Spacelog Apollo 11

Roger. We're not trying to get you all wrapped up in a procedure here. This is on a not to interfere basis, of course. Over.

Okay.

And on the exposures we're looking for an eighth of a second, a half a second. And, if you think you can steady the camera against anything to get longer exposures, 2 seconds, 4 seconds, and 8 seconds. Over.

Roger. We copy.

Apollo 11, Houston. Over.

Go ahead, Houston.

Roger. We'd like to do a little CRYO tank balancing. So, if you could position the oxygen tank number 1 heater switch to OFF and hydrogen tank 2 heater switch to OFF leaving all the rest of the CRYO switches the same, we'll let it run that way for a few hours. Over.

Okay. Stand by one on those switches. We'll get them in a minute.

Roger. And how far out can you see the corona extending? Over.

… bit like zodiacal light. It keeps going out farther and farther. We'll talk about it a little more later.

… We've got quite a few pictures …

Apollo 11, this is Houston. I think we have COMM again. We heard you calling. Over.

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Were you calling? Over.

Houston, Apollo 11. Understand you want the heaters OFF for hydrogen tank 1 and oxygen tank 1. Is that affirmative?

That's negative, Mike. Hydrogen tank number 2 heaters OFF and oxygen tank number 1 heaters OFF.

Okay.

Roger. Out.

I have hydrogen tank number 2 heaters OFF; I have oxygen tank number 1 heaters OFF.

Houston. Apollo 11. The earthshine coming through the window is so bright you can read a book by it.

And, Houston, I'd suggest that along the ecliptic line we can see the corona light out to two lunar diameters from this location. The bright light only extends out about an eighth to a quarter of the lunar radius.

Roger. Understand that you can see the corona approximately 200 solar diameters out along the ecliptic, and the bright light extends out approximately one eighth to one quarter lunar radius. Over.

That's two lunar—two lunar diameters along the ecliptic in the bright part, right; a quarter to an eighth of a lunar radius out, and that's perpendicular to the ecliptic line on the South Pole.

Houston, it's been a real change for us. Now we are able to see stars again and recognize constellations for the first time on the trip. It's—the sky is full of stars. Just like the nightside of Earth. But all the way here, we have only been able to see stars occasionally and perhaps through the monocular, but not recognize any star patterns.

I guess it has turned into night up there really, hasn't it ?

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Do you read? Over.

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

Okay. We went to HIGH GAIN. Looks like you had a little trouble getting signal strength there.

Roger. We missed an OMNI switch there. Over.

All right. On the secondary loop check when we went to FLOW on the secondary radiators, the quantity dropped from 40 percent down to 36 in the first 10 seconds and then stabilized at 36 for the remainder of the 30 seconds.

Apollo 11, this is Houston. We believe that is normal system operation. The radiators are expected to be very cold right now and apparently the decrease you saw was due to contraction in the fluid. Over.

Okay. We will go ahead with the procedure just as if there were no decrease in accumulator quantity. Right?

Roger. Press on.

And, Houston, the secondary radiator flow check is complete and satisfactory.

Houston. Roger. Out.

And that's a good deal because we don't have to have any meetings about whether we're going to do it or don't do it any more.

That's for sure.

The Flight Director says “ouch.”