by Acer
We have some really big news just in to read up to the Apollo 8 astronauts: The Crew of the Pueblo will be released at 9 p.m. tonight!
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
Oh that’s good news! Real good! So happy for those sailors and their families after such a long ordeal!
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Ken has finished reading the latest navigation adjustment numbers up to the crew, and now Jim Lovell is involved in implementing minor mid-course navigation using the onboard guidance and navigation system.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The flight surgeon has instructed Commander Frank Borman to take a Lomotil tablet. Only the commander. Then he needs to get some rest.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
As instructed by the Houston medics, I took one of the anti-diarrhoea tablets an hour ago. Doesn’t seem to have any effect. I still feel terrible. I’m sweating profusely and the diarrhoea is continuing.
1 day 13 hours 14 minutes mission time
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The medics have now advised Frank Broman to take one additional Lomotil tablet. That extra pill that should reduce his bowel activity – something Frank could really do with right now.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We’ve had a further update on the cause of our communication problem. It now seems that the main problem was with a relay in a control monitor panel at the Honeysuckle relay station in Australia.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We are going through another shift change here at Mission Control. Flight Director Glenn Lunney and his Black Team of flight controllers are coming on to replace Milton Windler and his team. Capsule Communicator will be Gerald Carr.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Gerald Carr, the new CAPCOM, just told me that all 82 crewmembers of the USS Pueblo have finally been released. That’s great news – it could have escalated into something really dangerous if the North Koreans had not backed down.
Gerald Carr @GCCAPCOMApollo8
The crew of the Pueblo have been released, but it looks like the Communists are going to hold onto the ship as some kind of trophy to brag to their people about.
Gerald Carr @GCCAPCOMApollo8
It took about 30 minutes for all 82 crewmembers to walk across ‘the Bridge of No Return’ separating North and South Korea. They brought with them the body of the crewman who was killed.
The crew of the USS Pueblo (top right) waiting to cross
the Bridge of No Return
The crew of the USS Pueblo finally walking over the Bridge of No Return and out of captivity in North Korea
1 day 19 hours 4 minutes mission time
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
Cabin temperature is way down right now and it’s getting very chilly in here. I’ve asked Houston if they can suggest any way of bringing up the temperature without stirring up the last thermal balance we have.
Ken Mattingly @TMCAPCOMApollo8
If the crew don’t want to use the fans and heat exchanger to raise the temperature slowly, a quicker way to warm up the cabin is to adjust, with the mixing valve, their radiator OP temperatures. That would be a two-man job and they would need to be very careful.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
Frank has just gone to bed. He’s pretty worn out. Not in good shape at all.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
I’ll just put on the fans and go to full high on the heat exchanger and see what that does to the cabin temperature. I don’t think we want to be attempting anything tricky or experimental at this point.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
I am looking out of the window right now. I have the lights out in the spacecraft and the window covered where the Sun is. Doing that, I can see the stars very well out of the left rendezvous window.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
That window is pretty much the only one that is still good. The center window is all fogged over. It looks like it has a coating of ice or very heavy fog. Bill claims it is something else though.
Ken Mattingly @TMCAPCOMApollo8
Down here, we’re showing cabin temperature warming up and approaching 70, so it looks like the trick with the fans and heat exchanger worked. Hopefully, it might also help with the bad windows situation too.
Gerald Carr @GCCAPCOMApollo8
I have just passed up a large block of data to Jim Lovell. These come out as a long stream of numbers meaningful only to the onboard computer.
Gerald Carr @GCCAPCOMApollo8
These numbers, by the way, are not part of the ongoing flight plan. They are for a contingency situation only – a means of assuring proper return data for the crew should we lose communications, which is always a real possibility.
Gerald Carr @GCCAPCOMApollo8
Nobody has ever broadcast and received voice communications over such a distance as this. Not even close. So we are far from certain that it can be maintained for the duration of the mission.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We have decided not to go ahead with the scheduled mid-course correction burn at 47 hours mission time. The reason is that data indicated that the burn would only need to be 1 foot per second. We are now 47 hours 1 minute into the mission.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
Cabin temperature is falling again. We do have one fan on and in full heat, but it’s getting very chilly again. I think a re-design of the cabin temperature control system for future, longer missions needs to be looked at.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The infamous Green Team is now coming into Mission Control. Mike Collins will be CAPCOM and Cliff Charlesworth will be Flight Controller.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
During the Green Team’s shift, Apollo 8 will cross that great divide in space. That will be the first time that a manned spacecraft has gone so far out that the Earth’s sphere of influence is secondary to another celestial body.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Apollo 8 will enter the Moon’s sphere of influence at 55 hours 30 minutes mission time. At that time, the attraction of the Moon on the spacecraft will become greater than the attraction of the Earth - a historic moment in manned spaceflight.
2 days 0 hours 30 minutes mission time
Cliff Charlesworth @CCFlightApollo8
I have just gone around the room here at Mission Control and received a status report from each console. Apart from a few minor environmental systems problems in the cabin, things look mostly good at 48 hours 35 minutes into the flight of Apollo 8.
Cliff Charlesworth @CCFlightApollo8
However, the flight surgeon believes we are not completely out of the woods yet regarding the crew’s medical condition, especially that of Commander Borman. Also, the crew are behind on sleep, behind on water and have not been eating as much as was planned.
Cliff Charlesworth @CCFlightApollo8
There is a fair amount of discussion here at Mission Control as to whether or not it would be wise to put the spacecraft into the scheduled 10 lunar orbits given the precarious medical condition of Commander Borman.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
I’m about to read up the morning news to the crew of Apollo 8. This will be the latest, hot-off-the-press edition of ‘the Interstellar Times’ penned by famed pressman - our own Paul Haney.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Haney says the astronauts need to be informed that there are now only two more shopping days before Christmas. Despite the camera problems yesterday, the TV transmission from Apollo 8 appears to have been a real big hit worldwide.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Twenty-one convicts broke out of a prison in New Orleans yesterday, and President Johnson went home last night from the naval hospital after his bout with the flu.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
&nbs
p; The President has sent the astronauts a special message. Not what to do with the flu and whatever Frank Borman is suffering from, but his congratulations on the flight so far.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Bill Anders asked me how the families are doing. I was able to tell him that I was talking to Valerie just a few moments ago and she is doing just fine.
Cliff Charlesworth @CCFlightApollo8
We are now 51 hours 41 minutes into the flight of Apollo 8 to the Moon. At this point, the spacecraft is approaching 170,000 miles from Earth and travelling at a speed of 3,356 feet per second.
Cliff Charlesworth @CCFlightApollo8
Valerie Anders, the wife of Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, has joined us here at Mission Control. She is seated in the viewing area which overlooks the Mission Operations Control Room with our dozens of computer consoles and large mission screens on the walls.
Cliff Charlesworth @CCFlightApollo8
Accompanying Valerie Anders in the viewing area is Neil Armstrong, the backup command module pilot for Apollo 8.
Cliff Charlesworth @CCFlightApollo8
Valerie Anders is the first of the Apollo 8 astronauts’ wives to visit Mission Control. Later today, we expect to see Jim Lovell’s wife, Marilyn. I’ll go up and have a word with both of them later when we are in a quiet period.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffaisNASA
Dr. Berry and his people on the medical console continue to be concerned about the crew’s health, their minimal water and food intake, as well as their erratic sleep cycles to this point.
Cliff Charlesworth @CCFlightApollo8
The crew seem to be just grabbing very short naps when they can, and we are not able to get a reliable handle on how much meaningful rest they are actually having.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
As we get nearer the Moon, the light from the Sun is coming right into the scanning telescope making it impossible to use. We are having to rely on the sextant alone, which is not the best option.
Bill Anders @LMPApollo8
I don’t know if I’m coming down with whatever it is that is ailing Frank but I’m feeling pretty queasy myself right now.
2 days 5 hours 5 minutes mission time
Cliff Charlesworth @CCFlightApollo8
We are now 53 hours and 5 minutes into the flight of Apollo 8. The spacecraft is 171,360 miles out from Earth and travelling at 3,356 feet per second.
Cliff Charlesworth @CCFlightApollo8
We hope Bill Anders has just taken a Marezine tablet as advised since the medics here continue to fret about the astronauts’ physical condition.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The spacecraft is proceeding in a sort of nose-down attitude. If you configure in your mind’s eye the Earth, Moon and Sun on a flat plane, Apollo 8 is moving nose down towards the Moon.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The spacecraft is also spinning, rotating at about one revolution per hour. Apollo 8 has held this nose down and revolving attitude for some time now and will continue in this configuration until insertion into lunar orbit.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
We are telling the crew, with some urgency, to drink plenty of water even if they do not feel the need – when we copied their dosimeter readings, water intake was drastically down.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
The medics down at Mission Control are being overly concerned. We’re in fair shape all things considered. Even Frank is starting to feel a little better now, and we have one more rest period coming up before lunar orbit insertion.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
Meanwhile, happiness is having bacon cubes for breakfast. And that is just what we are about to have here.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
I’m feeling a little better and my bowel activity has eased up quite a lot. Hope the people back home weren’t too disappointed by the screw up of our last live TV broadcast from space.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
I know the optics guys in Houston are working flat out on a fix right now so hopefully we’ll send down a better TV show next time.
Ken Mattingly @TMCAPCOMApollo8
The problem with filming out of the windows back at Earth now that the spacecraft is so far out is that the light intensity which is sensed by the light meter is picking up an average field which is much larger than the Earth.
Ken Mattingly @TMCAPCOMApollo8
The deep space environment is dark and wide so the camera is probably opening the lens aperture as far as it will go. When they point the camera at Earth, the Earth only fills up about 3 degrees of cone angle, whereas the lens takes in 9.
Ken Mattingly @TMCAPCOMApollo8
So it looks like they are just saturating the tube. We are looking at some of the other lenses and filters they have on board and running some tests. We’ll let them know when we think we have a workaround. Meanwhile I have some complex maneuver numbers I need to read up to the crew.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
Apollo 8 is now moving to the edge of Earth’s gravitational field and in a few moments will be taken over by the Moon’s gravitational field—a gravity just one-sixth as powerful as that of Earth’s.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
So in a few minutes, the pull of lunar gravity will start to speed the spacecraft’s progress towards the Moon from its present 2,300 mph to an incredible 6,700 mph.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Mike Collins is now passing up a new procedure to the crew involving the use of the telephoto lens which we couldn’t get to work yesterday. Getting images through that lens is of huge interest to the broadcast media and many others as well.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
We think showing pictures of the Earth from way out here would be the most interesting thing we could do today. If we could get over the problem with the lens that is.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Frank needs to unstow the red filter, the polarizing filter, the blue filter and some tape. Then tape the red filter to the lens and attach the lens to the camera and ensure that the automatic light control switch on the camera is in the IN position.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
The camera should then be attached to the adjustable TV bracket, and the bracket attached to the TV mounting point on the commander’s side of the hatch to point out of rendezvous window number 2.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
He needs to use the dovetail on top of the camera rather than the side dovetail for mounting to the bracket and place the rocking nut down towards his –X position.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
That should end up having the camera looking out of the window at about 30 degrees yawed left from his +X axis. Then they should dim the interior lights, stop the passive thermal control, set gimbal angles of pitch 224, yaw 020, roll 270.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Finally, acquire on the high gain antenna, switch to auto tracks and beam down upon acquisition of image after yawing left to get a good view of Earth. They may also have to adjust the pitch of the spacecraft up a little.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
It is important to let the camera stabilize for 20 seconds to allow the automatic light control system to do its thing and to avoid touching the lens as that can cause electrical interference.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
I can see those optics guys in Houston have put a lot of thought into this. It is much appreciated up here.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
If those procedures don’t work, we will send up more procedures involving other filters and various combinations thereof. If the crew have any questions, they can shoot them down to us. We have a whole bunch of experts down here to help out.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
The general plan for t
he upcoming photography is to take a long look at the Earth, then swing around to take a quick look at the Moon which should be showing the eastern limb, but in what detail we are unable to estimate.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
At least one of the crew is betting that the TV transmission won’t work. We at Mission Control are refusing to take the bet but are standing by for a nice lurid description and suggesting that they speak a little bit slower than they did yesterday.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We are about to begin a change in our reporting procedure which will come up following the passage of what we call MSI or Moon Sphere of Influence. That event will take place in about a half hour from now.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Up to now, the distance and velocity readings we have been giving have used the Earth as a reference. When the spacecraft passes into the sphere of influence of the Moon, the reference will become the Moon and we will see a dramatic change in the velocity reference.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
For instance, the velocity on passing into MSI relative to the Earth will be 3,261 feet per second. However, the velocity relative to the Moon at that point will be 3,989 feet per second.
