Loading the Rover for the EVA-3 Traverse

Station 11 at North Ray Crater

 

Traverse to North Ray Crater

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 1996 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.
Traverse strips assembled by Ken Glover. Last revised 12 June 2014.

[The planned EVA-3 traverse is shown in the "EVA-I-III 2 of 2 Contour Map" and in the "Descartes EVA-I, III 2 of 2" map. Because of the delayed landing, John and Charlie will drive, as planned, to the rim of North Ray Crater and spend one hour in the general vicinity of the planned locations of Stations 11 and 12. They will then head back to the LM and make a single stop somewhere on the North Ray ejecta blanket. Readers may wish to note that Cat Crater, the planned location of Station 14, was named for Charlie's sons, Charles And Thomas, while Dot Crater, the planned location of Station 16, was named for Charlie's wife, Dotty.]

[Details of the first part of the traverse are shown in the "Descartes EVA-I, III 1 of 3" map. The LM is near CB.1/80.6 and, as indicated on the map, the first leg of the planned traverse is a drive of 0.8 km on a heading of 030.]

[A labeled detail from Pan Camera frame 4618 shows the area covered during EVA-3 and the locations that coincide with the Nav system readouts Charlie gives during the drive to North Ray.]

166:09:16 England: Good show.

166:09:18 Duke: Okay. First heading out of here, John, is 030. 030 supposedly. Okay. The DAC is On.

166:09:33 Young: Shoot, that thing (possibly the DAC) drifts.

MP3 Audio Clip ( 10 min 01 sec )

166:09:51 England: Charlie, can you turn that DAC off for another 19 minutes?

[Evidently Houston wants to make sure that the DAC doesn't run out of film during the approach to North Ray Crater.]

[Charlie may be saying that he will have to hold the DAC to keep it from moving.]

166:09:58 Duke: Okay. (Listens to Tony) Okay, it's Off.

166:10:06 Young: I'll tell you, this ridge up here (north of the LM) would be a good place to park the Rover, Houston, if you want (to watch the launch from the north)....We're reading...I think it (meaning the Rover Nav system)'s working. It's reading 162 and 0.1 now. And that's how far away we are.

166:10:20 England: Good show.

166:10:21 Young: This ridge would be a good place to park the Rover. Up north of it (that is, north of the LM). I don't know if you (meaning the LRV electronics package and associated radiators) can stand it thermally.

166:10:28 Duke: I don't think they can pan the camera like that, when we lift off. (Pause)

[At the end of the EVA, John will park the Rover about 100 meters east of the LM so Houston can watch the lift-off. With the Rover in that position, Ed Fendell only has to pan the camera up to follow the LM. Charlie is saying that, while the ridge might be a good vantage point, Fendell would have trouble panning left to right to follow the LM once it pitched over at an altitude of 800 feet. John's concern was the increased thermal load on the front of the Rover with it parked facing south rather than west.]

[The following is taken from a conversation I had with Ed Fendell at his Houston office on August 13, 1996.]

[Jones - "My reason for being here, Ed, is to ask you to talk about how you got prepared for doing the J-mission TV and anything you think readers of the Journal need to know about how the Apollo TV system evolved."]

[Fendell - "Well, let me give it to you this way. I'll tell you what I can remember; because I've got a good friend of mine who was one of the senior flight directors at that time - Pete Frank. Pete and I are pretty good friends and we worked on Habitat for Humanity together and different things. And he just retired from Loral. And we were talking about remembering things and he says, 'It's not only the point that you forget things, it's the point that you remember certain things and then somebody else says something and you find out that you remembered it wrong.' And this conversation went on yesterday; it had nothing to do with you. A good friend of ours passed away and we had a funeral we had to go to."]

["Anyways, let me see if I can kinda go back and start with the right place and see what I can help you with."]

["Prior to Apollo 10, all the communications equipment was spread out in the Control Center in different areas. For example, the Lunar Module communications equipment belonged to the Lunar Module guys. You know, the TELMU guys. And the Command Module equipment belonged to the Command Module guys. And the erectable antenna we had to go on the Moon and the backpack stuff and all that belonged to the experiments people. On 10, we tried to separate (meaning undock) the two vehicles but we couldn't get a Go on the comm between the Lunar Module and the CSM. We couldn't make it work. And we fooled around for two or three hours - I can't remember how long - and, finally, we got it to work and found out that we were just configured wrong. The Lunar Module guys (at Mission Control) were not talking correctly to the Command Module guys and vice versa."]

[Jones - "This was pre-flight?"]

[Fendell - "This was during the mission. We were out of configuration. The switches were not matched up between the two vehicles. So we got that straightened out and we separated and went on to do the mission. When the mission was over, Kranz came up to me - and I go way back; I'm an ex-Capsule Communicator back at the Cape and I'm an ex-air traffic controller. Anyway, Kranz came up to me said 'We're going to form a communications section, and you're going to run it.' See, I was an assistant Flight Director in those days. And I said, 'Yeah'. And he said, 'We're going to take all this gear out of all the different areas and we're going to put it all into one section and you're going to run it.' And I said, 'Who am I going to run it with?' And he said, 'the following people.' and there was only three guys who knew communications out of the twelve or so people. Anyways, we took it over and we started doing it on 11 and then it progressed down the line and we built this thing up and we started coming along."]

["We flew 11, we flew 12, and we got to 13...And, in the meantime, a guy by the name of Bill Perry, an engineer over in the telecommunications division, came up with a design for actually controlling a (TV) camera - from the ground or remotely. It (meaning Perry's concept) went through a PRCB (Program Review Control Board) to decide whether or not the program wanted to do this. And each directorate had to come in and make their pitch."]

[Jones - "When was this?"]

[Fendell - "I can't remember exactly when this was; but it's kind of an interesting story. Anyways, I, being a communications guy, went up to make the pitch for Flight Operations Directorate. At that time, Kraft had just moved from the head of Flight Operations to the head of the Center and he was there at the Board. And I had a 'one chart'. My pitch was one slide. 'FOD has no requirement for remote TV.' That is what it said. That was it. Well, we got going on this thing and just ahead of me was a fellow by the name of Tony Calio, who later on ended up becoming a director up at NASA Headquarters. Well, Tony headed up Science and Applications Division, which were the guys who controlled the geologists and everything else. And he got up there and started making the pitch for them; and he was saying how they had no requirement for this thing. Well, Kraft got a hold of him and ate him a new butt hole. I mean, he was chewing him...'What do you mean? This is stupid. This is your chance...This is no foresight...' And he was eating him alive; and I'm sliding down in this chair, trying to figure out how I'm going to get out of this."]

["There was a guy by the name of Mel Brooks, who's over in Europe now, and he was the Assistant Director of Flight Operations and he comes running back to me and he says, 'Get rid of your slide! Get rid of your slide!' And I said, 'I can't; it's already up with the projectionist.'"]

["So, anyways, he ate on Tony for about forty-five minutes. I don't know how well you know Chris, but Chris can just eat you alive. He's a good friend of mine; but he's the most outstanding person I've ever met in my life."]

["Well, he gets all done with him (meaning Calio) and I walk up there and the guy throws up my slide. And the place just came apart. Everybody just started hollering and I thought Kraft was going to die."]

["Well, that's how it all started. The end result is we were directed to go off and do this. They put together what they called a Tiger Team and it works out that the guy who did the actual procurement job - he was the procurement officer - is running this building (that houses Ed's 1996 office). And there was this guy Bill Perry, and another guy by the name of Olin Graham out of telecommunications, who was his boss. And there was - oh - about eight of us. And it was sole-sourced to RCA-Camden (New Jersey) to build the LCRU. It (meaning the development of the TV and the LCRU) was a two-pronged thing: they (RCA-Camden) were going to build the LCRU and then, (for construction of the TV camera), a procurement went out and an RFP (Request for Proposal). We had two bidders (on the camera) - RCA-Hightstown (New Jersey) and Westinghouse - and, after doing the Source Board, RCA-Hightstown was picked over Westinghouse. Westinghouse had the Command Module camera."]

["We started traveling back and forth and working it. And we worked it a little different from normally; they basically took Bill Perry's design on the camera controls (TCU) and implemented the whole thing together. Both companies bid, basically, on Bill Perry's control design (for) the camera and the motors and the gears."]

[Jones - "I know the setup from a crew operations perspective where they mount the LCRU on the front of the Rover and then they mount the TCU and then the camera."]

[Fendell - "So, that was all put together and we started training. And the real question came about: 'Well, how are we going to do this?' One, we had to put in commands in the Control Center to operate it. And what we did in the Control Center was we build two types of commands. Pan Right was a command; Pan Left was a command; Pan Stop was a command. Tilt Up; Tilt Down; Tilt Stop. Zoom In; Zoom Out; Zoom Stop. The other thing we did was we built what we called Three-Degree commands. 'Cause the way we did that was, underneath each one of the depressions of the PBI (Push Button Indicator) was a Pan Right Increment command. So, when you send Pan Right Increment, the control went up to turn the camera to the right (and then) it waited the appropriate amount of time, and then automatically sent Pan Stop."]

[Jones - "And it's called a 'three-degree command' because that's how far it goes, about half the width of the six-degree field-of-view (at minimum zoom)."]

[Fendell - "Yeah. So we had increments for left and right (and) zoom in and out. So that you could tweak (the pointing and zoom). See, you've got to understand you had that delay time on the camera (response)."]

[Jones - "Absolutely."]

[Fendell - "So we built the commands to do that. (For example), on the thing you saw when the Lunar Module lifted off, those commands were not sent by watching the Lunar Module. They were sent on time (that is, at pre-planned times relative to the instant of lift-off), because we were moving the camera to where the Lunar Module was supposed to be. (There was) a fellow named Harley Weyer (pronounced 'wire'), who worked for me and is now retired from NASA, and Harley had figured all that out. And that's the way that worked. We watched it going up (in elevation), then opened up (on the zoom), and then (watched it) going down (as the apparent elevation decreased with increasing LM range from the TV). And we only got to do it right once (on Apollo 17), because the (TCU TV) motors froze the first time (on Apollo 15), etc."]

[As usual, Charlie has been taking pictures. The frames covering the first part of the traverse begin with AS16-111- 18034. He takes 18036 - with the summit of Smoky Mountain just visible - as they are about to reach the ridge summit. A rough indication of the intervals in which various photos were taking is given in Figure 6-6 in the Preliminary Science Report.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18034 to 18040.]

[The formal definition of 'cobble' is a piece of rock between about 64 mm and 256 mm; a 'boulder is anything bigger than about 256 mm = 0.26 m.]

166:11:27 Duke: I do, too. They're getting smaller, and the cobbles are getting smaller. Looks like we could be just out of this ray. We don't see any - maybe one or two - of the half-a-meter-size boulders now, Tony.

166:11:41 England: Okay, we copy that. There are a couple of those mounds mapped about 200 meters off to your left. We were wondering if you could see those.

[Tony may be referring to features similar to the meter-sized conical mounds of soil that Pete Conrad and Al Bean found near the Apollo 12 ALSEP deployment site. However, to be even marginally visible in the photos available at this time to the geologists in the Backroom, mounds would have to be at least two to three meters tall. I don't see anything suggestive of mounds on the "Descartes EVA-I, III 1 of 3" map in the indicated area.]

[A LM bearing of 180 and a range of 0.3 puts them near CC.6/80.6]

166:12:07 Duke: Yeah. There's North Ray right up there. Look at the big rocks (on the rim of North Ray), John.

166:12:10 Young: Yeah.

166:12:11 Duke: Okay, Tony. You got a good view of North Ray here, and as I look at it, there's a northeast-southwest line of boulders that come out from the southwest rim and go up - (correcting himself) the northeast rim - Smoky Mountain.

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18041 to 18047.]

[Traverse photo AS16-111-18044 shows the view of North Ray Crater and the big boulders on the rim. The photograph does not capture details that John and Charlie can see with their eyes. House Rock is labeled in a detail from 18045.]

166:12:35 Duke: Yeah, we see Palmetto. (Pause)

[Palmetto Crater has a diameter of about 1000 meters and the southern rim is about 800 meters north of their present position.]

[They are near CD.1/80.9. Frame AS16-111- 18052 probably shows the start of the descent. The "big sag" area may be a shallow feature about 200 meters in diameter which is centered near CE.1/80.6. At about this time, John angles his track to the east and goes around it, thinking they have reached Palmetto Crater.]

166:12:55 Duke: Huh?

166:12:57 Young: (This) may be Palmetto.

166:12:58 Duke: No. That's over there on the rim, isn't it?

166:12:59 Young: Huh?

166:13:00 Duke: That big thing right there?

[Journal Contributor Thierry Bisiaux notes that the character of Charlie's voice changes here and it seems likely that he lowered his head to look at the map.]

166:13:05 England: You should be about halfway to Palmetto.

166:13:06 Duke: ...(a range of) 2.1.

166:13:09 England: You're looking (to be) right below (meaning "a bit south of") Turtle Mountain, we bet.

166:13:11 Young: Yeah. That's where we are.

166:13:17 Duke: Okay. Up at Station 11 and 12...

166:13:20 Young: Any resemblance between this and the topo is going to the devil.

[John is probably referring to the site model they used in training. Training photo 72-H-430 shows John and Charlie doing a traverse simulation with an image from the Landing and Ascent (L&A) facility which consisted of the site model suspended over a TV camera which moved in response to inputs from the handcontroller.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18048 to 18054.]

166:14:02 England: Okay. It might be a good idea to try to get there (near the large boulder) for our Station 11.

166:14:10 Duke: That's what I thought we were going to pick: those two big - big rocks.

166:14:14 England: Good show.

166:14:15 Duke: It's right up on that ridge. (Pause) That might be...That's Palmetto right there, I guess, off to the left there, isn't it, John? Course, we've only been 0.6 though. Tony, we're at 195 at 0.6, and there's a big depression off to our 2 o'clock position on a heading of 030, with some white boulders on the inner rim. It's a very subdued feature, but it does have stuff, at least around the rim...The south rim...Wow! Great!

[John may have just bounced the Rover by hitting a small crater.]

[They are near CE.0/81.4. They are driving on a heading of 030 and a 2 o'clock relative azimuth would put the "big depression" directly east of them. This suggests that Charlie is looking at the feature at CE.5/84.0 which is about five hundred meters from their current location.]

166:14:53 Duke: The east side is a very shallow slope into this pit.

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18055 to 18061.]

166:15:01 Duke: Just keep going. Straight out. (Pause)

[As indicated on the "Descartes EVA-I, III 1 of 3" map, once they get to a range of 0.8 and a LM bearing of 210, they will turn to a heading of 356 and drive another 1.4 kilometers until they are past Palmetto.]

166:15:09 Duke: (Lost under Tony) turn...(Stops to listen) Yeah. Now...At 0.8, you can turn to about 356.

166:15:18 Young: Okay.

166:15:20 Duke: Okay. Tony, this big depression off to the left that I was describing (meaning the 'big sag' he mentioned at 166:12:40)...on the east side it's a very shallow slope into it, about 4 or 5 degrees. But, on the far end, the west side and the southwest side, it has very steep walls, 20 degrees or so

166:15:36 Young: (Garbled)

166:15:37 England: Right. Understand. You're looking right at the base of Turtle Mountain.

166:15:38 Duke: (Lost under Tony) piece of cake, John. (Hearing Tony) Okay.

166:15:46 Young: Listen, Houston. (Laughs) I hate to tell you this, but these mountains don't look the same (as they did in the training model).

166:15:53 Duke: Which mountain? Those straight...

166:15:57 Young: Where's Turtle Mountain. Right here?

166:15:58 Duke: It's off to the left, way off to the left. We just passed it. We could do a 360 and get a pan of it.

166:16:03 Young: How about that rock there, Charlie?

166:16:08 Duke: And it's got some lineations in it, huh?

166:16:09 Young: Yeah. Look at the size of it.

166:16:13 Duke: Oh, this big one coming up, you mean?

166:16:15 Young: Yeah.

166:16:16 Duke: Yeah. (Pause)

[This rock may be the one on the lefthand side, just above the TV camera in AS16-111-18061.]

166:16:37 Young: Yeah, that's true. It's much better driving. We're doing 10 clicks.

166:16:41 England: Outstanding.

[Jones - "If they targeted you up north of where they did, would there still have been a problem finding a level place for the LM?"]

[Duke - "No; I think there would have been some nice landing spots up there. It was like a big depression. And I don't remember any major craters out to the northeast of Palmetto."]

[Jones - "No hummocks or anything."]

[Duke - "No. Well, it was just gently rolling and I think it would...We make some further comments about it, later on; but it was real nice. Not any blocks."]

166:16:51 Duke: Twenty (amps). Hey, there's about a 4-meter boulder off to our...With a good fillet...

166:16:59 Young: Oh, that's nice. That's been there for a while.

166:17:01 Duke: ...we're just passing at 195 at 0.9. It's rounded.

[They are near CF.4/81.8. In Pan Camera frame AS16-4618 there are no clearly visible boulder near the indicated location. Although the LM, which is 7 meters tall, and Shadow Rock, which is 4 meters tall, are clearly visible in the Pan Camera frame, none are visible near their current location. If the boulder in question is the one on the lefthand side of AS16-111- 18061, John may be overestimating its height.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18062 to 18068.]

166:17:08 Duke: And we can see into Ravine...(Stops to listen) Okay; most of them over here are, I'd say, probably a good half and half. Rounded to angular.

166:17:25 England: Okay.

[That is, about half of the rocks are angular and half are rounded.]

[Charlie's comment about being able to see into Ravine, which is the very large crater cut into the near face of Smoky Mountain, suggests that he has just taken AS16-111- 18062.]

166:17:43 Young: This Palmetto right here, Charlie?

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18069 to 18075.]

In frame 18071, the rim of Palmetto Crater may form the local horizon, intersecting the upper arm of the central reseau cross a bit below its tip and passing a similar distance above the upper tips of the smaller crosses in the center row.]

[Before Charlie takes 18073, John turns east to go around Palmetto.]

166:18:31 England: Okay. We copy that, and...

166:18:32 Duke: ...That might be a function of the Sun angle, though.

166:18:34 England: ...according to our track, you're a little bit east of - correction, west - of course, and probably a 005 heading (5 degrees east of north) would take you right along the rim of Palmetto.

166:18:41 Young: Yeah. That's what I figure.

166:18:47 Duke: I think we're coming up on the rim now, John.

166:18:50 Young: You're right, Charlie.

166:18:51 Duke: There it is.

166:18:53 Young: There it is. Beautiful.

166:18:57 Duke: Okay. Tony, we topped out on the rim of Palmetto, and hit it right on the nose at 1.2 at 189.

[They are near CH.0/81.5 on the southeast rim. Clearly, the Nav system is giving them a very accurate indication of their location.]

166:19:17 Young: Sorry, Charlie.

166:19:20 Duke: Beautiful. That's great.

166:19:21 Young: I got to keep my eye on the driving.

166:19:23 Duke: That's great. And to the southeast here are steeper than the walls to the northeast. Apparently, it looks like it's almost breached to the northeast.

166:19:34 England: Okay. (Pause)

MP3 Audio Clip ( 12 min 03 sec )

166:19:42 Duke: John's cutting away from the rim now, because it's a little bit easier going.

[Charlie takes frame AS16-111- 18073 as John is turning east along the Palmetto rim and is heading up-Sun.]

166:19:58 England: Okay. Do you have an estimate of the coverage (meaning the percentage of the surface covered by rocks)?

166:20:00 Young: (To Houston) Palmetto is as big as Meteor (Crater in Arizona), isn't it? It's...(Stops to listen)

[Palmetto is about 800 meters in diameter while Meteor Crater is about 1200 meters across.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18076 to 18082.] [The interior of Palmetto may be of the left side of 18077. The interior of Ravine is on the left in 18080.]

[John continues driving east to get around Palmetto and then heads north.]

166:20:25 England: Okay.

166:20:27 Young: Okay. We're just traveling right around the...We're traveling about 100 meters inside the rim, and we're at 195, 1.4 now.

166:20:38 England: Okay.

[They are near CH.9/82.4 on the east rim.]

[Jones - "The pictures you took of Palmetto don't show the kind of detail that we have of some of the other big craters. Did John turn the Rover so you could get pictures? Or did you basically keep going."]

[Duke - "No; we just kept going."]

[John is saying that they have driven 1.7 km since leaving the LM. The difference between the 1.4 km range and the 1.7 km distance driven is due to the fact that he hasn't driven in a straight line from the LM.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18083 to 18089.]

166:20:52 Young: Hey, Charlie, there's Dot.

[Dot Crater is a fresh, sharp-rimmed crater at CN.2/81.3, just north and slightly east of Palmetto. It is surrounded by a light-colored ejecta blanket. Charlie named the crater for his wife, Dotty.]

[The blocks Charlie mentions are visible in AS16-111- 18086. The largest block is at CK.9/81.9 and, while it shows up very poorly on the traverse map, it is clearly visible on the Pan Camera frame. Charlie may be underestimating its size. It appears to be similar in size to the LM.]

166:21:21 Duke: Angularity is sort of rounded.

166:21:24 England: Okay.

[Charlie is using "angularity" in the sense of the general characteristic which includes a spectrum of angularities from "angular" to "rounded".]

166:21:47 Young: No, not too bad. It's not near as bad as Stone Mountain.

166:21:52 Duke: Okay. The boulder field out of North Ray does not reach Ravine, Tony. It stops on the outer flank of Ravine about a tenth of a (Ravine) crater diameter away.

166:22:05 England: Okay. (Pause)

[Ravine is a large, shallow crater on the southern flank of Smoky Mountain. It is centered near CY/89. There is a smaller, younger, half-kilometer crater that has been dug into Ravine's southern rim at CV.2/88.5. In the Pan Camera detail, a number of LM-sized boulders are visible just west of the Ravine rim. There are also a number on the floor of Ravine and on the inner, eastern wall, but these may be hidden from Charlie. I only see one large boulder in the area south of Ravine, and that LM-sized boulder is about a kilometer south of the nearest rim at CS.0/87.8.]

166:22:36 England: Outstanding.

[They are near CK.4/82.5. They are about 150 meters south of End Crater, which is a small crater on the northeast rim of Palmetto.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18090 to 18096.]

166:22:57 Young: That's a real valley, too, Charlie.

166:22:58 Duke: Yeah. I'll say. And these valleys in here, Tony, tend to trend towards Big Sag.

166:23:09 England: And Charlie, could you go ahead and...

166:23:10 Young: (To Charlie) Hey, see Cat (Crater)?

[Cat Crater is on the southwestern rim of Ravine at CW.0/86.5 and was the planned location of Station 14. As mentioned previously, Cat (or "C.A.T.") was named for Charlie's sons, "Charles And Thomas".]

166:23:12 Duke: Yeah, there's (Cat)...

166:23:15 Young: Yeah, put it on now, Charlie.

166:23:16 Duke: (Straining to reach the camera) Okay. Wait a minute. (Pause) Okay; it's running.

166:23:26 England: Good show.

166:23:28 Young: It's not pointing up ...

166:23:30 Duke: And I got it pointed off to the right...(correcting himself) or left. Excuse me.

166:23:34 England: (Joking) Your other right.

[Jones - "When you were out on field exercises driving the one-g trainer, did you try to do this kind of terrain description?"]

[Duke - "That's what we did; that's what we practiced. The navigation is a lot easier than it was on EVA Number 2; and so I had a chance to talk more."]

[Jones - "Whereas, on the first two, you'd spent a fair amount of time looking at the map."]

[Duke - "Uh-huh."]

[They are near CL.3/83.1. Frame AS16-111- 18098 shows the descent they are making down the outer flank of Palmetto. They are passing significant numbers of half-meter boulders. As John mentions in a moment, they are traveling east to find some smoother ground.]

166:24:25 England: Okay.

[As shown in the "Descartes EVA-I, III 2 of 3" map, End Crater is at CL.4/82.4. They had planned to do Station 16 at End Crater and, as the last stop, it was the "end" of the traverse geology.]

[As shown on the Pan Camera detail, the reported position of 195/1.9 is immediately east of End Crater, an indication that the Nav system readouts are giving accurate positions.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18097 to 18103.]

[By the time Charlie takes 18099, they are traveling toward the Sun.]

166:24:41 Young: Yeah, Charlie; 5 to 10. More like 10.

166:24:43 Duke: Yeah. Okay, Tony. We're about maybe a half a crater diameter to the northeast of Palmetto, about a 10-degree slope, and the boulder population is about 5 degrees (means 5 percent) here. And the small cobbles have just about disappeared. Very smooth regolith, except for these 20- to 30-centimeter boulders, which are not very numerous. We're really moving out, downslope, at about 12, 15 kilometers an hour.

166:25:27 England: Okay.

166:25:29 Duke: It's remarkable how subdued all these craters are. It's almost a smooth plain except for a few of the 5-meter craters or so. The 1-meter size, and all, and smaller, are just about gone. Apparently. Very subdued. (Pause) Okay. John, we're at 2.2 at 195. We'll swing the (16-mm) camera around toward the Sun. (Pause) It's looking off to the right now.

[They are near CM.7/83.4. In the Pan Camera detail, there are no visible craters within about 100 meters of this location.]

166:26:18 England: Okay.

[John is asking Houston for advice as to the heading he should take from their current position.]

[Charlie may be using the contour map, which is Figure 3.6.2-4 in the Lunar Surface Procedures volume. As shown on that map, they had planned to drive 2.5 kilometers north on a heading of 002 to a point near CX.5/82.5 where the bearing and range to the planned landing site is 185/4.4. Because they landed only 200 meters north and 80 meters west of the planned spot, the actual bearing and range at CX.5/82.5 will be about 185/4.1. The mobility that the Rover gives them makes the differences unimportant.]

166:26:27 Duke: Yeah. It looks great to me, that heading.

[Although North Ray is now hidden by the slope they are about to climb, John and Charlie have been keeping track of horizon features and of the large boulder on the rim of North Ray and, so, have a good idea of the heading they need to follow. Distance will take care of itself if they head in the right direction.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18104 to 18110. House Rock is labelled in a detail from 18110.]

166:26:38 Duke: It is.

166:26:39 England: Y'all are making some outstanding time there.

[Frames AS16-111- 18107 and 18108 are representative of this part of the traverse.]

166:27:19 Young: Look at those boulders (on North Ray)!

166:27:20 Duke: Look at those rocks! Tony, there are some tremendous boulders on North Ray, and they get bigger as we go nearer them.

166:27:27 England: Okay.

166:27:28 Young: Tell you one reason why North Ray looks like in the photos, it had such steep walls on one side, is because the rim is raised on one side higher than the other. Don't you get that impression. Charlie?

166:27:41 Duke: Yeah. Sure do.

166:27:45 England: Do you think you'll be able to recognize the edge of the continuous ejecta blanket?

166:27:48 Duke: Hey, John, it looks like...(Stops to listen) Well, we'll give you a try at that. Right now, I can't...

166:27:59 Young: I think we're starting to get into it right now, Charlie.

166:28:01 Duke: Well, the cobbles and boulders are picking up. We're at 2.6, Tony, at 192, and beginning to pick up a high frequency, maybe 10 percent now, of cobbles and boulders.

[They are near CP.8/83.3.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18111 to 18117.]

[Frame 18112 shows the cobbly area they have just entered.]

[Charlie may be referring to the numerous boulders visible in the Pan Camera detail in a band extending east about 300-400 meters from Shadow Rock and north toward the area between North Ray and Smoky Mountain.]

166:28:48 Duke: Okay. I'd love to.

166:28:51 England: Okay; and you may get a caution flag on Battery 2 temperature...

166:28:53 Duke: Okay, Tony...(Stops to listen)

166:28:54 England: ...just reset it, and press on.

166:29:00 Young: Understand. Reset and press.

166:29:04 Duke: Okay. Tony, in this area now for 192 at 2.7, we're getting in a greater frequency of 1-meter-size craters, and it's making it a little bit bumpier ride.

[They are near CQ.3/83.4.]

166:29:18 Young: Okay. The Battery 2 temperature is reading what? You can read that, can't you, Charlie?

166:29:20 England: ...color, or albedo as you go along there (as an indication that they are on the North Ray ejecta blanket).

166:29:24 Young: That's what we're watching for, and the real change comes up...Oh, man.

166:29:32 Duke: Uh-oh. Oh, man.

[They have probably just encountered a fresh, sharp-rimmed crater and either went through it or had to slow and then turn quickly to avoid it. In the Apollo 15 Mission Report, Dave Scott observed that, even on level terrain, if he tried to make a quick turn at a speed greater than about 5 km/hr, the back end would break out and start to swing around.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18118 to 18124.]

166:29:38 Duke: That's one of those sharp craters...They map sharp out here in the plain. John, I don't think we're going to be...Go straight between those two big rocks. I think we're going to have to...Looks like to me that's a pretty steep slope. If we swing a little bit east here, and then go up just on the edge of that boulder ray right there, we'll make it.

166:30:01 Young: (Garbled)

166:30:02 Duke: Okay. (Pause)

[Charlie's next four traverse photos are AS16-111-18125 to 18128.]

[The boulders Charlie mentions at 166:29:38 may be shown in frame 18126. John turns to the east sometime after Charlie takes 18128.]

[It has been a minute since Charlie reported a position near CQ.3/83.4 and, if John has continued to drive north at about 11 km/hr, they should be near CR.2/83.4.]

166:30:24 England: Okay. Could you take a look up at Smoky area there, and see what kind of structure and texture you can see on the face?

166:30:34 Duke: Can't...(I've) been looking at that. Can't see anything except for a couple of rays of boulders out of North Ray that trend...One goes almost into Ravine that I described, and one goes on up to the top (of Smoky Mountain). In the northeast wall of Ravine, you can see the lineation. To the northeast, they're horizontal. To the north, they are dipping east about 30 degrees.

166:31:01 England: Okay. Can you push your camera up that far to get a picture of that?

166:31:08 Duke: I don't want to break my RCU bracket; I don't think I can...Wait a minute, I'll take the camera off and do it.

166:31:14 Young: Charlie, don't do that.

166:31:16 Duke: No sweat. (Long Pause)

[John is probably concerned that Charlie will drop his Hasselblad.]

[Charlie's seven hand-held pictures are AS16-111- 18129 to 18135.]

166:31:33 Young: (Chuckling) Take a picture of that crater the road had us going through.

166:31:40 Duke: Oh, yeah. I did.

166:31:41 Young: That's a nice one.

166:31:42 Duke: Okay. Tony, there's a...That, to me, looks like just a big sink feature, John. Tony, the road had us...the map had us going...

166:31:56 Young: Okay. We're definitely in the regolith (meaning the North Ray ejecta) right now, Houston, because, see how these blocks are all laid in there?

166:32:03 Duke: Yeah, I do.

[Charlie's first three pictures taken after he puts the camera back on his RCU bracket are AS16-111- 18136 to 18138.]

166:32:09 Duke: Yeah.

166:32:10 Young: Those rocks are laid into the ejecta blanket.

166:32:11 Duke: Yeah.

166:32:12 Young: That's where they came from.

166:32:13 Duke: Okay, Tony. At 191, at 3.1, we're coming into some good-sized whitish-looking rocks that are 3 and 4 meters across. They're fractured. And there's probably a permanent shadowed sample...No, that wouldn't be...

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18139 to 18145.]

[John and Charlie are near CS.3/83.6. The nearest boulders north of their current position that are visible in the Pan Camera frame are about 600 meters north of them, at about the distance of Shadow Rock. AS16-111- 18141 may be a picture of these boulders.]

166:32:36 Duke: And as we go to the southeast side of North Ray, there is a big sink feature, a big pit, that's elongate east-west, and we could drive in it from the east. But once you get to the south of South Ray (means North Ray), it is really a deep pit, Tony. And that ridge line that we saw from the LM is on the west side of that deep pit. It's probably 100 meters below the rim of North Ray. Over.

[The 'big sink' extends northwest from their current position northwest roughly on a line that would pass between North Ray and Kiva. The ridge line extends southeast from North Ray Crater and bounds the 'big sink' on the east. See Figure 3 in the North Ray chapter of the Apollo 16 Professional Paper.]

166:33:32 Duke: Okay. Well, we...Okay. We're not close to any of them right now. We're in a very smooth area. At 3.4, at 190, we're down in this area where I've just described it, that goes into that big pit off to our west.

166:33:52 England: Understand.

[They are near CT.8/83.6.]

166:34:15 Young: My bag fell off again, Charlie.

166:34:17 Duke: ...at 3(.)4. It did?

166:34:18 Young: Yeah.

[John's SCB has come off. He may have seen it fall in their shadow, which is off to his left and evidently in his field-of-view. Although it seems likely that the motion of the falling bag in the shadow caught his attention, if he didn't see it fall, he would have noticed the change in his profile, provided that the Sun was far enough aft.]

166:34:35 England: Okay. Understand.

166:34:37 Duke: ...Equal height (on all sides), I should say.

166:34:39 England: Do you see any clasts in these boulders?

166:34:40 Duke: We're just passed another 1 meter...(stops to listen)

166:34:42 Young: (Garbled)

166:34:43 Duke: (To Tony) They just look whitish to me.

166:34:45 England: Okay.

166:34:46 Duke: But that was another one we just passed, 1-meter size, that had the biggest fillet upslope (meaning toward North Ray).

[This boulder may be the one shown in AS16-111-18145.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18146 to 18152.]

166:34:53 Duke: Right to the right?

166:34:54 Young: Yeah.

[This crater is shown in 18147.]

166:35:16 England: Okay. Understand.

166:35:17 Young: Yeah, I'm not sure that this isn't such an old crater, that the secondaries aren't eroded down. We've really got good going right here.

166:35:25 Duke: Yeah.

166:35:27 Young: Now, before we get too far along, let's study this thing and see if we can figure out a way to get up that rim without going through all the boulders in the world...

166:35:34 Duke: Okay, John. See that big one off to the right over there?

166:35:38 Young: Yeah. I see that.

166:35:39 Duke: Okay. I think up that slope looks to me to be the best. Of course, it might be straight ahead might be best.

166:35:45 Young: Well, I don't see any rocks straight ahead.

166:35:46 Duke: All right. Let's go...

166:35:47 Young: Let's try straight ahead.

166:35:47 Duke: straight ahead.

166:35:49 Duke: Okay. Tony, we're heading about 300 (60 degrees west of north) and (the bearing to the LM is) 187. The large boulders, Tony, will be off to our right. There's a black to brownish looking one, and then there is a solid white one that's right at the base of Smoky Mountain and North Ray. That might be worth a little jog over there if it's not too far. It's the most unique white boulder we've seen.

166:36:21 England: Okay.

[In frame 18150, we see two boulders above the back of the TV camera. There is an elongated boulder on the left and a more-nearly hemispherical, jagged-top boulder on the right. In a sequence from 18150 to 18154, it is evident that the righthand boulder is the nearer of the two. A comparison between a detail from 18154 and AS16-106-17393, a frame from Charlie's Station 13 pan, shows that the lefthand boulder is Shadow Rock. An examination of other frames from Charlie's pan shows that the righthand boulder in 18150-54 is the prominent one just to the right of center in AS16-106-17400.]

166:36:22 England: ...We'll keep that in mind on the way back. Give us bearing and range again. 166:36:23 Duke: Yeah. See that white one over there, John?

166:36:28 Duke: Okay, we're at 3.7 and 186. And we just passed some very frothy...Two frothy-looking boulders. The biggest one is perhaps 5 meters across, and they have vertical joining or fracturing to them, and they have a frothy appearance to it. And I'm about 20 meters from it now.

[They are near CV.5/82.5. The plotted location is just east of Shadow Rock.]

166:36:58 Duke: (Laughing) Man, that is a big rock!

166:37:02 Young: Yeah.

166:37:04 Duke: Okay, Tony. They're are not any house-size rocks, but the biggest ones are maybe 5 meters. (Pause) And it (meaning the surface they are driving on)'s really smooth except for these big rocks out here. It's smooth going.

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111- 18153 to 18159.]

166:37:23 Duke: There's a real fresh little crater right there. See the rays...

166:37:25 Young: Yeah.

166:37:26 Duke: ...off to the left?

166:37:27 Young: Yep.

166:37:28 Duke: It's about a meter size.

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18160 to 18166.]

166:37:30 Duke: And 3.9, we're at 183.

166:37:31 England: ...to describe that frothy rock?

[They are near CW.6/81.6.]

166:37:41 Young: It's black colored. Right, Charlie?

166:37:44 Duke: Yeah.

166:37:46 Young: Okay; we're going up a pretty steep slope right now, Houston. We're doing...I think we're almost at the rim, Charlie.

[A comparison between the Rover readout at their Station 11 parking place and the actual location suggests that, during this climb toward the rim, the Rover wheels may be slipping. The Nav system counts wheel rotations to determine distance travelled and, if the wheels are slipping, the indicated distance interval can be signifcantly greater than the actual distance interval. See the contour map from the North Ray Chapter of the Apollo 16 Professional Paper, which shows them climbing about 25 meters in the first 200 meters after passing just east of Station 13.]

166:37:59 Young: I'm going to slow down here.

166:38:01 Duke: Yeah. (Laughing) You think you'll be alright. How about hooking a right, over here, John.

[North Ray is about 900 meters across and 200 meters deep and John wants to approach the rim slowly enough that he can stop quickly if he finds himself at the edge of a steep drop-off into the crater.]

[By this time, Houston has gotten range and bearing readings at enough well-defined locations that they know almost exactly where the LM is and, during this traverse, have an excellent fix at End Crater that shows that the Nav system is working well. John and Charlie are, indeed, about 500 meters southeast of the rim.]

166:38:23 England: Okay; we'd like you...

166:38:24 Duke: Well, you might be right.

166:38:25 England: ...to go to 12 frames per second (on the DAC).

166:38:29 Duke: Okay. You got it.

166:38:34 England: Okay. This is going to make some great pictures.

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18167 to 18173.]

[They have just driven onto the top of the North Ray Ridge, which extends southward from the flank of North Ray They are still about 25 meters below the rim. They will drive about 450 meter along the top of the ridge, climbing about 10 meters on the 1.3 degree slope, and then will climb the final 15 meters on a 6-degree slope over the last 150 meters to Station 11. See the contour map from the North Ray Chapter of the Apollo 16 Professional Paper.]

166:39:11 England: Okay. (Pause)

166:39:17 Duke: Man. Look, there's a tremendous one. There's a 10-meter boulder off to the right over there, John.

166:39:21 Duke: There's a fresh crater, really fresh one, that has a white interior that's punched in about 2 meters deep, and that was at 181 at 4.0. (Pause)

[They are near CX.1/80.9. The '10-meter boulder' is almost certainly House Rock.]

166:39:49 Young: There we go, Charlie.

166:39:50 Duke: ...John, at 2 o'clock. Think this is the rim, right here?

[Charlie's picture of the scene is AS16-111- 18174. The black, 10-meter boulder at the right is House Rock, which they will visit just before they leave North Ray. They will park the Rover near the white boulders straight ahead. They are looking for crystalline bedrock and the white color of the rocks ahead suggest they are composed of anorthosite. Frame 18178 is a closer view of the scene. Compare with 18272 which is 500-mm image Charlie took from Station 4 on Stone Mountain. David Harland has assembled a mini-pan showing the approach.]

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18174 to 18180.]

166:39:59 Duke: We'll be able to sample these white ones. Here's some...(Stops to listen) We are. There's the rim up there.

166:40:07 Young: Sure is.

166:40:11 Duke: Sure is, Tony. You were right. We just climbed...What we thought was the rim of one of these little hummocks.

166:40:17 England: Right...

166:40:18 Duke: Little hummocks! It was a pretty steep hummock.

166:40:20 England: ...Just like mountain climbing, there's always another ridge.

166:40:25 Young: (Laughing) I'll be darned!

[Charlie's next seven traverse photos are AS16-111-18181 to 18187.]

[They are near CX.6/80.6.]

166:41:08 Duke: John, the rim's left.

166:41:09 Young: The rim is right there!

166:41:10 Duke: No, sir. I bet it's over there to the left where those rocks are. But you might be right. (Pause) That's too far away. You're right. That's probably too far west.

166:41:22 England: We think the most direct route from where you are...

166:41:23 Young: Okay; we're at one-eighty at four point...(Stops to listen)

166:41:24 England: ...to the rim would be about a heading of 350.

166:41:33 Duke: Okay! We're headed that way. And there's some beautiful...Those white rocks are...

166:41:40 Young: Right on the rim, Charlie!

166:41:41 Duke: ...right on the rim.

166:41:42 England: Outstanding. Can you see on around to see if there are any black rocks around at 3 o'clock in the crater?

166:41:51 Duke: Well, we can't see in the crater. But around at the 3 o'clock position, yeah, there's a biggie. The biggest one (which is House Rock), Tony, is this 10- to 15-meter boulder that is on the rim; and it's blackish.

[Some geologists had a pre-flight concept of the site as having a variety of volcanic features overlying an anorthositic bedrock. If the North Ray impact was big enough to have penetrated to bedrock, then John and Charlie might have found both black volcanic rocks and white anorthositic rocks. As it turns out, although House Rock is very dark, it is a breccia and not of volcanic origin.]

166:42:15 Young: It's...No way!

166:42:17 England: Okay.

166:42:18 Duke: Right. Pretty far. I think we can do it with a short stop over there. And when we get up there, Tony, we might be able to find a black rock.

166:42:27 England: Okay. Fine

166:42:28 Duke: Okay. We're going through a...We're definitely on the ejecta blanket here. And, oh, within 100 meters or so, I think, of the rim.

[Charlie's final traverse photos are AS16-111-18188 to 18192.]

166:42:44 Duke: These rocks are just white! Crystalline, white looking. (Hearing Tony) Man, you guys are right on. If we copied, I think y'all are right on.

166:42:56 Young: Yeah. We're 179 at 4.4 right now.

[The indicated location is on the inner wall of the crater, a clear indication that, by now, the Nav system is overestimating the distance they've travelled. See the discussion following 166:45:15, below.]

166:43:20 Young: There's the rim.

166:43:22 Duke: Yeah. There it is. Okay. I think we can get over there and maybe get them a picture. We're headed about 360, aren't we?

166:43:31 Young: Yep.

166:43:33 Duke: That is...That big...I can't believe the size of that big black rock over here. And I don't think that's a breccia, John, because...Although it might be. I see some large white clasts. (Pause)

166:43:48 Duke: Oh, spectacular! Just spectacular! (Pause) Can...(Pause)

166:43:56 Young: Okay, Charlie.

166:43:58 England: Charlie, the DAC should be out of film; you can turn it off.

166:44:04 Duke: I can't reach it.

166:44:05 England: Okay, fine.

166:44:06 Duke: Gonna park at this heading?

166:44:09 Young: I don't...No, I guess not. (Pause) What I'd like to do is park where it's flat, and...(Pause)

166:44:23 Duke: Okay. Okay; where we came up over here, John, it won't be quite...They get a better view. Right here's where they get a great view of the interior (of North Ray). Of the upper third of the wall. Okay. Tony, we're on the rim.

166:44:46 England: Beautiful.

166:44:50 Duke: There we go. If we go 360 and park right here, it'll be flat. (Pause) Great, John. Super! (Excited) Can't wait to get off. Got to get off.

[The last of Charlie's traverse photos is AS16-111- 18192.]

166:45:09 Duke: Okay, Tony. We're at...(Stops to listen)

166:45:10 England: ...about 17 minutes ahead of the timeline.

[David Harland notes that, although the drive to North Ray has taken far less time than planned, a recommendation is made to the Flight Director not to spend more time at North Ray than had been planned. Because of the six-hour landing delay, EVA-3 activities have been dramatically curtailed so as not to eat into planned reserves of LM consumables, and this recommendation is consistent with that general approach to the EVA.]

[The range and bearing to the LM are 4.5/179 and the indicated position is CZ.6/80.2. As shown in Figure 13 in the North Ray chapter of the Professional Paper, they have parked about 220 meters southwest of House Rock at about CY.4/79.8. The difference between the indicated and actual locations is an unusually large 250 meters. One possible explanation is that there was more than normal wheel slippage during the climb up to the North Ray rim which, because the Nav system counts wheel rotations to determine distance, would give an overestimate.]

166:45:45 Young: Okay. Primary (Drive Power) is going to Off.

166:45:49 Duke: (Answering Tony) 100 and...About 110, I think.

166:45:52 England: Okay. Got it. And, Charlie, we'll need a (Hasselblad) frame count.

166:45:58 Duke: Okay. Pan...(Stops to listen) Okay; stand by. I'm so dusty (I can't read the counter).

166:46:06 Young: Okay. Going to halfway between the Intermediate (PLSS cooling) and...(Pause)

166:46:18 Duke: Gee, I don't know, Tony. I can't read it. Let John read it. John.

166:46:23 Young: What's that?

166:46:25 Duke: Read my frame count.

166:46:28 Young: Okay. Hold still.

166:46:29 Duke: Well, I wanted to get in the Sun so you could read it.

166:46:31 Young: 165. You better change that out.

166:46:33 Duke: Okay. Took 165 pictures coming up here, Tony.

166:46:37 England: Okay; and we concur on the changeout.

166:46:44 Duke: Okay. I'm going to put another black and white on. Kilo.

166:46:54 England: Okay. Kilo.

166:46:57 Young: Man, look at...(Stops to listen) Okay, I'm walking down about a...

166:47:05 Duke: John, I'll get the TV for you.

166:47:07 England: Okay; and DAC off.

166:47:08 Young: Charlie, I'll get the TV.

166:47:12 Duke: (Answering Tony) Yeah, okay.