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.

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.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

And your manual attitude switches in RATE COMMAND.

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Spoken on Dec. 25, 1968, 8:07 p.m. UTC (55 years, 10 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

One minute to ignition. Over.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Twenty seconds to ignition.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. We burned on time, 14 seconds, attitude nominal. Our residuals were plus 2 in VGX, minus 1 in VGY nothing in VGZ. Our EMS stopped about 6.2 and continued counting after the burn.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand 14 seconds, burn on time, nominal attitude, two-tenths X, one-tenth Y, and nothing—minus one-tenth Y, and nothing Z; and you put 6.2 on the EMS, and it continued to count after the burn. Is that affirmative?

Jim Lovell (CMP)

No. We put the burn—we put the burn DELTA-V in the EMS, and after the burn, it was still counting.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Okay, Houston. We transferred the state vector to the LM slot.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger, Jim. Thank you, and I still don't understand you on this EMS. Counted down from 5 to zero normally and then continued through zero in a negative way, and now it's reading minus 6.2? Is that affirmative?

Jim Lovell (CMP)

Roger. That's right. It was counting up when we shut it off. Last time I saw it, it was 6.9. Now Frank just put it on AUTO again with the DELTA-V function switch in DELTA-V, and it jumped six-tenths. Then he tried the second time, and it stayed at zero so we really don't know what the story is.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Houston, this is Apollo 8.

Frank Borman (CDR)

I guess you want us to resume PTC, right?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

We'd like you to resume the PTC attitude, pitch 010, yaw 045; and then come out of it again for your P23 that you're scheduled for about another hour and 10 minutes, in another hour and 10 minutes.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Mike, this is Frank. Is this TV still scheduled for 104:50?

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

That's affirmative, Frank, if you can manage it.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

How's it going with the TV, Frank? Are we—can the networks count on having it on schedule? Over.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Yes, we can have it on schedule. We don't have much to do, but we'll perform for you.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Okay. We have a bunch of filter experts standing by if you need any advice.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Well, we're just going to have to just do it inside today because there are no good shots of the moon or the earth; the sun's too darn bright.

Jim Lovell (CMP)

I think it's raining out there.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Yes, that's what we thought.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Apollo 8, Houston. Go ahead.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Roger. On this EMS, when I put it in DELTA-V, it was reading zero; then I switched to AUTO. Sometimes it will count to 19 or 20 feet per second. I guess that is what happened.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Roger. Understand when you put it to AUTO, it maybe will keep counting up to as much as 19 to 20 feet per second.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Just when you put it to AUTO; it will start counting on some occasion, by itself.

Frank Borman (CDR)

Mike, we're ready when you are.

Mike Collins (CAPCOM)

Yes, we're ready, Frank. We're all squared away and eagerly standing by.