Word: geologist
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Next day millions of TV viewers on earth watched as Challenger, in a dramatic pyrotechnic display, lifted off from the moon's mountain-rimmed Taurus-Littrow valley. Two hours later, Cernan and Astronaut-Geologist Jack Schmitt reunited with Ron Evans, who was whirling overhead in America. Then, after two more days of observing the moon from the orbiting command ship, the astronauts fired themselves out of lunar orbit and began the three-day journey home. By week's end, the final U.S. expedition to the moon was headed for its scheduled splashdown this week in the South Pacific...
...armed with a new doctorate in geology from Harvard, Schmitt joined the U.S. Geological Survey at Flagstaff, Ariz. There he was assigned the job of assembling photographs taken by unmanned Ranger spacecraft into detailed lunar maps for future moon walkers. Schmitt was fascinated by the task. Recalls former NASA Geologist Gene Shoemaker: "Jack caught the space bug." Indeed, as soon as NASA began recruiting scientist-astronauts in 1965, Schmitt applied. He was accepted despite a minor physical problem: an unusual and painful elongation of the large intestine...
...decision by NASA doctors proved sound. Throughout his rigorous preparation, the geologist-astronaut has maintained superb health and excelled as a trainee. He ranked second in his class of 50 at Air Force flight school, and has spent countless hours on field trips everywhere from Iceland to Hawaii teaching fellow astronauts how to spot and select geologically significant rocks. He worked closely with NASA scientists in devising scoops, shovels and other tools for the moon. Says NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz: "If anyone deserves a flight, it is Jack Schmitt...
...professional geologist, Schmitt will be under intense pressure to provide his colleagues with the best possible lunar specimens and descriptions of the landscape. To make sure that his performance meets his own high standards, Schmitt has been working at a furious pace. Scientists in Houston still talk about the time they took Schmitt to lunch at a local topless restaurant, where they all engaged in the usual space-flight shoptalk. Later, when one of the group asked what he thought of the amply proportioned girl who had served him, Bachelor Schmitt was astonished. "When was she topless?" he asked...
Nonetheless, they expect the last mission to be the most scientifically productive. In Scientist-Astronaut Harrison Schmitt, they will finally have the services of a professional geologist on the moon. The Taurus-Littrow landing site contains what may be small, volcanically created cinder cones; they seem to be miniature versions of earthly features like Honolulu's Diamond Head. The cones may well be remnants of what NASA Geochemist Robin Brett calls "some of the last belches of lunar activity before the moon turned off." Finally, Apollo 17 planners have scheduled a program of experiments and observation far more sophisticated...