Along the way to Shorty crater, a black halo rimmed crater on the outskirts of the light mantle material from the South Massif avalanche, Schmitt and Cernan stopped to take some samples along the rim of a small crater. The stop, which was supposed to last 20 minutes, was made to take a double core sample, get a gravimeter reading, and take some 500 millimeter pans of the general area. The station turned out to be a disaster, as the astronauts had numerous equipment problems and Schmitt took a spectacular spill trying to retrieve some sample bags. The crew later named the station “Ballet Crater,” in honor of Schmitt’s fall, and the astronaut later attempted a few ballet moves in his suit after being kidded that the Houston Ballet Foundation had called to enquire about his services.
It took nearly 37 minutes for the astronauts to complete their tasks at Ballet Crater, and from there it was straight on to Shorty, which was a primary stop for the EVA along with Nansen. Upon arrival at Shorty, the astronauts took care of some housekeeping chores, and then got their first look at the crater.
145:22:22 Schmitt: Shorty is a crater, the size of which you know (about 100 meters in diameter.) It's obviously darker rimmed, although the fragment population for most of the blanket does not seem too different than the light mantle. But inside...Whoo, whoo, whoo!
145:22:38 Cernan: Man, are you going to get a picture now.
145:22:40 Schmitt: Oh, yeah.
145:22:41 Parker: We can hardly wait.
Schmitt’s description seemed to imply that while Shorty was relatively unspectacular on the outside, the area inside the crater was at least very interesting. Unfortunately, when the camera started up, it was pointed at the rover and the distant South Massif. It stayed positioned there as Schmitt moved away to take a panorama of the crater. Several minutes into this sequence, Cernan oddly states “O-kaay! O-kaay.” At this point, Schmitt begins to discuss something odd he noticed through his visor. Raising his filter, he suddenly absorbed what he was seeing.
145:26:25 Schmitt: Wait a minute...
145:26:26 Cernan: What?
145:26:27 Schmitt: Where are the reflections? I've been fooled once. There is orange soil!!
145:26:32 Cernan: Well, don't move it until I see it.
145:26:35 Schmitt: (Very excited) It's all over!! Orange!!!
145:26:38 Cernan: Don't move it until I see it.
145:26:40 Schmitt: I stirred it up with my feet.
145:26:42 Cernan: (Excited, too) Hey, it is!! I can see it from here!
145:26:44 Schmitt: It's orange!
145:26:46 Cernan: Wait a minute, let me put my visor up. It's still orange!
145:26:49 Schmitt: Sure it is! Crazy!
145:26:53 Cernan: Orange!
145:26:54 Schmitt: I've got to dig a trench, Houston.
The astronauts then begin to sample the orange soil, which was later found to be highly oxidized, a discovery which had tremendous implications for later colonization of the Moon. Extracting oxygen from the lunar surface would make the idea of a permanent lunar base much more viable. After the scooping and core samples were taken, Schmitt moves off to the side to take numerous images of the interior of the crater. In some of these images, strange objects can be seen which do not resemble the fractured, volcanic rocks which would be expected at this site
