Station 2 at Buster Crater

EVA-1 Closeout

 

Grand Prix

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 1997 by Eric M. Jones.
All rights reserved.
Scan credits in the Image Library.
Video credits in the Video Library.
Except where noted, audio clips by Roland Speth.
Last revised 17 September 2014.

MP3 Audio Clip ( 14 min 19 sec )

RealAudio clip ( 22 min 04 sec ) by Siegfried Kessler

124:48:20 Duke: Okay; I'm going to take some pictures going (back to the LM)...Wow, is that Sun bright! Ooh! There's home. You see it?

124:48:30 Young: Yeah.

[As is indicated in Figure 6-4 ( 648k ) in the Apollo 16 Preliminary Science Report, they are about 800 meters west of the LM. Charlie's first traverse photo, AS16-109- 17849, shows Spook crater. Charlie may have taken it before they started rolling and before John turned into the Sun.]

124:48:42 Young: Let's do that.

[AS16-109- 17850 shows the up-Sun view. The remaining photos taken during the traverse are 17851 to 17862. In frame 17852, the outbound Rover tracks are at the left and Stone Mountain is at the right. In 17853, Orion is just below the fiducial immediately right of center.]

[The traverse photos - 17849 to 17862 - are presented as a strip.]

[Jones - "(Frame) 17860 is on the way back. The Rover tracks really give a graphic illustration of the undulating terrain."]

[Duke - "Yeah. And you can see how it changes the albedo."]

124:48:59 Young: Okay.

124:49:01 Duke: (Bracing himself) You're gonna have that big crater!

[Charlie's tone of voice in this transmission is that of someone who has just reached the top of a roller coaster and, on "big crater", is about to plunge downward. You can almost hear him grabbing for the handholds.]

124:49:14 England: Outstanding.

124:49:18 Duke: Occasionally, the back end breaks loose, but there's no problem. This is really some machine. (Pause)

124:49:30 Duke: Hey, looking back up-Sun, the rays are even more pronounced. Looking up-Sun rather than down-Sun, the blocks stand out like black spires.

124:49:42 Young: It's just like driving on snow, Houston. By golly!

124:49:48 England: Gee, I know all about that.

124:49:53 Young: I know you do; but us Florida boys (chuckling) don't know much about it.

124:49:58 Duke: It takes these small craters up to a meter (in diameter) just like a piece of cake. You occasionally get blinded by the (reflections of the Sun off the) LCRU mirrors and the TCU mirror.

124:50:13 Young: And the Sun!

124:50:14 Duke: Well, that's what I meant. Oh, you mean (the direct Sun)...I got my thing down.

124:50:19 Young: There's a good idea. (Pause)

[Since they both probably have their gold-plated sun visors down, Charlie is probably referring to the hinged, opaque sun visor at the top of the face plate.]

124:50:25 Young: Yeah.

124:50:28 England: And Charlie...

124:50:29 Young: (Lost under Tony)

124:50:29 England: ...could you look at the amps during the higher speed part. We'd like a number.

124:50:35 Young: Okay; well, let us get a higher speed part.

124:50:38 Duke: Well, the voltage is...The switch is on Volts right now, John, and I don't want to move to reach down there.

124:50:45 Young: Yeah, if Charlie moves the switch while we're driving, I turn left every time.

124:50:49 England: Okay; understand. (Long Pause)

[What John is saying is that, if Charlie were to reach for the switch, he would knock John's arm and displace the handcontroller to the left.]

124:50:06 Duke: Sure is. (Long Pause)

[In the following, John maneuvers to avoid a rock or, more likely, a deep, fresh crater.]

124:51:29 Duke: Yahoo!!

124:51:32 Young: Ho, ho, ho, ho, ho.

124:51:33 Duke: Look at that thing dig in.

124:51:36 Young: Boy, we just missed a baddie.

124:51:39 England: Are you steering all four wheels?

124:51:44 Young: Yup.

124:51:46 England: No problem?

124:51:50 Young: Nah. I was really going slow at first. I think it would be a problem when you're navigating under unknown terrain.

[Jones - "I take it that this was one of those occasions when you'd come up over a little rise and..."]

[Duke - "Yeah. Uh-huh. And there would be a rock or a boulder there or a crater that was more than we thought we could handle. So John would have to steer around it. And what we're describing, I think, is we were really moving - I guess about ten clicks or so - and it really got to bouncing on us. That's what I was talking about on the 'yahoo!'."]

124:51:05 England: Outstanding.

124:52:07 Young: But you see, going down-Sun or into the Sun - which we're not gonna be doing much of any more - is really...You can't plan ahead far enough to do yourself any good.

124:52:18 England: Rog.

[The EVA-2 and EVA-3 traverses will take them south and north of the LM, respectively, and they won't have to do much down-Sun or Up-Sun driving.]

[See the discussion following 123:02:43.]

124:52:33 Young: Okay.

[Charlie will get off the Rover and use the 16-mm camera to photograph John while he drives the Rover through some pre-planned maneuvers. Details of the Grand Prix are given on CDR-36. Dave Scott drove a Grand Prix on Apollo 15 but, unfortunately, the 16-mm camera malfunctioned and Jim Irwin did not get any usable film.]

124:52:39 Young: Here's a flat place, sort of.

124:52:41 Duke: We got to get over there where the...I'd like to get over there so I won't have to get back on, see, and pick up the core stems (as per LMP-27).

124:52:48 Young: Okay. I got you.

124:52:50 Duke: You've got to arm the mortar package...

124:52:52 Young: Right.

124:52:52 Duke: ...Central Station and Switch 5, CCW (Counter-Clockwise). (Pause) Okay, why don't we go over to the right, where the (core) stems are. About boresighted on (meaning "heading toward") the LSM now.

124:53:06 Young: Yeah. (Pause)

124:53:15 Duke: That is a big one, John.

[Charlie may be referring to the two-meter boulder at the ALSEP site.]

124:53:18 Duke: Hook a right. (Long Pause)

124:53:42 Duke: Tony, again, we're just driving by the ALSEP and apologize for that heat flow. I wouldn't trade you...The drill seems to work just great, though. I think it's in good shape right now for the next flight.

124:54:00 England: Good show, Charlie.

124:54:07 Young: Here's a flat place right in here, Charlie.

124:54:07 Duke: Yeah, that's what I was thinking. See, you could go out up that way and then out over that way towards the LM. Okay?

124:54:12 Young: Right. Right.

124:54:14 Duke: Okay. Let me jump off.

124:54:16 England: A day ago, it didn't look like we were even gonna land, and now we've sampled our first highlands. I feel pretty good about the science (even) without the heat flow.

124:54:27 Duke: Well, I know Mark's disappointed, and I sure am.

124:54:30 Young: Me, too.

124:54:30 Duke: Frankly, that was just a real shame. That was my big moment, was to get that thing going. Put this (Hasselblad) camera in here, John. Okay?

124:54:43 Young: Yep.

[Charlie has taken off his Hasselblad so it won't get in the way while he uses the 16-mm camera. The Data Acquisition Camera (DAC) has a bracket mounted on the back which would allow Charlie to mount the camera on his Remote Control Unit (RCU). Apollo 13 training photo KSC-70PC-18 shows Fred Haise with a DAC mounted on his RCU. The character of the 16-mm film that Charlie shot - reasonably steady with John well centered - suggests that Charlie held the camera in his hands.]

124:54:51 Young: Yep.

124:54:52 Duke: Okay. Let me get the 16(-mm camera) off.

124:54:55 Young: I'll do it from there up towards this way. Okay?

124:54:58 Duke: Wait a minute. Okay, which way you gonna drive? From here, this way?

124:55:02 Young: Going over...

124:55:03 Duke: Towards Stone (Mountain)?

124:55:04 Young: You see where that white thing is?

124:55:05 Duke: Yeah.

124:55:06 Young: I'll go over there toward a rock and drive up this way. Okay?

124:55:09 Duke: Okay. Well, wait. Why don't you just drive towards the LM. Let me move out here, and you just drive towards the LM, turn around, and then drive towards Stone.

124:55:17 Young: Okay.

124:55:18 Duke: Okay?

124:55:19 Young: Okay.

124:55:20 Duke: Let me get the camera. Let me get it set here now. It's 24 (frames per second). Gonna be using the trigger, so (as per the notation at the top of LMP-26) it's 24 (pause) and f/8 at 250(th of a second).

124:55:39 Young: Hey, that LM makes a nice looking house. (Pause)

124:55:50 England: Especially since it's about the only one there.

124:55:56 Young: Yeah.

124:55:59 Duke: You're right, Tony. It ain't nothing much up here but a lot of rocks.

124:56:03 Young: Hope the (LM) door opens, Charlie.

124:56:05 Duke: Huh? What?

124:56:07 Young: I said, I hope the door opens.

124:56:08 Duke: It'll open. (Garbled) close it. (Grunting) This thing is stuck. I can't get it up. Let me move out. Okay. To start, I'm suppose to be about 50 meters or so from you.

124:56:28 Young: Okay, Charlie. And what I'll do (as per CDR-36) is drive from A to B, standing start, max velocity readout. And (pause) then do some...I'm not going to do much steering control around here, other than to avoid regular craters. I'm going to have to do that anyway.

124:56:51 Duke: Yeah. Okay. I'm ready.

124:56:53 Young: And I'm not going to brake it, to amount to anything.

16-mm film clip (2 min 20 sec; 75 Mb) by Ken Glover from material provided courtesy Mark Gray, including synched audio. Mac users may need VLC (free download). Journal contributor Maksim Kakitsev has created a stabilized version of various Apollo 16 film clips, including the Grand Prix.

124:56:58 Duke: DAC's on; Mark. (Pause) That max acceleration?!

124:57:06 Young: No. (Pause)

124:57:10 Duke: Man, you are really bouncing! (Pause)

124:57:14 England: Is he on the ground at all...

124:57:16 Young: Okay; that's 10 kilometers (per hour). (Hearing Tony) Huh?

124:57:20 Duke: (To Tony) He's got about two wheels on the ground. There's a big rooster tail out of all four wheels. And as he turns, he skids. The back end breaks loose just like on snow. Come on back, John. (Pause) And the DAC is running. Man, I'll tell you, Indy (meaning the Indianapolis 500)'s never seen a driver like this. (Pause) Okay, when he hits the craters and starts bouncing is when he gets his rooster tail. He makes sharp turns. Hey, that was a good stop. Those wheels just locked.

124:58:03 Duke: Mark, (the camera's) off.

124:58:05 England: Okay.

[NASA photo S72-37002 is a frame from the 16-mm movie. It shows John driving in an easterly direction, toward the LM, with Smoky Mountain on the horizon on the right side of the picture. We can see the dust being thrown up by the wheels and can also see that the fenders are effective in keeping that dust from being thrown onto the vehicle. Not counting the turn John made before coming back on the return leg, John drove about 25 seconds in each direction. His average speed would ahve been less than 10 km/hr, so the distance he drove in each direction would have been less than 70 meters.]

124:58:07 England: Had about a minute and 5 seconds that time.

124:58:08 Duke: Yeah, (lost under Tony).

16-mm Film Clip (2.3Mb; mov) by Gordon Roxburgh

124:58:10 Duke: Okay. Mark; on. (Pause) Okay. You could have gone the other way, but go ahead. There's the big craters there, though, aren't they?

124:58:19 Young: Yeah. I don't want to run into those holes.

124:58:24 Duke: They want 4 minutes' worth, John. That was a minute and five (seconds). Maybe you can do it twice more.

124:58:30 Young: (Lecturing) Charlie!

124:58:31 Duke: Okay. Turn sharp.

124:58:34 Young: (Laughing) I have no desire to turn sharp. (Charlie laughs, too.) Okay, here's a sharpie.

124:58:39 Duke: Hey, that's great! (Pause) Man, those things...When those wheels really dig in, John...When you turn is when you get the rooster tail.

124:58:51 England: Charlie?

124:58:52 Duke: The suspension system on that thing is fantastic!

124:58:54 England: That sounds good. We sound like we probably got enough of the Grand Prix. We're willing to let you go on from here. Call that a (complete) Grand Prix.

124:59:03 Duke: Okay. (Pause) Man, that was all four wheels off the ground, there. Okay. Max stop.

124:59:12 Young: Okay. I don't want to do that.

124:59:13 Duke: Okay. Excuse me.

124:59:16 Young: They say that's a no-no.

124:59:22 Duke: Okay, DAC off; Mark. Okay, John. DAC's off.

[Each leg of John's second run as also about 25 seconds although, perhaps, his average speed was slower and he didn't go quite as far toward the LM.]

124:59:30 Duke: Me, too.

124:59:32 England: Sounds great.

[Young, from the 1972 Technical Debrief - "I didn't get up to any great speed - maybe 10 clicks at the most - but the terrain around there was too rough and too rocky for that kind of foolishness."]

[Duke, from the 1972 Technical Debrief - "It was, to do that."]

[Young, from the 1972 Technical Debrief - "I was driving around craters and a couple of times I did a breakout there on the turn to show them how it looked. Driving the Rover, when it breaks out, is no problem. All you have to do is cut back (meaning steer into the slide) like you do in snow when the back-end breaks out. The trouble is, when you cut back, you overshoot, and you may end up going the other way. But, at least you're not going; you stop. You're relatively slow when you break back the other way. We never did...On a couple of breakouts, when we were in a hurry - and we may have had three (breakouts) during the whole time - the thing changed direction as much as 90 degrees; and then (I) cut back into it (and) we ended going back this (opposite) way 100 degrees. But (the important thing is that) the thing (meaning the Rover) would be stopped. I never did have the feeling that we're going to turn over. Although, one time we had a couple of wheels off the ground and went sideways. I wasn't too impressed with that."]

[I believe that what John was trying to say is that, on some of the breakouts, the back end would come around as much as 90 degrees - putting them on a heading at right angles to their original direction of travel - and then, as John steered into the slide, the front end came around through the original heading and overshot. It is not clear if "going back this way 100 degrees" means they overshot by 10 degrees or 100. John's statement that "you may end up going the other way" suggests that the overshoot was 100 degrees or more.]

[Duke, from the 1972 Technical Debrief - "One time I thought I was going to be under the thing. That was on EVA-3 and we'll talk about that later."]

124:59:41 Young: Okay. Where's your core tubes at, Charlie?

124:59:43 Duke: I'll get them.

124:59:45 Young: Okay. Well, I'll stop it...

124:59:46 Duke: Go ahead. I'm going to run back in (to the LM).

124:59:49 Young: I knew you'd rather get out and walk.

124:59:51 Duke: That's right. (After) watching you in action.

124:59:52 England: After he saw the way you drove.

124:59:57 Young: Well, when Charlie's in here, it's a lot less bouncy. (Pause) And that's the truth. I should say "some" less bouncy.

[Duke, from the 1972 Technical Debrief - "I'd left the core tube standing on the little tripod (that is, leaning on the drill stem rack, which he did at 122:30:56). I picked them up and ran back to the LM. I didn't bother getting back on the LRV - just put them in the bag. At first, they were a little bit too long for the bag and I couldn't get the Velcro down on the bag. But, once we got them inside (the LM) and tamped it in, the snaps snapped and the Velcro Velcroed. We brought those beauties back as advertised."]

125:00:22 Young: Okay.

125:00:23 Duke: Man, I can't believe mine's going through that much faster. Course, I sweat like crazy. Always have.

[Charlie switched to Aux water at 123:31:50. See the discussion there.]

125:00:36 England: Okay. (Pause)

125:00:41 Young: Charlie, I can't get my seatbelt off.

125:00:43 Duke: Uh-oh. (Pause)

125:00:47 Young: See if you can tell me what the problem is.

125:00:50 Duke: Okay. You don't have it...(Pause) You don't have it unlocked. Now let it go. No, you don't have it unlocked, John. Got it over center. Push it. Now let your hand go. (Pause) See. Wait; wait a minute. Now. You got to let this thing go...You're pushing...Here.

125:01:14 Young: Oh, okay.

125:01:15 Duke: Okay; let it...

125:01:16 Young: Okay, I couldn't see it...

125:01:17 Duke: Now...There you go.

125:01:18 Young: Okay; fine.

125:01:20 Duke: There you go.

125:01:21 Young: Thank you.

125:01:22 Duke: You are filthy.

125:01:26 Young: (Laughing) I tell you, there's the pot calling the kettle black. (Pause)

125:01:37 Duke: Man, there's a beautiful secondary, Tony.

125:01:41 England: Is it oblong or round?

125:01:43 Duke: Meter size. (Answering) It's round, with a very angular block in it.

125:01:53 England: I guess we don't have time to look at it, Charlie.

125:01:55 Young: And my purge valve (locking pin) is still in strong (meaning it is in firmly).

125:01:58 Duke: (Answering Tony) No, I'm going to press on.

125:01:59 England: Okay.

125:02:01 Duke: I didn't even stop.

125:02:05 England: Gee, we could have called that a Seatbelt stop. (Pause)

[This is a reference to a surreptitious sampling stop Dave Scott made during the drive back to the LM at the end of the Apollo 15 EVA-1 traverse. He told Houston that his seatbelt had come loose but, in reality, he stopped to collect a visually-striking piece of rock, now known as the Seatbelt Basalt. See the dialog and discussion following 123:42:11 in the Apollo 15 Lunar Surface Journal.]

MP3 Audio Clip ( 8 min 19 sec )

125:02:36 Duke: Tony, the rocks in this ray near the Lunar Module are entirely different from the ones we've been sampling (at Stations 1 and 2). They're just different. We're gonna have to make a stop here at Station 10 (at the end of EVA-2)...Call (that is, decide to do) Station 10 here, right in front of the lunar module and sample here.

125:02:54 England: Okay. Sounds like a good plan. (Pause)

125:02:59 Duke: Wow, I'm in the dark. I'm at the LM (and in the shadow).

125:03: Young: (Isn't) that neat? (Pause) Okay. (Pause)

125:03:20 Duke: (To Houston) Okay. I ran to the third mark down from full (on the 16-mm film magazine); whatever that is. Empty, I guess. I ran (what) looks like 50 percent of the mag, Tony.

125:03:36 England: Okay. I've got about 2 minutes and 10 seconds, so that would be about right.

125:03:41 Duke: That's about right, then.

125:03:45 Young: Okay, first arming pin (on the mortar package) is out. (Pause) Second pin is going to arm. (Pause) (To himself) I'm going to take...(Pause) Third pin is going to arm. (Pause) That's as far as it goes. Must be armed. (Long Pause) Now they ought to all be armed. Either that or the pins are broke off. (Pause)

[Young, from the 1972 Technical Debrief - "Arming of the mortar package at the end of EVA-1 was no problem. That was a one-time item. I have some misgivings about being able to deploy the mortar package on any amount of slope. Fortunately, the place where the mortar package was sitting was almost level. And, it was the only place around there that was. If it had been touch (meaning consolidated) regolith like it was in a couple of places, we would never have gotten it in the ground."]

125:05:09 England: Okay. (Pause)

125:05:19 Duke: After you've been out in that Sun awhile, this (LM) shadow's really dark. (Pause) What's next? (Looking at LMP-29) Okay, Tony, the cores are in the bag; (and I'm) breaking out the solar wind.

125:05:41 England: Okay. (Pause) Okay. And, John...

125:05:46 Young: Switch 5 is CCW. (Lost under Tony)

125:05:47 England: ...did that mortar package move at all when you pulled the pins out?

125:05:52 Young: Yeah, it moved, but it's level still.

125:05:54 England: Okay.

125:06:01 Young: Is there anything else you want me to do while I'm out here (at the ALSEP site), Houston?

125:06:05 England: Negative.

125:06:09 Young: Huh? Say again?

125:06:10 England: No, let's head on in.

125:06:14 Young: Okay. (Long Pause)

125:06:44 Duke: Here, it says "Sun"!

[To deploy the Solar Wind Collector, Charlie extends the staff and then pulls the collector down like a window shade and hooks it on the staff. He then points the side of the collector labeled "Sun" at the Sun.]

125:06:49 Duke: This is foolproof. "Point this side at Sun, dummy." (Pause) Okay. Solar wind is planted in the Descartes Highlands. (To John) Figure out where what is?

125:07:10 Young: The Sun.

125:07:11 Duke: Oh, I was reading the SWC.

125:07:14 Young: Oh. (Pause)

125:07:18 England: Okay, Charlie. Sounds good.

125:07:20 Duke: Okay, I got a...

125:07:22 Young: (Departing the ALSEP) Okay, Houston; Bearing, 022; Range, 0.1; and that's where it is. And that is no joke.

125:07:31 England: Outstanding.

[This close to the spot where John initialized the Nav system, the bearing is meaningless. The fact that the indicated range is 100 meters is consistent with the small errors they have had throughout the traverse.]

125:07:43 England: Let's have them. (No answer; Long Pause) John. We'll take those numbers.

125:08:06 Young: Well, (chortles) I'm already gone.

125:08:09 England: That's okay.

125:08:10 Young: En route, now.

125:08:13 England: Okay. We'll get them when you park (at the LM).

125:08:16 Young: Okay. (Long Pause) Ain't nothing...There's nothing "plain" about this place, Houston, I'll tell you. I don't know who ever thought it was plain. Cayley Plains? Man.

125:08:40 Duke: Okay, Houston. These rocks...I picked up one...

125:08:43 England: Kind of like "F" smooth.

125:08:44 Duke: ...right out here that I described, that blue... (Stops to listen)

125:08:49 Young: Yeah, "FS" smooth.

[An exchange of e-mail with Tony England, Apollo 16 Geology P.I. Bill Muehlberger, and Apollo geologist George Ulrich produced the following explanation of this cryptic exchange. Tony was pretty sure that "FS" was a joking reference to a geologic unit on a traverse map.]

[Ulrich - "I agree with Tony that this is an in-joke about photogeologic labels applied to map units on one of the field trips. The crew performed practice EVAs at selected geologic problem sites around the US & Canada using maps made from aerial photos of those sites - maps intended to simulate the mission maps. So the geologists preparing field-trip maps tried to be objective, using mainly descriptive nomenclature - with some interpretation - to guide the crew in their exploration. Specifically I remember a unit 'FS' that was applied to the Hawaiian traverses (in December 1971). When the crew examined an FS unit on wheels and on foot, they remarked that its symbol, representing 'Flow, Smooth', was not very appropriate. This was an important lesson demonstrating that the perspective from aerial cameras can be deceiving when applied to the actual surface. From that time on, the term 'FS smooth' became shorthand for 'it isn't what we expected to find here, Houston'."]

[Muehlberger - "I remember that field exercise well because I had been completely fooled by the photo interpretation. It was a traverse along the divide along Mauna Loa (primarily) and Mauna Kea. The FS unit was coal black on the photos and I thought that it must be pahoehoe (a smooth form of lava) which was black when we walked around on it. It turned out to be an incredibly jagged aa flow. The spikes and jagged pieces put much of the flow into shadow - when seen from above - and thus its blackness. It just showed that photo-interpretation by itself is not much use without field checking. Our pre-mission interpretations for both Apollo 16 and 17 had flaws that the crews corrected."]

[The Genesis Rock was a piece of large-crystal anorthosite found by the Apollo 15 crew on the flank of Mt. Hadley Delta on Apollo 15. The large crystal size indicates a rock formed at depth, presumably early in lunar history, which had survived relatively unscathed by subsequent impacts. Because John and Charlie landed in the lunar highlands and, hence in old terrain, the discovery of at least a few pieces of "crystalline rock" was not unexpected.]

[This sample is 60015, a 5.6 kg piece of "cataclastic anorthosite".]

125:09:29 England: Okay. How big was it?

125:09:33 Duke: It's about football size (or) little bit smaller. Going into plus-Z footpad.

125:09:42 England: Okay.

125:09:43 Young: Okay, Houston, your (console) readings are...We're parked on a heading of north. And it says the bearing is 355, the Range is 0, the Distance is 4.2. It says the Amp-Hours are 108, 105, and the Volts, 68 and 68. The Amp, of course, are 0. On the (number) 1 Battery Temperature is 104, and the number 2 is 105. The Forward Motor Temps are off-scale low, and the Rear Motor Temps are off-scale low. (hearing a tone) And there's my (pause) water flag, I hope.

125:10:37 England: Rog. You have a water flag.

125:10:41 Young: Turn on the Aux water. (Hearing Tony) Huh?