4.8.6 - Apollo 16 Day 6 - On the moon
Firmly established in a good orbit, and with the crew on the ground, Apollo 16 goes about its business, and there’s quite a gap between the last and next views of home.
The view we do get comes from a live TV broadcast at the end of the first EVA. We can time this quite precisely thanks to the crew commenting on it:
125:21:33 England: Hey, fellows, we're able to see the Earth with your big eye there.
125:21:39 Duke: How about that. Pretty sight, isn't it?
125:21:43 England: Sure is. Man, that's weird.
This converts to 23:15 on the 21st.
The video itself can be found here.
Figure 4.8.6.1 shows a clip from this link, as well as one provided by Retro Space Images Facebook page showing a photograph taken at the time indicating that it was a TV broadcast. Figure 4.8.6.2 analyses the view.
Figure 4.8.6.1: Screenshots of Earth from the end of EVA-1’s TV broadcast
Figure 4.8.6.2: TV view of Earth from EVA-1 compared with ESSA satellite data, 3D reconstruction, ESSA image from the 21st as printed in the Sarasota Herald Tribune on the 22nd, and SkySafari time depiction.
Despite adjusting the brightness levels to improve clarity it isn’t easy to make things out. We can say with certainty that the view is entirely consistent with what should be visible in terms of the shape of the Earth and its terminator. At the time of the broadcast that terminator line should be cutting a path just off the eastern US coast and off the western coast of South America. That being the case it seems reasonable to suggest that the red arrow points to the cloud mass covering most of the eastern USA.
The yellow arrow marks the cloud running across the southern Pacific, with a clear area above it definitely visible as a blue area. The green, magenta and blue arrows are my suggestion as to what other systems are visible, but the image is too over-exposed to be absolutely certain. The scene is, however, consistent with what should be there. The 3D reconstruction also helps to confirm that the weather view is accurate.
ESSA’s view of the terminator is best covered by track 4 which would have been orbit 4360, commenced at 22:05 on the 21st.
That’s it for the 21st, short and sweet, on to the 22nd.