Stunning Scenes from a Desolate Moonscape

NEXT to their precious cargo of rocks and lunar samples, the most important souvenir brought home from the moon by the Apollo 15 astronauts was nearly two miles of film. Eagerly developed by NASA technicians in Houston last week, the first photographs from man's fourth lunar landing added extra luster to the achievements of Dave Scott and Jim Irwin. During their lunar visit, the astronauts demonstrated that they were remarkably sensitive--and even artistic--photographers.

Glittering Jewels. The stunning clarity and detail of the scenes that Scott and Irwin captured on film added new dimensions to the landscapes they had transmitted by television from the moon's surface. There were shots of majestic mountains with profiles softened by billions of years of erosion, midnight-black rocks that glittered like jewels in the harsh sun of the airless moon, and helmeted figures toiling in areas of almost unbelievable desolation. "Although a dead world," said Astronaut Irwin in his published report, the moon "can be beautiful to anyone who loves the mountains of earth." The mountains of the moon, he remembered with pleasure, "were not gray or brown." The reflection of early morning sun gave them a "glow of gold." Even Al Worden, orbiting aloft "like a bird soaring without sound," said "I shall never forget the moon that I circled 74 times. There were moments of beauty and moments of visual surprise."

The photographs were as scientifically valuable as they were scenic. A panoramic shot of the mountains, for example, showed distinct layering on the different slopes. But surprisingly, the layers slant in one direction in some places and take a sharply different course in others. Since the layers were probably laid down by the same lava flows, why did they veer off in different directions? The most likely explanation, according to Paul Gast, chief of lunar and planetary science at Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center, is that these flows probably preceded the cataclysmic event (presumably a large meteor impact) that created the Sea of Rains and uplifted the mountains around it.

While some scientists pored over the photographs, others examined the 171 lbs. of moon rocks in Houston's Lunar Receiving Laboratory.

Different Episodes. One sample that especially attracted their attention was the 8-ft.-long core that the astronauts had struggled to extract from the moon. In the first three of five core sections, they found 24 distinct layers of material. Just as tree rings reveal clues to yearly climate changes, each layer in the core should provide evidence of different episodes in the moon's history.

Scott, Irwin and Command Module Pilot Al Worden did not have to undergo a 21-day postflight quarantine. But they used almost every spare moment to help in the preliminary rock analysis. They were especially interested in Scott's white, coarse-grained "Genesis rock"--which may be a fragment of the moon's original 4.6 billion-year-old crust. Indeed, the scientific dividends from Apollo 15 were proving to be so great that NASA announced that it was giving a berth to astronaut-geologist Harrison Schmitt on the final scheduled moon voyage, Apollo 17, next year. Thus, he will become the first scientist to walk the moon.

NASA doctors reported that the astronauts were having minor difficulties readapting to the earth's gravity and that they were suffering from irregular heartbeats probably caused by fatigue. There were also bruises under four of Scott's fingernails (caused by his tight-fitting gloves). But by week's end the astronauts seemed to be recovering satisfactorily. In fact, when Worden returned to his apartment soon after his arrival in Houston, he showered, shaved and then smilingly told his brother, "So long, pal, see you later." After twelve days in space, the astronaut was off on a date.

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