would start coming out in
and loading up the geology
bubbles or blobs that would
tools, they buckled themfloat all over the place. The
selves aboard and set off.
trick was to open the bag
It must have been a pefast, so that the viscosity or
culiar sight for any onlooker
capillary action would ento see this space-age dune
courage the soup to adhere
buggy bouncing across the
to the plastic. The object was
lunar surface; even at top
to take advantage of whatspeeds of just 5-6 mph (8-9.5
ever adhesiveness the soup
km/h), it was a bouncy ride
had.” When it had been thus
and if the rover hit a rock,
“contained”, they could eat
it literally went airborne for
quite normally, with a spoon,
a couple of seconds. Irwin
directing it approximately
later likened it to a bucking
towards their mouths.
bronco or an old rowing boat
Sleeping in their long johns,
on a rough lake.
without the bulky space suits,
“I’ve never liked safety
was more comfortable in
belts,” he wrote, “but we
one-sixth gravity than it had
couldn’t have done without
been in pre-launch rehearsthem on the rover. You could
Lunar Module Falcon with the Lunar Rover seen behind its left side off
als. It felt very much like a
easily get “seasick” if you had
in the distance. Credit: NASA via Retro Space Images
water bed, Irwin wrote, and
any problem with motion.” In
they felt as light as feathers in
fact, Irwin’s seat belt turned
handful of words at 9:29 a.m. EDT
the weak lunar gravity. They popped on 31 July were entirely appropriate
out to be too short and before they
in earplugs, pulled down the blinds
could set off Scott had to come
for a man who had started out as a
over the two triangular windows and
around to his side of the rover to
fighter pilot and had been steadily
drifted into a fitful sleep. Scott arbuckle him in properly. “We didn’t
won over by the wonders of geolranged his hammock in a fore-to-aft
realize,” Irwin explained, “when we
ogy.
direction above the ascent engine
“As I stand out here in the wonders made the adjustments on Earth, that
cover, whilst Irwin stretched “athwart
at one-sixth-G the suit would balof the unknown at Hadley,” he said
ship”.
loon more and it would be difficult
as he gazed in wonderment at the
Despite having long since acceptto compress it enough to fasten the
Apennines, “I sort of realize there’s a
ed being here, Scott still succumbed
fundamental truth to our nature. Man seat belt.”
to the temptation to raise the blind
The “real” rover was also slightly
must explore…and this is exploration
and take a long look at the astonishdifferent to drive than the one in
at its greatest!”
ing panorama beyond Falcon’s windows, and called on Irwin to come
“As I stand out here in the wonders of the
and take a look. There was, however,
little time to wonder and the strictunknown at Hadley, I sort of realize there’s a
ness of the timeline forced them to
begin preparations to put on their
fundamental truth to our nature. Man must
suits for the first of three Moonwalks.
explore…and this is exploration at its greatest!”
Irwin would subsequently relate,
with a hint of humor, that he and
Scott did more talking to one anwhich the men had trained on Earth.
With a squeeze, and almost falling
other during the donning of the suits
From his seat, Scott found that he
onto his backside in the lunar dust,
than they had in the past several
Irwin quickly joined Scott and the two had to concentrate all of his enerdays. With all the added bulk of a
gies simply driving and keeping track
men set to work deploying the rover
backpack, oxygen and water hoses
of craters—the harsh glare of sunlight
from its berth in Falcon’s descent
and electrical cabling, and with
stage. To do so, they tugged on a
made the terrain appear deceptiveseries of pulleys and braked reels and ly smooth, literally “washing-out” surthe suit fully pressurized, Scott found
it required both of them, working in
it surprising that he actually fitted
face features, and hummocks and
tandem. As it flopped into the lunar
through Falcon’s small, square hatch
furrows appeared out of nowhere, at
dust, the rover was secured with pins. a split-second’s notice. Its maneuverwhen the time finally came to venture outside.
ability was good (“it could turn on a
Scott clambered aboard to give
dime,” Scott recalled), but its wheels
it a test drive and found a minor
It had become something of a
kicked up enormous rooster-tails of
problem: the front steering was inoptradition by now for each Apollo
dust, which were thankfully deflected
erable, so they would have to rely
commander to make a meaningful
by its fenders.
on rear-wheel steering instead. After
comment when he took his first steps
installing the color television camera
on the Moon. Dave Scott’s historic
As the navigator, Irwin tried to plot
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