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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.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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We'd like to use the computer now if you don't need it now. …
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. At 96 hours EEP, battery A has 38.95 amp-hours; battery B has 36.35 amp-hours; battery C has 38.46 amp-hours. Your total, 113.76 amp-hours. At 97 plus 50, battery A will be fully charged and will have 40 amp-hours, and you can terminate charge at that time. Over.
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Frank Borman (CDR)
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At 97:50.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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We gave you back VERB 64. I wonder if you could have Guidance figure out a corridor correction at 114 hours for us with a minus 648 cabin.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Okay, Jim. We copy, and now we see we've got VERB 64 back. We'll be back with you in a minute.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Okay. Based on your vector, the CMC vector, the ground computes 15.3 feet per second on the midcourse, VEI of 36221, a gamma EI of minus 6.51 so it looks like your P37 program is pretty good. Applying your P37 solution to our MSFN vector, however, we get a gamma EI of minus 10.32. We expect these two solutions to converge with a little more tracking and after you get some earth horizon sightings. Over.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Roger. How valuable do you think that the lunar we did just after TPIR as compared to your MSFN tracking? Go ahead, Houston.
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Jim Lovell (CMP)
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Roger. I was getting curious of the value of onboard tracking in the P23 course close to the moon, in regards to the MSFN tracking that close to the moon. I think there might be a trail-off for onboard navigation, and I think it might be a little bit better than MSFN tracking.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger. I guess the experts would say that the MSFN data was probably best based or the number of sightings that you have taken. However, that's going to be the subject of quite a bit of evaluation, I think, after the mission. Over.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Jim. Be advised that we are beginning to read you very weak, and with a rather loud background noise.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Jim. Christmas morning around your house was kinda quiet, says Marilyn. She said that they are all thankful the mission has gone so great. They missed having you around the tree this morning, but they wanted to reassure you that your presents are waiting, and the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding will be on the table when you get home.
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Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)
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Okay. Have Frank give me a holler when he is ready. I've got a message for him, too.
Spoken on Dec. 25, 1968, 1:33 p.m. UTC (55 years, 10 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet
