[NASA] NASA-UAP-D2, Apollo 17 Transcript, 1972

Tape 5/2 
CC 
Yes, we copied your VI and your EMS numbers, and 
we've got a number for you. 
Maneuver start time 
will be at 03 plus 33 plus 27. 
LMP 
Okay, we got you. 
Maneuver at 03:33:27. 
cc 
That's affirmative, Jack. 
LMP 
You guys didn't tell us we 
going through the sunrise. 
couldn't see anything 
cc 
(Laughter) 
Roger. 
00 03 25 01 cc 
17, Houston. 
We're making plans here 
craft SEP time of 03 plus 43. 
for a space­
LMP 
03 plus 43. 
Roger. 
00 03 27 27 cc 
17, Houston. 
time. 
We're copying cabin press of 5.9 this 
CMP 
Roger. 
We - we just got it, Bob. 
cc 
Okay. 
CMP 
Thank you. 
00 03 31 55 
LMP 
Frame 65 for the LMPs mag November November. 
00 03 34 10 
LMP 
Okay. 
We - we are maneuvering, Houston. 
cc 
Roger. 
We're watching it. 
CMP 
Now we've got a few very bright particles 
ments or something that go drifting by as 
maneuver. 
or 
we 
frag­
CC 
Roger. 
Understand. 
LMP 
There's a whole bunce of big ones on my window 
down there - just bright. 
It looks like the 
Fourth of July out of Ron's window. 
CMP 
Yes. 
Now you can see some of them in shape. 
'They're very jagged, angular fragments that are 
tumbling.

Tape 5/3 
CC 
Roger. 
They look like fluid of some sort? 
CMP 
Not to me. 
They look like pieces of something. 
CC 
Roger. 
CMP 
They're very bright. 
CC 
Jack, we'd like OMNI Charlie. 
CMP 
Bob, for the most part, these fragments are not -
or are tumbling at a very slow rate. 
I tried a 
couple of pictures of them - different settings. 
You may get an idea of what, at least, the patterns 
look like. 
CC 
Roger. 
I've got you. 
We're all ears on these frag­
ments. 
Do you think you can figure out what they 
might be? 
CMP 
Well, you know I -
I don't know. 
There are a num­
ber of possibilities. 
If you had some kind of a -
I got the impression maybe they were curved a little 
bit, as if they might be - off the side of the 
S-IVB. 
And that's a wild guess 
CDR 
Okay. 
RCS LOGIC is ... -
-
CMP 
-
- ice chunks, possibly. 
Or maybe there's paint 
coming off of it. 
00 03 37 34 cc 
Roger. 
I noticed on one trip up the elevator last 
weak near one of the flags. 
I thought it was on 
the S-II, but it might have been on the S-IVB. 
Looked like it was peeling. 
Maybe that's what 
you've got. 
00 03 37 45 cc 
And the S-IVB maneuver is complete. 
00 03 37 46 
LMP 
in 1 minute. 
CDR 
Okay. 
We'll set the old clock. 
CMP 
Okay. 
And the - with the maneuver complete, the 
fragment field is essentially static, except for 
very slight tumbling within the fragments.

Tape 5/4 
00 03 38 01 cc 
CMP 
CC 
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LMP 
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CDR 
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CMP 
LMP 
CMP 
LMP 
Roger. 
Cut in. 
Every once in a while, a fragment of considerably 
higher velocity than the others goes across my 
window. 
But that's very rare. 
Roger. 
Hey, that's that field of view I saw out my window. 
Jack, do you see it now? 
Yes. 
And, Bob. 
At least, there - there's no apparent 
relative motion between fragments. 
Roger. 
Understand. 
I'll take two pictures about a minute apart if I 
can. 
And it'll be Frame 70. 
Okay. 
Frame 70. 
And, Bob. 
This is Geno. 
My impression is that 
they are - flat, flakelike particles. 
Some may 
be 6 inches across. 
And, although there's no 
relative motion between the two, most of them seem 
to be twinkling. 
And I think, for the most part, 
they're all moving away from us. 
Roger, Gene. 
Thank you. 
Okay. 
We've got 0180 and 0 on the old thumbwheels. 
Okay. 
Roger, Ron. 
Okay. 
TRANS CONTROL is ARMED . 
. . . two ARMED. 
CONTROLLER number 2 is ARMED . 
... SECS LOGIC ...

Tape 5/5 
00 03 40 01 
CMP 
Okay. 
LOGIC 
SECS LOGIC is 
POWER is ON. 
CLOSED; SECS ARM are CLOSED; 
LMP 
Okay. 
00 03 40 13 cc 
17, Houston. 
You have a GO for T&D. 
CDR 
Okay. 
A GO for T&D. 
00 03 40 38 
CMP 
Okay. 
ALIGN. 
We'll ARM the PYROs. 
And we'll hit the GDC 
00 03 41 00 
CMP 
And maneuver's complete. 
GDC? 
No. 
It's just ... 
And 0180 and O? 
On the 
It's kind of diddling. 
00 03 41 19 
CMP 
Okay. 
DELTA-Vin NORMAL. 
00 03 41 42 
CMP 
S-IVB, okay. 
Okay, switches are all set. 
LMP 
Okay; 59 : 30 . 
00 03 41 55 
CMP 
Okay. 
Let's start the DET. 
00 03 41 59 
CDR 
Tickity-tick-tickity, Houston. 
at 59: 30. 
We're running 
cc 
Roger. 
CMP 
Okay. 
00 03 42 12 
CMP 
Okay. 
That's LAUNCH VEHICLE SEP, push button. 
LMP 
Okay. 
00 03 42 19 
CMP 
MC in AUTO. 
CMP 
Next? 
00 03 42 29 
CDR 
SEPARATION, Houston. 
CMP 
Okay, check the 
other ones off. 
covers. 
Okay. 
And check the 
LMP 
They're all ... 
CMP 
Okay, I'm going to start the - My gr.,sh, look at 
the junk! 
Okay; there's 15 seconds. 
Pitch her 
up. 
Okay, we'll PROCEED on the - -

Tape 46/4 
02 18 4111 
CDR 
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CDR 
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02 18 42 34 
CDR 
CC 
CDR 
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CDR 
CMP 
CC 
Okay. 
Is that it? Yes, I can get that, Gene. 
Okay, you want to take a picture of it first? 
Okay, POWER ... Okay, stand by. 
3, 2, 1 ­
MARK it. 
POWER switch OFF. 
Say, Bob or Stu. 
Roger. 
Go ahead. 
Okay, add - to ad to today. 
Not last night, but ­
I guess the first night I was in bed - I definitely 
saw some of these - because I had a hard time going 
to bed, to start with - I saw some of the same 
peripheral horizon-type things you said were not 
the type of data you were looking for; but I also 
saw a - some sets of the streaks. 
And probably 
the one most imposing thing I remember is -
and the 
last one I remember before falling asleep - was 
the fact that there was a very bright spot that 
flashed right between my eyes like a very bright 
headlight - like a train coming at you, only with 
a flash. 
It's difficult probably to estimate the 
frequency of any of those because I was in a ­
sort of a sleep-hazy mode. 
Roger. 
But then, as today, I saw some that flashed and 
lit up the horizon and some that lit up peripher­
ally; and I guess, as you say, that's a different 
kind of data, but I did see them there and they 
impressed me. 
Okay. 
We got all that, Gene. 
Okay. 
And it might be interesting to know I've never 
seen it before today. 
Hey, Gene, we appreciate all the data. 
We were 
just trying to make the data fit the curve; you 
know the old trick.

Tape 46/5 
02 l8 44 40 
CDR 
Okay, I just wanted you to 
we saw them. 
That's all. 
- just told them like 
CC 
Roger. 
CDR 
I will say one thing, though; no question in my 
mind but that they're there. 
Last trip I took, 
I guess I just wasn't looking for them or paying 
any attention to them. 
Maybe they were there and 
I ignored them because of other things. 
But they're 
there. 
LMP 
Okay, all you flash bugs down there - or flash­
bulbs I guess is the word - frame 50. 
I just took 
four pictures to show - two on the side and two 
on the bottom - to show the position of the ALFMED, 
and one of them of each set was focused on the 
ALFMED. 
The others were focused on the - the 
other set was focused on the struts. 
CC 
Roger, Jack. 
LMP 
And when you don't have anything else to do, why 
don't you have somebody predict where the S-IVB 
is. 
I think I've got her spotted - behind us and 
above us with respect to the Earth and our travel 
from it. 
CC 
FIDO just went 
get working on 
out 
it. 
and shot himself, but we'll 
LMP 
Oh, don't worry about it. 
Shoot. 
I thought you 
guys might have an idea off-the-cuff there. 
CC 
No, what's humorous on this, Jack, is they have 
really been working on that S-IVB impact point -
and they've really been - it's been a -
a real 
difficult problem for them so far. 
LMP 
I'll tell you, I bet you Ron could give a star 
sighting on it (laughter). 
I looked at it through 
the monocular and sure looks like the S-IVB. 
CC 
Jack, we're not doubting you at all. 
probably start cranking it right now. 
We could

Tape 46/6 
02 18 46 46 cc 
CMP 
CC 
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CC 
02 18 47 51 
CMP 
CDR 
Jack, are you sto - you all stowing the ALFMED 
now or are you done? 
What's that, Bob? 
Are you all done with the ALFMED now, Ron? 
Yes, I've got to get it to - get the plate moved 
back down there yet. 
Okay, Ron ­
get the blindfold off first so I can see what 
I'm doing. 
Roger. 
I just want you to know. 
We've got a real 
long update coming up to you here on the LOI abort 
charts and that - and it's going to be, probably, 
a difficult readup. 
And you're the most familiar 
with the charts; you probably would want to take 
them. 
But whenever you want to take them, they 
are on - charts on page 3-81, 3-82, and then the 
cue card for LOI limits. 
Whenever you want to 
take them. 
It will be a lengthy one. 
Stand by, Bob. 
Let us get squared away from the 
ALFMED; then we can get going on that. 
No, I don't want to hurry you, Ron. 
I just want 
you to know what - when - just get yourself com­
fortable and be ready to take them whenever you 
want them. It's going to be a lengthy time, 
though. 
Okay. 
Hey, Bob, I'm looking at what - what Jack was 
talking about; and it's definitely not a particle 
that's nearby because there is another one I can 
look at and get a three-dimensional comparison 
with. 
It is a - it is a bright object, and it's 
obviously rotating because it's flashing. 
It's 
way out in the distance, as I say, because there 
are particles that are close by and it's obviously 
not one of those. It's apparently rotating in a

Tape 46/7 
CC 
02 18 49 02 
CDR 
02 18 50 13 
SC 
CMP 
CC 
02 18 50 58 
CDR 
CC 
CDR 
LMP 
CDR 
CDR 
very rhythmic fashion because the flashes come 
around almost - almost on time. 
And it's as we 
look back at the Earth, it's up at about 11:00 
about - oh, maybe 10 or 12 Earth diameters. 
I 
don't know whether that does you any good, but 
there is something out there. 
Roger. 
We don't doubt it, Gene. 
And we might 
work out a set of gimbal angles or something here; 
maybe we can get a look at it through the optics. 
Okay. 
And I -
I 
I just want to emphasize that 
it's definitely not - not one of these particles 
that tends to look like a star out there. It's 
something physical in the distance. 
(Laughter) 
Oh, yes. 
thing off. 
Yes, guess I am. 
Okay, Gene. 
If you can call up a NOUN 20 so we 
know the spacecraft attitude, and if you can 
reference the object you're looking at out of your 
window, with - with respect to body axis and let 
us look at your - your - give us a mark, somehow, 
and give us your NOUN 20s, we can try and get a 
tie-in and start locating - locating this object 
down for you. 
Okay, I'm looking it out - looking at it out the 
center window - the hatch window - and I'll give 
you a hack when it crosses the XX axis at the 
center window; and I guess it's up maybe 45 degrees. 
Okay, give us a hack and we're copying your 
NOUN 20s right now. 
Okay, Jack says pitched up about 30 degrees but - ­
No. 
45, because ­
Yes, he agrees. It's 45 degrees pitched up, and 
I'll give you a hack when it crosses the XX axis. 
Okay ­

Tape 46/8 
02 18 51 32 
CDR 
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CDR 
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LMP 
LMP 
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CDR 
CMP 
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CMP 
LMP 
CC 
LMP 
02 18 56 27 cc 
CDR 
MARK it. It just crossed through the - ­
Mark. 
We got it. 
let's call it the XZ plane of the spacecraft. 
One unique thing about it, Bob, is that it's got 
two flashes. 
As it comes around in - in rhythmic 
fashion, you get a very bright flash; and then 
you get a dull flash. 
And then it'll come around 
with a bright flash, and then a dull flash. 
That's the side and - of the S-IVB - and then the 
engine bell, Gene. 
The commander doesn't think that I can see the 
engine bell on that thing. 
Roger, Ja.ck. 
Is that with the monocular you're 
looking at it? 
He couldn't see the engine bell if he had 10 monoc­
ulars. 
Okay. 
I've got the cable restowed now. 
Say again, Ron. 
And, Gene, where's your blindfold? ... 
Bob, couple of revolutions ago when I was looking 
at it, I had a much brighter view and I believe 
I was looking at it broadside. 
It looks to me like 
it may be flashing more or less end-on now. 
It's 
much, not - not as bright, although it's getting 
brighter. 
But it's not as bright now as it was 
awhile ago. 
Roger, Jack. 
... we've been noticing that, I think, for about 
24 hours or so. 
I just - hadn't put it together 
as maybe being the S-IVB. 
I thought it was just 
some other particle out there. 
Roger, Jack. 
Hey, Robert, what's the final Cowboy score?

Tape 46/9 
CC 
Okay; I was just going to update that. 
The Cowboys 
won it 34 to 24. 
And by winning it, they wrap up 
the wild-card slot in the NFC; and so both Wash­
ington and Dallas will be in the playoffs. 
02 18 56 53 
CDR 
Sounds good. 
LMP 
Bob, that line of clouds I called a fir-tree pat­
tern that swings up towards Hawaii: Hawaii, if 
you will - has - also has a mushroom pattern on 
the top. It has the appearance as if tvo major 
air masses - one going from west to east and the 
other form east to west - have converged along 
that line, and the joint movement of air at the 
interface being south to north. 
And up in the 
area of Hawaii, I think, it tends to mushroom so 
that the pattern then goes back to flow from west 
to east on the east side and from east to west on 
the west side. 
CC 
Roger. 
02 18 58 27 
LMP 
In a little while, we'll probably get a pretty 
good look at a - what looks like a very concen­
trated intense storm that, I think, is just - east ­
CMP 
*** And then we' 11 put them. once we get updated a 
little bit. 
Yes, I'll get out of VOX in a minute. 
LMP 
I was looking for the Flight Plan and stuff. 
And 
the little books. 
LMP 
Say, Bob. 
CC 
Go ahead. 
LMP 
Houston, 17. 
How do you read? 
CC 
Go ahead, Jack. 
Read you loud and clear. 
CDR 
Okay, Bob, you want to update the LOI card and 
Flight Plan 3-82 and 3-81; is that right? 
CC 
That's affirmative. 
CDR 
Which one do you want to start on?

Tape 47/14 
And I'll just confirm that the - that disturbance 
over the So - Solomon Islands is an awfully tightly 
wound little storm system. 
And right now, I finally 
have see New Zealand for the first time in a couple 
of days, for sure. 
And the South Island's got some, 
probably high cirrus over it. North Island looks 
pretty clear. That's the end that I can get right 
now. 
CC 
Roger. 
We saw you looking at Regulus there; we 
didn't realize you were looking at the Earth 
instead. 
LMP 
Ron's been looking for the booster. 
And he 
me down and asked me to look at the Earth. 
been holding out on me. 
called 
He's 
CC 
Roger. 
LMP 
Pass the torch of weather forecasting to Ron. 
02 20 55 22 cc 
Hey, Jack. 
I also have some words for you and 
Gene. 
Got some advice from the home front. 
The 
thing to do with Ron in the future is to hook up 
a Baby Ben and a metal dishpan. It works every 
time, if you want to wake him up. 
CMP 
No. 
I think that's not a good way. 
CC 
Ron, everybody I s fine over at El Lago. 
doing great. 
Listening to every word. 
They are 
CMP 
Very good, Bob. 
Thank you very much. 
CDR 
Hey, Bob. 
We got two of those flashers out there. 
They could be SLA panels. 
I don't know. 
They're 
alike in intensity and pretty regular in the - in 
the intensity, bright and dim flashes they come 
out with, and they're widely separated. 
One is 
about the position we called at the first time; 
the other one is - oh, as I'm looking at the Earth, 
far to the left. Closer to the center window now. 
02 20 56 52 cc 
Roger. 
02 21 01 07 
LMP 
Houston, 17,

CC 
Go ahead. 
LMP 
Yes, Bob, what is your ­
have it - surface tenns 
Hawaii today? 
CC 
Stand by on that. 
CC 
Jack, according to the ­
Tape 47/15 
analysis chart, if you 
analysis chart show for 
-
LMP 
The reason I 
Go ahead. 
ask is that for using your term -
CC 
No, go ahead on that, Jack. 
LMP 
I was going to say, using your terminator time as 
a partial - mark for where Hawaii ought to be, 
Hawaii ought to be, it looks like that cyclonic 
circulation at the north end of the cloud bank I 
described, approaching that area, would be Just 
about on the Hawa - Hawaiian Islands. 
I'm curious 
if they're getting some weather down there now. 
CC 
Stand by right now; I've got my weathennan right 
beside me here. 
LMP 
Also, that major front we talked about last night 
as being east and south of Japan has progressed 
even farther and is, oh, maybe 20 degrees longi­
tude - about 20 degrees longitude from the Hawaiian 
Islands. 
And I'm making some guesses on exactly 
where Hawaii is. 
CC 
Roger, Jack. 
We've got nothing adverse in the 
Hawaiian area at all. Just a lot of winds , high 
winds and surface winds and surface roughness, 
but we don't have any bad cloud area in the 
Hawaiian area. I'll get the Hickam sequence re­
port here shortly, Jack. 
LMP 
Okay, ... a little bit. The - our zero-phase 
point is now centered just a little south of the 
disturbance near the Solomon Islands. 
And I see 
no distinct change in the intensity of that zero­
phase point over what I had talked about a couple 
hours ago.

Tape 47/16 
02 21 04 23 cc 
Roger, Jack. 
The Solomon Islands disturbance 
and everything is confirmed on this chart that 
I've got. It's very definitely confirmed in there. 
LMP 
Okey. 
Well , it's a lot more obvious todey than 
it was yesterday; but even then it was showing 
pretty strong circulation. It is starting to 
wrap up, look very much like Therese did yesterday. 
CC 
Roger. 
I'm sure of that. 
The one right off of 
Vietnam is also pretty tight, isn't it still? 
LMP 
Well, we can't see that one yet. 
CC 
Okay. 
LMP 
Australia in general is still very clear except 
in the northeastern portions where it looks like 
they have got scattered clouds; but it looks like 
a pretty night - over Australia. 
CC 
Roger. 
Looks that way from the satellite photo 
from the last couple deys. 
Looks pretty nice 
down there. 
02 21 05 34 
LMP 
Right. 
02 21 07 05 
cc 
Jack, in looking at the sequence reports for 
Hickam and Hilo and that area, it looks like they 
just got their standard 3500 scattered, 4500 broken 
clouds , maybe a rain shower or two. 
But just 
their standard tropical fluffy clouds. 
END OF TAPE

cc 
03 15 33 25 
I.MP 
Tape 59/19 
mare. Still looking at Oceanus Procellarum. 
And 
now, out window 3, up to the northwest, Grimaldi 
is starting to show up -
a very obvious dark area 
within the highlands of that part of the Moon ­
and one of the darkest mare regions that we have 
seen on the -
on the Moon. 
It I s comparable, at 
least in the photographs, to that of Tsiolkovsky. 
Roger. 
Normally, of course, we think of the dark mare as 
being the younger basalt flows that -
on the Moon, 
but in our case, of course, young means something 
on the order of 3 billion years or older. 
END OF TAPE

Tape 60/1 
APOLLO 17 AIR-TO-GROUND VOICE TRANSCRIPrION 
03 15 33 44 cc 
Roger. 
LMP 
For our interp - If we can extrapolate from the 
samples returned by other missions. 
LMP 
Amazing how far over - now the highlands to the 
west of Procellarum are - still are bright, and the 
contrast between fresh craters and the normal high­
land are very - are very obvious still in earthlight, 
particularly along the zero phase point with respect 
to the Earth. 
Rima Gamma now is - is coming a lit­
tle bit closer to our oval track in the horseshoe 
in the - larger and more western end of it; the 
dark horseshoe is quite clear in this light. It's 
a west - or northwest-pointing horseshoe, as is the 
complete trend of that strange feature. 
I think 
Ron is going to have an excellent chance to study 
these light-colored swirls within the mare and 
other parts of the Moon. 
We had some good views 
of them and Mare Marginis and to the east of 
Crisium - Mare Crisium, and he should - if there 
is anything to be seen, he should be able to see 
it for - during the next few days. 
CC 
Okeydoke. 
03 15 35 50 
CDR 
Say, Gordo, something I just noticed here in work­
ing with the GDC what-have-you. 
I - looked at the 
Pc gage, and in the Pz - Pc position, there is a 
continuous bias on it now of about, oh, 7 percent, 
and if I switch to ALPHA, it goes to zero. 
We never 
saw that bias before this last burn. 
CC 
Roger, Gene. 
03 15 36 35 
LMP 
Hey, Gordy, I'm looking right up the western edge 
of the Procellarum mare where it contacts the ­
the - the high - western highlands of the Moon, and 
we're just about to fly a little bit south of 
Grimaldi. 
That edge is very irregular. 
There is 
no obvious indications that it - there are large 
basins that have been flooded by mare that have 
formed that edge, but, again, the topographic dis­
tinction's possible in this lighter small. 
Now I'm 
starting to see that there are shadows in the craters.

Tape 60/2 
CC 
Roger. 
LMP 
That's the small craters. 
There, in the Mare 
Procellarum closest to Grimaldi, there are two 
arcuate rilles. 
Look like they are probably 
V-shaped in their cross section. 
I'm sure we've 
seen those on the photographs much better than I 
can see them here. 
Those - the rille patterns, 
though, do seem to project over into the highlands. 
CC 
Okay. 
LMP 
To the north of that - to the north of that bay 
of mare. 
Just interrupt. 
03 15 38 09 
LMP 
Hey, I just saw a flash on the lunar surface! 
CC 
Oh, yes? 
LMP 
It was just out there north of Grimaldi. 
Just 
north of Grimaldi. 
You might see if you got any­
thing on your seismometers, although a small impact 
probably would give a fair amount of visible light. 
CC 
Okay. 
We'll check. 
LMP 
It was a bright little flash right out there near 
that crater. 
See the crater right at the edge of 
Grimaldi. 
Then there is another one north of it. 
Fairly sharp one north of it is where there was 
just a thin streak of light. 
CC 
How about putting an X on the map where you saw it. 
LMP 
I keep looking occasionally for - yes, we will. 
I -
I was planning on looking for those kind of 
things. 
Starting to see the edge of Orientale, 
Gordy. 
Way off to the west. 
Hey, just yell, 
Gene, anytime you -
-
03 15 39 46 
LMP 
Gordy, to the north of Grimaldi there is a large 
basin that is about the same size but only incom­
pletely filled with mare in its northeastern 
quadrant. 
The rest of it looks like a fairly ir­
regular and hummocky floor material of some kind. 
CC 
Roger,