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?

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.

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Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. We copy Jim doing a P52, and I'm standing by with a maneuver PAD for midcourse 5 any time at your convenience.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Okay. Ready to copy, Mike.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger, Jim. This is midcourse maneuver number 5, and it's a RCS/G&N, and it's 31700, not applicable, not applicable. Are you with me?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Good. 103:59:52.86, minus 00050, plus all zeros, plus 00001 000 334 001 five zeros, plus 00190 00050 014 00050. Are you still with me? Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Good. 413020 183, Shaula, down 064, left 06, plus 0747, minus 16410 12988 36301 146:46:40; north set of stars, Sirius and Rigel, roll 308, pitch 209, yaw 357. Remarks: use high-speed procedure with minus MA. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger, Houston. MCC 5, RCS/G&N—are you with me?

Jim Lovell (CMP)

31700, NA, NA, 103:59:52.86, minus 00050, plus all zeros, plus 00001 000 334 001, all zeros, plus 00190 00050 014 0050 413020 183, Shaula, down 064, left 06, plus 0747, minus 16410 12988 36301 146:46:40; Sirius, Rigel, 308 209 357; use high-speed procedure with minus MA.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. And could you go to ACCEPT, please, and we're going to send you a P27 load consisting of a LM state vector and a target load for MCC 5.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. We'd like to dump your waste water tank down to 25 percent; we'd like to do it before the midcourse, for tracking reasons. So if it is convenient with you, if you'll start right now, we'll dump on down to 25.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. We'll get right with it.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. We got those loads in and verified; you can go back BLOCK at your computer. And George Low says he's working on that window problem at 6, or spacecraft 104. You just happen to have the wrong spacecraft.

Frank Borman (CDR)

That's the wrong statement; we've got the right spacecraft. I'll clue you, if it keeps going this way for 2 more days, we've got not only the right spacecraft, but we've got the best spacecraft.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Apollo 8. We're starting the dump now, Houston.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Okay. We're starting the waste water dump now.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. I need a Pop Romeo Dog on all three and a status report on the LMP.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. The LMP's PRD hasn't moved an inch since we took off. And that's the one the CMP did have, still 0.64. And I just had about 5-1/2 hours sleep, and I'm in the process of scarfing up a meal; and I've been drinking lots of water, feeling good, and that's about it.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay. And you got a PRD on the other two.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Yes. The CMP is ready to report. The CMP is reading 1.2 rem.

Frank Borman (CDR)

And the CDR: I got stuck with somebody else's, but mine reads now—my new one reads 2.02 rems. I don't know if there is a message there or not.

Bill Anders (LMP)

He's starting to glow in the dark.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Yes. You should have hung on to the one you had. It sounded a little bit better. I copy left to right 2.02, 0.12, and 0.64. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

What have they measured in our—what have they measured on that, I guess you would call it the VABABR, or VABD?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

We're sending the boy to the back room to find out.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Find out what it is, or what it's reading?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

First one and then the other.

Bill Anders (LMP)

We'll need both answers up here, too.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Bill's VA and VR reading that he requested is 0.13. Over.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Roger. Looks like you've got a little discrepancy here.

Bill Anders (LMP)

You ought to give those guys a chance to go back to sleep and calibrate those things.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. We've just passed 25 percent and you can terminate your waste water dump, please.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Believe it or not, our gage is 5 percent behind yours.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Yes, John said that he has been noticing that.

Bill Anders (LMP)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Yes. We are going to switch antennas from Madrid to Goldstone in about 3 minutes. You should hear the glitch.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. Just for information, would the perigee reading and NOUN 42 be such a big minus number for such a small burn? We are reading minus 03137 now.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand; NOUN 42 perigee reads minus 03137. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. We are going to PROGRAM 30 after you give us the target load, and I didn't think there would be that much of a change for such a small burn.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Stand by. We will check into it, Jim.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger, Frank. We don't think there's any problem or any funnies in this perigee prediction of minus 03137. It's a Keplerian prediction, and it's not very accurate. Now we have taken your vector from the downlink and run it through a make-believe external DELTA-V maneuver down here, and we get precisely the correct answer. Over.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. Understand that you figure just because of the conics solution that it comes up.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

That's affirmative. The Kepler solution is just pretty gross.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Okay. I was just kind of curious. I could see differences when we were talking about LOI burns, but this being such a short one, I thought it wouldn't be that much difference. I understand.

Frank Borman (CDR)

You are monitoring and seeing if we get any inadvertent engine firing all the time, aren't you?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Well, we can't tell when you're in low bit rate. When you're in high bit rate, that's right.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Okay. If we crank up high bit rate and just have you take a checkout look at them?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Since you're on OMNI D (Dog) at this time, we're sort of 180 out of phase for the high-gain lock antennas. As soon as we can get high-gain lock, then we'll —

Frank Borman (CDR)

Okay. We will take the antennas and get on the high gain as soon as we can.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger, Frank. We've done some more checking, and we confirm that that is the correct Keplerian prediction on NOUN 42 minus 03137, just like you said.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. We are going to be doing a ranging sequence; if we can eliminate voice for a couple of minutes, we would appreciate it.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Our ranging is complete, and we have been monitoring your thruster firings, and they show what appears to be very normal damp activities. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Thank you. I guess it was associated with the water vent.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand, Frank.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 8.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Frank, we've got about 2-1/2 minutes to ignition, and we're still showing some of your SCS switches not set up as per checklist; specifically, rate LOW, deadband MINIMUM, and your BMAG mode at attitude one, rate two.

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