Spacelog Apollo 11

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Affirmative. We request hydrogen and an oxygen fuel cell purge. Over.

Okay. Any preference which first?

Negative. As long as you've got the H₂ purge line heaters on.

Houston, Apollo 11. Over.

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Go ahead.

Roger. You copy my NOUN 93?

That's affirmative. We've got it.

Okay. I am going to go ahead and thrust then. Triangle difference is 0.01, but it's sort of difficult at three-tenths rate. I'm required to use medium speed unresolved, and it's difficult to hold the star centered long enough to get a decent mark on it.

Roger. We copy. It looks okay to us.

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

Go ahead, Houston.

Roger. I've got the morning news here if you're interested. Over.

Yes, we sure are. We're ready to copy and comment. Isn't that 2:30 there?

Roger.

Okay. Go.

Okay. Here we go. The interest in the Flight of Apollo 11 continues at a high level but a competing interest in the Houston area is the easing of watering rules. Mayor Louie Welch promises a lifting of lawn-watering restrictions if the rains continue. Friday is partly cloudy, and there is a 30-percent chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. In Washington, D.C., the Senate Finance Committee approved extension of the income tax surtax, but a Senate vote on the bill —

You cut out, Houston. You cut out.

Roger. Where do you hold me cutting out? Over.

Houston, Apollo 11.

Apollo 11, this is Houston. How do you read now? Over.

Loud and clear, Houston. Go ahead.

Roger.

Start after the rains in Houston.

Roger. In Washington, the Senate Finance Committee has approved extension of the income tax surtax, but a Senate vote on the bill currently seemed remote. In Austin, State Representative Ray Lemmon of Houston has been nominated as the National Director of the American Society for Oceanography. Lemmon has proposed a study of the possibility of establishing an institute of oceanography in Texas. This would be the first such institute on the western Gulf of Mexico. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the weather bureau, after recapping today's weather showing a high of 88 and a low of 72, has noted “snowfall: none.” From St. Petersburg, Florida, comes a radio report from the Norwegian explorer, Thor Heyerdahl, which said that the crew of his papyrus boat, the Ra, will sail into Bridgetown, Barbados, despite damage from heavy seas. The crew, however, will sleep on an escort vessel. Norman Baker, navigator of the expedition, said the crew was aboard the Ra today repairing damage from storms this past week, which split the footing of the mast. Part of the broken mast was jettisoned overboard, and the vessel was 725 miles east of the Barbados. “It is possible but uncomfortable to sleep aboard the Ra,” Baker said in the radio report. “But the purpose of our voyage is not a test of strength or human endurance.” That is the reason why the crew was spending nights aboard the escort vessel Shenandoah, which rendezvoused with the Ra on Tuesday.

In sports, the Houston Oilers are showing plenty of enthusiasm in their early preseason workouts at Kerrville, and Coach Wally Lemm says he is impressed with the fine group of rookies. National League baseball yesterday, Thursday: St. Louis 11, Philadelphia 3; Montreal 5, over Pittsburg 4; Atlanta 12, Cincinnati 2; San Fransciso 14, and Los Angeles 13. American League: we have Baltimore 3, over Cleveland 2; Detroit 4 to Washington's 3; Minnesota 8 to Chicago 5. Boston at New York was rained out. And in Corby, England, an Irishman, John Coyle has won the world's porridge eating championship by consuming 23 bowls of instant oatmeal in a 10-minute time limit from a field of 35 other competitors. Over.

Roger. I assume Houston didn't play yesterday.

That's correct.

I'd like to enter Aldrin in the oatmeal eating contest next time.

Is he pretty good at that?

He's doing his share up here.

Let's see. You all just finished a meal not long ago, too, didn't you?

I'm still eating.

Okay. Does that—that —

He's on his—He's on his 19th bowl.

Roger. Are you having any difficulties with gas in the food bags like the 10 crew reported?

Well, that's intermittently affirmative, Bruce. We have these two hydrogen filters, which work fine as long as you don't hook them up to a food bag. But the entry way into the food bag has enough back pressure to cause the—the filters to start losing their efficiency. A couple of times, I've been tempted to go through that dryout procedure, but we found that simply by leaving the filters alone for a couple of hours, their efficiency seems to be restored.

Roger. We copy.

Their efficiency ranges anywhere from darn near perfect to terrible just depending on the individual characteristics of the food bags we're putting through them. Some of the food bags are so crimped near the entry-way that there's no way we can work them loose to prevent back pressure.

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

Hello, Houston. Go ahead.

Roger, 11. As you've probably noticed, your coning angle in PTC mode is increased substantially as a result of the waste water dump, the fuel cell purge, and a natural coupling, so it looks like we are going to have to terminate PTC here in a little while. And we'd like to get your feeling as to whether you're still anticipating trying to send back TV signals from inside the LM; and if so, we'll try to provide an attitude that you can hold that'll give us high gain antenna lock on the Earth during the TV and LM activation period. Over.

Yes, we're still planning that activity if the cord lengths work out all right, and we'll accept those attitudes that you work up for us.

This is Houston. Roger. Out.

Go ahead, Houston.

Roger. We have a TV attitude for you if you're ready to copy.

Go ahead. Ready to copy.

Okay. We recommend stopping PTC at GET of 54 45 00, and this should put you at just about the right roll angle. The attitude we recommend is roll 263, pitch 090, yaw 000. This gives you the Earth out of window number 1 in the command module and places the high gain antenna in the CSM window for TV at your convenience. You will also have the Sun shining in—or shining at the hatch on the LM, and if you take down the window shades you should get some sunlight in. We're recommending wide deadband. Over.

Roger. Thank you, Houston. We'll look at that.

Houston, Apollo 11. When we pass the proper roll angle, we're not going to be anywhere near zero degrees yaw. Do you want us to just stop and try until we find ourselves in and then VERB 49 the three angles you gave us?

Stand by.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. We'd like you to stop at the proper roll angle, then do a VERB 49 to the roll and pitch. Over. Correction, roll and yaw.

Houston, Apollo 11. Over.

Go ahead, 11. Over.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. Do you read? Over.

Houston, Apollo 11. Over.

Roger, 11. Do you read me? Over.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. Over.

Stand by, Charlie. Yes, we're going to come out of PTC here at 263 roll and then do VERB 49 to the recommended attitude.

That sounds fine to us. Over.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. Before you open the pressure equalization valve, we'd like the LM/CM DELTA-P. Over.

Okay. Let me check it again. It was about 155.

Roger.

I read it 158 right now, Charlie.

Houston, Apollo 11. We're stopping PTC at 263 … 0.

11, Houston. You're about one-by on this transmission. Say again. Over.

Houston, Apollo 11. Do you read?

Houston, Apollo 11. How do you read on the high gain?

11, how do you read me? Over.

Read you loud and clear, Charlie. We just switched to HIGH GAIN, and we stopped PTC at roll 263, pitch 90, yaw 0. How do you read?

Roger, Mike. You're five-by now on the high gain. We're right between the OMNI antennas and pretty horrible COMM on the OMNI's. We got you five-by on the high gain, and we copy the PTC stoppage. Over.

Okay, fine.

Houston, we're going to open the DIRECT O₂ valve and start pumping up the cabin.

Roger. Copy.

Apollo 11, Houston. We're going to hand over to Goldstone for uplink in about 2 minutes. We might have a momentary dropout of COMM. Over.

Alright. Can you hear our master alarm in the background? That's O₂ FLOW HIGH coming through this amplifier.

Roger. Copy.

That photoelectric cell is a good device. It's worked very well.

11, Houston. Say again. Over.

I say that photoelectric cell amplifier for the master alarm is a good device. It's working very well, and it's a nice pleasing tone.

Roger. Copy. Thank you.

Makes you almost glad to get master alarms.

Houston, Apollo 11. As a matter of curiosity, our O₂ flow meter is pegged FULL-SCALE HIGH.

Roger, 11. We copy that here. Over.

Okay.

Boy, that transducer's working somewhat.

Roger.

11, Houston. We'd like to try to attempt to correlate your O₂ flow in transducer with the flow valve that you've got open. How far—How far open would you say you have the REPRESS O₂? Over. Correction, the DIRECT O₂.

Stand by, Charlie.

Okay, Charlie. It's not open very far. It's hard to give you a good reading without shunting it again, but the arrow is at about the one o'clock position. Now I reduce the flow, and I'll let it stabilize here. Right now our onboard reading is about 0.4, and that's with the arrow in the O₂ valve at the two o'clock position. Would you rather have comparisons of O₂ flow readings or would you rather have valve position comparisons?

Roger. Stand by.