Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Go ahead with backup voice check.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Go ahead, with backup voice check. Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Go ahead with backup voice check. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger, Mike. I gave you a count. I'll give you another one. Are you standing by?

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. This is Apollo 8 through backup voice: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger, Bill. Reading you weak but clear. Go ahead with normal S-band voice check.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Houston, this is Apollo 8 on normal S-band: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. How do you read? Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Reading you loud and clear normal S-band. How me?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Reading you loud and clear on normal S-band. How me? Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger, Houston. This is Apollo 8. Reading you loud and clear on normal.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Reading you loud and clear on normal S-band. How me?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Houston, this is Apollo 8. How do you read on VHF? Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Reading you loud and clear. We are also reading you loud and clear on S-band normal. How me? Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. I'm reading you loud and clear. I'll give you another count on S-band normal: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. How do you read me?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. That's loud and clear, Bill. California, would you ENABLE the VHF downlink, please?

CommTech

California ENABLED.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. We are going to rewind your tape recorder, and we have the TLI plus 90 and TLI plus 4-hour PAD's at your convenience. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. Ready to copy.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. TLI plus 90, SPS/G&N, 635 31 minus 164 plus 129. Are you with me so far? Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. We're with you.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay. 004:17:42.65 minus 04402 minus 00001 plus 48387 178 169 359, not applicable, plus 00185 48587 603 48383 06 2027 250, earth center 0123—correction: down 123; I say again, down 123, right 22 plus 21123 minus 03000 12313 34494 017:47:39, north set stars roll 068, pitch 097, yaw 356, ullage none; other: high speed procedure not required. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Houston, this is Apollo 8. We missed a portion of that maneuver PAD. Can you start with HP and go down to boresight star? Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. I say again, HP plus 00185. Are you with me?

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. We're with you.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

48587 603 48383 06 2027 250, and the boresight star is earth's center. Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Did you copy?

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger, Houston. This is a TLI plus 90 as follows: minus- the weight will be plus 63531 minus 164 plus 129 0041 74265 minus 04402 minus 0001 plus 48387 178 169 359 plus 00185 48587 603 48383. We will have to get the sextant information later; 123 minus 030.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Houston, did you copy?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. We are picking you up now over Bermuda. I did not copy your readback after DELTA-VC. That was the last quantity—I received.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger, Houston. Could you give us the sextant information again, the sextant star information?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

That's affirmative. The sextant star 06, shaft 2027, trunnion 250. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. Starting out with the sextant star, 06 2007 250, earth's center down 123, right 22 plus 1123 minus 03000 12313 34494 017 47 39; north set, roll 068, pitch 097, yaw 356, no ullage.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Jim, on your sextant star, the shaft should be 2027—2027. Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Would you go to P00 and ACCEPT, please? We want to send up the state vector.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. You are in ACCEPT.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. Go ahead. We are in P00 and ACCEPT.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Thank you. I have your TLI plus 4-hour PAD when you are ready to copy and your TLI PAD also.

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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay. TLI plus 4 hours, SPS/G&N. Weight is still 63531 as printed; the pitch and yaw minus 164 and plus 129. Are you with me so far?

Jim Lovell (CMP)

We are with you.

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Spoken on Dec. 21, 1968, 2:34 p.m. UTC (56 years ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

GETI 006:47:27.79 minus 01594 plus 00000 plus 52885 178 155 000, not applicable, plus 00192 52909. Are you with me? Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

This is Apollo 8. You're breaking lock on S-band, and again, you got cut off just at HP.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay. HP plus 00192 52909 627 52694. Are you with me? Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Sextant star, 12 1037 211, earth center down 063, right 23 plus 1068 minus 16500 12505 35061 026:42:57 north set stars, roll 068, pitch 097, yaw 356, ullage none, high speed procedure not required. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger, Houston. TLI plus 4. Weight remains the same, minus 164 plus 129 006:47:27.79 minus 01594 plus all balls plus 52885 178 155 000 NA plus 00192 52909 627 52694 12 1037 211, earth center down 063, right 213 plus 1068 minus 16500 12505 35061 026:42:57, north set roll 068, pitch 097, yaw 356, no ullage, high speed procedure not required.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Very good. That's all correct, and I have a TLI PAD for you whenever you're ready to copy it.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay. Your computer PAD is in and verified. You can go to BLOCK, and we're going to have LOS here in about 45 seconds. I'll start on the TLI PAD anyway. Time base 6P 24136, roll 179, pitch 045, yaw 001, burn time 5 plus 15, DELTA-VC prime 105 196 VI 35569, roll 357, pitch 091; yaw 001. Comments: TLI plus 10 minutes; abort attitude is 199 degrees, and I don't believe you've got time to read that back. We'll see you over Canaries at 1:50 GET. Adios.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. Houston, Apollo 8. Reading you loud and clear. TLI plan 24136 179 045 001 515 105196 35569 357 091 001; TLI plus 10, abort attitude 199 on the pitch.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger, Apollo 8. That is correct. We'd like to double check one number on the TLI plus 90 minutes. When you can dig that out, let us know.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay. It's—the sextant shaft angle should be 2027. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. Sextant shaft is 2027.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. S-IVB looking good, both from a guidance and a consumable viewpoint; it all looks GO.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

The DSE is all yours, Bill.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. We will have LOS in 1 minute; we'll pick you up again over Tananarive at 02:09.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger, Michael. Thank you.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. How does it feel up there?

Frank Borman (CDR)

Very good, very good. Everything is going rather well. It looks just about the same way it did 3 years ago.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Has Bill got time from playing with his tape recorder to look out the window?

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. We had one little incident here. Jim Lovell inadvertently popped one liferaft, so we've got one full Mae West with us here.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston through Tananarive. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. Houston, this is Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger, Apollo 8. We don't have anything for you; we are just standing by. You're looking good.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Gemini 8—correction: Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Gemini 8, Houston. We would like to bring you up to date on the COMM situation while we've got some quiet time here. We'll be LOS Tananarive in another 2 minutes; we'll be picking you up over Carnarvon at 2 hours 25 minutes and 22 seconds. LOS Carnarvon will be 02:31:55; then we've got ARIA number 1 coming in about 02:37:30; and after that, we will have a hand-off to Mercury to Hawaii to Goldstone, and we should have continuous COMM. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Very good. That's very good. Thank you.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Thought you were Gemini 7, not 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Loud and clear. We'd like to take your tape recorder for 2 minutes, please.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Can he have it, Bill?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

By the way, we read out the voice tape, and quality of the voice tape is good—from the DSE.