Spacelog Apollo 8

Just a rough estimate. And also, have you seen any more hints on that sensor problem on fuel cell 2?

Stand by one. I'll get the latest scoop on it for you, Bill.

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.

Okay. They all look pretty good from here, Mike.

Roger. Thank you.

I've got some updates for you whenever you are ready to copy.

Stand by.

Okay.

What kind?

Well, I've got a TLI plus 35 hour update, and then I have an update to Jim's checklist.

Let's have the TLI plus 30 before we get the checklist update.

They never give up on the checklist, do they?

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.

Roger, Houston.

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.

Apollo 8, Houston. How do you read? Over.

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Houston, Apollo 8. Over.

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?

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.

Okay. Well, did you copy on this flyby maneuver PAD? We've got three new angles. Are you ready to copy those?

I'm ready to copy the flyby angles.

Okay. Roll 137. pitch 310, yaw 340. Over.

Roger. Roll 137, pitch 310, yaw 340.

That's affirmative, and I have the TLI plus 35 hour PAD when you are ready for it.

Roger. Ready for the TLI plus 35.

Okay.

Frank, say again about the view. You were blocked, I think.

This is a mighty nice view we have down there today. A little bit more than a half earth. Looks like Africa and the Red Sea is visible; we're not quite sure as there is quite a bit of cloud cover; but even through the hazy windows, it's mighty nice.

How are your windows? Do you have a couple left that are real clear?

The rendezvous windows are good. The others are all about the same as they were when we last reported. One and five have a slight haze and a little fog on the inside.

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

…

Roger. Just as a matter of curiosity for Bill, we can say a few words about the heaters for the cryo tanks, and also for the fans. We've noticed that the heaters are doing their thing normally, cycling on and off; and as time goes by, this cycle rate increases, indicating a little bit of stratification in the tanks. And then when we've been turning the fans on every 4 hours for a couple of minutes, this stirs things up and the heaters then cycling on and off again more slowly for awhile, until again a little bit of stratification occurs, and the cycling becomes slightly more rapid. This is, of course, normal; we just point it out as a curiosity to you. Over.

Roger. I haven't really been following it that close. One thing I have noticed is when you turn the fans on you get a glitch in the quantity, which might correspond to a glitch in AC. Maybe the next time we'll look at the AC volts and see what happens.

Our experts say that's not the reason for the glitch. They say the stratification fakes out the capacitance sensor there for a second.

I knew they would have some big deal answer for me.

… got you today.

I'll buy that.

Roger.

Any other information you want us to send up to you?

No, we're going to zap you with the high gain here shortly.

Okay.

Houston, this is Apollo 8. How do you read on the high gain?

Reading you loud and clear, Bill. How me?

I'm reading you loud and clear. I'll go ahead and dump this. You might want to listen to it in real time to evaluate the voice.

Okay. We'll do that as soon as we can.

Give me a call when you are ready.

Do you want to dump it by your command, or would you like us to command the dump on it? Over.

Oh, you can go ahead and command whenever you are ready.

Okay. we are starting now; thank you.

I've already rewound.

Roger.

Roger. I've already rewound.

There is only about 5 minutes worth on the tape, Houston.

Roger. Understand, Bill. You promised me you would wait 3 days before you started doing this, Bill.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston.

Roger, Bill. We've got your dump, and the voice quality is very good. We we going to take about 20 minutes or so to get it back to Houston to play it.

Roger. Where are you taking it through, Houston?

It comes through Madrid and then Ascension, Bill.