Spacelog Apollo 8

Just a rough estimate. And also, have you seen any more hints on that sensor problem on fuel cell 2?

Stand by one. I'll get the latest scoop on it for you, Bill.

Bill, there is nothing new on fuel cell number 2. We don't think there is anything at all wrong with the fuel cell. It's some sort of a sensor problem, but we don't have any new information on it.

Okay. They all look pretty good from here, Mike.

Roger. Thank you.

I've got some updates for you whenever you are ready to copy.

Stand by.

Okay.

What kind?

Well, I've got a TLI plus 35 hour update, and then I have an update to Jim's checklist.

Let's have the TLI plus 30 before we get the checklist update.

They never give up on the checklist, do they?

Okay. This—when you get your maneuver PAD book out—the last maneuver PAD we gave you for the flyby PAD still remains valid. We would just like to remark that the entry angle, the Gamma, is slightly steeper than we consider ideal, but it's within our—sort of the noise level of our ability to predict at this time. So that flyby maneuver PAD remains valid. Over.

Roger, Houston.

Okay. Now on that page with the flyby maneuver, under your north set of stars, I have some new numbers for you because we've changed those stars from Navi and Polaris. As you recall, we changed to Sirius and Rigel, so—And that also, by the way, is the checklist update which I will give you later—but on that maneuver PAD, I have got three new angles for you using Sirius and Rigel when you are ready to copy those.

Apollo 8, Houston. How do you read? Over.

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Houston, Apollo 8. Over.

Roger, Apollo 8. Houston. You are loud and clear now. We had a lot of background noise there for a few minutes. How are you reading me?

Roger. I'm reading you okay, Mike, and I read you the last time you asked me that, so I guess maybe I wasn't getting through to you.

Okay. Well, did you copy on this flyby maneuver PAD? We've got three new angles. Are you ready to copy those?

I'm ready to copy the flyby angles.

Okay. Roll 137. pitch 310, yaw 340. Over.

Roger. Roll 137, pitch 310, yaw 340.

That's affirmative, and I have the TLI plus 35 hour PAD when you are ready for it.

Roger. Ready for the TLI plus 35.

Roger. TLI plus 35 hours, SPS/G&N, 63023 minus 162 plus 129. Are you with me so far?

Loud and clear.

Good. 037:56:51.38, plus 00068, plus 00000, plus 46420 178 134 001, not applicable, plus 00202 46420 547 46211. Are you with me? Over.

Roger. Loud and clear.

Good. 12 1383 327 023 up 172 left 22, plus 1293, minus 16500, 12905 36180 074:11:16. Comments: on your stars Sirius and Rigel, roll 010, pitch 294, yaw 320, no ullage. Other: one, fast return P37, DELTA-V equals 7821, for mid-Pacific landing for MTL; two, high speed procedures not required. Over.

Roger. Are you ready for the readback?

All set.

TLI plus 35, SPS/G&N 63023, minus 162, plus 129 037:56:51.38, plus 00068, plus 00000, plus 46420 178 134 000, NA. Are you with me?

Yes, I'm with you, Bill. That last one should be 001.

Roger. Y 001, NA, plus 00202 46420 547 46211 12 1383 327 023 up 172 left 22, plus 1293, minus 16500, plus 12905, plus 36180 074:11:16, Sirius, Rigel: 010 294 320, no ullage, fast return P37, 7821 mid-PAC; high speed not required. Over.

That's about the size of it. You're getting pretty good at this thing, Bill, for a rookie.

Not bad. I just learned to read about a year ago.

Roger. Hey, I've got a flight plan update for Jim. It's on page G, George, 82 Able of his checklist. Over.

Roger. I've got it open. Go ahead, Mike.

Okay. It's simply changing these north set of stars around. For Navi substitute Sirius, which is number 15, and for Rigel—correction—for Polaris substitute Rigel, number 12.

Roger. Substitute Rigel for Polaris and Sirius for Navi. How about shaft and trunnion; remain the same?

Your shaft and trunnions remain the same. Sirius remains on the 50-degree line just like Navi used to be. Rigel is down 1.3 degrees from your horizontal, from your M-line. Over.

Roger. Understand.

Okay. And let me know when it gets to be breakfast time. I've got a newspaper to read up to you and a few other things.

We're ready.

Okay. I've got a Haney special here for you. The Interstellar Times latest edition says the flight to the moon is occupying prime space on both paper and television; it's THE news story. The headlines of the Post says “Moon, here they come”. We understand that Bill Anders will be in private conversation or communication today with an old man who wears a red suit and lives at the North Pole. A suspect in the Miami kidnapping was captured late yesterday, and the 11 GI's that have been detained 5 months in Cambodia were released yesterday and will make it home in time for Christmas.

Roger. With reference to the first, we saw him earlier this morning, and he was heading your way.

Roger. We'll pass the word along. David Eisenhower and Julie Nixon were married yesterday in New York. He was described as “nervous”.

Baltimore.

How many points are you giving?

(Laughter) He's not making many points at home with that comment.

Roger. Understand. Oh, I've got another score for you when you are ready to copy. Are you ready to copy?

Stand by. Go ahead.

Roger. Navy 14, Army 21. Would you like for me to repeat that? Over.

You are very garbled; Houston; I'm unable to read. Will call you back in another year.

Okay. We also notice the University of Houston lost their first home basketball game in 3-1/2 years last night. Illinois edged them out 97 to 84. And some really big news: the State Department announced only a few minutes ago that the Pueblo crew will be released at 9 p.m. tonight.

Sounds good. Outboard calculations indicate that Apollo 8 at 25 hours is 104 000 miles from home.

Yes. Our plot board shows a similar number.

Mighty nice view from here.

We're showing about 104 800 miles, and we're guessing another 8 to 10 hours on your battery charge.

Okay.

Frank, say again about the view. You were blocked, I think.

This is a mighty nice view we have down there today. A little bit more than a half earth. Looks like Africa and the Red Sea is visible; we're not quite sure as there is quite a bit of cloud cover; but even through the hazy windows, it's mighty nice.

How are your windows? Do you have a couple left that are real clear?

The rendezvous windows are good. The others are all about the same as they were when we last reported. One and five have a slight haze and a little fog on the inside.

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

…

Roger. Just as a matter of curiosity for Bill, we can say a few words about the heaters for the cryo tanks, and also for the fans. We've noticed that the heaters are doing their thing normally, cycling on and off; and as time goes by, this cycle rate increases, indicating a little bit of stratification in the tanks. And then when we've been turning the fans on every 4 hours for a couple of minutes, this stirs things up and the heaters then cycling on and off again more slowly for awhile, until again a little bit of stratification occurs, and the cycling becomes slightly more rapid. This is, of course, normal; we just point it out as a curiosity to you. Over.

Roger. I haven't really been following it that close. One thing I have noticed is when you turn the fans on you get a glitch in the quantity, which might correspond to a glitch in AC. Maybe the next time we'll look at the AC volts and see what happens.

Our experts say that's not the reason for the glitch. They say the stratification fakes out the capacitance sensor there for a second.

I knew they would have some big deal answer for me.

… got you today.

I'll buy that.

Roger.

Any other information you want us to send up to you?

No, we're going to zap you with the high gain here shortly.

Okay.

Houston, this is Apollo 8. How do you read on the high gain?

Reading you loud and clear, Bill. How me?

I'm reading you loud and clear. I'll go ahead and dump this. You might want to listen to it in real time to evaluate the voice.

Okay. We'll do that as soon as we can.

Give me a call when you are ready.

Do you want to dump it by your command, or would you like us to command the dump on it? Over.

Oh, you can go ahead and command whenever you are ready.

Okay. we are starting now; thank you.

I've already rewound.

Roger.

Roger. I've already rewound.

There is only about 5 minutes worth on the tape, Houston.

Roger. Understand, Bill. You promised me you would wait 3 days before you started doing this, Bill.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston.

Roger, Bill. We've got your dump, and the voice quality is very good. We we going to take about 20 minutes or so to get it back to Houston to play it.

Roger. Where are you taking it through, Houston?

It comes through Madrid and then Ascension, Bill.