Photo releases
[edit] Friday December 22, 1972
First batch of seven photos released. The shots include pictures taken during the first 7-hour, 12-minute surface excursion made by Cernan and Schmitt Dec. 11 and their third outing Dec 13. Six of the pictures released Friday were in color.[1]
- "The American Flag, held unfurled by a piece of wire on the barren surface of the moon, stands against the background of a half Earth, highlighting what will probably be the last series of photographs taken on the moon this century. Astronaut Harrison H. "Jack" Schmitt was pictured standing with the flag at Taurus Liltrow, with the blue-and-white half Earth hanging in the background. Apollo 17 Commander Eugene A. Cernan snapped the photo Dec. 11, day they landed, leaving Ronald E. Evans wailing in orblt."
- Two of the photos showed rust-hued moon soil at Shorty Crater.
- Cernan was pictured walking back to the moon rover vehicle with the Earth shining above his head.
- Two photos showed Schmitt beside huge boulders the moonwalkers chipped samples from.
- The other picture was of the rover fender that was repaired using moon maps and tape.
[edit] Saturday December 23, 1972
Second batch of eight photos Apollo 17 photos released, all in color.[2]
- A photo of the blue-and-white full earth suspended in the blackness of space
- A picture of Schmitt on the moon's surface working beside the electric car he and Cernan used on the moon. Patches of orange soil, a major discovery of the mission, can be seen.
- Cernan driving the electric car in a check-out run.
- Evans walking in space, floating above the service module while recovering film from an instrument bay.
- The Apollo 17 command ship, photographed from the moon landing craft.
- Schmitt raking up a sample of lunar soil on the moon.
- Schmitt standing beside a house-sized boulder on the moon.
- Schmitt sitting in the lunar rover or electric car.
[edit] Later Releases
- "Moonscape — No that is not the Moon, hanging over a gently rolling sea. The sea is, in fact, the Moon and what appears to be the Moon is spaceship Earth. The photo was made by the Apollo 17 astronauts on Dec. 16. (UPI)" - published Friday, December 29, 1972[3]
[edit] NASA captions
| | Title: Astronaut Harrison Schmitt next to deployed U.S. flag on lunar surface
Description: Scientist-Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, Apollo 17 lunar module pilot, is photographed next to the U.S. flag during extravehicular activity (EVA) of NASA's final lunar landing mission in the Apollo series. The photo was taken at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The highest part of the flag appears to point toward our planet earth in the distant background. NASA Photo ID: AS17-134-20384 (JSC) |
| | Title: View of the orange soil which Apollo 17 crewmen found at Station 4 during EVA
Description: A close-up view of the orange soil which the Apollo 17 crewmen found at Station 4 (Shorty Crater) during the second Apollo 17 extravehicular activity at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The orange soil was first spotted by Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt. NASA Photo ID: AS17-137-20989 (JSC) |
| | Title: View of the orange soil which Apollo 17 crewmen found at Station 4 during EVA
Description: A view of the area at Station 4 (Shorty Crater) showing the now highly-publicized orange soil which the Apollo 17 crewmen found on the Moon during the second Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-2) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. The tripod-like object is the gnomon and photometric chart assembly which is used as a photographic reference to establish local vertical Sun angle, scale and lunar color. The Gnomon is one of the Apollo lunar geology hand tools. NASA Photo ID: AS17-137-20990 (JSC) |
| | Title: View of Earth above the antenna of the lunar roving vehicle during EVA
Description: The Earth appears in the far distant background above the hi-gain antenna of the lunar roving vehicle in this photograph taken by Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-3) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 commander, stands beside the LRV. Schmitt is the mission's lunar module pilot. NASA Photo ID: AS17-134-20473 (JSC) |
| | Title: Astronaut Harrison Schmitt standing next to boulder during third EVA
Description: Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt is photographed standing next to a huge, split boulder during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-3) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site on the Moon. Schmitt is the Apollo 17 lunar module pilot. This picture was taken by Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, commander. NASA Photo ID: AS17-140-21496 (JSC) |
| | Title: Gene Cernan And Over-Hanging Rock #2
Description: Eugene Cernan stands near an over-hanging rock during the third Apollo 17 EVA. The tripod-like object is the gnomon and photometric chart assembly which is used as a photographic reference to establish local vertical Sun angle, scale and lunar colour. NASA Photo ID: AS17-141-21608[4] |
| | Title: Close-up of lunar roving vehicle at Apollo 17 Taurus-Littrow landing site
Description: A close-up view of the lunar roving vehicle (LRV) at the Apollo 17 Taurus-Littrow landing site extravehicular activity (EVA). Note the makeshift repair arrangement on the right rear fender of the LRV. During EVA-1 a hammer got underneath the fender and a part of it was knocked off. Following a suggestion from Astronaut John W. Young in Mission Control Center at Houston, the crewmen reapired the fender early in EVA-2 using lunar maps and clamps from the optical alignment telescope lamp. Schmitt is seated in the rover. Cernan took this picture. NASA Photo ID: AS17-137-20979 (JSC) |
| | Title: View of the Earth seen by the Apollo 17 crew traveling toward the moon
Description: View of the Earth as seen by the Apollo 17 crew traveling toward the moon. This translunar coast photograph extends from the Meditierranean Sea area to the Antarctica south polar ice cap. This is the first time the Apollo trajectory made it possible to photograph the south polar ice cap. Note the heavy cloud cover in the southern hamisphere. Almost the entire coastline of Africa is clearly visible. The Arabian Peninsula can be seen at the northeastern edge of Africa. The large island off the coast of Africa is the Malagasy Republic. The Asian mainland is on the horizon toward the northeast. NASA Photo ID: AS17-148-22727 (JSC) |
| | Title: View of lunarscape at Station 4 with Astronaut Schmitt working at LRV
Description: A view of the lunarscape at Station 4 (Shorty Crater) showing Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt working at the lunar roving vehicle (LRV) during the second Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-2) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. This is the area where Schmitt first spotted the orange soil. Orange soil is clearly visible on either side of the rover in this picture. Shorty Crater is to the right. The peak in the center background is Family Mountain. Portion of South Massif is on the horizon at the left edge. NASA Photo ID: AS17-137-21011 (JSC) |
| | Title: Astronaut Eugene Cernan drives the Lunar Roving Vehicle during first EVA
Description: Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, Apollo 17 mission commander, makes a short checkout of the Lunar Roving Vehicle during the early part of the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-1) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. This view of the "stripped down" Rover is prior to loadup. This photograph was taken by Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt, lunar module pilot. The mountain in the right background is the east end of South Massif. NASA Photo ID: AS17-147-22526 (JSC) |
| | Title: Astronaut Ronald Evans photographed during transearth coast EVA
Description: Astronaut Ronald E. Evans is photographed performing extravehicular activity (EVA) during the Apollo 17 spacecraft's transearth coast. During his EVA Command Module pilot Evans retrieved film cassettes from the Lunar Sounder, Mapping Camera, and Panoramic Camera. The cylindrical object at Evans left side is the mapping camera cassette. The total time for the transearth EVA was one hour seven minutes 19 seconds, starting at ground elapsed time of 257:25 (2:28 p.m.) amd ending at ground elapsed time of 258:42 (3:35 p.m.) on Sunday, December 17, 1972. NASA Photo ID: AS17-152-23391 (JSC) |
| | Title: Apollo 17 Command/Service modules photographed from lunar module in orbit
Description: A view of the Apollo 17 command and service modules photographed from the lunar module (LM) Challenger during rendezvous and docking maneuvers in lunar orbit. The LM ascent stage, with astronauts Eugene A. Cernan and Harrison H. Schmitt aboard, had just returned from the Taurus-Littrow landing site on the lunar surface. Note the exposed Scientific Instrument Module (SIM) bay in sector 1 of the service module. Three experiments are carried in the bay: S-209 lunar sounder, S-171 infrared scanning spectrometer, and the S-169 far-ultraviolet spectrometer. Also mounted in the SIM bay are the panoramic camera, mapping camera and laser altimeter used in service module photographic tasks. A portion of the LM is on the right. NASA Photo ID: AS17-145-22254 (JSC) |
| | Title: Astronaut Harrison Schmitt collects lunar rake samples during EVA
Description: Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt collects lunar rake samples at Station 1 during the first Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-1) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. This picture was taken by Astronaut Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17 commander. Schmitt is the lunar module pilot. The lunar rake, an Apollo lunar geology hand tool, is used to collect discrete samples of rocks and rock chips ranging in size from one-half inch (1.3 cm) to one inch (2.5 cm). NASA Photo ID: AS17-134-20425 (JSC) |
| | Title: Astronaut Harrison Schmitt standing next to boulder during third EVA
Description: Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt is photographed standing next to a huge, split boulder at Station 6 (base of North Massif) during the third Apollo 17 extravehicular activity (EVA-3) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site on the Moon. Notice the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) in the left foreground. Schmitt is the Apollo 17 lunar module pilot. This picture was taken by Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, commander. NASA Photo ID: AS17-146-22294 (JSC) |
| | Title: Astronaut Harrison Schmitt seated in Lunar Roving Vehicle during EVA-3
Description: Scientist-Astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt is photographed seated in the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) at Station 9 (Van Serg Crater) during the third Apollo 17 extrvehicular activity (EVA-3) at the Taurus-Littrow landing site. This photograph was taken by Astronaut Eugene A. Cernan, crew commander. NASA Photo ID: AS17-134-20454 (JSC) |
| | Title: Cresent Earth rises above lunar horizon
Description: The cresent Earth rises above the lunar horizon in this photograph taken from the Apollo 17 spacecraft in lunar orbit during NASA's final lunar landing mission in the Apollo program. NASA Photo ID: AS17-152-23274 (JSC) |
[edit] References
- ↑ Bruce E. Hicks, UPI, Flag stands on moon in perhaps last 20th century lunar photos, The Lowell Sun, Saturday December 23, 1972 page 6 (Subscription required)
- ↑ UPI, Astronauts Relax; Photos Of Moon Voyage Released, The Times Standard, Sunday December 24, 1972, Eureka, California, Page: 9 (Subscription required)
- ↑ UPI MOONSCAPE, The Daily Messenger, Canandaigua, New York, Friday December 29, 1972, Page 1 (Subscription required)
- ↑ Apollo Mission Control Photo Plus, Apollo 17 NASA Reissues, 23 January 2006, accessed March 15, 2007