Surveyor Crater and Surveyor III

Return to Orbit

 

Return to the LM and Closeout

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 ( 54 min 01 sec )

MP3 Audio Clip ( 39 min 34 sec )

[Brian McInall has created a Planimetric Map of activities during the return to the LM and EVA-2 Closeout.]

134:34:09 Bean: Okay.

134:34:12 Gibson: Al, do you have a sample bag number on that last one?

134:34:14 Bean: We can't...

134:34:16 Conrad: All those rocks are too big for sample bags...

134:34:19 Bean: They're all big rocks, Houston. They're all at least 6 inches in diameter, and I think these are some of the ones you wanted. It's kind of hard to tell without having a photograph on hand or something and standing there and studying it for a lot longer than I think we care to do it. (That is, it's hard to tell) just which rocks are which.

134:34:41 Gibson: Roger. (Pause)

134:34:45 Bean: It's pretty easy to move along on this slope. It's just a little bit deeper and it's a little bit softer. I'm going to take a break here, Pete, for just a few seconds.

134:34:54 Conrad: All right. (Yawning) I'm right with you. (Pause)

[Bean - "I say I'm getting tired because that HTC is heavy, now that we're getting all the rocks in there. And I can remember being a lot tireder trying to chase Pete here. He got way ahead of me, here. Where, other times, I was always fairly close. But I couldn't keep up. And that thing was hitting my legs more."]

134:35:04 Conrad: Uh-uh.

134:35:05 Bean: You don't have a chance to go from side to side, like on level ground.

[Bean, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "The only thing I noticed about working on the inside of the (Surveyor Crater) slope was when we tried to walk out of it. It took a lot more work because you couldn't bounce from side to side and spring off your feet like you could on level ground. It just wore you out a little bit more, and I wouldn't be surprised if our heart rates wasn't up a little higher after coming out of the crater. But there was never any danger of slipping down in the bottom or anything like that. (A discussion of the Surveyor parts bag is omitted here, and is reproduced at 134:25:09.) The big pain with that tool carrier is that you have to hold it out from your body so that your legs don't bump into it as you walk, which means you have to hold it by one hand. That's not a big deal when it's light and there are no rocks in it; but when you start filling it with rocks, it gets to be a pretty good stunt to hold it out there for long periods of time. I was running two and a half miles a day towards the end of the training period to get my legs in shape, and my legs never suffered a bit. If I had it to do over again, I would run about a mile a day and spend the rest of the time working on my arms and hands, because that's the part that really gets tired in the lunar surface work. If we could somehow eliminate that hand-carried tool kit and mount those things on the back of the PLSSs, half on the CDR's and half on the LMP's, you'd be able to move around the surface a lot better. Your hands would be more free. One could carry the shovel, one could carry the tongs, one could carry the gnomon, and you could end up doing better work faster by that technique than with your hands full of hand tool carrier."]

[We looked at the heart rates and noticed that, during this interval, Pete's is about 120 beats/minute while Al's is 140 or more.]

[Bean, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "I was going to say we probably ought to make a comment here. I know that they are trying some sort of wheel vehicle for the next flight. (The Mobile Equipment Transporter, a two-wheeled rickshaw also known as the MET, was flown on Apollo 14.) My impression was that you could use a wheel vehicle but you probably should have one with wide tires. Although the dust was only an inch deep or something like that (Al means that their footprints tended to be that deep), if you had some skinny tires it might give you a little problem. I don't know how big a diameter they ought to be, but they ought to be fat things to help it ride along the surface."]

[The MET's rubber tires were about 2 or 3 inches across and presented enough surface area that they typically sank in only 1 to 2 cm. The MET's main shortcoming was that it was so light - about 73 terrestrial kilograms fully loaded (12 kilograms lunar weight) - that it bounced around enough that it was hard to control.]

134:35:11 Conrad: Where?

134:35:12 Bean: Look at that boulder.

134:35:13 Conrad: Where?

134:35:15 Bean: Straight ahead. See it there?

134:35:17 Conrad: (Pointing?) That one?

134:35:20 Bean: No.

134:35:21 Conrad: Where?

134:35:22 Bean: Over the top of the hill. (Pause)

134:35:25 Conrad: Don't see where you are looking.

134:35:27 Bean: Right on the other side of the...About 200 yards that way. See that big boulder sitting up there; the biggest one we've seen since we've been here. See it?

134:35:37 Conrad: I don't see which one you're referring to. That one right there?

134:35:40 Bean: Yeah! Yeah.

134:35:43 Conrad: Oh, these down in here are bigger than that! Look at that right here! Look at that right there on your left! Look.

134:35:50 Bean: Let me turn around and look.

134:35:52 Conrad: Gigantic right there.

134:35:53 Bean: There's a big one.

134:35:54 Conrad: Left. Come further left.

134:35:58 Bean: That's a pretty good sized one.

[This may be the boulder shown in AS12-48-7139. The location from which 7139 was taken is marked in a labeled detail from the 5 February 2010 LROC image.]

134:36:04 Bean: Okay. (Pause) Hey, Pete.

134:36:11 Conrad: Huh?

134:36:13 Bean: This...There. It was kind of hung up on the gnomon. Let me get the gnomon and pick it up. It's not usually on there and...(Pause; breathing fairly heavily) (Garbled) gnomon. There you go. (Pause)

[Al's statement indicates that Pete is no longer carrying the gnomon and that Al is either carrying it or had it on the HTC. The last explicit mention of the gnomon was at 133:52:30 when they were on the south rim of Surveyor Crater.]

134:36:53 Bean: It is. What is it? That's got to be bedrock there, babe.

134:36:57 Conrad: Yeah. Let's get some samples of that.

134:37:00 Bean: Got to be.

[See Al's comment about the origins of Block Crater at 134:40:03. As he says there, the impact that dug Surveyor Crater dug to bedrock but any exposures were subsequently covered with regolith. The more recent Block Crater impact then dug through that accumulation and re-exposed pieces of the bedrock.]

134:37:32 Bean: I kind of thought it would be tough down in the crater, losing your balance, but it doesn't seem to be; it's just harder walking, that's all.

134:37:42 Gibson: Pete and Al, could we have EMU check?

[Again, Houston wants them to take a rest.]

134:37:49 Conrad: I am reading 36 percent oxygen. (Pause)

134:37:54 Bean: (Reassuring Houston) We're okay.

134:37:56 Conrad: We're going to sample...I'll tell you what we're going to do, Houston. We're going to get an EMU check here; we're going to pick up one sample out of this blocky crater; give you a partial pan of it because it's a pretty fantastically interesting crater with a lot of bedrock. Big chunky rocks blown up out of it...

134:38:11 Bean: Very angular. Very sharp.

134:38:13 Conrad: ...and get a sample of the double craters on the side of the Surveyor crater, and then my recommendation is (that) we've got so much gear and so many rocks, that we head for the LM and start packing it all up.

[Pete's reference to 'the double craters on the side of the Surveyor crater' isn't clear. He could be referring to Block crater and a similar-sized, older crater nearly in contact with it on the northeast. Or it could be a reference to a prominent pair inside the south rim of Surveyor crater. They passed near that pair on their way eastward from Halo crater. Although they stopped nearby and collected a sample at 133:50:16, that sample is clearly not ejecta from a fresh crater. From where they are standing on the north rim of Block crater, the double craters in the south wall of Surveyor Crater are in their field-of-view. Perhaps, Pete is thinking that those craters, like Block crater, would have given an opportunity to get bedrock from inside the rim of Surveyor crater. If so, he certainly isn’t thinking about going back around to do so.]

[During the 1991 mission review, Pete and Al repeatedly said that, in hindsight, they wished they had requested a further extension. Throughout the mission, Pete has shown that he is very much in charge of Apollo 12. Certainly, his statement "I'll tell you what we're going to do, Houston," is very much in character. Had he been intent on staying out longer, this might have been a good opportunity to get Houston thinking about a second extension and the fact that he didn't raise the subject is significant. As we will see throughout the remainder of the EVA, the timeline is his primary concern.]

[In a November 1994 telephone conversation, EVA Flight Director Gerry Griffin said that there were two issues that governed Houston's approach to the length of the EVA. The first was the status of the oxygen and other consumables in the PLSS. Although the PLSSs had sufficient supplies for about a six-hour EVA, the Apollo 11 EVA had been too short to provide significant data on use rates and, consequently, everyone was determined to be very conservative and leave plenty of margin at the end of the EVA. For later missions, as the PLSS engineers got more confident in their ability to monitor usage and as the mission planners got more confidence that the crews could get back in the LM and off the PLSSs without any difficulty, the margin requirements were relaxed. The second consideration, Griffin said, was a concern on the part of the Flight Surgeons and, to a lesser extent, Deke Slayton, the astronaut who was the Director of Flight Crew Operations, that the crews not get overtired. The surgeons monitored the crew's heart rates and oxygen and feedwater consumption and, Griffin said, there was "constant chirping" from the surgeons on his comm loop about crew fatigue and the need to have them well rested for the launch. Griffin also said that he and the others listened carefully to what the crew was saying and how they said it, looking for signs of fatigue. If the astronauts started to forget things in the checklist or had to ask the CapCom to repeat himself, it could be a sign of fatigue and might prompt the Flight Director to ask for an EMU check - a veiled suggestion that the crew take a short breather. Griffin said that, in hindsight, Houston was probably a bit too ready to hear fatigue in the voices of the early crews and, on the later missions, generally let the crews be the judges of their own well being. Usage of PLSS consumables for each EVA are shown on page 8-20 (0.2 Mb) in the Apollo 12 Mission Report.]

134:38:32 Bean: I sure could. Looks like about 36 percent.

134:38:36 Gibson: Copy. 36 on both. And how are you doing on that film?

134:38:42 LM Crew: Let me look.

134:38:43 Bean: That's a good question. Boy, my camera is completely dust-covered, Houston. I just hope that the lens is open...

134:38:48 Conrad: You have 121.

134:38:50 Bean: How's the lens?...

134:38:52 Conrad: Your lens is in good shape. Now, why don't you stand right here and get a partial pan - while you're resting - on this crater? Either side.

134:38:58 Bean: Hey, wait a minute. Look at this.

134:38:59 Conrad: What?

134:39:01 Bean: I can't (garbled)...Forget it. I thought I saw something. (Pause) I'm beginning to think that these rocks (garbled), if we'd just crack them open, we'd find they're plain old basalt rock on the inside. We just don't ever have any cracked. We ought to pound one of those things with a hammer in a minute. (Pause)

134:39:22 Bean: Okay, you want me to do a pan of this little part (that is, Block Crater) or the whole (Surveyor) crater, Pete?

[There is considerable ambiguity in Al's question and Pete thinks that "this little part" is the central mound of blocks in Block Crater and "the whole Crater" is all of Block.]

134:39:30 Bean: Okey-doke. (Pause) 74 (foot focus).

134:39:37 Conrad: Funny, I can notice that TV camera on my back. It moves my c.g. (center-of-gravity) further aft.

134:39:43 Bean: Does it feel okay back there?

134:39:45 Conrad: Oh, it feels okay.

134:39:46 Bean: Sure, the way to carry gear; it sure beats that thing (the Hand Tool Carrier). That's a pain.

[Conrad, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "I had about 20 Earth pounds extra hanging on the back of the PLSS. It caused me no c.g. (center-of-gravity) problems. I ran across the lunar surface, and it was not that tight (that is, the parts bag was free to bounce, at least a little). The bag and the camera itself were flopping around back there, and they didn't bother my stability one bit. I just kept whistling (that is, kept running easily). Our only concern was that it might fall off or something, which it didn't do; and so I think it (the parts bag)'s a good idea."]

[On Apollo 14, the crew had the MET for tool storage. On the J-missions, some tools were stowed on the back on the Rover but others were stowed on the PLSSs. Dave Scott and Jim Irwin had been the back up crew for Apollo 12. Al's experience may have influenced their thinking about tool stowage during an EVA.

134:39:55 Bean: Sorry, that's what I...Okay, read you.

134:39:59 Conrad: Shoot way down into it; get a stereo of that thing with those big blocks down there.

134:40:03 Bean: Okey-doke. (Pause)

[Al took one picture of Surveyor Crater, AS12-48- 7140, which shows the tracks they made on their way down into the crater, as indicated in a labeled version.]

[Al takes a partial pan (assembly by Dave Byrne) consisting of AS12-48- 7141, 7142, and 7143.]

[Frames 7140 and 7141 combine to give a vertical view over Block Crater. Assembly by Dave Byrne.]

[Al then steps to his right to take a second partial (2 Mb high-resolution assembly by David Harland) consisting of 7144 to 7147.]

[Surveyor III can be seen at the left edge of 7141 and above Block Crater in 7144.]

134:40:40 Conrad: Now, I got the idea that the bedrock's not too deep (that is, the bedrock is not covered by much regolith), and that this (Surveyor Crater) was a big crater but it's very, very, very, very old. And then this thing came along and hit it...

134:40:50 Bean: That's right.

134:40:51 Conrad: ...and broke into the side of the bedrock that's been sticking out into this...

134:40:55 Bean: Yeah, and then threw it all out again.

134:40:55 Conrad: ...original crater, and threw it all out again.

134:40:59 Bean: Yeah, I think...

134:41:02 Conrad: Let's get a sample of that rock.

134:41:04 Bean: Yeah. Let's do. I think it's going to be the same (basalts that they've been sampling all day)...

134:41:05 Conrad: And then let's get out of here.

[This statement is indicative of Pete's concern with sticking to the timeline. He realizes that they are overdue at the LM and wants to get back. It also indicates that he is not thinking in terms of a second extension.]

134:41:12 Conrad: Yeah.

134:41:13 Bean: That's a good idea.

134:41:14 Conrad: Let's see. What looks like all the same? Right here?

[Pete is looking for a representative sample.]

134:41:19 Conrad: Okay. Get a stereopair right here. We don't need the gnomon; I'll put the...

[Pete's comment suggests either that they no longer have the gnomon with them or that Pete doesn't want to take the time to set it up and wait for it to stop oscillating.]

[Al is too far away for proper focus when he takes AS12-48-7148. He then steps forward and takes 7149 and, finally, steps to his left to take 7150.]

134:41:53 Gibson: 15D, Al.

134:41:56 Bean: Okay. Pete's going to put two or three rocks in here, just generally (selected); and I'll photograph them (that is, get some "afters") and we can see what he took. Couple of more. There's a good one. (Pause) Okay. You know, most of the rocks we've seen today is exactly like this.

[What Al is proposing to do is take a picture of the sampling site after Pete has finished picking up the samples with the tongs. A comparison of "before" pictures with the "afters" gives the geologists back home some good clues as to which rocks in the sample bags are which. So far in the EVA, Al has not been taking "afters" and, despite his stated intention, he does not take any "afters" here, either. Later crews will routinely take "afters". Note that, in Al's checklist section titled "Documented Sample", he is supposed to take a down-Sun picture after he and Pete "bag" the sample. The lack of "afters" will contribute to the general problem that people will have with post-flight identification the various unbagged samples. Here, Pete and Al are bagging the samples and they are 12045 to 12047. These three pieces of basalt have a total weight of just over 400 grams.]

134:42:16 Bean: Hey, there's some of that light-colored undersoil.

134:42:20 Conrad: You're right. (Pause)

134:42:28 Bean: Okay. You want me to get another sample bag?

134:42:30 Conrad: Nope. I want to start moving out.

134:42:33 Bean: Okay. Go.

134:42:35 Conrad: All right. (Pause)

[Pete may have started to move during this brief pause.]

134:42:47 Conrad: Okay.

134:42:48 Bean: Good. That's a good rock.

[Bailey and Ulrich are unable to suggest which of the unbagged samples this one might be, if it got back to Earth.]

134:43:05 Gibson: Pete, what we'd like to do is to get an estimate from you of how much you think you've got in the first SRC (Sample Return Container, the rock box) in terms of volume or weight.

134:43:16 Conrad: Well, in comparison to the zero-g (means one-sixth g) airplane let's see, the maximum load is 80 total pounds, right? I'm going to guess that the box that I sent up (after EVA-1) was about a 60-pounder. (Garbled) the box.

[Conrad - "We had a maximum-loaded box on a one-sixth-g profile (KC-135 training flight)."]

[Jones - "So you knew how that felt."]

[Empty, SRC-1 weighed 6.8 kilograms. The total weight of the samples returned in it was 14.8 kg, making a total of at least 21.6 kg (48 lb). The actual weight on arrival at the Lunar Receiving Lab was probably a bit higher because of such things as the weight of the core tube. Other moonwalkers remarked on how heavy things felt after spending a few hours handling only light objects. During the Apollo 12 traverses, Pete didn't carry any heavy items; the task of carrying the ALSEP packages and the HTC fell to Al.]

134:43:48 Conrad: Very good. I think that we're fairly close. (Pause)

134:43:57 Bean: I'll just bet you (that) everything we got here is really black basalt. All been colored just like that Surveyor.

[Al probably starts to move away from Block Crater at this point and can see Pete up ahead.]

134:44:06 Conrad: Huh?

134:44:08 Bean: Surveyor bag is bouncing. Well, it's okay. It's not hurting anything. (Long Pause)

134:44:36 Conrad: Al, you've got to get that close-up stereo camera (Gold Camera) going.

134:44:39 Bean: Okay. (Long Pause)

134:45:02 Conrad: Okay, Houston. CDR (Commander) is back at the LM.

[At some point before Al gets back to the LM, he stops and takes AS12-48- 7151 and 7152, both showing Pete back at the LM.]

134:45:21 Conrad: Okay. Very good. (Long Pause)

[They left the LM for Head Crater at about 132:00 and, therefore, have been on the traverse for about 2 hours and 45 minutes.]

[The EVA antenna - which Al describes as "the thing with the little umbrella on top" - is mounted on the top of the LM at the left rear, and is used to pick up transmissions from the OPS antennas.]

[The antenna is shown in AS12-46- 6749. Pete took this picture of the LM from the northeast. It shows Al working at the MESA. The EVA antenna is the tall, thin rod on the top of the spacecraft. The "little umbrella" is the cone-shaped feature near the top of the antenna. The antenna is hinged at the bottom. Apollo 14 photo AS14-66-9278 shows the EVA antenna from the southeast.]

[Bean - "It was stowed down (during flight operations). And before we got out, sometime in the checklist (Sur-26, right column, last but one paragraph), we went to the back wall and there was a little knob and we rotated it to up. And, probably, we didn't get it stuck up straight. It's probably leaning over some way."]

[Jones - "And it was a mechanical system - not electronic - and you just turned the crank to raise it up."]

[Bean - "It's like an arrow on it and it's pointing down when it's stowed; and then you turn around and it goes 'click' and you think it's pointing up and maybe we moved it somewhat. And the photos will show exactly. 'Cause we took some photos from the back. Well, now that I think about it, the ones that we took from the back don't show the top. But I'm sure you can see it somewhere."]

[As Pete will tell Houston at 138:38:45, the reason it is not fully deployed is that he did not turn the crank all of the way when he was doing the deployment prior to EVA-1.]

134:45:56 Gibson: Roger, Al. Copy. How far off the nominal position was it?

134:46:02 Bean: Looks like...

134:46:03 Conrad: It's sticking up about 65 degrees.

134:46:08 Gibson: Roger, Al.

[Pete is probably not trying to look up at the antenna at this point. It would have been impossible to see from close to the spacecraft and, instead, he is remembering what it looked like during the run from Block Crater. During the J-missions, there are at least a few instances documented on TV of astronauts talking about a completed task while starting a new one. An example comes from the Apollo 17 ALSEP deployment. After emplacing a geophone several tens of meters east of the ALSEP site, Jack Schmitt stopped at a large boulder while on his way back to get the next geophone. He took a few seconds to look at the rock and then, while he was taking the next geophone west of the ALSEP site, described the boulder to Houston. Of course, Pete is describing the configuration of something on the spacecraft, which he would have noted at the same level of detail as Jack did of the crystal structure in a rock.]

[Pete is probably getting the rock box ready for packing. However, during the 1991 mission review we decided that, based on comments at 134:49:49 and 134:52:19, the thing that is driving him buggy is the LM TV cable. EArly in the EVA, at 131:52:16, Al used the boltcutters to cut the TV cable one foot below the adapter. Now, during the close-out, Pete tries repeatedly to shove the cable out of the way under the spacecraft so that he doesn't get tangled up in it.]

134:47:07 Conrad: Hopefully.

[Tapping sounds can be heard intermittently for several minutes on the audio tapes. At first, we thought somebody might have been hammering on a rock but later decided that it was more likely to be Pete's microphone tapping on his neckring as he leans over the rock box.]

[Jones - "Did you try to break open one of those rocks at this point?"]

[Conrad - "No."]

[Bean - "I'm sure I wouldn't, because I'm sure I was tired and it seems to me I was way behind (Pete, both physically in the sense that he is not yet back at the LM and in the timeline)."]

[Conrad - "I can't imagine that I spent a lot of time pounding on a rock."]

[Bean - "One of the mistakes we made was thinking you could knock pieces off of rocks in a reasonable way. It's better just to hunt little ones nearby, which were the same things."]

[Al is saying that, early in the EVA, he had to push down on the HTC in order to get the legs to sink far enough into the soil to give it some stability. Now, with the weight of all the rocks in the bag, it sinks in a short way of its own accord.]

134:47:44 Gibson: Where are you on that, Al?

134:47:49 Bean: I'm right to the left rear of the...It looks like I'm between the plus Y and minus Z strut, (that is, northeast of the LM) and it looks like it really washed a lot of dirt off in this direction. If I look back behind me,...

134:48:03 Conrad: Hey, Al?

134:48:04 Bean: (Garbled)

134:48:05 Conrad: Al?

134:48:06 Bean: Yeah.

134:48:07 Conrad: Let's get the...

134:48:08 Bean: Need some rocks?

134:48:09 Conrad: Get the rocks over here. Come on. We can't baloney all day. We'(ve) got to get out of here (that is, get back in the spacecraft and get ready for launch at 142:03).

134:48:14 Gibson: We concur, Pete.

[As will be discussed later, Pete and Al will wind up spending two of their six and a half hours in the LM with virtually nothing to do. In hindsight, this moment - when Al is trying to describe the effect of the engine exhaust - would have been a golden opportunity to slow down, pick up a few more rocks, and take advantage of their ample remaining supplies of oxygen and cooling water. However, Pete is concerned about staying on the timeline and, as he comments below, isn't in a frame of mind to deviate from it.]

134:48:21 Bean: There it is.

134:48:22 Conrad: Stick your camera (the CDR Hasselblad, which Al has mounted on his RCU with Mag 48 attached) in the ETB and get the film can (meaning Mag 49) out of there (meaning the HTC bag), and I'm going to start packing up the gear. (Pause)

134:48:38 Bean: Okay, here is the (CDR) camera. I'm not sure...I guess all this will fit in here (in the ETB); our cameras and everything, complete with this (LM) TV camera.

134:48:48 Conrad: Okay. (Pause) Don't lift it up, Al, or my rock box will go.

134:48:53 Bean: Okay.

134:48:56 Conrad: That a boy. (Pause)

[Jones - "Are the ETB and the rock box both on the MESA?"]

[Conrad - "Yeah."]

[Bean - "The ETB was strapped right next to it. Probably if I'd lifted it or fooled with it, it would have shaken the platform - which was shaky anyway - and the box might have fallen off."]

134:49:07 Conrad: (Garbled). Here. (Pause) Here.

134:49:11 Bean: Oh, (you want the) hammer. Okay. (Pause; as he gets the hammer off the HTC) Got it?

134:49:22 Conrad: No. (Pause) (Subvocal) All right, maybe I've got it.

[Pete is probably still having trouble with the LM TV cable and may be trying to use the hammer to sweep it under the LM.]

134:49:34 Conrad: I'll tell you what, you go get me the solar wind first.

134:49:37 Bean: Solar wind first? I'll go get it for you.

134:49:38 Conrad: That a boy.

134:49:40 Bean: You want me...Let me take that little bag out there with me.

[This is a stowage bag for the SWC.]

134:49:49 Conrad: Al, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait! You're all tangled up in the TV cable. I'll tell you, that TV cable's gonna be...(It's) really making me mad.

134:49:59 Bean: There you go.

134:50:02 Conrad: That...wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait. Let's take the Surveyor TV camera off.

[Pete wants Al to get the parts bag off his PLSS.]

134:50:08 Conrad: Lay it at the (west) footpad (below the ladder).

134:50:11 Bean: What do you want to do with it?

134:50:12 Conrad: I want you to put it in the (LM) footpad.

134:50:16 Bean: Oh, okay.

[At some point, they get Al's saddlebag off and also lay it in the footpad. In doing so, they forget that it contains the extra film magazine and, ultimately, it doesn't make it up to the cabin.]

134:50:19 Bean: Let me set this down, then I'll go get it. Just a second. There you go.

134:50:23 Conrad: You're all tangled up again. I'll tell you, it's a trap.

134:50:29 Bean: Okay. (Pause, as he loosens the parts bag straps) (I've got to) get this other bottom one, Pete. (Garbled) better. (Long Pause) Kind of turn this way, would you (to make the parts bag more accessible)? (Pause) Okay.

134:50:57 LM Crew: (Garbled)

134:51:06 Bean: (The parts bag is) so much lighter (than the rockboxes or ETB). We're not going to have any trouble running this one up the LEC. Okay. That's off there.

134:51:15 Conrad: Where'd you put it?

134:51:17 Bean: Got it right here. Where would you like it?

134:51:19 Conrad: No, no. Well, this LEC...Oh boy, I made a mistake. I should have brought the tool cutter back with me (to cut the LM TV cable so that he could get it out of the way by tossing it under the LM). This (LM) TV cable...Just put it (the Surveyor camera) in the footpad (probably at the base of the ladder). This TV cable is going to drive me crazy.

134:51:31 Bean: Here you are. Want me to take it and move it out of the area?

134:51:35 Conrad: I just tried to throw it under the LM now...

134:51:38 Bean: I can grab one end and just pull it out if you want. Why don't I do that?

134:51:41 Conrad: It's all tangled up in the LEC, now. This happens every damn time.

134:51:46 Bean: Okay, I'll put this...Where do you want me to put this? Right here...

134:51:47 Conrad: Yeah.

134:51:48 Bean: Right in the footpad.

134:51:49 Conrad: I'm going to straighten this LEC out right now.

134:51:53 Bean: There you go.

134:51:55 Conrad: Now, look, when I disappear with the LEC (that is, when he gets it untangled and out of the way), you get that TV cable and get it out of here.

134:51:59 Bean: Okay. (Pause as he tears the cable loose from the LM)

134:52:02 Conrad: There you go. Now, just throw the TV cable under the spacecraft. (Pause)

134:52:12 Bean: Okay. Just a second. (Pause)

134:52:19 Conrad: (Untangling the LEC) There we go. That's better. That thing cost me 10 minutes! (Long Pause)

[Jones - "So, it was the TV cable that cost you ten minutes?"]

[Conrad - "I think so."]

[Jones - "And that may have started when you got back to the LM at 134:46:10. That's got to be the cable, too."]

[Conrad - "I probably tried eight or nine times to throw it under the LM (laughing) and not getting there. And I kept getting tangled up in it."]

134:52:53 Bean: Okay. Let me get this TV cable out of the way. (Pause)

134:52:59 Conrad: (Garbled) packing some rocks. (Pause)

134:53:11 Bean: Pete, would you hold this just one second, and then we'll get rid of this cable forever? Hold that.

134:53:19 Conrad: Where do you want me to go with it?

134:53:20 Bean: Just stand right there. Then I can get this out over here, see. Pull it out (garbled). (Pause)

[What seems likely is that, while Pete holds on to one end of the cable, Al is walking away from the spacecraft with the other end. It is easy to imagine that, if he tried to drag the cable away by himself, he would get tangled up in the loops. This way, there is little cable around his feet as he walks away. Probably, once Al gets far enough away, Pete lets go of his end and Al gives his a tug to pull it out of the way.]

134:53:33 Bean: There; now you've only got it one place...

134:53:35 Conrad: That's right.

134:53:37 Bean: Is that right?

134:53:40 Conrad: (Garbled) Yeah.

134:53:42 Bean: Okay. Leave it there and I'll get the solar wind. (Long Pause) Okay. Solar wind. This the bag...This the bag you want me to use (for the solar wind), Pete?

134:54:05 Conrad: Yeah.

134:54:07 Bean: Okay. Okey-doke.

[Comm Break]

[Bean, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "We performed the solar wind collection retrieval, and that didn't work like I was hoping it would. When I reeled the collector out (during the first EVA), it came out very nicely; and the foil itself seemed pretty flexible. At the beginning of the second day, after we woke up, it looked like the foil had taken a set around the pole. (Based on its behavior when I tried to roll it up, I would say that) it definitely had taken a set of some sort. When I tried to roll it up following the second EVA, it rolled up about 6 inches and then didn't want to roll any more. It wanted to crinkle and tear, although I was very careful with it and tried to recycle it a couple of times like a roller (window) shade. Finally, it did tear about a 6-inch longitudinal rip; and I realized then that it just wasn't flexible enough and didn't want to roll up. So I let it go and let it sort of window-shade all the way around and then tried to roll it up by hand and not get my fingers on any of the foil. I'm sure I wasn't able to do this entirely. I expect there is some dust from my gloves on the foil, but I did the best I could. I understand that it is possible to take that dust off - bake it off or something like that - and it doesn't bother the experiment. As a result of this, the rolled up experiment was larger than the bag it was supposed to fit into; so I had to take and crush it with my hands - kind of squeezed down on the foil. It made it look sort of full, but I don't think it degraded the experiment at all. I would like to recommend that, before the next flight goes up, somebody take a look at what is actually happening to that foil as it sits out in the lunar environment. It may not be the foil that's presenting the problem. It might be (that) the tape that they are using on it actually cracks or gets stiff or something. It may be the same effect they are seeing in those Teflon bags. They may take a set and it doesn't want to roll up any more. This does compromise the experiment somewhat."]

[The collector had a spring-driven roller just like a common type of window shade. Readers should note that there is no discussion of the SWC retrieval problem in the Apollo 12 Mission Report and, on both Apollo 14 and 15, the crews had to roll up their SWC's by hand, too. This procedure did not cause any problems for the experimenters and good results were obtained on all five flights on which the experiment was deployed.]

[With a helmet on, blowing does absolutely no good. During Apollo 16, Charlie Duke repeatedly tried to blow dust off rocks and equipment, much to his own amusement and that of CapCom Tony England.]

[Pete may be talking to himself. His statement at 134:56:46 suggests that he hasn't yet seen what Al's had to do with the solar wind.]

134:56:17 Conrad: Good boy!

134:56:20 Bean: Houston, we got that solar wind, but it didn't roll up in a very neat package.

134:56:26 Gibson: Roger, Al. We copy. That's all right. (Long Pause)

134:56:46 Conrad: Hey, it sure didn't, did it?

134:56:48 Bean: No. It just didn't. It split right near the top.

134:56:50 Conrad: Can I help you?

134:56:51 Bean: Yeah. You can hold that, and I'll just try to roll it up as best I can without getting any...I already got a little dirt on it that's not doing any good. (Pause) You see what I mean?

134:57:02 Conrad: Yeah.

[David Harland calls attention to the fact that, in the post-EVA-2 window pan, the SWC staff is no longer standing where Al drove it into the ground. See a comparison between AS12-46-6866, taken after EVA-1 and AS12-48-7166, taken after EVA-2. The staff doesn't seem to be present anywhere in the pan, which suggests three possibilities: (1) that Al tossed it far enough east that it isn't visible from his window; (2) that it ended up in one of the deeper craters beyond the S-Band antenna; (3) that he brought it back to the MESA and, at some point, discarded it under the Descent Stage. When he says to Pete, "You can hold that," it is possible the 'that' he wants Pete to hold is the SWC staff.]

134:57:09 Conrad: Here, let me hold this end, and you just wrap it tight. That a boy.

134:57:14 Bean: I'll squeeze it down.

[This is probably where Al is compressing the roll with his hands to get it tight enough to fit in the bag.]

134:57:16 Bean: And chase down any of those noble gases or whatever that crud is. Okay. Stick that in there? (To Gibson) Looks bad, but I think it will do the job, Houston. We squashed it in so it's...

[The experimenters are looking for relative abundances of isotopes of helium, argon, and neon, the chemically-inert noble gases in the solar wind.]

134:57:29 Bean: It's right...Let me get it for you.

134:57:32 CapCom: Roger, Al.

134:57:34 Bean: There you go. Okay. It just doesn't look so good, Houston.

134:57:38 Conrad: Give me a hand getting this rock box closed.

134:57:40 Bean: Okay. Will do. Hey, that's a nice full box.

[Bean - "You had to get the rock box out. And you must have put the dirt (and rocks) in there somewhere, because I say the box is full."]

[Conrad - "I remember standing there, talking to you and loading the box and doing all that."]

[Bean - "That must have been it. 'Cause you're all ready to lock the box."]

[Conrad - "I remember that one. I don't remember loading the first one. The first EVA, I don't remember that at all. But I do remember the second one, standing there loading all the crap up."]

[Conrad, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "The sample stowage on the second EVA worked out perfectly. I think we had the box packed as tight as we were going to be able to pack it there on the lunar surface. We wound up with four large rocks (plus some miscellaneous soil and rock chips) in a Teflon bag (called the Totebag in the Apollo 12 Preliminary Science Report) which we brought back for an additional 13 pounds of rocks."]

134:57:52 Bean: Yeah, just what we need. Wait.

[Conrad - "It's the timer."]

[Bean - "That was when we should have done it. I should have picked it up, walked over to the little thing (the HTC), moved it out and we (could have) just said 'Hey, I know where we can use this!' and then have done it right then. We'd have had the LM in the background. We could have shook hands in front of the LM. (Laughter) It'd be the end of the EVAs. (It would have) been a great picture. Maybe better than the (one they planned at the) Surveyor."]

[However, instead of taking the time to take the Dual Photo, Pete says that he picked up the timer and threw it away.]

[Jones - "Al, you can still do it (as a painting)! Just like Tracy's Rock."]

[Bean - "That's right. No, I'm going to do the other one (at the Surveyor). Going to be titled 'The Picture that Never Was'. Just haven't done it yet. It's too complex."]

[My comment about Tracy's Rock is a reference to a painting Al has done of a large boulder at the Apollo 17 site. In talking about the mission, Gene Cernan mentioned to Al that he wished he had taken a moment to write his daughter's name in some dust that was resting on a shelf on the boulder. He didn't, but Al was able to do it for him in a painting.]

134:58:06 Bean: Wait a minute.

134:58:10 Conrad: Ho, ho. Why didn't I think of that earlier.

134:58:12 Bean: Got it? Then you can just take out the seal (means the spacer)...There you go. Good show, Pete.

[After brushing dust off the seal on both the base and the lid of the rock box, Pete will remove the Teflon spacer.]

134:58:27 Conrad: We're using it right now. Works good, too.

134:58:28 Gibson: Roger.

134:58:28 Bean: (Garbled under Gibson), Ed.

[According to Judy Allton, the brush in question had steel bristles and was designed for cleaning rocks. There was also a scriber at one end and a magnifying glass at the other. Gibson's "glass brush" remark does not imply a brush for cleaning glass - say a camera lens - but, rather, the tool with the (magnifying) glass and brush. The tool would have been useful to a field geologist with plenty of time to look closely at rocks but, in the case of the Apollo missions, there simply wasn't time for such close inspection. Consequently, the tool was never used by the early crews and, after Apollo 14, it wasn't flown again.]

[In looking through Judy Allton's tool catalog, Pete came across a statement that some of the rock boxes had leaks "attributable, in most cases, to pieces of equipment or dust interfering with the seal, despite the precautions taken to protect the sealing surfaces."]

[Conrad - "Now it doesn't say what the precautions were."]

[Jones - "In some of the rock boxes, after they were opened - is my understanding of it - a beta-cloth cover was put on to protect the seals. And there was an opening in the cloth that you could put stuff in and then, when you were ready to close the box, you take this cover off."]

[Bean - "That might have been later. That might have been because of our problems."]

[Conrad - "All right. Listen (reading) 'The ALSRC was an aluminum box with a triple seal. One knife edge in soft indium metal and two fluoro-silicon O-rings. Prior to flight, the box was closed under vacuum so that it would not contain pressure greater than lunar ambient. On the Moon, while samples were being loaded, the seals were protected by a Teflon film and a cloth cover which were removed just prior to closing the box.' Man, I got no memory of that."]

[Jones - "Okay. Well, that may have come later."]

[On Apollo 11 and 12, the seals were protected during the flight out from Earth by Teflon spacers. The cloth cover was added for Apollo 14. It was packed in the box, fixed to a metal frame, and simply had to be folded out over the seals once the box was opened on the Moon. The boxes also had the Teflon spacers. A cloth cover is shown in Figure 74 in Judy Allton's tool book and a spacer can be seen on the outer lip of the box shown in Figure 71.]

[Conrad - "(Reading) 'The ALSRC was held in a fixture at waist level to aid the astronaut in closing the cam latches. (See Apollo 11 photo S69-31080.) Four straps attached to the cam latches transferred even pressure to the knife edge seal and two latch pins secured the closure. (See Figure 70.) York mesh, lining in the box and, as packing pad, damped the vibrations...return flight.' (Looking at the cloth protector in Figure 74) There is the deal ..."]

[Bean - "I'll bet we didn't have that."]

[Conrad - "I don't remember that. I'm sure we didn't."]

[Pete then looked at Figure 75, which shows rock box 1009, with a sample bag tab caught in the seal.]

[Conrad - "This is 1009. So I can tell you the serial numbers of our two boxes, because they're listed back here (in Judy Allton's Apollo Tool Book)."]

[Bean - "They may be why they did that (that is, added the cloth cover), because of these other problems."]

[Conrad - (Guffaws) "That's one of ours! (Reading caption) 'Close-up view of indium seal on rock box full of lunar samples and documented sample bags. The aluminum tab on one of the bags was entrapped in the knife edge and indium seal. Thus, the seal was not good.' So that's our rock box and it weren't no good. We had 1009 and 1008."]

[Bean - "Then, I'll bet, the next time they said 'let's put on that (cloth seal protector)', so 14 and up had these little deals."]

[Conrad - "Apparently it still didn't do the job, though."]

[Bean - "Oh, it didn't?"]

[Jones - "Yeah, it was real marginal. It was easy to get them dirty."]

[Conrad - "That's what it says here. It says four of the twelve had 'substantial leakage'."]

[We then realized that the picture of the rock box with the bag caught in the seal was taken in 1972 and, therefore, that the box had probably been reflown on a later mission. In particular, box 1009 flew again on Apollo 16.]

[Bean - "Why not? They don't wear out. Put a new seal on them and send them back."]

[Conrad - "So that may not have been us that screwed up."]

[Bean - "It's still not a screw up. I don't think they would consider it a screw up because, when you've got a full box and the lid comes down, it moves things out a little bit. They're supposed to make it so it doesn't have a problem. That's part of reality."]

[Conrad - "I'll tell you what's interesting. I had no idea we flew those boxes more than once. I always thought we only flew things once."]

[Bean - "It'd be a good thing to use over again."]

[Conrad - "Those boxes, I guess, cost a lot of money."]

[Bean - "Out of a solid piece of aluminum or titanium or whatever it was. Later missions probably had more of them than we had, too. I guess you got to have at least one for every EVA."]

[Jones - "They had two of them on each flight."]

[Bean - "You'd think they'd even have more. 'Cause they were out seven hours. Think of all the stuff you can pick up."]

[Jones - "Yeah, but a lot of things they brought back unsealed. On 17, for example, they made sure all of the orange soil went in one of the boxes. Whereas the more garden variety stuff came back unsealed."]

[Conrad - "16 used one of ours. And that's the only dual usage. Obviously Neil and Buzz's went off to the museum."]

[Bean - "If it didn't (meaning if the Apollo 11 boxes didn't end up at the Smithsonian), it was a big mistake."]

[Journal Contributor Ulli Lotzmann calls attention to a second item associated with Apollo 12 that made a second visit to the lunar surface - a fragment of sample 12002.]

134:58:34 Bean: Back in.

134:58:38 Conrad: Now. (Pause)

134:58:43 Bean: Okay. Okay. There you go. (Pause) Got it made. (Pause)

134:58:59 Conrad: (Subvocal) Got it.

134:59:00 Bean: Looks like you did it.

134:59:02 Conrad: Man, that's...Yeah; I hope so.

134:59:04 Bean: Okay. (Pause) Got her, babe. It looks good.

134:59:11 Conrad: Okay. The rock box is closed, Houston. Al, I want all the big ones. (Weighing a bag with rocks in it) That looks like about 1 inch to me.

134:59:19 Bean: Yeah.

134:59:20 Conrad: That's it. The extra bag.

134:59:24 Bean: Okay, you got some of those bedrock ones in there, (in the rock box) didn't you?

134:59:28 Conrad: Yeah.

134:59:29 Bean: Good show.

134:59:30 Gibson: Pete, Houston.

134:59:31 Bean: What do you want me to do with that?

134:59:33 Conrad: Well...(Responding to Gibson) Yeah?

[The weights in the following discussion are all terrestrial weights.]

[Conrad, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "About six weeks ago, they went to Jim McDivitt (the Apollo 9 Commander and now Houston's Manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program) and told him that there was no doubt that we could collect more rocks than would fit in the rock box and we needed some clarification (on stowage of the excess). He immediately took action to find out about how much more rocks we could carry. Over that period of six weeks, people came and went and hemmed and hawed and changed their minds. How many extra rocks and where (we would stow them) was one of the very unclear things when we left. That left-hand side stowage thing came completely out of the dark when we were on the lunar surface. I never heard of it before flight. The only discussions that I had heard were that we couldn't stack (rocks) on top of the OPSs because the OPS leg holders were designed only for the OPSs and that part of the structure wouldn't hold. But anything that we could stash on the floor behind them was okay as long as we kept it off Z27 bulkhead. Then they modified that weight once in flight and they came up with the left-hand side stowage, which didn't make sense to me. I wasn't going to argue with them, because we didn't have that many extra rocks; but both left-hand sections of the stowage got thrown out on the lunar surface at one time or another - one at the end of the second EVA and one on the third dump (that is, the jettison depressurization). So, either somebody wasn't following our procedures or was not aware of them; and that, again, is an example of the last-minute Mickey Mouse and unplanned things that are unclear or cause problems. In defense of everything, I think we had very few last minute changes. I think we were in better shape than most flights on last minute changes."]

135:00:42 Gibson: Roger, stand by for that number, Pete. (Pause) Pete, that l-inch displacement is about 10 to 15 pounds. No problem, pack it up.

135:01:01 Conrad: Okay. That's good. Okay, now, let me ask you another question. I can get some more rocks. Why don't I do that? While Al is taking stereophotos (with the Gold camera). We'll see if I can get ourselves (some more rocks)...

135:01:21 Bean: Okay, I'm going to...I don't have a (70 mm) camera to go along with this (for documentation), so I'll just tell Houston when I'm taking a picture and then they'll know. So they can keep up with it. Okay, Houston. On this stereo camera, I'm taking a picture now, about 10 feet from the LM between the plus Y (north) and minus Z (east) strut, and I am hoping to show the effects of the engine exhaust on the lunar surface. I'm going to...That was number 800. Taking one at 801. Just moving around here to do it. (Pause) Take another one. The little counter doesn't seem to be working. Everything is working okay but the little counter. And I am taking the fourth picture right up next to the engine, here. (Pause) Okay, another one close to the engine. About 2 feet from the engine. (Pause) Okay, Houston. The little counter on top of the experiment's not working, so I'll just tell you what I take next. And the light and everything seems to be working, so I assume it's probably taking pictures. I'm going to go look for a crater that is undisturbed and take a picture down inside it.

135:02:56 Gibson: Roger, Al.

[Al is getting the pictures called out in his checklist.]

[Ulli Lotzmann has produced red(left)-blue(right) and green(left)-red(right) stereo-images of AS12-57-8448, one of Al's close-up stereo photos of Pete's footprint.]

135:03:54 Bean: I'm in an area now, Houston. It looks like...

135:03:57 Conrad: (Answering Gibson) Yeah, go ahead.

135:03:59 Gibson: Okay, we recommend that you pack up where you are and start trying to pack up the excess rocks you just got and think about ingress.

135:04:11 Conrad: Okay, very good. Houston, I'd like to comment to all the people who are involved with this EVA, my congratulations.

135:04:30 Gibson: Well, I think you two folks did an excellent job. (Pause)

[Conrad, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "Ed Gibson and Joe Roberts and his people did an outstanding job. Our checklist and procedures were well documented. We were able to handle all the contingencies that came up, and I think most of the success of the operation is due to their careful pre-flight planning and excellent work they did on the EVAs."]

[Bean, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "I think (that), also included in there, are the geologists: Uel Clanton and his group, and also USGS (US Geological Survey geologists) Al Chidester and his group. I think one of the best things was this pre-planning of the traverses. That really saved us a lot of time and let us get out and go to the places that they thought were geologically interesting and allowed us to do the right things at the right places."]

[Map LSE 7F shows the four pre-planned traverses.]

[AS12-57-8452 shows a relatively smooth area 3 inches across that is dominated by a 1-inch rock. Ulli Lotzmann has produced red(left)-blue(right) and green(left)-red(right) stereo-images.]

[AS12-57-8455 shows an area with many small rocks and/or clods. Ulli Lotzmann has produced red(left)-blue(right) and green(left)-red(right) stereo-images.]

135:04:55 Bean: All right. Will do.

135:04:57 Conrad: We've got about 22 minutes (left in the EVA) by my clock. 23 minutes.

135:05:03 Bean: All right.

135:05:05 Conrad: And we got a long day in front of us.

135:05:07 Bean: Okay.

[They have been up since 129 hours - or perhaps earlier - and will launch at 142 hours. They will dock with Yankee Clipper at 145 1/2 hours, jettison the Ascent Stage at 148 hours, and won't begin their next rest period until 150 hours.]

[Conrad, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "I've got one comment here, and I know that this is one of the problems with not pre-planning something. I know everybody, including ourselves, agreed to a pre-flight criterion of one EVA extension; but it broke my heart to get back in the LM and find out we had six hours in those PLSSs (that is, the capability for a six hour EVA) and Mission Control hustled us back in after 4 hours. We killed 2 hours (figuratively) sitting in the LM. We actually sat on our rear ends and did nothing for 2 hours. We weren't tired and it's really a shame that we did not get a second extension on the end of that EVA, because we hustled past Blocky Crater and back up to the LM. I was hustling Al because I felt that he (Flight) had committed us to get in at 4 hours and nobody changed their tune. So we were practically up the ladder, and that's really a shame. I think we've got to be open-minded on Apollo 13 and subsequently. If these guys are in good shape - and there's no reason to believe that they won't be (because) we were in excellent shape - then let's not hustle when we don't have to. As a matter of fact, we could have gone another (two-hour Command Module) Rev down there on the lunar surface before lift-off, and it wouldn't have perturbed anything."]

[Bean, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "I agree 100 percent with Pete. That was a real shame. If there was anything in the whole flight that should have been done differently, we should have gotten in (that is, ended the EVA) maybe an hour later right then. Like Pete said, we got in and we sat around for a couple of hours there, just waiting for the time to start working on the ascent checklist."]

[Pete just jumped up into the air and did a half revolution - a 180 degree turn. Next he will try a full revolution of 360 degrees.]

135:05:30 Bean: Okay. (Long Pause)

[On Apollo 16, Charlie Duke tried the same trick, lost his balance, and fell on his PLSS - fortunately without any damage.]

135:06:18 Gibson: Pete, Yankee Clipper looks real good. He's been doing P22's (that is, looking at the LM) and rolling right off.

135:06:26 Conrad: Good.

135:06:27 Bean: Okay, Pete, I'll take this as my last one.

135:06:29 Conrad: Okay. (To Gibson) If he can see the Surveyor, has he been able to see us out there?

135:06:35 Bean: Okay, that did it, Pete.

135:06:37 Conrad: All right. I don't know how many we've got...

135:06:38 Gibson: No report on that, Pete.

135:06:46 Conrad: All righty.

135:06:48 Bean: Here's a red one.

[Bean - "That close-up camera, I think maybe it had little red latches on it or something that you moved before you dismantled it. Because you had to take the magazine off. You left the camera there and brought the magazine home. My guess is I was looking down for a little red pin or a little red something-or-other."]

[Ulli Lotzmann has produced an enhanced detail of AS14-66-9340 showing the discarded Gold Camera from Ed Mitchell's window after EVA-2. Note what may be red latches on either side.]

135:06:54 Bean: Okay. (Pause)

135:06:58 Conrad: Okay, lift her up.

135:06:59 Bean: Got it.

135:07:00 LM Crew: (Garbled)

135:07:01 Conrad: (Garbled) put it in the ETB. Okay.

135:07:03 Bean: Here it goes.

135:07:07 Conrad: Hey, wait. I want to watch.

[It is tempting to think that Al is about to throw the Gold Camera, but both he and Pete remember that he threw a big piece of foil.]

[Bean - "Just to see how far it went. It must have come off something."]

[Conrad - "Yeah. Maybe there was foil on the ends of the can..."]

[Bean - "I know what it was. Remember? You got the rock box from off of that big piece of foil on the Y-pad. That's where the rock box was. Remember? I think I'm throwing the foil away."]

[Conrad - "Yep."]

[Bean - "Because I remember it being a big piece of foil."]

[Ulli Lotzmann has located the Gold Camera in a photo taken out Al's window after EVA-2. He has created a composite in which a detail from post-EVA-1 photo AS12-47-7014 is superimposed on a larger detail from AS12-48-7169, which Al took out his window after EVA-2. These two images have been used with high-Sun LROC image M135338254R and low-Sun image M131806467L to identify three craters close to the Gold camera's resting place.]

135:07:09 Conrad: Yeah. (Pause as Al throws the foil)

[Jones - "Do you remember what it did?"]

[Bean - "It just went way up high and went off in the distance. Just like a rock, only it was a piece of foil."]

[See Al's painting, Fun Is Wherever You Can Find It.]

135:07:21 Conrad: Okay.

135:07:25 Bean: Okay. I think we got all the film in (the ETB), didn't we, Pete?

135:07:30 Conrad: Yeah. I tell you what. Let's send the ...

135:07:35 Bean: (Reading his checklist two lines below 2+55) "Clean EMU." Okay, clean me, and I'll get in there (in the cabin), and we'll start pulling this (Surveyor parts bag) in (on the LEC) because we've got quite a load.

135:07:37 Conrad: Yes. Now, one thing I need to do is...Hand me the Surveyor...

135:07:41 Bean: Surveyor bag coming up.

135:07:43 Conrad: ...bag.

135:07:45 Bean: (Garbled) out of the way, babe.

135:07:47 Conrad: Here you are right here.

135:07:49 Bean: Here's the two hooks.

[They may be attaching the parts bag to the LEC or, alternatively, they may be getting loose parts bag straps out of the way by fastening them together.]

135:07:53 Bean: (Garbled) that one.

135:07:54 Conrad: (That's) the hardest one.

135:07:55 Bean: Yeah, it is.

135:07:56 Conrad: Don't lock them. (Garbled) lock them anyway.

135:07:59 LM Crew: (Garbled)

135:08:00 Conrad: Just leave well enough alone.

135:08:01 Bean: That's right. Damn things are getting jammed (with dust). Okay? Is that it?

[Sharp-eyed Journal Contributor Ken Glover notes that this is Al's third "damn"]

135:08:07 Conrad: Let's see, put it (Surveyor TV camera) back on the footpad.

135:08:08 Bean: Okay.

135:08:08 Conrad: Not supposed to get (the parts bag) too dirty.

135:08:09 Bean: Okay.

135:08:10 Conrad: Gotta brush you off.

135:08:11 Bean: Okay.

135:08:13 Conrad: Why don't you hop up on the ladder, and let me brush you off from the ladder?

135:08:16 Bean: Okay, why don't you brush me off up high here and then I'll hop up and you can get me.

[Al may be flexing his knees so that Pete can dust the upper parts of his suit and PLSS.]

135:08:26 Bean: Okay.

135:08:27 Conrad: It's a start.

135:08:31 Bean: Let me try you, babe.

135:08:32 Conrad: Okay. (Pause)

135:08:39 Bean: Ah, everything's hard to get off. Let me get up here (on the ladder). Now, I'm going to kick my feet, so it's going to get this Surveyor bag dirty. (Pause while Pete moves the parts bag)

135:08:54 Bean: (Jumping up the ladder and, possibly, missing the first rung) Ow!

135:08:55 Conrad: Nice shot.

135:08:57 Bean: (Now on the first rung) Okay.

135:08:58 Conrad: Okay; let me hit you.

135:09:00 Bean: All right. Okay. Let me kick my shoes.

135:09:05 Conrad: Criminently, (garbled). I think I'm making myself dirtier (by dusting Al). Boy, I tell you something. These lanyards get grimy black!

["Criminently", pronounced crime-i -nent'-ly, is another example of Pete using the equivalent of "gosh darn it" where, in private, he might have picked an earthier oath.]

135:09:15 Conrad: Yeah.

135:09:17 Bean: Okay, I'll go in.

135:09:19 Conrad: Down to campus.

135:09:20 Bean: Okay. (Long Pause as Al climbs the ladder)

[As mentioned at the end of EVA-1, later crews had a large dustbrush to help with the suit cleaning. Pete and Al were out far longer than were Neil and Buzz and were far more active. The amount of dirt they brought into the spacecraft was an indication of the problem that would confront the J-mission crews. The dustbrush was critical to keeping the dust manageable. For extended missions in the future, careful attention must be paid to the dust problem, although care must also be taken not to over-engineer the solutions. It is important to note that the dust only became a problem after they returned to zero-g and, for a lunar base, pre-entry cleaning, a vacuum system in a combination dust lock and suit maintenance/storage area, and an air filtration system in the work/living areas may be sufficient.]

[Bean - "What we did was a waste of time. It's like trying to wipe somebody off with dirty hands. It doesn't work. We got down there and brushed around on each other with our hands, and we didn't get any cleaner or dirty. And, of course, we recommended the dustbrush."]

135:09:35 Bean: Okay. (Pause) Okay, just a second.

135:09:40 Conrad: Just when you get the door open.

135:09:41 Bean: Door's open.

135:09:42 Conrad: Is the door's wide open?

135:09:45 Bean: (I'd better) put up my golden visor. Get in. Am I lined up okay?

135:09:50 Conrad: You might want to turn off your PLSS feedwater when you get all the way in.

135:09:53 Bean: Pretty good thinking. Okay. (Pause)

[Conrad, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "The only comment I have (about the second ingress) is we shut off our PLSS feedwaters - as we did on both ingresses - down at the bottom of the ladder. My recommendation is that we take a fixed time prior to ingress, and even an earlier time like 10 or 15 minutes before ingress, and get that PLSS feedwater Off because, when we dumped our equipment on the third cabin depress (the jettison depress), we got quite a bit of water and ice out of the PLSS sublimators. I think the more you can dry out those boilers before you get in, the better off you are."]

135:10:13 Bean: Okay, just a second (while he gets in position to operate the LEC).

135:10:14 Conrad: No rush. Take your time. (Pause)

135:10:32 Bean: I've got to get this sequence camera out of the window; I don't want to leave it in here when I'm in here.

135:10:35 Conrad: Yeah. (Pause)

[When the sequence camera is mounted in the window, it sticks out into the otherwise-usable volume of the cabin and makes Al's movements all the more difficult once Pete gets in. By taking the camera out of the window - as per checklist - he will save them time later.]

135:10:47 Bean: Nope.

135:10:48 Conrad: Oh, that's a shame.

135:10:49 Bean: I know it.

135:10:50 Conrad: Hi, Earth! I can see us. It's up over the LM now. It's the first time I've had a chance to look. You're about a quarter Earth. (Pause)

[The landing site is only 3 degrees south of the lunar equator and 23 degrees west of the central lunar meridian. With Pete standing west of the ladder, he would see Earth peeking over the top-mounted rendezvous radar (LM-9 photo by Randy Attwood) if he were standing about 50 feet out from the footpad. The only way to take a picture would be to take the camera off the RCU. The cameras don't have viewfinders but, with practice, pointing them in the right direction isn't terribly difficult. Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11 and Alan Shepard on Apollo 14 got some upward shots of Earth over their LMs.]

135:11:10 Conrad: Oh, okay. (Pause) More?

135:11:15 Bean: Just a second; I'll be okay. Don't put any weight on it yet. Can you hold the weight...

135:11:20 Conrad: Wait, wait, wait...Just a second.

135:11:21 Bean: Okay. (Pause) There you go. (Pause) Now hold on. (Pause)

135:11:41 Conrad: Wait, wait, wait, wait. There you go. Heave away!

135:11:45 Bean: Okey-doke.

135:11:46 Conrad: It's all yours. (Pause)

135:11:56 Bean: Surveyor (parts bag) we just pull in like this.

135:11:59 Conrad: Huh? (Pause)

[Unlike the rock boxes, the parts bag is light enough that they can easily keep enough tension in the line to get the bag over the porch and into the hatch.]

135:12:15 Conrad: Okay, Houston, the Surveyor gear is up, coming back for SRC 2.

[That is, they are getting the LEC attachment hardware back down to Pete.]

MP3 Audio Clip ( 14 min 40 sec )

135:12:37 Bean: Okay, Pete. Take them...Wait a minute...Oh, no; not yet...Not yet.

135:12:40 Conrad: Okay. (Pause)

135:12:46 Bean: Not yet...It fell out.

135:12:51 Conrad: Uh-oh.

[At the start of the first EVA, at 115:39:51, the LEC strap came out of its fixture in the cabin and may have done so again. See Al's commentary reproduced there.]

135:12:58 Conrad: Huh?

135:12:59 Bean: Take it away.

135:13:00 Conrad: Okay. Just a minute. The name of the game is don't rush and do it right.

135:13:04 Bean: Okay.

135:13:07 Conrad: Oh, here I go get you the rock box. Like a rock box. (Pause)

135:13:20 Conrad: I need some more line. Al?

135:13:25 Bean: Okay. I've got (just) that much more. That's it. You may have it tangled on something, Pete.

135:13:34 Conrad: Never mind, I see what the problem is.

135:13:37 Bean: Yeah, it's (caught) on the hatch. There you go. (Long Pause)

135:13:55 Conrad: Okay. Lift away, you've got a rock box.

135:13:57 Bean: Okay. Feel how heavy this thing is.

135:14:03 Conrad: Wait. Wait a minute, wait.

135:14:05 Bean: Okay.

135:14:06 Conrad: Wait a minute. There you go. All right. Now do it.

135:14:12 Bean: I'm going to have to use the pull-in feature; just a second. (Pause)

[Bean, from the 1969 Technical Debrief - "When you're moving a light load (with the LEC) ... you can just lean down near the hatch and pull the load in with your hands." A more complete discussion of this subject can be found at 115:39:51.]

135:14:26 Bean: Go.

135:14:28 Conrad: Give her one big heave (to clear the porch?).

135:14:30 Bean: Made it.

135:14:32 Conrad: Okay. I can't see. That darn sun is in (his eyes)...

135:14:34 Bean: Okay, take up some tension and I'll pull it in.

135:14:37 Conrad: Got it.

135:14:38 Bean: That's it.

135:14:39 Conrad: Rock box 2 is in, Houston.

135:14:42 Gibson: Roger. Rock box 2 in.

135:14:47 Conrad: And am I filthy dirty from that LEC! Wow, wow, wow! (Long Pause while Al gets the rock box off the LEC)

135:15:24 Bean: Okay, Pete. Go ahead. (Long Pause while they get the attachment hardware back out to Pete)

[Pete will now hook the ETB to the line.]

135:16:41 Bean: Okey-dokey. Coming in. (Pause)

135:16:49 Conrad: Okay, just a second. Passing over the thing (the porch lip)?

135:16:56 Bean: You'd better believe it.

135:16:58 Conrad: I can't see.

135:16:59 Bean: Okay, pull up a little bit and I'll bring it in.

135:17:01 Conrad: The Sun's shining right in my eyes.

135:17:02 Bean: That's it.

135:17:03 Conrad: In?

135:17:04 Bean: It's in.

135:17:06 Conrad: Beautiful job; just throw the LEC out. Okay, Houston. ETB is in with the (LM TV) camera and all the film, and so forth and so on.

135:17:16 Gibson: Roger, Pete. Copy you got the ETB in with the TV camera, close-up stereo (film magazine), and the (70 mm) film packs.

135:17:25 Bean: Okay, now, Pete, here comes the LEC, so watch out.

135:17:28 Conrad: All right. (Hearty Conrad laugh)

135:17:30 Bean: Man, that really comes out, doesn't it? Gee, that went 50 feet!

135:17:38 Conrad: Okay, let's see. Have I forgotten anything? Forgotten anything?

135:17:48 Gibson: Pete, you didn't "roger" the film pack. Do you have all the film packs and the close-up stereo film, as well as the (LM) TV in that ETB?

135:17:59 Conrad: Okay. Close-up stereo film was in the ETB, two black-and-white magazines and one camera. I threw the other (70 mm) camera away because it was broken. And the TV camera went up, so I believe we've got everything, Ed.

135:18:15 Gibson: Okay. You got the...Also the one camera which had the third film pack on?

135:18:24 Conrad: The third film pack never got used.

135:18:26 Bean: Yeah, it did too, Pete.

135:18:28 Conrad: Oh, did you?

135:18:29 Bean: Yeah.

135:18:30 Conrad: Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, we got three film packs and one camera up there right now. How's that?

135:18:36 Bean: Did you send the film back up?

135:18:38 Conrad: Yeah.

135:18:40 Bean: Okay, we sent all three film packs back up.

[As we will discover at 138:33:55, the third film magazine was left outside, probably in Al's saddlebag. It was a color magazine with pictures of Earthrise, etc. taken prior to the descent. It was never used on the lunar surface.]

[Bean - "We looked in the ETB later and found that it wasn't there."]

[Conrad - "But we had both of the black and white magazines, and that was the most important."]

[Jones - "The other mag hadn't been on your checklist."]

[Bean - "Well, why was it on the pad? Did we just stick it over there?"]

[Conrad - "I don't know how it got there."]

[Since they didn't have any rocks in Al's saddlebag and, clearly, had forgotten about the film magazine, when Al took off his saddlebag he may have put it in the footpad and, subsequently, neither of them gave it any further thought.]

135:18:46 Bean: That's my low water pressure, Houston. I just turned off my water. That's good.

135:18:51 Gibson: Stand by on that, Al. Pete, also how about the tools?

135:19:00 Conrad: Yes, sir. (Long Pause)

135:19:23 Bean: You might want to turn off your water too, Pete.

135:19:26 Conrad: Yeah, I knew...I was sitting here thinking there was something I ought to do. (Pause) Mine's off.

135:19:42 Bean: Okay. (Pause) (I'm) out of your way.

[Al has gotten behind the hatch, opening it as far as possible against his legs so that Pete can get in.]

135:19:57 Gibson: Roger. We got that, Pete, at 3 hours and 50 minutes into the EVA. (Pause)

135:20:11 Conrad: Okay, up-a (sic) the ladder I come. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho. Boy, I'll tell you, Al, that LEC really got me dirty.

135:20:24 Bean: Yeah, it flips that dirt all around. (Long Pause)

135:20:48 Conrad: Heigh-ho. Oh, wait a minute; I know what I want to do. (Getting the map, see comments below) There we go. (Long Pause)

135:21:08 Bean: You want to give me that piece of paper?

135:21:10 Conrad: I couldn't get it up. I dropped it.

135:21:12 Bean: That's too bad.

[Bean - "'Piece of paper', what's that? Do you suppose you started up the ladder and dropped the map?"]

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

[Bean - "I'll bet this all has to do with the map. I bet when you said, 'I've got something else I want to do' you go over and get the map (out of the HTC)."]

[Conrad - "Probably."]

[Bean - "You start up the ladder, the thing falls out of your hand - as I remember - and then you don't want to get down and go find it, 'cause you've already said you're off the surface. That's what I think happened. You went over and remembered it, and then it just fell out of your hand, trying to get up the ladder."]

[Jones - "And the reason for bringing the map back?"]

[Bean - "Just to have it."]

135:21:17 Bean: Head down, come down. That's better. Move to your left slightly.

135:21:18 Gibson: Roger, Pete.

135:21:22 Bean: That's it; come on in. Come to your left a little bit. Okay, come on up. Little more to the left. Just right.

135:21:36 Conrad: Huh?

135:21:37 Bean: You're just right. Scoot in there. Got to kind of scoot a little bit further in. You got it made! Bump into me, now. Okay. Okay.

135:21:55 Conrad: (Garbled) let me close the hatch.

135:21:57 Bean: "Forward hatch, closed and locked" as soon as you're out of the way.

[They are now on Surface Checklist page Sur-92.]

135:22:00 Bean: And I wonder what that's from.

135:22:01 Conrad: What?

135:22:02 Bean: That little...Wait, you need to kick out that piece...

135:22:06 Conrad: I think that came from off of the landing gear. (Pause; Garbled)

135:22:19 Bean: Lock her up, babe. (Joking about how dirty Pete has gotten) You are nice and clean. (Dick) Gordon will be glad to see you.

135:22:32 Conrad: One hatch closed.

135:22:33 Bean: Okay, check that (dump valve) for Auto. I think it is, but you can see...

135:22:37 Gibson: Yankee Clipper; Houston. (No answer)

135:22:38 Conrad: Yeah. I'm flipping. You just...One hatch (dump valve), Auto.

135:22:44 Bean: Okay. Okay, let me move out of the way. "Both (dump valves) to Auto."

135:22:48 Conrad: Tell me when (to start the repressurization).

135:22:49 Bean: "Lighting: Annunciator and Numerics, Bright."

135:22:52 Conrad: Wait a minute. (Pause as he turns to change the lighting)

135:22:57 Bean: Okay. "Cabin Repress Valve Auto." (Pause)

135:23:04 Conrad: It's Auto.

135:23:06 Bean: "Press Regs A and B (to) Cabin." Master Alarm will come on, and CABIN warning light. Okay, here comes the O2. (Repress audible) And the pressure is rising. Looks good right this minute. (Pause) Okay, that's normal. PLSS O2, Off.

[Al's O2 and pressure warning flags may have come on, a possibility mentioned in the checklist. Like all the Caution-and-Warning lights on Panel 1, the Cabin light is red to indicate a warning. All the C&W lights on Panel 2 are yellow to indicate cautions.]

135:23:26 Bean: PLSS O2 Off when you get 3.6 (psi). (Pause)

[There is no mention in the checklist of turning the PLSS O2 off at a specific pressure, only that they verify that the cabin pressure is increasing before they do so. However, 3.6 is about the pressure they've been using in the suit and it seems a reasonable decision point on turning the PLSS O2 off.]

135:23:37 Bean: Let me see if I can.

135:23:40 Conrad: I can't get it, Al.

135:23:42 Bean: Just a second. Let me get mine, too. (Pause) Okay.

135:23:53 Conrad: Did you get mine off?

135:23:57 Bean: (Garbled), just a second.

135:24:00 Conrad: I can't hear you. (Long Pause)

135:24:14 Bean: Your O2 is Off. Everything's Off, Pete. (Pause) And the cabin pressure is...

135:24:22 Conrad: Cabin's 4 pounds.

135:24:23 Bean: Okay, going to be taking mine (his PLSS O2) off. (Pause)

135:24:33 Conrad: (Sound of repress ends) That's it.

135:24:34 Bean: That's it, babes.

135:24:36 Conrad: What's the rest of the checklist?

135:24:37 Bean: I hope that (hatch) seal is good.

135:24:39 Conrad: Say again?

135:24:41 Bean: I didn't check that seal real closely (for dust).

135:24:43 Conrad: I didn't either.

135:24:44 Gibson: Yankee Clipper, Houston.

135:24:50 Bean: Okay. It says here: "Verify cabin pressure increasing." (Garbled) "PLSS O2, Off. Activate OPS purge valve to depress suit as required." (Pause)

135:25:04 Conrad: Wow, that's better. (Pause) Hey, don't take your helmet off!

[They will do a jettison in a little while and don't want to take their helmets off until that is done.]

135:25:16 Conrad: Do we do that?

135:25:19 Bean: Yeah, we do, because we have to put on our other ones. (Pause) Okay.

[There is no mention of any but the EV gloves in the surface checklist prior to the jettison. They need to get their gloves off, primarily because they have quite a bit to do to get ready for the jettison, such as doffing the PLSSs and OPSs, checking the OPSs to make sure they are in good working order, getting the jettison bag packed, etc.]

135:25:33 Conrad: Yeah.

135:25:34 Bean: Okay. "Cabin Repress valve closes at 4.4. Verify cabin pressure stable at 4.6." Looks good to me, Pete. "Post-EVA systems Config(uration): Verify EV circ..." Look over there and make sure Suit Fan 1 (circuit breaker) is closed. And I'll make sure that Suit Fan Delta-P (breaker) is closed.

135:25:52 Conrad: Okay, just a second. (Pause as he turns) Suit Fan 1 is closed.

135:26:01 Bean: Suit Fan Delta-P, closed. Okay. We're going to get some ECS caution and H2O SEP component lights out.

135:26:08 Conrad: I can't hear you. What?

135:26:10 Bean: Our ECS Caution and H2O Sep(arator) component lights will go out in a minute. Doff your gloves.

135:26:15 Conrad: Everything's out.

135:26:16 Bean: Okay. "Descent H2O valve open." Okay, that (getting a drink of water)'s a good idea, boy. (Pause) (Remove) purge valves. (Pause)