654 a
A frame from a panoramic sequence taken by Schmitt while standing on the downslope (southern) rim of a 10-m crater just west of Tracy’s Rock.

Cochise Crater is in the distance. The East Massif, Bear Mountain and the South Massif form the skyline in the background (left to right).

Station 6 was on the south slope of the North Massif, approximately 250 meters north of the break in slope between the valley floor and the massif. The large boulder located at this station was named the station 6 boulder or Split Rock or Tracy’s Rock, in honor of Eugene Cernan’s daughter, who was nine years old at the time of the mission. It was a breccia, or rock made of fragments of other rocks, that had rolled down the side of the steep North Massif in a 1,500-foot-long furrow and was broken into five separate pieces. The boulder was so big that the astronauts could see it from lunar orbit. Fragments 2 and 3 are visible at the left; and fragments 4 and 5 in the center with fragment 5 hidden behind fragment 4.

654 b
Schmitt’s visor is up and his face is clearly visible. His feet are hidden by the near rim of the crater upslope from the Lunar Rover in which he is standing to take his panorama (which includes frame AS17-141-21596).

“In order to aim the camera for each exposure in the series, Schmitt bends his knees, his feet behind him, bounces up onto his toes, and arches his back” (from the ALSJ mission transcript at 165:00:35 GET).

164:59:54 Schmitt: Well, I found a place to stand where I can take a pan.

654 c
Cernan took this superb photograph as a “locator” to the Rover.

The steep slope of the North Massif is well visible relative to the flat valley floor. Nansen Crater (station 2) at the extreme left; and Shorty Crater and Lara Crater (stations 3 and 4) above the antenna of the Rover are at the foot of the South Massif in the background. The sunlit face of the Scarp crossing the valley floor as well as the mantle of light material that extends across the valley floor from the base of South Massif are well visible.

654 d
“Cernan stands near an over-hanging rock. The tripod-like object just outside the shaded area is the gnomon and photometric chart assembly which is used as a photographic reference to establish local vertical sun angle, scale and lunar color. The gnomon is one of the Apollo Lunar Geology Hand Tools” (original NASA caption for AS17-1412-21608).

Cernan’s camera is clearly visible mounted to his chest, as well as the reflection of the photographer Schmitt in his gold plated visor.
Fragment 1 (of Tracy’s Rock) is on the righthand side of the image.
Fragment 2 is the over-hanging rock beyond Cernan.

165:16:25 Cernan: I think we’re out of line-of-sight with them (meaning the TV camera of the Lunar Rover). We’re behind a boulder.
165:16:32 Schmitt: Yeah, sorry about that. But...
165:16:34 Parker (Mission Control): We can hear you loud and clear. We’re just looking at rocks right now.
165:16:39 Cernan: Okay, Bob, the boulder downslope (that is, Fragment 2) is more of a light-gray, vesicular boulder. The one Jack just talked about (that is, Fragment 1) with some of the larger white inclusions is less vesicular, and it’s more of blue-gray rock. And if I don’t fall on my tail here, I’ll get...

654 e
Ed Fendell at Mission Control found the Earth in the lunar sky by panning the rover camera to the low-gain antenna on the Rover and then following its pointing.

“Since the Moon always keeps the same face to the Earth, the blue planet always hangs in one place in the lunar sky at any given location on the Moon. Some astronauts reported that they could see the planet’s rotation over time” (Reynolds, p. 207).