Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Roger. Sorry to bother you, Columbia. Two things: we request that you select 10 degree deadband in your DAP in accordance with the procedures on Foxtrot 9 7 in your checklist; and secondly, we'd like to leave a display on the DSKY that is not one that's cycling, being continuously updated. What you have when you get through widening the deadband will be a static display, and that'll be satisfactory. Over.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Tranquility Base, this is Houston. Over.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Roger. On your mission timer, we wanted to pull the circuit breaker and let it cool down for an hour and a half to 2 hours. I believe the breaker is currently open. It has been off, so go ahead and reset the mission timer circuit breaker. Put the timer control to RESET and hold it in RESET for 30 seconds, and then slew it to your desired settings left to right, and place the timer control to START. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Houston, our mission timer seems to be slewing okay. You want to give us a time hack? Or can we get it off the CMC LGC, I mean?

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Roger, Tranquility. I'll give you a time hack at 114 31 00. It's about 30 seconds from now. Over.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Stand by for a Mark at 114 31.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Tranquility, this is Houston. Did you copy my Mark at 114 31?

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Roger. Thank you, and our mission timer is running now.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Roger. Very good. And, I've got a consumables update for you if you're ready to copy or listen. Over.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Okay. RCS Alfa is 81 percent, RCS Bravo 75 percent. Coming up on 115 hours GET, descent oxygen is 31.8 pounds or 59 percent; descent amp hours 858, and ascent amp hours 574. Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Roger. Copy. Thank you very much.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Tranquility, this is Houston. We also have a set of about 10 questions relating to observations you made, things you may have seen during the EVA. You can either discuss a little later on this evening or sometime later in the mission at your option. How do you feel? Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

I guess we can take them up now.

Bruce McCandless (CAPCOM)

Okay. And your friendly Green Team here has pretty well been relieved by your friendly Maroon Team, and I'll put Owen on with the questions.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Okay. Thank you, Bruce. Go ahead.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Tranquility, Houston. First question here is how your best estimate of the yaw on the—of the LM as compared to the nominal preflight plan. Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

We got 13 degrees left on the ball, and I think that's probably about right. Looking at the shadow and so on, we prob—probably about 13 degrees left of the shadow.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. That's 13 degrees left of the shadow. And, next question relates to the depth of the bulk sampling that you obtained near the first part of the EVA and any changes in composition that you might have observed during the bulk sampling interval. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

I'm not sure I understand that question, but we got a good bit of the ground mass in the bulk sample plus a sizable number of selected rock fragments of different types.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger, Neil. One of the implications here is the depth from which the bulk sample was collected. Did you manage to get down there several inches or nearer the surface? Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

We got some down from as much as 3 inches in the area where I was looking at variation with depth in the bulk sample. There really wasn't appreciable difference, and I didn't run into any hard bed. Later on, or at some other times and other areas, why, I'd get down just a short distance, an inch or two, and couldn't go any further.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. Believe we understand down as deep as 3 inches, did not hit any hard bed, and no significant changes in composition to that depth. Next question, the—the second SRC was packed rather hurriedly due to the time limitation, and wonder if you would be able to provide any more detailed description of the samples which were included in the second SRC. Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

We got two core tubes and solar wind and about half of the big sample bag full of assorted rocks which I picked up hurriedly from around the area. I tried to get as many representative types as I could.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger, Neil. Next topic here relates to the rays which emanate from the DPS engine burning area. We're wondering if the rays emanating from the—beneath the engine are any darker or lighter than the surrounding surface. Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

The ones that I saw back in the aft end of the spacecraft appeared to be a good bit darker; of course, viewed from the aft end, why, they did have the Sun shining directly on them. It seemed as though the material had been baked somewhat and also scattered in a radially outward direction, but in that particular area, this feature didn't extend more than about 2, maybe 3 feet, from the skirt of the engine. Over.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand that near the aft end out to the east that the rays did appear darker. I understand, Buzz, that these were—this was the appearance of the material which had been uncovered by the rays that appeared darker for 2 or 3 feet extending outward. Is that correct?

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

No. I wouldn't say it was necessarily material that had been uncovered. I think some of the material might have been baked or in some way caused to be more cohesive and perhaps flow together in some way, I don't know. Now, in other areas, before we started trampling around out front, why, we could see that small erosion had taken place in a radially outward direction, but it had left no significant mark on the surface other than just having eroded it away. Now, it was different back in the—right under the skirt itself. It seems as though the surface had been baked in a streak fashion, and I think a couple of pictures on film will show this. But that didn't extend out very far. Over.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger, Tranquility. And this baked appearance that you described, at least the suggestion is that it was due to the heat of the engine at any rate. Next subject, did —

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. Next subject, did either of the solar panels on the PSE touch the surface of the Moon during deployment? Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

I think that two corners did touch, since when it was deployed, both of them didn't come out at the same time. It unfolded a little unevenly, and of course, the terrain that it was on was a little bit—not quite as level as it was—as I would like to have it. And I think that two corners did touch to about 1 inch—no, three quarters to a half an inch deep; and maybe along the bottom, it might have been maybe 3 inches, leaving a small triangular coating on two of the corners; and I think these are on the western ones. Over.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand the description there. And the next subject, on the two core tubes which you collected, how did the driving force required to collect these tubes compare? Was there any difference? Over

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Not significantly. I could get down to about the first 2 inches without much of a problem, and then as I would pound it in about as hard as I could do it, and the second one took two hands on the hammer, and I was putting pretty good dents in the top of the extension rod, and it just wouldn't go much more than—I think the total depth might have been about 8 or 9 inches. But even there, it didn't—For some reason it didn't seem to want to stand up straight. In other words, I'd keep driving it in and it would dig some sort of a hole but it wouldn't—just penetrate in a way that would support it and keep it from falling over, if that makes any sense at all. It didn't really to me. Over.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger, Buzz. I think I've got the picture. You indicate that little difference between the two samples and that in each case you got down about 2 inches without any problems and then had to continue hammering rather vigorously in order to continue driving it in to a total depth of 8 or 9 inches, and even at that point the rods did not want to stay vertical, that they'd tend to fall over on you even after pounding in that far. Is that correct?

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Yes. That's about it. It wasn't a rapid change in resistive force. And also I noticed when I took the bit off that the material was quite well packed, a good bit darker, and it—The way it adhered to the core tube gave me the distinct impression of being moist. Over.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand the general impression of being moist as it packed in the core tube. Next question: we did copy your comments prior to the EVA of your general description of the area. We wonder if either of you would have any more lengthy description or more detailed description of the general summary of the geology of the area. Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Yes let's—we'll—We'll postpone our answer to that one until tomorrow. Okay?

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Yes, indeed. That'll be fine. Just a couple more here, and I think these may not be quite as lengthy as number 7 there. Can you estimate the stroke of the primary and secondary struts? Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

Well, I could do it like this, Owen. About all the struts are about equally stroked, and the height from the ground to the first step is about 3 feet or maybe 3 and 1/2 feet, huh?

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Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand, Neil. Next topic, as—just after landing, you pointed out that there was a hill to the west along the plus Z axis from the LM. Are there any large rocks in that direction that might block the solar ray during the sunset—as sunset approaches in your locality—Are there any large rocks that might tend to obscure the ray? Over.

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Spoken on July 21, 1969, 8:16 a.m. UTC (54 years, 8 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

No. I don't believe so, I think that it's—It's about as level as any other areas that we chose.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

There's nothing large, anyway, that's going to get in the way.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. Copy. That's also the way it appeared from the television, I think. And now the final question. You commented, Neil, that on your approach to the landing spot, you had passed over a football field sized crater containing rather large blocks of solid rock perhaps 10 to 15 feet in size. Can you estimate the distance to this football sized crater from your present position? Over.

Neil Armstrong (CDR)

I thought we'd be close enough so that when we got outside we could see its rim back there but I couldn't. But I don't think that we're more than a half mile beyond it. That is a half mile west of it.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. So you estimate your present position less than half a mile approximately west of this large crater. Over.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Okay. Well, that takes care of the questions from our geologists for tonight, and unless you have something else, that'll be all for—from us for the evening. Over.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Tranquility Base, Houston. We've now collected all the ranging data that we can use, and you can go back to caution and warning ENABLE. Over.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Tranquility Base, Houston. Over.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. Two more verifications, here. Can you—will you verify that the disk with messages was placed on the surface as planned, and also that the items listed in the flight plan—all of those listed there were jettisoned. Over.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

That's—All that's verified.

Owen Garriott (CAPCOM)

Roger. Thank you, and I hope this will be a final good night.

Buzz Aldrin (LMP)

Okay.

No contact for 6:06:07