Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. The voice quality on your tape was just fair-to-middling; we were able to monitor your burn and hear most of that pretty well.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. Did you get a report of the photography accomplished, or is that on the tape at present?

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Negative. We haven't heard that.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Okay. We will put it on the tape now.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. You are 4 minutes and 40 seconds away from LOS. I would like a reconfirmation on your S-band AUX switch in the DOWN-VOICE BACKUP position. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Negative; it is in the NORMAL voice. We will go DOWN-VOICE BACKUP.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. Request you leave it there forever. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. In DOWN-VOICE BACKUP now.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. All systems are GO. You're still GO for REV 2. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. One minute to LOS.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Ten seconds to LOS. All systems are GO.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Key moment TV broadcast 3: views of the moon: Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Houston, this is Apollo 8 with the TV going. Over.

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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Reading you loud and clear. We see your TV. It is a little bit—little bit clearer.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. The moon is very bright and not too distinct in this area. I will give you a shot of the horizon.

Bill Anders (LMP)

How's that look? Is it on the top of your picture?

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. It's a good picture—the horizon—we can't see many terrain features as yet.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. We are beginning to pick up a few craters very dimly; the whole thing is pretty bright.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. There is not much definition up here either out on the horizon. We are now approaching the craters See and Bassett.

Bill Anders (LMP)

I'll shift to the rendezvous window.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. We want to take the DSE.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. Looks like we've got a real good picture now.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Okay. That's the crater Brand.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. We are going to need a cryo fan cycle sometime during this pass.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. Can we wait till sunset?

Bill Anders (LMP)

Okay. I think we are coming up on Miller right now.

Bill Anders (LMP)

There's a very new bright impact crater; should be in the field of view now.

Bill Anders (LMP)

You see it in the upper part of your screen.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Say, Bill, how would you describe the color of the moon from here?

Bill Anders (LMP)

The color of the moon looks like a very whitish gray, like dirty beach sand with lots of footprints in it.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Some of these craters look like pickaxes striking concrete leaving a lot of fine haze dust.

Bill Anders (LMP)

There's some interesting features out on the other window. Let me switch windows on you now.

Bill Anders (LMP)

You should see the horizon now in the top of your picture.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. We have the horizon, Bill.

Bill Anders (LMP)

I believe these are the craters now Bassett and See.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Bill. If you have the polarizing filter handy, try flipping it in front, would you?

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Jerry, as a matter of interest, there's a lot of what appears to be very small new craters that have these little white rays radiating from them.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. We see the filter going over it. Apollo 8, this is Houston. Looks like we have too much light. The polarizing filter doesn't help much. Go ahead and remove it again.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Looks like we just got —

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. We're just passing over the crater Borman, and there's Anders out there; Lovell is right south of it.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. The TV is breaking up now. Okay. We are back with a good picture. Looks like we just have too much light. Our definition is rather weak.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Also, we're fogging up the window here, Houston, among other problems.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Bill. The other window is better than that one.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Much better picture, Bill; much better.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Alright. The right side of the camera is pointing retrograde. We are now passing abeam of the crater Houston; I will show the camera over there once for the folks in Texas.

Bill Anders (LMP)

It's a big and sprawly one; it's got those two impact craters, one to the right and one to the left.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Still about the same, Bill. It's—the terrain's pretty bright. We are not getting much definition at all; definition on this side is much much better.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Okay. I think—Okay. We are leaving the window; that gives you an idea how bad our window is.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. This picture now is much better; I guess the light levels are decreasing now.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Okay. We are coming up on the crater Collins.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. What crater is that just going off.

Bill Anders (LMP)

That's some small impact crater.

Bill Anders (LMP)

We will call it John Aaron's.

Bill Anders (LMP)

If he'll keep looking at the systems anyway.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Jerry, another ID feature: these small impact craters have dark spots in the center where it appears that they buried in it and hit some new material down below and scattered a lot of fine white dust around them.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand, Jim.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8. This is Houston. Looks like we can see Collins now.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. There is Collins for you.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

And Collins is right on the edge of Smythe's Sea which we are about to pass over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

We are now going across the Smythe Sea. Go ahead.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. We just saw a Stellenword go by.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. He was really in a hurry.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. Picture is much improved now; getting better all the time.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. The terrain here is, as you can see, not well defined. We are going to start a roll to the left, in order to come across the target area, with the television —

Bill Anders (LMP)

— landing site area.

Bill Anders (LMP)

How is that crater in—right in the middle look now?

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. That's a very good one; that must be O'Neal.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Bill. We see O'Neal real well, also the smaller crater off to the side of it.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Houston, this is Apollo 8. We are going to terminate our program for this pass and get on with the preparations for LOI 2, if you say we are GO.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Roger.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Okay. Signing off until ninth rev. Apollo 8.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Roger.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Thank you for the look.

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Spoken on Dec. 24, 1968, 12:31 p.m. UTC (55 years, 3 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. You have the DSE.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. Apollo 8, on your backside data, it's pretty much unintelligible. We suggest, Bill, that you recheck the position of your mike for your backside pass and try to speak a little bit louder and more distinctly. The last one we listened to, was pretty much unintelligible. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. As soon as we get squared away, we will give you a real quick real time summary.

Bill Anders (LMP)

And, Houston, you might let us know, can we do the red/blue filter exercise with both these filters—red filters on? Over.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Apollo 8, Houston. Negative.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston with an LOI 2 maneuver PAD. Ready to copy?

Frank Borman (CDR)

Okay, Houston. Go ahead.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. LOI 2, SPS/G&N: 46427, minus 053, plus 141 073:35:05.70 minus 01350, plus all zeros, plus all zeros. Copy?

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. 000 175 358 00607, plus 00606, 01350 009 01265 02 3112 197. Copy?

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. Taurus, Aida; I repeat, Taurus, Aida. Up 162, left 01, the remainder not applicable. GDC align Sirius, Rigel 129, 155, 010, negative ullage, horizon window ignition minus 3 27 degrees, horizon left. At ignition, 18 degrees, horizon left; before readback, configure for receiving any update. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. Understand. Configure for receiving an update.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Okay. We're in P00 and ACCEPT. Go ahead.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. I'm ready for your readback.

Frank Borman (CDR)

LOI 2, SPS/G&N: 46427, minus 053, plus 141 073:35:05.70, minus 01350, plus 0000, plus 0000 000 175 358 00607, plus 00606 01350 009 01265 02 3112 197; Taurus, Aida, up 16.2, left 0.1, fixed read not applicable; Sirius, Rigel 129 155 010, no ullage, ignition minus 3 27 degrees, ignition 18 degrees.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Roger. Readback is correct.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Your map update for REV 2/3, no change. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Understand. No change, REV 2/3.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Frank. You can expect GO/NO-GO for the next rev at 20 minutes before LOS. Over.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. We'll try to make that call 20 minutes before every LOS. Over.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. We have the CSM vector in starting on the LV. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Houston, this is Apollo 8.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. Just an interesting feature: on my center window which has ice on it, it is now beginning to melt. I'm beginning to see through it.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. That's good news.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

And again we're directly over our favorites, Messier and Pickering.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

The view at this altitude, Houston, is tremendous. There is no trouble picking out features that we learned on the map.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. Jim, that's good news. What do you think of the lighting situation as far as the range of lighting for good visibility?

Jim Lovell (CMP)

The range from here is outstanding. I wish we had the TV still going because the brown area now is darker. We have just passed over the Sea of Fertility, and the mare is darker. The mountain range has got more contrast, has more contrast because of the sun angle. Bill's got the 16 mm going for us.