Spacelog Apollo 8

You sound real bright eyed and bushy tailed. How's it going up there?

Real great.

Apollo 8, Houston. How about giving us a countdown to PRD reading. Over?

Just mine?

Just on you, Bill. We got the other two while you were sacked out.

The one that I have now, and the one that Jim took off, which is obviously broken, it's still at 0.64.

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Roger, Bill. On your PTC attitude, we're requesting a pitch angle zero, and we're showing you about 27 degrees pitch and increasing. Over.

Roger. I've been trying to work it down to ENTER again.

They're letting you drive, after all?

I have to every now and then just to square this thing away.

Mike, I'll just give you my status here before the rest of them go to sleep; had about 3 hours sleep, another meal, and everybody's doing fine.

Apollo 8, Houston. Radio check. Over.

Loud and clear.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Over.

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Over.

Roger, Mike. How do you read?

I read you loud and clear not, Bill. I wasn't hearing here for a couple of calls. How do you read me?

I had my hands full; I was putting something down. I read you fine.

Okay. Understand. If it'll be any help to you in your PTC driving, we've computed that as you look out plus X in the COAS or just out the window, you should be pointed right at Acrux when you're in a perfect PTC attitude. We don't know if that's a help to you or not, but we thought you might enjoy trying an alternate mode of keeping the attitude under control.

Okay. From my present position, we're going to have to move Acrux a little bit.

Well, whatever you think. We just thought you might appreciate knowing.

I'll give it a try, Mike.

Can you see it all right?

Yes, I think so. There's a star out there anyway.

Houston, Apollo 8. Do you read?

Go ahead, Bill.

Actually, Mike, it's so easy to do it with the eight-ball within a reasonable sloppy limit that it's hardly worth the trouble to scootch way up in the seat to look out the COAS, and it's enough light in the cockpit where the star really isn't too easy to see. So I'm kind of inclined to use the IFR technique here where you can see the rest of the instrument panel.

Okay.

I thought you were an all-weather pilot.

Well now, you just caused Flight down here to get a “Got Ya” on CAP COMM and FAO.

Apollo 8, Houston. Could you give us a better OMNI, please?

Apollo 8, Houston. We will be changing the antennas in 3 minutes. You can expect a COMM glitch. Over.

Apollo 8, Houston. Can you switch us to OMNI Charlie, please.

Thank you, sir.

Houston, Apollo 8.

Houston, Apollo 8. Are you still there?

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Go ahead. Over.

I was just seeing if you were still there, Mike. The Old Grey Eagle is taking over the show from here.

Which one of them?

Old Super Chief.

Roger, Bill. We had an erasable memory dump a few hours back. I think it was while you were asleep, but anyway we've checked the computer's erasable memory bit by bit, and everything agrees 100 percent. Over.

Mighty fine. Glad to hear it, Mike. Thank you.

Roger. Are you going to brief Frank on your tape recorder before you go to sleep?

He can't handle it. It's too complicated.

Apollo 8, Houston. Give us a different OMNI, please.

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Over.

Go ahead, Michael.

Roger. We are going to switch our ground antennas in about a minute and a half. You can expect a COMM glitch then.

Thank you.

…, Mike.

Apollo 8, this is Houston through Carnarvon. Were you calling a minute ago, Frank?

Y'all in Australia, do you hear us?

Yes, we are reading you loud and clear now.

Carnarvon, how do you read? Apollo 8.

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Reading you loud and clear through Carnarvon.

Hello, Houston.

Go ahead, Frank.

We are just listening to all the guys around the NET.

Can you hear them?

I could that time, all the way from Carnarvon to Texas.

How did they ever get an old maintenance officer on the midnight shift?

Frank, you are on GOSS Conference if you would like to be brave. Over.

Apollo 8, Houston. OMNI Bravo, please.

Houston, Apollo 8.

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Over.

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Over.

Have you noticed how long I've stayed locked in this PTC mode?

Just about an hour and a quarter looks to us like, Frank.

I haven't even touched the hand control here for about 20 minutes, and it just hasn't moved outside that zero; I've never seen it like this before.

Be sure and have your troops give me a call if it gets close to gimbal lock, will you? I'm snoozing a little bit now and then up here.

Yes, we sure will, Frank.

Thank you.

And if you'd switch the antennas, you'd really be good guys.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Over.

Houston, Apollo 8.

Roger. Just a check on the radio, and if it's practical, BIOMED switch left, please.

Okay, Mike. We had a crew change in the watch again.

Well, that was quick. Did you decide you didn't want to sleep after all?

Well, it wasn't my decision.

Yes, that's what I figured.

Apollo 8, Houston. We will be changing antennas in about 2-1/2 minutes; you can expect a COMM glitch.

Roger. What are you changing to?

We're switching from Carnarvon to Honeysuckle, Bill.