Spacelog Apollo 8

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.

Houston, Apollo 8. That last set of marks are invalid. Disregard what Jim drew the last time.

Roger. Understand the last set of marks are invalid. Over.

Roger. If you would correlate … the last set.

We have an awful lot of background noise, Jim. Could you say again, please?

Roger. I'm coming up on control point 3. I tried to stick another control point in between 2 and 3. It didn't do it, so I just took out our program, marked it down on the program.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Roger. On Jim's marks, we'd like to get spacing of approximately 30, 30 seconds between each mark. The last ones we are copying roughly 15 seconds between marks, and we would like to stretch it out even further if that is okay with you.

Houston, Apollo 8.

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Roger, Mike. I find that tracking is much easier using the sextant than the scanning telescope. You have finer control, and at these orbital speeds, resolved to medium seem to be the best combination.

Roger, Jim. I copy that it's easier for you to use the sextant than the scanning telescope. It gives you finer control, and say again after that.

Apollo 8, Houston. Do you read?

Roger. Did you copy?

Roger. I copy that it's—tracking is easier using the sextant than the scanning telescope; it gives you finer control, and say again after that. Over.

And the combination of resolved and medium is perhaps the best combination of—combination of—speed low is too low; we can't catch up with the target.

Roger. Understand that the best combination is resolved and medium. Low is just too low.

Houston, Apollo 8.

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Roger. I'm not too sure what happened that time, Mike. I was marking on the landing sites, using the code, and I kept getting a large trunnion for AUTO OPTICS. And I could see the target, or landing site was coming up, so I just went manually and marked and got the—the latitude and longitude were quite different from the nominal.

Apollo 8, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Roger. We're checking into Jim's remarks on his P22; and in the meantime, I have your maneuver PAD's and map updates, at your convenience. Over.

Roger.

Go ahead with your data, Mike.

Okay. And before that, we'd like to take the DSE away from you, please, for a while.

All yours.

Thank you, and we'd like you to go to P00 and ACCEPT. We have a P27 state vector update for you.

There's P00, and I'm going to ACCEPT.

Thank you.

All yours.

Which would you like first, the map update or the TEI 8?

The map would be fine.

Okay. Map update: LOS 82:55:54, sunrise 83:05:49, prime meridian 83:11:38, AOS 83:41:43, sunset 84:18:45; remarks: control point 1 acquisition 83:07:39, control point 2 acquisition 83:20:21, control point 3 ACQ 83:41:51, B-1 acquisition 84:02:28. Over.

Roger. 82:55:54, 83:05:49, 83:11:38, 83:41:43, 84:18:45. CP-1 83:07:39, CP-2 83:20:21, CP-3 83:41:51, B-1 84:02:28.

That's affirmative.

Understand —

— for the TEI PAD.

Roger. The TEI 8 PAD, SPS/G&N: 45701, minus 040, plus 157 085:18:19.04. Are you with me so far? Over.

Roger.

Okay. Plus 3195, minus 01267, plus 04716 179 008 001, not applicable, plus 00187 33552 311 33355 42 0909 252. Are you still with me? Over.

Roger.

Okay. Picking up with the boresight star, it's old Dzuba who is the center star in the head of Scorpio; he's down 060, left 42, plus 0773, minus 16500 12982 36256 146:46:18. North set stars remain Sirius, Rigel, roll 129, pitch 155, yaw 010; four-quad ullage of 15 seconds, horizon on a 4-degree line at TIG, and requesting you zero the optics. Over.