Spacelog Apollo 11

Okay. You want magazine Uniform instead of magazine Tango? Over.

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.”

No. No “ouch” intended. I enjoyed every one of those meetings.

11, this is Houston. I have your pericynthion plus 2 PAD, P30 format; when you're ready to copy.

Roger. Stand by.

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

Roger. Go ahead.

Roger. We're having difficulty getting commands into the spacecraft. We'd like you to cycle your UP TELEMETRY switch to COMMAND RESET and OFF and then back to NORMAL. Over.

Okay. We'll do it.

We have you on high gain right now. You want us to switch over to OMNI?

Negative. We Would like to stay on the high gain if we can. Over.

Okay.

Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

Go ahead.

Roger. We'd like you to switch to OMNI Delta as we show you approximately at the scan limit of the high gain antenna. Now we will then command OMNI Delta down here after you advise us you've switched, and then you can select Bravo on board and we will be back in the OMNI antenna commanding business. Over.

Okay. We're going to Delta now.

11, Houston. You can go ahead and select OMNI Bravo on board now.

…

Roger. Out.

Apollo 11, this is Houston. If you have a minute or so free, we can read you up the morning news here.

Go right ahead; let's hear it.

Roger. Hot from the wires of the MSC Public Affairs Office, especially prepared for the crew of Apollo 11.

Okay. First off, it looks like it's going to be impossible to get away from the fact that you guys are dominating all the news back here on Earth. Even Pravda in Russia is headlining the mission and calls Neil, “The Czar of the Ship.” I think maybe they got the wrong mission.

West Germany has declared Monday to be “Apollo Day.” School children in Bavaria have been given the day off. Post Office clerks have been encouraged to bring radios to work and Frankfurt is installing TV sets in public places.

BBC in London is considering a special radio alarm system to call people to their TV sets in case there is a change in the EVA time on the Moon.

And in Italy, Pope Paul VI has arranged for a special color TV circuit at his summer residence in order to watch you, even though Italian television is still black and white.

Back here in Houston, your three wives and children got together for lunch yesterday at Buzz's house. And according to Pat, it turned out to be a gabfest. The children swam and did some high jumping over at Buzz's bamboo pole.

In Moscow, space engineer Anatol Koritsky was quoted by TASS as saying that Luna 15 could accomplish everything that has been done by earlier Luna spacecraft. This was taken by the press to mean Luna 15 could investigate the gravitational fields, photograph the Moon, and go down to the surface to scoop up a bit for analysis.

Even the kids at camp got into the news when Mike Jr. was quoted as replying “yeah” when somebody asked him if his daddy was going to be in history. Then after a short pause he asked, “What is history?” In Washington, President Nixon is planning to use his executive power to streamline the Interstate Commerce Commission. According to industry sources, it was reported Nixon would trim the commission from 11 to 7 members by not making new appointments.

And the big news around Houston today concerns the Astros. In the sports world, the Houston Astros rallied in the ninth inning at Cincinnati to dump the Reds 7 to 4. Going into the ninth however, things looked pretty bleak. The Astros were trailing 4 to 3. Then with one out, Jesus Alou stroked a single to right field. John Edwards hit another single to right, and Sandy Valdespino hit a double to bring in the tying run. Julio Gotay was walked and Joe Morgan dropped a bunt for the game winning play. A wild throw to the plate allowed another run to score, then a sacrifice fly by Dennis Menke brought in the final run. They really came through in the ninth.

And other games in the National League —

Yes. Those Astros have really been catching those flies since they put a roof on the stadium.

Good work.

In other games in the National League, New York beat Montreal 5 to 2; Pittsburgh beat St. Louis 4 to 1; and Atlanta over San Diego in the first game of a double header 6 to 2.

In the American League, Detroit beat Cleveland 4 to nothing; New York trounced Washington 5 to nothing; Baltimore outhit—Boston outhit Baltimore to score 6 runs to the Orioles' 2; and Chicago beat Kansas City 6 to 1.

Okay. In golf world, Tommy Jacobs, an infrequent competitor in recent years, took the lead in the Philadelphia Golf Classic yesterday. His second round score was 139.

You might be interested in knowing, since you are already on the way, that a Houston astrologer, Ruby Graham, says that all the signs are right for your trip to the Moon. She says that Neil is clever, Mike has good judgment, and Buzz can work out intricate problems. She also says Neil tends to see the world through rose colored glasses, but he is always ready to help the afflicted or distressed. Neil, you are also supposed to have “intuition that enables you to interpret life with feeling.” Buzz is to be very sociable and cannot bear to be alone in addition to having excellent critical ability. Since she didn't know at what hour Mike was born, she has decided that he either has the same attributes as Neil or he is inventive with an unconventional attitude that might seem eccentric to the unimaginative.

And last but not —

Who said all that?

(Laughter) Ruby Graham, an astrologer here in Houston. Now we check with Flight Operations for all the signs for the mission, and then we, of course, had to make sure that everything was really all set.

Houston, 11. You're cutting out …

Apollo 11, Apollo 11, this is Houston. We're switching OMNI's. Can you stand by for about 2 minutes?

Houston, 11. Radio check.

11, Houston. Go ahead.

Roger. You cut out after Tommy Jacobs. I guess we got into antenna switching problems.

Okay. Following Tommy Jacobs, we have the hot smoking word from a local Houston astrologer by the name of Ruby Graham. She says that all the signs are right for your trip to the Moon. Neil is clever, Mike has good judgment, and Buzz can work out intricate problems. She also says Neil tends to see the world through rose colored glasses but is always ready to help the afflicted or distressed. Neil, you are also supposed to have “intuition that enables you to interpret life with feeling,” Buzz is supposed to be very sociable and cannot bear to be alone in addition to having excellent critical ability. Since she didn't know at what hour Mike was born, she decided he either has the same attributes as Neil or that he is inventive with an unconventional attitude that might seem eccentric to the unimaginative. And that's 30 for today. Over.

Thank you much there, Bruce and Fred Show, we appreciate that.

Roger.

Did you hear our comment about the Astros?

The one about the roof?

Yes.

Hey, Mike, the game was at Cincinnati there, and we think that they're still using Crosby Field up there. I don't believe it has a roof on it.

You got him on that one.