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.

Roger. TLI plus 35 hours, SPS/G&N, 63023 minus 162 plus 129. Are you with me so far?

Loud and clear.

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.

Roger. Loud and clear.

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.

Roger. Are you ready for the readback?

All set.

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?

Yes, I'm with you, Bill. That last one should be 001.

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.

That's about the size of it. You're getting pretty good at this thing, Bill, for a rookie.

Not bad. I just learned to read about a year ago.

Roger. Hey, I've got a flight plan update for Jim. It's on page G, George, 82 Able of his checklist. Over.

Roger. I've got it open. Go ahead, Mike.

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.

Roger. Substitute Rigel for Polaris and Sirius for Navi. How about shaft and trunnion; remain the same?

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.

Roger. Understand.

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.

We're ready.

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.

Roger. With reference to the first, we saw him earlier this morning, and he was heading your way.

Roger. We'll pass the word along. David Eisenhower and Julie Nixon were married yesterday in New York. He was described as “nervous”.

Okay, Bill. This will be on page 2 dash 22 of your flight plan. For the command module pilot—I've already mentioned it to him—but at the top of the page, at about 27:45, actually, we would like him to do a P52, an IMU alignment, and then the P23 should be done as scheduled. Those four stars, Procyon, Regulus, Alphard, and Spica: we realize Alphard may not be too good a star, Regulus is about 3 degrees above the horizon, and Spica is at a 48-degree trunnion angle; so I guess what we are saying is if Jim has difficulty doing one set on each of those four stars, we suggest that he omit whichever one he is having difficulty with and pick it up by doing two sets on some other star that he likes. Over.

Roger. Understand.

All right. In the lower right hand corner of page 2-22, the passive thermal control attitude should read “pitch 224 degrees, yaw 020.”

Roger. Copy.

And on the next page, at about 29 hours, you can resume the normal flight plan. We would like to make one addition; at 29:30, add a waste water dump. Even though one is not really required at that time, we would like to get the dump out of the way so we can track you uninterruptedly without any dumping, you know, as we are coming up on midcourse correction number 3. Over.

Roger.

That's about all, Bill. You got any questions on this?

No, it looks pretty good. We've been saving up some water of our own to dump here, so that will work out all right.

Very good. And don't ruin Jim's optics.

Right.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Go.

Roger. We would like P00 in ACCEPT, please. We would like to send you up a P27. It's a LM state vector, going into the LM slot only, and we do not want you to transfer it over to the CSM.

Apollo 8. Houston. Did you copy?

Roger. You got it.

Okay. We got it. We're sending you a LM state vector, and we would like you not to transfer that vector over to the CSM slot.

Roger.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Apollo 8. Roger. Are you still planning an MCC 2 at 28 hours? Over.

Stand by one, Bill. Bill, negative. Now that midcourse correction number 2 has been cancelled. Its magnitude was less than 1 foot per second, so we decided not to do it. Over.

Okay. Thank you.

And you've got the computer again, if you go to BLOCK.

Houston, Apollo 8.

Apollo 8, Houston. Go ahead.

Are you still computing the pericynthian time of 6910.

Stand by. We will get an update for you.

Okay.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Roger. This is Apollo 8.

Okay, Bill. We just got your readout on your voice tape, and we will be back with you on it shortly. Over.

Okay.

Houston, I'm going to be doing my alignment at this time. I'm in a good position for viewing the stars.

Apollo 8, this is Houston with voice check. Over.

Houston, Apollo 8. Read you loud and clear now. How us?

Oh, good. Reading you loud and clear. One, two, three, four, five, five, four, three, two, one. Am I cutting in and out still? Over.

Nope. All the numbers are coming up nicely.

Okay. Thank you, Jim.

Apollo 8, Houston. We are going to switch antennas at 28:20. Stand by for our blitz.

Roger, Houston. And we will start passing thermal control, and we are maneuvering to P23.

Houston. Apollo 8.

Apollo 8, Houston. Go.

Roger. You copy high bit rate now for this P23?

Negative, Bill. We are getting low bit rate now.