Apollo 17 Technical Crew Debriefing (U)
Document ID: MSC-07631 · Date: January 4, 1973 Origin: NASA Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas Prepared by: Training Office, Crew Training and Simulation Division Originally classified: CONFIDENTIAL · Declassified: May 6, 2026 (E.O. 13526, Sec. 3.3(a), NASA Declassification Guide) Auto-declassification notice: This document was set to become declassified 90 days from its publication date.
Note: Only page 2 contains transcribed crew testimony. Evans's testimony begins mid-sentence, indicating earlier pages of the debriefing were not captured in this excerpt. Speakers are identified as: CDR Gene Cernan, CMP Ron Evans, LMP Harrison Schmitt.
Reading (EN)
Unusual Sightings — Crew Testimony
EVANS (continued): After the brightness of the fireball decreased, I could look 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.
Transearth Phase Observations — Light Flashes and Weather
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.
Leitura (PT-BR)
Avistamentos Incomuns — Depoimento da Tripulação
EVANS (continuação): Após a luminosidade da bola de fogo diminuir, consegui olhar de volta pela janela de encontro e ver o que para mim parecia uma espécie de túnel com um ponto brilhante no centro. Lá no fundo do túnel, bem lá atrás, eu conseguia ver a bola de fogo.
CERNAN: O único avistamento incomum que me lembro durante o pouso ou a recuperação é quando o CMP olhou pela janela e viu a superestrutura de um porta-aviões e disse: "Oh, temos uma lata de sardinha conosco."
EVANS: Bem, as janelas estavam meio embaçadas.
Observações na Fase de Retorno à Terra — Flashes de Luz e Clima
SCHMITT: No retorno à Terra, tínhamos apenas um pequeno crescente do planeta e não era viável fazer observações meteorológicas extensas. Tivemos flashes de luz praticamente de forma contínua durante todo o voo quando estávamos com os olhos adaptados ao escuro. Tive um que pensei ser um flash na superfície lunar. Naquele período em que usamos vendas para o experimento ALFMED, simplesmente não havia flashes visíveis — embora naquela tarde, naquela noite, antes de dormir, eu tenha notado que estava vendo os flashes de luz novamente. Então, pareceu ser apenas aquele intervalo — de um lado e de outro — em que os flashes de luz não eram visíveis para mim nem para os outros dois tripulantes.