Along with the physical demands made on those who fly into space...
other more particular demands were made of the men who went to the moon.
They not only had to have the acumen of pilots and engineers...
they also had to have knowledge and practice...
as physicists, astronomers, geologists...
and, if possible, as historians...
and even poets and artists.
The reasons to demand such disciplines of the astronauts was simple--
You will find no better record of what it is like to be on the moon...
than in the experiences and recollections...
of the men who went there.
If God is found in the details of our world...
then the details must be discovered and interpreted...
by the men who make the voyage...
from the Earth to the moon.
Here's another one of the same stuff.
Why don't you get a sample of the soil. Let me take a picture.
- Okay. - Just scoop in between them.
Yes, sir.
I think this is a big frag here. The part that it hit.
These pieces are roughly the same.
Not much soil here really.
There really isn't.
Is it your impression you're sampling on the ejecta blanket of spur crater now?
Yeah, Joe. Probably from the deepest part because we're on the rim.
- Sounds good. - Would you agree with that, Jim?
Yeah.
Okay, let's go down and--
- Get the unusual one? - Get the unusual one.
There's another unusual one.
Look at the little crater here, the one that's facing us.
There is a little white corner to the thing.
Okay, Dave, get as many of those as you can.
You might be watching for a place where you think the rake might help you.
Yeah, I think we could probably do a rake here, Joe.
Okay. Sounds like a good place.
There's a big boulder over there down sun of us...
that I'm sure you can see, which is gray.
There's some very outstanding gray clasts and white clasts.
Oh, boy, it's a beaut.
We're gonna get ahold of that one in a minute.
Okay, I have my pictures, Dave.
Let's see. What do you think the best way to sample it would be?
I think probably to break up a piece of clod underneath it.
Or I guess you could probably lift that top fragment right off.
Let me try.
Yeah, sure can, and it's a white clast.
It's about-- Oh, man.
Oh, boy. I got--
- Look at that. - Look at that glint.
Oh, boy.
- Almost see twinning in there. - Guess what we just found.
The xenolith is an aggregate of rocks...
formed as slow-cooling crystals at great depth...
and brought to the surface by impact or a volcanic eruption.
When silica content is low in plutonic magma...
a cyanide-like rock is likely to be formed...
thus producing a feldspathoid.
The third axis is minute.
A thorough examination of its twinning will confirm this is plagioclace...
thus producing a feldspathoid.
Is this what you had to sit through for eight years?
They're not all like this.
Low-silicon environments are perfect nurseries for nepheline, sodalite...
- hackmanite-- - No, that is not true.
I have nothing against Dr. Pemberton personally or any of his teachers.
- It's just time to step things up. - Now the classroom time isn't enough?
It's hard for me to get that approved.
We appreciate it, Deke. I agree things are not perfect.
- I think we have a good system in place. -You do?
Yes, I do.
I think that the astronauts have to take some responsibility.
Your colleagues-- no offense, Deke--
are just pilots.
They're great pilots, the best in the world...
but they don't have scientific minds.
- So they're a lost cause? - Let me back up.
Some of them show great promise.
But we haven't had a commander yet...
who really took the lead in this area.
What's your idea, Jack?
Find a teacher...
who can bring out the scientific mind in all of them.
Professor?
Professor Silver?
- Lee, you up there? - Who's that down there?
It's Jack Schmitt, Professor.
- Jack Schmitt. - Yeah.
I had a student named Harrison Schmitt once.
Promising young field geologist. Pity he didn't decide to pursue it.
Yeah, I know. He got himself a little sidetracked.
Come on up here, Jack Schmitt.
Thank you.
Tell me, my little friend...
where did you acquire such interesting garnet?
- What do you make of this? - Granite.
Mm-hmm. And the far side?
Green grains.
- Olivine? - Which is unlikely.
But what a mystery to ponder, no?
What a journey that little xenolith must have taken.
Professor, I've come to offer you a challenge.
Uh-oh.
I want you to help train the astronauts...
to be field observers.
You must be desperate. I'm not a lunar geologist.
Have they all resigned in protest?
I realize that NASA hasn't been exactly popular within the scientific community.
True, although they did hire you, didn't they?
Yes.
But what are they doing with you?
I'm backup on the Apollo 15 crew...
and I stand a decent shot at flying on Apollo 18, or so they tell me.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
Until Apollo 18, may I recommend robots for gathering samples?
Cheaper, safer...
and the good ones have very small egos.
My colleagues are serious. They're motivated and very smart.
Now, we have people to teach them the moon.
What they need is to learn how to really see it.
You can give them that.
I'm flattered, Jack, but I already have a job.
Full-time.
I do wish you the best, though.
It's a real pleasure seeing you again.
- Thanks. - Good luck.
- But what if you found one of these? - What?
What if you taught an astronaut how to find one of these on the moon?
What a journey that little rock would have taken.
Let me put it this way: Doing field geology...
is like solving the mystery of the dead cat.
If you bring me a dead cat, all I can tell you is it's dead, and it's a cat.
But if you hand me a dead cat...
and you tell me you found it in the middle of the road--
ha-- what killed it?
- Car? - Truck?
Heat exhaustion.
Now you're getting it. Okay.
You find a dead cat in the kitchen of your favorite restaurant.
- What killed it? - The chef?
What are we talking about here, Jack?
- Context. - Context?
The difference between roadkill and a meal.
The Orocopias, gentlemen.
This is Disneyland to a field geologist.
Up here, it's all about context.
Jack, you've been through this before, so you need to keep quiet.
Jim, tell me about that.
- What? - Just start with what you see.
- Granite. - Good.
- Which is an igneous rock. - Right.
Now, what do you think would make it smooth like that?
- Water. - Could be. Most likely.
But we don't really know yet. Let's look around.
I don't see any granite here.
Not exposed, anyway.
So, do you think that rock came from here?
- No, I guess not. - Okay, toss him back to me.
Just a rock, the kind you'd kick without giving it a second glance.
Where did you come from, my little friend?
Huh?
Back this way.
Come on, Dave. Don't worry. I'll try not to waste your time.
- I know you're busy men. - Come on, buddy.
Okay, this is a painting.
Not the Mona Lisa, but for us it's just as compelling.
There's a story here...
about what happened to this area.
- You recognize this, Jim? - Granite again?
Yup. And where does granite get made?
Down below, slowly.
Very slowly, like a big soup.
The kind my mother would make.
Which is why we didn't have many dinner guests in our home.
But gosh, if granite gets made way down below...
how the heck did it get here?
Uplift, and transported down the river wash.
The same kind of uplift that created the Rocky Mountains and Himalayas.
Now look at this. More uplift.
Where did this come from?
These layers, broken off...
tilted in different directions.
This isn't the same kind of uplift...
that created our granite here.
Not even close.
Something happened.
Something big.
You see the story yet?
It's all pretty much here...
in a language you can't yet understand, but it's here.
A tale of upheaval...
and battles won and lost.
Gothic tales of sweeping change...
peaceful times...
and then great trauma again.
And it all connects to our little friend.
That's what we are, we geologists.
Storytellers...
interpreters, actually.
That's what you gentlemen are going to become.
And how does this relate to the moon?
From 240,000 miles away...
you have to give...
the most complete possible description of what you're seeing.
Not just which rocks you plan to bring back...
but their context.
That and knowing which ones to pick up in the first place...
is what might separate you guys from those little robots.
You know, the ones some jaded soul thinks should have your job.
You see, you have to become our eyes and ears...
out there.
And for you to do that...
you first have to learn the language...
of this little rock here.
Ever since Galileo and his telescope...
the moon has been getting closer and closer.
And now that men like yourselves are actually walking around up there...
we're getting more familiar with its surface characteristics.
But we still haven't answered the big question.
How did it get up there?
Maybe billions of years ago, just as the Earth was forming...
a big blob of its original molten core...
spun itself off as a kind of daughter planet.
Or maybe the moon is more like a sister...
formed alongside the Earth...
out of the same magical dust.
Or perhaps...
a big old stray asteroid made the mistake...
of wandering a bit too close to our gravitational influence...
and doomed itself to circle us for all eternity...
like some faithful dog.
Thanks to the data coming out of NASA over the last five years...
we have some idea of the moon's age...
and its chemical composition.
But as for its genesis...
we're still in the dark.
Maybe Apollo 15 will shed some light.
Gentlemen, I must catch some shuteye.
Sleep well.
What are you grinnin' at?
Hello? Mr. El-Baz?
Lieutenant Colonel! Mr. Alfred Worden.
Farouk El-Baz.
I've been expecting you.
Have you ever seen the inside of a human brain?
I'll show you mine. Come.
By the time you reach the lunar orbit...
your brain should look much the same.
This, Colonel Worden...
is what the inside of my brain looks like.
Crater Alphonsus.
Dark halo craters, narrow rilles.
Suspected volcanic eruptions. Important word: "suspected."
You will tell us for sure.
Schroter's Valley, maybe formed by lava flow.
Tranquility Base. Perhaps you've heard of it.
Mostly just a bunch of bumps, squiggles and circles to me.
You will learn.
Don't worry. I won't leave your side.
Perfect.
The crater Theopholis.
Now, how far out into the ejecta blanket...
does the hummocky area extend?
Oh, boy.
I'm lost.
Imagine it here.
While your crew mates are down, digging into the lunar surface...
you will be floating high up, seeing how all the pieces fit together.
Do you see?
I'm not sure.
Two hundred and forty kilometers east.
Forty-six kilometers from the surface.
This rille is seven kilometers wide.
Now, how deep is this crater?
- About 3,000 feet. - Yes!
Colonel Worden, you are gonna make a brilliant student.
Call me Al.
Now, we can...
if we're very clever, we can figure out...
a lot about an area like this by putting together...
what we call "the suite."
What the hell is he talking about? The suite.
I'm talking about a dozen hand-sized rocks...
that tell the story of this place...
in all of its diversity...
from the typical...
right to the exotic.
You got ten minutes.
Thought you could escape me, huh?
You got it, Jimmy?
I'm getting there. How about you?
Yeah, I think so.
Don't look so sure.
I'm feeling good.
I would be nervous if I was you.
Oh, I'm nervous, Jimmy. I'm real nervous.
Oh, yeah. Good.
It's a pretty decent collection, Dick.
You know what to look for next time, right?
- Good Lord. - Well.
Let's see what you guys have got.
You first, Jimbo.
Okay.
Not...
bad.
Uh-huh. Yeah. All right.
Fine. Good...
first try.
Interesting.
Jack, let's see what you found.
How sweet it is.
Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Wow.
I thought the twinning on that one was pretty distinctive.
How about that?
- You don't see much of that here. - I was surprised.
Well done. Good diversity.
Tells the story.
- Heard any more, Dave? - Just what I told you.
Some mission's been cancelled, and Deke wants to see us.
Here we go.
Hey, guys, come on in.
We knew that cutbacks were inevitable, that Congress might cut us short.
Well, they've done it.
The Apollo 15 mission as we know it has been scrubbed.
We're moving straight into the "J" Missions...
which, as you know, mean longer stays on the surface...
an upgraded LEM, better suits and backpacks...
and ultimately more science.
And of course, the lunar rover.
There's one going with the next flight.
I want you two to be the first to drive it.
Apollo 15 will be the first "J" Mission.
I've pushed back all the crews to accommodate the switch.
You're going to need a lot more training time.
I don't know how you'll fit it in, but we'll give you the support you need.
We'll make it work.
So, you'll have Apollo 15...
and that'll be followed by 16 and 17.
But that's it.
They've cancelled Apollo 18 and 19.
Okay, guys.
Bad luck, Jack.
Are you kidding?
That makes what we're doing that much more important.
We're inventing a whole new science here.
Lunar field geology.
And we'll need to work it out together.
Time is everything, gentlemen.
And preparation is the key to success.
So when we're confronted with a new survey site...
what do we do?
We go to the highest place we can find...
and figure out the big picture.
Quickly.
That mound...
that's where the LEM just landed.
Dave, head on up there. Tell me what you see.
What I need you to do is sketch out what Dave is describing...
and then it'll be your turn.
Okay, Houston. The albatross has landed.
Dave, start with the twelve o'clock...
work your way around, tell us what you see.
Well, let's see.
My twelve o'clock is--
A bunch of layers on the far wall of the canyon.
To the right, there's a lot of dirt...
with green stuff sloping down.
Over to my right is a large-- well, it's a huge--
No, no, it's like...
a huge breccia-like boulder...
right in the side of the wall.
At my three o'clock, there's a...
layer of rock about...
one quarter up from the bottom of the wall.
I don't think so.
At my four o'clock...
is a large block of granite on the top of the hill...
which contains at least...
four vertical dikes...
protruding out to the uplift.
Okay.
At my six o'clock, open end of the canyon, there's a ridge--
Okay, Houston, at my nine o'clock is a thick layer...
of uniform, horizontal beds.
Middle ground sloping to the right.
Superimposed over a variety of about 20 layers of light and dark material.
Looking down at my eight o'clock, the range of mountains in the background.
About 20 degrees.
He's cookin'.
First of all, we have this idea for a stand-up E.V.A. right after landing.
What's that?
Basically sticking my head out of the LEM and having a look around.
- Why? - To survey the site.
Geologically.
Okay, so we risk a fifth cabin repressurization.
We spend money and manpower on a revised checklist...
and procedures...
and we add weight in the form of consumables...
all so we can add another time-consuming item...
to a flight plan and training schedule...
that's already filled beyond capacity?
I think you'd see the value if you joined us on a field trip sometime.
- I would, would l? - Absolutely. You'd have a ball.
There's this really neat rake that the professor devised.
It would help us get a comprehensive suite...
of pebble-sized rocks in the regolith.
We'd like another telephoto lens.
We're already at our weight limit. You know that.
I've thought of that. With the new, shorter rendezvous...
maybe we could trade some abort propellant.
Abort propellant?
For a rake?
A rake and a lens.
There. The big picture.
You must tell me the big picture first.
- Quickly! - Basalt lava flows.
No, too specific. The big picture first.
A cinder cone with lots of lava.
From where is the lava flowing?
- Damn! I don't know. - There is a breach in the cone.
Do you see?
- I can't. - Of course not.
We passed it already.
All right. Let's try again.
I'm the new guy here.
- We need you to weigh in on this. - Gentlemen.
We are not leaving this room or breaking for lunch...
until we agree on a landing site for Apollo 15.
Now, then...
we have a deadlock between Marius Hills on the one hand...
and Hadley Rille in the Appenine Mountains on the other.
We have been barking over this bone for six months now...
with absolutely no movement...
or, I might add, accommodation.
If we're going to launch in July, we must know today.
Now, then, let's start at the beginning.
Chet.
I stand by my position. Marius Hills.
We should stick with what we know.
We're just getting equatorial landings down.
Fooling around with anything else, in an area we don't even have pictures--
- What about the guidance trajectory? - What about the propulsion system?
It is much more efficient.
I don't care about the new guidance trajectory or propulsion system.
You know how big those mountains are? Eighteen thousand feet.
That's right.
- Eighteen thousand feet. - We're aware of that.
Trying to land among those peaks...
just scares the hell out of me.
- Why go where we've already gone? - The moon's the moon.
How can you say that? How can you say, "The moon's the moon?"
I don't believe it.
Now, look, samples are what count, in my opinion.
Marius Hills presents an adequately unique site...
for testing any of the Genesis theories...
and it seems a safer landing site.
Dr. Pemberton, the Appenines, first of all...
should be a great source of deeper and older...
imbrium ejecta...
and we may even find material there...
from the original lunar crust.
But it's huge.
How do you expect the astronauts to explore...
such a wide, expansive site?
Well, Dave?
That's where the rover comes in.
Assuming that it's ready in time and Hadley isn't covered with boulders...
as radar shows, which would render the rover nonnavigable.
So you see, gentlemen...
Marius is so much more reasonable a site.
Marius Hills is attractive...
only for its allegedly rare volcanic rocks...
and for being the easy, safe choice.
Well, fine. Then we might as well consider Tycho.
All right, let's consider it.
I got a list of reasons a mile long why Tycho would make the ideal landing site.
Oh, come on, Jason. That is just nuts.
Astronauts collecting enough regolith to bury NASA headquarters--
- That's nuts. - Gentlemen.
Gentlemen, we are getting absolutely nowhere here.
In fact...
we are moving backward.
Gentlemen, it's getting late.
We still have this decision to make.
Marius Hills or Hadley Rille?
Help us out here, Dave.
You're the commander, and you haven't said a word all day.
What do you think?
Let's see.
No offense, Chet, but we feel pretty confident we can land at either site.
Dr. Pemberton, I'm one who respects hedging bets.
But from what I've learned in the field...
Hadley-Appenine with its complex variety of features, both impact and volcanic...
is the best choice for putting together a picture of how the moon came to be.
- It may be a little riskier. - Not a little.
But also--
Also the Appenines have something else.
Grandeur.
And I believe there's something to be said for...
exploring beautiful places.
It's good for the spirit.
Then it's Hadley, gentlemen.
All right.
- Wait! - One pass.
Let me see.
- There were 16 volcanos. - Very good. Yes.
Oh, my God. It's perfect.
- Viewing angle? - Thirty-four degrees.
Oh, my friend.
It will be as if I am going to the moon myself.
God, I don't believe it.
Farouk, last night I had a dream, and I actually saw it.
What did you see?
I'm orbiting around, and I'm hit by a meteor shower.
I'm heading straight down to a Tsiolkovsky Crater.
It's a lot deeper than what the photo showed.
And when I reached the moment of impact...
I'm cushioned by this blanket of dust.
Volcanic dust.
And I'm okay.
What does that mean?
It means you are ready.
You know the moon as you know your own planet.
You've become as crazy as me.
Right.
- Meteor crater! - Brilliant.
Grand Canyon.
No kidding.
Hadley Rille, my kind of place.
Flip the lights on, if you would, Stan.
This will be our last...
visit together.
- Glad you could make it, Deke. - I wouldn't have missed it.
I know. I'll miss you too.
Now, when you get up there, you're going to see...
a lot of this.
- Basalt. - Mm-hmm.
- You'll be seeing a lot of this. - Breccia.
Breccia.
But while I have your attention one last time...
I want to make a plea...
for this fellow here.
We really don't know what we're going to find on the lunar surface.
Pete Conrad's car keys?
Maybe.
But what we'd really like to find...
is this-- anorthosite.
It's important because it may unlock...
a stack of mysteries...
about the origins of the moon.
Because if you find this...
you have probably found a piece of the moon's...
primordial crust.
It would be a shame if it was up there...
and we missed it.
Seven percent fuel. Fifteen and one.
Minus one. Ten feet.
Minus one. Contact.
Yes!
Okay, Houston, the Falcon is on the plain at Hadley.
Roger, Falcon.
Okay, overhead hatch, full open and latched.
Okay, coming full open.
Let's see if we can't give our friends in the Geology Backroom...
something to get excited about.
I'm pulling myself up through the hatch now.
Oh, boy, what a view.
What a view! Oh! If the professor could see this.
All right, I'm looking off here to the north.
I can see Pluton, Icarus.
I'm getting my camera out. Start at my twelve o'clock position.
As I come out around to Mount Hadley...
there are no sharp, jagged peaks or large boulders anywhere.
Boy, the telephoto lens is great for this.
To the eastern lineations are layers dipping about 30 degrees.
There's one bright, fresh crater right next to St. George...
on the eastern side, which is almost white in albedo.
It's got an ejecta blanket about a crater diameter away.
I tell you, this is really gonna help us when we get out there.
Roger, Dave. lt sure will.
Endeavor, this is Houston.
You're at T-2 now.
Okay, Houston, ready for some words on Tsiolkovsky Crater.
Great. We're listening.
First off...
the central peak is a very large...
spur peak on the south and east sides.
Getting blocky on the north side.
There appears to be some layering visible on the south and west...
exposed scarp of the peak.
- You getting this? - You're coming in loud and clear.
Loud and clear, my friend.
Okay. Give me a word any time.
- Okay, Dave. - Ready?
Ready.
Okay, over the rail here. Down she comes.
All righty. Everything looks like it's in good shape.
Here we go. Thataboy. A little more.
A little more. It's comin'.
- It's comin' okay. - We're movin' forward, Joe.
Gotta get a feel for this thing. It's nine miles an hour.
I can see I'm gonna have to keep my eyes on the road.
I can maneuver pretty well.
I'm up a little rise.
There's no dust at all.
Steering is quite responsive, even with only the rear steering.
There doesn't seem to be much slip.
If you make a turn sharply, it responds quite well.
Look at that.
There's a nice little round one-meter crater.
Whoa!
Hang on. Feels like we need seat belts, doesn't it?
Yeah, really do. It's a buckin' bronco. Yeah, man.
Cut back on the power, it keeps right on going.
I've got it to the floor here, and we're up to 12.
Got this great suspension system for this thing.
This is really a rockin', rollin' ride.
There's an elongated depression here.
Got to get to our drill site.
I'm pushing, but the damn thing's bottomed out.
Look, we're not gonna get it out.
Let me give you a hand, Dave. We'll get this drill out.
I don't know what we've hit here, but this thing is really stuck.
All right, Dave. Here we go.
You ready?
One, two...
three.
Damn.
Dave, let's take a breather.
We want you to break it loose, and let the stem and the drill...
sit in the surface.
We'll come back and pull it out later.
- Let me finish it off, Joe. - Dave, Jim.
We want you to end your tasks here. We want you back on the rover, please.
Make sure they get back to the drilling site first thing in the morning.
That's crazy. We're gonna blow the north complex.
North complex was always a "maybe." We need those deep core samples.
No, they can't get them out.
That's pretty obvious. Are you gonna blow the whole E.V.A. on them?
If that's what it takes.
God, that was tough.
I never would have thought. That drill didn't budge in an hour.
- Are you all right? - I just need some water, that's all.
The darn line kinked up in the suit.
Why didn't you say anything?
I didn't want to pull in the plug.
Get some water in you now.
Houston, Falcon.
Yeah, Falcon, this is Houston. Go ahead.
Joe, we're heading back to the site.
How long do you want us to work on getting this drill out?
We're spending a lot of time on this thing.
Tell me you really want it this bad.
That's hard for me to say.
Stand by. What's it gonna be, fellas?
We're cutting into the drive to Hadley Rille.
- Let's forget this thing. - That is not an option.
- Really, we can't mess that up. - Just a second.
- You wouldn't recognize a basalt-- - How dare you?
Hey, we're wasting time. Now, here's the thing.
I'd like nothing more than to abandon the core...
- and get on with the observation. - Absolutely.
But the fact is, if we don't get that core out...
the whole world is gonna look at it as a mission failure.
- But Lee-- - I don't think we can afford that.
So we're gonna give it a couple more tries, and then move on.
Regardless. Fair enough?
Good. Tell them to keep trying.
Just go ahead and give it one more try.
And then we want you to continue on with the grand prix.
Good enough. Let's put some muscle into it.
Yeah, Houston, I hope that freeze-dried spinach we had for breakfast pays off.
- Dang it! - Hang on.
This bit looks like it's gonna break.
What the heck is this in anyway?
All right, I'm gonna get down low and grab it.
Okay, hang on for a second. I'm gonna get a better grip.
One, two, three.
Okay, troops. Let's move on to the rille.
Roger that, Joe.
Okay, Houston, we're moving to the second site.
The patterns of the landscape seem consistent with photographs from 14.
I see a large concentration of enormous boulders.
This one boulder's very angular.
It's got glass on one side, with lots of bubbles.
Looks fairly recent. Give me your hammer.
I can see several larger blocks that rolled downslope.
They're angular, and they're all the same color and texture.
I see the linear patterns that Dave commented on before...
with the dip and everything.
Okay, eight kilometers up a little rise.
- Look at this baby climb the hill. - We're heading about 165 right now.
- This is the elbow right here. - We're on the east rim.
There's a fragment here.
It's a rough surface texture.
It looks like a very fine-grain, gray, rather solid frag.
Could this be rhesling here?
We're on the edge of the spur crater.
There's the usual basalt regolith with a corona of light albedo ejecta.
Get the unusual one.
Oh, boy.
It's a beaut.
- It's a white clast. - Oh, man, look at that.
I can almost see twinning in there.
Guess what we just found.
I think we found what we came for.
I think we found ourselves some anorthosite.
That's it!
It's like being back at the old San Gabriel mountains.
Roger, Dave.
Make this bag 196 a special bag.
Did you see that?
I doubt a random surface sample would have ever pulled that out of a hat.
Really. Give me guys in the field any day.
Yes, sir. That is science.
I stand corrected, Dr. Silver.
Ah, well...
I can't wait to get it home...
and see what you guys can make of it.
We're trying to drive straight ahead and stay on a fairly level contour.
We don't wanna go down.
Yeah, I think I'm going to park right up here.
This would be a good picture for Houston.
Joe, if you want to swing the TV around here...
you're going to see a spectacular place.
Boy, oh, boy. Look at that rille.
How about that, geology fans?
I can see from up at the top of the rille down...
there's debris all the way.
Looks like some outcrops directly...
at about eleven o'clock to the sun line.
Looks like a layer, about five percent of the rille wall...
with a vertical face on it.
Beautiful, Dave. Beautiful.
As the space poet Rhesling would say...
"We're ready for you to come back again...
to the homes of men...
on the cool, green hills of Earth."
Thank you, Joe. We're ready too.
But it's been great.
I've noticed a very slight smile on the face of the professor.
You very well may have passed your final exam.
Well, we're glad to hear that.
You tell the professor that we couldn't have done it without him.
Okay, Joe, if you can swing the camera toward the LEM here.
Hope you have a good picture there.
Well, in my left hand I have a feather.
In my right hand, a hammer.
I guess one of the reasons we got here today...
was because of a gentleman named Galileo a long time ago...
who made a rather significant discovery...
about falling objects and gravity fields.
We thought...
where would be a better place to confirm his findings...
than on the moon.
And so, we thought we'd try it here for you.
The feather happens to be, appropriately, a falcon feather.
For our Falcon.
I'll drop the two of them here.
Hopefully, they'll hit the ground at the same time.
How 'bout that?
That proves that Mr. Galileo was correct in his findings.
Superb, Dave.
I always say: "There's nothing like a little science on the moon."
Gentlemen.
- Proud of those boys. - Brilliant management on your part.
- Joe. - Dave and Jim...
we have a very special guest with us right now...
if he'd care to say a word or two.
Roger that, Joe.
You've done a lovely job.
You just don't know how we're jumping up and down down here.
That's because I happen to have a very good professor.
A whole bunch of them, Dave.
We sure appreciate everything you did in getting us ready for this thing.
There's an awful lot to be seen and done up there.
I'll bet.
We think you defined the first site to be revisited on the moon.
I hope someday we can get you up here too.
That would be...
an amazing adventure.
But I feel as if I've already been there...
thanks to you.
Oh, you were with us, Professor...
every step of the way.
We went to the moon as trained observers in order to gather data...
not only with our instruments onboard...
but with our minds.
I'd like to quote a statement from Plutarch...
which I think expresses our feelings since we've come back.
"The mind is not a vessel to be filled...
but a fire to be lighted."
That's it.
Wow.
Sample #15415.
They're calling it the Genesis Rock.
It may be as old as the solar system itself.
Since I was five years old...
all I ever wanted to be was a pilot.
And flying to the moon...
seemed the ultimate adventure.
- Understand? - I think I do.
Nothing seemed more important.
But finding this little fellow...
understanding what it represents, what it can tell us...
will probably be the most satisfying thing I'll ever do.
Well, I suspect there's more to come from Dave Scott.
In the meantime, "Brought back original crust of the moon"...
should weigh pretty impressively in your resume.
You know?
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