RocketSTEM Issue #12 - July 2015 | Page 28

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 26 26 www.RocketSTEM .org