423 a
Pete Conrad

Stereo panoramas at Middle Crescent Crater

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969, EVA 1, 118:18:09 and 118:18:47 GET

Unreleased photograph of two hand-made mosaics prepared from 8 x 10 inch prints by the Mapping Sciences Laboratory at NASA MSC, vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in) (NASA MSC) [NASA AS12-46-6836 to AS12- 46-6844 and AS12-46-6845 to AS12-46-6852] (the two panoramas were originally shot on color film)

423 b
Alan Bean

The lunar horizon over Surveyor Crater seen from the vicinity of the LM

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969, EVA 1, 118:28:21 GET

Unreleased photograph, vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA AS12-47-6946” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin

423 c
Alan Bean

The lunar science station seen from the vicinity of the LM

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969, EVA 1, 118:29:46 GET

Unreleased photograph, vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso, numbered “NASA AS12-47-6960” (NASA MSC) in red in top margin

423 d
Alan Bean

The LM Intrepid, Pete Conrad, the S-band antenna and the American flag

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969, EVA 1, 118:30:43 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with Technicolor Quality Control stamp, NASA KSC credit numbered “AS12-47-6981” and “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso

423 e
Alan Bean

360° 6 O’clock panorama of the Ocean of Storms landing site

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969, EVA 1, 118:30:43 GET

Unreleased photograph of a hand-made mosaic assembled by the Mapping Sciences Laboratory at NASA MSC, vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in) (NASA MSC) [NASA AS12-47-6961 to AS12-46-6981] (the panorama was originally shot on color film)
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

423 a
NASA SP-235, p.22

423 e
NASA SP-235, p.18.

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Lot Essay

423 a
After taking a first panorama of Middle Crescent crater, Conrad stepped to his left to take a second panorama in order to get a stereo effect.

This photograph shows “two panoramas of the large subdued crater visited during the first EVA period. The crater is more than 300 m across and was visited near the end of the EVA period” (NASA SP- 235, p.22).

118:18:41 Conrad: Just a minute. Okay. Now, let me go over here, and I’ll give them a stereo of this baby.
118:18:46 Bean: Okay.
118:18:47 Conrad: Let me just leap over here a ways (to his left to get the second pan).
118:18:50 Bean: Houston, we’re looking down into this big crater now, and it looks rather old... (Garbled under Pete)
118:18:53 Conrad: Hey, there’s some bedrock on the bottom, I think, here. Looks like big boulders...

423 b
Back to the LM at the end of the EVA, Bean re-took three panoramas (taken in error by Conrad at the beginning of the EVA with a 15 feet focus instead of 74 feet) while Conrad was at the MESA (Modular Equipment Stowage Assembly). This is a frame of the first of these panoramas (facing the 12 o’clock side of the LM), taken just north of the LM shadow toward Surveyor Crater. The southern edge of shadow on the eastern wall of Surveyor Crater is visible at the extreme left but Surveyor III is out of shot to the left.

118:27:14 Conrad: Take the pan photographs again. I took them at 15 feet (focus instead of 74), I think, by mistake.
118:27:18 Bean: Okay.
118:27:19 Conrad: And I’ll get the rock box out.
118:27:19 Bean: All right. Real good.
118:27:22 Conrad: Hey, Houston. We’re back at the LM. [...]
118:27:45 Bean: Now, which pans do you want me to take? Over here?
118:27:47 Conrad: No, the... Yeah. Front and over on the left and (right) rear.
118:27:51 Bean: Sixteen (frames per pan)? Or twelve each or...
118:27:53 Conrad: Yeah, take 15.
118:27:54 Bean: Okay. Will do. I’ll take them again. (Pause) I’m going to take a few pans first, Houston, if that’s okay. It’ll take about an additional 3 minutes.

423 c
This is the last frame of the 12 o’clock LM panorama taken by Bean at the end of the EVA while Conrad was at the MESA stowing equipment after a long day of exploration. The antenna of the Central station is well visible to the right.

“I’m saying ‘I’m not going to have any trouble sleeping tonight’ because it’s been a long day. Remember, we got up in the Command Module, so we’ve been (awake) 17-18 hours right now, probably (actually 17.5 at this point). A lot of time,” remembered Pete Conrad (from the ALSJ mission transcript at 118:29:43 GET).

118:29:43 Conrad: Not going to have any trouble sleeping tonight.
118:29:46 Bean: (Agreeing with Conrad) Don’t think so. Okay, let me go get the other two pans, Pete. Be finished in a minute. (Pause)
118:29:54 Conrad: Okay. (Reading his checklist) Stow 70 millimeter (camera in the ETB), the hammer (on the HTC)...
118:30:03 Bean: Hey; stop it, handle (of the Hasselblad camera).
[The handle assembly on Bean’s camera may be coming loose. During the second EVA, the thumb wheel on his Hasselblad will fall out entirely shortly before they make their way into Surveyor Crater, forcing them to make do with one camera (from the ALSJ).]

423 d
A frame from Alan Bean’s panoramic sequence taken at the 6 O’clock position relative to the LM’s hatch. Pete Conrad is working at the MESA (Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly).

“Both of us really enjoyed working on the surface; we took a lot of kidding later about the way we reacted. But it was exciting; there we were, the third and fourth people on the Moon, doing what we were supposed to do, what we had planned to do, and keeping within schedule. Add to that the excitement of just being there, and I think we could be forgiven for reacting with enthusiasm,” recalled Pete Conrad (NASA SP-350, p. 12.2).

423 e
Conrad mistakenly took his three panoramas of the landing site at 15-foot focus instead of 74-foot focus. Consequently he asked Alan Bean to shoot them again at the end of EVA 1.

Conrad (visible twice in the panorama) is stowing a rock box at the MESA (Modularized Equipment Stowage Assembly). The LM, Surveyor Crater, the television camera, and the S-hand antenna are visible. The Surveyor 3 spacecraft can barely be distinguished in the shadow of the crater.

118:30:38 Bean: Another pan here. Get up (on) a higher place.
118:30:42 Conrad: Say again?
118:30:43 Bean: Oh. I was (standing in a low spot and was) too low for the pan. (Pause) Okay, this is a good spot, I think. (Long Pause)
118:31:46 Conrad: (Subvocal, to the rock box) Come on.
118:31:49 Bean: Okay. That’s it for the pans, Pete.