Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Looking good here.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Houston, Apollo 8. How do you read?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Read you loud and clear, Frank. How us?

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. Loud and clear. We are taking pictures of the S-IVB; the postseparation sequence is completed, and we seem to have a high gain.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Is Bill reedy for his VHF test? We can configure any time he is.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. We would like to ask whether you did a VERB 66 ENTER to transfer the state vector from CSM to LM slot. We didn't copy that down here.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Do you want us to do that now?

Frank Borman (CDR)

We see the earth now, almost as a disk.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Good show. Get a picture of it.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Tell Conrad he lost his record.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

We have a beautiful view of Florida now. We can see the Cape, just the point.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

And at the same time, we can see Africa. West Africa is beautiful. I can also see Gibraltar at the same time I'm looking at Florida.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Sounds good. Get a picture of it. What window are you looking out?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Are your windows clear so far?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

How about your VHF check? We would like to get that done before you get too much further away.

Frank Borman (CDR)

We are listening on VHF alfa Simplex.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Say again.

Frank Borman (CDR)

We are listening for VHF alfa Simplex.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay, good. Thank you. VHF alfa Simplex, and we will get configured for it; and in between times, give us a clue as to what it looks like from way up there.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. Well, Mike, I can see the entire earth now out of the center window. I can see Florida, Cuba, Central America, the whole northern half of Central America, in fact, all the way down through Argentina and down through Chile.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

They picked a good day for it.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Stand by. We are going through the separation maneuver checklist here.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Houston, this is Apollo 8. We've lost sight of the S-IVB here. The separation maneuver may be delayed slightly, or else we will go ahead and make it without having her in sight.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand, Frank.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Go ahead.

Frank Borman (CDR)

When does the S-IVB do their blowdown maneuver?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Your blowdown will be 1 hour from now, a little more that 1 hour from now.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. We have the S-IVB in sight again now. We have done the separation maneuver.