This is my 'Apollo 17 Flight Plan Change A' dated November 29, 1972, belonging to Apollo 17 Flight Controller John H. Copper. Cooper used this Flight Plan during the Apollo 17 mission while sitting in the Mission Operations Control Room, Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston Texas. I obtained this item from one of his relatives for quite a hefty price.
COVER
Cooper's name printed
in the upper right corner.
The below 'Letter of Provenance' provides details about
Cooper, the Flight Plan, it's origin, and his untimely demise,
which occurred shortly after the conclusion of the Apollo 17 mission.
Although Cooper made some very interesting notations on a number of the pages, there was one page in particular I want to share since it is connected to my Apollo 17 'Lunar Surface Checklist' Page 1-9, that was used by Apollo 17 Astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt inside Lunar Module Challenger shortly after landing on the moon.
Below is Page 3-124 from the 'Flight Plan' with Cooper's numerous handwritten notations.
One of which is, '100m from Triton (Shadow 100 ft.)'.
Similarly, as Cernan and Schmitt were on the surface inside the Lunar Module, one of them made the following handwritten notation on Page 1-9: 'Note LM Shadow Length (-100')'.
At Spacefest IV, I showed Cernan a photo of Page 1-9 and asked him about this notation. He wasn't too clear about who wrote, 'Note LM Shadow Length (-100')' or when it was written. Cernan did verify that this page was used by them shortly after landing on the surface and that Schmitt was making notations on it at that time.
As additional supporting documentation, the 'Apollo 17 Technical Air-To-Ground Voice Transcription', and the 'Apollo 17 Lunar Module Onboard Voice Transcription', both verify that this notation was made on Page 1-9 shortly after Cernan and Schmitt landed on the moon in LM Falcon!
As can be seen in the below transcript page from the 'Apollo 17 Technical Air-To-Ground Voice Transcription', identified as Tape 75A/7, at 04 14 30 14 the CDR-LM (Cernan) tells Schmitt, 'We're about what- about 100 meters from Trident?' The LMP-LM (Schmitt) responds, 'Yes- yes, less than that, I think Trident's right here. Our shadow's about 100 feet, Geno, I think.' CDR-LM (Cernan) then tells Schmitt, 'Yes, we're only about- yes, less than 100 meters then.'
On this transcript page, Cernan and Schmitt also talk about being '100 meters from Trident' and 'boulder tracks', which Cooper has also notated on Page 3-124.
Cooper refers to 'Trident' as 'Triton'.
So, think about it.
Just after Cernan and Schmitt landed on the moon, they began looking out the Lunar Module's windows. And making notations on Page 1-9. One of which describes the shadow length of the Lunar Module. While back in the Mission Operations Control Room at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Cooper was sitting at his console. Listening intently. And contemporaneously notating the same information on Page 3-124!
Two amazing Apollo 17 artifacts!
Two very expensive and amazing Apollo 17 artifacts!
Finally together!
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.