4.4.7- Apollo 12 Day 7, return to orbit
Things get a little sparse from now on, and while there are several images of Earth left to examine, only one can be placed in time with any degree of certainty.
That image is from lunar orbit taken by the 16mm camera using magazine P.
Magazine P starts off with poor quality footage from the lunar surface before switching to footage obviously taken from orbit. The movement of the camera strongly suggests it was taken during the lift off sequence. We know, therefore, that the footage has to have been taken after 14:33 on November 20th. As Earthrise can only have been almost ¾ of an orbit later, so let’s put it conservatively at 15:30. Figure 4.4.7.1 shows the still, compared with the SkySafari view of Earth at the same time. See here for suggestions that it also contains Jupiter, which is why I’ve included a Celestia simulation as well.
What can also be seen in the window is the Landing Point Designator markings on the LM window, which shows that this is taken from the LM window before re-uniting with the CSM at 17:58 on the 20th.
We do get a few clues from the LM transcript, which has this exchange:
143:18:58 CDR Here comes earthrise.
143:19:00 LMP ...
143:19:01 CDR Too bad we don't have a camera.
143:19:02 LMP We do. Where is the earthrise?
143:19:05 CDR Right out your window.
143:19:06 LMP You take it. I got - My window's got - socked in. Just punch the button. Put it on 20 - here, lean over here just a minute. Okay, now take it. Just punch the button on the front.
143:19:18 CDR It would be better if you took it out your window.
143:19:20 LMP It's all frosted, Pete.
Earlier on they had been cursing the 16mm camera’s failure at lift off and it consequently not capturing the landing site as they viewed it from above. That timing works out at 15:41, so my initial guess was pretty good and matches where SkySafari puts the LM. While the image quality through the badly frosted window isn’t enough to see any detail on the Earth, we can at least see that its phase is completely consistent with what should be visible.
The remaining views of Earth are shown on the next page, click the link below.
Figure 4.4.7.1: Still from 16mm magazine P compared with SkySafari and Celestia views.