Adhesive tape give-away

Editor's Note: For some it may be difficult to come to terms with the fact that on a project where "money was no object" NASA would use crudely-applied adhesive tape (probably Mylar® or similar) to secure the US decal. Surely a big time whistle-blowing gamble that someone like Jack White would reveal it to the world.

 

 

Editor's Note: This study is a close one to call, but the images are so alike, considering the fact that they are from two totally different missions with differing conditions and 'terrains'. The LM shadows are going to to be generally similar, but to achieve the same precise shadow details (for example see arrow) the lighting would have to be from exactly the same height and orientation to the LM on both missions. No doubt NASA never anticipated that researchers would analyse this material so closely.

 

 

Another trackless rover

 

Best trackless rover picture

Editor's Comments: Regarding the rover's damaged fender, author Andrew Chaikin says: "Before the geology traverse, Cernan had accidentally caught his hammer on the Rover's right rear fender and before he realised it – most of the fender was gone. As a result the entire geology traverse was accompanied by a spray of dust that shot skyward and rained down on the two men." Then, the following day: "After repairing the Rover's broken fender with some maps, grey tape and clamps – a fix devised overnight in one of mission control's back rooms," this fender gave out finally on the way back to the LM [after the last geology trip].

However, with conspicuously absent tracks, all this sounds like pure fantasy if the rovers were never actually driven on the Moon. See also article Further Findings.

 

 

 

 

Final resting place for rover?

Editor's Comment: Three questions:
1) Why is the dish antenna pointed forward, when in the inset photo the dish is pointed backward?
2) Is the distance of the LM in this photo commensurate with the 4 ks from the LM indicated on NASA map of Apollo 17 stations? (See later study Same hill used many times.)
3) Why is the lighting so different in both these pictures? In the inset photo, the light source is from left of frame and the front wheel is in shadow, in the main photo the wheel is in a different position and not in shadow. In the main image the lighting is higher and onto the rear of the LRV. Therefore a) the rover has been moved between these images – except there are no tracks, as Jack White points out – and b) the lighting is from a completely different height in the 'sky.'

 

 

 

Editor's Comment: It is worth noting that there is an alignment on the horizontal lines despite the slight change of camera position and rearward lean of astronaut. Was the Earth really in the photo, or was it perhaps added in the darkroom? Compare Study 'Earth Pasted'.

 

 

 

Visor reflection anomaly

Editor's Comment: This finding does not tally with the recorded Apollo 17 TV coverage. Therefore this still image and the TV transmissions of this event cannot both be valid. Please see What happened on the Moon? to make a full comparison betwen the two media. See also article Further Findings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The case of the missing Lunar Module

Editor's Comment: It is likely that there was a finite number of backdrops available to the photographic team to produce a large number of photographs and that NASA failed to anticipate such meticulous analysis of the imagery. See The skeleton in NASA's spacesuit and Exposing Apollo.

 

 

Editor's Note: Set designers messing up or whistle-blowing again? This study could equally have been titled The case of the reusable hill, because in the Apollo 17 TV transmissions Hill 'A' features prominently in two totally different panorama sequences.

 

 

 

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