416 a
Pete Conrad

Alan Bean and the LM Intrepid

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969, EVA 1, 116:42:40 GET

Vintage chromogenic print on fiber-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with “A Kodak Paper” watermarks on the verso [NASA AS12-46-6787]

416 b
Pete Conrad

Alan Bean trying to remove a radioactive fuel element from its cask at the LM Intrepid

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969, EVA 1, 116:43:38 GET

Two vintage USGS gelatin silver “proof” prints on fiber-based paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), numbered “AS12-46-6789” and “AS12-46-6790” in top margin (the photographs were originally shot on color film)

416 c
Pete Conrad

Alan Bean preparing to carry the scientific equipments to their deployment site

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969, EVA 1, 116:50:54 GET

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- 46-6791” in red in top margin (NASA MSC)

416 d
Pete Conrad

Alan Bean preparing to carry the scientific equipments to their deployment site

Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969, EVA 1, 116:50:54 GET

Unreleased photograph (originally shot on color film), vintage USGS gelatin silver “proof” print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), numbered “AS12-46-6792” in top margin

NASA released a variant of this photograph (AS12-46-6791).
20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in)

416 a
Life magazine, December 12, 1969, p.36.

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Lot Essay

416 a
Bean has removed the protective dome from the RTG (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) fuel cask and is placing it out of the way to his left.
Pete Conrad and Alan Bean would set up equipment that measured the Moon’s seismicity, solar wind flux and magnetic field, and relayed the measurements to Earth. These instruments reflect the first complete nuclear-powered ALSEP station set up by astronauts on the Moon to relay long-term data from the lunar surface.

116:42:40 Bean: I guess we’ll just have to make allowances for things like that when we build them. They sure are going to get dirty. (Pause) Okay, I’m unlocking the cask dome, right now. It unlocked perfectly. Shaking it down, trying to get it off.
116:43:00 Conrad: There you go.

416 b
“Bean is using a fuel transfer tool to remove the fuel element from the fuel cask mounted on the LM’s descent stage. The fuel element was then placed in the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG), the power source for the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) which was deployed on the moon by the two astronauts. The RTG is next to Bean’s right leg” (original NASA caption for AS12-46-6790).

The astronauts experienced much trouble to remove the fuel element and had to use a hammer to fix the problem.

“Everything went as advertised until Bean screwed the cask removal tool on the cask (means the fuel element in the cask) and (it) would not budge. We got the normal fix-it: the hammer.
While I beat the blazes out of the side of the container, Bean managed to start the (element) out. He’d get a little notch of it every time I’d hit the container. And I really, I guess, started cracking the container. We finally got the element out and the generator fueled,” noted Pete Conrad (1969 Technical debrief, from the ALSJ mission transcript at 116:49:52 GET).

416 c
The photograph shows Alan Bean as he has just attached the RTG (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) package to the carrybar which would later serve as the Central Station antenna mast.

“I must have taken this picture just about the time Alan Bean hooked up the RTG. He has got his hand over the side and that’s when he is talking about the heat, because his hand is right next to the radiator,” commented Pete Conrad later (from the ALSJ mission transcript at 116:50:59 GET).

116:50:54 Bean: Hey, feel the heat off that machine (the RTG). That’s amazing.
116:50:59 Conrad: 1400 degrees (Fahrenheit or about 760 Celsius). (In a conspiratorial tone) Almost as hot as the Sun! (Chuckles)

416 d
“I’ve always said that the thing I did the best and enjoyed the most was getting there and getting back. The fact that I had to do some work when I got there_it wasn’t “exploring”_, it was payment for getting to make the trip,” said Pete Conrad (Chaikin, Voices, p.162).