Spacelog Apollo 11

No. We haven't changed any canisters this morning.

Okay. Then you can plan on accomplishing that after P23 is over and you've got the LEB clear.

All right.

Roger. We copy. And that is for star 01?

Star 01, right near the horizon. Code 110.

Houston, Apollo 11. On this star, the AUTO maneuver works just fine. I am right at the substellar point. Everything looks beautiful except there is no star in sight. It is just not visible.

Roger. Is this for star 01?

That's correct.

You are not getting any reflections or anything like that that would obscure your vision, are you?

Well, of course, the Earth is pretty bright, and the black sky, instead of being black, has sort of a rosy glow to it. The star, unless it is a very bright one, is probably lost somewhere in that glow, but it is just not visible. I maneuvered the reticle considerably above the horizon to make sure that the star is not lost in the brightness below the horizon. However, even when I get the reticle considerably above the horizon so the star should be seen against the black background, it still is not visible.

Roger. We copy. Standby a minute, please.

11, this is Houston. Can you read us the shaft and trunnion angle off the counters?

Yes. I will be glad to. Shaft 331.2 and trunnion 35.85.

It's really a fantastic sight through that sextant. A minute ago, during that AUTO maneuver, the reticle swept across the Mediterranean. You could see all of North Africa, absolutely clear; all of Portugal, Spain, southern France; all of Italy, absolutely clear. Just a beautiful sight.

Roger. We all envy you the view up there.

But still no star.

11, this is Houston. Over.

Roger. Go ahead, Bruce.

On our ground computers we confirm the shaft and trunnion angle that you have as being pointed at the star. However, it looks as though that shaft and trunnion angle is also pointing into the structure of the LM, so that while you will be getting the Earth's horizon, the star … is obscured by the LM. We recommend an AUTO maneuver to the attitudes pen-and-inked into the flight plan. Roll 1772, pitch 2982 and yaw 330.0. Over.

11, this is Houston. While you're maneuvering, could we get a /CM DELTA-P reading from you? Over.

Roger. Just a tad under 1, Bruce, 0.95.

Apollo 11, Houston.

Go ahead.

Is the Commander aboard?

This is the Commander.

I was a little worried. This is the backup Commander still standing by. You haven't given me the word yet. Are you GO?

You've lost your chance to take this one, Jim.

Okay. I concede.

Houston, Apollo 11.

Go ahead, 11.

Okay. Our maneuver is complete, and at this attitude the M-line is exactly 90 degrees out of phase. It is exactly pointed along the vector toward the center of the Earth instead of being parallel to the right.

Roger.

I'm going to hold right here for your next suggestion.

Okay, Houston. It appears to be okay now; We've changed our attitude slightly, and I have a star and I'm maneuvering to get the M-line parallel.

This is Houston. Roger. We copy.

Houston, Apollo 11. Are you copying these NOUN 49's that have been going through?

Yes. We surely are. Let's see: plus 0.1 and a plus 0.2 on nautical miles and feet per second. Over.

11, this is Houston. Over.

Go ahead.

Yes, Mike. We show you in VERB 59 right now. Over.

That's right. I—I haven't entered—I gave the—I gave it back to the computer for a second. I put the mode switch from MANUAL back to CMC while I fooled with the DSKY, and the computer drove the star off out of sight. So the delay here has been in going back to MANUAL and finding the star again, which I've finally done. And—Just a second here, I'll go to ENTER and get a 51 and mark on it. As I say, for some reason the computer drove the star off out of sight.