- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, Houston, We'd like to go back to high bit rate in order to get this P23 data recorded. Over.
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, Houston. Do you want us to turn off your DSE for you? It's probably about half full. We're getting good high bit rate down.
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Okay. And, also, we're—your state vector is now based on about 5 hours of tracking. We have you on a pericynthian of 69.7 miles with a free return. Your entry flight path angle looks like about minus 14. You will need only a few feet per second to get you back on a nominal entry angle.
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, this is Houston reading you fairly weak. I'll repeat the state vector information. Your state vector is now based on 5 hours, more than 5 hours of tracking. We show you on a pericynthian of 69.7 miles with a free return with entry path flight angle of minus 14 degrees. Will only need a few feet per second at the lunar distance to get you back on a nominal entry angle. Over.
- Frank Borman (CDR)
-
Roger. I'm at the PTC maneuver now. Like a distance status from you—how the battery looks and how the fuel cells look and et cetera. Over.
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, this is Houston. We figure battery B will be charged in about 2 to 3 hours. All your systems look GO; your RCS usage so far is about 60 pounds, six-zero pounds over nominal. Over.
- Bill Anders (LMP)
-
Okay. We're going to have two of us hit the hay now and one man minding the store so you might have everybody keep an extra sharp eye on …
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Good morning, Frank. Apollo 8, this is Houston. We're wondering about your GDC backup align; we'd like your opinion on the possibility of doing this align using Sirius and Rigel rather than Navi, as it's in the north set at this time. Over.
Expand selection up Contract selection down Close - Jim Lovell (CMP)
-
Houston, this is Apollo 8. We concur. Sirius and Rigel would be two stars that would be much better than Navi and Polaris. However, I did Cassiopeia after I became adapted, but I'm afraid that the time required to do that type of alignment would be extensive if we ever had to go to that alignment.
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Roger, Jim. We understand. We'll go ahead and work in that direction, and we'll quit bothering you. Good night.
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, Houston. At 19 GET, we're due for another cycle through on the cryo fans. Over.
- Frank Borman (CDR)
-
Give me a call when it is time to quit charging the battery, will you? I can't watch it very well over there.
- Frank Borman (CDR)
-
Okay, Houston. We cycled through the fans 2 minutes each, and we'll stand by for the call for battery charges.
- Frank Borman (CDR)
-
Roger, Houston. Crew status report here. We're behind on water and food, and we don't seem to have too much of an appetite. We're trying to stay up with the water, but the food is—not that there's anything wrong with the food, but we're just not very hungry.
- Frank Borman (CDR)
-
The CDR got 5 hours of fitful sleep and rest, and the other two people are trying to sleep now.
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, this is Houston. At 21 hours, we'd like you to terminate the battery B charge and start battery A charge and then begin an O2 purge. Over.
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, Houston. Roger. Copy your battery charge setup; now begin a fuel cell O2 purge. Over.
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
It's looking good, Frank. We just took in another batch of data, and we are processing it. It looks initially like we won't even need a midcourse number 2. As soon as we process this data, we will have some confirmation for you. It should take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to finish the job.
- Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, this is Houston. We are showing your pericynthian 64 nautical miles. Your next midcourse at 28 will be less than 1 foot per second. We will have a firm confirmation on this in about 2 hours.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Roger. Your break lock is due to the fact we switched our antennas over from Honeysuckle to Madrid. Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Roger, Frank. We would like to bring you up to date on your trajectory. This midcourse coming up at 28 hours GET turns out to be very small, 0.7 feet per second, and we would like not to do it. Our data is looking extremely good and extrapolating it forward; it shows the midcourse number 4 at LOI minus 8 hours would be about 4 feet per second. In the meantime, the free return trajectory is looking very good with a water splash point off the coast of Africa. So it looks like you are right down the old center line, and we propose not to do the next midcourse. Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Okay. And in regard to your timeline here, we suggest that you let Bill and Jim sleep for an extra period of time and don't wake them up until 26:30 GET, and that would cause deletion of P52 and P23 at 26 hours GET. Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Affirmative. Delete those at 26 hours, wake the other two guys up at 26:30 at which time they can eat, and then chlorinate the water supply after they have eaten.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Roger, we're switching antennas again at 23:40 GET. You can expect a momentary break lock, and also we would like to bring you up to date on the passive thermal control. We expect to keep the same PTC attitude until 28 hours GET. Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Okay. Stand by one until we switch our antennas, Frank. We'll be right with you.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
On your PTC, quads A, C, and D seem to be just about identical. Quad B is running slightly cooler, but only very slightly so. The temperature readouts in all respects are normal, so apparently the PTC is working well from a thermal viewpoint. And as far as the fuel consumption goes, it's minimal, just about like we expected. Have you got any comments about PTC? How does it seem to you?
- Frank Borman (CDR)
-
Seems fine. Seems to be working all right, just like you said. I was just wondering how the readouts from the SPS were, too.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, Houston. The SPS temperature is normal. If anything, it's slightly warmer than we expected, so you are in real good shape in that respect.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Frank, the PU valve temperature is running about 72 degrees, which is better control than we got here in this room.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Roger. It is time to do a cryo fan cycle, Frank, on all four fans, a short burst from each of them as you did before.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Stand by one, Frank. We noticed that you've got your PTC attitude peaked up a bit, and I'll check on your tape dump.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, Houston. The quality of the tape dump has been very good. We have about 15 minutes to dump, which we will do the next time we get high gain. Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Frank, on this tape recorder, we have the tape motion stopped right now. If you would like to record some, we will give you the tape in motion so that you may do so. Is that what you would like? Over.
- Frank Borman (CDR)
-
Roger. Houston, why don't you just give us salvo so we can control the switches here.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Hi, Jim. Things are going real fine. How are you doing up there? Did you get a good night's sleep?
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Apollo 8, Houston. The next time you are locked up on the high gain, give us a call, and we will configure for a dump. Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Roger. Understand. So far, it's been very good. We will evaluate this one as soon as we can.
- Bill Anders (LMP)
-
Just a rough estimate. And also, have you seen any more hints on that sensor problem on fuel cell 2?
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Bill, there is nothing new on fuel cell number 2. We don't think there is anything at all wrong with the fuel cell. It's some sort of a sensor problem, but we don't have any new information on it.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Well, I've got a TLI plus 35 hour update, and then I have an update to Jim's checklist.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Okay. This—when you get your maneuver PAD book out—the last maneuver PAD we gave you for the flyby PAD still remains valid. We would just like to remark that the entry angle, the Gamma, is slightly steeper than we consider ideal, but it's within our—sort of the noise level of our ability to predict at this time. So that flyby maneuver PAD remains valid. Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Okay. Now on that page with the flyby maneuver, under your north set of stars, I have some new numbers for you because we've changed those stars from Navi and Polaris. As you recall, we changed to Sirius and Rigel, so—And that also, by the way, is the checklist update which I will give you later—but on that maneuver PAD, I have got three new angles for you using Sirius and Rigel when you are ready to copy those.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Roger, Apollo 8. Houston. You are loud and clear now. We had a lot of background noise there for a few minutes. How are you reading me?
- Bill Anders (LMP)
-
Roger. I'm reading you okay, Mike, and I read you the last time you asked me that, so I guess maybe I wasn't getting through to you.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Okay. Well, did you copy on this flyby maneuver PAD? We've got three new angles. Are you ready to copy those?
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
That's affirmative, and I have the TLI plus 35 hour PAD when you are ready for it.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Roger. TLI plus 35 hours, SPS/G&N, 63023 minus 162 plus 129. Are you with me so far?
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Good. 037:56:51.38, plus 00068, plus 00000, plus 46420 178 134 001, not applicable, plus 00202 46420 547 46211. Are you with me? Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Good. 12 1383 327 023 up 172 left 22, plus 1293, minus 16500, 12905 36180 074:11:16. Comments: on your stars Sirius and Rigel, roll 010, pitch 294, yaw 320, no ullage. Other: one, fast return P37, DELTA-V equals 7821, for mid-Pacific landing for MTL; two, high speed procedures not required. Over.
- Bill Anders (LMP)
-
TLI plus 35, SPS/G&N 63023, minus 162, plus 129 037:56:51.38, plus 00068, plus 00000, plus 46420 178 134 000, NA. Are you with me?
- Bill Anders (LMP)
-
Roger. Y 001, NA, plus 00202 46420 547 46211 12 1383 327 023 up 172 left 22, plus 1293, minus 16500, plus 12905, plus 36180 074:11:16, Sirius, Rigel: 010 294 320, no ullage, fast return P37, 7821 mid-PAC; high speed not required. Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
That's about the size of it. You're getting pretty good at this thing, Bill, for a rookie.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Roger. Hey, I've got a flight plan update for Jim. It's on page G, George, 82 Able of his checklist. Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Okay. It's simply changing these north set of stars around. For Navi substitute Sirius, which is number 15, and for Rigel—correction—for Polaris substitute Rigel, number 12.
Expand selection down Contract selection up - Jim Lovell (CMP)
-
Roger. Substitute Rigel for Polaris and Sirius for Navi. How about shaft and trunnion; remain the same?
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Your shaft and trunnions remain the same. Sirius remains on the 50-degree line just like Navi used to be. Rigel is down 1.3 degrees from your horizontal, from your M-line. Over.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Okay. And let me know when it gets to be breakfast time. I've got a newspaper to read up to you and a few other things.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Okay. I've got a Haney special here for you. The Interstellar Times latest edition says the flight to the moon is occupying prime space on both paper and television; it's THE news story. The headlines of the Post says “Moon, here they come”. We understand that Bill Anders will be in private conversation or communication today with an old man who wears a red suit and lives at the North Pole. A suspect in the Miami kidnapping was captured late yesterday, and the 11 GI's that have been detained 5 months in Cambodia were released yesterday and will make it home in time for Christmas.
- Bill Anders (LMP)
-
Roger. With reference to the first, we saw him earlier this morning, and he was heading your way.
- Mike Collins (CAPCOM)
-
Roger. We'll pass the word along. David Eisenhower and Julie Nixon were married yesterday in New York. He was described as “nervous”.
Spoken on Dec. 22, 1968, 7:41 a.m. UTC (55 years, 10 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet