by Acer
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo8
Conrad is hoping to fly around both the North and the South Pole and return to the United States by way of New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
I tried to talk Frank into making the exact same trip as that aviator. Anyway, good luck to the guy – he had better take some NoDoz caffeine tablets with him.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
From what we saw on the way to the Moon, the South Pole was really clobbered the other day. No such problems up here though. We have some pretty clear weather outside.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
No wait. It’s actually snowing outside the capsule right now. At least it’s looking that way with the waste water dump Bill just sent out.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
On the large center display map here at Mission Control showing the spacecraft’s ground track, we are seeing the increasing effect of the Earth’s gravitational pull. The ground track is starting to swing northward.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The tracking of the spacecraft relative to the ground should show it swinging even more northward before it actually reverses direction as the spacecraft plunges back toward Earth.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo8
At the present time, the spacecraft’s velocity is beginning to increase more rapidly as its altitude decreases. Current velocity is 7,598 feet per second. Altitude is 65,851 nautical miles above the Earth.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We have one bit of interesting information from our Flight Dynamics Officer to relay which illustrates the rapid velocity increase we will see as Apollo 8 nears the Earth in its final hour of flight.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Beginning at about 1 hour before re-entry interface, we expect a velocity of 18,013 feet per second. During the next hour as the spacecraft closes in on the Earth from an altitude of 10,445 nautical miles, velocity will just about double reaching an incredible 36,220 feet per second.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We saw much the same thing happen as our spacecraft neared the Moon – doubling of velocity as the spacecraft approached its target in the final hour.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We are going through another change of shift here at Mission Control in Houston. Milton Windler and his team of flight controllers are coming on and getting updated on the status of the spacecraft, crew and preparations for re-entry.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Milton’s team is the one that will be handling the re-entry near the end of their shift, some 7 hours and 47 minutes from now.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
We are scheduled to have a platform alignment of the spacecraft in about 15 minutes. That will be followed by an eat period for the commander. The command module pilot should continue sleeping until about 141 hours mission time.
139 hours 15 minutes mission time
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
At the present time, Apollo 8 is at an altitude of 51,198 nautical miles and its velocity is up to 8,698 feet per second. Currently, Bill Anders is on comms having just said farewell to the Green Team and welcomed my Maroon Team of flight controllers for the final leg of this historic mission.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
Jim Lovell is awake now so we are having him review all the optics needed prior to the re-entry maneuver as well as a whole bunch of other readouts. We are trying to collect as much data as possible should any last-minute troubleshooting be needed on our part.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
Houston wants to know if the software readouts they are getting in Mission Control are the same as the mechanical readouts we have been feeding them. This goes back to some of the problems we had during lunar orbit insertion.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
I’m about to read down a whole lot of technical numbers, optics readings, yaw, pitch and roll coordinates, etc. Too technical to be of much interest to the general audience following our mission.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
I have just informed the Apollo 8 crew that no further midcourse correction burn will be necessary. Frank Borman responded with: “Up to you – you’re the boss.” Actually, that would be Milton. As CAPCOM, I just relay Milton’s decisions.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Current crew status is: everybody got some real good rest last night and everybody is in good shape. Jim is up and about and Bill is starting the initial stowage procedures prior to re-entry.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
Before we get totally wrapped up in re-entry procedures, we should take a final look and note down our onboard system quantity readings. Cabin pressure remains, as it has now for some days, at 4.9 pounds per square inch.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
Cabin temperature is 78 degrees. The amount of waste water onboard right now is at 69.5% of the tank capacity, or 38.9 pounds. The potable drinking water quantity remains at 100% as it is being constantly replenished by the fuel cell production.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
Oxygen tank 1 has 59% of its oxygen supply remaining. Oxygen tank 2 has 59.5% remaining. Hydrogen tank 1 has 40.4% of hydrogen remaining and hydrogen tank 2 has 42.5% remaining.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
Oxygen flow is running at 0.3 pounds per hour. Fuel cell status shows load sharing proceeds very nicely. Fuel cell 1 is carrying 33.1% Fuel cell 2 is carrying 32.2% and fuel cell 3 is carrying about 34%. All steady values and we have had no fuel cell problems at all during the flight.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
The Apollo 8 crew are in good shape for a successful re-entry as far as consumables in the cabin and environmental conditions are concerned. Better than good shape… great shape!
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
Our spaceship is now just 42,293 nautical miles away from Earth. Velocity has increased to 9,300 feet per second. Remember - to convert that to statute miles per hour, you multiply by 0.68.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
Since we scrubbed the scheduled final midcourse correction burn maneuver, we have calculated that the difference doing without the unneeded burn makes to the predicted splashdown time in the mid-Pacific is in the order of just one second. Incredible!
RE-ENTRY
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
In the mid-Pacific landing site, the general conditions are reported as good. We expect scattered clouds at 2,000 feet, 10 miles visibility and 4-foot waves. The main recovery ship will be the USS Yorktown. Aircraft will be Airboss numbers 1 & 2 and recovery choppers 1, 2 & 3.
The carrier USS Yorktown
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
All recovery helicopters will have swimmers onboard. Since splashdown will be in darkness, if the recovery aircraft do not hear from Apollo 8, they will go ahead and put swimmers in the water anyway. If they do hear from Apollo 8, they will hold off on the swimmers until daylight.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
We are hearing from Mission Control here that everything continues to go well so far as the spaceship and its precious cargo of those three daring astronauts near the Earth.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
Everything has gone exceedingly well so far, particularly the navigation of the spacecraft and the firing of its engines and thrusters up to now. There have, however, been a few minor problems reported in the last 24 hours.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
Fogging of three of the spacecraft’s windows is reported to have become quite severe and there has been some concern by the people in Mission Control about recent dumps of wastewater the astronauts have been undertaking.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
There have also been reports of exce
ssive heating in the space cabin which could be a cause for concern during the superheated re-entry the spacecraft is about to endure.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
At 142 hours and 59 minutes into the flight of Apollo 8, the spacecraft and crew are now just 30,424 nautical miles from home. The velocity increase we are seeing has now become dramatic.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
Current velocity is now up to an incredible 11,298 feet per second and it is really building second by second.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
We have two things going on up here which make this suit heat exchanger pull a little different. One is we are not doing a cold soak. The other is we are powering down the secondary loop prior to separation.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
The fact that they do not have any heat exchanger in the cabin now is not helping the crew. If they get too cold, they could use the panel switching to shut down the primary loop through the heat exchanger.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
In any event, they will always have something going through the suit heat exchanger. We are going to be shutting down the secondary heat exchanger pre-separation and then turning it back on prior to re-entry.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
The original idea was to have both primary and secondary loops on the suits’ heat exchangers simultaneously.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
My checklist does not reflect what I’m currently hearing from Mission Control regarding the heat exchangers. But it would be a good idea to use both loops since we are a little suspect of our cabin fans and don’t plan to use them.
Bill Stout @BillStoutCBS
Two of the problems reported during the mission apparently may be related: wastewater dumps and contamination of the windows in the capsule. However, the two windows which remain clear are the rendezvous windows directly above the heads of the astronauts.
Leo Krupp @LKTestAstronautRockwell
We hope to get some good window samples back after the spacecraft is recovered from the Pacific so we can figure out what caused this problem and get it sorted out before the next Apollo flight. It’s absolutely crucial for the upcoming landing mission.
Leo Krupp @LKTestAstronautRockwell
However, the rendezvous windows are the only windows intended to have any function during re-entry. The window on the commander’s side, on Frank Borman’s side, has an X-line that he can use as a visual backup to establish the correct pitch attitude for re-entry.
Leo Krupp @LKTestAstronautRockwell
That line is at 31.7 degrees. If the commander maneuvers to get that X-line on the horizon of the Earth, that means his pitch attitude is correct for re-entry. That’s really the only important window for the re-entry maneuver.
Bill Stout @BSCBS
So with all the computers, all the mathematics, all the experts at Mission Control, it could come down to needing a clean sheet of glass to get them to be able to land successfully on the Moon and into the correct attitude for re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere..
Leo Krupp @LKTestAstronautRockwell
The rendezvous window is intended as a backup to provide crew with a visual reference line to ensure that they do have the correct attitude. If all goes well, the complete entry will be a computer-controlled entry.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
Current weight of the spacecraft is 31,600 pounds. That weight will change dramatically 15 minutes before they reach the 400,000 foot mark where the re-entry vehicle will separate from the service module.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
The weight will go down from 31,600 pounds to about 12,000 pounds and will hold close to that on in. We are about to hand over the signal from ground station Carnarvon to Honeysuckle Station and so expect a short cut off in voice and telemetry.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
In our last conversation with Bill Anders, it seems he remains somewhat confused about the primary and secondary suit heat exchangers. They need to activate the primary loop by putting the primary glycol/water and the evaporator steam pressure switches to AUTO.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
We expect those settings will ensure it will be warm enough to ensure sufficient boiling. If it isn’t boiling, they can go ahead and turn on the secondary loop.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
Apollo 8 is now just 25,309 nautical miles from home, travelling at a velocity of 12,328 feet per second. Tensions are high in Mission Control and around the world as we wait and pray for a successful re-entry.
Leo Krupp @LKTestastronautRockwel
During re-entry, the vehicle will be flown by the computer and Borman will merely monitor the entry by watching his flight direction attitude indicator and cross-checking with some other systems.
Leo Krupp @LKTestastronautRockwel
However, before the computer takes over the re-entry there are a great number of technical alignment settings and adjustments Commander Borman will have to assess and key in before handing over to computer control.
Leo Krupp @LKTestastronautRockwel
Then, if the computer functions properly, as it has throughout this flight, it will fly the vehicle completely through the re-entry maneuver right down to parachute deployment.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
We are seeing that available potable drinking water has suddenly dropped from 100% capacity to 56% in the past 2 minutes. I’ve asked the crew if they have done anything to change configuration.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
We are seeing just 50% of available potable water inside the spacecraft right now. We are seeing some venting into space, but that seems to be just urine. We don’t know how to account for this sudden drop in water quantity.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
We don’t really care about the potable water tank, but we do care about the waste tank. So just in case there is a problem somewhere, we are going to shut the potable tank OFF and leave the waste tank inlet valve OPEN.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
The potable water situation is not a big problem at this point – just something that is unexplained and so will need to be resolved before the next mission.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Apollo 8 is now just 22,276 nautical miles from Earth. This puts the spacecraft in a geosynchronous orbital altitude and it will now begin to sink its direction in relation to our lunar map.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
In other words, it will start flying in the direction of the turn of the Earth. At least, that is how it will appear to those of us on Earth.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
The service module will be jettisoned shortly when we reach the 400,000 feet or 80-mile high mark.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The viewing room here at the Mission Control Center is beginning to fill in anticipation of re-entry and return to Earth of the Apollo 8 spacecraft and crew.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Dr. Kurt Debus, Director of the Kennedy Space Center, has taken his seat along with Rocco Petrone, his number one deputy for launch operations who had so much to do with the departure of Apollo 8 just over 6 days ago.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
The Flight Surgeon has suggested that since Marezine takes some time to take effect, the crew should consider taking some now.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
On our flat wall map here in Mission Control, we see the spacecraft moving up the west coast of India. It will proceed northerly and then curve in an easterly direction carrying it across China, the Himalayas and then down towards Guam.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Present velocity is 17,272 feet per second and the spacecraft is now just 11,626 miles from us.
Frank Borm
an @CDRApollo8
It doesn’t appear we’re going to be able to trigger the primary evaporator loop so I’m going to start up the secondary loop. I’d also like to start the pyro arm check 10 minutes earlier than planned.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
Frank can go ahead and carry out the pyro arm circuit check just about any time. We have given him a GO at his convenience.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
Apollo 8 is now just 39 minutes before splashdown, 11 minutes before the separation of the command module and the service module before splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Milton Windler @MWFlightApollo8
I have advised CAPCOM to relay to the crew that they are now GO for pyro arm and separation from the service module. Everything is looking good at this point.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
‘Pyro arm’ is the arming of the pyrotechics that will blow the command module and the service module apart so that the command module capsule can then thrust through the atmosphere and make a controlled descent back to an eventual splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffaisNASA
There remains good weather out there in the Pacific recovery area and recovery vessels are on station. The route will be over northeast Canada, over Tokyo, 169 degrees east. And by the way, just northwest of Christmas Island. How appropriate.
