44 Schmitt: (Melodramatically) Hey, somebody's been here before.

146:57:48 Parker: Okay, and, 17, what we're looking for is deploying charge number eight at (bearing) zero eight two and zero decimal four on the range.

146:58:02 Schmitt: Okay.

146:58:08 Cernan: Okay, we're at 083 and 1.1. We're just about abeam the eastern rim of Camelot. And there is Challenger!

146:58:19 Schmitt: Hey, hello, Challenger. You can even see the ALSEP.

146:58:26 Cernan: I think I'll go this way. (Jack laughs as Gene avoids a crater; Pause.)

146:58:41 Schmitt: Gee, it seems like a short day. (Laughs)

146:58:44 Cernan: Well, I'll tell you, the time went fast.

146:58:49 Schmitt: (To Bob) Okay, you've heard about this country (on the outbound trip to Station 2). (Pause) Hey, looking over there, though, there's no...We're about, oh, 50 meters from boulders in Camelot. And their appearance from this distance is the same as what we sampled at (Station) 5. I think we've pretty well identified the subfloor, Bob.

146:59:10 Parker: Okay, sounds like we have and sounds like from the very deepest - even from the bottom of Camelot - it looks like it's about the same.

146:59:19 Schmitt: It sure does. (Brief static) I can't say I understand it. But that's the way it appears right now.

146:59:28 Parker: You can't say what, Jack? (Pause) Okay, understand that.

146:59:33 Schmitt: I can't say that I understand.

146:59:37 Parker: Copy.

146:59:39 Schmitt: Whatever filled this valley, it certainly was different than the Massifs. I think we've proved that. And, it presumably. At least everything I see indicates that it was an igneous extrusion of some kind. Either that, or the whole valley's been tilted and we're looking at some strange cross section - planar, more or less, relative to the other mountains - of a crystalline body that was formed at depth. But I don't think that's likely.

147:00:19 Parker: Okay. (Pause)

147:00:29 Cernan: Man; we've covered 19.3 kilometers, Jack.

147:00:32 Schmitt: Is that what we planned to cover?

147:00:33 Parker: That's outstanding.

147:00:34 Cernan: (To Jack) I don't know. What did we plan to cover, Bob?

147:00:37 Parker: Stand by. But we've been everywhere we've planned to go, so, we must have gone just about as far as we've planned to go.

147:00:44 Cernan: Yeah, but it's a straight line. I don't know what the wander factor was, but I'm sure it was pretty high.

147:00:51 Parker: 17.6, they're telling me. So we went a little bit out of our way.

[In driving around craters, Gene has added 1.7 kilometers (or about 10 percent) to the straight-line, station-to-station distance. At some point during this part of the drive, Jack takes AS17-133- 20365 and 20366.]

[Cernan - "Adding a kilometer and a half or more to our projected travel distance from station to station is not too surprising. I call it the wander factor. When you're driving around, you've got to drive around craters; when you're driving up the scarp, you've got to take particular routes which are accessible and secure; and, when you're driving into the Sun, you've got to be extremely careful and you go around things you might not, otherwise, go around because you can't see them all that well. So it's not that surprising at all."]

147:01:00 Schmitt: 0.7 and what was the bearing? 083?

[Jack is asking about the place where they will deploy the charge.]

[Gene's "oh-point-four" isn't very clear.]

147:01:14 Cernan: Oh, zero decimal four.

147:01:17 Schmitt: Yeah, that's the range.

147:01:19 Cernan: Yeah, that's what I said: 0.4.

147:01:20 Schmitt: But you want to bear north, don't you, a little?

147:01:22 Cernan: Yeah, I want...What'd you say, 082, didn't you, Bob?

147:01:25 Parker: That's affirm. That'll be close enough. It's probably be right on your track, there.

147:01:31 Cernan: Okay. Well, I don't make a habit of following myself. I like to cover new ground.

147:01:35 Parker: Okay, copy that.

147:01:36 Schmitt: Watch out for that new ground there. Looks like in the...Look at the Italian flag!

[This is a pennant affixed to the antenna on charge they deployed at the start of the traverse - at 083/0.5. Neither Jack nor Gene remembers why they called it "the Italian Flag". Like the flags on all the charges, it was international orange in color.]

147:01:49 Schmitt: Come on now!

147:01:51 Cernan: I got to admit it, I saw the flag first.

147:01:53 Schmitt: The boss said you saw the flag first.

[Schmitt - "During the design phase there was probably some discussion over whether one really needed the flags. And the reference to the "Boss" may mean that Shepard or Slayton finally ruled that there had to be flags. I think that Gene did see the box first; and then we corrected the record, facetiously, so that it was consistent with what the Boss said we had to see first, namely the flag. Of course, I'm guessing and making this up, because I don't remember this incident."]

[Gene doesn't remember the incident either, but suggests that the "Italian Flag" may have had something to do with Rocco Petrone, the Apollo Program Director at the time. Neither Shepard nor Slayton, nor Joe Allen was able to offer any insight. Bob Parker agrees with Gene that there may be a connection with Petrone. He remembers that, because of sensitivities about the Vietnam war, Petrone had insisted that the charges not be called 'bombs'.]

147:02:03 Schmitt: Okay.

147:02:04 Cernan: I'm going to go around...

147:02:05 Schmitt: 0.5. Okay, you'll have to swing (to the) right after we deploy, probably.

147:02:09 Cernan: Yeah. (Pause)

[See Gene's comment at 141:36:27 about having to turn right to avoid the charges. Photo AS17-133- 20367 is taken toward the north, perhaps as Gene maneuvers so that Jack can deploy the charge.]

147:02:23 Cernan: Did we ever get any glass out of the bottom of those craters?

147:02:25 Schmitt: No, we haven't, we've got to try to do that before we leave. (Pause) There haven't been any good...

[This chance remark probably triggers Jack's decision to get a glass sample as described at 147:19:46.]

147:02:40 Schmitt: (Zero point) four! Okay.

147:02:47 Cernan: Okay, 08...Well, she just went to 1. Okay, 081/0.4.

[Jack has been watching the indicator and, since the digit just changed, they are about 350 meters from the SEP transmitter - plus or minus a residual Nav system error of about 50 meters or so. The actual distance is 440 meters, an indication of the superb performance of the navigation system over a closed, 30-kilometer course.]

147:02:50 Cernan: Okay.

147:02:51 Schmitt: Can you...

147:02:52 Cernan: Got your pictures?

147:02:53 Schmitt: I'm getting them. (Pause) Okay. Now just swing into that depression and I'll put it there. (Pause) Beautiful. Whoa, whoa. Okay, charge number 8.

147:03:12 Cernan: You didn't get a (locator) picture to the LM then, did you?

147:03:14 Schmitt: Yeah, I did. I got several of them.

[These picture are included in the series AS17-133- 20368 to 20373 which Jack took prior to the charge deployment.]

MP3 Audio Clip ( 19 min 13 sec )

147:03:19 Schmitt: No. (Pause) Okay, antenna is deployed. Pin 1 is pulled and Safe. And, let me check that. It's dusty. Yeah, it's Safe. Pin 2 is pulled and Safe. Pin 3, pulled and Safe.

147:03:39 Parker: Copy that.

147:03:41 Schmitt: I guess as long as it didn't go off, it's safe.

147:03:45 Cernan: Ooh, don't bang it. (They both laugh) I don't care what they say, that's a charge. (Pause) You're having great luck with those.

147:03:57 Schmitt: (Garbled). Okay, the LM was in the approach shot, I believe. Let me...Go ahead and turn around.

147:04:06 Cernan: Yeah, I got to go around anyway. (Pause) This way I can get a running shot of (static). (Garbled) right in the middle of it. Let me get them both in it.

147:04:17 Schmitt: Okay, I ran out of film, too.

147:04:18 Cernan: Oh, boy.

147:04:19 Schmitt: Now that's pretty well located.

147:04:20 Cernan: (Garbled).

147:04:21 Schmitt: When you come around, take a picture of the LM on your camera.

147:04:23 Cernan: I will. I'll take it right out the front looking right at the thing.

[Gene is taking a picture of the charge with the LM in the background. This is AS17-145- 22184.]

[Jack's last two pictures are AS17-133- 20374 and 20375.]

147:04:35 Cernan: Five-six. (Pause) Bob, I've got the "locator" of the charge and the LM all in the same order here, and I'm one more than what I just gave you. I can't look at it now.

147:04:48 Parker: Okay, one more than what you gave me at Station 5 (which was frame 50). Understand.

147:04:55 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. You want me to go to the gravimeter now?

[Here, Jack is referring to the LSG, the gravity-wave detector.]

147:05:15 Schmitt: Okay.

147:05:17 Cernan: Jack, I'm going to drive you in this way, and then I'll drive all the way back around that one geophone.

[Gene probably is driving in toward the Central Station from the southwest, coming between the south and west geophone lines. Then, on his way to the LM, he will have to go all the way back out and around the south geophone line to avoid running over it.]

147:05:24 Parker: (Garbled) to the north, you could drive in toward the heat flow, towards that big rock, if you can see that.

147:05:30 Cernan: Yeah, well, okay; that's as good as anything.

147:05:34 Schmitt: Bob, you want me to get some ALSEP pictures?

147:05:38 Parker: Negative. (Pause) Okay, and Jack, you can stand by...

147:05:46 Schmitt: I got a (warning) flag.

147:05:48 Parker: ...for a feedwater dump (means "flag") very shortly. Okay, (PLSS) Feedwater, go to Aux(illiary), please.

147:05:52 Schmitt: I just got it. (Pause)

147:06:00 Cernan: Man, look at that mess of cable. I hope that thing (the ALSEP)'s working, Bob.

147:06:04 Parker: Every...Well, a lot of it's working. We've just got to try and see if we can't level this thing (the LSG) tonight. When you get off there, Jack, I'll talk to you a bit about procedures for that. And in the meanwhile, it's my understanding...

147:06:15 Schmitt: Okay; that's good, Gene...

147:06:16 Parker: ...that the second UHT is not in the immediate vicinity, where it's accessible, is that right?

147:06:23 Schmitt: No, it is, I can get it.

[They have two Universal Handling Tools. They are using one as the handle for the LRV Sampler; Gene tossed the other one in the general direction of the Central Station at the end of the ALSEP deployment.]

147:06:26 Cernan: Okay, and watch my heat flow (cables) over there, don't trip over them (as happened on Apollo 16). (Pause)

147:06:38 Schmitt: Okay, I'm going to take a pair of tongs.

[There are two pairs of tongs. Gene is wearing one, attached to his yo-yo, and the other is almost certainly stowed in the tool rack on the back of the Rover.]

147:06:40 Schmitt: No, I want your camera.

147:06:41 Cernan: You want my camera? (Pause)

[As Gene confirms at 147:07:38, Jack is taking Gene's tongs and camera so that, as Jack relates at 147:20:13, he can collect a sample of glass on his way back to the LM.]

147:07:00 Schmitt: Okay.

147:07:04 Parker: Okay. And, Jack, we're not sure you went to Aux on your water yet.

147:07:04 Cernan: (Garbled; pause)

147:07:11 Schmitt: (Responding to Bob) I thought I did.

147:07:12 Parker: Okay, it's coming up, now, we see it coming, Jack, don't worry.

147:07:14 Schmitt: Gene, can you...(Responding to Bob) Okay. (Pause)

147:07:20 Cernan: You got what you want?

147:07:23 Schmitt: Let me take a set of tongs in case I drop something.

[Again, Jack is planning to get a glass sample but isn't telling Houston.]

147:07:27 Schmitt: Yeah. (Pause)

[Schmitt - "I may have been pulling out Gene's yo-yo and taking the tongs off so that he didn't have to fool with it. It would have been easier that way."]

[This would suggest that Jack moved around to Gene's side of the Rover. Alternatively, he could have stayed at his side of the Rover while Gene removed the tongs from his yo-yo and handed them across. Gene's "can you reach them?" suggests the latter.]

147:07:37 Schmitt: Yep.

147:07:38 Cernan: (To Bob) Okay, Jack's got my camera and tongs, and I'm on my way.

147:07:43 Parker: Okay, copy that.

147:07:50 Schmitt: Okay, Bob, I got a tone again.

147:07:52 Parker: Okay, what's it say? Probably just your water (garbled) been building up...

[Jack got a warning tone at 147:05:46 that his primary cooling water supply had run out and that he needed to switch to his auxillary tank. He made the switch at that time and, as Parker suggests, this repetition of the tone may a sign that there was a momentary interruption of flow after the switchover.]

[Jack probably has moved away from the Rover by now, on his way to get the UHT. The following dialog suggests that the top of Jack's RCU is covered with dust.]

147:08:09 Schmitt: Well, we better take a look. Okay, I'm coming over there (to the Rover).

[Gene will look for a warning flag on Jack's RCU.]

147:08:15 Parker: Okay, that's right, also.

147:08:20 Cernan: Okay, AUX water's On.

147:08:23 Schmitt: We got our tones yesterday. Can you see anything?

147:08:27 Cernan: Well, not unless...Let me see, let me brush your...Bend over.

[Gene hasn't dismounted and Jack is probably standing beside him.]

147:08:39 Schmitt: Huh?

147:08:40 Cernan: You got no flags.

147:08:41 Schmitt: Okay.

147:08:42 Parker: You look good to us, Jack.

147:08:43 Cernan: Once more. A good look.

147:08:44 Parker: Jack, you look good to us.

147:08:45 Cernan: No flags. All right, no flags, Jack.

147:08:48 Parker: Okay, and, Gene, I think you need to go to Aux...

147:08:50 Cernan: (To Jack) Okay.

147:08:51 Parker: ...if you didn't.

147:08:53 Cernan: Yeah, I just did, Bob, and my water flag cleared.

147:08:55 Parker: Okay, copy that...

147:08:58 Cernan: No, it didn't. Not yet.

147:09:00 Parker: Yeah, it's probably still coming up.

[Schmitt - "When you switched to the Aux tank, it took a little while for either the flow of water or the water pressure - whichever the sensor worked on - to build up enough to get rid of the flag."]

147:09:09 Schmitt: Okay, you want me to get a UHT, huh?

147:09:11 Cernan: It's right over there by the...

147:09:12 Schmitt: Yeah, I know where it is...

147:09:13 Parker: If it's quite close, but if it's not, don't bother, I think we can probably try this by hand.

147:09:20 Cernan: No, it's there, Bob; he'll get it.

147:09:21 Parker: Okay.

147:09:27 Cernan: (Looking at CDR-30) You got a (parking) heading for me at the Rover (means the LM)? Is 017 good?

147:09:31 Parker: 018. 018.

147:09:36 Cernan: Okay.

147:09:37 Schmitt: (To Bob) You don't want me to kick the LEAM yet, huh?

147:09:41 Parker: Negative. (Long Pause)

[Schmitt - "I was joking, of course; and I think this refers to some time in training when I accidentally kicked it."]

[Bob agrees that this is a training reference.]

147:09:57 Parker: Okay, when you go back to the LSG, Jack, we first of all would like a reading on where the bubble is in the circle, (that is) whether it's in the center. And what we're going to have to have, unfortunately, is to have the bubble centered in the inner circle (pause) because this is, apparently, a requirement, even though we didn't train to it. Apparently it's something that's come up, and it's going to have to be within the inner circle of the bubble. So, the first thing we need to do is, when you go up there, is to see whether the bubble is in the center of the circle. (Pause)

147:10:39 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. (Pause) That bubble is centered!

147:10:45 Parker: Okay. Okay, the next thing we want you to do is put the UHT in the socket there, and move the...

147:10:51 Schmitt: Hey, Bob.

147:10:52 Parker: ...LSG from side to side...

147:10:53 Schmitt: Bob...

147:10:54 Parker: ...do not pick it up. Okay, go ahead, Jack.

147:10:58 Schmitt: I did not have to touch it, it is centered.

147:11:01 Parker: Okay, but now they're worried that it's stuck like your gimbal thing was last night (on the Central Station antenna).

[Bob is referring to the "sticky level bubble" Jack encountered on the Central Station at 119:38:02 and again at 119:55:35 and following. In that case, surface tension had kept the bubble stuck to the outside of its dome.]

[Schmitt - "They wanted me to press the legs into the surface. I suspect that, by this time, Joe Weber was absolutely panicked about his experiment. And there was a tendency, if I remember correctly, for me to think that they were convinced that I hadn't deployed it right, instead of suspecting that the instrument was faulty. Clearly, Bob was on our side and believed we'd done it right."]

147:11:42 Parker: Basically, we just want to see it move. (If) you go out to the outer circle, that's plenty. (Pause) And, again, you (garbled).

147:11:55 Schmitt: There's only one circle. Okay.

147:11:58 Parker: Oh, I mean the outer rim of it.

147:12:04 Schmitt: Okay, I did that. It's still centered and gimbal is swinging.

[Schmitt - "I could see the gimbal by looking through the top of the instrument. I don't know why I said 'gimbal' because I was probably looking at the balance beam."]

147:12:17 Schmitt: That's right. (Pause)

147:12:23 Cernan: (Puffing rather heavily as he leans forward) Okay, Bob, I'm reading 089, 20.1, 002, 92, 88. Volts are 65 and 66. Batteries are 114 (degrees) and 138. Rear motors are off-scale low. Forward left is off-scale low and right is 210 degrees.

[Schmitt - "Getting off the Rover shouldn't have made Gene breathe heavily. He may have gotten off and leaned way over to read the console. That might have cramped him a little bit and made him spit his words out."]

[Gene is reading a bearing of 089 to the SEP and a range of 150 to 250 meters. The actual values are about 080 and 150, indicating a very small residual error.]

147:13:02 Cernan: First battery temperature is 114.

147:13:07 Parker: (Unenthusiastically passing up the request) Okay, Jack. They apparently don't believe you when you said you aligned it last night and they're concerned the shade is not on 20 degrees. (Pause)

[Schmitt - "There was a sunshade on the LSG that shadowed the hole in the top of the instrument that let it cool by radiating to the sky. Twenty degrees refers to our latitude and I guess I had to get the LSG leveled and then tilt the shade at the proper angle. It's amazing how you don't remember doing any of that. I remember going back to fix it, but not the actual deployment."]

147:13:16 Schmitt: It (the sunshade)'s on 20, Bob.

147:13:21 Parker: Okay. Okay; in that case, I guess you're free to come home.

147:13:28 Schmitt: Well, what is basically the problem with it?

147:13:33 Parker: They haven't been able to level it for some reason, and they were afraid that the thing wasn't level. They were hoping also maybe by moving it that you might jostle it a bit and it would come to level, but I think we'll just have to think about it some more. Their first presumption - the easiest solution - was to have it unleveled, which case we could fix it this way. But I guess that's not the case. We'll have to see what happens overnight. Give us a chance to follow the tradition of coming back to the ALSEP tomorrow.

147:14:00 Schmitt: Well, do you want me to change it's level a little bit...put it off level a little and see if you can work it.

[Schmitt - "They were moving weights on the balance beam and my question was, could we do something to change the relative gravitational force on either side of the fulcrum to make it work. But I don't think they could have ever convinced themselves that it was a design problem in time to do something like that."]

147:14:14 Schmitt: Well, it might be some air (or error?) in the level bubble or something.

147:14:16 Parker: Why don't you just leave it there if it's centered with the level bubble within the inner circle there. That's the requirements as far as we can tell, and we'll just have to leave it overnight again. And why don't you come on back to the LM. (Pause)

147:14:42 Parker: Okay, Gene, are you at the Rover?

147:14:46 Cernan: Yes, sir. I'm parked.

147:14:47 Parker: Okay...

147:14:49 Cernan: Gave you my readings.

147:14:50 Parker: Okay. You gave me your readings and when you get done, let me know, because the first thing we want to do is work on the SEP (receiver) a little bit.

147:15:00 Cernan: Okay. Stand by. (Pause) (You've) got TV. (Pause) Okay. What do you want to do to the SEP?

[TV on.]

Video Clip ( 3 min 27 sec 0.9 Mb RealVideo or 34 Mb MPEG )

147:15:19 Parker: Okay, Geno. When you go back to the SEP now - and let's do this first and get it out of the way - you can probably do this anyway while Jack's coming home. When you open the blankets, remember that at the back of the SEP there was a piece of Velcro on the case and a piece of Velcro just inside the rear hinge on the covers, and this is what you sort of peel back when you go to remove the back end there so you can get the DSEA out? You remember that piece of tape there?

147:15:48 Schmitt: Yeah. That came off.

[Gene is dusting the right-side battery covers as per CDR-31. Normally, he and Jack would have taken care of the SCBs before the dusting but, since Jack is out at the ALSEP, Gene is taking care of the tasks that don't require Jack's presence. Fendell pans away.]

147:15:51 Schmitt: That came off.

147:15:52 Parker: Okay. This is on the side away from you as you stand facing it. Right?

147:15:57 Schmitt: Oh, no. That's the side...Go ahead, Gene, I'm sorry.

[Bob probably should have made sure Gene was in position to look at the SEP bag before starting this discussion.]

[The SEP receiver rides on the Rover just behind Jack's seat, protected from sunlight and dust by a thermal bag. The receiver - like the TV camera and the LCRU - has a mirror on its top surface which allows the unit to cool. As indicated in Figure 15-20 from the Mission Report ( 26 Mb PDF ), the top of the thermal bag consists of a pair of flaps held down by strips of Velcro attached to the undersides of the flaps and to the front of the bag. There are also pieces of Velcro designed to hold the covers open; in the drawing, this pair of patches can be seen on either side of the hinge of the closed cover. Finally, there are pieces of Velcro holding the back of the bag closed, one on the metal(?) case of the receiver and one on the inside of the bag. These are not shown in the drawing. At 123:17:10 at the end of the first EVA, Jack noticed that the Velcro pads glued to the front of the bag had de-bonded, allowing the cover to flap open. At the start of EVA-2, Jack suggested taping the cover but no decision was made to do so. Gene has been trying to keep the mirror clean but, even after cleaning, enough dust remains adhered that the SEP temperature is unacceptably high. Houston will have him tape the cover at 164:01:01. Because the LCRU and the TV camera are still working well, one obvious conclusion is that the SEP equipment is too sensitive to heat. One note of interest about this failure is the fact that, on Apollo 16, there was an adhesive failure on a Velcro patch on a padded sample bag, albeit a failure involving a different adhesive. No corrective action was taken because the padded bags were not going to be flown again; however, it does not appear that the failure modes of other adhesives were re-examined.]

147:16:03 Parker: Gene, if you stand facing it, in the back - away from you - there's a strip of Velcro on the case and there's another strip of Velcro on the blanket itself and this is the Velcro you have to tear off or to unhook, as it were, when you come to tear the blankets down to get the DSEA off. Remember that piece?

147:16:25 Cernan: Yeah, but that's on the side away from me. I'm on the LMP's side and that's on the other side.

147:16:29 Parker: Right. That's on the other side of the top. And what we're interested in, number 1, is that piece of Velcro still mated or when you open the blankets to cool it, does that Velcro come open? Over.

147:16:47 Cernan: Well, that's the Velcro that's so full of dust it comes open, Bob.

[Gene is referring to the Velcro which holds the covers open, not to the pieces Bob is referring to that hold the back of the bag closed.]

147:16:52 Cernan: Trying to stay...It's hooked; it'll stay.

147:16:56 Parker: Okay. Well, the feeling...

147:16:57 Cernan: I don't know if you can see that but it's...Well, you can't (because of the) back seat...

147:17:02 Parker: Okay, well, feeling is that...

147:17:03 Cernan: Bob, I swung the covers and they will stay open about 150 degrees. (Pause)

[Fendell finds Gene leaning over the SEP.]

147:17:25 Cernan: Now, if you want the cover open, I can open it and normally it should swing 180 degrees, (that is) parallel with the top of the SEP.

147:17:33 Parker: Okay, but does that Velcro in back stay mated?

147:17:34 Cernan: Well, the Velcro holds (and), the way that we've been opening it, it holds. (Hearing Bob) Yes, it's being mated and probably it holds the covers open 150 degrees!

[Gene is uncharacteristically annoyed.]

147:17:50 Cernan: The Velcro...

147:17:51 Parker: ...happened, the sunlight was getting down in the back there and warming up the back of the SEP. That's apparently not the case. Over.

147:18:02 Cernan: No, that's not the case. The Velcro that came off is the Velcro that keeps the covers closed.

147:18:07 Parker: Okay. We were concerned about both pieces of Velcro since the one had come off.

147:18:14 Cernan: No. The other one is still on and it still holds and the back part of the SEP - where the DSEA is - is in the shade.

[Gene dusts the SEP cover with the dustbrush.]

147:18:35 Cernan: 112 degrees.

147:18:37 Parker: Copy that. And I mark them both off, right?

147:18:43 Cernan: Yes. (Pause) Bob, I just dusted it as clean as it'll get.

Video Clip ( 3 min 18 sec 0.9 Mb RealVideo or 33 Mb MPEG )

147:18:50 Parker: Okay. Thank you. (Long Pause)

[Gene finishes dusting the SEP, then dusts the TCU. Fendell pans away counter-clockwise.]

147:19:47 Parker: Go ahead.

147:19:48 Schmitt: ...I cheated on you.

147:19:50 Parker: I was sure you would. What'd you do?

147:19:53 Schmitt: I just sampled the glass in the bottom of a crater. I documented it by shooting the LM across the crater at infinity and then shooting the crater with stereo at 11 feet and then a cross-Sun pair at 7; and then I sampled it.

147:20:13 Parker: Okay.

[Jack borrowed Gene's camera when he got off the Rover at the LSG at 147:06:40. The "locator" to the LM is AS17-145- 22185. Note that this crater is down in the swale between the LM and the ALSEP. Jack's up-Sun stereopair is 22186 and 22187; and his cross-Sun stereopair is 22188 and 22189. He also shot a cross-Sun stereopair of "afters", which are 22190 and 22191.]

[Schmitt - "There's a little bell ringing in my head that I'd taken Gene's camera and tongs (at 147:06:41) just so that I could sample one of the glass-lined craters. That's probably why I didn't pay any attention to Bob when he told me to leave the camera with Gene."]

147:20:16 Parker: (Punning) I guess now "gnomon is a LM".

[Schmitt - "Throughout training, I had used the pun 'gnomon is not an island', and Bob was one-upping me here."]

147:20:30 Parker: Okay. We'll hope.

147:20:31 Schmitt: You may think about how to preserve it.

147:20:33 Parker: Okay. (Pause)

[Gene goes to dust the left side battery covers.]

147:20:50 Cernan: Get this bag (SCB) off me to start.

147:20:52 Schmitt: Get that bag off you to start with. (Pause) Be careful of that sample there. (Pause)

147:21:03 Cernan: Those are the cleanest battery covers in existence on a Rover right now, I tell you. (Pause)

147:21:09 Cernan: (Noticing that Fendell is tilting the TV down to look) Oh, you don't believe me. Look at that!

147:21:11 Schmitt: What?

147:21:12 Cernan: They don't believe me.

147:21:15 Schmitt: Excuse me. Move forward just a little. And I'll get your bag. Here you go.

147:21:20 Cernan: (Noticing that the TV is still pointed down) Now you're stuck down there, aren't you?

[Fendell tilts the TV up. Jack is beyond Gene, so we don't get to see much of the SCB removal.]

[There is laughter in Houston.]

147:21:38 Cernan: I know it.

[Jack is having trouble removing Gene's SCB.]

147:21:41 Cernan: Yeah, all that stuff is getting...There (garbled).

147:21:43 Schmitt: (Garbled) get your hook (perhaps the Velcro strap that secures the SCB at the bottom)'s back.

147:21:45 Cernan: Yeah, hook my harness back up so we don't forget that.

147:21:50 Schmitt: Velcro's closed. Okay.

[One end of the Velcro strap is sewn on to the bottom of the PLSS. There is a Velcro patch on that end, and a complementary patch of the free end. The free end of the strap can be secured, out of the way, by pressing those two patches together. After finishing, Jack goes to the Rover gate.]

147:21:59 Schmitt: Yep.

147:22:00 Cernan: Greens to purples.

147:22:02 Schmitt: Iridescent. Iridescent sparklies.

Video Clip ( 3 min 33 sec 1.0 Mb RealVideo or 35 Mb MPEG )

147:22:06 Cernan: Okay. I'll come over, and I'll unload your stuff.

[Gene moves toward the front of the Rover. Fendell pans clockwise to follow him.]

147:22:21 Cernan: Yeah, don't...That's all right.

147:22:24 Schmitt: Okay.

147:22:25 Cernan: Hey, Bob; the covers are open on the SEP.

147:22:27 Parker: Roger. Copy that.

147:22:32 Cernan: Oh, why did I do that?

[Gene is doing something at the front of the Rover, then moves away. Fendell continues to pan clockwise.]

147:22:39 Parker: We're still talking about that. (Pause)

147:22:46 Cernan: Wait a minute. Your core cap assembly is empty. (Probably throwing it away) Up and away it goes! (Pause) And that's all closed. Let me check your bag. (Pause) Okay. Now, Bob, you've got to tell us which one of these (SCBs) you want in the SCB (means SRC) and which one you want just taken in because we got our numbers all confused.

[They're not wearing the SCBs called for in the checklist.]

147:23:17 Parker: Okay. Go ahead. What we would like to do here...

147:23:20 Cernan: (To Jack) Got it.

147:23:21 Parker: ...on the close-out, guys. Let me read this to you first of all. In the SRC, we'd like the following stuff along with...Let's see...Stand by. (Pause)

147:23:44 Cernan: (To Jack) Is this (SCB) 9 or 6?

[Fendell passes Jack at his seat, Gene at the gate, and then pans up to Earth.]

[The reference to "volatiles" means that the Backroom is considering the possibility that the Station 4 orange soil is a product of recent volcanism. In essence, they want all of the Station 4 samples in the SRC in case volcanic gases remain adhered. Presumably, the Station 3 drive tubes - which will also go in the SRC, will provide a control. SCB-4 is the one Jack donned at Station 2 and was wearing at Shorty. Because Jack was sampling and Gene was bagging, the Shorty trench samples are in SCB-4.]

147:24:24 Cernan: (To Bob) Yeah. You want...

147:24:25 Schmitt: Okay.

147:24:26 Cernan: ...three plus the long can; that's four cores all together.

147:24:29 Parker: Right. Put those in the SRC...

147:24:30 Cernan: All samples from 4.

147:24:32 Parker: All the samples from SCB-4.

147:24:34 Cernan: Okay. (Pause)

147:24:37 Schmitt: (To Gene) These are 4. You want to get the core tubes in first, though.

147:24:40 Cernan: Yeah. I want to put these in. If you'd give me the...Yeah, I only got two hands. I'll come back by the time you dig them out. (Pause)

147:24:54 Parker: Okay, and then, 17, do you guys remember where the trench samples - the three trench soil samples - which bag (SCB) those were put in? (The one's) from Station 4? Over.

147:25:10 Cernan: Yeah, let's see. I'm the only one who had (sample) bags, so I bagged them and put them in whatever bag Jack had (that is, SCB-4). I think.

147:25:17 Schmitt: Yeah.

[Fendell returns to Jack at his seat. Gene is behind him, out of sight, at the MESA.]

147:25:30 Cernan: Okay, give me those other two cores, if you've got them, Jack.

147:25:33 Schmitt: Okay.

147:25:34 Cernan: Long can. (Long Pause)

147:25:51 Schmitt: The long can. Here's a...Oh. Got it? It's slippery.

147:25:58 Cernan: Yeah, and we need one more core.

Video Clip ( 1 min 57 sec 0.6 Mb RealVideo or 20 Mb MPEG )

147:26:01 Schmitt: One more core.

147:26:03 Cernan: Okay.

147:26:05 Schmitt: (Is) that right, now? Three core tubes and a long can?

147:26:07 Cernan: Yep, got them all.

147:26:09 Parker: And then...Roger that. And then all the samples in SCB-4. We won't bother to try and sort them out, and then beyond that we'll fill them up with samples from SCB-5. Over.

[Jack takes SCB-5 to the MESA.]

147:26:26 Schmitt: Here, hold this. I'll get it.

147:26:27 Cernan: Well, it's on the gate right there, just hanging. I just put it there. (Pause)

147:26:34 Schmitt: (Going to the gate) Four is the one I had on there at Shorty? Or you had on at Shorty?

147:26:41 Cernan: Well, you had it on. I don't know, but they should have that logged. I don't remember who had it on.

147:26:48 Schmitt: Well, now wait a minute. I took the trench. You held the bags.

147:26:51 Cernan: And I put them in you.

147:26:52 Schmitt: You put them on me. Did I have 4 on at Shorty?

147:26:55 Parker: Yes!!

147:26:56 Schmitt: That's what they said.

147:26:57 Parker: That's affirm. That's why we want SCB-4 dumped into the thing (the SRC). But it's a dirty bag, so we just want to dump the samples in.

[Jack goes to his seat. He is wearing Gene's tongs on a yo-yo, which he seems to have been wearing as a contingency, even though he hadn't planned on using it.]

[Cernan - "The yo-yo was about an inch or two high, a rectangular box, and it had a little strap that went under something (usually a hose) and came back around and snapped on itself. I wore mine all the time, so Jack must have been wearing one, too."]

147:27:27 Parker: Okay. And, Jack, it probably would protect the glass a bit better if you put it in the SRC gently with the other rocks there. Particularly if you don't fill the SRC too full. But, again, we'll be putting SCB (5) samples in there to more or less flesh it out if there's not too many SCB-4 samples.

[Jack pours samples out of an SCB into his footpan. He then grabs the tongs and picks up an unbagged rock that he may have just dropped. He puts the rock in an unseen SCB on his seat.]

147:27:51 Schmitt: Leave a space for a sample, I guess, Gene.

147:27:56 Cernan: Well, you'd better give it to me. There's not much space. It's going fast.

147:28:01 Schmitt: You're really...Well, can you leave one...

147:28:06 Cernan: Where is the sample?

147:28:08 Schmitt: Well, it's over here.

147:28:09 Cernan: I'll get it.

147:28:11 Schmitt: No, I'll bring it to you. I just...(Pause)

[Jack takes the glass sample to the MESA.]

147:28:20 Cernan: Just set it in there. (Pause) I'll set it. I'll be delicate with it. Take this bag back.

147:28:31 Schmitt: Okay. It's in the right-hand back corner of the SRC.

147:28:35 Parker: Okay. Copy that.

[Schmitt - "I must have known - and this changes what I've said before about the observation of glass in craters on other missions - because I talked to the people doing remnant magnetism and asked them it they didn't want an oriented sample of glass in order to see if there had been any modern magnetic fields. And I don't remember their having any enthusiasm for it; but, in my mind, that was a reasonably important sample to get. And that's probably why I was manipulating things to get a sample and all the documentary photographs and why I had some concern over protecting it."]

147:28:40 Cernan: I'll get some small ones and some big ones, too.

[Jack takes SCB-4 to the Rover. Fendell stays with Gene at the MESA.]

147:28:44 Cernan: No. (Pause) Hey, we got some big rock samples.

147:28:54 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. SCB-6 and SC...Wait a minute. What's in (SCB) 6?

147:29:00 Parker: Six? Probably nothing. But tell us...

147:29:02 Schmitt: Well, there's samples in 6.

[Gene is taking sample bags out of the SCB and is putting them in the SRC, the rock box.]

147:29:06 Schmitt: This is what I sampled at...

147:29:10 Parker: At Station 3, maybe.

147:29:12 Schmitt: Six has the samples from...(Hearing Bob) Yes.

147:29:18 Parker: Okay. Let's take up SCB-8...

147:29:20 Cernan: We have more samples today than Carter...

[Schmitt - "There was a brand of pills called Carter's Little Liver Pills, and there was an expression 'You've got more of such-and-such than Carter has pills.'"]

147:29:33 Schmitt: Well, one reason not to take 6 is I don't know if I can get it off (the Rover)!

[Gene discards the SRC seal protector.]

[Schmitt - "Bob thought he'd seen Gene throw SCB-4 to his left, not having noticed that I'd taken SCB-4 back to the Rover."]

147:29:53 Parker: Okay. How about SCB-5? Is that only partially emptied, or is it totally emptied?

147:30:01 Cernan: No, it's about half full, Bob.

147:30:03 Parker: Okay. We'll take that up with us.

[Jack, who has been at the gate, goes to his seat carrying an SCB.]

147:30:17 Parker: Okay. Copy that.

147:30:19 Schmitt: Let's take it up.

147:30:20 Parker: Roger. On that.

Video Clip ( 3 min 30 sec 0.9 Mb RealVideo or 35 Mb MPEG )

147:30:26 Schmitt: It's got Rover samples in it.

147:30:28 Parker: Okay.

147:30:31 Schmitt: But I can't get them all. They won't all be in there.

147:30:34 Parker: Okay; eight.

147:30:37 Cernan: (Closing the SRC) Okay. Bob, the seal (on the box) was clean. It was clear, and I got your four cores...(correcting himself) three cores, plus a long can. I got Jack's glass. I got SCB-4 and a couple of samples out of SCB-5.

147:30:55 Parker: Copy that. Sounds great.

[Jack now picks up samples from his footpan and puts them in SCB-6.]

147:31:06 Parker: That's affirm.

147:31:08 Cernan: "Core cap dispenser." Okay, you're "clean" (and the) cosmic ray is done.

[During the EVA-1 Rover preps (checklist page LMP-12), Jack had the option of deploying the cosmic ray experiment if he had time - and did so at 118:34:41. For the EVA-2 close-out, Gene's checklist page CDR-30 indicates cosmic ray deployment unless Jack had already done it.]

147:31:16 Schmitt: Bring it over here, and I'll put it into 6. Six is a little more than half full.

147:31:25 Cernan: Well, this is a little less than half full. Okay.

147:31:27 Cernan: That ought to make one full bag. And these are big rocks so they'll come out easy. Where's that big, big rock we got? That's in one of those bags, too. Picked up a big rock.

[Gene may be referring to the large sample collected at Station 5 at 146:42.]

147:31:39 Cernan: Here let me see if I can't dump it. (Pause)

[Gene, at the Rover, dumps the contents of SCB-5 into SCB-6.]

147:31:53 Schmitt: Perfect. (Pause)

147:31:59 Cernan: (Going to the gate) I want to see if I can't dust (the bag latches on the gate)...Did you lock this one over here?...No.

147:32:02 Schmitt: Hey, don't lock those...

147:32:04 Cernan: No, I'm going to see if I can dust them and make them work easier.

147:32:06 Schmitt: Boy, I'll tell you...I really had to pull. I pulled harder than I like to in a pressure suit.

[Cernan - "The latches were starting to stick, so I was just going to dust them to see if that would help. Jack's comment, it seems to me, was that, in a pressure suit, you can sometimes apply more force than you would normally intend to. You're not outfitted to be a brain surgeon with tweezers. So the tendency to grab hold of something and pull harder than you might want to was a real danger; and what Jack was saying was that he didn't want to pull the latches off."]

[Schmitt - "You're putting pressure on the suit bladder whenever you open something, and you want to be careful. I think this is what scared a lot of us about what Scott and Irwin were doing on 15 when they were trying to get the deep core out. They got away with it; except Scott wrenched his shoulder. He's a moose anyway, but that shows you how much force they were putting on it."]

[Cernan - "Until this very moment, reading Jack's comment, it never crossed my mind that you could hurt the suit. I never had any concern about it. I had experience with suits going back to my Gemini IX EVA and the only problem was that you didn't have the feel. You could squeeze too hard or pull too quickly because you didn't have the feel - the sensitivity - in your arms and hands of whatever you were holding on to. But as far as heavy movements, like trying to get core samples out of the ground, and putting stress on the bladder, I'd never heard of that."]

147:32:15 Schmitt: (Closing SCB-6) Okay, Bob. SCB-8 and 6 are going up.

147:32:20 Parker: Okay, and I understand 5 will be...

147:32:21 Schmitt: Or will go up.

147:32:22 Parker: ...on the gate.

147:32:26 Cernan: Yes, sir, Bob. It'll be there.

147:32:29 Schmitt: (Stowing the empty SCB) And 7 under the LMP's seat.

147:32:31 Cernan: 4 and 5 will be on the gate. You know, here's a problem for you tonight. You got any way of freeing up these gate hinges that lock the bags on? I'm dusting them, but they're not going to lock, any of them. They're frozen tight, just about.

147:32:49 Parker: Okay. Copy that. We'll talk about it.

[Jack takes SCBs 6 and 8 to the ladder so that he can put them on the LM footpad. One of them is partially open. As he pulls the SCBs out of his Rover footpan, he turns to his right so that he doesn't have to lift the bags very high.]

[Schmitt - "I can't tell you why I was going sideways here, unless it was just the way I got started. A little overshoot on my rotation."]

[Cernan - "When I was working around the MESA, there were a lot of times when I wanted, for example, to move five feet to the left, that I did not turn left and start walking straight on. I'd just slither sideways. Those were not planned maneuvers. You just do what that computer up in your head tells you to do that's most productive, safe, responsive way to make a move."]

147:32:57 Parker: Okay. We'll give them something to work on overnight.

[Houston never had any suggestions about the locks.]

147:33:10 Schmitt: Man those are heavy bags.

147:33:11 Parker: Jack, have you got the top of the bag closed?

147:33:12 Cernan: (Garbled) bags.

147:33:17 Schmitt: (Returning to the Rover) Yeah, what do you need?

147:33:19 Parker: Okay. No. John (Young) thought maybe they were still open. He was worried.

[Cernan - "Bob got out of this one by saying "John thought that they might still be open"; and Jack came back very nicely. If Bob had said "Jack, I thought maybe you had left them open", I guarantee you that Jack would have come back with some remark to Bob. That's just the way it went. Those guys could go after each other in a very sarcastic manner sometimes."]

147:33:28 Cernan: (Garbled under Bob)

147:33:28 Parker: Okay, and we got no FSRs (football-sized rocks) underneath the seat. We understand. Roger.

147:33:35 Schmitt: No. I just checked and they're all in the bags. And the Rover sample bag is empty.

[Jack stows the maps under his seat.]

147:33:48 Parker: Copy that.

147:33:50 Schmitt: Not nothing left.

[Jack takes the Rover sample bag (an SCB) from the hook on the accessory staff where it normally hangs and shows his TV audience just how empty it is.]

147:33:58 Parker: Okay,...

147:33:59 Cernan: ...they're not going to work. I can't free them up...

147:34:02 Parker: ...we'll talk about it tonight...

147:34:05 Schmitt: We'll use the seat.

[That is, they can put samples under the seats.]

147:34:07 Cernan: Yeah, we can probably use the seat. We've got a little more room than we had. Okay. Let me get something else done.

147:34:14 Schmitt: (Taking a packet of sample bags from under his seat) I wonder if I ought to take a sample bag holder up there to see if I can fix that. To see if it fixes.

[Jack takes the sample bags out of the holder.]

147:34:22 Schmitt: Probably ought to, huh?

[Jack opens his shin pocket, puts bag holder in the pocket, and closes the pocket cover.]

[Jack puts the sample bags under his seat.]

147:35:00 Cernan: Well, tell him that's going to be my "bring home" present to him: a picture of his fender.

[Cernan - "I brought the whole fender home!"]

[The replacement fender is on display at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Ron Creel has provided a summary ( 1.3 Mb PDF ) of the fender extension losses that occurred on all three Rover missions.]

[Jack closes the seat.]

[He is on checklist page LMP-29.]

147:35:40 Parker: Okay. Copy that.

147:35:42 Schmitt: (Going to the MESA, looking at LMP-30) Cosmic ray's deployed! (Pause)

[As is discussed at 118:35:03, deployment of the cosmic ray could have come then or now. Having had a spare moment after the flag deployment, Jack set out the cosmic ray experiment at that point in EVA-1.]

147:35:53 Parker: How about on the Moon?

147:35:56 Schmitt: (Carrying the ETB to the Rover) Bum, bum, bum, baa.

147:35:58 Cernan: Nothing's in the big bag, is it?

147:36:00 Schmitt: (Responding to Bob) I just can't compete with you astronomers.

[Bob Parker was a member of the Astronomy Department faculty at the University of Wisconsin before joining the astronaut corps.]

147:36:04 Cernan: Nothing's in the bag, is it? Big bag?

147:36:07 Schmitt: Nothing's in the big bag.

147:36:09 Cernan: Okay.

147:36:11 Schmitt: Unless there's one rock in there that disappeared yesterday. I don't know what happened to it. (Pause)

[Jack is referring to a rock he collected east of the LM during the Rover preps at 118:31:10. Shortly thereafter, he put it in the big bag but then, at 123:40:07 during the EVa-1 close-out, couldn't find it.]

[Gene returns to the Rover.]

[Gene called out the polarization filter when he checked under his seat at 141:20:35 to make sure (as per checklist) that Jack had transferred the filter from the ETB during the Rover preps. They were to have taken pictures at Shorty with the filter on Jack's camera but the activity was dropped without remark because of the discovery of the orange soil.]

147:36:30 Schmitt: Put those (unused sample bags) under that seat, please.

147:36:33 Cernan: (At Schmitt's seat) Yeah, there's only one left.

147:36:35 Schmitt: One? No, there's three or four...

147:36:36 Cernan: There's three left.

147:36:37 Schmitt: Just put them under there. Who knows, we may need them at the rate we're going.

147:36:40 Parker: Okay. And, Jack, while you're unloading there,...

147:36:42 Cernan: (Garbled) pull those (Rover circuit) breakers.

[This item is on CDR-31. The fact that they are getting everything done - albeit in almost random order - is a testament to this crew's thoroughness and to their training. They know what needs to be done and why and know how to use the checklist as an effective tool. On Apollo 12, Pete Conrad had some occasional difficulties because he relied too much on his memory and, at the other extreme, one can imagine people using a checklist as a crutch, as a means of covering up inadequate preparation. Here, Cernan and Schmitt are using the checklists - and Houston - to help them make sure that everything gets done, but aren't getting flustered or confused because they are having to do things out of order.]

147:36:56 Schmitt: Okay. I'll give it a try. Why, are we ahead of time?

Video Clip ( 2 min 35 sec 0.7 Mb RealVideo or 26 Mb MPEG )

147:37:03 Parker: No, we're working right on time.

147:37:08 Schmitt: Okay.

147:37:09 Cernan: Why don't you give it to me while you're packing the ETB, Jack; I'll do it.

147:37:12 Schmitt: Am I behind you, now (in the checklist)?

147:37:14 Cernan: Yeah, I'm going to start inventorying the Rover and pulling the breakers so...(Pause)

[Gene gets the 500-mm camera. Jack is on LMP-30 and Gene is waiting to finish the last few items on CDR-31.]

147:37:33 Parker: Totally. (Pause)

[Gene raises the 500-mm camera to his face plate so that he can use the boresight mounted on the lens barrel as he photographs the South Massif. He takes a left-to-right sequence consisting of AS17-144- 22080 to 22093 and a right-to-left sequence consisting of AS17-144- 22094 to 22104.]

[ Frame 22090 is a good picture of the most notable outcrop.]

[Cernan - "The boresight was just like a little magnifying glass and you could see rainbow-rings inside of it as you looked through it."]

147:37:56 Parker: Copy that.

147:37:58 Schmitt: Mag Kilo.

147:37:59 Parker: Copy.

147:38:00 Schmitt: Mag Bravo. (Pause) Mag Golf. (Pause) Mag India.

147:38:21 Parker: Copy all those. And tell Gene that we can confirm that his lens cover's off.

[As can be seen in the TV, the lens cap is hanging free, attached to the barrel of the lens with a strap. After finishing a sequence of South Massif photos, Gene takes a portrait of the North Massif, taking three sequences of the summit area and finishing up with a sequence across the face of the mountain, starting to the left of the large boulder track. The images are AS17-144- 22105 to 22132.]

[Frame 22129 shows the boulder track.]

147:38:32 Schmitt: Okay. (To Gene) They confirm that your lens cover's off.

[Needless to say, Gene can hear Bob perfectly well. The humor here is exceedingly dry.]

147:38:38 Parker: Copy that.

147:38:43 Schmitt: Lens brushes. (Pause)

147:38:49 Cernan: (Facing east) I hope this is the right setting. It is.

147:38:53 Schmitt: (Laughs) Hey, try f/5.6 directly down-Sun...(correcting himself) or, up-Sun, at (the) Sculptured Hills there in the distance. (Pause) See where I mean?

147:39:14 Cernan: Yeah, I'll get it.

[Schmitt - "I may have been trying to get Gene to take an over-exposed picture into the shadowed areas on the Sculptured Hills."]

147:39:27 Parker: Yeah. I think we've got enough of those now, Gene.

Video Clip ( 2 min 38 sec 0.7 Mb RealVideo or 26 Mb MPEG )

147:39:32 Parker: (To Jack) You got the maps?

147:39:35 Schmitt: Yep, got them.

147:39:42 Cernan: Some of these (photos) won't overlap, Bob, because I'm hurrying.

147:39:45 Schmitt: Don't smear them.

[Many of the Apollo 16 500-mm pictures were badly smeared.]

[Gene finishes with the 500 and puts the lens cap back on.]

147:40:00 Parker: Okay. You got the maps in there, too, Jack?

147:40:02 Cernan: Frame count, Bob, is...

147:40:05 Schmitt: (Answering Bob) Yes.

147:40:07 Cernan: Frame count is 152 on the 500.

147:40:09 Parker: Copy that.

147:40:13 Schmitt: (Laughing) (To Gene) Let go of it (the 500). There.

147:40:16 Cernan: Okay.

147:40:17 Schmitt: Dynamic. Did you cycle it twice?

147:40:19 Cernan: No; cycle it twice.

[Jack will expose two more frames before removing the film magazine and inserting the dark slide.]

147:40:23 Cernan: (To Jack) Okay. I guess I'll go in and pull some Rover breakers.

147:40:26 Parker: Okay. And...Roger. Copy that.

147:40:33 Cernan: (Leaning inboard over the Rover) Oh, boy. Pulling breakers is not going to be much fun.

[Cernan - "Whether you're working in a pressurized suit or working in shirtsleeves, if I had to pick between zero gravity, one-sixth gravity, or full Earth gravity, in every case I'd pick one-sixth. Sometimes you'd have trouble getting as much leverage as you can on Earth; but, otherwise, one-sixth gravity makes things easier. The pressure suit, on the other hand, is a big inhibitant, particularly in restricting your dexterity. You can make the big movement and turn around and get from here to there with a step or a hop. But the things that get to you and the things that get frustrating are the little things that you can't do with you're fingers, things that you can't do with your hands. In a pressure suit, particularly from your elbows on down, you're a big, clumsy ox. You had the blue RTV on the fingers of the glove and, to pull the breakers, you had to force your fingers in there to get some fingertip dexterity and control through those gloves. It was just a very difficult thing to do. These were little, round, aircraft-type breakers rather than household breakers. The top of the breaker was no bigger across than the top of a pen - a half centimeter across. It was a little cylindrical breaker with a lip on it. We built them with a little more room so that you could grab onto them but, when they were pushed in they were only about a centimeter tall. They had to be set pretty tight, and it was hard to get a grip. And, besides, our hands were tired by this time. "]

[Cernan - "These were surgical scissors with the rounded point, and they were the most common instrument in spaceflight."]

147:40:55 Schmitt: Mag Romeo.

[This is the magazine off the 500-mm camera, which Jack is now putting in the ETB.]

147:41:02 Schmitt: (Laughing) You ask me that one more time Parker, and I'm going to get mad at ya.

147:41:12 Cernan: Oh, I got to...Whew! What have you got over there? You got the scissors handy?

147:41:19 Schmitt: Yeah, you want them?

147:41:21 Cernan: I got three of four breakers. Let me try this other one one more time. (Pause) Okay. I got it - with the old fingers.

147:41:36 Parker: Okay. Copy that. All four of them out, Gene.

147:41:38 Cernan: Okay; (circuit breakers) Alpha, Bravo... (Responding to Bob) Yes, sir. Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta are Open. I'll get the LCRU power.

147:41:46 Parker: Okay. And, Gene, when you leave the (TV) camera, a reminder to face it away from the Sun and tilt it down.

[Houston wants to minimize the area exposed to the Sun and get maximum cooling through the rest period. Gene is on CDR-31.]

[Gene points the TV camera in a generally westward direction and down toward the Rover seats.]

[TV off.]

147:42:31 Parker: Roger. Loud and clear. (Pause)

147:42:38 Schmitt: I read you, Gene.

147:42:39 Cernan: Yeah. See, I just turned LCRU power off; they got to go through the LM.

147:42:43 Parker: That's right.

147:42:46 Cernan: Bob, do you read?

147:42:47 Parker: Loud and clear. (Pause)

147:42:54 Schmitt: Is this gravimeter working?

147:42:55 Cernan: No, it's not. I didn't push it yet. Hello, Houston, come on. Otherwise, I'll turn this power back on.

147:43:02 Parker: Read you loud and clear, Gene. Do you read Houston?

147:43:05 Cernan: Well, let me turn it on and talk to them.

[Cernan - "From the tone of voice, you can hear that we were pretty tired. 'God damn it, let's get on with the show and stop screwing around.' You can hear the fatigue in our voices."]

147:43:13 Cernan: Well, I just turned the LCRU back on. Are you reading us through the LM, now?

147:43:16 Parker: Yeah, we came through the LM that time.

147:43:21 Cernan: Okay. I'm turning it off and the camera is pointed down and it's pointed effectively to the west. Down-Sun.

147:43:27 Parker: Okay. Copy that. Very good. Thank you.

147:43:29 Cernan: LCRU Power's going Off. (Pause) Okay, LCRU Power is Off. (Reading) Battery covers. Open battery covers. They're all dusted already.

[Don McMillan has provided an animation ( 0.8 Mb ) of the battery covers on his Virtual Rover being opened.]

147:43:49 Parker: Copy that. (Pause) 17, you read Houston?

147:44:04 Cernan: Uh-oh, I got to work on one battery. (Pause)

147:44:15 Parker: 17, you read Houston? (No answer; pause) 17, you read Houston? Over. (Pause)

147:44:34 Schmitt: Hey, Bob?

147:44:35 Parker: Roger, 17. Do you read?

147:44:40 Schmitt: Still there? (Pause)

147:44:46 Cernan: Well, they're supposed to be going through the LM.

147:44:47 Parker: 17, do you read Houston? (No answer)

147:44:49 Schmitt: Got something fouled up. (Pause) Maybe we got the switches wrong, or something, up there (in the LM cabin.) Don't think so, though.

147:44:58 Cernan: No.

147:45:00 Schmitt: They talked to us first.

147:45:03 Cernan: Let me give them a call. (Pause)

147:45:08 Parker: 17, do you read Houston? Over.

147:45:09 Cernan: Bob, you want to try again. We're on the LCRU! (Hearing Bob) Yeah, we read you, but I'm on the LCRU again. We're not reading you through the LM!

147:45:15 Parker: Yeah, I don't understand that. Stand by. (Brief pause) Press on with the rest of the close-out.

147:45:21 Cernan: Well, I'll leave you on the LCRU, here. (Responding to Bob) Yeah, we're pressing on. Okay. For the first time, I've got to dust the center battery cover. All the others are good.

147:45:31 Parker: Okay. Roger, 17. Do you read Houston now?

147:45:34 Cernan: Well, yeah, but I'm on the LCRU. I don't know.

147:45:39 Parker: No, now they say we're going back to the LM again. Press on with the close-out.

[TV on.]

147:45:46 Cernan: Okay, Bob. I'm going to go turn the LCRU power Off. And for the first time, I've got to dust the center radiator on the batteries.

147:45:55 Parker: Okay. Copy that.

147:45:56 Cernan: Up until this time, they've all been real clean.

147:46:01 Parker: Copy that.

147:46:05 Cernan: Okay. Give me a short count. And in the interim I'm going to turn the LCRU Power, Off.

147:46:09 Parker: Okay. Roger. 1-2-3, 3-2-1.

[TV off.]

147:46:17 Cernan: Okay. We've got you.

147:46:18 Parker: Okay; very good.

147:46:19 Cernan: Yeah. We got you, Bob.

147:46:20 Parker: Okay. We've got about two-zero (20) minutes before we have to be inside the LM there, fellows. Let's hustle on.

147:46:29 Schmitt: (Joking) Oh, I think we'll just sort of take it easy, Bob. (Pause) Okay. The MESA's tidied.

147:46:37 Parker: Thank you.

147:46:38 Schmitt: I've got the (PLSS LiOH) canisters; pins are green.

147:46:41 Parker: Copy that.

147:46:42 Schmitt: The LM (lithium hydroxide) canister's in the pocket (on the EVA pallet).

147:46:44 Parker: Very good.

147:46:53 Schmitt: And, let's see. (Looking at the bottom of LMP-30) I think I'm ready to dust. Could I help you?

147:46:57 Cernan: No, I'm leaving here right now.

147:46:59 Parker: Okay. And, Gene, as you go by, how about giving us the SEP temperature readings.

147:46:59 Schmitt: (Garbled) I got to take these bags up.

147:47:00 Cernan: (Hearing Bob) Oh, me. I will. (Long Pause)

147:47:48 Parker: 17, Houston. It's awfully quiet.

147:47:55 Cernan: Okay, Bob. Here's your reading. About one hundred and...About 108 to (1)10 degrees.

147:48:10 Parker: Okay. Copy that. (Pause) Okay. We'll leave it there, as is, overnight. Thank you.

147:48:18 Cernan: And I'll give her one good little smack with the brush. And it's as clean as it'll ever come.

147:48:24 Parker: Okay. Thank you.

147:48:31 Cernan: Jack, you might just as well go cold water. There's no more use for it now, if you're warm.

147:48:35 Schmitt: No, I'm not warm I'm just... Want to hand me that other SCB there? (Pause)

147:48:44 Cernan: Oh, man!

[They both laugh. Apparently, Jack has decided to take one or more of the SCBs up to the porch.]

147:48:50 Schmitt: You wonder why it's hard to get up the ladder.

[It's hard to get up the ladder because he's carrying a heavy SCB.]

147:48:55 Schmitt: (To himself) What do I want these tongs on for?

147:48:57 Cernan: Give them to me. I'll take them down.

147:49:00 Schmitt: Just noticed them.

147:49:02 Cernan: Don't want them (up to the cabin). Okay.

147:49:05 Schmitt: Thank you.

147:49:06 Cernan: Don't take it by the cover. The (SCB) cover's going to come open. Take it by this.

147:49:10 Schmitt: Wait a minute.

147:49:11 Cernan: Got it?

147:49:12 Schmitt: I got it.

147:49:13 Cernan: Okay. (Pause) Probably got tongs on for the same reason I've got them on. (Long Pause)

[Schmitt - "What would explain the two sets of tongs is that I had Gene's from when he let me off at the ALSEP and, sometime during the close-out, he took the others off the gate for some purpose. And it could be he just did it to have them in case he dropped something."]

147:50:06 Cernan: Yes, sir, Bob. Just cleaning up the Rover. Getting our tongs out of the way (and back on the gate).

147:50:10 Parker: Okay.

147:50:12 Cernan: And for your information, at this heading (of 017), the westernmost battery cover, like I talked about yesterday, is just starting to cover the radiators.

[The Sun moves very slowly in the lunar sky, and shadows move only about 12 degrees in 24 hours.]

147:50:36 Cernan: Oh, hum-de-dum-de-dum! You know, I think it's another good day's work.

147:50:40 Schmitt: Uh-huh.

147:50:41 Cernan: Okay. I dusted all that.

147:50:45 Schmitt: I just knocked as hard as I could, on my feet, several times.

147:50:52 Cernan: What you're going to say is you want me to brush you, huh? Let me keep this (gravimeter) out of the way so it doesn't get dusty.

147:50:57 Schmitt: Okay. (Pause)

147:51:09 Cernan: Wonder if our bouncing around that gravimeter is going to disturb it like this.

[At 147:59:32, Gene will give Bob a gravimeter reading. On every other occasion, Gene gave Bob a mark when he started the measurement, but not this time. The preceding statement suggests that, at this point, he has already punched the Grav button.]

147:51:14 Cernan: Got to do...Well...

147:51:15 Schmitt: Want me down (off the ladder)?

147:51:16 Cernan: You got to do me first.

147:51:17 Schmitt: Yeah. (Jumping down the ladder) Plink.

147:51:21 Cernan: You're not nearly as dusty as you were yesterday; you're just dirty, that's all.

147:51:24 Schmitt: Well.

147:51:25 Cernan: I think I can get everything off my shoes by banging, if you'll just get my arms. I didn't really fall in much today, except maybe my left arm. But...

147:51:34 Schmitt: I tell you, (if) we saw some of the things I think we saw today, we both fell in. (Laughs)

[Schmitt - "This is a play on words. I meant that finding the orange soil was a lucky break."]

147:51:41 Schmitt: What? I hurt you?

147:51:43 Cernan: Yeah, you're hitting.

147:51:45 Schmitt: Well, you're right. Sorry. (Laughing) I don't have much control.

[Jack is trying to brush Gene because, because of the stiffness of the suit and his general tiredness, what he is actually doing is hitting Gene.]

147:51:55 Schmitt: That's dirty. Under there. (Pause) I'm glad they can't see this. (Pause)

[Schmitt - "I was referring to the 'intimate' nature of this part of the dusting operation."]

147:52:18 Schmitt: What did we deserve to do...(correcting himself) do to deserve being out here, huh? (Pause) Okay. That's not very good. Let me get some (of the dust on) your PLSS, here. Keep...Go forward just a little.

147:52:37 Cernan: This way?

147:52:38 Schmitt: There you go. (I) think your sharp (Rover) turns are...

[Schmitt - "I suspect that what I started to say was that he'd been throwing dust on our suits when he made sharp turns."]

147:52:47 Schmitt: (Punning) One might say it's a "young" fender, (because we) just put it on.

147:52:56 Cernan: Do we need...Do we really need those clamps?

147:52:59 Schmitt: No.

[Gene is referring to the lamps clamps from the LM cabin that they used to fasten the new fender to the Rover. He is wondering if he'll need to take one or both up to the cabin after EVA-3.]

147:53:07 Schmitt: We don't...Well...

147:53:08 Cernan: I might bring one back (in the LM, just in case).

147:53:09 Schmitt: Yeah. We ought to leave one in tribute. To Dr. Young. (Pause)

147:53:24 Cernan: Oh, that orange soil was something.

147:53:27 Schmitt: Huh?

147:53:28 Cernan: And the way it went radially down that crater. (Pause) Let me turn, and then take another look, and then I'll...Then you get up there.

147:53:35 Schmitt: You got quite a bit (of dust) around your hoses here.

147:53:38 Cernan: My hoses?

147:53:39 Schmitt: Okay, and I don't know what I can do about it, Geno.

147:53:41 Cernan: Oh, just give it a swat (garbled) front, too.

147:53:42 Schmitt: Well, I got it the best I could. Let me get the top of your LCRU there.

[Jack means Gene's RCU.]

147:53:50 Schmitt: (Correcting himself) Or, RCU.

147:53:51 Cernan: Yeah, mine's good. Okay. Let me get to your front.

147:53:55 Schmitt: No, I didn't get your other arm here.

147:53:56 Cernan: Oh, okay.

147:53:58 Schmitt: I don't know that I can.

147:53:59 Cernan: It's the inside arm. I don't have anything on it.

[That is, Gene's right arm which, being inboard on the Rover, doesn't get sprayed with as much dust.]

147:54:04 Cernan: When you fall out, you fall out on your other arm.

[Gene is referring to his fall at the end of the Scarp Gravimeter stop as he tried to mount the Rover.]

147:54:09 Cernan: Okay. (Pause)

147:54:13 Schmitt: Don't know what I'm going to do about it. (Pause) I think we're just going to have to make do.

[Cernan - "Dusting was a major process. By now, we've already spent 5 minutes dusting."]

147:54:32 Schmitt: I don't know...I.

147:54:34 Cernan: Did I just turn your comm? Do you still hear me?

147:54:37 Schmitt: Yeah. I've just been intending to mention that (rock) several times. Anybody that lands on a rock ought to have their head examined. Put their ladder (strut right on a rock)...

147:54:47 Cernan: Boy, where have you been again today?

147:54:48 Schmitt: Oh, I played some games there around Station 3. (Pause) I'm sorry.

[Jack fell several times at Station 3, now known as Ballet Crater because of his performance.]

147:54:57 Schmitt: Wasn't intentional.

147:54:58 Cernan: Whoo.

147:54:59 Schmitt: But (a) lot of your turns...

147:55:01 Cernan: Hold your arm up. Hold your arm up.

147:55:02 Schmitt: Lot of your turns threw dust...

147:55:06 Cernan: Yeah, I noticed that. (Chuckles)

147:55:08 Schmitt: ...on me.

147:55:09 Cernan: God dang that rock! If I was strong enough, I'd move it. Hey, I am strong enough. That's one we ought to bring home!

147:55:17 Schmitt: Well, if we can't fill up the LM with anything else.

147:55:20 Cernan: That's about the size of the SRC. Stand up on the pad. (Pause) Oh, shoot! First time that's happened.

[Cernan - " (Laughing) I just read this and said to myself, 'Now what's the worst thing that could happen.' It's dropping the brush in the dust. So I'm sure that that's what happened. It's just like with the hammer. You've got to hold on tight. And when you brushed, you had to brush hard. Your hands are tired, so you drop it. I'm positive I dropped the dustbrush."]

[Jack is offering himself for Gene to hold onto as he bends to retrieve the brush.]

[Schmitt - "I can remember that, by the time I finished trying to dust Gene, that was it for my hands. My fingers and forearms were so fatigued that it was really hard to do anything useful in the dusting operation, because you just couldn't stroke without losing your grip on the brush. There was some pain under your nails because they had lifted off the quick, but mainly you were just fatigued and holding that brush was just the last straw. Gene didn't talk about it as much as I did; but sometimes, in listening to this, you get the impression that his hands were just as sore. That's probably why Gene dropped the brush. And the fatigue was the reason why I switched to just banging on his suit with the brush: it was easier hitting him than trying to brush. And that's when he complained. I can't believe that he felt it; but, apparently, he did."]

[NASA photo S72-56081 shows the crew preparing to cut a cake aboard the recovery carrier, Ticonderoga. Note the blood under the nails of Jack's middle and ring fingers.]

147:56:10 Schmitt: I think it is.

147:56:12 Cernan: No, I mean you got a couple abrasions right on through the...

147:56:14 Schmitt: So do you. I wasn't going to mention them (and risk alarming anybody in Houston).

147:56:17 Cernan: Well, these are only a pin-hole thick, but...(Pause)

147:56:27 Schmitt: All I can say is it's better than walking.

[Among its many advantages, the Rover delivers two relatively rested astronauts to each of the geology station. The only fatigue that the Rover ride didn't help with very much was the forearm and finger fatigue, particularly for Jack when he had to carry one of the charges.]

147:56:51 Parker: Okay. And, 17, Houston. How's the dusting coming?

147:56:53 Schmitt: Man, you've had your day of dusting, haven't you?

147:56:57 Cernan: (Answering Bob ) Well, we're almost there. I'm going to send the LMP in in about a minute.

147:57:04 Parker: Okay. We're getting to a point where we need...

147:57:06 Cernan: Oh, I tell you, I've spent more hours on the dustbrush ...

147:57:07 Parker: ...where we need to be inside in less than 10 minutes, with the thing (the hatch) closed up.

147:57:11 Cernan: Yes, sir. We're on our way, Bob.

[Cernan - "This didn't mean that lightning was going to strike in ten minutes. If there was something to do and I had to stay out there ten or fifteen minutes longer, I still would have been very comfortable. I knew our margins were very, very conservative and I never had a concern about running out of consumables or having to scramble to get in. It wasn't like the margins we had for fuel to land the LM which you could eat up very quickly. Sometimes we were pushed up against Houston's limits on consumables but, in reality, it was never even close."]

147:57:21 Schmitt: Okay.

[They've spent 6 1/2 minutes dusting, and will still take a lot of dust into the cabin.]

[Bob is referring to the antennas on the top of the OPSs which need to be put in the stow position before they crawl through the hatch. On Apollo 15, Scott and Irwin forgot to stow Irwin's (PLSS/OPS) antenna, which then broke off.]

[This is the EVA pallet which contains replacement PLSS batteries and LiOH canisters, and food. Jack is now at the top of LMP-32.]

147:57:29 Schmitt: How did you think of that?

147:57:30 Parker: John (Young) suggested it.

147:57:36 Schmitt: John who? (Laughs)

147:57:38 Cernan: He strikes again. (To Jack) You'd (have) broke yours off sure, because I wouldn't have seen it as you went up (pause) unless I took inventory with my book, which I'll do here in a minute. (Consulting checklist page CDR-31) Open battery covers, taken care of; dusted LCRU; blankets open 100 percent. They've been open 100 percent all day.

147:58:01 Schmitt: Okay.

147:58:06 Cernan: If I can just get up here.

147:58:07 Schmitt: Oh, shoot. I forgot a snap up there (on the antenna tie-down).

147:58:10 Cernan: Now, let's make sure we got all of those. I don't want to get hung up on anything.

147:58:12 Schmitt: Yeah. I mean I forgot to put the antenna under the snap...under the other thing. (Pause)

147:58:30 Cernan: Wait a minute, get the snap. (Pause) Okay. (Did you) get it? (Long Pause)

147:59:00 Schmitt: Okay. You're set.

147:59:03 Cernan: Okay. Go on up, Jack, and I'm going to read the gravimeter.

147:59:06 Schmitt: I need that pallet before I go.

147:59:10 Cernan: Okay.

147:59:12 Parker: Okay, and, Gene, we don't think you've punched the Grav reading yet.

147:59:19 Cernan: Yes, I did, Bob. I'm going to read it for you in a minute.

147:59:22 Parker: Okay.

147:59:24 Schmitt: Okay. (Pause)

MP3 Audio Clip ( 12 min 30 sec )

147:59:32 Cernan: The reading is 670, 023, 501; that's 670, 023, 501.

[This measurement is listed in the Apollo 17 Preliminary Science report, albeit without a starting time. Because the experimenters took this to be a valid measurement, we can conclude that Gene pushed the Grav button without giving Bob a mark. At 147:42:54 Gene noted that he hadn't started the gravimeter measurement and, between then and now, there is only one statement (at 147:51:09) which can be interpreted to indicate that a measurement had been initiated.]

147:59:52 Cernan: It's dusted already; I took care of that. And I'm in Standby.

147:59:57 Parker: Okay. Copy that.

147:59:59 Cernan: Okay. Final check. (Reviewing CDR-31) LRV. Blankets open 100; battery covers, open; samples off. We checked under both seats. Equipment stowed. (Pause to review CDR-32) Okay. You're all clean to go in. Okay. Dust SEP, blankets open; verify Power, Off; Recorder, Off. TGE, that's read; that's dusted. Tidy the MESA blankets. They're okay. (Pause) Okay, and I've got this (rock) box to bring up when I go. Okay, let's see. (Probably stepping out of the LM shadow) Oh, man, that (Sun)'s bright...Stow PLSS antenna; brush to ladder hook, EVA pallet to LMP. You got it. The pins are green; and (Grav) reading; Standby; open TGE thermal cover lid and dust. That's done. (Reading CDR-33) Final check: we got the pallet, ETB is on the hook, you inventoried the S-IVBs (sic; he means SCBs), Mr. Parker, and I guess you're happy we got them all.

148:00:56 Parker: Roger.

[The S-IVB is the top stage of the Saturn V that boosted them out of Earth orbit for the trip to the Moon.]

148:01:00 Parker: Roger that. (Pause) And we're ready to call you all in as you go through the hatch.

148:01:05 Cernan: Okay. Jack's going in with the...(Hearing Bob) Okay, Jack's halfway through it now, and I'm going on up the ladder.

148:01:14 Parker: Okay. Copy that. (Pause)

[Four minutes have elapsed since Bob told them they had ten minutes to get the hatch closed.]

[Schmitt - "It seems from listening to the tapes that we never showed any concern whatsoever about ten minutes to go or any other limitation on getting in; and I suspect it's not only that we had certain things we had to get done but, also, we assumed - and which was correct, I think - that there were significant margins in the oxygen and coolant supply."]

[Table 9-II gives EMU consumable status for EVAs 1, 2, and 3. Both Jack and Gene will consistently use more oxygen and cooling water than predicted pre-flight, but will end each EVA with some margin left.]

[During this EVA they have used about 75% of their oxygen and battery power and 80% percent of their feedwater. On EVA-1, they went to 90% of their feedwater and will do so again on the third EVA. At 90%, they still have 45 minutes of cooling water left.]

[Journal Contributor Frank O'Brien notes, "On two EVA’s either Gene or Jack were at redline limits: EVA-1 CDR oxygen and water, LMP oxygen; EVA-3 CDR oxygen (almost), LMP oxygen. On EVA-2, oxygen was close to redline. Because of this, it’s no surprise that the CapCom was hurrying them along. Now, agreed, these redline limits were conservative, but they were mission rules that were agreed upon."

148:01:27 Schmitt: Just about there. (Pause)

[Carrying the rock box, Gene only has one hand free to grab the ladder as he jumps up to the first rung.]

[Captain America is a Marvel Comics character who first appeared in March 1941. Publication of the series ended in 1949, had a brief revival in 1953. Captain America had a second revivial in 1964 and, as of late 2005, was still in publication.]

148:02:00 Cernan: Hey, how does that always happen? That happened yesterday. (Pause)

148:02:12 Parker: He got up before noon this morning, too.

[Gene and Jack got up on this day at 1:30 p.m., Houston time - a fashionably decadent hour.]

148:02:31 Schmitt: Pip pin didn't work.

[This is a release pin on the EVA pallet.]

[The EVA won't be over until cabin pressure reaches 3.5 psi.]

148:02:48 Cernan: 7 plus 27?!

148:02:50 Schmitt: (Garbled)

148:02:50 Parker: How does that grab you? (Pause) Well, we're getting anxious to get you in and get the hatch closed.

148:03:00 Schmitt: (Garbled under Bob) Well, we understand that.

148:03:02 Cernan: Jack's unloading the pallet and as soon as it comes out, I'll shove this stuff (the SRC and the two SCBs) in, and we'll be gone. (Pause)

148:03:15 Schmitt: Just takes a certain amount of time.

148:03:16 Parker: Okay, Gene. Are the three SCBs inside the hatch already?

148:03:24 Cernan: Bob, I don't think any of them are inside. Let's see...

148:03:28 Schmitt: No.

148:03:29 Cernan: ...I've got 8 here and 6 here and we emptied the contents of 4 into the...

148:03:39 Parker: Roger.

148:03:40 Cernan: ...SRC, and we emptied the contents of 5 into one of these other two bags. So we've only got two of them here, plus the SRC.

148:03:46 Parker: Roger that.

148:03:47 Cernan: Five went into six.

148:03:48 Parker: Roger that.

148:03:52 Cernan: And we've got two of them hanging on the tail of the Rover. And I don't know what it is under Jack's seat right now.

148:03:57 Schmitt: Seven is under my seat.

148:03:58 Parker: We copy that. Don't worry about it.

148:04:05 Schmitt: One more (PLSS) battery (to get off the pallet), Geno, and it's yours.

148:04:07 Cernan: Okay. (Pause)

148:04:16 Schmitt: You always used to stand and watch me do this, anyway.

148:04:23 Cernan: Yeah, but we had some long EVAs at the Cape but...(Pause)

[Schmitt - "In training, when we went through these procedures, Gene didn't have anything to do. Somebody else handed me the pallet and I went through it, dutifully, simulating unloading and stowing material off the pallet. And, once or twice, we probably did it with the real hardware in the real LM, just to make sure it worked."]

[Jack is pushing the empty pallet out through the hatch with his foot.]

[Gene has tossed the pallet down to the surface.]

148:04:58 Schmitt: It's all right.

[Gene may not have pushed the SCB far enough through the hatch for Jack to get it easily. Alternatively, it may have been tipped over.]

[Schmitt - "It was hard to lean down to get the things Gene's was handing in."]

148:05:41 Schmitt: Can you push on that (box) a little bit?

148:05:43 Cernan: Yup.

148:05:46 Schmitt: Okay. (Long Pause) Okay.

148:06:13 Cernan: Okay, Bob, you've got the two SCBs - (To Jack) I'll push it in - (the) SRC, and there goes the ETB.

[Schmitt - "I may have stuck the SCBs and the rock box on their storage rails to make room for Gene. Either that or I stuck them on the engine cover."]

[Cernan - "I'll bet a million dollars that he wasn't stowing those things in the rack until we got into soft suits. It took too much time. The hatch had to go quite a ways open for me to get in so there wasn't much room under his feet, so I've got to believe that he stowed them on the engine cover."]

148:06:27 Cernan: There's only one thing left...(Hearing Bob) That's right, that's the only thing left out here.

148:06:32 Schmitt: Are you on a checklist?

148:06:34 Cernan: No, I'm not even on my checklist, but I guess...Yeah, I am; it says "Ingress". Let me knock some more dust off. (Pause)

148:06:46 Schmitt: Okay. Let me get behind the door.

[As he had at the end of EVA-1, Jack had the hatch fully open while he was getting the SCBs and other gear stowed. Now, in order to let Gene get in, he has to stand on Gene's side of the spacecraft and swing the hatch closed far enough that he can get over to his side of the spacecraft. He will then open the door against his legs so that Gene can crawl in.]

148:07:08 Schmitt: Push. There you go. (Pause) Keep your buttons close (to the floor). You're good. (Pause) Beautiful. Just float in. Hanging up a little on the purse, but that's all right. There you go. (Pause)

148:07:41 Cernan: (Standing up) Ohh!

148:07:43 Schmitt: That's my arm I'm getting in the way, there. Let me get out of the way.

[There is very little room in the LM for two suited astronauts.]

148:08:06 Schmitt: Yeah, I think it's okay. Okay, the hatch is partially closed...

148:08:11 Cernan: Let me get it. I think it (the checklist) says to lock it, doesn't it?

148:08:14 Schmitt: Well, we're supposed to close our water first.

[They will now use the Post-EVA cue card. The items listed there are also listed on Surface 5-1.]

148:08:26 Schmitt: Here, why don't I get yours and you get mine.

[That is, turn each other's feedwater off.]

148:08:34 Schmitt: (Softly) You'll have to do that.

148:08:36 Cernan: You'll have to put your right arm high; pick it up high.

[The PLSS controls are on the bottom, right, front corner. There are actually three controls, each with a very different shape so that they can be distinguished by feel. The outer control is a two bladed nylon lever that controls the PLSS feedwater diverter valve and, therefore, the amount of cooling. Inboard of the diverter valve are two other levers, one to turn on the primary feed and the other to turn on the Aux tank. One is a flat blade and the other is a rod.]

148:08:45 Cernan: No, I can't reach you, Jack, unless you turn...

148:08:47 Schmitt: Don't move yet; don't turn around.

148:08:48 Cernan: Okay.

[Cernan - "It was just incredible in there with two guys in pressurized suits, plus all the stuff on the engine cover. It was just very difficult even to reach behind him."]

148:09:00 Cernan: (Make) sure I got the right ones. Far right, far left, secure oxygen. Okay. Your water's Off.

148:09:08 Schmitt: Okay. Water's off. (Pause)

148:09:13 Cernan: Now, stay there and I'll lock the hatch.

148:09:15 Schmitt: I've got to get into position to do the other good things (that is, close circuit breakers on the panel on the right side of the cabin and reset ECS valves behind his station). You go ahead. Do you have enough room or do I need to turn?

148:09:23 Cernan: No, let me get down there. (Pause) No, I can't...

148:09:36 Schmitt: Okay. Let me turn back (and face inboard); get out of your way. Got it?

148:09:44 Cernan: Okay. Hatch is closed and locked.

148:09:45 Parker: Okay. And remember, I think it's the overhead valve that you have (garbled) Open.

148:09:52 Schmitt: That's right.

148:09:53 Cernan: Yeah, you'll have to move over, Jack, so I can reach it.

148:09:58 Parker: And you ought to verify both, I guess.

148:10:00 Cernan: (To Jack) You're going to have to wait, then.

[They hear Bob but don't respond.]

148:10:05 Cernan: Okay. No, you got to swing left...

148:10:08 Schmitt: Well, I'll have to...

148:10:09 Cernan: ...(correcting himself) (swing to Jack's) right.

148:10:11 Schmitt: I'll have to turn around, then. (Pause) How's that? Any better?

148:10:21 Cernan: Nope, you've got to...

148:10:22 Schmitt: Okay, for some reason I can't put my PLSS toward you.

148:10:25 Cernan: No, you can't. Just face front, if you can, and move as far forward as you can.

[That way, Gene might be able to lift his arm behind Jack's PLSS and reach the valve.]

148:10:32 Cernan: Well, just...

148:10:34 Schmitt: Look, I've got to get the PLSS against the circuit breaker (panel)...

148:10:35 Cernan: Wait. I've got you just where I want you. Now stay right there, and shift your weight as far to the right (probably forward) as you can. (Pause)

148:10:42 Cernan: Okay, it's Auto...

148:10:43 Schmitt: Okay.

148:10:44 Cernan: ...and (pause) it's locked. Okay?

148:10:52 Schmitt: All right.

148:10:53 Cernan: Now, (reading) Cabin Repress (valve), Auto. (Pause) Can't get it. I'll have to turn left, here.

148:11:02 Schmitt: Huh?

[Gene is facing inboard and needs to turn left and face more forward so that he can get his arm down behind Jack to get the valve.]

148:11:04 Schmitt: No, I can get it.

148:11:05 Cernan: Okay. Cabin Repress, Auto.

148:11:07 Schmitt: It's Auto.

148:11:09 Cernan: And at (panel) 16, Cabin Repress breaker, Closed.

148:11:12 Schmitt: Closed.

148:11:14 Cernan: Master Alarm and Cabin Warning Lights. Cabin's coming up, Bob, 0.5 (psi).

148:11:19 Parker: Copy that. (Pause)

[The sound of the cabin filling with oxygen can be heard. The alarm and warning lights are expected because, when the Repress circuit breaker is closed, the system detects that the cabin is unpressurized.]

148:11:31 Cernan: Okay. Cabin pressure's increasing. Go "Pressure Regs A and B, Cabin." (Pause)

MP3 Audio Clip ( 15 min 01 sec )

148:11:40 Schmitt: A's Cabin.

148:11:42 Cernan: Okay. And your PLSS O2 (oxygen), Off, at cabin (pressure) greater (than) 2.5 (psi). It's there now. And you're probably getting (a) soft suit. (Pause)

148:12:05 Cernan: Mine (meaning his PLSS O2)'s Off.

148:12:06 Schmitt: Mine's Off.

148:12:08 Cernan: Okay, cabin's up to 3.5. (Pause) Cabin's up to 4.0. (Pause)

[The EVA is over after 7 hours, 37 minutes, 22 seconds.]