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.

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Bill Anders (LMP)

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

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Spoken on Dec. 25, 1968, 7:07 p.m. UTC (55 years, 10 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet

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?

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.