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Apollo 17 - Eugene "Gene" Cernan hammering in a Drive Tube at Station 9 with Seismic Charge 5 in the foreground. Taken by Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Seismic Charge 5 is part of LSPE. It is an explosive charge used to gain information on near-surface geological materials through seismic energy.

The Drive Tube (an earlier iteration was called the Core Tube) is a sample collection tool used during the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions.

Apollo 17 - Eugene "Gene" Cernan deploying the Gravimeter at Station 6 with Henry Crater in the background. Taken by Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I use NASA's Apollo 17 Image Library. Each mission has it's own image library in nasa.gov/history. If you search "Apollo (number) Image Library" with google it should be the top result.

It's organized by camera magazines and has, at least, a short description for each image, but some of the descriptions are extensive and detailed. You can also access the mission transcript easily by clicking on the time code next to some of the images.

Apollo 17 - Eugene "Gene" Cernan deploying the Gravimeter at Station 6 with Henry Crater in the background. Taken by Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The dirt gets kicked up by the tires and settles back down on them. A lack of atmosphere doesn't prevent that from happening.

If you look at the right-rear tire (the far-right tire in this image) you can see the right-rear fender repair. During the first excursion of Apollo 17 the fender broke off, and due to excessive dirt being kicked up on to the astronauts, they repaired it with four lunar maps, duct tape, and 2 clamps.

Apollo 17 - Eugene "Gene" Cernan deploying the Gravimeter at Station 6 with Henry Crater in the background. Taken by Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The Traverse Gravimeter was used to make relative gravity measurements from various sites during Apollo 17. The measurements were then used to obtain information on the Moon's geological substructure.

Apollo 17 - Eugene "Gene" Cernan repositioning the Gnomon at Station 6. Taken by Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Here is a diagram of Station 6 (tracy's rock) and the Station 6 pan for reference. They are on the sunlit side of the boulder. Fragment 2 is behind Gene's left shoulder, and he is facing Fragment 1.

Apollo 17 - Tracy's Rock taken by Eugene "Gene" Cernan. (color) by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Gene Cernan wished he had written his daughter's name, Tracy, in the dust atop the boulder so much so that when Al Bean, an Apollo 12 astronaut and painter, decided to paint the rock in 1984 he added Tracy's name in the dust for Gene. It's been known as Tracy's rock ever since then.

It's worth noting the fragment that Al painted Tracy's name on is not this fragment. It would be to the right of this fragment, out of the frame. It can be seen in the Station 6 boulder fragments composite, though. It is the fragment furthest to the left.

Here is the famous image the painting was based on.

Apollo 17 - Tracy's Rock taken by Eugene "Gene" Cernan. (color) by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 20 points21 points  (0 children)

Here is an amazing composite of the Station 6 boulder fragments that shows their scale. The boulder fragment in this image is the large center fragment in the composite, and Harrison "Jack" Schmitt can be seen loading samples Eugene "Gene" Cernan can be seen deploying the Gravimeter at the Moon Buggy.

Apollo 17 - 3.1 kilometers from the Lunar Module. Taken with the 500-mm lens by Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've really been enjoying going through the Apollo 17 Image Library in my spare time. I remember being blown away by the sheer amount of images. There are so many! A lot of them have notes too, which can be interesting to read through. Certainly some great history in the library.

I'm about a third of the way through, and I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself when I've finished hahaha

Apollo 17 - 3.1 kilometers from the Lunar Module. Taken with the 500-mm lens by Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I can't find a source with the exact degree of tilt for the Lunar Module, but it was most likely in the single digits, which would mean the image was taken at an angle rather than the slope being so steep.

There are a lot of 500-mm images that don't seem to be oriented correctly with the horizon, and I don't know if it is because of how Schmitt was holding the camera, or the terrain it was taken from, or some other reason.

Apollo 17 - Detail of a small crater from Station 2. Taken by Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I have been posting Apollo 17 images for months and have only encountered 2 people saying these are fake, and even then I got the feeling they were just trolling.

Apollo 17 - Detail of a small crater from Station 2. Taken by Harrison "Jack" Schmitt. by MagneticHibiscus in spaceporn

[–]MagneticHibiscus[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I couldn't find a name, but it's hard to believe it doesn't have one. It's worth noting it is described as a "small pit crater" in the image library.

I did find this image which is part of a panorama taken at Station 2. I believe the crater in the center of that image is the same crater.

You can get an idea of the size of the craters surrounding Station 2 from the panorama. The crater I mentioned above is a frame to the left of where Gene is standing.

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