Extracted text — NASA-UAP-D6, Apollo 17 Technical Crew Debriefing, 1973

264 PP
CONFIDENTIAL
1
MSC-07631
NASA
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
APOLLO 17
TECHNICAL
CREW DEBRIEFING
(U)
JANUARY 4, 1973
PREPARED BY
TRAINING OFFICE
CREW TRAINING AND SIMULATION DIVISION
This document will automatically become declassified
90 days from the published date.
NOTICE: This document may be exempt from
public disclosure under the Freedom of Infor-
mation Act (5 U.S.C. 552). Requests for its
release to persons outside the U.S. Govern-
ment should be handled under the provisions
of NASA Policy Directive 1382.2.
MANNED SPACECRAFT CENTER
HOUSTON, TEXAS
INDEXING DATA
T PGM SUBJECT
SIGNATOR LOC
DATE
OPR
#
Mil
DECLASSIFIED
E.O. 13526, Sec 3.3(a)
NASA Declassification Guide
Date of Guide: (M) 05 (Y)2026
Reviewer: vs
Date5/6/2026
24-4
CONFIDENTIAL
EVANS
after the brightness of the fireball decreased, I could look
(CONT'D)
back up through the rendezvous window and see what to me was
kind of like a tunnel with a bright spot in the middle of the
tunnel. Way down the tunnel, way back behind, I could see
the fireball.
CERNAN
The only unusual sighting I can recall during landing or
recovery is when the CMP looked out the window and saw the
superstructure of an aircraft carrier and said, "Oh, we've
got a tin can with us."
EVANS
Well, it was kind of foggy on the windows.
SCHMITT
Transearth we had only a small crescent of an Earth and it was
not feasible to do any extensive weather observations. We
had light flashes just about continuously during the whole
flight when we were dark adapted. I had one which I thought
was a flash on the lunar surface. That one period of time
when we had the blindfolds on for the ALFMED experiment there
were just no visible flashes, although that evening, that
night, before I went to sleep I noticed that I was seeing the
light flashes again. So, it just seemed to be that one
interval either side of it where the light flash was not
visible to myself or to the other two crewmen.
#CONFIDENTIAL