Smoking gun #7 jumping the rover

The next smoking gun discussed here, is one that (full disclosure) I’ve had to revise my vie won a number of times thanks to things that people, including Rasa, have pointed out in discussions on his facebook page. It concerns a sequence of three photos that Rasa has declared to be impossible, given the way the cameras worked and what it shows. Here they are, AS17-134-20452 to 20454, showing Jack Schmitt getting into the rover.

He claims that the first photo shows Schmitt in the air, the 2nd “sort of in the air” and the third seated. We’ll deal with that shortly.

Once again Rasa strawmans his opposition by saying that the “official story” is that there were two jumps.

No-one says that. In fact, it’s what he claims happens, because he doesn’t believe the sequence to possible in one go and they went back to re-do the photos later. He also specifically says that the Hasselblad photos show two jumps.

The transcripts, as he rightly points out, clearly identify Cernan as saying he took three photos, though there is no indication of how long the process took. He further declares the sequence to be impossible by noting the change in position of the scoop from one hand to another, and than missing altogether. Here’s the audio as recorded in the ALSJ:

168:47:03 Cernan: Get on there one time. (Pause)

168:47:08 Schmitt: Ready? (Pause)

168:47:12 Cernan: I got three of them that time.

So we have 9 seconds between Cernan’s instruction and his final comment. We have no way of knowing whether Schmitt’s “ready” marks the start of the photo sequence or if Cernan had already started.

|Let’s see if he interprets the photos correctly, starting with the claim that Schmitt is in the air in the first photo.

I guess a lot depends on your definition of “in the air”. In both photos his left foot is firmly on the rover floor, with it slightly further in in the second photo. He certainly isn’t completely airborne

What about “the scooper thing”. The “scooper thing” is the LRV sampler. Rasa claims it starts out in one hand before being passed to the other. It isn’t.

As can be seen here, in the first photo Jack’s holding on to a part of the rover structure, presumably to give himself some leverage to get in to the rover.

The scoop itself is secured by a small hook to his belt (in the yellow circle). The handle is shown alongside the red line.

 There are numerous examples in the TV broadcasts of that scoop being detached and re-attached with ease

What we don’t see in the third photo is any evidence of the LRV sampler again. There’s no sign of it, and by the time they get back to the LM it’s gone completely. If it had fallen on the floor next to Jack, it’s likely Cernan would have spotted it, so it’s more likely that Jack has tried to deposit it in the equipment rack behind him, from whence it has fallen en route back to the LM.

The sequence of events is: Schmitt hoists himself into the rover, using a hand hold to give himself leverage. That movement raises the sampler, which he grabs with his free hand. He then deposits the scooper behind him.

Rasa tries to prove this can’t be done by counting really quickly, rather than over the actual time period represented by 4 seconds. He has no proof whatsoever that the sequence of photographs could not be taken in the time available.