Spacelog Apollo 11

It's a beautiful sight.

Charlie, on that PTC, we're just waiting our 20 minutes here for all thruster activity to damp out. You might let us know how that's coming.

Roger. Will do. We have you about 48,000 miles now.

Thank you.

Houston, Apollo 11. We still have our oxygen fan on for tank 2. Is that what you want?

Stand by.

Hey, Charlie, I can see the snow on the mountains out in California, and it looks like LA doesn't have much of a smog problem today.

Roger, Buzz. Copy. Looks like there's a good view out there then.

And, Apollo 11, Houston. We'd like you to keep the O₂ fan on. It will give you an ECS configuration prior to sleep. Over.

Okay. Thanks.

Charlie, with the monocular, I can discern a definite green cast to the San Fernando Valley.

Roger.

How's Baja California look, Buzz?

Well, it's got some clouds up and down it, and there's a pretty good circulation system a couple of hundred miles off the west coast of California.

Roger. 11, we'd like you to close the waste storage vent valve right now.

Okay.

Waste storage vent valves closed.

Copy.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. We'd like—The rates are looking pretty good right now on the PTC, but we'd like you to continue holding. Over.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. Your rates look really great, now. You can start your PTC.

Okay. Thanks, Charlie.

Houston, you read 11?

Roger. Go ahead, 11. Over.

Roger. If you'd like to delay PTC after—for 10 minutes or so, we can shoot you some TV of a seven-eights earth. That's—We'll leave that up to you,

Roger. Stand by.

Apollo 11, Houston. We're ready at Goldstone for the TV. It'll be recorded at Goldstone and then replayed back over here, Neil, any time you want to turn her on, we're ready. Over.

Okay. It'll take us about 5 minutes to get rigged.

Roger.

Apollo 11, Houston. Could you verify the reading on your O₂ flow indicator? Over.

We're still on 0.2. We just inadvertently touched the RAPID REPRESS button. That made a temporary glitch in the flow.

Roger. During that glitch there, did it go almost a peg high? Over.

I'd believe that.

Apollo 11, Houston. Could you tell us if the O₂ flow indicator was pegged high prior to closing the waste storage vent valve? Over.

No, it was not.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. While ago we tracked into the scan limits and disabled the AUTO drive on the high gain. We'd like you to position the antenna at pitch 30, yaw 270, go to REACQ and that will give us narrow beamwidth. Over.

That yaw 270 and pitch 3—What was the pitch?

Pitch 30, Neil.

Okay. I think we've got you.

Roger. We've got a good signal there. Thank you much.

Okay, Houston. We are sending picture of Earth down right now, so you can—Let us know if they're receiving at Goldstone.

Roger, 11. Goldstone is receiving the TV. Stand by. We'll let you know on the quality. Over.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. Goldstone says that the TV looks great. Over.

Roger. We're zooming in on the Earth now.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. Did you copy? Over.

Roger. We copied, Charlie.

Copy, 11.

And how about the f-stop? Is 22 going to be accurate?

Stand by. We'll get with the Goldstone TV guy. We don't have anything here at Houston. Stand by.

It looks good on the monitor, as far as the f-stop goes. Therefore, we just assumed it's okay at Goldstone.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. Goldstone says it—TV looks really great, five-by; we don't—The AGC looks like it's working fine. The f:22 is good; we have no real white spots. They're real pleased with it. Over.

Okay. You just cut out, Charlie. We understand that it's looking great. We'll leave it the way it is and wait for you to come back on.

Roger. How do you read me now? Over.

Five-by.

Okay. My comments were—My comments were from Goldstone that they see no white spots as we saw in 10. Looks like the AGC's working real well. The f:22 looks good. Over.

Okay. Very good. Well, we shut out the Sun coming in from the other windows into the spacecraft, so it's looking through a—the number 1 window, and there isn't any reflected light now. So, it ought to be a pretty good picture.

Roger.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. We'd like you to keep the TV on for about 10 minutes or so, so we can get come good comparison on the camera. You can do anything your heart desires on the TV: interior, exterior, pan in and out, anything you'd like. Over.

11, Houston. Over.

Houston, Apollo 11. Over.

Roger. Go ahead. Over.

Charlie, I'm sorry; you keep cutting out. We heard up to “you can do anything,” and then after that we didn't hear anything, and we knew that wasn't right anyhow because we can't. But what do you want us to do?

Roger. We'll check this uplink on our voice. That transmission on the TV was—We'd like to get about 10 minutes worth of signal at Goldstone so we can look at the camera quality back here at Houston for about 10 minutes or so when they patch it back into us. What we were saying was that you can go interior or exterior on the camera. On the exterior shots, we'd like to look —

You cut out again.

Stand by.

Start over with, “we were saying.”

Okay, Houston. You suppose you could turn the Earth a little bit so we can get a little bit more than just water?

Roger, 11. I don't think we got much control over that. Looks like you'll have to settle for the water.

11, Houston. We're going to change—thinking about changing our voice uplink to another site. If you'll stand by, we'll see if we can improve the quality. Over.

Okay, Charlie.

We'll stand by for your call.

Apollo 11, Houston. We'll try once more on this TV request. We'd like 10 minutes worth of TV. And we'd like a narrative, if you could give us one, on the exterior shots. You could also—we also suggest you might try the—an interior position. Over.

Roger. We're seeing the center of the Earth as viewed from the spacecraft in the eastern Pacific Ocean. We have not been able to visually pick up the Hawaiian Island chain, but we can clearly see the western coast of North America. The United States, the San Joaquin Valley, the High Sierras, Baja California, and Mexico down as far as Acapulco, and the Yucatan Peninsula; and you can see on through Central America to the northern coast of South America, Venezuela, and Colombia. I'm not sure you'll be able to see all that on your screen down there …

Roger, Neil. We just wanted a narrative such that we can—When we get the playback, we can sort of correlate what we're seeing. Thank you very much.

I haven't seen anything but the DSKY so far.

Looks like they're hogging the window.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. On your CRYO's, we'd like at this time for you to place all four CRYO heaters to AUTO and turn off all four CRYO fans. Over.

Okay. All four CRYO heaters are AUTO. And all four CRYO fans are off . …

Roger. That's going to be your sleep configuration.

Okay.

And, Buzz, we'll be terminating the battery charge in about a half hour.

Roger.

Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. You can terminate the TV at your convenience. We've got enough take. And you can start PTC at your convenience. The rates look super for starting up. Over.

Apollo 11, Houston. We have a flight plan update for you and some P37 block data, if you're ready to copy. Over.

Stand by.

Okay, Houston. PTC is started now; looks good to us, and we'll be ready to copy in a minute or two.

Roger. Copy, 11.

Houston, Apollo 11. Ready to copy the flight plan update and P37.

Roger. Stand by one, Buzz.

Apollo 11, Houston. Coming at you with the P37 block data. Over.