a15_v_c_o_AKP (AS15-88-11871)
One of a series of photographs Jim Irwin took of some personal and symbolic items he left on the moon. The following extracts, from of course the ALSJ, are wonderful contextual enrichment of what's here:
The Apollo 15 Index of 70 mm Photographs (MSC January 12, 1972) describes 11867-71 as showing a "microfilm cassette" taken at Station 8 - Jim's trench at the ALSEP. I am not convinced that Jim took the photos at the ALSEP site but suspect that he took them near the LM after Dave drove off at about 164:03:40. I have thought that Jim decided to walk out to the ALSEP site because he did not want to waste time getting his seatbelt on. However, it is possible that he also wanted a bit of time to put out the items he was going to leave on the Moon and take the five documentation photos.]
[In his book To Rule the Night, Jim wrote "There were a number of things we left on the Moon purposely. I left some medallions, flat pieces of silver with the fingerprints of Mary and our children. And as a result of a letter that I got two months before launch, I also left a small portrait of J. B. Irwin. A young lady sent me a picture of her father, J. B. Irwin, saying that he had talked about his desire to go to the Moon all his life. He died at seventy-five, before the first manned landing. I thought it would be a gracious gesture to take J. B.'s picture and leave it on the Moon."
www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/A15JBIrwin11870.jpg
[In addition, in 2005 an inquiry to the NASA Headquarters History office by a writer in Oregon, Sierra Jenkins, brought to my attention an article from the October 2, 1971 edition of The Bulletin, a newspaper published in Bend, Oregon. Jim Irwin and other Apollo astronauts did geology field training near Bend on various occasions. According to the newspaper article, during one of these trips Jim met Floyd E. Watson, a building inspector in Bend who, in 1971, sent Jim a "small sliver of Central Oregon lava which I hope will be able to deliver to the Moon for me." The article then mentions a letter Watson received from Irwin in late September, stating "I did carry your sliver of lava to the moon and left it there. I took a picture of the location" The picture, which accompanies the article, is 11870. The inscription appears to be in Jim's hand.]
www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/a15unsharp11870.jpg
[As of 13 July 2005, I have not had a chance to examine high-resolution scans of any of the five pictures of the left items, 11867 - 71., nor have I found independent confirmation of the story. Given that Jim obliged J. B. Irwin's daughter on a similar request, I am inclined to believe that the Watson story is true.]
[Finally, in August 2008, Joel Powell called attention to a December 1976 article in Space World magazine that describes a microfilm copy of an Apollo 11 Manned Flight Awareness Commemorative Booklet that Jim Irwin left on the Moon.]
a15_v_c_o_AKP (AS15-88-11871)
One of a series of photographs Jim Irwin took of some personal and symbolic items he left on the moon. The following extracts, from of course the ALSJ, are wonderful contextual enrichment of what's here:
The Apollo 15 Index of 70 mm Photographs (MSC January 12, 1972) describes 11867-71 as showing a "microfilm cassette" taken at Station 8 - Jim's trench at the ALSEP. I am not convinced that Jim took the photos at the ALSEP site but suspect that he took them near the LM after Dave drove off at about 164:03:40. I have thought that Jim decided to walk out to the ALSEP site because he did not want to waste time getting his seatbelt on. However, it is possible that he also wanted a bit of time to put out the items he was going to leave on the Moon and take the five documentation photos.]
[In his book To Rule the Night, Jim wrote "There were a number of things we left on the Moon purposely. I left some medallions, flat pieces of silver with the fingerprints of Mary and our children. And as a result of a letter that I got two months before launch, I also left a small portrait of J. B. Irwin. A young lady sent me a picture of her father, J. B. Irwin, saying that he had talked about his desire to go to the Moon all his life. He died at seventy-five, before the first manned landing. I thought it would be a gracious gesture to take J. B.'s picture and leave it on the Moon."
www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/A15JBIrwin11870.jpg
[In addition, in 2005 an inquiry to the NASA Headquarters History office by a writer in Oregon, Sierra Jenkins, brought to my attention an article from the October 2, 1971 edition of The Bulletin, a newspaper published in Bend, Oregon. Jim Irwin and other Apollo astronauts did geology field training near Bend on various occasions. According to the newspaper article, during one of these trips Jim met Floyd E. Watson, a building inspector in Bend who, in 1971, sent Jim a "small sliver of Central Oregon lava which I hope will be able to deliver to the Moon for me." The article then mentions a letter Watson received from Irwin in late September, stating "I did carry your sliver of lava to the moon and left it there. I took a picture of the location" The picture, which accompanies the article, is 11870. The inscription appears to be in Jim's hand.]
www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a15/a15unsharp11870.jpg
[As of 13 July 2005, I have not had a chance to examine high-resolution scans of any of the five pictures of the left items, 11867 - 71., nor have I found independent confirmation of the story. Given that Jim obliged J. B. Irwin's daughter on a similar request, I am inclined to believe that the Watson story is true.]
[Finally, in August 2008, Joel Powell called attention to a December 1976 article in Space World magazine that describes a microfilm copy of an Apollo 11 Manned Flight Awareness Commemorative Booklet that Jim Irwin left on the Moon.]