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 60/1
APOLLO 17 AIR-TO-GROUND VOICE TRANSCRIPrION
03 15 33 44 cc Roger.
LMP For our interp - If we can extrapolate from the
samples returned by other missions.
LMP Amazing how far over - now the highlands to the
west of Procellarum are - still are bright, and the
contrast between fresh craters and the normal high
land are very - are very obvious still in earthlight,
particularly along the zero phase point with respect
to the Earth. Rima Gamma now is - is coming a lit
tle bit closer to our oval track in the horseshoe
in the - larger and more western end of it; the
dark horseshoe is quite clear in this light. It's
a west - or northwest-pointing horseshoe, as is the
complete trend of that strange feature. I think
Ron is going to have an excellent chance to study
these light-colored swirls within the mare and
other parts of the Moon. We had some good views
of them and Mare Marginis and to the east of
Crisium - Mare Crisium, and he should - if there
is anything to be seen, he should be able to see
it for - during the next few days.
CC Okeydoke.
03 15 35 50 CDR Say, Gordo, something I just noticed here in work
ing with the GDC what-have-you. I - looked at the
Pc gage, and in the Pz - Pc position, there is a
continuous bias on it now of about, oh, 7 percent,
and if I switch to ALPHA, it goes to zero. We never
saw that bias before this last burn.
CC Roger, Gene.
03 15 36 35 LMP Hey, Gordy, I'm looking right up the western edge
of the Procellarum mare where it contacts the -
the - the high - western highlands of the Moon, and
we're just about to fly a little bit south of
Grimaldi. That edge is very irregular. There is
no obvious indications that it - there are large
basins that have been flooded by mare that have
formed that edge, but, again, the topographic dis
tinction's possible in this lighter small. Now I'm
starting to see that there are shadows in the craters.