Spacelog Apollo 8

Send up a couple.

The only one I have is about 6 foot.

Houston, could you give us some gimbal angles to point at the moon? I never have seen it the whole trip, and I'm wondering which way it is from us now.

Houston, Apollo 8. Radio check.

Roger. Loud and clear.

Roger.

We are getting ready to give you a rundown on your systems. We're going over all the final steps, and we will tell you what we see in the way of trajectory and systems information. And once again, Dr. Joe Kerwin has brought over all the latest news, and we can read that up to you a little bit at a time if you aren't going to sleep.

What's he going to do, read out of the AMA Journal?

Roger.

Go ahead. We are all ears.

Okay. Here is one: the previously scheduled 72-hour cease fire by the Viet Cong went into effect today, 17 hours before the 24 hour allied truce was to begin.

You lost us on the numbers there. What was that again?

The gist of it was that the VC went into a cease fire earlier than the truce that we had planned on, as a Christmas holiday type.

Houston, how do you read? Apollo 8.

Loud and clear. Sorry to have stopped on you there. We are going over the summary of the systems data.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Okay. I have a rundown on your systems here, GNC status. Everything looks real —

Just a minute.

Go ahead.

I want to wait until the LMP gets on the head set, Houston.

Roger.

Okay, Houston, go ahead. Flying EECOM's on the line.

Okay. We'll just start with EECOM business then, I'll give you a summary of your batteries; battery A, we calculate 38.3 amp-hours, battery B —

Stand by a second, Ken.

Let me get my chart out.

Roger.

Go ahead now.

Okay. Battery A 38.3, battery B 36.9, battery C, 38.5. That's looking pretty good. It looks like we got all the things back in that we took out, and we're running right along prediction. We would like to get a battery C voltage from you if you can just reach over there and switch it.

Roger. Thirty-seven volts, on battery C.

Roger. Thirty-seven volts, Okay. The predicted cryo quantities at SEP: on oxygen tank 1, 170; oxygen tank 2, 170; hydrogen 1, 9.5; and hydrogen 2, 10.0. You essentially have single cryo tank capabilities all the way at full power now.

Fine.

The secondary coolant loop really looked good. Looks like you had a nice tight radiator and everything else on there was working right along the performance curves. Your main oxygen regulators both filled at 104 psi during our check. Looking at the lunar orbit, expect to be doing a water boil of about 1 pound per hour, and this is just an approximation; there's quite a variety of estimates as to what the water boiling requirements may be, might go anywhere from boiling lots to not boiling at all. The next water dump will be coming up after TEI, so you don't have to worry about any of that until you get through. Communications predictions are looking good, possibly a little bit better than what we had hoped for, and looks like we're going to get high bit rate on OMNI's with our 210-foot dish at Goldstone. This will be working for us on the first couple of rev's, and then we'll be switching sites, so we'll go back to using OMNI's for high bit. The voice quality on DSE is good. Your fuel cells have been running above nominal for the entire flight, and they really look nice and stable. There's been some destratification -

… on normal voice, doesn't it?

Okay. Looks like may not be able to hack the normal voice. On the cryo tanks, we've had quite a bit of destratification, particularly in the oxygen, and you notice this during the fan cycles and DELTA-V's, so we're going to be sure and we'll remind you again to stir up the oxygen prior to LOI. CMC is running along like clockwork. G&C tells us that the RCS quantities are looking good. You're using the same amount as predicted for your PTC and for your alignment. What we have in the way of a redline: we're going to tell you that you can use 30 percent per quad in lunar orbit. Now this is quite a bit of fuel to play with, and you can take 30 percent and subtract that from what you have to completion of LOI, and that will be a good number.

On the SPS, the oxidizer and fuel feed line temperatures are 75 and holding steady. The service module RCS quad package temps are cycling and holding between 120 and 140, and looks like we're getting good normal heater operations. We plan to have you in a 60-mile circular orbit after LOI 2. And we should have some PAD's for you on the LOI burn at about 67 hours.

Roger. We got all that.

Okay. We're still going through the tracking, and as you know, we're going to hold down on the water dumps and so forth during the last couple of hours in and out, sort of aid the tracking procedures. Everything is running along the line normally now. Do you have any other specific questions? We are looking for an angle on the moon. I guess that about summarizes the system. Everything looks GO right now.

Okay, Ken. Thank you. We just completed day 3 meal C, and now are going to break up and each take a rest period before LOI.

Okay, real fine. Everybody wanted to ask if you wouldn't try and get some sack time here before we go in. It's going to be a big day.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Go ahead.

Finally found out where the moon is, and your present PTC attitude—if you happen to look out the right window as you go by—roll attitude of 320, it should be there.

Houston, Apollo 8.

Go ahead.

Roger. Bill would like to ask the doctor for permission to take a Seconal.

Okay. Standby.

Houston, this is Apollo 8. Did you call? We lost track for a minute.

Okay, Apollo 8. You're cleared to go ahead with that pill. Take—Surgeon recommends a small one.

Small one. Roger.

Apollo 8, Houston. If you can, we'd like to have you stir up the oxygen cryo.

Okay, I'll do that right now. Just a moment, just the oxygen?

Okay. We want to get both the oxygen and hydrogen.

Just the oxygen, then?

No, sir; both the oxygen and the hydrogen.

Okay. Houston, Apollo 8. We've cycled through all of the cryo fans.

Houston, Apollo 8. How do you read?

Loud and clear, Apollo 8.

Okay. Thank you.

Roger. We had a momentary loss there.

How is the tracking?

Looking great.

How's the tracking data look, Ken?

Looking great.

Houston, Apollo 8 with a radio check.

Apollo 8, Houston. Loud and clear.

Good evening, Jerry.

Howdy. The Black Watch is watching.

How do you read on this—how do you read on this antenna?

Loud and clear on that one, Bill.

Houston, Apollo 8. Do you read on OMNI 3?