{"id":1706,"date":"2017-10-19T23:51:31","date_gmt":"2017-10-20T03:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colinmackellar.com\/blog\/?page_id=1706"},"modified":"2025-07-16T15:21:55","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T19:21:55","slug":"1-apollo-17-diary-of-the-12th-man","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.colinmackellar.com\/blog\/1-apollo-17-diary-of-the-12th-man\/","title":{"rendered":"1. Apollo 17: Diary of the 12th Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Fig. 13.1a.<\/strong> Apollo 17 landing site with the remaining Challenger <\/em>Lunar Module descent stage located at right; the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) deployment site; and the deep drill core (DDC; white arrow) site located at left outlined by the light colored box. The ~50 m diameter Rudolph Crater<\/em> is at top left (LROC image).<\/p>\n

\"\"Fig. 13.1b.<\/strong> Fig. 13.1a<\/strong> enlarged to show the detail of the ALSEP experiments and the deep drill site locations. Thin parallel tracks were made by the LRV. The heavier, darker tracks were made mostly by my footprints. (LROC image).<\/p>\n

AUTHOR\u2019S NOTE<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have undertaken a long-running project to write a personal account of the Apollo 17 Mission on which I flew to the Moon as the Lunar Module Pilot and scientist. This diary also attempts to integrate much of the mission\u2019s scientific results to date with the operations that were necessary to explore the valley of Taurus-Littrow.<\/p>\n

\u201c30 Days and Counting\u201d constitutes the first installment of Apollo 17: Diary of the Twelfth Man<\/em><\/span>, commemorating the 45th<\/sup> Anniversary of the December 7, 1972 launch of the Apollo 17 Mission. \u201c30 days and Counting\u201d is Chapter 4 of the diary with other chapters to follow as soon as time permits. It was chosen as the initial installment because the interval between its online publication date and the launch date coincides with the chapter title.<\/p>\n

A wide variety of sources have contributed to the preparation of this diary, including transcripts; checklists; stowage records; training schedules; USGS and NASA records of field simulations; books published by other Apollo participants and historians; a vast array of scientific publications; and, of course, the author\u2019s memory and personal field geological perspectives. A complication to reading diaries is their instantaneous jump from subject to subject. In addition to the liberal use of endnotes, distinguishing between subjects and sources is aided by the consistent use of different font styles and colors\u00a0in the text. The first endnote of each chapter repeats the explanation of these color codes.<\/p>\n

ABBREVIATED TABLE OF CONTENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

A. Front Matter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dedication<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\nTable of Contents (Full)<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\nAcknowledgements<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\nPrologue<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

B. Chapters 1-9<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Exploration Takes Over<\/strong>
\n2. The Geologist and the Test Pilot <\/strong>
\n3. \u201cWould You Like to Go to the Moon?\u201d <\/strong>
\n4. 30 days and Counting<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\n5.\u00a0\u201c30 Seconds and Counting!\u201d <\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\n6. The Blue Marble <\/strong>
\n7. \u201cGo For Lunar Orbit!\u201d <\/strong>
\n8.\u00a0\u201cContact!\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\n9. The 12th Man<\/strong><\/p>\n

C. Chapters 10-18<\/strong><\/p>\n

10. \u201cA Valley on the Moon\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\n11. \u201cIt\u2019s Orange!\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\n12. Pages of History<\/strong>
\n13. Reluctant Departure <\/strong>
\n14. \u201cWhat Did You Learn?\u201d <\/strong>
\n15. The Solar System\u2019s Library <\/strong>
\n16. \u201cSeventeen, How Do You Read?\u201d <\/strong>
\n17. Splashdown! <\/strong>
\n18. The Last Orbit <\/strong><\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 by Harrison H. Schmitt, 2017. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fig. 13.1a. Apollo 17 landing site with the remaining Challenger Lunar Module descent stage located at right; the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) deployment site; and the deep drill core (DDC; white arrow) site located at left outlined by the light colored box. The ~50 m diameter Rudolph Crater is at top left (LROC … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “1. Apollo 17: Diary of the 12th Man”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1706","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9bNBl-rw","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmackellar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmackellar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmackellar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmackellar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmackellar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1706"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmackellar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5610,"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmackellar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1706\/revisions\/5610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmackellar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}