Tracy's Rock, known as Split Rock or the Station 6 Boulder in the scientific literature, is a large boulder on the Moon which was visited by the Apollo 17 crew on December 13, 1972 at their Taurus-Littrow landing site. "Tracy's Rock" is its popular name.
Geologist-astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt and mission commander Eugene A. Cernan spent considerable time studying the rock and its vicinity at station 6 during their third Extravehicular Activity (EVA-3).
At about 165:33:38, Cernan took a series of photos from higher up the hill. In this photomontage, Schmitt is standing to the left of the rock and the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is parked to the right.
The Tracy's Rock/Station 6 panorama is also featured in David Harland's "Geology 101 Field Trip" on the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal's "Fun Images" page. [2]
The patch of dirt on the north face of the boulder is the subject of a 1984 painting by Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean. Bean took up a career as a professional artist after he left the Astronaut Corps and developed a considerable reputation as a space artist.
As a result of the painting, those who know the story call the Station 6 boulder "Tracy's Rock". Tracy is Gene Cernan's daughter, who was nine years old at the time of the mission.
Apollo 17 was the eleventh and final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the sixth and most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon, while Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans orbited above. Schmitt was the only professional geologist to land on the Moon; he was selected in place of Joe Engle, as NASA had been under pressure to send a scientist to the Moon. The mission's heavy emphasis on science meant the inclusion of a number of new experiments, including a biological experiment containing five mice that was carried in the command module.
Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA includes spacewalks and lunar or planetary surface exploration. In a stand-up EVA (SEVA), an astronaut stands through an open hatch but does not fully leave the spacecraft. EVAs have been conducted by the Soviet Union/Russia, the United States, Canada, the European Space Agency and China.
Harrison Hagan "Jack" Schmitt is an American geologist, former NASA astronaut, university professor, former U.S. senator from New Mexico, and the most recent living person—and only person without a background in military aviation—to have walked on the Moon.
Alan LaVern Bean was an American naval officer and aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, NASA astronaut and painter. He was selected to become an astronaut by NASA in 1963 as part of Astronaut Group 3, and was the fourth person to walk on the Moon.
Eugene Andrew Cernan was an American astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot. During the Apollo 17 mission, Cernan became the 11th human being to walk on the Moon. As he re-entered the Apollo Lunar Module after Harrison Schmitt on their third and final lunar excursion, he remains the most recent person to walk on the Moon.
Ronald Ellwin Evans Jr. was an American electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, officer and aviator in the United States Navy, and NASA astronaut. As Command Module Pilot on Apollo 17 he was one of the 24 astronauts to fly to the Moon, and one of 12 people to fly to the Moon without landing.
Apollo 15 lunar surface operations were conducted from July 30 to August 2, 1971, by Apollo 15 Commander David Scott and Apollo Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin, who used the first Lunar Roving Vehicle to make three exploratory trips away from their landing site at the base of the Apennine Mountains, near Hadley Rille.
Lunar plaques are stainless steel commemorative plaques measuring 9 by 7+5⁄8 inches attached to the ladders on the descent stages of the United States Apollo Lunar Modules flown on lunar landing missions Apollo 11 through Apollo 17, to be left permanently on the lunar surface. The plaques were originally suggested and designed by NASA's head of technical services Jack Kinzler, who oversaw their production.
Taurus–Littrow is a lunar valley located on the near side at the coordinates 20.0°N 31.0°E. It served as the landing site for the American Apollo 17 mission in December 1972, the last crewed mission to the Moon. The valley is located on the southeastern edge of Mare Serenitatis along a ring of mountains formed between 3.8 and 3.9 billion years ago when a large object impacted the Moon, forming the Serenitatis basin and pushing rock outward and upward.
The Lunar Flag Assembly (LFA) was a kit containing a flag of the United States designed to be erected on the Moon during the Apollo program. Six such flag assemblies were planted on the Moon. The nylon flags were hung on telescoping staffs and horizontal bars constructed of one-inch anodized aluminum tubes. The flags were carried on the outside of the Apollo Lunar Module (LM), most of them on the descent ladder inside a thermally insulated tubular case to protect them from exhaust gas temperatures calculated to reach 2,000 °F (1,090 °C). The assembly was designed and supervised by Jack Kinzler, head of technical services at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) in Houston, Texas. Six of the flags were ordered from a government supply catalog and measured 3 by 5 feet ; the last one planted on the Moon was the slightly larger, 6-foot (1.8 m)-wide flag which had hung in the MSC Mission Operations Control Room for most of the Apollo program.
The Apollo 17 lunar sample display consists of a Moon rock fragment from a lava Moon stone identified as lunar basalt 70017, the recipient's flag and two small metal plates attached with descriptive messages. A goodwill gift from the Apollo 17 mission was then given by President Richard Nixon in the form of a wooden commemorative plaque display to all fifty U.S. states and U.S. territories, and 135 nations worldwide.
The Lunar basalt 70017 is a Moon rock gathered in 1972 by astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on the Apollo 17 mission near their Apollo Lunar Module and then divided into smaller pieces on Earth.
Shorty is a feature on Earth's Moon, an impact crater in the Taurus–Littrow valley. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited it in 1972, on the Apollo 17 mission. It is the location of the famous "orange soil", which geologists believe to be small bits of rapidly-cooled molten rock ejected in a fire fountain. It is about 110 meters in diameter and up to 14 m (15 yd) deep.
Shorty Crater is about 14 m deep. Based on our investigations at the site and later examination of photographs, the impact that formed it penetrated, in order, regolith on the avalanche deposit, the avalanche deposit, regolith on a basalt flow, a basalt flow overlying and protecting the orange and black glass layers, the orange and black glass layers, regolith on a second basalt flow, and, finally, the upper portion of that second flow. Orange and black glass clods and basalt boulders are spread throughout the ejecta blanket surrounding Shorty.
Camelot is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in Taurus-Littrow valley. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited it in 1972, on the Apollo 17 mission, during EVA 2. Geology Station 5 was along the south rim of Camelot.
Van Serg is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in Taurus–Littrow valley. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited it in 1972, on the Apollo 17 mission, during EVA 3. Van Serg was designated Geology Station 9.
Nansen-Apollo is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in Taurus-Littrow valley, at the base of the South Massif. Astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited it in 1972, on the Apollo 17 mission. The astronauts referred to it simply as Nansen during the mission. Geology Station 2 of the mission was located at Nansen. Nansen is located in the 'light mantle' which is almost certainly an avalanche deposit from the South Massif.
The Lunar sample displays are two commemorative plaques consisting of small fragments of Moon specimen brought back by the astronauts of the Apollo 11 and Apollo 17 lunar missions. The plaques and Moon rocks were given as goodwill gifts in 1970 and 1973 to the people of 135 countries, the 50 states of the United States, and to U.S. overseas territories by United States President Richard Nixon.
Spur is a feature on Earth's Moon, a crater in the Hadley–Apennine region. Astronauts David Scott and James Irwin visited it in 1971, on the Apollo 15 mission, during EVA 2. Spur was designated Geology Station 7.
The Astronaut Monument is a monument commemorating the training of Apollo astronauts in northern Iceland in 1965 and 1967. It is located outside the Exploration Museum in Húsavík, and contains the names of 32 Apollo astronauts who were sent to Iceland for training in geology for crewed lunar missions. Fourteen of the trainee astronauts later flew to the Moon, and seven of those conducted geology work on the lunar surface.
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