Space Mission
Apollo 12, November 14-24, 1969
Photographer
Pete Conrad
Photo Description
Vintage chromogenic print on fibre-based Kodak paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with A KODAK PAPER watermarks on verso .
Essay
A frame from the panoramic sequence taken by Conrad at the deployment site of the lunar-science station (also called ALSEP site).
Alan Bean is using a “barbell” carry to take the scientific equipment to its deployment site, about 500-600 feet from the LM which is visible with the American flag and the S-band antenna behind Alan Bean.
The halo around Bean is due to a dust smudge on the lens.
“Running around is a lot of fun, but you’re usually watching exactly where you land, because you’re going to land in a hole one time, and the next time you’re going to land on a little mound, and you don’t want to land on that rock, you’ll twist your ankle. So you’re constantly not looking up as much as you’re watching where your feet hit,” noted Alan Bean (Chaikin, Voices, p.73).
“Up there, with the suit on… You just couldn’t take that big a leap. Not that you weren’t physically capable of doing it as those weights, but you were going to wind up on your head or your back or your side or something,” noted Pete Conrad (Chaikin, Voices, p. 72).