NASA-UAP-D2, Apollo 17 Transcript, 1972
PDF NASA INCIDENT 1972 · Moon
NASA-UAP-D2, Apollo 17 Transcript, 1972
Apollo 17 was the ninth crewed U.S. mission to the Moon, and the sixth to land astronauts on the lunar surface. This document is an excerpt from the Apollo 17 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription, December 1972, highlighting three periods in which astronauts reported observing unidentified phenomenon: a nine minute period on the first day, a three hour period on the second day, and a six minute period on the third day. • Day 00, Hour 03, Minute 34, Second 10 through Day 00, Hour 03, Minute 42, Second 29: o Command Module Pilot (CMP), Ronald Evans, reported observing “very bright particles or fragments” drifting and “tumbling” near the spacecraft as it maneuvered. Lunar Module Pilot (LMP), Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, described the phenomenon as looking “like the Fourth of July.” The astronauts speculated that the phenomenon may be attributable to ice or paint fragments dislodging from a separated component of the spacecraft (S-IVB) but characterized that assessment as a “wild guess.” • Day 02, Hour 18, Minute 42, Second 34 through Day 02, Hour 21, Minute 07, Second 05: o Mission Commander, Eugene A. Cernan, reported difficulty sleeping and described having observed “some sets of the streaks.” He also described an intense light flashing between his eyes, describing its intensity as comparable to that of a train headlight and characterizing it as “imposing.” Over the next three hours, Cernan described observing several flashing, rotating phenomenon that he assessed as corresponding to physical objects in space rather than a purely optical phenomenon. LMP Schmitt also reported observing similar phenomenon, though he again assessed the source of his observation to be a separated rocket stage (S-IVB). At 02:20:55:22, Cernan reported observing two additional distant flashing objects, though he assessed them as Spacecraft/Lunar Module Adapter panels (SLA panel), another separated component of the Saturn V rocket. • Day 03, Hour 15, Minute 33, Second 25 through Day 03, Hour 15, Minute 39, Second 46: o At 03:15:38:09, LMP Schmitt exclaimed that he had observed a flash on the lunar surface north of Grimaldi (crater).
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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 couldn't see anything
going through the sunrise.
cc (Laughter) Roger.
00 03 25 01 cc 17, Houston. We're making plans here for a space
craft SEP time of 03 plus 43.
LMP 03 plus 43. Roger.
00 03 27 27 cc 17, Houston. We're copying cabin press of 5.9 this
time.
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 or frag
ments or something that go drifting by as we
maneuver.
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 Roger. Cut in.
CMP Every once in a while, a fragment of considerably
higher velocity than the others goes across my
window. But that's very rare.
CC Roger.
CMP Hey, that's that field of view I saw out my window.
Jack, do you see it now?
LMP Yes.
CMP And, Bob. At least, there - there's no apparent
relative motion between fragments.
CC Roger. Understand.
CMP I'll take two pictures about a minute apart if I
can. And it'll be Frame 70.
CC Okay. Frame 70.
CDR 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.
cc Roger, Gene. Thank you.
00 03 39 35 CMP Okay. We've got 0180 and 0 on the old thumbwheels.
LMP Okay.
cc Roger, Ron.
00 03 39 53 CMP Okay. TRANS CONTROL is ARMED .
LMP . . . two ARMED.
00 03 39 57 CMP CONTROLLER number 2 is ARMED .
LMP ... SECS LOGIC ...
Tape 5/5
00 03 40 01 CMP Okay. SECS LOGIC is CLOSED; SECS ARM are CLOSED;
LOGIC POWER is ON.
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. We'll ARM the PYROs. And we'll hit the GDC
ALIGN.
00 03 41 00 CMP And maneuver's complete. And 0180 and O? On the
GDC? No. It's just ... 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. We're running
at 59: 30.
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 covers. Okay. And check the
other ones off.
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 Okay. Is that it? Yes, I can get that, Gene.
CMP Okay, you want to take a picture of it first?
Okay, POWER ... Okay, stand by. 3, 2, 1 -
02 18 41 59 CMP MARK it. POWER switch OFF.
CDR Say, Bob or Stu.
cc Roger. Go ahead.
02 18 42 34 CDR 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.
CC Roger.
CDR 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.
CC Okay. We got all that, Gene.
CDR Okay.
CMP And it might be interesting to know I've never
seen it before today.
CC 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 - just told them like
we saw them. That's all.
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 out and shot himself, but we'll
get working on it.
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. We could
probably start cranking it right now.
Tape 46/6
02 18 46 46 cc Jack, are you sto - you all stowing the ALFMED
now or are you done?
CMP What's that, Bob?
CC Are you all done with the ALFMED now, Ron?
CMP Yes, I've got to get it to - get the plate moved
back down there yet.
CC Okay, Ron -
CMP get the blindfold off first so I can see what
I'm doing.
CC 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.
CMP Stand by, Bob. Let us get squared away from the
ALFMED; then we can get going on that.
CC 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.
02 18 47 51 CMP Okay.
CDR 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
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.
CC 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.
02 18 49 02 CDR 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.
SC thing off.
02 18 50 13 CMP Yes, guess I am.
CC 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.
02 18 50 58 CDR 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.
CC Okay, give us a hack and we're copying your
NOUN 20s right now.
CDR Okay, Jack says pitched up about 30 degrees but - -
LMP No. 45, because -
CDR Yes, he agrees. It's 45 degrees pitched up, and
I'll give you a hack when it crosses the XX axis.
CDR Okay -
Tape 46/8
02 18 51 32 CDR MARK it. It just crossed through the - -
CC Mark. We got it.
CDR 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.
02 18 52 18 LMP That's the side and - of the S-IVB - and then the
engine bell, Gene.
LMP The commander doesn't think that I can see the
engine bell on that thing.
cc Roger, Ja.ck. Is that with the monocular you're
looking at it?
CDR He couldn't see the engine bell if he had 10 monoc
ulars.
CMP Okay. I've got the cable restowed now.
cc Say again, Ron.
02 18 53 10 CMP And, Gene, where's your blindfold? ...
02 18 55 24 LMP 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.
CC Roger, Jack.
LMP ... 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.
02 18 56 27 cc Roger, Jack.
CDR 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 called
me down and asked me to look at the Earth. He's
been holding out on me.
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. They are
doing great. Listening to every word.
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,
Tape 47/15
CC Go ahead.
LMP Yes, Bob, what is your - analysis chart, if you
have it - surface tenns analysis chart show for
Hawaii today?
CC Stand by on that.
CC Jack, according to the - -
LMP The reason I ask is that for using your term -
Go ahead.
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
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.
cc Roger.
03 15 33 25 I.MP 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,
