Apollo 18, we show you at Lo-Gate; you're still go for landing.
Apollo 18: pitchover! Go for landing.
Apollo 18, this is Houston: you're go for
landing. ALIGN SIGHT on.
Apollo 18, proceed to coordinates X:133, Y:93. Go for landing.
Apollo 18, we confirm touchdown. Congratulations!
Good landing, Apollo 18, uh... we show you right on the mark.
Good morning. My name is Dr. Hanson.
I'm here to give you some background information regarding the upcoming Apollo 18 mission.
As you are aware, the last Apollo mission was 18 months ago.
Due to budget cuts, this was to have been the final mission for the Apollo space program.
During the Apollo 17 mission, the crew deployed a lunar surface deep space radio telescope,
which was to work in conjunction with the Apollo 15 and 16 telescopes.
This animation depicts the Apollo 15, 16 and 17 radio telescope hardware
including the Radio Telescope Transmitter 301, known as the RTT-301.
On June 25th 1974,
we began receiving unsolicited high-speed random data transmissions from the Apollo 17 site.
Four seconds after the data was received, all three radio telescopes on the moon went dead,
along with their RTT-301s.
This is all that was received by the RTT-301s.
We could not identify the solar region where the transmission emanated from.
Last week, the President met with the NSA, NASA, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
General Knapp, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is here today to brief you on your upcoming mission.
General Knapp.
Thank you, Dr. Hanson.
Good morning.
First of all, I want everyone to understand that this is a Department of Defense mission,
utilizing NASA personnel and Apollo hardware.
First slide please.
This is the RTT-301 computer transmitter and its accompanying high-gain antenna system.
We believe that locked inside the failed 301's hard drive
is a message from an extraterrestrial civilization.
We want that message.
You've been selected for this mission because of your high security clearance
and your ability to fly the Apollo spacecraft.
I'm confident that you can get the job done.
There will be no EVA on this mission, due to high radiation levels at the landing site.
Once on the moon, you'll land the LM next to the RTT-301, at the Apollo 17 Taurus-Littrow site.
You'll use the new LM remote arm to retrieve the RTT-301, and then return to Earth.
Dr. Hanson will fill in any operation details...
Now I need to remind you that this is a top-secret DoD mission -
our cover story is that we're launching a routine resupply mission for Skylab.
That's it. Good luck... and Godspeed!
