Earthrise (15 page)

Getting Ready to Go Outside

Before we set foot on the Moon, there was still a lot of work to do inside the spacecraft. For the next five hours Alan and I read over all our checklists for what we were supposed to do next. This way we wouldn’t waste precious time once we were walking on the Moon. We also made sure all our equipment and spacesuits were in top-notch condition. We then had a bite to eat. I know we were both famished and somehow all our plastic bags of freeze-dried food tasted better than ever.

Preparing to go outside in the tight fit of the Antares wasn’t easy. We were already wearing our spacesuits, but it took a while to pull on everything else including our boots, gloves, helmets, and lunar backpacks. With our spacesuit plus the backpack, we weighed a whopping 400 pounds on Earth. But because the Moon has one-sixth the gravitational pull of Earth, we weighed only about 70 pounds now. These space-suits and all their accoutrements were amazing technological designs that had to keep us alive in the harsh, airless environment of the Moon. Walking around the Moon was, in some ways, like being underwater on Earth. We needed to have a way to breathe as well as a way to protect our skin from the intense solar rays. Our spacesuits provided us with oxygen, kept us cool, and protected us.

Each layer of the suit had an important function. The layer closest to the body was a water-cooled nylon undergarment, the middle layer was made with neoprene to withstand the pressure of spaceflight, and the outer layer was made of white beta cloth to protect against scrapes, fire, heat, and any solar rays we might encounter.

Fortunately, we never felt too hot or cold in our space-suits because we could regulate our own temperature. If we worked hard and started to sweat, for example, we could turn up the cooling system and cool down. Alan and I also wore large gloves with special rubber fingertips for handling our equipment and picking up Moon rocks.

A cloth cap was worn close to the head with earphones and a microphone so we could always communicate with each other and with Mission Control. A bubble Plexiglas helmet, which was attached to the neck ring of our spacesuit, went over the cap helmet. And last, a visor covered the Plexiglas helmet to protect us from the bright rays of the Sun. Inside the helmet a small tube enabled us to take sips of water. We’d just turn our heads and get a sip of water from a small bag of water inside our suit.

One of the most important parts of our spacesuit was the large, rectangular lunar backpack called a Portable Life Support System (PLSS). Without this piece of equipment we couldn’t have survived even a few seconds on the Moon. The PLSS provided us with oxygen to breathe, electrical power for our radios, and temperature and humidity control. Most important, the backpack carried a maximum of five hours of oxygen for each of our Moonwalks.

I hate to think what might have happened if we’d gone over this five-hour time limit. But of course, we never did.

Stepping Out at Last

When Alan and I were fully suited up, it was hard not to laugh. It was like we were wearing not one but two bulky snowsuits so we could go out and play in the snow. But this time the “snow” on the Moon was a whole lot of lunar dust. And because it was hard to tell us apart in our white space-suits, Alan’s suit had vivid red stripes on it.

After we got the okay from Mission Control, Alan was the designated man to head down the ladder to the Moon first. I followed him outside about four minutes later. A motion picture camera was mounted on the lower part of the Lunar Module to film us exiting the craft. The images were broadcast back to Earth so people back home would have the opportunity to see what we were doing.

When Alan stepped off the ladder and set foot on the Moon, his words were concise. “It’s been a long way, but we’re here.” I knew Al had worked long and hard to get to this point, and it was an important and emotional moment.

Then it was my turn. I backed down the ladder, step by step, and heard the CAPCOM say, “Okay Ed, we can see you coming down the ladder now.” I moved carefully but quickly.

“It’s very great to be coming down,” I replied. And then I jumped back past the last step of the ladder and landed on the surface.

I’d made it. I’d finally, finally made it.

The first thing I did was to figure out how to walk on the Moon, and I was curious to see what it would be like to get around in the reduced gravity. As I took one step and then another and another, I quickly realized I felt lighter on my feet, even in my stiff spacesuit. As I moved around in my new environment, I stepped over a few craters that were filled with dust. In some ways this reminded me of walking on a beach in Hawaii with its darker volcanic sand.

I looked over at the Antares and could easily see how one of the footpads had landed in a small crater. But it didn’t seem to be a problem.

I then looked up at the sky. Boy did it look different. It was inky black without a star in sight and I couldn’t see Earth at all. Alan and I later figured out that if we stood on the Antares ladder, hung onto the rails and leaned way back, we could see Earth, which was straight up above us and shaped like a crescent Moon.

But for a moment, I just wanted to stop, take in my surroundings, and stare at this amazing new place. And then I needed to get to work.

All the work we completed on the Moon was carefully thought out ahead of time, and Alan and I were responsible for the tasks of the original Apollo 13 mission that didn’t make it to the Moon.

Our work was spelled out on checklists we wore on the wrist cuffs of our spacesuits. These checklists were detailed to-do lists that stated everything we were to accomplish from one moment to the next. With a checklist on one arm and a watch on the other, Alan and I were constantly looking at our wrists to stay on schedule and on task.

Time was a huge factor and there wasn’t a moment to waste. We were always working against the clock, and both of us needed to stick to precise directions as to exactly what to do and when. We always had Mission Control talking to us through our earphones and asking us where we were, what we’d done, and if we were on schedule. We constantly heard, “You’re two minutes behind. You’re three minutes behind.” This went on and on. Alan and I were so focused on getting all our work done that once we completed a task, we quickly moved on to something new.

WHERE ARE THE STARS?

When Alan and I worked on the Moon, we couldn’t see any stars in the sky. This natural phenomenon happened because the sunlight was so bright during the lunar day, the stars were too dim compared to it, and thus not visible. The bright lunar sunlight caused the lenses of our eyes to shut down, as well as the lenses of our cameras.

This is the same phenomenon that occurs on Earth when we look up at the sky during the day and can’t see any stars. The stars are out there, but because of the daylight brightness, we simply can’t see them. We are able to see the stars in the Earth sky again when the sunlight becomes dimmer during nighttime.

All in a Day’s Work

Our Moon work was scheduled over two days in two separate Moonwalks called ExtraVehicular Activities, or EVAs. Each EVA lasted about four and a half hours and, as mentioned, we had a five-hour oxygen limit in our backpack.

Alan and I were always careful how long we worked on the Moon because we wanted to be back in the Antares before our oxygen and water ran out. At the end of each EVA, it took about 15 to 20 minutes to load all the Moon samples we collected into the Antares and climb back into the craft.

The two of us were constantly documenting and recording our lunar work with motion picture and still photography cameras. Alan and I had special cameras that were mounted on our spacesuits at chest level, which made it easier to take photos.

One of our first tasks was to remove the movie camera from the Lunar Module, where it had filmed us coming down the ladder. We then set it up on a tripod about 50 feet away from the craft. Here, the camera was in a good position to film the work we were about to do.

Next, I walked a few feet away from the craft and reached down to get a “contingency sample,” which consisted of a few pounds of lunar surface material I collected and placed in a bag. We’d bring this sample back to Earth to analyze along with the many Moon rocks we would soon collect.

Another initial assignment was to set up the American flag, and we found a good spot to do this about 20 feet from the Antares. After Old Glory was standing tall on the Moon, it felt so surreal to think that Alan and I had just planted our flag way out in space on a distant, extraterrestrial land. The flag’s bright red and white stripes, and its white stars against the navy blue fabric, looked so colorful against the gray backdrop of the Moon and the deep black sky.

Like lunar tourists, we then took each other’s photo by the flag.

Mission Control let us know that US President Nixon had sent us a message saying he was watching the mission on his television at the White House and he wished us a good mission and safe trip home.

Our next task was to set up various pieces of scientific equipment including a circular S-band antenna, a solar-wind composition experiment, and a laser ranging retro-reflector. We worked fast and efficiently and got each of the jobs done.

Alan and I also assembled a hand-pulled cart called the MET, which was short for Modularized Equipment Transporter. The MET was the first wheeled vehicle used on the Moon and was designed to help us haul equipment and carry all the Moon rocks we’d collect during the mission. Later Apollo missions would use a vehicle called the Rover, which was an electric Moon buggy that could be driven across the lunar surface.

We then hiked nearly 650 feet to an area by the Doublet crater to set up a scientific package called the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP), which included a number of scientific instruments and geophysical experiments. Alan pulled the MET, which hauled all the equipment, and I carried the heavy ALSEP in my hands like a barbell. It was a strenuous hike because of the rolling lunar terrain.

Once we were at our designated location, we set up the ALSEP, which remained on the Moon after we left and transmitted scientific data back to Earth.

Next, I set off a series of 13 small explosive charges called Thumpers. The Thumpers were seismic experiments to measure the upper part of the Moon’s crust.

Even though Alan and I worked very hard, it seemed like we were always slightly behind our heavy workload, which was about 120 percent of human capacity.

NASA APOLLO 14 MISSION OBJECTIVES

The primary objectives of this mission were to explore the Fra Mauro region of the Moon with many scientific experiments including: deployment of the Apollo Lunar Surface Scientific Experiments Package (ALSEP); lunar field geology investigations; collection of surface material samples for return to Earth; deployment of other scientific instruments not part of ALSEP; orbital science involving high-resolution photography of candidate future landing sites; photography of deep-space phenomena, such as zodiacal light and Gegenschein; communications tests using S-band and VHF signals to determine reflective properties of the lunar surface; engineering and operational evaluation of hardware and techniques; tests to determine variations in S-band signals; and photography of surface details from 60 nautical miles in altitude.

Otherworldly sleep

“Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all.”

—Ernest Shackleton

After five hours of Moon work, Alan and I were ready to call it a day. Now exhausted, we made our way back to the Antares, climbed into the craft, and took off our helmets, gloves, and boots. We had dinner, standing up of course, and got ready for some shut-eye.

We slept in two hammocks that were suspended one on top of the other in a perpendicular “T” position, and I was in the lower hammock. Since it wasn’t dark outside, we placed covers over the Lunar Module windows to block out the sunlight.

Alan and I talked about the day briefly, and we tried to fall asleep in this new and mysterious world. Even though we needed rest, it wasn’t easy to sleep, especially since the Antares was tipped at an angle. After a few hours of restless sleep, we were startled awake by a disturbing noise.

“Did you hear that?” Alan said. He sounded alarmed.

“I sure did,” I said.

We scrambled out of our hammocks and looked out the window to see what in the heck was going on. Had a small meteorite hit us? Was Antares was falling over? Was there something outside?

We didn’t see anything suspicious out the window and the Antares seemed downright steady. So we decided we were fine. We got back into our hammocks and tried to sleep for the next few hours. This was our only rest period on the Moon and I doubt either of us got too much sleep. There was just too much to think about, and we couldn’t wait to get outside again.