Ancient Aliens on the Moon (27 page)

The South Massif.

These close-up enhancements once again show the all too familiar cellular, geometric patterns all over the former interior of the Massif. It’s as if we were looking at literally millions of small rooms which had been suddenly and dramatically exposed by the blast that blew the back half of the mountain off. In fact, that probably
exactly
what we’re looking at.

Some geologists and other researchers (like Keith Laney) are of the opinion that the bright blanket of material around Nansen was created when debris from the blast that blew off the back half of the mountain pushed material out through the bottom of the South Massif, perhaps actually creating Nansen in the process.

As we described it in
Dark Mission:

Room-sized cells on the South Massif.

Officially listed as a crater, Keith Laney has shown categorically that Nansen is nothing of the kind. Recon photos of the South Massif show Nansen as a V-shaped depression at the base of the massif, over which the “rim” of Nansen seems to be an overhanging shelf. Views of Nansen strongly imply that it is a hole in the base of the South Massif, possibly an entrance point (or exit wound) into the mountain. Certainly, if there were anything unusual about the South Massif, Cernan and Schmitt would be able to spot it either from “Geology Station 2,” which was at the base of the South Massif atop Nansen, or on their way up (or back from) the station.

Everybody at NASA certainly seemed very excited about prospects for the day 2 journey to Nansen. Excerpts from the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal show that as the astronauts prepared the rover for the second EVA, Mission Control and Schmitt had this quick exchange:

141:02:06, Parker: “And, Jack …you might want to shoot off a few five-hundred-millimeter frames of the North and South Massifs, if they look interesting…”

Apollo 15 pancam image of the South Massiff showing Nansen (A) and the bright debris blanket around it (B)

141:02:27, Schmitt: (Incredulous) “If they look interesting!? If they look interesting!? Now, what kind of thing is that to say?”

After a quick stop to lay some seismic detectors down at different points along the valley floor, Schmitt and Cernan headed straight for the South Massif and Nansen itself. As they neared the Mountain, Cernan again noted the linear geometry on the surface of the mountain:

141:52:03, Cernan: “Jack, can you see over there to the left … of the South Massif where you get those impressed lineations? See them going from left upward to the right?”

141:52:11, Schmitt: “Yeah. I see what you mean; right.”

141:52:14, Cernan: “That’s what I saw out my window.” (Here, Cernan is alluding to observations he’d made on the approach to landing the Challenger).

141:52:15, Schmitt: “Yeah, they go obliquely up the slope.”

141:52:20, Cernan: “They’re more like wrinkles, they’re linear wrinkles.”

141:52:22, Schmitt: “Yeah. Crenulations, you might say, in the slope that looks something like those I saw from orbit, looking in the shadowed area… or, at the edge of the shadows.”

     142:12:30, Cernan: “Jack, look at the wrinkles over there on the North Massif.”

142:12:34, Schmitt: “Yeah. There’s no question that there are apparent lineations all over these Massifs, in a variety of directions. Hey, look at how that Scarp [sic] goes up the side (of the North Massif) there. There’s a distinct change in texture.”

Later images, along with the orbital photography, have confirmed that the “lineations” are not tricks of light and shadow, but undeniably real features of the mountains in this Taurus-Littrow Valley. Schmitt’s inability to explain the “apparent lineations” stems from the fact that this kind of geologic layering is almost always associated with sedimentary deposition caused by standing water. Since no water has ever flowed or pooled on the Moon, such natural geological explanations are totally untenable. These types of lineations can also be caused under rare conditions by lava flows, but again the lineations on the massifs were literally thousands of feet above the ancient lava pool on the valley floor, making that explanation even less likely than water. Remember, NASA’s geologic model was that these mountains were deposited on the Taurus-Littrow plane as ejecta from a massive impact event.

Close-up of Nansen (A) and the bright debris blanket around it (B) Nansen was the primary target of the Apollo 17 day two EVA.

“Lineations” on the South Massif.

This leaves only one viable explanation for the regular, repeating geometric patterns visible on the faces of all the “massifs” in the Taurus-Littrow valley—architecture. That this was difficult for the astronauts to come to grips with is unquestionable from the transcripts. But that observation is only the beginning of the mysteries that the South Massif held.

EVA-2 traverse map.

Composite view looking north of two frames (AS17-138-21058 and -21059) showing the view of Nansen from above, near where the Lunar Rover was parked. The ridge running through the center of the image is the shelf seen in orbital photos. No publicly released views exist looking directly into Nansen from the north.

On the approach to Nansen, Schmitt, who has the task of taking a photograph every thirty yards or so during the traverse, suddenly stops taking pictures, saying at 141:56:24: “Holy cow! I’d better slow down my picture taking.” Why exactly he would stop taking pictures of the primary target of that day’s EVA is anyone’s guess, but the two astronauts took literally hundreds more photos during the rest of the EVA. It was just then interior of Nansen they didn’t seem to be interested in taking pictures of. This is in spite of the fact they had plenty of opportunity to do so:

142:42:21 Cernan: “Boy, you’re looking right into Nansen.”

A few moments later Cernan parks the rover at geology station 2, up on the shelf above Nansen and facing north, so the TV cameras cannot see directly into the opening at the base of the massif. Instead, we can only see down into Nansen from above and to the south of the curious opening. Schmitt and Cernan could however have seen directly into Nansen once they dismounted the Rover and began moving around the area. It’s pretty clear from the transcript that they were astounded by what they saw:

142:44:27 Schmitt: Look at Nansen! My goodness gracious.

In looking at the only available photos of Nansen, it is hard to figure out what was so exciting to Schmitt, unless he saw something off camera that was far more intriguing than the simple gray landscape we have been shown.

After dismounting, the astronauts activated the TV camera. Unfortunately, when we did get the television picture, it showed us little to nothing. Since they had parked the rover on the shelf above Nansen (the “entrance” to the South Massif), all we had was a view looking back to the north toward the light mantle avalanche runoff. After some minimal time spent on housekeeping tasks, the astronauts disappeared off camera for most of the next 20 minutes. In fact, they are out of sight of the camera for fully 85% of the entire sixty-four minute visit to the upper shelf of Nansen. This would have given them plenty of time to descend the hill and investigate the interior of Nansen, including examining the opening below the overhang.

As they are nearing the end of their time at the geology station, Cernan stops (off camera) to take some pans of the view from the base of the massif: