This is the Apollo 17 lunar module and the moment when Gene Cernan and Harrison
Schmitt, the last men to stand on the moon's surface
left to return to Earth but if no one else is there, who's operating the camera
as it pans up to follow the ascent module and I'll give you a clue it's not
Stanley Kubrick. The view is actually from a video camera mounted on the lunar
rover which remains on the moon to this day remotely operated by ground control
via the large high gain antenna on the rover itself. The shot was meticulously
planned and time to account for a 1.2 second delay in the radio signal across
the 384,000 kilometers or 238,000 miles from the moon to the earth. NASA had
contracted American company RCA to design a portable camera that could film
the astronauts during their Rover excursions. At the time broadcast cameras
were bulky and heavy but RCA's camera was about the size of a loaf of bread
and weighed 2 kilograms or 4 and a half pounds a captured video at a resolution
of 320 by 200 pixels at a rate of 10 frames per second not a lot by today's
standards but bear in mind this was early 1970s technology. This hardy little
camera could operate at temperatures of up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit or 93
degrees centigrade its transmission unit was filled with radiators and a beeswax
filled casing which absorbed heat as the wax melted. However the astronauts still
had to regularly brush the dust of the foil covering it to maintain its
reflective qualities and stop the camera from overheating and permanently
shutting down. Before we extended the "J" missions, landing and launch from the
lunar surface could only be filmed from within the lunar module. On the Apollo 15
mission in 1971 however there was a new ambitious plan to leave a camera on the
vehicle and film the launch from a so-called VIP spot close to the lunar
module however during the three days of operation on the surface the clutch of
the cameras motorized mount became prone to slipping and kept getting stuck.
Ground control regularly had to ask the astronauts to reset the cameras
position, instead of risking the camera getting stuck after launch the decision
was taken to leave a camera facing forwards to carry out further lunar
surveys during the days the head. On the next mission in 1972 the Apollo 16
astronauts mistakenly left the rover too closer to the lunar module than they've
been instructed and it the launch the camera was only able to track for a few
moments before losing its target. Apollo 17 was the third and final chance to
film the complete launch NASA communications operator Ed Fendell
recalled the commander Gene Cernan knew but if he didn't part the rover in just
the right place Fendell would kill him when he got back. Watching the clock
Fendell sent the command to initiate the cameras tracking sequence a moment
before launch. It worked the camera panned up and followed Gene Cernan and Harrison
Schmitt ascent in the lunar module named "Challenger" until it faded from sight
Fendell angled the camera back down again to film the dust settling on the
descent stage and the equipment remaining in the valley of the Taurus
Littrow valley. If you listen to the film's audio track you can hear how Harrison a
Schmidt curse as he sets up smaller 16 millimeter
data acquisition camera inside the lunar module. "Cameras not gonna run got with out me holding it", "Ahh Shoot"
"OK let's get on... forget the camera" these turned out to be amongst the last
audible words spoken by mankind from the lunar surface to date. A few moments
after the launch Schmitt presumably picked up the camera again and filmed the
rest of the ascent from the lunar module window. After challenger rendezvoused with
the command service module in lunar orbit, Cernan and Schmitt transferred
samples and equipment before separating the CSM to return to Earth. The abandoned
lunar module was scheduled to deorbit and crash and 15 kilometers or
about nine miles from the Apollo 17 site. Edd Fendells plan was to film it,
the team ran detailed calculations to position the camera in the right
direction however crash was never caught on camera. Despite
the challenges faced by designing and operating Apollo's cameras ultimately
they succeeded in capturing some of the most enduring images of the 20th century.
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