Planetologist Alexander Bazilevsky told how the chief geologist of the Apollo project died

Apollo 15 was the ninth manned mission of the Apollo program. The crew of the ship “Endeavour” (English: Endeavor – “aspiration”) made the fourth landing on the Moon on August 7, 1971. This happened in the northern hemisphere of the Moon, in the region of the Apennine Mountains, near the Hadley volcanic bed.

That flight was notable for several reasons. First, crew commander David Scott and lunar module pilot James Irwin spent almost three days on the Moon (just under 67 hours), that is, twice as long as their predecessors from Apollo 14. The third crew member, Alfred Warden, distinguished himself on the way back to Earth, performing the first spacewalk in interplanetary space – he dismantled the photographic tapes from the command module.

On the surface of the Moon, the crew used a lunar vehicle for the first time, driving it a total of 27.9 km, and collected the largest number of lunar samples by that time – 76.8 kilograms. While on the surface of the earth’s satellite, the astronauts also drilled the soil to a depth of 2 meters for the first time.

The film, directed by David Scott (the astronaut turned 91 last year), was filmed for the fiftieth anniversary of the mission, but was released only in 2023. It begins with a quote from Galileo Galilei, who said during the first observation of the Earth’s satellite through a telescope: “It is a beautiful, delightful spectacle to see the body of the Moon.” The other day, Alexander Bazilevsky’s colleague, planetary scientist Jim Head, sent him a link to a new documentary filmed privately.

– Alexander Tikhonovich, what new things did you learn for yourself by watching the film?

“It was the first time I saw how the crew was trained on Earth. Scott and Irwin learned to walk with large “backpacks” of the life support system, take photographs with them, and navigate the rover.

Next, several examples of astronauts moving on the Moon are shown in detail, the fall of one of them, it seems, Irwin. The shooting lasts quite a long time, it may even seem drawn out to some, but for professionals it is definitely of great interest.

– It shows how the drilling took place, and it seems that the astronauts had some problems with it… What were they, can you explain?

– The one who carried out the drilling could not independently pull the drill out of the drilled well. He succeeded only after his partner arrived to help. Of course, this is only part of what happened in July-August 1971 in the lunar Apennines. On Earth at this time, a large number of people were monitoring the progress of the mission from the command post.

One of the most active team members involved in the preparation of the entire Apollo program was geologist and planetary scientist Eugene Shoemaker, who, unfortunately, tragically died before the start of the 15th expedition. When the first manned flights began, starting with Apollo 11, he was attached to the program as the chief geologist. As my American colleagues told me, he did not like the monotony of the first missions. He began to rebel and say that something more serious had to be done so that it would be possible to travel on the moon and so on. His advice was not heeded, and he quit NASA in protest and began working at the university. In general, he was a very successful scientist, even before Apollo. He continued to work successfully as a professor. However, some time later, while on a business trip, he had a terrible accident in Australia and died. It is noteworthy that on a completely empty road a car flew towards him…

After Shoemaker left, NASA still listened to his advice and prepared a controlled rover for the 15th mission. By the way, already in the modern era, the ashes of Eugene Shoemaker were dropped onto the Moon from a space orbiter into one of the south polar craters, 52 kilometers across, and that crater was called Shoemaker Crater. Now I and a colleague from China, who bears the beautiful name Yuan (I jokingly want to advise her to marry an American named Dollar) are studying the bottom of this polar crater, its morphology and geology. It, like the neighboring craters, is forever shaded.

– How do you study it?

– The Americans have a lunar orbiter, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). It “shoots” a laser at the Moon, a signal is reflected from it, and by how long it takes for this signal to return to the device, scientists study the surface topography. The Americans have compiled a very detailed digital terrain model, and together with Yuan we are turning it into pictures, as if it were a television film.

– And what is at the depths of Shoemaker Crater?

– Due to the fact that the bottom of this crater is never illuminated by the Sun, it is very cold there, and this very cold surface precipitates vapors of water and other volatile components that appear in the lunar space when meteorites and comets hit the Moon. Quite a lot of ice and water has accumulated in the lunar soil here; it can be useful for life support for future lunar bases.

– Was this the first time you saw a press conference of astronauts returning to Earth in the film?

– Yes. Each of them answers there the question about what seemed most interesting during the expedition, what struck the most.

David Scott said his most memorable moment was when he first stepped onto the mountainside above the Hadley River and thought it was the most stunning view he had ever seen. Alfred Warden thought the most “brightest” moment was when he saw the Moon for the first time (up close). “It was a fantastic, very spectacular picture.” James Irwin added at the end that for him there were many thrills on the Moon, starting from the moment of launch to it, which they came to after several years of waiting and training. But there were also moments that he would not want to repeat: “When I fell in front of the camera while we were deploying the rover.”

I was pleased to see young Jim Head, a good friend of mine with whom we still continue to collaborate, twice in the film. True, if it weren’t for the signature under the corresponding frames of the film, I would not have recognized him, still 29 years old. Now he is 81.