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Ken Mattingly (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. Copy that you are now in PTC attitude, and we're watching your gimbal angle. We apparently do not have a downlink voice, but the data is good.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Okay. We're establishing PTC. We took one last look at the moon and on our way back.
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Ken Mattingly (CAPCOM)
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Okay. In order for us to handle the antenna switching, I guess we'd like to have the AUX tape switched to OFF, and the tape FORWARD switch OFF; and we'll be switching between OMNI's Bravo and Delta.
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Ken Mattingly (CAPCOM)
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Alright. And I'm gonna—you bug me when you get over 50 degrees of yaw, so I'll probably be watching that number pretty closely. We'd like to have the BIOMED switched to the right position. Okay. And for your own information: the fuel we show in the different quads I have here if you would like to copy it.
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Ken Mattingly (CAPCOM)
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Oh, you've got some pretty good numbers on that that I sent up yesterday, and you had about 160 hours. Well, I'll check that out, but you were fat on cryo. I've got some SPS DELTA-V. You've got 33:20. You fly the service module RCS through the DAP. You have 142; and through SCS, it's 121.
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Ken Mattingly (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. We can't monitor on low bit rate whether you started your fuel cell purge. If you haven't, we can still go ahead and start now; and if you can, keep us posted as you go through it.
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Ken Mattingly (CAPCOM)
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It looks like you may be in OMNI Alfa. Can you confirm that we're set up to switch between Bravo and Delta?
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Ken Mattingly (CAPCOM)
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Okay. Understand the purge is complete. Thank you. And in reference to your cryo, it looks like we'll have 180 pounds in each oxygen tank at SEP and 11 pounds in each hydrogen tank. And you're well above the single tank capability.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. Apollo 8, Houston in the blind. We've lost all data on you and request you select us a good OMNI antenna; try Charlie. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston in the blind. Your yaw is 42 degrees. Recommend you set pitch and yaw to ATTITUDE HOLD for PTC. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Apollo 8, this is Houston in the blind. Switch to antenna Alfa. Over. Antenna Alfa.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Apollo 8, Houston in the blind. Select antenna Alfa, antenna Alfa. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Bill. We lost data on you for 15 minutes and voice COMM for about 45 and were beginning to get a little itchy. Is your PTC set up for rate command attitude hold?
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. Looks like we're getting pretty far off in both pitch and yaw. Showing about 50 degrees in pitch; and about 25 in yaw.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, this is Houston. Your systems are all looking good. Got a flight plan update for you: at time 96, you can delete P52. Your drift rates are real small.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Understand you're on Charlie. Break. Verify your UP TLM switch at COMMAND RESET is at NORMAL. Over.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Roger. It's in NORMAL. I've had the COMMAND RESET since we broke lock there, and I have to get back and control the OMNI's, so why don't you go command it over to Dog. Then give it back, and I'll set the other one on Bravo.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. We have you on Delta; you can go to Bravo. Break. Give us a call when you've finished your chlorination. Over.
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Bill Anders (LMP)
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Houston, and the other two space aces are up now, and LMP's going to hit the pad and like to take a Seconal prior.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. Looks like you need about 3 more hours on that battery A charging. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. Can we get a crew status report on Bill before he goes to sleep?
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, this is Houston. I have a little feature news and sports news for you if you'd like to hear it.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. First of all, Frank, the guys down here on the consoles want to spread their appreciation for a beautiful television job done.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We'll start out with the sports news. Los Angeles Dodger pitcher, Sandy Koufax, and Ann Widmark, 23-year-old daughter of actor Richard Widmark, plan to marry some time in the near future. Koufax said Tuesday that no date for the wedding was set, but he and Miss Widmark have been dating for some time. At Springfield, —
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Let's see. In Springfield, Missouri, Mickey Owen, the old-time catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers who made the record books by dropping a third strike that led the New York Yankees to a victory over the Dodgers in the '41 World Series, decided that he would be remembered by more than just his sports record. Forty-five boys and girls have been the recipients of ponies that he offered. These youngsters were requested to send letters in telling him how they would care for a pony. When the letters poured in, he added five ponies to the 20 he already offered; and other donors pitched in 20 more. And said Mickey Owen, “I thought I'd have about 45 letters, but I ended up with about 900.” Now on the feature page: Wellington, New Zealand, about fifty men sat down to the traditional turkey and cranberry sauce at the South Pole today, but the Christmas had an Oriental flavor, as well. It included Sukiyaki cooked by members of a Japanese party who are crossing the Antarctic continent and stopped for the day with the U.S. Navy Polar base. In San Diego, California, the crewmen of the captured intelligence ship Pueblo donated their first paychecks to the workers at San Diego's Balboa Naval Hospital. They had all been given twenty dollars each, and—when they landed in San Diego—and they felt that this was a good demonstration of their feelings for those who had done so much to make their welcome here.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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In Reno, Nevada. Oh, that's affirmative, Frank. We changed the antennas from here.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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In Reno, Nevada, because there is no fireplace in his home, … a little boy wrote Santa Claus in care of the local newspaper and suggested, “would you please use the front door. You will have to kick the bottom a little bit because it sticks.” In Little Rock, Arkansas, babies born at St. Vincent Infirmary during the week before Christmas and through Christmas Day are being released to their mothers at discharge time in huge red Christmas stockings. Here is one in ecumenical cooperation. In Indio, California, the Chief of Police was armed Christmas Day with a prayer book. Rabbi Phillip H. Weinburg has taken over as Chief for a day so the real Police Chief, Homer Hunt, a Methodist could spend the holiday with his family. This is the third straight Christmas the Rabbi has filled in for Hunt. The previous 6 years, Rabbi Weinburg did the same for the Roman Catholic Police Chief of Reno, Nevada.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Prom the Associated Press, Americans watch Pope Paul celebrate Christmas Mass in Italy, and Europeans viewed a Christmas greeting from Apollo 8 via the most powerful communications satellite yet sent aloft. The news of Pope Paul and the Apollo 8 crew Tuesday night were the first to be relayed across the Atlantic commercially by Intelsat III, which was launched from Cape Kennedy last Wednesday. That's the one we saw go.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Intelsat is a 63-nation international communication consortium; provides a chart on the first global communications network. The new satellite is scheduled to begin full commercial service on January 2, initially serving North and South America and Europe. Further coverage of the Apollo 8 mission is to be relayed to Europe this week.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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From Washington: “This Christmas, the world is brightened with the hope of peace. When it comes, when hope turns to substance and the guns are quiet once again, it will come because you have pursued it with courage and skill.” This was a message from President Johnson to the Armed Forces on Christmas.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Here is a feature by Harry Rosenthal of Associated Press. It says: from Houston. Two Santas brighten the Christmas Eve for 2-year-old Jeffrey Lovell. The first one knocked on his front door and brought presents. The second started his daddy home from the moon. The first wore a red suit and a white beard and ho, ho'd loud enough to be heard down the block. The second was a huge engine spitting flame behind the moon, and thousands of people were awaiting word that it had fired. “Please be informed that there is a Santa Claus” were the first words from Apollo 8 as it emerged from radio silence to inform an anxious world 15 minutes after the fact that the engine had performed its critical burn. “None of us ever expect to have a better Christmas present than this one,” said Ken Mattingly of Mission Control. “Thank everyone on the ground for us. You know we couldn't have done it without you,” came the reply from Col. Frank Borman, the spacecraft commander. At this point, a Christmas tree came aglow in front of the consoles in Mission Control, and Astronaut Harrison Schmidt read a space version of “A visit from Saint Nicholas” to the crew. “Twas the night before Christmas, and way out in space, the Apollo 8 crew had just won the moon race,” it began. The Mission Control crew had delayed the celebration until Jeffrey's daddy, Navy Captain James Lovell, along with Air Force Major William A. Anders and Col. Borman were safely on their way home. Any other Christmas Eve, the families of the astronauts would have been in church for Christmas services, but this year they were all glued to their television sets. The homes all near the Manned Spacecraft Center were decorated. The lawns around the Lovell home and throughout his community of Timber Cove were lined with Mexican style luminarios, and the four Lovell children came out to light them about 7:30. They were just in time. At 8:00, a car drove up carrying a tall Santa Claus with a large sack on his back. He ho ho'd up to the door and knocked loudly. It opened, and there stood Jeffrey Lovell who will be 3 on January 14. Jeffrey recoiled at the sight. His mother held him up, and Jeffrey clung to her, still shying away. “Last year he ran away crying,” saying his 15-year old sister Barbara. Earlier, she had to run after him to prevent his blowing out all the luminaries. The other Lovell children, 13-year-old James and 10-year-old Susan watched with great amusement. Finally, the Santa and the children disappeared inside; the presents were put under the tree; presents not to be opened until today. Mrs. Lovell prepared egg nog and cookies for the guests, and they watched a 25-minute televised tour of the moon conducted by the three astronauts. Later, friends took Mrs. Lovell, Barbara, and Jeffrey on a tour of the neighborhood brightly lighted for Christmas. Above them in a clear sky, the quarter moon shone brightly, and the three astronauts, who more than any other men have seen the fruits of creation, pause in their scientific exploration there to beam to the earth the majestic word; from Genesis. “And God created the firmament heavens, and God called the dry land Earth, and God saw that it was good.”
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We have a newspaper coming in after while; we will give you a little more news later.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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We would like to get a crew status report on Jim and Frank when you get a chance.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Both Frank and myself had a meal before bed last night, and I believe that we had about 20 clicks of water, and a good night's rest. Just getting up.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Jerry, this is Frank. Do you have any later word on our trajectory and how the charging looks?
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. We are looking at a midcourse correction at 104 hours of about 5 feet per second. The tracking is real good. We got you in the center of the corridor and on target.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Negative; we've deleted it. Your drift rates are small that you don't even need to unless you want to do it.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Frank. In 3 minutes, we are handing the control from Honeysuckle over to Madrid. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 8, Houston. If you don't need the computer, we would like to have you call up VERB 64 ENTER so that we can do the B-D antenna switching from the ground. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Jim, if you don't need the computer, would you call up VERB 64 ENTER, and we will take care of the antenna B-D switching down here. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We will start out with the world news. On page 1 of the Houston Post: praise for America's Apollo 8 astronauts and hopes for international cooperation in space exploration with the worldwide Christmas Eve messages as the tiny spaceship orbited the moon. Even in the Communist world, there was enthusiasm for man's first voyage to the moon. In Moscow, Soviet scientist Anatoly Besaranov recalled his country and the United States had shared space knowledge before and predicted the Apollo 8 flight would lead to more cooperation. In Cuba, Radio Havana rebroadcast the Voice of America program to tell its listeners of the Apollo 8 speech. Voice officials said it was the first time that any of the U.S. agencies' programs had been carried by Havana radio. Czechoslovakia saw the moon flight through extensive television coverage; and in Budapest, Hungary, people talk of little else on the trains and buses. In the non-Communist world, office workers and Christmas shoppers held their breath as the spacecraft was readied for the blast toward earth. Frenchmen in the street praised American knowhow and the space feat, and some viewers watch television lunar photos cheer “Magnifique!”. In London, swarms of Christmas shoppers crowded into shops and pubs to watch television photographs of the moon's craters. Britain's foremost space astronomer, Bernard Lovell, who until a few weeks ago criticized the Apollo 8 project on the grounds that instruments could do the job without risking the astronauts' lives, made it clear that he was deeply impressed by the moon flight. Pope Paul VI said honor to those pioneers of the extension of man's intellect and activity. There were only a few scrooges that “pooh pooh-ed” the Christmas voyage, however. The most notable was Samuel Shenton, secretary of London's Flat Earth Society, who said the public are being balihooed, taken for a ride. How does that grab you, Frank?
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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It doesn't look too flat from here, but I don't know; maybe something is wrong with our vision.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. Elsewhere in the world news, the Pueblo crew landed at NAS Miramar yesterday afternoon at 14:00, and they will spend a few days there in Balboa Hospital with their families celebrating Christmas. On the local scene here, the Retail Merchants' Association has announced that its Christmas gift exchange policy is going to be the same this year as it was last year; that is, very liberal. Fellows, we will be glad to replace any broken items that you might bring back, too; but, sorry, there won't be any cash refunds.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Another little of local news: the County Court House at Huntsville burned down before dawn yesterday, so it looks like they will go in the construction business there again. On the feature page: got a little bit about the waiting families. This one is by Ann James, Post reporter. “We rest on the backside of the moon,” said Valerie Anders on Christmas Eve, as she and her family waited for Apollo 8 to get out of the moon orbit and head back toward home. Mrs. Anders had been up since 2:00 a.m. Tuesday, and neighbors had just collected all the youngsters so the family could get some rest while the spacecraft was behind the moon and out of communication. Colonel Frank Borman's home was decorated with four big evergreen wreaths outdoors and sprinkled with powdery snow and decorated with red bows. A tree in the den awaits his safe return, and his pretty blond wife Sue and husky sons, Frederick and Edwin, plan to stay home for the midnight blast out of moon orbit. Ordinarily, they would attend midnight services at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church. The plans were for the family to go to Christmas Day service at 7:00 a.m. Since there are no young children in the Borman home, family Christmas gift giving will simply wait until Colonel Borman comes back with his fantastic holiday gift of the flight to the moon and back. Marilyn Lovell's four youngsters will have an absolutely normal Christmas as far as the kids are concerned, the busy wife of Captain Lovell reported; but talking about presents was out because two of them were sitting right there next to her. “I haven't even had time to change my clothes that I wore last night,” Mrs. Lovell said. Adult-to-adult gifts, however, and the Christmas tree will still be right there when Lovell comes home. Here is a good one on the Action Line. There is a little letter to the Action editor. It says, “We intended to pay you Earthlings a surprise visit by a flying saucer last night. We got scared off by some crazy antics of a fat man and a sleigh and three guys in a rocket-powered bucket drag racing around the moon. Is that any way to run a planet?” Signed the boys from Mars. Frank, it looks like the only people around here who aren't impressed by the Apollo 8 is the stock market. Its 30 industrials are down 1.43.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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(Laughter) You bet. On the sports page, not too much activity. UCLA is tops in both basketball polls. If you got any particular one you want to ask about, let me know, and I'll tell you if they are in the top ten on either poll. As far as the North—the college All Star game that is going to be played tomorrow is concerned, the North is a slight favorite over the South. Ara Parseghian is the coach of the North team, and he's got six of the Notre Dame troops working for him, so they ought to be pretty tough. The coach of the South team is Frank Howard of Clemson. He says it ain't easy, he quips, to build a team in 4 days to play Notre Dame. Another little item of interest in the sports page is Woody Hayes from Ohio State was named Coach of the Year by the Football Writers' Association. Well, that's about it. Any questions?
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Yes. I thought you heard about that. Now, back to the workday; we need a cryo fan cycle from you.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Jerry, in a little while, I would like to try out a little P37 exercise based on minus MA. I'll just run one through, and maybe we can get a solution from the ground and see how they compare.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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That performance at LOI was absolutely fantastic. You all really hit it on the money; I just couldn't believe it.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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Uh-uh. I hope you're not getting close to the earth. We got another corridor to hit, you know.
Spoken on Dec. 25, 1968, 8:43 a.m. UTC (55 years, 10 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet
