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Old 26-May-2003, 03:42 PM
DataCable DataCable is offline
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Join Date: May 2003
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Default Apollo 17 LRV final resting place...

I have this nagging question about something on nasascam's page. (And as an aside, thanx for posting the link on Clavius, Jay, as affermation that, yes, sometimes they truly are that easy to punch holes through 8) )

He gives an (altered) version of AS17-146-22367, which he also links from http://images.jsc.nasa.gov/iams/imag...7/10075976.htm , described there as "View of the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) in its final parking space at Station 8 (Cochise Crater) prior to liftoff from the Moon." Aside from his repeated assertion that the background is identical (which it clearly isn't) to that of other photos from locations miles apart, he also comments on Station 8's distance from the landing site.

I have to admit, that one has me scratching my head as well. I know the LRV was parked at sufficient distance from the LM so that Fendell could get a good tilt up of the ascent, but it surely didn't look like a shot from 4-5km away, unless that TV cam had one hekuva good zoom lens. Additionally, I poked through the AS17 EVA-3 Closeout page of ALSJ at http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/a17.clsout3.html , wondering if it gave any context which reveals how far away the LRV was parked. Just below 170:01:00, is provides a link to AS17-143-21932, which is identified there as the final parking configuration.

These photos are clearly different, other than their view angle of the rover. In the first, the wheels are virtually straight and it appears to be parked on a slight upward slope (though that could be an optical illusion), whereas in the second, the wheels are turned drastically to the left and it appears to rest on the crest of a slight rise, which is mentioned in the voice transmissions.

I further checked the ALSJ page for Geology Station 8 (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a17/a17.sta8.html) and found it's reference to frame 22367 simply as a "locator" of the rover.

So does this basically boil down to a case of the photo being mis-identified on the JSC site?
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