Spacelog Apollo 8

Apollo 8, Houston. Go.

Roger. This is one of those rare occasions where Bill left his seat and I am now sitting in it, and for the first time, I can see the earth. I'm looking through his monocular; it's pretty nice.

Roger.

You had a little weather today it appears.

Last word from the weather guys here was that it was clear.

Well, we could see South America and Florida and through the lower part of the U.S. Looks like there is a weather front going over into the central part of the United States, lot of clouds over the northwest area. Florida is clear; it looks like the east coast is pretty clear.

Roger. Clear but cold.

Lot of clouds up in Canada.

Maybe the geese will go home.

Jerry, we are going to turn it on and see how the picture is.

Roger.

Nothing yet, Frank.

Takes a while to warm up, I think.

Any luck yet, Jerry.

Not yet, Frank.

We got a picture now, Frank. It's twitching.

The earth is on now, Frank.

How's it look?

We are seeing about half of it. You moved in the wrong direction. Okay. It's coming back, a little more. Good, now a shade toward the terminator.

A little bit more toward the terminator and in the same direction you were moving it before. Right; you have got it centered right in the middle.

Now move it away from the terminator just a bit.

Good picture.

Okay. You want us to wait until 128, right?

Affirmative. Frank, move your camera to the right; I want to see which way the earth moves on my screen.

Okay. Moving your camera to the right moves the earth to the left on our screen. On our screen, the terminator is almost parallel to the horizontal direction, and the dark part is on the top.

Okay. We will turn it back on at 128, then.

Okay, Frank.

Apollo 8, Houston. Are you on a high-gain antenna?

Roger.

Roger.

What beam width are you on, Apollo 8?

NARROW.

Roger. NARROW.

This is Apollo 8. Do you read?

Apollo 8, Houston. Loud and clear.

Roger. Radio check.

Roger.

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

Apollo 8, Houston. Loud and clear.