Gene Simmons, the author of this report, says that excellent commentaries have been available over television for each previous Apollo mission. However, because of the increased complexity of the surface operations beginning with Apollo 15 and especially because of the greater amount of time devoted to science activities, he believes that a written guide would be welcomed by the interested viewer of Apollo 17. The material in this guidebook is intended to be used in conjunction with the other material shown over television. The science activities of the astronauts on the surface are divided between "experiments" and "traverses."
For the experiments, the astronauts setup equipment on the Moon that collects data and (generally) transmits the data back to Earth. These experiments are described briefly in the section "Lunar Surface Scientific Experiments and Hardware." The reader need not read about all the details of each experiment on first reading. Quite frankly, that section is somewhat long but rather complete, and he has chosen to keep it in the present form so that you may refer to the individual experiments as you wish.He recommends scanning this section before the first Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) in order to understand something about each of the experiments.
Most of the astronauts' time on the lunar surface will be spent on the traverses along which they describe the geologic features of the landing site, collect rocks, shoot pictures, drive core tubes, and so on. The section "Traverse Descriptions" is a guide to those activities. It tells in general terms the things the astronauts will do on each traverse. It should be used in the same way that a flexible itinerary for a vacation trip through New England would be used. Refer to it during the traverse. But do not try to read it in great detail before the traverse.
The section "Lunar Geology Experiment" should be read before the traverses begin. There you will find descriptions of the tools that are used, the various kinds of photographs taken, and so on. In the section "What We've Learned About the Moon," you will find a brief discussion of the new information about lunar science. Simmons believes that perusal of that section will help you understand better the various experiments and surface procedures.
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