NASA-UAP-D028 — Apollo 17 Crew Medical Debriefing, 1972

We're picking up at 12-0 liftoff

rendezvous and dock . And again , we're

going to , where things went nominal ,

as per the checklist , uh , we're going

to , uh , Get the lunar surface

checklist here . Yes . OK , we're going

to say so . Let them power up . And

launch prep , uh , went well .

We , uh ,

Did not do the P22 .

Uh , And everything else just went as

advertised on a limb . She came up and

powered up , uh , beautifully .

Anything in there that's worth going .

OK , the , uh , liftoff was , uh , is ,

again , uh , went , Went to ,

Normal . We got all the , obviously all

our pyros , and , uh , we lost no

changeover Parker valves or anything .

Uh , the only thing that I would like

to mention , uh , let the LNP pick it

up here , is that , uh , very soon

after liftoff , uh , we had , uh ,

apparent loss of calm , a lot of noise

in the SPN . Uh , it turned out that we

were down lucky . Uh , but , uh ,

there was something , uh , wrong with

the uplink . So , uh , Uh , the

CDR watched the , uh , most of the

guidance and , uh , we call out in a

blind , uh , altitudes and goes and

what have you as we pitched over and ,

uh , pressed on up , but for about the

1st 2 or 3 minutes , I think the , uh ,

lunar module pilot had to concern

himself with trying to get combat .

Yeah , and again it was another

apparently I got her , or uh gallstone .

Dropped the uplink and then when they

were getting it back , I was switching

on these and for a while there it was

just completely out of phase . And , uh ,

But they were , apparently had a

continuous downwind . It was a very

inopportune time , I might say , to ,

because it happened just right after

ignition . I think that's something

though that the , uh , Encodes are

going to be able to clarify because we ,

we certainly can't give you the details .

It's just there was essentially no comm

on all the antennas . We , we got into

a , uh , they , they briefed us on a

trajectory . We , uh , we flew into a

trajectory that , uh , that appeared to

be nominal . The ag showed a slide out

of plane , I believe , and , uh , as a

result , our tweak at , uh , 9 ft per

second . It was -4 , -9 , and plus . We

burned out X , Z , Y in that order ,

and , uh , it looked like the eggs out

of plane , uh , indication was good .

About 7 ft per second , a little over 7

ft . Uh , and it looked like we might

have had a somewhat of a G sensitive ,

uh , drift in our , uh , NRY , uh ,

accelerometer and the pings , but , uh ,

the tweak , as it turned out , was an

excellent tweak . Uh , because our

rendezvous resulted in , uh , uh ,

In in just as nominal a rendezvous and

a nominal trajectory and profile as I

guess I've ever been involved with . Uh ,

The , uh , the drift in that

accelerometer did not bother us

anywhere else in the tracking or in the ,

uh , Uh , in a rendezvous at all .

Rendezvous , uh , navigation was , uh ,

followed a checklist . Uh ,

Uh , we got , uh , radar performed very

well . We had auto updates into the AGs .

Uh , the only thing I might mention

here is when it came to , uh , To

making a TPI burn ? We ,

uh , Uh , the residuals and the TPI

burn were greater than what I had

expected them , and we did not record

them because I wanted to get them , uh ,

I wanted to get them , uh , nulled out

just as soon as possible , but they

were , And I don't know the tents , but

they were -7 and x . Uh , and then they

were 4 and 4 , and I'm not sure whether

they were plus or minus in the Y and Z ,

but I , they were , they were , the

point I'm making is they were large ,

larger than I had expected . They were

-7 and a 4 point something and a 4 .

something . We , uh , reduced those to ,

uh , less than 2/10 of a foot per

second , and , uh , from there on

continued to plot right through the

midcourses , uh , right up the pike on

a nominal trajectory .

Uh Communications after that first ,

uh , lash up , you got any comment

about that ? Uh , the comment was good .

Uh , a couple of comments about the

eggs . After about 5 or 10 minutes , uh ,

or early in insertion , I always check

the , uh , accelerometers or the after

insertion . And they looked real good

except about 5 or 10 minutes later ,

and I can't remember exactly , I looked

and I had accumulated a 1 or 2 per foot ,

maybe 1.5 ft per second at X , so gene

went free and I , uh , did a gyrocal

and after that there was , uh , no

significant accumulation in the . And

that went very well . I did that

without talking to the ground , but I ,

I felt I had an understanding with him

that that was something that , uh , we

could do without . OK , the , uh , here ,

let me just also mention on the TPI

solutions , the ags had essentially a

within 2 or 3 ft per second a good TPI

solution after 6 marks . The insertion

solution . Was not very good .

It was off by , uh , a number of feet

per second and X . And even more and

see . so

This was your 1st 1 , 17 marks , and

this was your final . It didn't change

much at all , did it ? No . The pings

recycle and pings final were very close ,

within a couple feet per second . And X

right . Yeah . And a pings recycle , uh ,

had , I don't remember exactly the

cause for 15 marks . I think I , uh .

You had I had 1717 17 .

Uh , And there's more data in the data

card books about various egg at certain

times marks with the egg solutions .

OK , the midcourse solutions , uh ,

first mid course , uh , uh , agreed ,

effectively , uh , all systems except ,

uh , Uh , eggs out of plain was a

little bit high . And the decision was

made to burn the onboard pink solution

out of the lamb , which was -1.2 + 0.4

and + 0.3 . We continued to track .

Right up the pike , uh , mid course two

came up and , uh , we again compared

all the solutions , uh , the eggs out

of plane was , uh , still a little bit ,

uh , high and then , uh , actually the

opposite direction from the pings . Uh ,

we had a slight variation in the , uh ,

CSM solution in Z . I don't know why .

Uh , it came up with +5.4 ft per second

in Z , so we really didn't get a very

good correlation between the CSM and

the LEM on the , uh , second , Uh , mid

course , uh , but the pings was still

performing , the radar was still

performing , and , uh , based upon our ,

uh , trajectory plot and based upon ,

uh , our following the nominal , uh ,

inertial line of sight rates , we

decided to burn the , uh , Pings , on

boarding solution , uh , in the lab .

And it was -0.4 , 7 , and -1.6 ,

and from there on out , we just , uh ,

continued to follow the inertial line

of sight angles and , uh , uh , very

little tweaking , uh , In , uh ,

either in Y or Z and we just sort of

floated . Uh , right through the , uh ,

Breaking gates , uh , at 1 mile , I

think we put about , took about 6 or 7

ft per second off to hit 30 . We met

all the Gates , uh , Uh , as prescribed

and , uh , just , uh , came ,

Very moving very slowly into , uh ,

final station keeping , went into a ,

uh , A formation flight around the uh

CSM , uh , got a good inspection of the

spacecraft and the Symbay . The report

of which is in a transcript .

Everything looked good to us . Uh , we

eventually maneuvered , uh , the

command module maneuver to the docking

attitude . The 1 just took his position ,

his docking attitude , uh , did his

pitch and yaw maneuver , and , uh , or

gave the , uh , gave , uh , station

keeping control to the command module

to pitch and yaw maneuver and stood by

for . For docking . OK , uh , Commander

Marshal pilot proceeding along with the

docking . I think the , uh , one of the ,

More noticeable differences between ,

uh , this docking and the docking , uh ,

With the S4B is the fact that the SN

stage , uh , Dead bands a lot

more than the S4B did . Uh , S4B is

steady as a rock , but you could tell

the , uh , just watch the limb . Dead

band because it would change attitude

and then you'd try to follow it and

looking on the first attempt coming in

I must have had less than 0.1 of a foot

per second just barely closing on the

thing just taking it nice and easy ,

made contact and did not get

captured . OK , as soon as it didn't

get captured when it's obviously you're

closing too slow . I backed off , uh ,

oh , what , a couple of 3 ft , I guess ,

something like that , renewed the rates

and , uh , initiated the closing rate

and , uh , made , got captured . As

soon as we had to capture , both

vehicles went to CMC3 . And you look

around and , uh , uh , check the barber

poles and whatever and look back out ,

and here , uh , I had some rates in

the , uh , CSM and I'm sure now that

the , uh , the lam had rates also . You

must have had . Well , we , we did one

as soon as we , you went free . See ,

as soon as captured the lim went free .

Yeah . And then , uh , the , the CSM

trying to null the rates ended up

perturbating the limb and giving us

rates . Um-hum . So , uh , we finally

gave up on that , uh , Mode had the ,

uh , the lamb go to , uh , attitude .

And then once you go to the hole , then

the CSM can all the rates . And , uh ,

we've got it lined up . And , uh ,

attempted the hard docking , uh , no

problem . Probary tract , uh , came

back this time , uh , it didn't sound

like it was as much of a ripple fire .

It was more of a . And uh it was a

quicker . Docking . A heart , a quicker

heart doc than I was , uh , the

previous time . You got any more tape ?

OK , yeah . OK , I wanna say something

about visual sightings during a

rendezvous . Uh , I was able to from

the limb . I was able to see the

command module in , When it was

sunlit . At somewhere around 100 miles

and definitely defined that that was a

command module . Uh , I ,

after the command module went into the

darkness , I could not pick up his

tracking light . Until we were well

within about 40 miles , and I think

this transcript had got more an

accurate , uh , time , but could not

pick up the , Docking light , the

rendezvous light , uh , rather from the

command module two we were well within

40 miles and then just a very initially

very dim faint . Uh ,

Flash . I was able to verify on board

that the limb tracking light was

working and I finally figured out how

it was reflecting off the underside of

the EVA handrail on the left forward

side of the limb . So I could see the ,

Lam tracking light flashing

and also when there were , there were

some particles we took with us , uh ,

that stayed with the spacecraft and you

could see the sequential flash off of

those particles that was a result of

our , our tracking light .

OK , uh , this is the command module

pilot . I've already mentioned in

section 11.0 about the , uh ,

visibility of , uh , the lunar module

through the , uh , optics .

I got down here . Let's see . Anything

else to add about Photography and

television , and photography and the

limb , uh , we'll just have to wait and

footage . Uh , Fact is we put it on ,

see how it turned out . I took a lot of

uh , not only the ascent mag , but we

put it on the , uh , another mag . We

have part of the mag pill . So , and

that includes the Syey , uh , Right or

wrong , we did have a , uh , a Hasselbo

on board so we have a lot of hotbo

photography , the rendezvous and some

of the inner surface stuff in the

process of . OK . Post

docking , uh , like we're going to 13.0

lunar module jettison through TEI .

Post docking check and pressurization .

Well , first of all , I guess you said

you had every latch made this time ,

right ? Every latch worked done . All

wall docking latches worked , OK ? The ,

uh . So like , that sounds like it's

something to do with the mass of the

other vehicle involved here . The , uh ,

General comment I want to make about

the , the post oping operations is that

the , uh , Throughout the rendezvous ,

the , uh , The , uh , Both pilots in

the lim kept their helmets on for , uh ,

dust , keep the dust off primarily .

The commander took off his gloves ,

almost immediately after insertion and

flew the entire rendezvous that way .

You took yours off sometime later ,

didn't you ? I kept mine on , uh ,

After we've done a lot of transfer , I

can't remember because I kept your

gloves on too . You kept your gloves on .

Oh , I , oh , OK , after insertion I

did most of my , uh , pre-insertion

didn't want to take the time . I want

work with the gloves on because I

to get that initial ag solution and I

could , and I could get that . Fairly

rapidly with the gloves , and I didn't

take the gloves off until , uh , oh ,

maybe 10 or 15 minutes after insertion ,

but I kept the helmet on all the way

through most of the transfer just to

had the , uh , irritation , sinus

avoid breathing the dust because I've

irritation on the surface . And the

commander kept the helmet on , uh ,

throughout the rendezvous and , Uh ,

Docking , I took my gloves off after

insertion and left them off . Now ,

when we started , when we , we started

getting prepared , as soon as we were

hired dock , the commander . Took off

his helmet , And as I look back at that ,

because of the dust debris in the LMS

spacecraft . Uh , I'm sorry I did it .

Uh , I could have left the helmet on

and , uh , and I would have had a lot

less , uh , not troublesome , but it

was just , uh , eye and mouth type of

irritation . You knew you were in a

very heavily , uh , infiltrated

atmosphere on the limb . Uh , because

of the lunar dust , although it's , I

don't know how much lunar dust previous

flights had , but the , I think we

saved a great deal of grief by taping

up , by sweeping all the dust we could

find on the floor into the holes and

putting our tape covers over those

holes . I think that had to help a

lot of dust on the floor that , uh , we

great deal because there was an awful

didn't see . Uh ,

So I had the commander had his helmets

and gloves off off throughout the

entire , uh , transfer . Basically the

way we handled the transfer was the way

we had planned the , uh , I think the ,

uh , Le pilot did most of the

preparation of the gear in the uh . In

the , uh , limb and a , and a commander

stayed in a tunnel and , uh , Pass

things on and , uh , the , uh ,

inventory was going on on the command

module side and on the left side both .

We , uh , vacuumed each other's suits

the best we could and everything else

that got supposedly transferred

unbagged or uncovered . This is YMP and

in spite of the CMP's comments to the

contrary , I think we got things

remarkably clean , and it wasn't an

awful lot of dirt in it man like coming

back . Oh , that's , that's true . I ,

I didn't want to leave that impression .

OK , contrast , he may have thought it

was , but , but , uh , I was surprised

we were able to , uh , keep the . The

level of , uh , pardon the expression ,

contamination of the command module

down as well as that , that atmosphere

that the commander was referring to in

a limb after he took his helmet off , I

could go halfway through the tunnel and

stick my head up in the command module

and it was a totally refreshed ,

unpolluted atmosphere up there and it

never did get polluted . I think having

a vacuum cleaner running in the limb

had a lot to do with keeping the the

flow in the . And filling out the air .

Oh , did you ? Right . We never did

vacuum in the command module because

this wasn't necessary . It wasn't

necessary to vacuum in the command

module at all . And , uh , the suits

were noticeably cleaned by the vacuum

cleaner . Um-hum . You could tell you

although they were still , and every

were pulling stuff off of them ,

other subsequent time we handled them ,

we got our hands , but , uh , I think ,

uh , most of the tree dust was taken

care of . We , uh , uh , we effectively

stayed on a transfer list , uh , I say

effectively throughout that transfer ,

however , some things got transferred ,

uh , uh , out of order , uh , and got

temporarily stowed in the , uh ,

command module , but we effectively use

the , uh , transfer list as a , uh ,

not as a , a cookbook , Follow a recipe

type of thing , but as an inventory

list , and , uh , we inventoried it

several times from both ends and found

out that , uh , we were satisfied we

had everything transferred . And , uh ,

then press down with the lamp close out .

Lum close op went nominal . Uh , we got

back into the , uh , Into the limb or

into the command module and uh the

commander closed out the uh the the LMP

closed out the limb . Uh , and for

convenience , the commander , uh ,

effectively , uh , went back and closed

out the limb hatch , put in a command

module hatch , uh , because of the slow

tunnel vent , or the long duration of

tunnel vent , uh , the commander , uh ,

stayed in the tunnel , the LMP in the ,

his seat and the CMP in the left seat .

Uh , we suited up and got prepared for

our , uh , for our integrity check and

as soon as the , as soon as the lung

tunnel vent was complete and we were

satisfied with the integrity of the

hatch , we went into the , uh , uh , to

the , uh , suit integrity checks . Yeah ,

this is a CMP . Let me make another

comment on the tunnel vent time . I'll

bet it must take , uh , and , I'm not

sure if this is correct , but I bet at

least , uh , 3 or 4 times longer than

the simulator is for the tunnel vent ,

uh , move . And I think that's going to

be applicable to Skylab because of

their docking , uh , They're going to

have to vent before the end , doc .

Quite a , took quite a while . But

tunnel closeout was easy . We had no ,

uh , no , uh , rogue and no probe ,

which were stowed , uh , Uh , in the ,

uh , lamb for , uh , Lamjet .

Uh , going through the rest of these ,

uh , Mind triggers , uh , under lunar

myogiosis through TEI . We just

followed the checklist and it all

seemed to happen just as advertised .

Well , we got a little bit intrigued

with the , uh , The lun jettison , you

know , this time it was , it was great

and it just sailed out there nice and

pretty , and we got a lot of good

pictures of it , uh , where we should

have been maneuvering , and we ended up ,

uh , getting into P-41 after for the

set burn . Uh , a little bit of light .

But that's no problem either because we

just turn the residuals and people were

the one and and uh got a good supper .

I , I want to make a comment that I

think cleaning control , uh . In a

command module , uh . was excellent

considering all the dust and all the

dirt . Uh , that just seemed to adhere

to everything in the lamb . When we got

back in the command command module with

the exception of the suits . And with

the exception of the LNP and the CDR ,

Uh , Everything . Uh ,

was clean , uh , and that's for the

most part is because everything was

bagged before we brought it over ,

bagged and zipped , and we never did

open anything , uh , once we got it

zipped up , so the command module

stayed , and I think that Su fan filter

is probably going to be very , very

clean , stayed exceptionally clean

throughout the , uh , remainder of the

flight . Let me , uh , in the bagging ,

the decontamination bags I made a

special effort as for , uh . Request .

Pre-launched to uh pull those zippers

as tight as I could . And they should

be pretty tight so .

OK . Orbital

navigation , high gain one , why don't

you pick that up ? OK , I've already ,

uh , from except the TEI I have no , uh ,

no comments . I gain , that always

worked good . Omnis and S band were

good . Uh , photography , uh , When as

advertised , we have a lot of targets

of opportunity .

Uh , Syey operations , uh , have been

mentioned before . Let me just make one

gross comment about the way we handle

it as a three man crew at Syey

operations , which after . Did you get

that ? Did we ? Yeah . OK ,

it's covered . Uh it's covered . Oh ,

OK . I think I did say something , yeah

you did .

OK , the TEI updates . Normal .

Section of star checks were good for .

Got the commander's master alarm and

every one of them all through the

flight , which made me feel very good .

I made sure I got . I made , I made

Yeah , but you kept trying to get it .

sure I got it on those last few . I

wasn't going to change any mode of

operation .

I'll tell you that last one , Uh ,

where entry was the last one . I made

sure I got it on TEI . Just make you

guys feel at home . I figured you'd

think I didn't do it right if I didn't

get the master honor . The uh TEI at

halfG or whatever we were pulling there

uh was uh . Seemed like more than that .

Quite noticeable . Yeah , it sure did .

It seemed like it was really pushing

you back in the seat . Yeah . Ron and I

both , I think , started out holding

our heads up and eventually relaxing

back on the , on the couch . I guess we

must have had the spacecraft pretty

well stowed or tied down . Because ,

uh , as I briefed the CFP and LMP , and

as I recall , those kind of burns back

in Apollo 10 , lots of things start

moving through the spacecraft and find

their due , uh , on the , uh ,

On the after uh End of the spacecraft

because of the G load and much to my

surprise , uh , all we had was initial

thud as we moved away from the station

and we didn't have any gear coming from

anywhere flying through the spacecraft .

well . I , I got a , uh , caught a

So we must have cleaned it up pretty

white tagged wet wipe . A white tag

wet one . But other than , than maybe

one or two of those things , uh , and

looking back , uh , Uh , I would have

expected more gear to come . From

somewhere , but , uh , we prepared for

those burns pretty well . Well , that

reminds , brings up another point that

reminds me , though , is that there is

always water condensing on the ECU , uh ,

you know , the pipes and what have you

back in there when you get back to

clean the circuit return valve . And ,

uh , When we put our suits on for the

EVA the next day , your , your suits

were noticeably wet . Um-hum . And , uh ,

also when I pulled the PGA bag up , it

was damp down underneath the PGA bag .

So I think , uh , uh , as a nominal

procedure , we should have , uh ,

Either after the burn , probably before

the burn , make sure that we wiped out

the water in the LAB somehow to do that .

I wasn't really aware . Our suits were

damp when we put them out , but I was

I could not find any real water down in

not aware . I could look down there and

the , uh , Down there . Which is an ECS .

Yeah , an ECS , there's , there's

always water down there in ECS , and I

just assumed that's where all that came

all over . It , it's , it's , it's not

from , but , uh . It's funny , it was

a puddle of water . Like you say , it

was just damp . It was almost as if it

was condensing on all , all over the

was colder down in the LAB and water

city . It wasn't as if they were in a

puddle . Yeah . OK , I think that

covers , uh , right on through , uh ,

TEI . Let's see , uh , yeah , the one

thing I want to mention on TEI is that ,

uh , uh , again , the simulator is set

up such that , uh , in the rolled dead

band , it goes over to one side of the

rolled dead band and just kind of stays

there . And , uh , during the TEI burn ,

uh , it was bouncing back and forth

from one side of the , the dead band

turn over to the other side of the dead

band . And when it's bouncing back and

forth , the roll rate , Is up around ,

uh , Oh , Fortense , uh ,

4/10 of a degree per second , arching

back and forth across the road .

OK , 14.0 Trans-Eth Coast and the thing

that I just realized we've neglected to

say anywhere about systems , uh , I'd

like to mention chlorination at this

point in time . I think without fail ,

did you ever talk about it ? No , I I

think without fail , almost every

chlorination , Leaked .

Uh , sometimes larger quantities of

water , other times just small

quantities of water , and I'll tell you

where it leaks . Water or chlorine ?

Well , or both . It's a combination of

both . Chlorine and your chlorinating

and , uh , and buffer or water when you

withdrew the buffer sample . OK . But

where it leaked was , appeared to me to

leak within the ampule itself around

the bag because it was the chlorine ,

the cylindrical chlorine dispenser ,

That was continually Wet . It was not

the , uh , it was not where the , uh ,

dispenser fit into the , uh , needle or

where the , uh , uh , needle adapter

fit into the spacecraft . It was within

the barrel chlorine dispenser itself ,

and , uh , we continually ,

chlorination was , uh , was a , uh , a

case of , uh , Of always cleaning your

hands with chlorine because you always

had it available down there within that

dispenser and in some cases you had

larger quantities of water that had to

be wiped up with , uh , with a tissue .

That plagued us throughout the whole

mission . It turned out not to be a

serious problem because we learned how

to handle it , but , uh , that was one

system anomaly that never had really

been brought up . OK , look , let's see ,

uh , CMP , let me amplify that a little

bit .

In 2 cases . I'm

almost positive that when you , Put the

thing on in the bayonet fitting and

crank it on there . It did not puncture

the ampule itself . And the reason I

can , I believe that's correct is that ,

uh , When you start to , to crack the ,

uh , Outside of the . Cassette .

Down to to push the chlorine into the

into the water system , it was very

hard to turn . And if you , if you ,

Tried to force it , you could force it

on down there , and I'm sure that's a

good way to , to break , uh , an ampule

on the thing . And if you take it , uh ,

just , uh , in two cases , took the

bayonet fitting loose again and put it

back on there , and , and in both cases ,

Then you try to squeeze the uh chlorine

out of the ampula into the system and

it would turn easier but it's still

hard to to awfully hard to crank that

awful hard to crank that thing down .

But , uh , we did not , you know , we

got the chlorination done . We didn't

miss any injections of chlorine , and

we didn't miss , uh , We didn't miss

any of the , uh , buffer samples , uh ,

So I guess we got the job done . It was

just a little bit messy . And chlorine

was evident and because uh the CDR

eventually peeled all the outer skin

off his right hand and I'm convinced it

was due to the chlorine and had nothing

to do with the EVA . Boy , you lost a

little , a little flesh , a little skin

when you did . Yeah .

Transverse coast systems navigation ,

let's press on and see what we can say

about that . Don't have lunch today .

OK , uh , well , let me see how much

transverse coast we're gonna do . Let's

get , yeah , let's go through up to the

CSM EBA . OK , transverse coat , the

first thing I want to mention is

passive thermal control . Was Uh , at

what I would call unusual attitudes

because of the UVN IR requirements .

Now these unusual attitudes did two

things . They , uh , they put us , uh ,

they required us to remaneuver the

spacecraft several times and exit ,

enter and exit PTC several , several

times , which in itself was not a

problem . It was just , uh , additional ,

uh , coordination . Uh , coincidentally ,

most of these , uh , particular PTC

attitudes were within . 30 , certainly

45 degrees of gimbalak most of the time .

So we're looking at the red apple a

good portion of the trip home . Uh ,

but they also , uh , some of those

attitudes where you actually were not

in , were in attitudes and or PTC at

these relatively unusual positions . Uh ,

Change the , uh , The , the , uh ,

equilibrium heat load on a spacecraft .

You could see it in , uh , in RCS , uh ,

quad temperatures were all right , but

you could see it in helium package

temperatures , and most notably , you

could see it on the change in , uh ,

condensation from the tunnel hatch to

the , uh , forward hatch . The tunnel

hatch eventually for most of the way

home ended up to be very dry . Uh , and

the , uh , about the second day out on

the way home , the , uh , the , uh , or

the , uh , Main hatch Center

hatch . Uh , got .

Soaking wet to the point that , uh , I

even took a dry rag and wiped off some

of the uh latch components and some of

the , uh , gearbox components

externally , not that it did any good ,

but there was just that much water on

it . I , I think this is all due to the ,

uh , PTC attitudes required for the

Simba experiments on the way home .

Oh , it was colder in the spacecraft

too . Oh yes , it was colder in the

spacecraft . Not as cold as the

commander thought it was , but it was .

Cold enough to warm up on the

commander's orders .

And I just mentioned we warmed it up

with the ground suggestion of an extra

inverter and , uh , going to manual and

the pin . I think we discussed that

yesterday . We're on all your , uh ,

all your , uh , your ResMed changes ,

uh , your , uh , torquing , platform

torquing , all those , uh ,

Went very well , I thought . It went

great , uh , really well . The , uh ,

Uh , and , all the way back home , uh ,

it was just changing attitudes ,

changing attitudes , changing attitudes

with the exception of the EVA day ,

which , uh , we'll cover here . Shortly .

CSM EVA .

OK , on EVA prep . I think the only

anomaly we came across was the uh CMP's

uh . Well , let's see , you're on EBA

prep , but I really didn't have any .

We didn't know anything at that point .

On the , I was going to say on the

CMP's , uh , compare . But the

EVA prep went , uh , right down the

line . Essentially , it was all , uh ,

well laid out within the , uh ,

Experiments checklist and we checked

things off as we went and stayed pretty

much on the timeline . We started about

a half hour in and stayed a half hour

early . We , uh , we , we started out ,

we were a half hour early throughout

the whole thing and we lost , That half

hour and open the hatch just about it .

You turn the TV on exactly on time ,

and I can't remember a small little .

It was the carrier . Comp carrier

change . And we lost that half hour

during a comp carrier change on a tone .

Uh , Ron , I'd like to add that , uh ,

Uh , post EVA ,

That , uh , I think one thing that

helped us . Uh ,

Immensely on what ended up to be , I

think , a very fine , uh , Entry

storage was that we sort of , uh ,

backed off after the EVA and , uh , And ,

uh , Took a long , good long

list at the long range stowage , as

well as the post EVA stowage and really

effectively started housekeeping ,

cleaning up the cabin , and effectively

stowing some of the articles that were

not going to be used any further in the

mission for entry . At that time . At

that point in time , yes . So our entry

storage really started with the post

EVA time frame , period , and I think

that really helped us out in the long

run . OK , I think , uh , we should

mention how we got out of the suits and

I think to me that was a pretty

important , uh , way to get things done .

And ,

The only change . The only change to

the , to the , uh , Prep and or post

was the order in which we doffed and

donned suits because it was very

evident that there were certain

convenient ways because of the way the

student suits were stowed and uh the

way uh people fit into the , uh ,

checklist that we , uh , when we don

the suits , the commander . You got

down , you can't , you got in 1st . 1st ,

and I did and then run . Then the LNP

and the , and the CMP got down last ,

and it worked out very fine that way ,

plus the CMP had less work to do in his

suit , which also aided him in the long

run . When we doffed , I went first .

The LNP . Yeah , because I was stuffing

first , OK , then you and then the CDR

and then the CMP , and that wasn't

exactly what it was called for , but

the way it worked out the best . And we

that's the way it worked out . That's

stowed our suits in the L shaped bag

prior to . Putting the center ,

Couch back in , which was , uh ,

another good decision , I believe , uh ,

In helping us get the suit stove back

in that L shape bag .

Go ahead . OK , let's go on down to the

cabin deep breaths .

Uh , no problems . Normal , uh , deep

breaths . Hatch opening ? Uh ,

Even though the hatch was completely ,

uh , or the cabin was completely

depressed , I think we're reading zero

pressure on the thing , as soon as I

opened the hatch , There was enough

residual pressure or something inside

the spacecraft that it actually tended

to pull the the hatch out of my out of

my hand is bleeding into the cabin all

the time , so you never truly get zero .

That's right . You never truly get zero

on the thing , but the , the . Dump

valve was still open . And , uh , if I

had not been hanging on to the hatch ,

I would have blown it all the way over .

Well , Ron , to give you an idea on ,

that's , that's exact , that's not

had on the lunar surface . We

unexpected because it's exactly what we

completely , completely dump the lamp ,

and I'd still have to break that hatch

loose and hold it open about 6 or 8

inches until things just vented , and

then I could let go of the hatch and

open it all the way . If I didn't , it

would slam back closed . So we had an

inward . Oh , yeah . Different types of .

So it was basically the same thing .

You've got to open it up and really let

things get down to zero . OK , well ,

when I opened the hatch then , All of

the , uh , Excuse me . All

the little ice crystals and everything

started flowing out . Uh , a pen went

floating by . Something else went

floating by . I wasn't quite sure what

it was .

But , uh , there's all kinds of little

particles and pieces start , uh ,

coming out through the hatch . But I

sure didn't see , I looked specifically

for the scissors . I , I , uh , I

didn't see any scissors go out that

hatch . I hate to say it . None of them

went by my watch . I , I didn't none of

them went by me , Ron . I'd like to say

that they went out the , uh , the hatch ,

but I sure didn't see them go . Sure

you didn't say go by ? I didn't see , I

started to go by me and they put , put

caught the one thing that went ,

it in your pocket . You got to , OK ,

push straight . OK , the , uh ,

Once the , uh , all the particles and ,

and , uh , junk was out of the way ,

then you just push the hatch hatch open .

We had disconnected the , uh , uh ,

counterbalance , uh , uh , With the

beat to tool be there so that we locked

the hatch in the open position , so I

just shoved it open and it went beyond

the center position and locked in the

open position with no problem . Egress ,

uh , I had a tendency , I guess , uh ,

just like , uh , any other thing , it

seems like you want to float up , and I

had a tendency to float up against the ,

uh , MDC and had to consciously , Duck

and uh get as close my face as close as

I could to the bottom of the hat in

order to uh get past the uh . Get the

OPS past the MDC and get on out . TV

and deck insulation , uh , work fine .

I can hang on with the , uh , right

hand on the , uh , hatch , uh , the

great big , uh , D handle on the hatch .

And , uh , with the TV pole in my left

hand , and it worked out real fine to

just stick it in there and then line it

up with the mark and uh make sure it

was uh . Uh , locked in or clamped in .

And then , uh , climbed on up the pole

to , uh , turn the TV on or turn the ,

uh , dock on . And it was ,

you couldn't see the light . I couldn't

see the light on the thing , but you

could feel the camera running once you

turn it on . You could just touch it

vibrating a little bit .

and you could feel it , feel it

The , uh , lunar sound or cassette uh

retrieval , um . I think , uh , they

should be on the on board , uh , or on

the air-ground tapes . As I was

describing , uh , most everything that

was going on , there was no problem .

The pan camera cassettes were next . No

problem on the , uh , pan camera

cassettes and , and the pan camera ,

it's obviously a bigger mass , and it's ,

it's , uh , quite apparent when you try

to maneuver , move , move that big mass

around that it is heavier and it weighs

more than the , the other things . It's

easy to move , but it just takes a

little more effort to get it started

and you know that if you ever get it

to keep on going , you have to stop it .

started in one direction , it's going

So I just , uh , moved everything real

slow , tried to keep it under control .

Mapping camera cassette . Had the same ,

uh , problem I had in the , uh , In the

same by , uh , C 2 S2 , getting the ,

uh , The ,

uh , Thermal cover off . It's stuck

underneath the mapping camera laser

altimeter . Uh , door .

But , uh , there was no real problem ,

you know , I had the feet and the shoes

finally came off .

just give it a big jerk and then it

Symba inspection , uh , that's all

covered in the . On board the , I

mean the air to ground tapes . TV and

dock removal , uh , again , was real

simple . You just had to squeeze the ,

uh , the lever and TV came out and it

was easy to , uh , hang on with one

hand and maneuver the , uh ,

uh , TV around and , uh , point it

toward the , the moon because I didn't

have to worry about shining it into the

sun . When I tried to again hang on

with one hand and , and point the TV

around toward the Earth . It was the

earth was , well , maybe 10 or 15

degrees , probably 15 degrees from the

sun . And I tried to be a little more

accurate on the thing and when I did

that , then I lost , Kind of

effectively really lost control of the ,

Uh , my body position because I was