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Author
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Topic: 'Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17' message
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LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-03-2017 03:58 AM
  
Just before Gene Cernan stepped onto the lunar surface to begin EVA-2, he said this:
"Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17. I think I'll read that every time I come down the ladder." The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal in a lengthy discussion mentions that it might have been a message taped to the ladder or strut somewhere, but the location is still a bit of a mystery.In Apollo 17 pre-launch photo KSC-72P-0442 of the lunar module, a white cone-shaped section of the primary strut can be seen just above the top ladder rung. That same white cone-shaped section can be seen in photo AS17-134-20483 taken on EVA-3. There is a strip of what looks like gold tape on the cone-shaped section. That strip of tape is not seen in the pre-launch photo. Perhaps that is where the "Godspeed" message was. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-03-2017 10:25 AM
If there is a message taped to the ladder or strut, it is not easily seen. But what Cernan said at the start of EVA-3 seems to indicate there is something there: CERNAN: Okay, Bob. I'm going down the ladder.
CC: Roger, Geno.
CERNAN: Yes, still there, Jack. "Godspeed the crew of Apollo 17."
SCHMITT: Good.
CC: Amen there, Gene. Amen.
CERNAN: Okay, Bob, I'm on the pad... |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 07-03-2017 11:15 AM
Gene Cernan described it in his memoirs, "The Last Man of the Moon," as follows: As I turned, I again saw the small sign pasted beneath the ladder by some unknown well-wishing worker, a phrase that I repeated every time I entered or left the Challenger. "Godspeed the crew of Apollo Seventeen," I said, and climbed aboard. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3324
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 07-03-2017 01:23 PM
It must be a really small sign, too small to see in the high-res photos. | |
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