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The achievements of The Apollo 17 mission.


Grump Martian

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I am watching a documentary on Youtube. "Apollo 17 Remastered (50th Anniversary)". I'm sure that it can be found on other channels. It tells the story of Apollo 17's three day stay in The Taurus Littrow region of The Moon.

Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt really tested their endurance and the capability of their equipment and especially the Luna rover. The longest traverse in the rover was was 20 km and the greatest range from the LM was 7.6 km. Imagine that distance relying on relatively untried technology. Harrison Schmitt was the only non military pilot to travel to the Moon, being a geologist. Of course astronaut Ronald Evans should not be forgotten. He bravely piloted the Command module spaceship alone.

NASA cancelled Apollo missions 18, 19 & 20. Just imagine what may have been achieved if these missions had taken place. 

I remember as a 12 year old watching the live tv transmissions. The excitement expressed by Harrison Schmitt when he discovered orange Luna soil which proved that there was volcanic activity at some point in the Moons history.

I am now studying my Luna atlas so as I can better appreciate what I am seeing while obseving the Moon.

If you like spectacular Apollo mission photographs take a look at a book called Full Moon by Michael Light.

The picture is from this book. It shows the Apollo 17 Luna module two miles away. Would the astronauts  have been able to walk back if their rover had failed?20230131_210620.thumb.jpg.55e86c7fe2c2bcbf2bed5e3f2b85f3e6.jpg

Edited by Grump Martian
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Thanks for sharing, will have a watch later

 I was listening to the audio of the Apollo 11 landing, really impressed with how calm and collected Collins, Armstrong  and particular Buzz who was doing most of the communication , he even drops in a bit of humour at one point while decending at 6000mph towards the surface.  I didnt know that Eagle was on auto pilot untill 6000 feet from touchdown. One thing I did notice was Houston continually ensuring all was go, the pressure on Armstrong must of been huge. Definitely the right stuff.

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 One thing I did notice was Houston continually ensuring all was go, the pressure on Armstrong must of been huge. Definitely the right stuff.

Hi Astroscot2. I just loved hearing all of the interaction from mission control "Go,no go" was a common phrase. I have a cd by the music group "Public Broardcast Service"

It's called The Race for Space. It mixes their music with news commentary about space missions and mission control audio. The track  Go is the best with the then flight controller Gene Krantz calling Go  no go. And then when Apollo 11 landed he cries out Stay, no stay! Great albu.. look it up.

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3 hours ago, Grump Martian said:

Of course astronaut Ronald Evans should not be forgotten

I'm not really a spaceflight guru. I've watched just about every second of online footage of A11 and A13, plus much other footage. But I can honestly say I have no recollection of the name of  the C/M pilot on Apollo 17 :(

C/M pilot was perhaps the lonliest job in human history.

Grate image of the LM there. I don't recall seeing that before either.

I guess that just about sums up the demise of Apollo. People stopped watching. It was no longer big news. They were making it look too easy?

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12 hours ago, Grump Martian said:

 One thing I did notice was Houston continually ensuring all was go, the pressure on Armstrong must of been huge. Definitely the right stuff.

Hi Astroscot2. I just loved hearing all of the interaction from mission control "Go,no go" was a common phrase. I have a cd by the music group "Public Broardcast Service"

It's called The Race for Space. It mixes their music with news commentary about space missions and mission control audio. The track  Go is the best with the then flight controller Gene Krantz calling Go  no go. And then when Apollo 11 landed he cries out Stay, no stay! Great albu.. look it up.

Had a listen to the album on the way to work this morning,  really enjoyed it .  I had to have another listen to Apollo 11 by OMD again 😉

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I consider it the greatest achievement in my life time, as I shot out of mum ten minutes before 17 shot into the sky!

I also love geology so Schmitt is a bit of a hero of mine. I remember reading somewhere that some people had a nickname for him “Bull Schmitt”.

However, none of those people walked on the moon.

Marvin.

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25 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

I consider it the greatest achievement in my life time, as I shot out of mum ten minutes before 17 shot into the sky!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 💥

What was that nurse, a bird? A plane? No Mrs Jenkins it was a boy..🤣

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Full Moon is a great book and I revisit my copy regularly. I have just broken Apollo Remastered from its cellophane wrapper and have high expectations of it.

 I don’t know why but, Harrison Schmitt is the astronaut I would most like to meet.

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3 hours ago, Swoop1 said:

I have just broken Apollo Remastered from its cellophane wrapper and have high expectations of it.

 

Thanks for the heads up on this book. Now on my birthday list. I love the photo of Aldrin being allowed to take his pipe to chew on it during Gemini mission.

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I will never tire of the Apollo project. This thread has, yet again, had Apollo footage popping up in my Youtube Feed. Including some great footage of Apollo 16 I don't recall seeing previously.

Well, I have previously seen the footage of the LM departure from the Lunar surface and its ascent but it never gets stale. 

I'm not sure any return to the Moon will be quite the same. After more than 50 years, I'm shocked that men and women haven't stepped onto the surface of Mars. What have we been doing in that time?

 

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On 02/02/2023 at 13:01, Swoop1 said:

Full Moon is a great book and I revisit my copy regularly. I have just broken Apollo Remastered from its cellophane wrapper and have high expectations of it.

 I don’t know why but, Harrison Schmitt is the astronaut I would most like to meet.

Visually stunning book, I need to revisit it soon.

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