Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot, was the only scientist to visit the Moon. He was also the most familiar with extreme close-ups of the ground. His 1/6 gravity modern dance steps (aka "falling down a lot") made for quite a show in December 1972. CAPCOM Bob Parker and his moonwalk boss CDR Gene Cernan started calling him "Twinkletoes" for his somewhat less than graceful antics on the Lunar surface.
Hamming it up for the TV camera was a favorite way to pass the time, whether circling the Earth or during the relative slow voyage to and from the Moon. Here are Tom Stafford (A-10), Rusty Schweikart (A-9), Al Shepard (A-14), and Ed Mitchell (A-14) providing: a raspberry, a big bite, a cheesey grin, and a big wave-off, respectively.
Apollo 12 carried the first Stowaway to the Moon. During the inflight press conference on the way back home, Commander Pete Conrad holds up a cockroach which he found in a food locker. (OK, it was really only a fake cockroach.) I'm not sure who fessed up to the prank, but Pete asks for NASA Deputy Administrator George Low. Plus, Mission Control sounds like they're laughing at an inside joke when Pete puts the critter on camera.
Here's Al Shepard borrowing a little fresh oxygen, presumably after one his shipmates had to use one of the little plastic bags which passed for a potty aboard the spacecraft. Seeing as the Command Module was the office, living room, bedroom, den, and bathroom, you tended to notice everything your fellow crewmembers did.
The Apollo 12 backup crew (who went on to fly as
Apollo 15 prime crew) added some nice surprises to the Lunar
surface checklists Pete Conrad and Al Bean wore on their
spacesuit cuffs. These lovely Playboy Playmate centerfold models
provided a nice reminder of the good things back on Earth, as
well as reminding the astronauts about certain geological
training references. The young woman on the right is Miss
December 1968, Cynthia Myers. Pete was reunited with one of his
checklist companions, Regan Wilson - Miss October 1967, on E!
Entertainment Television in the mid-1990's.
(Thanks to Ken Glover and John Pfannerstill for their Lunar Playmate expertise.)
Following the well-publicized Apollo 13 mission,
in which the Lunar Module "lifeboat" saved the crew,
LM-builder Grumman jokingly sent Command Service Module-builder
North American/Rockwell a billing statement for
"towing" the CSM home. This is one of the most
photocopied jokes of the space program. ($417 thousand was a lot
of money in 1970!)
Poor Jack Schmitt, relegated to shining Commander Gene Cernan's boots as far back as Lunar surface training... OK, I know he's just brushing off dust, but the photo sure looks like some kind of proletarian scene.
At Superior Galleries Spring 2000 Space Memorabilia Auction, a collector paid nearly $5,800.00 for John Young's Apollo 16 Urine Transfer Collection Assembly (UTCA). While NASA noted the item had been cleaned and sterilized, you just won't find a more... uh... personal item from a Moonwalker. And, let's face it, there are few sets of skivvies with 71 hours on the Lunar surface!
(Copyright 2000 Superior Galleries, Inc.)
(Copyright 1981, FarWorks, Inc.)
