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Frank Borman (CDR)
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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.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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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.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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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.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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How about your VHF check? We would like to get that done before you get too much further away.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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We are listening on VHF alfa Simplex.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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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.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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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.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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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.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Roger. We have the S-IVB in sight again now. We have done the separation maneuver.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. We would like to get an approximate GET of your SEP maneuver to use for our ephemeris tracking data.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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— We have the—Mike, we have the exact callout here for you and a burn status report.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Alright, DELTA-VX minus 00011, DELTA-VY plus 0002, DELTA-VZ minus 0002, roll 0, pitch 180, yaw 0. Over.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger. At your convenience, would you please go P00 and ACCEPT? We're going to update to your W matrix. And also when you get a chance, we would like to know about the SLA panels. Did they all depart? And do you have any comments about the SLA?
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Houston, Apollo 8. Will you give us the information when you want us to stop the venting and so on?
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger. What is the venting information are you inquiring about: the O2 flow high out through the waste tank or waste compartment, or are you talking about your evaporator?
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. You can go back to BLOCK. We have gotten in the load to the W matrix update.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Roger. It looks like I might have to do a couple more small maneuvers to stay away from the front of this S-IVB, the way we are ending up now. Do you want me to do these with our P47 if we have to do them?
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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I'd like to give you some idea about your trajectory. It looks like a midcourse correction number 1, projected out to TLI plus 6 hours, would be only 7 feet per second. So, of course, any further maneuvers you do would add to that, which is probably good.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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The S-IVB is really venting.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Understand; that is supposedly a non-propulsive vent. The big blowdown maneuver, it starts maneuvering to blowdown attitude at 04:44:55, and the vent occurs at 05:07:55.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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That is the nonpropulsive vent, but it's pretty spectacular. It's spewing out from all sides like a huge water sprinkler.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Big vent time 05:07:55, and it will start maneuvering to vent attitude beginning at 04:44:55. Bill has got the tape recorder back.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Yes, you took the words right out of my mouth, Frank, and we would like to know also how far away from the S-IVB you are now.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Roger. I believe we are going to have to vent or thrust away from this thing; we seem to be getting closer.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Understand, Frank; go ahead whenever—just give us some idea of when you did it and how much.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Okay, Frank. On your additional separation maneuver, we recommend that you make a radial burn, point your plus X-axis toward the earth, and thrust minus X for 3 feet per second. Over.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Okay. The reason we want a radial burn is to increase your midcourse correction so we can use the SPS. Stand by on it.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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How close to a radial burn can you get without losing sight of the S-IVB, Frank?
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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We can pitch down some. Jim has the earth in the optics so we could pitch some and get pretty close to one, I guess.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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We can give you a pitch gimbal angle on radial direction if that would be a help. It's 181 degrees; pitch gimbal angle would be exactly radial at 4 hours and 10 minutes. I don't know whether that solves your visibility problem or not.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Frank, if you use zero, then make the SEP if possible in the plus X thrusters. That's the direction of the burn we'd like.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. At blowdown, that S-IVB should be oriented to perform a retrograde blowdown along the local horizontal.
Spoken on Dec. 21, 1968, 4:28 p.m. UTC (55 years, 10 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet
