Spacelog Apollo 8

Pitch 242, yaw 020. Copy.

Apollo 8, Houston. Go ahead.

Roger. We'll hold up on the high-gain check until we get out of P23.

Roger, Bill. Thank you.

You may have to delay your lunch a little bit. Are you hungry?

No.

First time I ever heard you say that.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

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.

Roger. How far away is it from us now?

We were going to ask you.

(Laughter) Okay.

Fifty miles.

Roger. Copy.

Let's make that 80 kilometers, since there are some international aspects to this flight.

Roger.

Okay, Houston. We did an optics calibration; we get zeros all the time.

Roger. Understand; optics calibration and zeros all the time. Good.

It takes a lot longer to do it, though. I had to go to a star like Sirius to finally see it.

Roger. Understand. We are real glad you got that so we can get a horizon calibration to put in the computer.

Looks like the number 5 window is starting to fog up, Houston.

Roger, Houston. Understand it's the number 5 that is fogging up.

Houston, P23 coming through with Sirius.

Roger. Thank you.

A little better, these numbers are a little better.

Houston, how do you read? Apollo 8.

Apollo 8, Houston. Go ahead.

Roger. Have you been getting the downlink on the P23?

That is affirmative.

Okay. Now how much longer do you want us to hold off going to PTC?

Houston, Apollo 8.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Over.

Roger. Are you recording all of the data from 23, or do you want some read down to you?

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?

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.

Okay, Houston. This is Apollo 8. We are ready to go to the PTC attitude.

Roger, Frank. Understand. And we understand you've completed all sets, three on one and two on another in P23. Is that right?

Apollo 8, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

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.

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.

Roger. Understand. How about you and Bill?

Well, we are standing by till he gets through.