Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. We're showing quad A running a little bit warmer than the other quads. If you remember, I mentioned before that we were coming into a period of time here where we were going to spend a lot of time with no PTC going. We'd like for you to try to favor quad A if you can in the shade, and do whatever you can to keep that temperature from getting out of hand. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. I'm only reading 121 on quad A.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Quad C is the highest temperature we have; it's 142.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Frank. We are more interested in the tank temperatures than the quad temperatures. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. I understand. Now listen, if you think it is that important, we'll just keep PTC-ing it and not even do anything.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Negative. There's no sweat right now. We're watching it, and we just wanted to let you know that this thing is being looked at. If we get anywhere near a situation where we feel we ought to change, we'll go back to PTC or cool it.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Okay. Thank you. We'll do our best, but it is kind of hard, though. You are sort of subject of spatial geometry: wherever the stars and the moon happens to be, that's where you point.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. We understand. We're going to keep an eye on it down here, and we'll keep you appraised.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. Pass the word to Jim that on these marks that are coming up, pretty important that he remember to record his DELTA-R and DELTA-V and trunnion. We are working low bit rate down here, and so we're not going to be able to record that data from here. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

We are recording them all.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Houston, Apollo 8. Did you read that we are recording all the DELTA-R and DELTA-V and trunnion …

Frank Borman (CDR)

As luck would have it, we got the sun almost directly ahead on top of us here.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. We understand, but tank temperature is holding steady, so we are all right.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Frank. The helium tank temperature that we are watching on quad A has only gone up 1 degree in all this work that you are doing, so we don't consider it to be too terribly serious. What we would like to do, as soon as you finish this P23 work, is rather than go back into PTC, let's just roll her over 180 degrees and put quad A on the cool side, and hold it that way until your next activity comes up, which is around 102:30. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Okay, Jerry. We're through with PROGRAM 23. We're just going to roll here to get the sun off quad A, if that's what you want.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Frank. Good deal.

Frank Borman (CDR)

It should be getting cool now, Jerry.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Frank. So far we haven't seen the temperature start back down again. We expect to see it, though.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. Give us the word if you want us to maneuver back here before that time that you …, please.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Frank. We have some data that was missed on your P23. We'd like you to read it down to us if you have time.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. We will in just a minute.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead. What do you want?

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. On star number 2, the sixth mark, we missed DELTA-R and DELTA-V.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Sixth mark, that's—did Lovell tell you to do this? Come on, Carr; come clean. Did he ask you to ask for this?

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Negative. Uh-uh. We really missed it.

Frank Borman (CDR)

It's all zeros, and all zeros.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. All zeros, all zeros. Okay. On star number 7, we missed the trunnion on marks 1, 2, and 3.

Frank Borman (CDR)

On 1, trunnion was 03235; on 2, it was 03240; on 3, it was 03241.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Okay, Frank. And then the last one is on star number 1; we missed the trunnion on mark 5.

Frank Borman (CDR)

You're welcome, Jerry.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

That Lovell's getting pretty proficient.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Was that last number you read down to me mark 2 on star number 1?

Frank Borman (CDR)

That's right. Star number 1, mark 2.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. Thank you. Now that one got you on guidance.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. You're back under our influence again. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Very good. Things start speeding up now, huh?

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. You've been in for about 20 minutes.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Find out from the Guidance group if a midcourse maneuver of minus 4.8 to access corridor at 14 hours would be better than the 15.2 I came up with first.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

We have already started checking it, Jim. I bet you think you sneaked that P37 past us.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Big brother is watching.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. I just wondered how temp on quad A tank is doing.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

We have seen no improvement as yet, Frank.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. Frank, we are going to establish a range sequence now. We would like to keep silence on the net for about 3 minutes. Over.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Range sequence complete. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Hello, Houston. Apollo 8. How do you read?

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Loud and clear.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Houston, how do you read? Apollo 8.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Loud and clear by me.

Frank Borman (CDR)

I wasn't reading you for a while. I read you loud and clear now.

Frank Borman (CDR)

I wanted to know what a range sequence test was, Jerry.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

I was afraid you was going to ask that. Stand by.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. This range sequence is a phenomenon we get on down-voice backup; in this mode, the ranging and the voice share the same channels, so we have to periodically check and make sure that they are not interfering with each other. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Thank you. These flights are very educational.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger. We are learning a little bit down here, too.

Frank Borman (CDR)

I hope you're not studying reentry.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

No, we're fat on those, Frank.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Frank. We would like for you to go back into PTC now. Your helium tank temperature is still holding about the same. And we are going to try PTC to even things out. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

He's off the air right now.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Roger, Frank. Let him know that we've compared his latest P37, and the state vectors have converged to—they are very, very close now.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Your state vector and our state vector are very, very close.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

That's affirmative, Frank.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Is that right, Jerry? Okay. I'll tell him. Thank you.

Jerry Carr (CAPCOM)

Don't let his head get big, though.

Frank Borman (CDR)

You guys are going to make it impossible to live with him. It always was pretty hard.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Houston. How do you read Apollo 8?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Say again.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Hello Michael, we lost lock and Bill hit COMMAND RESET to get the lock back on again, but you're welcome to the antenna.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Houston, Apollo 8. Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, this is Houston. Go ahead.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Good morning, Michael.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. You've got a lot of background noise and about unreadable. We're trying to get a better OMNI.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. How do you read? Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay. You're loud and clear. Is this Bill?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

I got a message for you while you were asleep. Valerie said to tell you that she and the kids are leaving for church about 11:30 and eagerly awaiting your return. She said presents are magically starting to appear under the Christmas tree again so it looks like a double barrel Christmas. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

You can't beat a deal like that. How was Christmas at your house today?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Early and busy as usual. I told Michael you guys are up there, and he said who's driving?

Bill Anders (LMP)

That's a good question. I think Isaac Newton is doing most of the driving right now.

Bill Anders (LMP)

I think Isaac Newton is doing most of the driving right now.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Tell Valerie and the kids a Merry Christmas for me, Mike, and tell them I'll see them there in a while.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

I sure will, and you might tell Frank if he's got any messages his people are about 10 feet away.

Bill Anders (LMP)

He said “bah humbug.”

Frank Borman (CDR)

Howdy, how are you all?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

You've got a whole row of smiling faces in the back room, Frank.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Very good. Will they be proud of me: I'm using the Exer-Genie right now.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over,

Bill Anders (LMP)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Quad Able helium tank temperature has dropped very slightly and is looking pretty good to us now.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Righto, and I've got a procedure for Jim I would like to read up. It involves bringing the LM and the CSM state vectors to the earth's sphere of influence. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

He's getting his hat on now. Whose procedure is this, Michael?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Oh, it's the summation of the opinions of all our experts down here. I got it from Mr. Colossus, Gunther Sabionski.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Very good. I want to make sure it wasn't an Aldrin special.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

I'm sorry you're broken up. Don't say again. (Laughter)

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Merry Christmas, Bud.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Yes, Merry Christmas up there, Jim. I've got a procedure when you are ready to copy.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Okay. I just got on my headset; just let me get a pencil and paper, and I will copy it.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay. The purpose is to bring the LM and the CSM state vectors to earth's sphere of influence. Step one: Verb 37 ENTER, 23 ENTER. Step two: At NOUN 70, at NOUN 70, load in register 1, 2, and 3 the following numbers. Register 1, 00002; register 2, five balls; register 3, 00210. Step 3: proceed on NOUN 70, NOUN 70. Step 4: proceed on NOUN 25, 25. Step 5: do not proceed on NOUN 18. Wait for 30 seconds; then do VERB 37 ENTER, 00 ENTER. End of procedure. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Okay. As I understand that the reason for this procedure is to bring the LM and CSM state vectors back to the earth's sphere of influence; is that correct?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

That's correct.

Expand selection down Contract selection up

Spoken on Dec. 25, 1968, 5:46 p.m. UTC (55 years, 10 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Okay. To do it we go VERB 37 ENTER, 23 ENTER; and at the NOUN 70, we'll load in register 1, four balls 2; register 2, all balls; and register 3, two balls 210. We'll proceed on NOUN 70 and proceed on NOUN 25. We'll not proceed on 18. We'll wait 30 seconds, and we'll do a VERB 37 ENTER, 00 ENTER.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

That's affirmative. Apollo 8.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

I'm just kinda curious, Mike; I thought this was done for us. I thought the computer took care of this little problem.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Normally, it is done automatically, Jim; and had you done the P23's exactly as scheduled, it would have been, but there was some doubt P23 was stopped about 7 minutes prior to the transition point and just to be absolutely sure, we included this procedure. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Okay. Tell Buzz I sure could use his eye-patch.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. I understand. Buzz had one on Gemini X, worked real well.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Mike, do you want me to do this procedure now?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

That's affirmative, Jim. Now at your convenience.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Did you see guidance? Is the flag set?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

We're set, that's right.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Thank you, Jim. We copied your DSKY work there, and it's looking just fine to us now.

Frank Borman (CDR)

You know, one thing you can pass on to the program office—something you might try working on right away is —

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Can you stand by, Apollo 8?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, can you stand by? We'll try to get you a better antenna; you're just about unreadable.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. We are right in between antennas and if you can wait about 5 minutes with your message, we can have better COMM then.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay. You're loud and clear now, Frank. Go ahead and say what you were saying about the program office.

Frank Borman (CDR)

They ought to get some moving out on some way to fix these windows. The three windows, the hatch window and the two side windows, really it's a shame, in fact, that they are almost totally unusable, because they got so gummed up.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. I sure agree. We copy so far on the windows that 2 and 4 are in excellent shape and 1 and 5 are sort of mediocre and 3 is just about totally unusable.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Three is totally unusable; 1 and 5 are unusable for any kind of photography.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

And, Mike, that sure puts the CMP in a bad light, you know, when you can't see where you are going.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Yes. And when you're sitting between two guys that won't tell you, too. (Laughter)

Jim Lovell (CMP)

That's right. You think they will share a window? No soap. You might also note the optics are very good visibility; so far, no coating at all.