Halo Crater

Return to the LM and Closeout

 

Surveyor Crater and Surveyor III

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 1995 by Eric M. Jones.
All rights reserved.
MP3 audio clips by Ken Glover.
Scan credits in the Image Library
Last revised 7 April 2018.

RealAudio Clip ( 49 min 36 sec )

MP3 Audio Clip ( 44 min 15 sec )

[Brian McInall has created a Planimetric Map of activities at Surveyor Crater]

133:46:06 Bean: I do, too. It doesn't look so bad from here, does it, Pete?

133:46:08 Conrad: Uh-uh.

[Although Pete's expression "straight down" would seem to imply that he wants to walk along the rim until they are directly above the Surveyor - he is actually talking about going around the rim about halfway to the Surveyor before starting into the crater. During the final 300 feet, they won't walk directly toward the Surveyor but will descend slowly, mostly walking parallel to the rim, reaching a point about halfway down to the Surveyor's level and above it. There, they will stop and take some photos before walking the final distance down to the spacecraft. Photo AS12-48-7145, which Al takes from Block Crater on their way back to the LM, shows the tracks they made going around the inside of the crater toward Surveyor. Note that there are a number of irregular-but-mostly-circumferential, natural features on the crater wall that can be confused with the astronaut tracks.]

[In a labeled detail from an LROC image taken on 5 February 2010 with the Sun about 38 degrees above the western horizon, portions of the traverse from Halo to the Surveyor show up clearly. Inside the crater, the natural features make it hard to pick out tthe astronaut tracks between the place where they started into the crater and the Surveyor.]

[Thomas Schwagmeier has combined 7144 and 7145 to show the astronaut tracks more fully and has provided a comparision of the result with a detail from LROC image M168353795RE.]

133:46:21 Conrad: No, what we do is go directly east and then walk directly sort of north, you know, curving right around and down to it.

133:46:31 Gibson: Roger. Copy. You're going directly east and then you'll be curving around going up north towards the Surveyor.

133:46:38 Conrad: Yeah. You get kind of an optical illusion depending on where you're standing.

133:46:44 Bean: Trade me one. Trade me magazines.

133:46:46 Conrad: Okay. Wait a minute.

[As is summarized at 133:32:05, Al is wearing the CDR camera and the LMP camera is in the HTC. At 133:45:09, Al shot the remaining frames on Mag 49 and now wants to (1) take magazine 49 off the CDR camera, (2) get the LMP camera out of the HTC, (3) put mag 49 in the HTC, (4) remove magazine 48 from the LMP camera and put it on the CDR camera. In the dialog from here to 133:48:56, it is not clear in what order they get this done. The parenthetical notes are conjectural. Finally, as was discussed after 133:29:22 until sometime after Al got back to the LM, they kept the LMP camera in the HTC. Pete discards the LMP camera sometime before 135:17:59.]

133:46:51 Conrad: I'll tell you what. You'd better put that one in.

133:46:54 Bean: No, we want the dark (slide)...Okay. I wanted to put it back on here, Pete.

133:46:59 Conrad: Well, all right. I'll try.

133:47:00 Bean: I don't think it makes any difference (whether or not the magazine 49 that they are taking off the LMP camera has a dark slide to protect the film). We just put it in here (in the HTC). You're right.

133:47:04 Conrad: All right.

133:47:05 Bean: Just put it right in there with the rocks.

[This section of dialog indicates that they do have a dark slide. However, there is no indication in the checklists or the transcript where it might be.]

133:47:12 Bean: Wait a minute. Okay. Go. (Pause) Boy, these cameras got dirty, didn't they?

133:47:21 Conrad: Yeah.

133:47:22 Gibson: Pete, a reminder on that film pack. Cycle one frame before you start.

[Houston wants Pete to shoot a frame to advance the film and help protect the good frames. Frames AS12-48- 7078 to 7081 were overexposed during the various magazine exchanges.]

[Bean - "Maybe we didn't bother worrying about the (dark) slide."]

[Conrad - "I thought we did. I thought there was some..."]

[Bean - "I'll bet we took them out (of the magazines) inside (the LM), before we sent the cameras out. All you do is waste one frame (if you don't have a slide)."]

[Jones - "But Al said 'No, we want the dark slide.' It sounds to me like you've got one."]

[Conrad - "We used to keep it someplace."]

[Jones - "On the tool carrier, maybe?"]

[Bean - "Had to be, everything was..."]

[Conrad - "No, I kind of want to think it was on the camera bracket."]

[Bean - "Now, didn't we have a spare magazine, all along?"]

[Jones - "Yeah, you've got a magazine that's got some pictures from the descent. Earthrise and things like that."]

[Bean - "Well, where is it?"]

[At 134:02:24, we learn that the spare magazine is in Al's saddlebag.]

[Bean - "Maybe that's the dark slide I'm talking about. That magazine's not on the outside (of the HTC). I've done enough paintings and looking at pictures. There's no dark slide anywhere. It has to be in Pete's pocket."]

[There is no mention of dark slides in the checklists; but Journal Contributor Markus Mehring notes that "there was a reminder on the top of each magazine 'Remove Darkslide / Before Installing Magazine'.". Markus provides a rectified image of the label which he extracted from National Air & Space photo 99-15166-7. There is some good Apollo 17 TV of Jack Schmitt taking dark slides out of fresh magazines and inserting them in used magazines. ]

[Because neither Pete nor Al wore a strap-on pocket during the EVA's, the pocket in question could have been one of the pockets on his upper arms, the utility pocket on his left thigh, or one of the smaller pockets on the outside of the utility pocket.]

133:47:39 Conrad: Good thing we've practiced this a few times. I tell you what. Why don't you let me hold it for you? Okay?

133:47:46 Bean: Just a second. Here, I know what you need to do. Pull this out of the way. The (magazine) lock is what's driving me buggy. (Pause)

[The magazine lock is labeled in a detail from ap12-KSC-69PC-545. See, also, a page devoted to the Hasselblad Magazine Lock.]

133:47:59 Bean: Hold the camera. Hold it there. Okay. That's it. (Pause) Hold the camera?

133:48:13 Conrad: Okay.

133:48:14 Bean: (Having freed magazine 48) Got it. (Pause)

133:48:21 Conrad: That a boy. (Pause) That's it. You got it.

133:48:30 Bean: We got it.

133:48:31 Conrad: Good show. Hot dog!

133:48:34 Bean: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Okay, keep the (CDR camera?) trigger pulled. (Pause) Trigger pulled. Let her go. Now try it again. Try it again. That's it, babe! No strain. Okay, let me put it on (Al's RCU).

133:48:47 Conrad: That lens is good and clean, too.

133:48:50 Bean: Okay. Hope we didn't get anything on the Reseau lens inside. I bet we got some dust on it.

133:48:56 Conrad: Where am I?

133:48:57 Bean: You're okay.

133:48:58 Conrad: Huh?

[Conrad - "The Reseau lens makes the crosses (fiducials) in the pictures. That's the flat-plate, glass lens in the camera, right next to the film."]

[Bean - "Yeah, it's inside there. But it (the dust) never showed up. I've never read anybody saying that it did anything."]

[Journal Contributor Markus Mehring notes "The cameras each had an all-caps warning sign on top of the film transport motor/battery hull-extension - so that it was only visible when there was no magazine attached to the camera- saying: CAUTION, DO NOT TOUCH GLASS SURFACE."]

133:49:01 Conrad: There you go. (Pause) Okay. Let's wander over here.

[They start to move eastward around the rim, headed for a spot about 300 feet further around the rim, from which they will move toward the Surveyor, descending slowly.]

133:49:27 Gibson: Good thought Al.

133:49:28 Conrad: What do you want?

133:49:29 Bean: I was going to say as long as we're going - (Hearing Gibson) What? (Pause) We're moving on, Houston. (Pause) (To Gibson) Yeah. A few minutes ago, Pete wanted to pick up a rock, so I held onto that strap of the Surveyor bag and he leaned right over and picked it up and I helped him get back up. It's not that you're heavy or anything, it's the fact that you have such poor balance.

133:50:02 Conrad: Look at that glass.

133:50:04 Gibson: Pete and Al, Houston. Before you go much further, could you stop and have a little break there before you proceed on down the slope?

133:50:14 Conrad: Yeah.

133:50:15 Bean: Sure can.

[Pete's heart rate is a moderate 110 and Al's is about 120. Evidently, Houston is nervous about the walk down to the Surveyor and wants to make sure that they are ready. Pete and Al were pretty busy with sampling and fixing cameras at their last stop and didn't get the rest that the Flight Surgeon was recommending.]

133:50:27 Bean: Okay.

[This sampling location is marked on a labeled detail from a 5 February 2010 LROC image. They are on the rim above two prominent craters in the southern wall of Surveyor Crater. The craters are just to the left of center in AS12-46-6747, a frame from Pete's 4 O'Clock Pan pan taken at the LM early in EVA-1 at about 116:24:47.]

[The approximate sampling location is marked in a labeled detail from the 5 February 2010 LROC image.]

133:50:42 Conrad: Better take that...(Pause)...area over in here.

133:50:47 Bean: Okay. (Pause) Okay. I got it, Pete.

133:50:52 Conrad: Got her?

[Al takes a down-Sun photo of the sampling area, AS12-48- 7082, and then a cross-Sun, 7083.]

133:50:58 Conrad: Oh, we did get a lot of these?

133:50:59 Bean: Yeah. Why don't you get that? (Garbled)

133:51:02 Conrad: We could get the rock with it. Look.

133:51:03 Bean: Okay. Get some rocks with it. That's a good idea. Hey, here's some rocks right here. There's a good rock. (Pause) You know, we keep collecting a lot of the same type of rock, because there just doesn't seem to be any other kinds around. (Pause) I haven't seen any microbreccia the whole day. I've looked around for it. All I have seen is some basalt; I've seen nothing that looked vesicular at all, except on the surface.

133:51:27 Conrad: I haven't either.

[Al's "except on the surface" appears to be a reference to the numerous, small impact craters - known as zap pits - on the rocks.]

133:51:35 Gibson: Roger. We copy those comments. Pete and Al, we show you're 2 plus 23 into the EVA and, based on a 4-hour EVA, you would be leaving the Surveyor at 2 plus 50. But don't rush; we'd like to make sure you get a good rest before you go into it (the crater).

133:51:51 Conrad: Okay.

133:51:52 Bean: Why don't you give me a rock or two, Pete? And I will stick in there. Got any spares? (Pause) There you go. Good rock. Good rock! (Pause)

133:52:07 Conrad: (Chuckling) The world's greatest juggling act. (Garbled)

133:52:11 Bean: Okay. That'll be it. (To Ed) We just made a sample of a glass bead and some local rock on the south edge of the Surveyor Crater, Houston. And they're going into bag 14D.

133:52:29 Gibson: 14D.

[Sample 12043 is a 4-cm, rounded, potato-shaped piece of basalt with zap pits. Sample 12044 consists of 92 grams of soil. The piece of 'beaded glass' Pete mentioned at 133:50:16 is labeled in a detail from 7083 but wasn't recognizable in the sample when it was examined at the Lunar Receiving Lab.]

133:52:55 Bean: Yeah. Hey, that's...coming in from the south; looks like a good way, Pete.

133:52:59 Conrad: I'll tell you what I'm going to do, Al. I am just gonna lope right around here.

133:53:02 Bean: That's what I mean. If you stay at this level, you'll end up at Surveyor.

133:53:05 Conrad: You're right.

133:53:07 Bean: Follow the contour lines.

133:53:08 Conrad: No problem at all, Houston! (Pause) Look at the (Surveyor) scoop sticking out. You couldn't see that before.

133:53:18 Gibson: Pete and Al, could you give us a comment on how far you're sinking in? 133:53:18 Gibson: Pete and Al, could you give us a comment on how far you're sinking in?

[By now, Houston has realized that Pete has already started into the crater. Plans for this part of the traverse, while not spelled out in the checklists, were cautious. Al is carrying a tether (30-foot safety line) in his saddlebag. Because no one has yet worked on a slope as steep as the inner wall of Surveyor Crater, the plan is for one of them to stay on the rim, paying out the tether while the other makes his way part way down the slope. If the surface proves to be too soft for a safe descent, they can use the tether to help him back up to the rim. An Ernie Reyes cartoon on page 15 of Al's cuff checklist playfully shows the tether being used. Clearly, Pete has decided that the surface on the upper wall looks good enough that the tether won't be necessary.]

133:53:41 Bean: Yeah, I would say that...I think Houston is just as concerned about us getting down in this crater. We been thinking about it, too, Houston. (Garbled under Pete)

133:53:47 Conrad: Okay. Yeah, don't worry about it, Houston, because, really, it's no strain; I'm 200 feet away from it; I'm at the same level; the ground is firm; and I can go right back up the way I came down with no strain at all.

133:54:02 Bean: That's right.

133:54:03 Gibson: Roger. Sounds good.

133:54:04 Bean: It's just exactly the way we thought it was going to be when we were talking about it. (Responding to Ed) Yeah, it is. I don't think there'll be any sweat about it.

133:54:09 Conrad: Al, I'll tell you what let's do. Get right over here, and we'll park all of our gear, take ourselves a little rest, go over your photo plan, and then we'll have at it.

[Pete's statement about going over the "photo plan" may be a reference to the secret timer, although it may also refer to their official photography of the Surveyor. They won't get serious about looking for the timer until about 133:59:53, once they've had a good look at the Surveyor and have described its condition to Houston.]

[Conrad - "He asked us to take a rest, and we gave him a lot of smoke."]

[Bean - "We told him, 'Yeah, we're resting'."]

[Jones - "What were you doing?"]

[Conrad - "We were trying to find the timer."]

[During the mission review, Pete and Al thought this was the place where they tried, unsuccessfully, to find the timer. They actually looked for the timer at 133:59:53. The rest of this conversation has been moved to the commentary following that point in the mission.]

133:54:22 Conrad: I will tell you what, why don't you get a photograph of it right now?

133:54:25 Bean: It's a good place. Okay. Will do. Stop and do it right here.

[Al takes AS12-48- 7084 to 7087. Their approximate location is marked in a labeled detail from the 5 February 2010 LROC image.]

133:54:33 Gibson: Okay, Pete and Al, when you are looking at it there, would you also try to determine whether there is any effect from the dust during the (LM) descent? That is, could you determine whether there is more dust on either the west or the east side of any of the bays, and the north or the south side of the (Surveyor TV) camera?

[The Surveyor III TV camera is on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D. C. Photo by Ulrich Lotzmann. See, also, a photo of the camera being examined at the Hughes Aircraft Company in April 1970.]

133:55:15 Bean: You know, that's right. Any dust you had on the edge would never go down to this crater.

[In the absence of an atmosphere, once dust and small rocks blown away by the LM exhaust have traveled very far, the exhaust gases become too tenuous to have any further effect and they follow ballistic trajectories. If the particles were launched at any appreciable distance from the rim and at the apparent speeds Pete was seeing, few would land in the crater. However, it is not clear that this happened. They will find dust on the spacecraft, some of which may have been blown on during the descent. An alternate source is the fact that, at local dawn, the charge state of the very top soil layer changes in response to the changing flux of solar UV and, consequently, a small amount of dust is lofted. In 31 months on the Moon, the Surveyor has experienced about that many dawns and some of the dust that Pete and Al will find may have been deposited via that mechanism. And, finally, it is possible that a small amount may have accumulated during the Surveyor landing, although the lack of an atmosphere makes that seem unlikely.]

[In 2011, in the abstract to an article published in Icarus (Jan. 2011, vol. 211, pages 1089-1102) a team at NASA Johnson reported "Visual inspection, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and surface scanned topology have been used to investigate the damage to the Lunar Surveyor III spacecraft that was caused by the Apollo 12 Lunar Module's close proximity landing. Two parts of the Surveyor III craft returned by the Apollo 12 astronauts, Coupons 2050 and 2051, which faced the Apollo 12 landing site, show that a fine layer of lunar regolith coated the materials and was subsequently removed by the Apollo 12 Lunar Module landing rocket. The coupons were also pitted by the impact of larger soil particles with an average of 103 pits/cm². The average entry size of the pits was 83.7 μm (major diameter) × 74.5 μm (minor diameter) and the average estimated penetration depth was 88.4 μm. Pitting in the surface of the coupons correlates to removal of lunar fines and is likely a signature of lunar material imparting localized momentum/energy sufficient to cause cracking of the paint. Comparison with the lunar soil particle size distribution and the optical density of blowing soil during lunar landings indicates that the Surveyor III spacecraft was not exposed to the direct spray of the landing Lunar Module, but instead experienced only the fringes of the spray of soil. Had Surveyor III been exposed to the direct spray, the damage would have been orders of magnitude higher." The authors are Christopher Immer, Phillip Metzger, Paul E. Hintze, Andrew Nick, and Ryan Horan.]

133:55:22 Bean: I don't know. It sounds good to me.

133:55:24 Conrad: Yeah, you just...

133:55:25 Gibson: We read you both loud and clear.

133:55:26 Bean: Okay. I'm not talking loud enough.

133:55:29 Conrad: Okay. No problem.

133:55:30 Bean: I'm going to mosey up here just a little, Pete, without any tools, which makes it pretty easy.

[For the next minute, they engage in excited, overlapping conversation.]

133:55:40 Bean: Yeah. ...

133:55:41 Conrad: ...I think we can go right up the other rim and around to...

133:55:42 Bean: ...Sure. Right on out...

133:55:45 Conrad: ...that big blocky baby (Block Crater) there and...

133:55:46 Bean: ...Hey, I'll bet we could get...

133:55:46 Conrad: ...we could get...

133:55:47 Bean: ...bedrock right over there at that...

133:55:49 Conrad: Huh?

133:55:50 Bean: ...neat crater (Block, again). Where all that rock is just...

133:55:51 Conrad: (Garbled)

133:55:52 Bean: ...back of the LM. (Pause) Turned up (garbled)...

133:55:56 Conrad: You know, I could have landed the LM in the bottom of that (Surveyor) crater. It would have scared me to death, but...(Chuckles) (Pause)

[Pete's comment at 133:55:35 about taking the HTC with them when they move down closer to the Surveyor may be related to the secret timer, but it is also related to an option they have had - if the walk from the rim to the Surveyor was proving at all hazardous - of putting the HTC down at any point during the trip and then, after completing their work at the Surveyor, retrieving it before continuing the geology traverse. In indication of this option is the notation "Walk to ALHTC" in the Lunar Surface Operations Plan ( 6 Mb PDF ) on page 62 after the completion of all the Surveyor activites.]

133:56:19 Conrad: Whoop.

133:56:20 Bean: You want me take some pictures up here around it?

133:56:22 Conrad: Okay. Now look. You can see which way it came in. See the way this gear pad dug in over there...

133:56:27 Bean: Yeah.

133:56:28 Conrad: ...dug up dirt? They're still setting there.

133:56:30 Bean: Yeah. It's going to make a good shot.

[The Surveyor bounced after landing and slid a short way downhill. As Pete and Al can already see, the downhill gearpad dug itself into the surface a few inches as it slid.]

[Apparently, Al moves counter-clockwise around the crater, taking pictures as he goes. His movements can be seen from the changes from frame to frame of the relative positions of Surveyor III and the LM. Their approximate location is marked in a labeled detail from the 5 February 2010 LROC image. The frames in this sequence are AS12-48- 7088 to 7093.]

[Frame 7088 shows Surveyor III with Block Crater above and to the right, just below the rim of Surveyor Crater.]

[Frame 7090 shows both the LM and the Surveyor, with Block Crater above and behind the Surveyor as indicated in a labeled version.]

[Frame 7091 has both the LM and Surveyor centered.]

[During training in Florida, they used a mock-up of the Surveyor, which was white and not brown.]

133:57:01 Gibson: Stand by on that.

133:57:04 Bean: Yeah. It looks a light tan now. (Pause) Hey, this crater isn't as steep as we thought, Pete.

133:57:15 Conrad: Uh-uh. And I'd better be careful. I'm going to get dust on her (the Surveyor).

133:57:21 Bean: Yeah. (Pause) I'll stop here, and this will be my last picture. (Pause)

[This last picture in the approach sequence may be AS12-48- 7093.]

133:57:39 Bean: Well, it's kind of a...Well, we'll get down there and get closer inspection. What was the general color of the structure? For example, all of the struts and the like?

133:57:50 Gibson: That's all white. The equipment bays and the primary structure was all painted with a white paint.

133:57:59 Bean: Sort of turned tan or something. We'll have to look at it more closely.

133:58:01 Conrad: No; that's what happened.

133:58:03 Bean: Just changed color, huh?

133:58:04 Conrad: It sure has. The Sun's cooked that paint brown.

[At 134:29:54 they realize that the brown color is the product of a fine coating of dust.]

[Conrad - (Having read ahead) "You're talking about it way out here at 134:29:54."]

[Jones - "That's where you rub it."]

[Bean - "I don't even remember that."]

[Conrad - "I don't either."]

[Bean, from the 1969 Technical Debriefing - "One comment about the comm between MCCH (Mission Control Center, Houston) and ourselves up there; I don't know, from their point of view, what they thought, but we were getting about the right amount of information every time we asked a question, and the answer seemed to come up pretty rapidly. From our point of view, the comm between ourselves and Ed Gibson and the experimenters was very good. I am hoping that, if they had any questions they did get to us, we answered them at the time or, at least, were able to look at what they were interested in so that we know the answers for them right now."]

133:58:19 Conrad: I know.

133:58:20 Bean: I don't think it (the soil)'s any deeper. A little softer maybe. Maybe a little deeper. Why don't I move this (HTC) down here just a little bit closer, Pete?

133:58:27 Conrad: Okay.

133:58:28 Bean: Then we'll take the rest down here where we can see it better.

133:58:30 Conrad: Okay. Let's just make sure we don't get any dirt down there on it.

133:58:32 Bean: Okay. We'll walk real slow. (Pause) Hey, you can see...Look at there where it dug those scoops. You can still see the...Boy, that's going to make some beautiful pictures on the way that's weathered since...Doesn't look like the pictures we saw of this a long time ago. That's going to be good.

[The accompanying illustration shows the locations of the Surveyor III scoop marks. The figure was taken from page 58 of the NASA report SP-284, "Analysis of Material and Photographs returned by Apollo 12" and was digitized by Marv Hein. Jon Hancock has scanned a diagram found in a Hughes Corp. house magazine which presents the pattern of scoop marks in a different format.]

[The Surveyor III scoop was designed by Caltech Professor of Engineering Ronald Scott.]

[Heavy breathing is audible as they make their way over to the Surveyor, but it probably isn't due to exertion but, rather, to them straining forward to see where they're walking. As for the scoop marks, in the days following the Surveyor landing, controllers on Earth used the Surveyor's remotely-controlled scoop to dig trenches for soil mechanics experiments and to look for layering. One of the things of interest about the Apollo 12 visit is the chance to look for any changes in the trenches since they were last examined with the Surveyor TV camera. As mentioned on page 3-36 in the Apollo 12 Mission Report, "Examination of the photographs taken at the Surveyor III site (by the Surveyor TV camera and, later, by the astronauts) suggest that the lunar surface has undergone little change in the past 2-1/2 years. The trenches excavated by the lunar material sampling device on Surveyor, as well as the waffle pattern of the Surveyor footpad imprint, appear much the same as when formed on Surveyor landing." Figure 3-25 compares a Surveyor TV image with an Apollo 12 Hasselblad image.]

133:58:52 Bean: Look at how it's kind of made them into...Once again, it looks like something has rained on it. They've taken on a little...

133:58:58 Conrad: Wonder if that was from us?

133:59:00 Bean: Oh, no! I don't think so. (Pause) Hey, you notice, there's a general trend of lines along here from the north...that would be the northeast to the southwest. See those little lines running along through the crater here?

133:59:15 Conrad: Yeah.

133:59:16 Bean: I think I'll take a picture of that. (Pause)

[Al takes a mini-pan of the "little lines", AS12-48- 7094, 7095, and 7096. Assembly by Dave Byrne.]

[Al then turns to his right and takes a picture, 7097, of Block Crater, and finally, turns back to his left to take 7098. Al's approximate location is marked in a labeled detail from the 5 February 2010 LROC image.]

[Vlad Pustynski has combined 7094-97 with a portion of 7092 to make a high-resolution, seamless version (9 Mb).

133:59:42 Conrad: And they're not laying at all in the same direction - I mean, it's not from us - not from the LM.

133:59:44 Bean: Uh-uh.

133:59:46 Gibson: Roger.

133:59:49 Bean: I tell you what...

133:59:50 Conrad: Hey, Al, did you get a picture right across there?

133:59:53 Bean: Yes, I did, Pete. Why don't you go ahead and put this together?

133:59:57 Conrad: Okay. (Pause)

[This is where they start preparing for the Dual Photo. Al's statement "Why don't you go ahead and put this together" probably means mount the extension handle on the HTC.]

[Conrad - "Yeah, I think this is where we start trying to do that. I think it fit on the tool carrier. Let's take a look at the drawing."]

[We looked in Judy Allton's Apollo tool book and found a relevant photo (Fig. 61) and drawing (Fig. 62). The drawing shows the Apollo 14 configuration with a camera staff holding the 16mm movie camera and the photo (AS14-68-9405) shows the Apollo 14 HTC mounted on the MET with the camera in position. Pete and Al decided that they would have used the extension handle inserted in the same HTC holes to serve as their camera mount for the Dual Photo.]

[Conrad - "Our big problem was finding this timer that I had gone out and purchased in a camera store. And had remembered to put in my flight suit - in my right flight suit front pocket - on launch morning so nobody knew I had it. We put it in the command module, and we remembered to transfer it to the LM and remembered to transfer it to the lunar surface and we did all of that and then we couldn't find it. It was absolutely in the very bottom of the (HTC) bag. Which is now totally full of rocks and sample bags."]

[In a 2012 e-mail to Ulli Lotzmann and others about what the timer may have looked like, Alan wrote "The guys from crew systems brought over several timers and showed us how they might or might not work." This recollection leaves open the possibility that Pete did go to a camera store to buy the timer they took to the Moon.]

[The remainder of the timer remarks Pete and Al made when we were at 133:54:09 in the mission review.]

[Jones - "Tell me about the timer."]

[Conrad - "The timer goes on the Hasselblad; and nobody knew we had it."]

[Bean - "It was a little auto-timer."]

[Conrad - "We were going to put the camera on the stake (the extension handle which could be mounted on the HTC to give a steady camera mount) and both of us were going to walk over to the Surveyor and have our picture taken."]

[Bean - "The timer went off in 30 seconds or something."]

[Conrad - "And we knew that PAO (Public Affairs Office) would put that photograph out before they'd put anything else out. Then somebody was going to ask the question 'Who took the picture?'"]

[Bean - "But we couldn't find the timer."]

[Jones - "Because of all the dust in there."]

[Conrad - "I found it later, packing the rock box."]

[Bean - "It was right on the top."]

[Conrad - "Yeah, 'cause I dumped the bag."]

[Bean - "You dumped the bag in the rock box, and there it sat."]

[Conrad - "We had a whole rock bag full of rocks, by this time. Plus broken camera, plus whatever. So it was buried."]

[Readers should note that, in both checklists, the initial Surveyor activity is "Perform D.P." which means "dual photo".]

[Al may want the tongs to fish around in the bag for the timer or, perhaps to get a sample bag that's dropped out.]

134:00:25 Conrad: (Installing the extension handle) Is that the way that thing goes?

134:00:27 Bean: Now...What's that? Let me hold one end of it. There you go. There you go. I think that's it. (Long Pause)

134:00:50 Bean: Pete, could you hold that a minute?

134:00:52 Conrad: Wait just a second.

134:00:53 Bean: Okay.

[Al may be asking Pete to take some of the things he's taking out of the bag as he searches for the timer.]

134:00:55 Bean: (Garbled) I dropped something down in there. (Pause)

134:00:59 Conrad: (Putting something down) Okay there. Now I can hold it. What do you want me to hold?

134:01:02 Bean: Hold that (LMP) camera a second. (Pause) Got it?

134:01:06 Conrad: Why don't we just throw that (LMP) camera away?

134:01:08 Bean: Well, I was thinking of that earlier and decided that, since this one broke, we might have to put that one on.

[Al seems to be saying that, although the CDR camera he is currently wearing seems to be working, he'd like to keep the LMP camera as a backup. Because the LMP camera no longer has a thumbwheel they might have to use it handheld, but they would be able to take pictures.]

134:01:14 Bean: (Garbled) the reliability. Doesn't much make it. (Long Pause)

[Although neither Pete nor Al remembers the details of the search, the flavor of their memories is that Al was holding the HTC, rummaging through it and pulling out sample bags which he loaded into Pete's arms; or that Pete was holding the HTC and, in his arms, the samples Al was pulling out.]

134:01:46 Conrad: Huh?

134:01:47 Bean: Let me look down there just once more. (Pause) (Garbled) (Pause) There you go. (Long Pause)

134:02:11 Conrad: Oh, boy. (Pause)

134:02:20 Bean: Look again.

134:02:22 Conrad: Yeah. I'm holding it (the HTC) with this post.

134:02:24 Bean: Okay.

134:02:27 Conrad: (Hoping that the timer wasn't in the HTC after all) Wait a minute. (Pause) What's in your (saddle)bag, here? (Pause) Yeah; there's a film magazine (but no timer). (Long Pause)

134:03:22 Bean: Let me borrow your little thing here while we rest. (Long Pause)

[Again, Al may be borrowing Pete's tongs to retrieve dropped samples.]

134:03:57 Bean: Okay. That's a good idea.

134:03:59 Conrad: (Get) junk out of there we don't need. (Long Pause)

134:04:17 Bean: Try at this end. (Long Pause) Ahh! (I've) had it (that is, he's had enough).

134:04:36 Conrad: Huh?

134:04:38 Bean: (Giving up) Forget it. (Pause)

134:04:46 Conrad: I'll tell you what. Why don't you mosey down there and start taking some photographs?

134:04:50 Bean: That's a good idea. Got your cuff checklist there?

134:04:53 Conrad: Sure.

134:04:54 Bean: Okay.

[Rather than take the time to look at his own checklist, Al will have Pete read the steps. They had planned to do this and, consequently, all the details of the Surveyor photo plan are also printed on Pete's cuff checklist pages14 and15.]

134:05:03 Bean: 11, 15; let me get it set. 11, 15. Boy, that's turned just kind of a light tan hasn't it, Pete?

134:05:11 Conrad: It sure has.

134:05:12 Bean: And some of the things are even a dark brown.

134:05:14 Conrad: Yeah, you're closer than 15. Don't go any closer.

134:05:16 Bean: Yeah. Maybe I'd better back up a little.

134:05:17 Conrad: That a boy.

134:05:18 Bean: How's that?

[Al takes AS12-48- 7099 and 7100. Jim Scotti has produced a anaglyph from his own scans.]

134:05:20 Gibson: Hey, Pete, do you think there's a chance you're at the wrong Surveyor?

134:05:26 Conrad: No, sir.

134:05:28 Bean: Boy! It sure dug in the ground, didn't it? Oh, look at those pad marks! They're still there. Still the waffle imprints on it. Okay. What's next?

134:05:36 Conrad: Photo TV sector: f/8, 15, three pictures.

134:05:41 Bean: Okay. Let me move down.

134:05:43 Conrad: Hey, this cuff checklist sure helps do the job.

134:05:47 Bean: It sure does. Cadet Gibson checklist. Okay, Ed. Hey, look at that dirt's still on the footpad. It's going to make a great...

134:05:56 Conrad: My compliments to the CapCom.

[Armstrong and Aldrin each had a single checklist page sewn onto their suit sleeve. Apollo 12 and the subsequent missions all involved so many EVA tasks that multi-page checklists were essential. For Apollo 12, the checklist became a set of moderately stiff pages bound in a spiral wire - rather like a school notebook - but with the wire fixed to a metal band that conformed to the cylindrical shape of the astronaut's arm, convex upward. This configuration ensured that, when a page was turned, it would lie flat along the arm. The design was one of elegant simplicity and was so successful that, not only was it used in all the subsequent Apollo missions but also on Shuttle EVAs. A detail from Apollo 13 training photo 70-HC-83 is a good side view of Jim Lovell's cuff checklist.]

[Jones - "What do you remember about Ed's invention of the checklist?"]

[Bean - "I think what happened was we started out with a cuff checklist that had pages, but you couldn't keep the pages from flipping over...The pages would turn by themselves. We didn't have the spring that made the pages stay stiff so that you didn't have to go hunting. So Ed and the guys from the Flight Crew Operations Directorate went off...Because I remember you were complaining about it in training and saying, 'Look, I always have to find the page.' So they came back with this spring thing and said, 'Here it is. Now, when you move a page, it doesn't come back.' That was the breakthrough and maybe that's what Ed did. 'Cause we had to have checklists."]

[Gibson, from a 2002 e-mail reply to a question from Ulrich Lotzmann - "Bob Roberts in Flight Crew Support and I were challenged by Al Bean. He wanted a checklist everywhere so he could do everything with precision and not forget anything. We had checklists all over the descent stage of the LM, the ALSEP and all the tools. But that was not sufficient. When far from the LM, we could not do much for him. Thus, we came up with the obvious solution: take notes with him and make them easily accessible. The cuff checklist was born. Bob came up with the details of the mechanism. I, Al, Bob and the scientists contributed to the content. It worked well in that Al and Pete had all the data they needed and it could be changed close to the launch.]

[On a related note, three brief checklists - one on the front edge of the MESA, one on the side of the TV camera, and one in a well near the front of the MESA - can be seen attached to the Apollo 11 training MESA in photographs starting with S69-31562.]

[Al’s mention of ‘glass’ refers to the glass-covered thermal radiator on the top of the larger of two Electronics Compartments - called the Large Box - on the Surveyor. Figure 3-10 from the Final Apollo 12 Lunar Surface Operations Plan. The Large Box is on the righthand (south) side of the diagram. As indicated on pages 2 and 3 in document devoted to post-flight examination of the returned Surveyor III components, Pete and Al were asked to bring back samples of the glass from both the Large Box and the nearby Small Box ‘if feasible’. At this early stage of their work on the Surveyor, they hadn’t had a good look at the Small Box. A detail from AS12-48-7137 shows the top of the Large Box.]

134:06:24 Conrad: Yeah.

134:06:25 Bean: It's going to be a tough shot.

134:06:27 Conrad: That's "photo TV sector: f/8, 15, and three". Now I have (reading) "photo scoop imprints: f/8, 5, two in stereo".

134:06:37 Bean: Okay. Wait. I'm not finished yet. (Pause)

[Al takes AS12-48- 7101 to 7104, starting at the scoop and working back along the scoop arm to the area of the Surveyor TV camera. Dave Byrne has assembled a portrait of the scoop arm.]

134:06:49 Conrad: Okay.

134:06:50 Bean: Let me get a quick shot of it. About eight feet and I'll shoot it. (Pause)

[Al's close-up of the Surveyor color chart is AS12-48- 7105.]

134:07:00 Conrad: "Photo scoop imprints: f/8, 5 feet, two in stereo."

134:07:04 Bean: Okay. The scoop imprints look different than I imagined.

134:07:08 Conrad: Okay.

134:07:09 Bean: Let me try them. And a little closer.

134:07:13 Conrad: You have to really bend over.

134:07:15 Bean: I know you do.

134:07:16 Conrad: Back up! (Pause) Where you're shooting, Al?

134:07:21 Bean: Shooting right there where the scoop made the scoops.

[Al's photos of the Surveyor trenches are AS12-48- 7106 to 7109.]

134:07:32 Bean: Wait just a second; I'll get it. I'm going to...I know what I want to do. Okay. Okay. I'll get the footpads now. And I'll also get the dirt that's on them. (Pause) That looks good. (Pause)

[Al's photos of the upslope footpad are AS12-48- 7110 and 7111. Journal Contributor Lunateg has compared details in the Hasselblad images with those in TV images returned by Surveyor III during its mission. Detail are given in the 7110 caption.]

134:07:53 Conrad: Disturbed surface by the footpad-2 area.

134:07:56 Bean: Okay. Then take photo.

134:07:58 Conrad: "FP-2 area: f/8, 5, in stereo."

134:08:03 Bean: Okay. Will do.

134:08:05 Conrad: (Garbled) it.

134:08:07 Bean: Yeah, that disturbed it all right. (Pause)

[As per checklist, Al disturbed the soil near the up-Sun footpad and took two more pictures, AS12-48- 7112 and 7113.]

[One of their last tasks before leaving the Surveyor will be to collect some of the rocks which had been examined by the Surveyor team in 1967. See the discussion at 134:30:06.]

134:08:33 Bean: Okay. (Pause) Get a little bit to the east of...Looks pretty good. The engine is still green.

134:08:43 Conrad: Yeah.

[This photo is AS12-48- 7114. In the black-and-white photo, the vernier engine appears dark gray. See a labeled version.]

134:08:49 Conrad: (reading the top item on CDR-15)) "Photo large box A: f/8, 5 feet, one picture."

134:08:55 Bean: Okay. Say that again now. I was checking something else, real quick.

134:09:02 Conrad: Okay. The big box.

134:09:04 Bean: Okay.

134:09:05 Conrad: At 5 feet.

134:09:06 Bean: Five feet.

134:09:07 Conrad: f/8.

134:09:09 Bean: Okay. Will do. (Pause)

[Al takes a stereopair, AS12-48- 7115 and 7116.]

134:09:17 Bean: Okay.

134:09:19 Conrad: And they want you to smoke that over carefully (that is, examine the mirror) and photo...wipe and then photo the...

134:09:26 Bean: Yeah; I'll be careful. Let me look and see what it looks like. Houston, not a bit of this glass is cracked. One little piece down here looks like it no longer reflects, but other than that, it's in perfect condition. A little warped - (some) segments warped - but, other than that, it looks pretty much the same (as the mock-up they used in training). The thing that's the most amazing to me is how it's turned so brown!

134:09:51 Gibson: Roger. We copy that, Al.

134:09:52 Bean: Pete, if I wipe it with my...(Responding to Gibson) I'm going to wipe it, but not with my glove. I'm going to wipe it with this little cloth that protects my wrist ring. It doesn't have anything structurally associated with it.

[Al is protecting his suit from cuts or the presence of any corrosive agents deposited on the mirrors by the Surveyor engine exhausts. He will take AS12-48- 7117 at about 134:10:26, after he does the wipe.]

134:10:11 Bean: Let me wipe a couple of spots, though it might...It's going to be tough to show this, Pete. It's in a shadow. Give it a go, though. I don't think the pictures are going to show you much, Houston. Because it's...Well, we'll give it a go, but ...

134:10:25 Conrad: They're better than no pictures at all.

134:10:26 Bean: That's right. That's exactly right. (Pause) Okay. Got it there, Pete. Ready for the next one.

134:10:34 Conrad: Okay. Photo small box: f/8, 5 (feet), one (picture).

134:10:38 Bean: Okay. Now that's pretty much in the shadow. I'm going to open it (the f-stop) up a little bit.

134:10:42 Conrad: That's my shadow.

134:10:43 Bean: No, no, no. It's in the shadow of the landing radar or the instrument box.

[Al's photo of the small box is AS12-48- 7118.]

134:10:50 Bean: I did.

134:10:52 Conrad: There's no way that thing can slide down the hill on us, the way it's dug in.

134:10:57 Bean: Uh-uh. Okay, now let me get that footpad. That's a beautiful shot there. We're going to do footpad 3, I guess it is, or is that 1?

134:11:05 Conrad: Footpad 3.

134:11:06 Bean: Okay. And that's going to be in f/8, probably. It's pretty low; let me try 5.6. (To Houston, louder than he's been talking to Pete or, for that matter, to Houston, lately) That aft honeycomb shock absorber struck the dirt and looks like it took some of the shock. Other than that, the front one didn't appear to do that. Stereo there. Sure isn't going to slide down the hill though, that's for sure.

[Al's photos of footpad 1 (downslope) are AS12-48- 7119 and 7120.]

134:11:32 Conrad: Photo bay B...

134:11:34 Bean: Okay. Let me get over here.

134:11:35 Conrad: f/11, 15 (feet), one (picture).

134:11:37 Bean: Going to be a tough shot, because it's in the Sun, but I'll give it a go. Get over here; that might help it. (Pause) Back up a little bit more. (Pause)

134:12:02 Bean: How's that for 15 feet, Pete?

134:12:04 Conrad: You're more than 15.

134:12:05 Bean: Okay.

134:12:08 Conrad: Now, you're good.

134:12:09 Bean: Okay. (Pause)

[Al takes two photos, AS12-48- 7121 and 7122, aiming up to catch the solar array in the second one.]

134:12:15 Bean: I know it. I'm trying to shoot the top of it. Give them a few extras. Okay. Go ahead (with the next item on the checklist).

134:12:22 Conrad: Okay. "Photo solar array," you got. "Photo footpad 3."

134:12:25 Bean: Boy, those solar arrays are not blue anymore; they're black. Hey, how do you do that (that is, how can he get the picture he wants)? Let me try it from here. What's the solar array setting?

134:12:41 Conrad: f/5.6, 15 feet, one photo.

[This photo is AS12-48- 7123.]

134:13:01 Conrad: (Reading the sixth item on CDR-15)) "Photo footpad 3. f/11, 5 feet, one photo."

134:13:06 Bean: All right, got it in sight. It dug in real well, too. It's probably...In fact, it's dug in right to the top of the (garbled)...

[Frame 7124 is an up-Sun photo of the north footpad.]

134:13:23 Bean: Okay. There's the Canopus seeker.

[Al has noticed an instrument that was used to orient the Surveyor relative to the bright star Canopus during the trip out from Earth. A detail from 7125 highlights the Canopus seeker - also known as the Canopus Sensor - which is the cyclinder with the black horn sticking out to the right. See, a vertical view of Surveyor - minus the solar panels - from a 14 September 1966 NASA Press Release.]

[Al's photo of the Canopus seeker and the fractured glass is AS12-48- 7125.]

[The Surveyor bounced down the crater wall a short way after it's initial touchdown. Pete has just seen that first contact point.]

134:13:45 Conrad: No. Nothing I (Garbled under deteriorating comm) That's that noise again that we had yesterday, remember?

134:13:52 Bean: Okay. Now I photograph the trenches, right?

134:13:57 Conrad: Yeah.

134:13:58 Bean: Okay. (Pause)

134:13:59 Conrad: Hey, this is so much easier working around than in one g in our practice; it's unbelievable.

[Jones - "I gather that, in training for this task, you worked on a slope?"]

[Conrad - "Yes. They had the Surveyor mounted on a slope. 12 degrees or whatever."]

[Bean - "There in the building. In fact, if you look at those training photos, you'll see it setting like this."]

[Training photo KSC-69PC-546 shows Al photographing the Surveyor mock-up in the training building during a 'press-invited' session on 6 October 1969, six weeks before the mission. The black lettering on his RCU tells us that this is Al.]

[In one-sixth g, they have much less tendency to slide down slope than they would on Earth.]

[Bean, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "It wasn't very difficult, I didn't think, to operate on that slope. It wasn't particularly slippery. One of the things I wondered about beforehand was, when once we got down the slope, we wouldn't have a good sense of vertical and we'd tend to lose our balance. But that wasn't the case at all. It was just like a 12-degree slope on Earth. I didn't have any tendency to slip down, and I wouldn't hesitate to try a steeper slope. But I do think that having a strap or tether that you could use - in the event that you got down into too steep a slope, to help you get back out - is a good idea. It probably ought to be a standard piece of equipment on the following missions. As Pete brought out earlier, it would have been nice to go down to the bottom of that slope (at Bench Crater) to the material that looked melted. Our strap was only about 10 meters long, and I would recommend that, as a standard piece of equipment, that you put a strap about 30 meters long in a saddle bag or somewhere in your equipment. (The Apollo 14 crew had a 100 foot - 30 meter - tether.) That way, you could help a man down the side of a slope. He could just carry that strap down to the bottom and pick up any rocks he wanted to get, and then you could help him back up. I don't think you would have any trouble; you would have to use discretion in case you got halfway down and found out the sides were a little more slippery than you thought."]

134:14:10 Gibson: Roger, Pete. Good way to have it.

134:14:12 Bean: Trenches at 5 feet? 5 feet or 15 feet?

134:14:18 Conrad: What are you photo-ing, Al?

134:14:19 Bean: The trenches.

134:14:21 Conrad: "Photo the scoop trenches at 5 feet, f/8 in stereo."

134:14:25 Bean: Well, I'll just...

134:14:27 Conrad: Watch it now; you're going to get dust on them.

134:14:30 Bean: I'm watching real close.

134:14:33 Conrad: Now, you're farther than 5 feet.

134:14:34 Bean: Gotta move. You're right.

134:14:37 Conrad: That a boy. That's it. (Pause)

[Al's cross-Sun trench photos from the north are AS12-48- 7126 to 7129.]

134:14:49 Conrad: Okay. Photo the TV mirror.

134:14:51 Bean: Okay. Well, the TV mirror is...

134:14:55 Conrad: f/8, 5 (feet), one picture.

134:14:59 Bean: That TV mirror is brown!

134:15:01 Conrad: Yeah, I...

134:15:03 Bean: It's no longer a mirror.

134:15:05 Conrad: No, it's brown because it's looking at brown, isn't it?

134:15:07 Bean: No, it looks like...

134:15:08 Conrad: Maybe it's got some coating on it. Yeah. It does. Why don't you stay right there, and I'll come in and wipe it?

134:15:15 Bean: Okay. Come on in and wipe it.

134:15:17 Conrad: Look it over close.

134:15:18 Bean: (I can) see the mechanical components down inside it.

134:15:21 Conrad: Yeah. (Pause)

134:15:29 Conrad: It's just got a...

134:15:29 LM Crew: ...fine dust on it.

[Al's first shot of the mirror is AS12-48- 7130.]

134:15:42 Conrad: No! Photo TV mirror: f/8, 5 feet...

134:15:49 Bean: Hold on. Okay, I goofed it. I'll take it again. (Pause)

[Al's second mirror photo is AS12-48- 7131.]

134:15:56 Conrad: Okay.

[The third mirror photo is AS12-48- 7132.]

134:16:03 Conrad: Yep. Here you go.

134:16:06 Bean: Okay. (Pause)

134:16:10 Conrad: Why don't you get yourself in the photo, too?

[Pete is suggesting that they take some tourist photos of each other standing in front of the Surveyor. They will start with Pete.]

[In going through the photos and trying to figure out which astronaut is in which picture, we discussed the clues that are available for distinguishing them. On later missions, the Commanders wore red stripes on their helmets, PLSSs, sleeves, and legs and the job of telling a Commander from a Lunar Module Pilot is an easy one. Here, the clues are subtler.]

[Conrad - "I had the parts bag on and (looking at one of the pictures) I'm not sure that isn't a strap right there. But you'd have to look closer."]

[Bean - "That's right. That's one of the big clues. The secret is to get a magnifying glass and look for the straps (for the parts bag coming over the top of the PLSS), and that's the biggest clue."]

[A pre-flight photo shows the upper and lower straps on the lefthand side. Compare with a detail from AS12-48-7071, which shows the upper straps on both sides. The upper and lower straps on the left side are visible in both of Al's tourist pictures of Pete at the Surveyor, AS12-48-7134, and are indicated in a detail from 7134.]

[Conrad - "Well, that and the tongs."]

[Bean - "How do you know I haven't got a pair of tongs?"]

[Conrad - "You never had the tongs. We only had one pair of tongs and they never came off my clip."]

[Bean - "I didn't have any on the tool carrier I could have taken?"]

[Conrad - "Uh-uh. There was one tongs, one hammer, one shovel..."]

[Bean - "That's the answer. I never had your tongs."]

[We checked the tool list and confirmed that there was only one pair of tongs.]

[Bean - "You always had one. Whether I had one once in a while was a question."]

[Conrad - "I may have taken it off the clip and given it to you. (True) But I always took it back and put it on the clip." (Also true)]

[Bean - "Okay, that's it."]

[Conrad - "I want to tell you the reason that I think that we brought the tongs home...(Certainly, the tongs) wouldn't fit in the ETB, okay? The hammer and the shovel would fit in the ETB and we got it up there (to the cabin to bring home). If I'm not mistaken, I crawled up the ladder and got in the LM and had the sumbitch (tongs) still on."]

[Bean - "That's right. I remember that."]

[Conrad - "And then we didn't throw it away."]

[Bean - "You didn't know you had it on."]

[Conrad - "That's right. I'd forgotten to take it off. Taking it off's nowhere on the checklist."]

[Bean - "I think, in the cabin, you said, 'Gee, I've still got this on me.' And you just kept it."]

134:16:43 Bean: (Chuckling) You got a calibrated eye, huh? (Pause)

[Al's pictures of Pete are AS12-48- 7133, and 7134. Patrick Vantuyne as created a red-blue anaglyph ( 393k.]

134:16:52 Bean: Okay.

134:16:54 Conrad: Okay, Houston. I'm jiggling it (as shown in 7134). The Surveyor is firmly planted here; that's no problem. Okay, Al. We're ready to start getting the TV camera.

134:17:03 Bean: Okay.

[After they finish taking each other's pictures, they will remove some Surveyor parts for placement in a vacuum can and, then, the Surveyor's TV camera for return to Earth. The fact that the Surveyor is firmly planted means that it's not likely to start sliding farther into the crater as they work around it.]

134:17:10 Bean: Hey, Pete, you want to do something for me first?

134:17:11 Conrad: Yes, sir. Okay. I sure will. (Long Pause)

[They are trading places so that Pete can take a picture of Al with the Surveyor.]

134:17:42 Bean: Okay.

[Pete's pictures of Al are AS12-48- 7135 and 7136.]

134:18:04 Bean: Go some...

134:18:05 Conrad: Can you get the tool (the bolt cutters) off my back?

134:18:09 Bean: Yeah, just a second. (Pause)

134:18:15 Conrad: All right, we're going to have to start moving out.

134:18:18 Bean: I know it. Okay. "Retrieve cutter and can".

[The 'can' is a vacuum-sealed container variously called the Sealed Environmental Sample Container or the Special Environmental Sample container and is identical in form and function with the Lunar Environmental Sample Container Peter and Al filled with trench soil collected at 132:59:04. The 'can' they are about to use will protect a Surveyor cable and some tubing to see if they harbor lunar or terrestrial organisms. Pete will do the cutting while Al holds the can. Journal Contributor Ulli Lotzmann has provided a detail from Pete's checklist showing Ernie Reyes's two 'snoopy' astronauts carrying the bolt cutters at the Surveyor.]

134:18:39 Conrad: Okay.

134:18:40 Bean: You now have a cutter.

134:18:41 Conrad: Huh?

[Training photo 69-H-1616 shows Al examining the TV camera while Pete waits with the boltcutters.]

134:18:45 Conrad: Okay. One cutter.

134:18:47 Bean: Okay. Looking good. (Pause) Houston, can you hear us okay?

134:18:57 Gibson: Al, say again.

134:19:00 Bean: Suppose they can't hear us anymore?

134:19:02 Gibson: Negative, Al. We read you loud and clear.

134:19:07 Bean: Okay. I thought so, but...

134:19:09 Conrad: I think that (Surveyor TV electrical) cable's arranged a little bit differently than the one we trained on, Al.

134:19:13 Bean: Yeah. It looks it. (Pause)

134:19:15 Conrad: (Garbled)

134:19:17 Bean: (Garbled) ready to capture that cable (in the can). (Pause) We are ready.

134:19:25 Conrad: Okay. (Pause) Now, this cable here...

134:19:36 Bean: It's not a Y-cable at all, is it?

134:19:37 Conrad: Uh-uh. Well, it is a Y-cable but it's of a different manner (than the one they trained on).

134:19:41 Bean: Not gonna...Okay.

134:19:44 Conrad: Ahhhh, here's something else they didn't tell us (about) either. Look at that!

134:19:50 Bean: A few extra ones.

134:19:51 Conrad: Yeah. I'll tell you what. You're just going to have to get that...

134:19:55 LM Crew: (Garbled)

134:19:55 Conrad: ...cut it on the other side.

134:19:57 Bean: Just wait a second. Let me get in there (with the can).

134:19:59 Conrad: Okay. Drop that (piece of cable) in the can. That's the only piece they're going to get that way. (Pause) Okay.

134:20:08 Bean: Okay. Watch it.

134:20:09 Conrad: Yeah. I've got to cut the cable back here, though. Okay.

134:20:13 Bean: Why don'tcha...Why don'tcha...Why don't you give that a cut right there, Pete.

134:20:16 Conrad: All right.

134:20:18 Bean: Give them a couple of pieces.

134:20:19 LM Crew: There you go.

134:20:20 Conrad: All right, back off.

134:20:22 Bean: Okay, you've got to cut this cable too, Pete.

134:20:25 Conrad: No, it goes around the camera.

[They will leave a piece of cable attached to the camera and will wrap it around the camera before putting the camera in the Surveyor parts bag.]

134:20:28 Conrad: Oh, no, it doesn't either. Ha, ha. Under those tubes, isn't it?

134:20:31 Bean: Yup.

[This suggests that the cable is routed differently than was its counterpart on the training mock-up, and that it is routed under some support/electrical tubes and will be difficult to remove.]

134:20:33 Bean: (Garbled under Pete) a few extras.

134:20:35 Conrad: It is. It's wired entirely different...

134:20:37 Bean: (Garbled under Pete) You've got to cut (on) the other side of that little hole.

134:20:38 Conrad: Yeah, I know.

134:20:39 Bean: There you go.

134:20:40 Conrad: Now, you've got it. (Garbled). (Pause)

134:20:50 Bean: All right, did you see that material disintegrate? Hey, that cuts easy. (Pause) Now, which tube did you want to give me, Pete? (Pause) Do you want me to hold one of those tubes?

134:21:04 LM Crew: (Garbled)

[After the piece of cable, they are supposed to get samples of painted tubing.]

134:21:16 LM Crew: (Garbled)

134:21:17 Bean: Yeah. Okay. Go. (Pause)

134:21:17 Conrad: (Having trouble getting the tube cut) (They've) got to be kidding.

134:21:30 Bean: Got it? No, it's too big (to go in the can).

134:21:33 Conrad: Huh? Too big? Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! (Chuckles)

134:21:38 Bean: Okay. (Garbled) Okay. Let me put the top on (the can). (Long Pause)

134:21:58 Conrad: It has kind of weathered a little bit in 3-1/2 (years) - 31 months - hasn't it? (Garbled) be here, though.

134:22:06 Bean: Tell you what. That antenna is still pointed right to Earth. (Garbled) Never had to move. (Pause)

134:22:18 Conrad: Okay, that's done.

[According to his checklist, Al is now supposed to put the can in the parts bag on the back of Pete's PLSS.]

[Bean - "I think (that) since we keep talking all the time, it's a method to alert Houston that we're talking to them."]

[Jones - "Just increase the volume a little bit."]

[Bean - "Yeah. Then they know we're talking to them and then we get back to talking to each other. It's just kind of a signal. You know, when you ask somebody else to pay attention. If we were talking to each other and then started talking to you...If we could see you looking at us, we probably wouldn't talk louder. But he's over there in Houston and we don't know if he's paying any attention to us. I think it probably makes more sense (as an explanation). Yeah! I think it's just the fact that you want to separate this conversation from the one you've been having for the last ten minutes."]

[Next, they will collect a piece of unpainted aluminum tubing - the shiny tube Pete is about to collect - and the TV camera. This is the item "AL (for 'aluminum') Tube Sample", one up from the bottom of CDR-15.]

134:22:51 Conrad: Yeah. The paint flaked off.

134:22:53 Bean: Yeah. It looks like a shiny mirror, some kind of thermal coating.

134:22:59 Conrad: I hate to tell you this, (straining with effort) but the Surveyor tool isn't going to (grunts)...

134:23:04 Bean: Hey, that's a tougher tube then we're supposed to have, gang. (Chuckles) I'd say forget that tube and find another one.

134:23:09 Conrad: Yeah, or I'm going to break the (cutting) tool.

134:23:11 Bean: I know it. That's...That tube on the back we are supposed to collect, Houston, is just a little bit stronger than it's supposed to be - for (supporting) a glass mirror.

134:23:20 Gibson: Roger. We copy.

[Conrad, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "The only trouble (he had at the Surveyor) was one tube that I couldn't cut. I bent on it as hard as I could and I hardly made a dent on it. I don't know what kind of a metal tube it was, but I don't think it was quite up to snuff. It had to be a thicker-wall tube than they told us, because the five TV (support) tubes were cut with hardly any effort at all."]

[Bean, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "We did get a tube, however."]

[Conrad, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "Yes, it was a support tube to the large electronics box."]

134:23:22 Conrad: Wait a minute.

134:23:25 Bean: That's a shiny tube; that would be a good one if we could cut it.

134:23:29 Conrad: Where?

134:23:30 Bean: Right there.

134:23:31 Conrad: Oh, that's even thicker!

134:23:32 Bean: Yeah, I guess it looks it, doesn't it?

134:23:33 Conrad: Get the camera. Forget the tube.

134:23:36 Bean: Why don't you bang it (the cutters)...

134:23:37 Conrad: Yeah, I'm going to break the tool...

134:23:38 Bean: ...once on the glass (to break it so they can get some pieces to take back to Earth)?

134:23:38 Conrad: ...no kidding. (Pause)

134:23:43 Bean: Hey, Pete?

134:23:44 Conrad: Huh?

134:23:45 Bean: Why don't you bang that glass once? (Pause)

134:23:48 Conrad: Won't even break.

134:23:50 Bean: (Laughing) That's pretty good glass, Houston. Can't even break it with our...There you go. Take a piece off, and I'll collect it and put it in. Kind of crunches, doesn't it? Wait a minute; that's not glass!

[Conrad, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "We got everything but the glass sample. The glass was bonded to the metal sheet. We curved the metal sheet but all we got were fine slivers of glass, so we stopped messing around with it."]

[In a 12 October 1969 memo concerning Apollo 12 Surveyor III safety review and recomendation, Jim McDivvit, as manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office at MSC wrote "A portion of the Apollo 12 mission would be devoted to an examination of Surveyor III and recovery of its TV camera and thermal-switch glass mirror fragments, MSC announced. Recovery of the glass fragments was important to Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to provide data for designing thermal switches for the Mercury-Venus Mariners to be flown in 1973. However, recovery of the splinters could easily cause cuts and leaks in the astronauts' gloves; extreme caution would be required. The following procedures were recommended: use of a line during the initial solo descent into the Surveyor III crater, to determine the footing and climbing situation before both crewmen descended into the crater, and recovery of thermal-switch glass fragments by a suitable tool such as tweezers, to prevent glove damage." Perhaps because no suitable tool could be devised for use with the gloves, it appears that Al planned to collect piece of glass large enough not to pose a danger to his glove, if one could be found. See Al's EVA-2 checklist page 16.]

134:24:08 Bean: That's sure not what we tried out in Houston, I mean, at the Cape. That's metal with glass (garbled under Pete).

134:24:15 Conrad: You'd better take a picture of it, though, it's very interesting...

134:24:18 Conrad: Excuse me.

134:24:19 Bean: I've got to get over where you are to do it (that is, to take the picture).

134:24:20 Conrad: Yeah. (Pause)

134:24:23 Bean: Amazing. This is a tough shot, too. I'll get over on this side of it.

134:24:28 Conrad: Okay.

134:24:29 Bean: Okay, that'll be a good shot. Okay. Five feet. (Garbled)

134:24:43 Conrad: Come on, boy; we got to move!

134:24:45 Bean: (Garbled; Pause) Got it.

[This picture is AS12-48- 7137.]

134:24:55 Bean: All right. Wait, I got to open your (Surveyor parts) bag! Stop!

134:24:59 Conrad: I'm not going anywhere.

134:25:01 Bean: Okay, babe. Got to open your bag. (Pause)

134:25:07 Bean: That opens good.

134:25:08 Conrad: Okay.

134:25:09 Bean: All the parts are working. (Pause) Thanks to Joe Roberts, this bag's going to do the job, I think. There. (Pause) He worked hard on this thing. Let me reach down in there and open it up now. (Pause)

[Conrad, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "I guess I ought to finish off one thing on the Surveyor. My hat's off to Al (Bean) and Joe Roberts and all the people that worked on that bag we carried on our back. It worked out extremely well. Al's suggestion made earlier (reproduced after 134:34:54) was that we should consider carrying a lot of equipment on the back of the PLSS for documented samples and so forth. It's better than carrying that tool carrier around. You could hang a considerable amount of gear on the back of two PLSSs and you work as a team. I think it would be a lot handier."]

[Bean - "And then they put tools and bags on the side of the PLSS for the later missions, and it was even better."]

134:25:40 Bean: Yeah, it works great! Thing popped out wide open. Best it's ever been. Uh-oh.

[Conrad - "It's a beta-cloth bag and, in 1 g, every time you tried to open it up, it folded back up again. But in one-sixth, you open it up (and) it just stays."]

[Bean - "You had to keep it open because, otherwise when you put the TV in there, it wouldn't go in because it had all those sharp edges."]

[We couldn't figure out what Al means by "all the parts are working" at 134:25:09.]

[Conrad - "Well, we got some way of tying that bag top because we're worried about running across the surface and losing anything. And that didn't happen, either, even though it's all flailing around."]

134:25:49 Bean: Well, it's not...Get a little open here. Every second I spend opening it up is worth about 2 minutes when you try to put it (the Surveyor camera) in the bag. (Pause) Okay. I think it's open now.

134:26:00 Conrad: Hey, I got a shiny tube for you.

[This is the support tube on the electronics box Pete mentions in the 1969 Technical Debrief.]

134:26:07 Conrad: Here. Wait a minute. Watch your hand.

134:26:09 Bean: Okay. (Pause) Cut. That a boy. Good cut.

134:26:12 Conrad: Ah!

134:26:14 Bean: Good cut. (Pause) Good one, Pete.

134:26:21 Conrad: Okay, two more tubes on that TV camera and that baby's ours. (Long Pause while they get into position)

[Jones - "Do either of you remember why they were particularly interested in the camera?"]

[Conrad - "Well, it had all the electronics."]

[Bean - "And it had gears, lubricants, electronics, glass, optics."]

[Conrad - "The other stuff...the other electronics...was buried amongst tubing and plumbing that they didn't want us to get in there and try and cut. The TV camera was the thing that was sticking out the most that was the easiest to get, that had a little bit of everything in it."]

[Pete then noted that, in the post-flight analysis, terrestrial bacteria were found on the Surveyor parts, despite significant efforts to sterilize the spacecraft prior to launch.]

[Conrad - "The thing that had the bacteria in it was the television camera. The Styrofoam in between the inner and outer shells. There's a report on that. I always thought the most significant thing that we ever found on the whole goddamn Moon was that little bacteria who came back and lived and nobody ever said shit about it."]

[Journal Contributor Marv Hein called my attention to a discussion in the NASA report, "Analysis of Surveyor 3 material and photographs returned by Apollo 12". Material in that report indicates that the survival of microbes was anticipated at the time Surveyor III was launched. "The precautions against the contamination of the Moon, once strict, have now been relaxed in view of our developing knowledge of the inhospitable environment for terrestrial life that exists on the lunar surface and the belief that landed contamination, if it survives, will remain localized. For these reasons, lunar landing spacecraft may have on board a low level of microbial life, they must be decontaminated but not sterile."]

[According to Hein, "The microbes were identified as 'alpha hemolytic Streptococcus mitis' in sample 32 extracted from foam insulation used between 2 aluminum plates of the camera circuit boards and extracted through a hole originally cut for the placement of electronic components. It is estimated that between 2 and 50 cells were isolated from the foam sample. There is significant discussion (in the NASA report) as to how it may have survived." Journal Contributor Ken Glover also notes that there is a distinct possibility that the microbes found in the Surveyor TV camera got there as a result of post-flight contamination. As of 2004, it seems generally accepted that the history of the particular microbes found in the Surveyor III parts will never be resolved.]

134:26:40 Bean: Go ahead.

134:26:42 Conrad: All right.

134:26:43 Bean: Let's get them. (Pause)

134:26:47 Conrad: There's one.

134:26:51 Bean: Let me get a grip on it (probably the TV camera) now.

134:26:52 Conrad: Okay. (Pause) (Excited) That's ours!

134:27:00 Bean: (Garbled under Pete laughter) we got her!

134:27:04 Conrad: Beautiful!

134:27:05 Bean: Turn around. Here, let me lay it on you man! (Hearty Conrad laugh) It'll fit right in that sack. (Laughing) Hey, is this ever lighter than that one in Houston!

134:27:16 Conrad: Let's get the (Surveyor) scoop while we're at it (and take it back to Earth).

134:27:18 Bean: Okay. I think I can hold that with one hand and open the bag. (Talking to the TV) Get in there. Get in that bag! There you go. In the bag! In the bag!

134:27:27 Conrad: In the bag?

134:27:29 Bean: Here, wait a second. Now, I've got to zip it up.

134:27:31 Conrad: Good show.

134:27:32 Gibson: Copy. It's in the bag.

134:27:36 Bean: (Responding to Gibson) It's in the bag! (Long Pause)

134:27:50 Bean: Okay, let me get around to the other side of you. It's a little hard to zip. This was one of the hard parts.

134:27:55 Conrad: Okay. Want me to bend over a little bit?

134:27:57 Bean: Yeah. I sure would.

134:27:58 Conrad: How's that?

134:27:59 Bean: Lean back. That'll do it. Just like that.

134:28:01 Conrad: Okay....

134:28:01 Bean: (Laughing) (Garbled, possibly "Don't bend over too far.")

134:28:03 Conrad: I won't. I (Garbled)

134:28:05 Bean: Stay right there. (Pause) One more pull and I've got it.

134:28:11 Conrad: Okay. (Pause) (Looking at his gauge) I've got lots of oxygen.

134:28:15 Bean: Okay; same here. Okay. Now, let me put the covers down on it.

134:28:20 Conrad: Before you get that thing buried too deep, how about letting me cut this (Surveyor) scoop off?

134:28:24 Bean: Well, okay; (but) the scoop goes right in here.

134:28:26 Conrad: Oh, you've got a place for it.

134:28:28 Bean: Well, sure. You didn't think you were going to leave without a scoop, did you?

134:28:30 Conrad: No. (Pause)

[The scoop is not mentioned in either of their checklists and Pete and Al thought that it might have been a task added only shortly before launch, something to do if they still had time after completing the other tasks. The following lines indicate that people knowledgeable about the Surveyor had pointed out a weak point where the scoop could be broken loose without much effort.]

134:28:37 Conrad: Nah, that's the problem.

134:28:38 Bean: That's what they said, but...Let me hold it. Maybe...

134:28:40 Conrad: Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

134:28:41 Bean: Wait a minute; let me help. (Pause)

134:28:43 Conrad: There, it broke.

134:28:43 Bean: You got it!

134:28:44 Conrad: Broke.

134:28:47 Bean: That's good.

134:28:48 Bean: Oh, ho. Smooth as silk!

134:28:49 Conrad: (Garbled) part right here.

134:28:50 Bean: Now, that's right. They wanted it ...No, they wanted it just aft of that joint. So cut it right there.

134:28:57 Conrad: Okay.

MP3 Audio Clip ( 5 min 18 sec )

134:28:58 Bean: Good cut. Now, they wanted that joint if they could get it. (Pause) No, you have to ro(tate)...No, you're okay.

134:29:09 Conrad: That's it. One scoop.

134:29:15 Bean: Outstanding! It's even got dirt in it! (Pete laughs) Bring back some of the original dirt! Okay. Got an extra sample for you, Houston. The scoop's got dirt in it.

134:29:21 Gibson: Well done, troops. Say, when you move out from here...Well, first of all, we show you're 3 hours into the EVA; and you're about 10 minutes behind nominal traverse we have figured out for a 4-hour EVA. However, your PLSS consumables are holding out real well, so we suggest you go on with the nominal traverse. We may want you to cut down to perhaps just one sample at Blocky (sic) Crater.

134:29:49 Conrad: Okay, that's what I wanted to do is go to Blocky Crater if you agree...

[During the 1991 mission review, both Pete and Al said that they thought that the stop at Block Crater had been their idea, a decision made during the mission.]

[Conrad - "It's always been my impression we were the ones that decided to stop there (at Block Crater)."]

[Bean - "I think so, too."]

[Although Block Crater is shown as one of the planned stops on the Landing Site 4 traverse and was mentioned as a stop by Ed Gibson in both the post EVA-1 discussions and in the pre-EVA-2 planning, one possible explanation for their memories is that a stop had been their idea originally and that they want to make sure that they get to do the stop, despite being behind the timeline. And further, although Houston is not urging them to drop the stop, Gibson's words about cutting the stop down to one sample may be prompting Pete to make clear his intentions of not completely deleting the stop. He is fully aware of the kinds of discussions that are probably going on in Houston and, in particular is aware of the conservatism that would argue for getting back on the timeline by eliminating the stop. This is not the first - or last - time Pete makes his wishes known in such matters.]

['Lookit' is a non-standard pronunciation of 'look at that'. Hearing it in Al's excited voice takes your editor 65 years back to his own childhood in the late 1940s and early 1950s.]

134:29:54 Bean: We thought this thing had changed color, but I think it's just dust. Look. We rubbed into that battery, and it's good and shiny again. Let me get a shot on it.

134:30:00 Conrad: Okay, go ahead.

[Al's picture of the battery is AS12-48- 7138.]

134:30:06 Gibson: Okay, Pete. Now, before you leave there, also, would you get some of those geosamples which we've discussed, as well as some of the loose soil from that area?

134:30:18 Bean: Will do. We'll do it right now.

134:30:21 Conrad: Okay.

[They want to collect some specific rocks that were visible in the Surveyor pictures. See, also, comments at 134:31:28 and 134:32:11.]

[Bean - "That's right, I remember."]

[Conrad - "Yeah, that's right. Is it on the checklist?"]

[Bean - "No, it's not. But I remember 'em now. In the Surveyor, they could see three or four rocks. They wanted us to go get those rocks (that) they'd been looking at all these years. (Pause) I don't see it on my checklist."]

[Conrad - "I don't see it on mine either."]

[Bean - "It must have been an add-on, after the checklist was stowed. Sort of like the scoop was an add-on after the checklist was stowed."]

134:30:23 Conrad: Here's this rock right here. Let me give the Surveyor tool (the bolt cutters) a heave.

134:30:27 Bean: Okay.

134:30:28 Conrad: We don't need it for anything, do we?

134:30:31 Bean: Houston, we don't need this Surveyor tool anymore, do we?

134:30:34 Gibson: If you've got the TV back at the LM already cut off, then there is no more need for it.

134:30:40 Bean: Okay.

134:30:40 Conrad: That LM ...That TV's...

134:30:44 Bean: Adios, tool.

134:30:47 Conrad: Okay. Al, have I got my scoop on?

[Pete has his shovel/scoop on the extension handle. He put it back on after they finished capping the core tube at about 133:35:43.]

134:30:53 Conrad: Here's this rock, right here.

134:30:54 Bean: Okay. Let me go get the sample bags. (Pause) Hey, that's a good one (that is, a good rock).

134:31:04 Bean: I don't think the (Surveyor) TV could see that one. (Garbled) it was too close.

134:31:08 Conrad: How about this one?

134:31:11 Bean: I'll come down with you. (Pause) Okay.

134:31:15 Conrad: All right, now. I'm trying to remember where that...(Garbled) some platey ones?

134:31:25 Bean: Here's a square one. I see one up there, right now.

[According to Bailey and Ulrich, this is sample 12064, a 1.2 kilogram piece of dolerite with cristobalite.]

134:31:31 Bean: I think it's right up here by this crater. Right up...I'll show you. Looks like...

134:31:36 Gibson: Pete and Al, Houston. Before you leave the area of the Surveyor, would you take a look back at the Surveyor and see whether the direction of the sunlight has any effect on the colors which you see? (Pause)

134:31:51 Bean: Direction of the...

134:31:52 Conrad: Wait, wait! Let me get this one in the bag, too.

134:31:54 Bean: Sorry. Didn't know you had it, Pete.

134:31:57 Conrad: Okay. (Answering Gibson) No, it's light brown wherever you look at it, up-Sun, down-Sun, or cross-Sun.

[Jones - "I had thought, reading through this thing, that the dust probably got there when you landed. But the thing that puzzles me a little bit about that is why, in a vacuum..."]

[Conrad - "The dust went all the way around. Now, it's possible - and I don't know this (for a fact) - that out at that distance, as we flew by, the plume could have gotten almost all the way around it."]

[Bean - "Particularly when you maneuvered like this (around the north side of the crater and then south between Surveyor and Head Craters), you could have given it a little burst."]

[Conrad - "But you'd still think that...Now, it's sitting on a slope; and you could picture stuff hitting the walls and bouncing back..."]

[Jones - "Getting on the south-facing surfaces..."]

[Conrad - "So you scatter and get some on the south side. Now, if we flew by up here (along the north side of the crater), the television camera was over on the northeast side and I can see where the television camera got pretty well covered. I can see how the mirror got covered real easy. But I don't know. I think the other thing which puzzles me is...We never saw any dirt move; but, for whatever the reason, even banging the cans it was hard to get dirt to come off. Yet, in the atmosphere in the cabin and in zero-g, the shit just floated right out of there. It didn't stick any more. I never figured that out."]

[Bean - "Plus you've got the vacuum effect. (Pete agrees). The dust stuck to everything so much better in the vacuum. The reason it was different in the spacecraft is because you don't have any vacuum anymore. So it seems to me that if you flew by it on Earth in a dusty crater, you wouldn't get hardly any dirt on it. But up there, you fly by it with the LM, in a vacuum in a dusty crater, (and) it's not inconceivable to me that you (would) get a fine layer all the way around. Because everything else got fine layers all the way around, with hardly any effort. Sort of an electrostatic effect."]

[Jones - "The way I understand it, as far as the sticking goes, is that the solar UV gives it an electrostatic charge and then, of course, as soon as you get back in the cabin, the charge goes away."]

[Conrad - "That I can understand."]

[Bean - "And that would make it stick all the way around. I can believe it. It sure had an attraction to that little chrome thing (the timer) we were going to take pictures with. Everything we had got covered with dust, in the vacuum. And later on (in the cabin), like you say, it floated out."]

134:32:06 Conrad: Yeah.

134:32:08 Bean: That's funny, because the dirt here is not brown.

134:32:11 Conrad: Look, is that the rock right there? (To Ed) You know, these rocks, as they showed in the Surveyor pictures, all have this soil built up around them.

[Unfortunately, Pete and Al do not take any pictures of these rocks that can be compared with the Surveyor pictures. However, see AS12-48- 7139.]

134:32:25 Bean: Yeah, they all have fillets around them. (Pause)

134:32:30 Conrad: I'm trying to remember where...I can't orient myself to the pictures, can you?

134:32:35 Bean: No, I think it's about...

134:32:37 Conrad: Should we grab this one right here?

134:32:39 Bean: That's a good rock right there.

134:32:41 Conrad: I don't know whether I can get that or not. Let me see. (Pause) Ooh! We'll get it. (Pause) That a boy. There you go. Okay, let's head for Blocky Crater. Pick up a couple of more of these in route.

134:33:11 Bean: Sounds good to me. Hey, let's get that brick-looking one over there (12064). I think that's one of them they saw there.

134:33:14 Conrad: Where?

134:33:15 Bean: Up the hill a little bit.

134:33:16 Conrad: This one?

134:33:18 Gibson: Pete and Al, we have comment on what you just said about brushing up against the battery case. Would you make sure that anything which you picked up against that battery case you clean off your EMU?

[Houston wants them to guard against the possibility that they've gotten corrosive battery chemicals - such as potassium hydroxide (KOH) - on their suits.]

134:33:34 Conrad: There wasn't any signs of KOH anywhere....

134:33:36 Bean: Yeah. We've looked, and...

134:33:37 Conrad: The battery case was tight.

134:33:39 Bean: Nice and tight and brown. (To Pete) Right here's the one; the square one, Pete.

134:33:44 Gibson: Roger.

134:33:45 Conrad: Where?

134:33:46 Bean: There.

134:33:48 Conrad: Okay. (Pause) That's about enough rocks, pal.

134:33:55 Bean: I think it is; that is, for here. Let me get it. Okay, you got it! Good show. (Pause)