APOLLO 8 Modern doc
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Bill Humphries @BHNewcastleUNI
Using my slide rule, I calculate that the current speed of Apollo 8 works out as 23,864 mph – that’s nearly 7 miles per second. My goodness! Incredible! Seems almost impossible to believe that people could travel that fast!
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
We have a whole roomful of people down here who are saying that that burn and cut off looked good. Real good!
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Altitude is now 879 miles and we are beginning to see the velocity begin to recede slightly.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
We believe Apollo 8 has now passed the highest point man has ever been above the surface of the Earth. The flight of Gemini 11 reached 850 miles and they will have long passed that by now.
TO THE MOON
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
After another 13 minutes, the Apollo 8 astronauts will cut loose that third stage engine and will be alone out there in space where no men have ever been before.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
We are now looking, for the first time, inside Mission Control, Houston. There, dozens of controllers all sit at their individual computer consoles controlling and monitoring everything from the firing of the main rockets to the heartbeats of the individual astronauts.
The control room at Mission Control
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Man! Where’s the S –IVB? None of us can see it.
Jim Lovell @CMPApollo8
Okay, I can see the separated S-IVB booster now. It’s right in the middle of my window. If Frank will give me the camera and pitch over a little, I’ll take some shots.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We can now confirm that separation has now taken place and the spacecraft has turned around and is now taking a look at that separated third stage. Everything is going, as it has all morning, absolutely as planned. Very good - a nominal mission so far!
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
We are still trying to re-establish contact by land link with former astronaut John Glenn in Houston. If we can manage it, it may be a technological achievement perhaps on a par with today’s launch of Apollo 8.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
Just joking there.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
I presented some erroneous figures during the course of the burn. I apologize. I believe I earlier reported figures in thousands of miles when it should have been in thousands of feet. I apologize for that.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
Apollo 8 has now already set an altitude record for manned flight. Now 879 miles. Every ten seconds, the altitude of the spacecraft increases by 40 miles.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
We understand that the astronauts’ wives are delighted at how things are going so far, especially the just-completed burn that sent the spaceship on its way to the Moon. Mrs. Lovell and their three older children were here at the Kennedy Space Center to watch the historic event.
Frank Renolds @FRABCNews
The Apollo 8 spacecraft is about to pass through the Van Allen radiation belt. We should note here that there are some who believe that humans would not be able to survive such a passage.
Frank Renolds @FRABCNews
However, NASA believes that the radiation the astronauts will encounter should not present a problem for the crew. We shall see shortly.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Apollo 8’s velocity relative to the Earth continues to slow as predicted. At this point, the crew is passing through the thickest portions of the Van Allen belt – the first humans to do so.
Graphic of the Van Allen radiation belts which the Apollo 8 astronauts would have to pass through on their way to the Moon
Frank Renolds @FRABCNews
As Apollo 8 continues to traverse the Van Allen radiation belts, there seem to be no problems so far and Mission Control’s conversations with the astronauts continue as normal.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
In the last few minutes, Jim Lovell has been relaying some flight details down to Houston which can only be described perhaps as less than massively technologically significant. A sure sign of how well things have gone so far.
Jim Lovell @CMPApollo8
We have noted down for Houston’s benefit that the foodbox doors are hard to close and the food box frame has split out a little bit.
Bill Anders @LMPApollo8
The food is pretty good, particularly the butterscotch pudding, beef stew, grapefruit drink and chicken soup.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
The most notable foodstuff items were the butterscotch pudding and grapefruit drink. Both were excellent.
Jim Lovell @CMPApollo8
The hot water has made a big difference, too. The food is quite tasty, although none of us has gone overboard for the bread cubes and cereal cubes.
Bill Anders @LMPApollo8
Houston might also tell Dr. Frome that the toothpaste tastes pretty good too. I don’t know what kind of job it does on your teeth, but it’s nice for settling your stomach after dinner. Jim says we should use it for frosting on the fruitcake.
Bill Anders @LMPApollo8
Uh oh… Jim Lovell is now engaged in an activity which I shan’t describe, so I think I’ll cut my messaging short and get my oxygen mask.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
And so we have it. The three astronauts aboard Apollo 8 are now out of Earth orbit and on a course to reach and go behind the Moon.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
Very soon, as the astronauts look back at Earth, they will become the first humans to see Earth as a complete globe, framed only by the darkness of space.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
While Apollo 8 heads out towards the Moon, the Earth continues turning. This could have presented a problem in remaining in contact with the spacecraft.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
NASA has solved this problem by establishing 3 signal receiving stations, each one located one-third of the way around the Earth so that one station will always be facing the spacecraft. This enables Apollo 8 and Mission Control in Houston to remain in almost constant contact.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
So contact with the spacecraft will be maintained except for when the spacecraft goes into lunar orbit and passes around the far side of the Moon. No contact at that point, obviously, will be possible. Those passes around the far side will be tense times.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
The astronauts have now taken off their spacesuits. They will fly the rest of the mission mostly in long johns which they will keep on for the full 6 days of the mission.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
We are going through the checklist for moving away from the booster now but have lost sight of the S-IVB. We may have to delay the maneuver, or go ahead without having her in sight.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Okay. We have the S-IVB booster back in sight. It is really venting! A non-propulsive venting, but it’s pretty spectacular. It’s spewing out from all sides like a huge water sprinkler.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
We’re also listening to Herb Alpert music on the VHF right now. Sounds pretty good.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Uh oh! We seem to be getting closer to the S-IVB instead of further away.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
I believe we’re going to have to vent or thrust to get us away from this thing. We’re still getting closer.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Gotta be careful doing this blowdown to get us away from the S-IVB. One false move and I’ll have us barreling into the separated booster as it continues to trail us. Trouble is – it’s pointed at us pretty well.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
I’ll do the maneu
ver as soon as we can see Earth again. Thing is, Jim can’t find it in his sextant right now so we can’t get a fix. Meanwhile the venting on the S-IVB has terminated.
Bill Anders @LMPApollo8
The S-IVB booster is still pointing at us and quite a bit closer than Frank would like at this point. Roll, pitch and yaw angles are in the right place for the maneuver though.
Jim Lovell @CMPApollo8
Still looking for the Earth. Can’t see it anywhere.
Jim Lovell @CMPApollo8
Oh, there it is. We’ve got the Earth in the sextant now. It’s kind of low but we have a good fix on it. Through the scanning telescope, I can see millions of stars. Only they are not stars. They are the particles that vented from the S-IVB.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We’re still trying to ascertain what the best maneuver would be to give Apollo 8 the needed separation from the S-IVB booster given the current attitude of each craft relative to each other. It’s pretty tricky stuff.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Borman is still reporting that the S-IVB booster is still too close for comfort.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The astronauts are still hearing the Herb Alpert music we are sending them. That’s good because we want to find out how far out into space the VHF signal will carry.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
We are expecting to get TV pictures from Apollo 8 soon. It is equipped with a four and a half pound RCA camera and, according to the flight plan, the astronauts will be transmitting pictures from the spacecraft tomorrow afternoon around 3 o’clock.
Leo Krupp @LKTestastronautRockwell
The optics covers on the outside of the vehicle have now been ejected. They were there to prevent the spacecraft’s windows from being contaminated or obscured by debris during lift off and staging maneuvers.
Leo Krupp @LKTestastronautRockwell
Those optics covers needed to be ejected to enable the crew to navigate using the stars. If they fail to be ejected, there is a backup system for visual navigation, but it is far from optimal and the mission could have been terminated at that point.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
They will make another TV broadcast on their way out to the Moon. Then they plan to make two transmissions while they are orbiting the Moon. Another is planned for Christmas day on their way back from the Moon and a sixth transmission is expected on Thursday.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We’re sending Apollo 8 the numbers, gimbal angles and other details they need to be able to move away from the S-IVB without hitting it. Details are too technical to be worth noting down here.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
I will note, however, that the maneuver will require the thrusters to burn radially upwards at 8 feet per second. That is because of the separation distance we would like to have during the S-IVB separation blowdown.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
I don’t understand why Houston wants so many feet per second from the thrusters. I think I can, with just a little maneuvering, get away from it a lot simpler than that.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
We’ll go ahead with Houston’s numbers anyway. Maneuvering now.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Firing thrusters now. Seeing some separation.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Okay. That did it. We’re moving away from the separated booster now.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We have lost lock with the beacon on the S-IVB. That was a VHF beacon. However, Borman observes that they are slowly moving safely away from the booster.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
I now have a beautiful view of both the separating S-IVB and Mother Earth out of window 1. The window is now bigger than the entire Earth. I’ll try and get a picture for Houston.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
That’s quite a view of the whole Earth those boys must be getting right now – a view never before seen by human eyes. Remarkable!
Bill Anders @LMPApollo8
Houston needs to know that while window 1 is good, the center window is pretty well fogged up. That will need to be fixed before the next mission when the lunar module will separate from and later re-connect with the command module.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Mission Control might want to tell the people in Tierra del Fuego to put on their raincoats. Looks like quite a storm is brewing down there.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Apollo 8’s distance from Earth is now 17,200 miles having traversed the Van Allen radiation belts without incident and they are still hearing the piped music we are sending up on the VHF out of the Goldstone, California station.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
I’m having real difficulty finding the correct stars to do the star checks we need. It’s because of new venting from the S-IVB booster which is setting off big splashes of light which drown out the stars.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
At the last reading, Apollo 8 was quite a distance from the S-IVB booster and that distance should continue to grow. Hopefully, Jim will be able to get a fix on their navigation stars before much longer.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The spacecraft is now 19,000 miles from Earth and the crew are reporting that they are no longer able to hear the taped music we are sending up to them on the VHF link.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
The crew said it was pretty nice music while it lasted. We’re trying to talk to Frank right now but he is fading out badly. We can barely hear him.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
I think I can now get a fix on the navigation star Sirius, the second star in the first set. I’ll see if I can get an optics calibration on it at least.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Jim should go ahead and do the calibration on Sirius. Then use star number 15 and take 3 sets followed by star number 16, 2 sets.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
We’re trying to do what Houston wants, but it’s very difficult to get a star into the sextant. We need to maneuver the spacecraft to get away from Earth glare and the venting that came off the S-IVB.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
The S-IVB booster itself is now 50 miles away from Apollo 8, but the sparkling vented particles are still travelling alongside the command and service module, continuing to cause the crew navigation problems.
Michael Collins
If not for an accident and an operation, Michael Collins would have been on the Apollo 8 mission. Instead he became one of NASA’s capsule communicators (CAPCOMs) responsible for communicating with the crew during the six days of the mission.
Later, Collins would serve as command module pilot on Apollo 11 - the first lunar landing mission. He remained aboard the command module, Columbia, on station in lunar orbit while Neil Armstrong, spacecraft commander, and Edwin Aldrin, lunar module pilot, descended to the Moon’s surface in their lunar module Eagle. Collins completed two space flights, logging 266 hours in space - of which 1 hour and 27 minutes were spent in EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity).
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
That failing to separate efficiently from the S-IVB booster fouled them up a little. And now the crew are also reporting that number 5 window is also starting to fog up.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
Got it! One set was on Sirius with 3 stars and 2 sets with the star Procyon and 2 sightings. Should be good enough navigational data for now, and something of a relief for me personally.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffaisNASA
Here in Mission Control, we are in the process of changing shifts. Flight Director Milton Windler, CAPCOM Ken Mattingly and their Maroon Team of flight controllers are coming on to relieve Flight Director Clifford Charlesworth, CAPCOM Mike C
ollins and the rest of the Green Team.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffaisNASA
The new CAPCOM (Capsule Communicator) will be astronaut Ken Mattingly.
Ken Mattingly @TMCAPCOMApollo8
Frank Borman reported that the S-IVB now appears to be tumbling and we confirmed that observation from the ground.
Ken Mattingly @TMCAPCOMApollo8
Preliminary indications are that the high gain antenna is working as hoped and communications are fair at this point. We have sent up some modifications to the flight plan. Hoping to get back on the original flight plan by 11 hours mission time.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
More bad news. Window number 5 is pretty well completely obscured now, and window number 3 is unusable.
Ken Mattingly @TMCAPCOMApollo8
We’re looking into the window problem. Right now, the crew should relax a little. They should also be out of their spacesuits at this time laying back in their long johns.
Ken Mattingly @TMCAPCOMApollo8