Apollo 17

[JAFO]

Not sure what the protocol is to post links to other websites, and slightly OT but since we're talking about the deep space EVAs, here are a couple paintings about them

Artist impression of the Apollo 15 EVA from outside the vehicle:
http://www.ninfinger.org/karld/My%20Space%20Museum/a15sim3.jpg

Had Al Worden been allowed to carry a camera with him, this is the photo he would have taken:
http://www.ninfinger.org/karld/My%20Space%20Museum/natgeo06.jpg



One thing I wondered about these EVAs: did they stop the thermal roll, or were they able to see the moon/earth rotating during the EVA?

[the_other_Doug]

...One thing I wondered about these EVAs: did they stop the thermal roll, or were they able to see the moon/earth rotating during the EVA?

The passive thermal control (PTC) roll was stopped for event like this.  Even though the rotational energy would have seemed negligible to the crew, it would still have tended to try and push the EVA astronaut away from the side of the SM, and if they were in PTC and somehow the CMP should lose footing and end up at the end of his string, extending him out radially would have pulled hard at the whole stack.  Also would have served to greatly slow down any PTC roll.

They would often stop the PTC roll during coast, both for navigation purposes (for taking nav sightings) and also for comm purposes, especially when sending TV transmissions.  The high gain antenna could track the Earth during a PTC roll, but would hit the end of its coverage pattern and have to drive back to the other end of the stops to pick Earth back up.  So they would generally only send TV through it while the roll was stopped, to avoid sudden interruption.  While doing the PTC roll, unless high bit-rate data was needed, they would normally use the omni-directional antennae to communicate.

[the_other_Doug]

And, as with everything the end came.  The CM America entered Earth's atmosphere and splashed gently into the Pacific, the crew pulled off of the ocean's surface by helicopter and deposited on the carrier.

Thus was the end of the beginning (not, as Geno pointed out to everyone, the beginning of the end).  In absolute terms, the first age of human lunar exploration lasted exactly four years, from the lift-off of Apollo 8 on December 21st, 1968 to the splashdown of Apollo 17 on December 20, 1972.

This first age of lunar exploration was by far the most exciting time of my life.  I was alive and witnessed the fulfillment of the greatest dream ever dreamt by human beings since we first began to look up in the sky and imagined that the Moon was a place where people could visit, or even go to live.  I saw it, I lived it.  And, to a great degree, the forty-two years since have been an almost insufferable anti-climax.

For my generation, it's almost like what happened to some of the Apollo astronauts -- once you've hit the apex of your life, where do you go from there?  As a race and a culture, once we had accomplished this highest of our ancestral strivings, where did we go from there?  The answer -- nowhere, we just sank back into our violence-strewn miasma -- has been so dis-spiriting that some of us have to deny it ever happened, to keep ourselves from suffering from the devastating feeling that comes from the fact that we, human beings, did godlike things.  And chose to do those things no longer.

Godspeed the message and the true meaning of Apollo.

[MATTBLAK]

Doug - you've made the Nasaspaceflight.com post of the year in my opinion and brought tears to my eyes.

To all those flat-earth, "it's nothing but flags & footprints" haters...

Long Live The Spirit Of Apollo.

[the_other_Doug]

Thank you for the kind words.  It's just my flawed way of trying to express my feelings about Apollo.

Now, on to a new thread, the beginning of the lunar adventure -- the flight of Apollo 8.

[catdlr]

Posted by: the_other_Doug

This first age of lunar exploration was by far the most exciting time of my life.  I was alive and witnessed the fulfillment of the greatest dream ever dreamt by human beings since we first began to look up in the sky and imagined that the Moon was a place where people could visit, or even go to live.  I saw it, I lived it.  And, to a great degree, the forty-two years since have been an almost insufferable anti-climax.

Doug, I am with you 100%. I was also living during that time and still get the excitment when I view the old videos.  I thought by now we would be on Mars and looking forward to missions beyond.

[rocketguy101]

Thank you for the kind words.  It's just my flawed way of trying to express my feelings about Apollo.

Now, on to a new thread, the beginning of the lunar adventure -- the flight of Apollo 8.

I hope you don't mind, but I copy/pasted your quote on facebook...I remember the Apollo flights like they happened yesterday...

[Hodapp]

Amen!
I lived the Apollo era up close and personal; what a blessing!!!  As frustrating as our propensity for just throwing good things away; we are still slowly advancing the technology and making slow progress.  It's the sell job to Congress that needs to advance or nothing will change quickly.
We are in the time between Charles Lindbergh (Apollo era) and the birth of true airline travel...it will come but ever so slowly...as Sam Gamgee says..."its a dangerous business going out your front door"
I'm still hopeful for a bright future...with the development of private spaceflight (Go XCOR Lynx!), commercial, and gov't. (A lot of irons in the fire so to speak)
It will never be like Apollo ever again...so I'm grateful to have lived those great times and have a more realistic outlook for a different time.  We live in a time when space travel is no longer headlines and is back page stuff and politicians don't really care, so its amazing that we are as far along as we are.

[catdlr]

Bump for some Videos:

Apollo 17 - Launch - Network TV

Apollo 17 - Launch - Network TV

Coverage begins at T-5 minutes and concludes after orbital insertion. This video contains the infamous interview with Charles Smith (aged "130").

[catdlr]

Apollo 17: The Last Journey to the Moon - The End of the Beginning? (Reconstructed)

Apollo 17: The Last Journey to the Moon - The End of the Beginning?

The following documentary was broadcast on BBC-1 at 1.20am on 7th
December 1972, a few hours before Apollo 17 launched to the moon.
It has not been seen since broadcast that night.

Only the audio is currently available. The video presented here is therefore a reconstruction of the original, using the audio only. Therefore, it is open to interpretation if the film that has been added to the audio, is what was seen on the night of broadcast. Some of the audio is also missing and this is apparent in the continuity..

From the Radio Times Listing - 6th December 1972:

Apollo 17: The Last Journey to the Moon: The End of the Beginning?
James Burke tells the story of America's manned exploration of space; the
film shows the successes and the failures, and tells why tonight's blast-off
will probably be the last time man goes to the Moon this century.

All video courtesy NASA

[catdlr]

Apollo 17 Translunar Coast - Enhanced Footage- Moonpans



 
Dec 8, 2025
The crew spend some downtime recording some 16mm film footage onboard the Command and Lunar Modules, during Translunar Coast
Video enhancement and Music by Moonpans
Original source video Apollo Flight Journal

[catdlr]

Apollo 17 LM Undocking 16mm Footage Enhanced

Dec 10, 2025
Enhanced 16mm footage of the Apollo 17 Lunar Module, Challenger, as it undocks from the Command Module in lunar orbit and begins its descent to the lunar surface

Interpolated to 60fps, enhanced and music by Moonpans

[catdlr]

Apollo 17 Lunar Liftoff Enhanced Footage



Dec 15, 2025
Combining footage from the LM onboard 16mm film camera and the Lunar Rover TV camera of the liftoff of the Apollo 17 ascent stage

Footage enhancement and audio synchronisation by Moonpans
Original 16mm footage source: Apollo Flight Journal

[catdlr]

Apollo 17 Lunar Rendezvous 16mm Footage Enhanced

Dec 16, 2025
16mm footage captured by Ron Evans in the Command Module of Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt ascending from the Lunar Surface to rendezvous and dock with the Command Module.

Enhanced video and Music by Moonpans
Original Source Video: Apollo FLight Journal

[catdlr]

Apollo 17 Deep Space EVA - Upscaled and Interpolated

Dec 16, 2025
16mm film footage of Ron Evans' Deep Space EVA on Apollo 17 - Conducted on Dec 17, 1972, in order to retrieve film canisters from the Scientific Instrument Module of the Service Module.

Upscaled, Interpolated, and Audio Sync by Moonpans
Original 16mm Video Source: Apollo Flight Journal

[catdlr]

https://twitter.com/Moonpans/status/2003569341908828648

Mike Constantine
@Moonpans
·
Apollo 17 Mystery Object on the Moon

In this video Mission Control spot a mysterious object in the distance, thinking it might be something on the TV camera lens they first try shaking the camera to dislodge it, but the object is definitely on the Moon.

So they ask the crew to take a look and report back…..