Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00April 16, 1972, Apollo 16, man's fifth lunar landing, sat silently on the pad awaiting its
00:25mission. Inside the astronaut quarters, its relaxed crew ate Sunday breakfast. John Young,
00:34a veteran of three previous space flights, was commanded. Ken Mattingly, command module pilot,
00:41would conduct orbital experiments around the moon while Charles Duke explored the lunar surface with
00:47Young. April 22nd, Young and Duke would find themselves strapped into a small electric car
00:56called the Rover, bouncing across the lunar plateau known as Descartes.
01:03Oh, the old water bag is working super. This is going to be a good day, Charlie.
01:10Yeah! Woo! Man, that's a great big skid. We're doing ten clicks, Tony.
01:18Covered me with dust on that one.
01:21As Young and Duke rode the bucking rover to the lunar formation called Stone Mountain,
01:26NASA geologist Farouk L. Baz wrote on a blackboard on Earth,
01:31There is nothing so far removed from us to be beyond our reach or so hidden that we cannot discover it.
01:40Rene Descartes.
01:42As John Young would later remark, Apollo 16 would certainly help prove that Rene Descartes was right.
01:50Almost like a freshly plowed field that's been rained on.
01:56Yet, less than two days before, it looked as though this would never happen.
02:03It was, in Young's words, a real cliffhanger.
02:08The Marshall Space Flight Center team was working on a launch vehicle gyroscope problem
02:13that threatened to scrub the mission.
02:15Less than an hour before liftoff, their advisory to the Kennedy Space Center launch team was,
02:20Go!
02:28let's go!
02:30The liftoff had been perfect.
03:00During the three-day flight to lunar orbit, the problems encountered had been more annoyances
03:08than critical, such as paint flaking off the lunar module, and later a jammed antenna
03:14in one of the lunar module's several communications systems.
03:19All in all, it had been a quiet flight.
03:25April 19th.
03:27The burn into lunar orbit was right on.
03:36The subsequent maneuvers all went without a hitch.
03:39On the next day, April 20th, Young and Duke undocked the lunar module preparatory to landing, leaving
03:46Mattingly in the command module.
03:55The next maneuver was for Mattingly to burn the main engine of his spacecraft to put it
04:09into a circular orbit.
04:18As the lunar module emerged from behind the moon.
04:21No CERC.
04:23Copy, no CERC.
04:27No CERC.
04:31In preparing for the circularization burn, Mattingly had found apparent uncontrolled oscillations
04:37engines in the main engine's backup control system.
04:40Following mission rules, he did not make the burn.
04:43How long do you think it's going to take them to get rid of him, CERC?
04:45I think your instrument of a couple of free res.
04:48With the backup system having trouble, only the primary system was known to be usable on
04:55the engine needed to get the astronauts out of lunar orbit and back to Earth.
04:58However, the lunar module engines could be used if the two spacecraft were docked.
05:06The first step in the problem-solving technique, stabilize the situation in the safest manner.
05:12Get the two spacecraft, which had separated, close enough together to dock if necessary.
05:18At that moment, the chances for a landing looked pretty slim.
05:37But you look at a problem step-by-step.
05:41Step one underway, you look at step two, analyze the problem as completely as possible within
05:46the time frame.
05:48We should make sure that that's calm, but there's no way, no alternate.
05:52We don't have any redundancy or other routes.
05:57And in lunar orbit, Mattingly flew the command module to a rendezvous as Young talked him in.
06:04Okay.
06:05Why don't you tell me what to do there, John?
06:08Okay.
06:09I got it.
06:10Word's coming back, kind of initially, from North American that they're suspecting a rate
06:15feedback.
06:16Building 45s, Jim McDevitt.
06:18The team was coming up to speed, not only at the Mann Spacecraft Center, but from MIT
06:24in Massachusetts to North American in Southern California.
06:28Isolate the trouble.
06:30Simulate it.
06:31Evaluate it.
06:32You can't use it.
06:33If you've got a broken wire, you don't know it's going to come back again.
06:36Keep me now like I'm drifting the other way.
06:39Not according to my needles.
06:41Okay.
06:42I'll believe your needles.
06:44Of course, then you would have no options.
06:46Go ahead.
06:47I mean, then it's full speed ahead.
06:49I just don't much see how we can make it on this next trip.
06:52I think you guys ought to continue to work.
06:54So you'd only do it if you had a failure on the primary.
06:56Well, how would you ever get the damn thing trimmed then?
06:58I would, I would, if I had a failure on the primary, I'd shut it down.
07:02Well, we must be going in the right direction, then.
07:06Yeah, you're going to get there.
07:09Yeah, I want you guys to simulate it.
07:14Isolate, simulate, evaluate.
07:17The results were coming in.
07:19It was beginning to pay off.
07:22The simulator tests and other data were showing that with the engine on,
07:27the oscillations would do no harm.
07:29Despite the earlier pessimism, it was beginning to look pretty good.
07:34Okay, when you come up on AOS on the next rev, Rev 15,
07:39we'll give you a go or no go for another try.
07:42Command Spacecraft Center Director Dr. Christopher C. Kraft Jr.
07:47Just came back into the control center after having attended a meeting by management people
07:53in one of the back rooms and the situation is go for landing.
07:58Well, have at it, Dave, so we're going to try.
08:00You do have a go for another try here at PDI on Rev 16.
08:08Once more, they would pass behind the moon.
08:11And on the next revolution, John Young and Charlie Duke would start their swift descent to the Descartes Plateau.
08:18Okay, filter initialization looks good.
08:25Right on.
08:27Feel that duty?
08:28Come on.
08:29200.
08:31Pro.
08:32It's over.
08:33It's over.
08:34Huh?
08:35And here it is, Gator, Lone Star.
08:37Right on.
08:38Call me the thing, Charlie.
08:39Okay, 40 degrees, 38 degrees.
08:41Right on.
08:42Government on dot.
08:43North range.
08:44Okay.
08:45Looks like we're going to be able to make it, John.
08:48There's not too many blocks up there.
08:50Ryan, you're go for landing.
08:51Right now it looks pretty good.
08:53Go.
08:54Go, Hunter.
08:55Okay, anywhere it's in this.
08:56Go, Hunter.
08:57Looking good.
08:58We're looking good.
08:59We're looking good.
09:00That's forward.
09:01Yeah, I'm looking to ag.
09:02Back comes the shadow.
09:04Okay, down at three.
09:06Fifty feet.
09:07Down at four.
09:08Give me one click up.
09:09We're backing up slightly.
09:11Okay, two down.
09:14Stand by for contact.
09:15Come on, let her down.
09:18You're level off.
09:19Let her on down.
09:23Okay, step six percent.
09:25Plenty fast.
09:26Contact.
09:28Stop.
09:29Boom.
09:30Wow.
09:31Poor man.
09:32Oh, the run is finally here, Houston.
09:34Fantastic.
09:35The original plan had to be a good one.
09:37The last one was a good one.
09:38The original plan had called for Young and Duke to get out and explore shortly after landing.
09:45However, the near abort had lasted six hours.
09:49The tired astronauts would sleep.
09:51Okay.
09:53April 21.
09:55Mission Commander John Young stepped onto the Descartes formation.
10:0011.58 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.
10:04They are mysterious and unknown Descartes.
10:08Now the planes, Apollo 16 is going to change your image.
10:14While their activities were monitored by mission control, Young and Duke were also observed
10:21by scientists located across the hall in the science support room.
10:28After unloading the rover from its storage bay in the lunar module, they planted the flag.
10:34Hey, John, this is perfect with the limb and the rover and you and Stone Mountain and the old flag.
10:42Come on out here and give me a salute.
10:45Big Navy salute.
10:47Off the ground.
10:48One more.
10:49There we go.
10:51Yes.
10:53Young set up an ultraviolet camera to provide the first astronomical observations from the moon.
11:00He took pictures of the Earth's upper atmosphere and magnetosphere and their interaction with the solar wind.
11:07He also photographed the interstellar gas present throughout space and the ultraviolet halos that appear around galaxies.
11:16Astronomers have long wanted a telescope on the moon.
11:20Perhaps this experiment would show the moon an ideal base for future astronomical observations.
11:26You want two pins?
11:29Yeah, we would like two pins.
11:31John, sir.
11:32I'm not leaning on it.
11:33Duke drilled a hole into which a heat flow probe was to be placed.
11:37Part of one of the experiments attached to the station.
11:40As Duke drilled, Young set up the central station and the remainder of the experiments.
11:47Then, what many considered the biggest disappointment of the mission.
11:51Probably some, just some rocks down there in the regular left, Tony.
11:56You know, it looks, I bet it's just like the side of that, that fresh, uh, crater we saw back there, the limb.
12:02Charlie, what?
12:04Something happened here.
12:05What happened?
12:06I don't know.
12:08Here's a line that pulled loose.
12:15Uh-oh.
12:16What line is it?
12:17That's the heat flow.
12:18Pulled it off.
12:19Yeah, sorry.
12:22I didn't even know it.
12:23I didn't even know it.
12:24Well, that means you've got to, uh, you've got to mate all those wires, separate wires in there and have them insulated for one another.
12:33That's right.
12:34And, uh, if that doesn't occur, what are the chances of shorting out the central station?
12:39Well, that's another one that they're working.
12:42Uh-oh.
12:43On Earth, they tried to figure a way to fix the heat flow.
12:49On the moon, the astronauts continued with the other experiments.
12:53Young placed a series of sensors in the soil, then fired explosive charges, mapping the lunar subsurface, much as geologists on Earth use explosives to search for oil.
13:08Five, four, three, two, one, fire.
13:15Stuck in the ground, and, uh, I try to get the ground right now.
13:21They continued to sample the area and activate the experiments.
13:29Then they returned to the rover and prepared for their first trip away from the landing site in search for geological samples.
13:39And here we go.
13:42Their first traverse would take them about one kilometer west of the landing site.
13:48They would make two stops to collect samples and conduct experiments.
13:53One on five, three, nine, and your flight plan.
13:57But it couldn't pick a better spot.
14:00John, you're just beautiful.
14:02That is the most beautiful sight.
14:04Look at this.
14:05You're standing there on the rim of that crater.
14:08This guy, I don't really know.
14:10You're gonna have to use a hand.
14:11Young used a portable instrument to measure the local magnetic field.
14:15He would later record the most intense magnetic field ever found on the moon.
14:20Far higher than scientists ever suspected.
14:24Look at this, Charlie.
14:26There's really some crater.
14:28As you come around there, there's a rock in the near field on this rim that has some white on the top of it.
14:34We'd like you to pick it up as a grab sample.
14:36This one right here?
14:39That's it.
14:40This one right here?
14:44That's it.
14:45You got it right there.
14:48Okay, we copy that.
14:50There would be one more stop before they got back to the lunar module to close out this EVA.
14:57With Duke acting as photographer and Young as driver, they put the rover through a full test.
15:05Man, you are really fast.
15:11Is he on the ground at all?
15:12That's 10 kilometers.
15:15Huh?
15:16He's got about two wheels on the ground.
15:19Okay, turn sharp.
15:21I have no desire to turn sharp.
15:24Okay, here's the sharpie.
15:26Hey, that's great.
15:28He's a big rooster tail out of all four wheels.
15:30And as he turns, he skids, the back end breaks loose just like on snow.
15:36Come on back, John.
15:37Okay, the deck is running.
15:42Then I'll tell you, Indy's never seen a driver like this.
15:50Okay, when he hits the craters and starts bouncing, it's when he gets his rooster tail.
15:55He makes sharp turns.
15:57Then, it was back to their lunar base, activate experiments, and close out EVA-1.
16:09He's a big fan.
16:14Cheeseburger.
16:16Be wise exercise there, right?
16:17Physical fitness, gym level.
16:19Hey, that's right.
16:20Please don't take pictures of the hot dogs.
16:23Show me the low residue, high protein diet.
16:26On Earth, the scientists took a break.
16:29Tomorrow would be another busy day.
16:37April 22nd.
16:39The lunar surface temperature in the sun should be around 135 degrees today.
16:44Today, they were headed a little over four kilometers south
16:48to climb their rover up the side of Stone Mountain.
16:51Man, we are really going up a hill, I'll tell you.
16:56Their first station, a crater 700 feet above their lunar module.
17:03Wow, what a place.
17:04What a view, isn't it, John?
17:06It's absolutely unreal.
17:10We don't really come up here, Tony.
17:12It's just spectacular.
17:14I have never seen it.
17:16All I can say is spectacular, and I know you all are sick of that word, but
17:21my vocabulary is so limited.
17:23Well, let's see what we can do.
17:26If we got the rake soil, if we got certainly something, we could go to one-man sampling and maybe do it.
17:32They would make a total of six stops on this traverse,
17:35collecting samples from large rocks down through the intermediates
17:40to the smallest soil particles.
17:41They would operate experiments measuring the strength of local magnetic fields
17:46to measuring the resistance of the soil to compaction.
17:49Set!
17:50Set!
17:51Bueno at ...
17:523, 4, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10, 11, 11, 12, 13, 13, 14, 13, 14, 13, 14, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15, 15, 16, 15, 16, 24, 16 ...
17:59Okay, reset again, skip it.
18:02Skip it, yeah.
18:04How far away is that crater?
18:05There you go.
18:15Man, we come a long way.
18:18Hey, John, it's easier to go straight across.
18:20That was fun.
18:21I'm having any trouble, okay.
18:24I have a tough time walking up there.
18:26The sampling time used up.
18:28It was time to return to the rover
18:30and head back to the lunar module.
18:33And they did it in two minutes less travel time
18:35than every 10 minutes free plan.
18:37Fantastic.
18:39Tony, how about an extension, you guys?
18:41We feeling good.
18:44If that's all we're going to do tonight
18:45is sit around and talk.
18:49But with the limited oxygen and water in the backpacks,
18:52it was finally time to close out EVA-2.
18:55Okay.
18:58Now I think they realize that it's not more, well,
19:05a gee whiz, like my friends say, thrill,
19:10but it's real exploration.
19:11And this is much more serious
19:13and much more important for the future of mankind
19:18than just a plain exploit,
19:21a technical or technological exploit.
19:23This is exploration.
19:25Ray Bradbury claims that
19:27what mankind sees in the exploration of space
19:33is his first chance at immortality
19:35since he invented religion.
19:38April 23rd, the decision had been made
19:43not to try and fix the broken heat flow experiment
19:46because of the time and complexities involved.
19:50Traverse number three.
19:52Today, Young and Duke would head north
19:55about five kilometers to North Ray Crater,
19:57the largest lunar crater to be sampled by men.
20:04Outstanding.
20:06Hey, Tony, it seems to me
20:08this is a more subdued surface over here
20:11than going towards South Ray.
20:13Jack, that's a good point to remember.
20:26All three crews now tend to think they're there
20:29before they get there.
20:31I remember.
20:33Man, does this thing have steep walls.
20:36They said 60 degrees.
20:38Now I tell you, I can't see to the bottom of it
20:40and I'm as close to the edge as I'm going to get.
20:43That's the truth.
20:45Now the routine,
20:47if anything on the moon can be called that.
20:50Test, collect, photograph.
20:52Keep moving.
20:53Time is precious on the moon.
20:56They look like drill holes is what they look like.
20:59You do that in West Texas and you get a rattlesnake.
21:03Here you get permanently shattered soil.
21:05How about rolling that one over?
21:07No way.
21:08Then, one of the most spectacular discoveries of the mission.
21:15Look at the size of that biggie.
21:17It is a biggie, isn't it?
21:20It may be further away than we think.
21:22No, it's not very far.
21:23It was just right beyond you.
21:25And we better press on for the big boulder.
21:27Okay, we're headed that way.
21:31Do you get the tongs, John?
21:34Yep.
21:35I'll carry the rake.
21:40That big black dot.
21:44Fantastic.
21:47Right here.
21:48If we could see to the bottom,
21:50we could say for sure
21:51if this big black rock
21:53is right out of the bottom.
21:56But my guess from the old photographs
21:58is it probably is.
22:01Okay, that sounded like a good guess.
22:05God, you mean they weren't at it?
22:06No.
22:08It looks like they were standing right there.
22:11Look at the size of that rock!
22:15Curious what they're going to look like
22:16when they stand next to it.
22:18We can see.
22:20The closer I get to it,
22:21the bigger it is.
22:22Yeah, but look at the permanent
22:24shattered part, Charlie.
22:25On this side over here?
22:26Yeah.
22:28And as our cruise full east.
22:32We better find it
22:34disappeared into the sunset.
22:40Well, Tony,
22:41that's your house rock right there.
22:43Very good.
22:44It's getting near the edge of that thing
22:45and falls off.
22:46Look over at Charlie.
22:48If you're right,
22:48it falls off pretty good.
22:50Yeah, I know.
22:52Keep going!
22:56Can't believe it.
22:57Got it.
22:57I can't either.
22:59Okay, let's go on back.
23:00I am.
23:01Be right with you.
23:02And we encourage you just to look for some variety.
23:07But now it was time to head back to their base
23:10and close out the EVA.
23:11All right, we think you can just about head south now.
23:16Yeah.
23:21That's it.
23:21We're going there.
23:24Home again, home again.
23:26Jiggity-jig.
23:28During the previous EVA,
23:30a section of a rear fender had come off the rover,
23:33causing the astronauts to receive occasional showers of lunar dirt.
23:36And it's a beautiful sight.
23:43Young parked the rover,
23:44then moved out to join Duke.
23:47Enter the lunar module,
23:48and prepare for liftoff.
23:50Boy, Houston, the beauty of this place is just absolutely incredible.
23:55Smile.
24:00F.A.O.
24:01Don't be mad.
24:02We'll get it up there.
24:03See how nice and leisurely it's been?
24:05That's the way it should be,
24:06getting ready for us then.
24:09Ten seconds.
24:14What a ride.
24:15What a ride.
24:22Midgover's on time.
24:25Together in orbit,
24:32the two spacecraft pirouetted,
24:34each inspecting the other.
24:36This is one of the fastest maneuvers I've made in a long time.
24:44The inspections complete.
24:45The command module and lunar module maneuvered to docking.
24:51John Young,
24:53Ken Mattingly,
24:53and Charlie Duke,
24:55reunited aboard the command module,
24:57settled down for tomorrow's tasks,
25:00jettison the lunar module,
25:02and burn out of orbit to come home.
25:07April 25,
25:09Ken Mattingly left the confines of the command module cabin,
25:13173,000 miles from Earth.
25:17As he orbited the moon,
25:19he had not only made visual observations,
25:22he had been operating a complex series of experiments.
25:26Many of these had returned instant data to Houston.
25:29Two had taken thousands of high-resolution pictures of the lunar terrain.
25:34Now,
25:35Mattingly retrieved the film canisters and made his way back to the cabin with them,
25:41as Charlie Duke stood in the hatch to help him.
25:45It had been quite a mission.
25:47In John Young's words,
25:48I think we've seen as much in 10 days as most people see in 10 lifetimes.
25:57April 27,
25:59the last day.
26:01The crew looked out their windows through the 5,000 degree fireball of re-entry
26:06at their native planet.
26:07Yeah, that is beautiful, isn't it?
26:31Yeah, they're blooming.
26:34Beautiful.
26:35There they are.
26:37Beautiful.
26:43Follow control of Houston,
26:45an observer on the Ticonderoga,
26:47estimates the distance from the ship,
26:49about one mile.
26:59Let's got it on in service.
27:07Now, huh, now.
27:17You saw an example
27:19of goal-oriented teamwork in action.
27:24The kind of thing
27:25that made this country...
27:27...
27:28...
27:29...
27:29...
27:30The kind of thing that I was going to do with you,
27:30and I saw it in the last three years.
27:47I saw it in the last three years.
27:48I saw it in the last four years.
27:49I saw it in the last four years.
27:51I saw it in the last three years.
27:53You