Video from the LRV - where to find?

[Allan F]

Hi, I'm currently in a debate elsewhere, where somebody claims the A17 video proves hoax. I need a piece of video, showing the astronauts parking, leaving the LRV, entering the LM. Does it exist?

[Allan F]

I'm looking at the ALSJ, finding small clips, showing the LRV, Gene walking, Jack throwing his hammer. All nice stuff. Is there a place with longer clips?

[Echnaton]

I know you are looking for web based video, but if you want to get the full downlinks, order the DVDs from spacecraft films.  DVD 6 of the Apollo 17 set includes this description

"Farewell - Final activities of the Apollo 17 crew on the lunar surface. Includes the unveiling of the commemorative plaque on the front landing gear of the LM and final statements from the lunar surface."

[ka9q]

You probably won't find video of the astronauts parking because they usually had the LCRU (communications system) in voice-only mode on the medium gain antenna while driving.  After parking they had to manually re-point the high gain antenna at earth and switch the LCRU to video mode. That required turning a switch on the LCRU that could only be reached from the front of the LRV, not from the seats.

There is some video of Cernan driving the rover to the parking spot. He had left the LCRU in video mode and his driving was straight enough that the high gain antenna remained close enough to the  earth most of the time to produce a good picture. Youtube crank 'hunchbacked' cites this as evidence of a hoax, naturally...

[Trebor]

There is some of the 16mm film taken from the rover during Apollo 15 here :

[Allan F]

Thank you for that YT link. This user popped up - there's several 1 ½ hour long videos containing 16mm Apollo films. Haven't seen them all yet, but there's Lunar Orbit separation and descent, landing, EVA, takeoff, LOR, along with film from CM and LM. Maybe there's TV-footage as well.

http://www.youtube.com/user/HumanHistoryArchive?feature=watch

[raven]

The Internet Archive also carries quite a bit of 16mm DAC footage.

[Kiwi]

Hi, I'm currently in a debate elsewhere, where somebody claims the A17 video proves hoax. I need a piece of video, showing the astronauts parking, leaving the LRV, entering the LM. Does it exist?

Can you give a few details of the claim?

It's over six years since I viewed the Spacecraft Films DVDs of all the Apollo 17 video and 16mm film, (I intend to buy them soon) and I don't recall any video of what you ask.  IIRC some of the video that Echnaton mentions includes the astronauts near the front of the LM, but their final statements were relayed on video from the final parking place of the LRV, which only shows the back view of the LM without astronauts.  We also get glimpses of parts of the rover.

After the LM ascends there are many minutes of vidoeo which are quite eerie when you think about them showing a "planet" without a single form of life on it.

They also hoped to video the abandoned LM crashing into South Massif, but missed it.

 

[ka9q]

After the LM ascends there are many minutes of vidoeo which are quite eerie when you think about them showing a "planet" without a single form of life on it.

Well, we have a lot of photos from Mars that are also of a planet without a single life form on it.

Chris Kraft commented on that post-ascent LRV video as being like the letdown late on Christmas Day after all the guests have left.

[Allan F]

Basically, this guy wants a video showing the astronauts parking the rover, walking back, climbing in, taking off.

I've told him, this is not possible, because there was a 17 hours interval between close-out of the last EVA, and lunar liftoff. Also, the LM had it's back to the rover, because it was landed with it's back to the sun, so the commander could pick a safe landing spot. He couldn't do that with the sun in his eyes, and the rover couldn't film anything usefull if the camera looked into the sun.

Edit: Also, I suspect the batteries on the LRV wasn't up to the job, videotaping 17 hours.

[Trebor]

Basically, this guy wants a video showing the astronauts parking the rover, walking back, climbing in, taking off.

Why does he want this exactly?

[Allan F]

Because if they didn't do it (t)his way, it was a hoax!

[Not Myself]

Basically, this guy wants a video showing the astronauts parking the rover, walking back, climbing in, taking off.

Why does he want this exactly?

Probably because if both astronauts are in the video, then that proves there must have been a third person working the camera 

[Donnie B.]

After the LM ascends there are many minutes of vidoeo which are quite eerie when you think about them showing a "planet" without a single form of life on it.

Well, we have a lot of photos from Mars that are also of a planet without a single life form on it.

You don't know that! 

[ka9q]

I think it rather probable. Personally, I think NASA is greatly overselling the "life on Mars" bit, as though they're afraid the public won't understand any other reason to explore the solar system.

I think there are plenty of perfectly good reasons to land on and explore Mars (and every other planet and moon) even if they've never seen a single strand of RNA.