Spacelog Apollo 8

Reading you very weak but—a lot of background noise. Welcome back around. How are you reading us?

Reading you fine.

Houston, Apollo 8.

Apollo 8, Houston. Go ahead.

Roger, Houston. A few words on our optics tracking system. I used AUTO OPTICS for control points 1 and 2 on the backside, and they worked beautifully, tracked both the targets for me. And I went to the control point 3 as designated in our orbital control book to see the latitude and longitude that was given to me and used AUTO OPTICS to track that particular coordinate system, and it was very close to the actual tracking plot. I picked the mark there where I did a final marking and recorded latitude and longitude. I'm now about to come up on the landing site and using AUTO OPTICS in the coded input to see how that works.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Go ahead.

Roger. We know you're busy so we are not going to bother you. We are watching your progress on the DSKY. You are looking good; all your systems are looking good, and we have maneuver PAD's for you any time at your convenience.

Roger. We will take them when we are doing the P52, if that's okay.

Mike, Apollo 8.

Apollo 8, go ahead.

Mike, there are an awful lot of objects down on the landing site. It would just warm up Jack Schmidt's heart. The AUTO OPTICS are tracking perfectly on the target, and the two high peaks stand out beautifully. I have a beautiful view of it. The first I've seen just barely beneath the vertical now, and the second one coming up—It's just a grand view!

Roger, Jim. Glad to hear it. Jack's listening.

Jack, the information—The triangles that we see now are from the first IP, second IP, and the B-1 are just right, I think, for landing conditions. The shadows aren't too deep for you to get confused, but the land has texture to it, and there are enough shadows there to make everything stand out.

If Jack's listening, tell him that the optical may be doing all right, but the eyeball is having a little trouble looking through all this smear on the windows.

Roger. Understand the optics are doing better than the eyeballs. How about the cameras?

We always have the same smear to look through. The rendezvous windows are okay, but they're so small and looking in the wrong directions here so far.

Roger.

I think the vertical stereo will be okay.

It certainly looks like we're picking the more interesting places on the moon to land in. The backside looks like a sand pile my kids have been playing in for a long time. It's all beat up, no definition. Just a lot of bumps and holes.

I'm looking at 2P-2 right now, Houston, and it's a great spot.

The area we're over right now gives some hint of possible volcanic, though I really can't eyeball it at the moment to pin that down. There are some craters and buildups that just definitely suggest volcanic activity.

Roger. Understand, Bill, and understand Jim thinks the old 2P-2 is a winner.

Yes, that backside doesn't look good at all.

Roger.

That's relatively speaking, of course.

Apollo 8, Houston.

This is Apollo 8.

Roger, Jim. We have you on the high-gain antenna. We'd like you to take the DSE and dump it over.

Roger, Houston. Are you going to use our computer to update our state vector?

That's affirmative, Jim. We'd like to—stand by one, and I'll tell you when to go to P00 and ACCEPT.

Roger. Then I'll work my 52 around your …

Jim, would you please go to P00 in ACCEPT, and we'll send you a P27 and run a state vector update.

Roger. You have P00 in ACCEPT.

Thank you.

Houston, this is Apollo 8. We have a little piece of useful information if you're interested in deliberating over it.

Go ahead. Say again.

Roger. Our first control point is very near the terminator, and as the optics were tracking it, I had occasion to watch the sun come up. And at about 2 minutes before sunrise, you get—the limb begins to brighten up into sort of a fine white haze, a fine glow completely over the space just behind the limb.

Roger. I understand. About 2 minutes before the sun comes up, you get a fine white haze radiating out from behind the limb. How far out does it extend?

It goes up quite a ways. It takes a fan shape, unlike the sunrise on earth where the atmosphere affects it. This just sort of is a complete haze all over the local area. It's concentrated at the exact spot where the sun comes up at ignition and then goes away from the sun spots. Very interesting.

Thank you, Jim. Thank you.

Apollo 8, Houston. We're standing by with your map and TEI 7 updates.

Stand by.

Apollo 8, Houston. You can go back to BLOCK with your computer.

Roger.

Okay, Mike. We're ready for the map update and then the TEI.

Okay. When you get your—before you get your map book out, the Houston COMM TECHS have got a little word for an old ex-CAP COMM. They say they consider you in NONREMOTE. Over.

Not permanently, I hope.

Okay. Your map update for REV 6/7: LOS 80:57:24, sunrise 81:06:57, prime meridian 81:13:02. Are you with me?

You cut out after the prime meridian. I got it, but not AOS.

AOS 81:43:05, sunset 82:13:54. Remarks: IP-1 TCA for B-1 82:07:39, and now I've got four more times for you which—acquisition times for when various things come over the horizon. Over.

Roger. Go ahead.

Okay. Control point 1, acquisition time 81:09:05; control point 2, acquisition time 81:21:48; control point 3, acquisition time 81:43:17. B-1 acquisition time 82:03:54. And I say again all those ACQ times are when they first come over the horizon. Over.

Roger. Copy, Houston. In about 2 seconds, I'll be ready for the TEI.

Alright.

I'm ready.

TEI 7, SPS/G&N—stand by one, Bill.

Just a matter of general interest, Houston: everybody is feeling good, and the CDR is taking a snooze.

Roger. Glad to hear it. We were just talking about a water dump down here. We've got one coming up, and it looks like on this REV prior to the time around LOS or just prior to LOS, would be a convenient time to do it. Do you concur?

Okay. We will. Down to 25 percent again?

That's affirmative, and we'd also be interested in any comments about what these various dumps have done to your optics, if anything, and how long the effects last after a dump.

Don't seem to have done anything to the optics, but they've definitely got in some of the windows. There are a few little chunks of ice on window number 1, which is nearest the vent, and also on window number 5 a little bit; windows 2 and 4 remain amazingly clear.

Roger. Thank you, Bill, and I'm ready to resume the PAD when you are.

Okay. Press on with the weight.