Apollo 17 Transcript, 1972

This NASA document contains excerpts from the Apollo 17 air-to-ground voice transcription from 1972. The crew reports bright, jagged fragments drifting past the spacecraft after S-IVB separation, and later describes a distant flashing, rotating object that Jack thinks is the S-IVB. Gene also describes light flashes he saw with his eyes closed. Other passages cover weather over Hawaii and the Solomon Islands, and a flash seen on the lunar surface north of Grimaldi.

From the source: Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: 1972, Moon. Apollo 17 was the ninth crewed U.S. mission to the Moon, and the sixth to land astronauts on the lunar surface. This document is an excerpt from the Apollo 17 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription, December 1972, highlighting three periods in which astronauts reported observing unidentified phenomenon: a nine minute period on the first day, a three hour period on the second day, and a six minute period on the third day. • Day 00, Hour 03, Minute 34, Second 10 through Day 00, Hour 03, Minute 42, Second 29: o Command Module Pilot (CMP), Ronald Evans, reported observing “very bright particles or fragments” drifting and “tumbling” near the spacecraft as it maneuvered. Lunar Module Pilot (LMP), Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, described the phenomenon as looking “like the Fourth of July.” The astronauts speculated that the phenomenon may be attributable to ice or paint fragments dislodging from a separated component of the spacecraft (S-IVB) but characterized that assessment as a “wild guess.” • Day 02, Hour 18, Minute 42, Second 34 through Day 02, Hour 21, Minute 07, Second 05: o Mission Commander, Eugene A. Cernan, reported difficulty sleeping and described having observed “some sets of the streaks.” He also described an intense light flashing between his eyes, describing its intensity as comparable to that of a train headlight and characterizing it as “imposing.” Over the next three hours, Cernan described observing several flashing, rotating phenomenon that he assessed as corresponding to physical objects in space rather than a purely optical phenomenon. LMP Schmitt also reported observing similar phenomenon, though he again assessed the source of his observation to be a separated rocket stage (S-IVB). At 02:20:55:22, Cernan reported observing two additional distant flashing objects, though he assessed them as Spacecraft/Lunar Module Adapter panels (SLA panel), another separated component of the Saturn V rocket. • Day 03, Hour 15, Minute 33, Second 25 through Day 03, Hour 15, Minute 39, Second 46: o At 03:15:38:09, LMP Schmitt exclaimed that he had observed a flash on the lunar surface north of Grimaldi (crater).

Tape 47/14
And I'll just confirm that the - that disturbance
over the So - Solomon Islands is an awfully tightly
wound little storm system. And right now, I finally
have see New Zealand for the first time in a couple
of days, for sure. And the South Island's got some,
probably high cirrus over it. North Island looks
pretty clear. That's the end that I can get right
now.
CC Roger. We saw you looking at Regulus there; we
didn't realize you were looking at the Earth
instead.
LMP Ron's been looking for the booster. And he
me down and asked me to look at the Earth.
been holding out on me.
called
He's
CC Roger.
LMP Pass the torch of weather forecasting to Ron.
02 20 55 22 cc Hey, Jack. I also have some words for you and
Gene. Got some advice from the home front. The
thing to do with Ron in the future is to hook up
a Baby Ben and a metal dishpan. It works every
time, if you want to wake him up.
CMP No. I think that's not a good way.
CC Ron, everybody I s fine over at El Lago.
doing great. Listening to every word.
They are
CMP Very good, Bob. Thank you very much.
CDR Hey, Bob. We got two of those flashers out there.
They could be SLA panels. I don't know. They're
alike in intensity and pretty regular in the - in
the intensity, bright and dim flashes they come
out with, and they're widely separated. One is
about the position we called at the first time;
the other one is - oh, as I'm looking at the Earth,
far to the left. Closer to the center window now.
02 20 56 52 cc Roger.
02 21 01 07 LMP Houston, 17,