Dangerous Assault on the Sea of Rains

IT is the most forbidding region man has ever attempted to visit on the moon. To the northeast lies a towering, 15,000-ft. peak called Mount Hadley. Another mountain, Hadley Delta, only slightly less majestic at 12,000 ft., looms directly to the south. To the west is a winding, milewide, 1,200-ft.-deep canyon. Yet two U.S. astronauts are scheduled to land in the midst of that treacherous terrain at 6:15 p.m. E.D.T., Friday, July 30. Their landing will mark the beginning of man's fourth and most daring lunar assault.

Apollo 15's commander, Dave Scott, and his fellow moon walker, Jim Irwin, are confident that the landing will be well worth the risks. So are NASA's scientists. Located at the southeastern edge of the Sea of Rains, the perilous highland landing site is farther north of the lunar equator than any area yet trod by man. It offers a scientifically tantalizing sampling of four major types of lunar features: a mare (or lunar sea of once molten lava), an alpine range called the Apennines, a deep, snaking rille or gorge and a variety of puzzling smaller mounds and craters. Scientists hope to recover fragments of the moon's original crust. The landscape could supply scientists with new clues to the origin of the moon and to the birth of the solar system itself.

Last week, as final preparations were made for the dangerous journey, hundreds of thousands of tourists thronged the Cape Kennedy area. The great crowds were reminiscent of those that watched the lift-off of the first moon-landing expedition just over two years ago. Isolated in their crew area, Scott, Irwin and Command-Module Pilot Al Worden practiced maneuvers on Apollo flight simulators, underwent extensive medical examinations, took spins in a terrestrial version of their moon rover and reviewed the myriad details of their lengthy flight plans in the final hours of the countdown. Even the Russians helped. In response to NASA's inquiries, Soviet space officials assured the U.S. that the recent deaths of three cosmonauts aboard Soyuz 11 were not the result of any new problems that might imperil the Apollo 15 astronauts.

Awesome Panorama. If all goes well, the plan calls for a moon landing after a steep, 25DEG descent. As the astronauts swoop into the mountainous Hadley-Apennine region, the sharp slant of their approach path will give them an excellent view of the designated touchdown area, which is just west of a lunar feature called Index Crater. After that, Apollo activities for the next 67 hrs. are precisely scheduled. The plan:

Ninety minutes after landing, Scott will swing open the overhead hatch of the lunar lander Falcon (named for the mascot of the Air Force Academy), poke his head out like a tank commander on patrol and give Mission Control a long, detailed description of the awesome panorama. Next morning, at 9:24 E.D.T., Scott will again prepare to emerge from the lunar module; this time he will crawl out of the side hatch and climb down Falcon's ladder. In the process, he will open an exterior equipment shelf, activating a color-TV camera to let the world follow his progress. When Irwin joins him a few minutes later, the astronauts will unload their collapsible two-seater lunar rover from its compartment in the side of the lunar module. That delicate operation will also be televised back to earth. If the $12.7 million moon Jeep works during an initial trial run of a few feet, the astronauts will be ready to take their first spin across the dusty lunar soil.

As they drive slowly off to the southwest, they will be tightly belted in their seats in order to keep them from flying out of the car in the weak lunar gravity should the vehicle hit a bump. After about 1 1/4 miles, they will halt briefly at the edge of Hadley Rille for the first of many checks of the rover's navigational gear. But their real scientific work will begin during three subsequent rock-collecting stops: at the east rim of 1,200-ft.-wide Elbow Crater, on the sloped side of even larger St. George Crater, which lies part way up the Apennine front at the base of Hadley Delta, and at a smaller feature called Slide Crater (because the steepness of the slope is believed to have caused rock slides in the area). During each stop a color camera mounted on the rover and controlled from the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston will televise their activities.

Fruit Bars. If not totally exhausted, the astronauts will end the first seven-hour EVA (ExtraVehicular Activity) by setting up their Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package in a flat area at least 300 ft. from Falcon. One new experiment is designed to measure the heat flow from the moon's interior, a possible tip-off to its composition. But before Scott can insert delicate heat sensors into the lunar soil, he must first bore two 10-ft..-deep holes about 30 ft. apart with an electric drill. That could well be a tedious chore. If Scott and Irwin need an extra jolt of energy, however, they will be able to nibble on energy-producing fruit bars strategically placed inside their helmets. Drinking water or fruit juice will also be available in the helmets through a tube attached to a special container.

Next morning, Sunday, Aug. 1, the astronauts will take their second lunar ride. Heading almost due south past a small crater named Salyut (in honor of the Soviet space station), they will make their way along a tangle of small craters called the South Cluster. At about 4 1/2 miles from the lunar module, they should reach Front Crater, the farthest of their rock-collecting stops.

The final excursion is scheduled to begin Monday at 3:24 a.m. E.D.T., with a tour along Hadley Rille, one of the many canyon-like features on the moon that have long puzzled scientists. Most experts now dismiss the idea that rilles were carved out by water, like the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos, N. Mex., which they resemble; instead, the canyons may be the result of lava flows. To help settle the argument, the astronauts plan to drive part way down the slope, which begins at a relatively gentle incline of about 10DEG. As the going gets rougher for the rover, they may leave it behind and walk the rest of the way into the rille. Later, the astronauts will drive to North Complex, a collection of craters and hummocks that may be an indication of relatively recent volcanic activity on the moon.

When they get back to the landing site, Scott will park the rover 300 ft. from Falcon and 31 hrs. later, at 1:09 p.m., the car's camera should give the world its first live view of a spacecraft blasting off from the moon. By 3:04 p.m., Scott and Irwin should dock with the command module Endeavour (named for the ship used by 18th century English Navigator and Explorer James Cook). That will also reunite them with Worden, who will have conducted more scientific experiments than any other command-module pilot during his three days alone in lunar orbit.

Space Walk. Before the Endeavour changes course for home, the astronauts are scheduled to launch a small (78.5 lb.) satellite into lunar orbit. It is equipped to radio back scientific information about the moon's surface and environment for more than a year. Then, after they begin the long journey back to earth, Worden is scheduled to take man's first "walk" in deep space. With a TV camera trained on him, he will climb outside the ship while it is about 200,000 miles from earth and retrieve film cassettes from cameras in an open equipment bay of the service module.

Two days later, on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 7, Endeavour is scheduled to splash down in the Pacific, 328 miles north of Hawaii. For the astronauts, it should be an especially warm homecoming. Since no moon bugs or other dangerous sources of contamination have been brought back to earth on previous flights, NASA will not require the men of Apollo 15 to undergo the usual 21-day postflight quarantine.

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