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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. The voice quality on your tape was just fair-to-middling; we were able to monitor your burn and hear most of that pretty well.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Roger. Did you get a report of the photography accomplished, or is that on the tape at present?
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. You are 4 minutes and 40 seconds away from LOS. I would like a reconfirmation on your S-band AUX switch in the DOWN-VOICE BACKUP position. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, this is Houston. Reading you loud and clear. We see your TV. It is a little bit—little bit clearer.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Roger. The moon is very bright and not too distinct in this area. I will give you a shot of the horizon.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, this is Houston. It's a good picture—the horizon—we can't see many terrain features as yet.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. We are beginning to pick up a few craters very dimly; the whole thing is pretty bright.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Roger. There is not much definition up here either out on the horizon. We are now approaching the craters See and Bassett.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. We want to take the DSE.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, this is Houston. We are going to need a cryo fan cycle sometime during this pass.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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The color of the moon looks like a very whitish gray, like dirty beach sand with lots of footprints in it.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Some of these craters look like pickaxes striking concrete leaving a lot of fine haze dust.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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There's some interesting features out on the other window. Let me switch windows on you now.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Bill. If you have the polarizing filter handy, try flipping it in front, would you?
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Jerry, as a matter of interest, there's a lot of what appears to be very small new craters that have these little white rays radiating from them.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We see the filter going over it. Apollo 8, this is Houston. Looks like we have too much light. The polarizing filter doesn't help much. Go ahead and remove it again.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Roger. We're just passing over the crater Borman, and there's Anders out there; Lovell is right south of it.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. The TV is breaking up now. Okay. We are back with a good picture. Looks like we just have too much light. Our definition is rather weak.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Alright. The right side of the camera is pointing retrograde. We are now passing abeam of the crater Houston; I will show the camera over there once for the folks in Texas.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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It's a big and sprawly one; it's got those two impact craters, one to the right and one to the left.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Still about the same, Bill. It's—the terrain's pretty bright. We are not getting much definition at all; definition on this side is much much better.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Okay. I think—Okay. We are leaving the window; that gives you an idea how bad our window is.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. This picture now is much better; I guess the light levels are decreasing now.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Jerry, another ID feature: these small impact craters have dark spots in the center where it appears that they buried in it and hit some new material down below and scattered a lot of fine white dust around them.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Roger. The terrain here is, as you can see, not well defined. We are going to start a roll to the left, in order to come across the target area, with the television —
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Bill. We see O'Neal real well, also the smaller crater off to the side of it.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Houston, this is Apollo 8. We are going to terminate our program for this pass and get on with the preparations for LOI 2, if you say we are GO.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Apollo 8, on your backside data, it's pretty much unintelligible. We suggest, Bill, that you recheck the position of your mike for your backside pass and try to speak a little bit louder and more distinctly. The last one we listened to, was pretty much unintelligible. Over.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Roger. As soon as we get squared away, we will give you a real quick real time summary.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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And, Houston, you might let us know, can we do the red/blue filter exercise with both these filters—red filters on? Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, this is Houston. LOI 2, SPS/G&N: 46427, minus 053, plus 141 073:35:05.70 minus 01350, plus all zeros, plus all zeros. Copy?
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Taurus, Aida; I repeat, Taurus, Aida. Up 162, left 01, the remainder not applicable. GDC align Sirius, Rigel 129, 155, 010, negative ullage, horizon window ignition minus 3 27 degrees, horizon left. At ignition, 18 degrees, horizon left; before readback, configure for receiving any update. Over.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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LOI 2, SPS/G&N: 46427, minus 053, plus 141 073:35:05.70, minus 01350, plus 0000, plus 0000 000 175 358 00607, plus 00606 01350 009 01265 02 3112 197; Taurus, Aida, up 16.2, left 0.1, fixed read not applicable; Sirius, Rigel 129 155 010, no ullage, ignition minus 3 27 degrees, ignition 18 degrees.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Frank. You can expect GO/NO-GO for the next rev at 20 minutes before LOS. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, this is Houston. We'll try to make that call 20 minutes before every LOS. Over.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Roger. Just an interesting feature: on my center window which has ice on it, it is now beginning to melt. I'm beginning to see through it.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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The view at this altitude, Houston, is tremendous. There is no trouble picking out features that we learned on the map.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Jim, that's good news. What do you think of the lighting situation as far as the range of lighting for good visibility?
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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The range from here is outstanding. I wish we had the TV still going because the brown area now is darker. We have just passed over the Sea of Fertility, and the mare is darker. The mountain range has got more contrast, has more contrast because of the sun angle. Bill's got the 16 mm going for us.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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We will try to get TV on this at a later time, when we are not getting ready for a burn.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Houston, at these sun angles, everything is quite distinct; shadows are good; the ground doesn't have any sunlight returned. It appears very good visibility at these sun angles.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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As a matter of fact, Bill just mentioned that the visibility seems to be excellent just about up to the terminator. It's something which I didn't expect. I thought there would be a little bit more gradual shift to darkness, but it's very sharp and distinct.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Break. Apollo 8, Houston. Your TEI 2 PAD is good; stand by to copy your TEI 3. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. TEI 3. SPS/G&N 46427, minus 053, plus 141 075:31:29.95, plus 28960, minus 00456, plus 00720. Copy?
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. 180 021 002, not applicable, plus 00188 28972 251 28793 40 2769 396. Copy?
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. 033 0000, left 17, plus 0883, minus 16500 12955 36185 146:35:07; Sirius, Rigel 129, 155 010, ullage two jets, 20 seconds, quads Bravo and Delta. Horizon on the 24 degree line at ignition minus 3 minutes, assumes no LOI 2. Over.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Roger. SPS/G&N—this is for TEI 3—46427, minus 053, plus 141 075:31:29.95, plus 28960, minus 00456, plus 00720 180 021 002, NA, plus 00188 28972 251 28793 40 2769 396 033 0000, left 17, plus 00883, minus 16500 12955 36185 146:35:07; Sirius, Rigel 129, 155, 01, two jet, 20 seconds, B and D, horizon 2 degrees at ignition minus 3 minutes, assumes no LOI 2.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. TEI 3: SPS/G&N 45810, minus 053, plus 141 075:21:28.46, plus 30128, minus 00540, plus 01911. 180 019 001. Copy?
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Not applicable, plus 00188 30193 255 30008 40 2742 396 033, down 021, left 18. Copy?
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Plus 0888, minus 16500 12955 36185 146:34:50 GDC, align no change, ullage no change, horizon 1 degree at ignition minus three. Assumes LOI 2. Over.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Go ahead—or Houston, this is Apollo 8. TEI 3 with LOI 2. SPS/G&N 45810, minus 053, plus 141 075:21:28.46, plus 30128, minus 00540, plus 01911 180 019 001, NA plus 00188 30193 255 30008 40 2742 396 033, down 021, left 18, plus 0888, minus 16500 12955 36185 146:34:50; no change, no change 1 degree in the rise of ignition minus three, assumes LOI 2.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. Roger. I made one mistake; horizon window is minus 1 degree. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, this is Houston. You are GO across the board for LOI 2. Would like to take the DSE for a dump. Over.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Before you take the DSE for a dump, let me give you a quick—let me give you a quick rundown on the DSE before you dump it, if you will.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, this is Houston. It looks like we have lost it. They weren't quite done. We are standing by for a countdown to BIOMED switch left. Over.
Spoken on Dec. 24, 1968, 12:33 p.m. UTC (55 years, 9 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet
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