【誰にともなしに、独り言レス―その3255】
その 983
さて、地質学者を月に行かせるとなると、当然その地質学者を宇宙飛行士にしなければならない―その（今のところ唯一の）完全な例がジャック・シュミット（アポロ17）だけれど、逆の理屈で宇宙飛行士を地質学者にしてもいいわけで、その（完全ではないが）近似値的な例としてはアポロ15 のデイヴ・スコットが挙げられる。
スコットとアーウィンがジェネシス・ロックを発見し、モニターで確認する地質学チームが興奮して 「見たかい 見たか、あれ！」（Did you see that ? Did you see that ?） 「適当なサンプル採集してるだけじゃ絶対に見つかりっこない石だ」（I doubt a random surface sample would have ever pulled that out of the hat.） 「ああ、連中はもう地質学のプロだ あれこそ科学だ」（Really. Give me guys in the field any day. That is science.）と快哉を叫ぶところなどは、まさに宇宙飛行士が地質学者（の代わり）になって月に行ったという（わたしには話の核心を突いてると思われる）シーン。
その2578～2580
「人類、月に立つ」でアポロ15 のデイヴ・スコットとジム・アーウィンが月面で（後に Genesis Rock と名付けられる）お目当ての斜長岩（anorthosite）を見つける―
Get the unusual one.
Oh, boy.
It's a beaut. And it's a white clast. And it's about―
Oh, man, look at that. I can almost see twinning in there.
Guess what we just found. Guess what we just found.
I think we found what we came for.
I think we found ourselves some anorthosite.
That's it ! It's like being back at the old San Gabriel mountains.
と興奮する様を具にモニターしていたバックルームの地質学者チームの面々は見たかとばかりに―
Did you see that? Did you see that?
I doubt a random surface sample would have ever pulled that out of the hat.
Really. Give me guys in the field any day. Yes, sir. That is science.
宇宙飛行士の科学的探査能力を疑いシルバー教授らと反目していた学者も―
"I stand corrected, Dr Silver. "
と自らの短慮を詫びる。
このシーンの背景はシルバー教授の証言 Interview with Leon T. Silver （Caltech Archives, 2001）から窺えて―
Silver : Apollo 15 was a great achievement. There was a group of doubters— Harold Urey, and people who were fundamentally chemists and physicists, including some people I admired very much, like George Wetherill—people who were given important monitoring positions. Finally, these guys got so nervous that they insisted on inserting themselves into the science back room. One of them sent George Wetherill to observe what we did—how we biased them.
It was so petty, it was incredible. This is another area where Gerry Wasserburg was a principal negative influence. It was reflecting differences in approach which Gerry could not accept. It got to the point where they set up a parallel science back room because they thought they could do it better than the US Geological Survey. And I was then a member of the lunar surface team, which was the US Geological Survey.
They didn’t trust the geologists. But by the time the Apollo 15 mission was through, I got a direct, full-face apology for doubting us from Tony Calio, the guy who had been the head of the science office at Johnson Space Center.
And George Wetherill, a very distinguished scientist, the head of the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, also said we did a great job. Everybody said we did.
Those guys [on Apollo 15] up on the lunar surface had learned their techniques and had done their work so well that by far the richest trove of data, samples, observations, and photographs came back with them.
