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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Okay. Plus 1197 minus 16500 12681 35608 050:46:53, GDC align north set stars, roll 068, pitch 097, yaw 356, ullage none; other: one, fast return, P37, DELTA-V equals 7900 for Indian Ocean; number 2, high-speed procedure not required; number 3, assumes no midcourse correction number 1. Over.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Roger. TLI plus 11. SPS/G&N 63330 minus 163 plus 129 013:56:47.59 minus 00489 plus 00000 plus 47250. You copy so far?
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Roll 177 144 00 NA plus 00197 47253 554 47050 12 1278 26, correction 256 023, up 265, left 18. Copy so far?
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Plus 1197, minus 16500 12681 35608 0506, correction 050:46:53 north set 068 097 356, zero ullage. Note one: fast return, P37, DELTA-V 7900 Indian Ocean; two, high-speed procedure not required; three, PAD assumes no MCC 1. Over.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Roger, Mike. I'd like to give some comments on P23 data. The auto maneuver was quite accurate. Looks like we got some substellar point in the maneuver; auto optics put Canopus straight where it should be; minimum impulse control worked as advertised. At the altitudes at which I started to do the sightings, they have a definite hazy band line. The filter gives the earth a glow, sort of an orangey glow. It's very indefinite of where to put the star, but there does seem to be a solid line where you might expect the horizon to be that appears through the haze where we expect the atmosphere to be. I followed the procedure which we had done up at MIT, about two lines atop the haze layer a definite line for these sightings. In regards to the optics calibration, it was very difficult to find a star in the landmark line of sight in the venting of the S-IVB.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Apollo 8. We copied that, and we'd like for you to do that trunnion check, that calibration, prior to your next set of sightings.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Roger. Will do. Canopus just disappeared from view, and maybe when we get a little time here, I'll try to get a calibration the first time.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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We're going to have to wait until we get the high-gain antenna locked on again to dump the tape.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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We'd like to hold off on the PTC and get some more P23 information. We'll have some more details of that for you shortly.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. You faded out completely, Jim. I heard Frank, but it faded when you began talking. Say again.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Roger. I have switched to Sirius, the second star in the first set, to see if I can't get an optics calibration on it, at least.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Jim, on your P23, we'd like to go ahead and do the calibration and then use star number 15 and take three sets, followed by star number 16, two sets. Over.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Roger, Houston. That's what we're trying to do. I'm trying to get 15 for an optics CAL. It's been very difficult with the bright earth to find a star that we can get into the sextant. I'm trying to use the auto optics in P23 to get the star. We have that now; we're trying to maneuver the spacecraft to bring the trunnion to zero so we can get the landmark line of sight.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Understand. And I also have your PTC attitude, which is different than you have. I'll give that to you whenever you get a free moment.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger. It looks to us like the S-IVB is behaving completely normally in regard to all the blowdowns and other sequential events that take place. It looks good.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Let's make that 80 kilometers, since there are some international aspects to this flight.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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It takes a lot longer to do it, though. I had to go to a star like Sirius to finally see it.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Understand. We are real glad you got that so we can get a horizon calibration to put in the computer.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Roger. Are you recording all of the data from 23, or do you want some read down to you?
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Stand by, Jim. We think we are getting it all. We are confirming now. That is affirmative, Jim. We are getting all that is coming down. How is it going?
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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It's working very nicely. I finished—one set was Sirius, three stars, and one set with Procyon, or two sightings; three sightings with Sirius and two with Procyon.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Frank. Understand. And we understand you've completed all sets, three on one and two on another in P23. Is that right?
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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That's affirmative. But we've finished the five sightings, three on 15 and two on 16.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Frank. What we are doing down here is this. We'd really like the horizon calibration. We would like a total of 15 marks; you know, three sets on one star, two on the other. On the other hand, we are balancing that with the need to go to PTC, and we are not losing sight of the fact that you want to go to PTC right away. So if you will bear with us another couple of minutes, we are trying to decide whether to ask you to go back and do some more of P23 or whether to clear you at this time to go to PTC. Over.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Okay. We started maneuvering to PTC. We are getting kind of far behind, and what I am concerned about, Mike, Jim is now taking off his pressure suit.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Understand. And you are maneuvering to PTC. That's fine.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We would like to hold off on the passive thermal control until 7 hours GET and, in the meantime, to get as many more P23 marks as we can, starting with the first star and doing two sets of three marks each, and then going to the second star we gave you. And concurrent with that, if possible, we would like Bill to run this high-gain antenna checkout if Lovell's attitude is compatible with that.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Okay. But they have not been to date. We are almost to the passive thermal control attitude now, and Jim is just halfway through taking his suit off.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Frank. And the reason for this is the horizon calibration requires a number of points to give you good data for the onboard NAV coming on.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Roger. We understand. We will be right back with you; just have to wait a minute here.
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Okay. Just a second; we will check on that. Then are you in a position where you can go back to the star sightings?
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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
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Okay. We will stand, and you give us a mark on that. In just a second, I will check on the antenna. Okay. It looks like we are ready to go on the high-gain antenna check. And we can either go with commands called out from the ground, and you can monitor it, or you can be talked through it, whichever you prefer.
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Ken Mattingly (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. Affirmative. We are getting your data, and we may have a beam width change, but stand by on that.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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We're on the PTC mode now waiting for Jim, and I noticed that out my window now I can see Orion very clearly, even though the sun is bright in the other window.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Speaking of the windows, the number 5 window is getting pretty well obscured and the number 3 window is unusable.
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Ken Mattingly (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Understand; number 3 is unusable and number 5 is obscured. Can you make out any definition at all, or do you have a target to look at?
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Well, I can see the sun. Wait till it comes around the earth, and I'll give you a better hack on that.
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Ken Mattingly (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. We're going to go ahead and try to dump your tape right now. Circuit margins aren't too good at our present configuration. We're going to take a look at it. If it doesn't work, we may have to dump it again at a later configuration.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Houston, this is Apollo 8. I'll do two more sets on 15, and then we'll do one set on 16.
Spoken on Dec. 21, 1968, 6:29 p.m. UTC (55 years, 10 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet
