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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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We're moving the camera over to the right window now to give you Langrenus, its—its several central peaks and -
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Okay, 11. This is Houston. We're getting a beautiful picture of Langrenus now with its rather conspicuous central peak.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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The Sea of Fertility doesn't look very fertile to me. I don't know who named it.
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Neil Armstrong (CDR)
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Well, it may have been named by a gentleman whom this crater was named after, Langrenus. Langrenus was a cartographer to the King of Spain and made one of the—one of the early reasonably accurate maps of the Moon.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Well, I can't get behind to see the monitor. I'll bring the focus in, but we're going to be looking down past one of the LM quads and one of the antennas almost straight down at the ground track that we'll be seeing coming in now. I guess there's maybe 2 or 3 minutes before power descent.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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All right, that should put the LM structure about in focus, and I'm going to move it out to infinity and then expand the field of view.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Hello, Apollo 11. This is Houston. We show you coming up on the terminator at 78 53, about 7 minutes from now, and we've also got the LOI 2 and TEI 5 PAD's ready for you after the TV whenever you want to terminate. Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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And we're getting a good view of the track leading into the landing site now and -
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Okay, And it looks like we got Secchi K, went by about 10 seconds ago; coming up on Apollo Ridge.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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And in the right hand portion of our screen right now, we can see Messier Alfa and Bravo with the light colored rays streaming off in one direction.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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I don't know if you can make out, but in the Sea of Fertility there are a number of craters that are just barely discernible, old, old craters whose outlines are just barely able to be seen.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. I think we can make them out. The color really enhances our ability to discern features and craters over what we see in real time on our black and white monitor.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Right. The—At these low Sun angles, there's no trace of brown, it's now returned to a very gray appearance and, like the 8 crew says, it has a look of plaster of paris to it at this Sun angle, which is completely lacking in …
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Okay. This is very close to ignition point for power descent. Just passing Mount Marilyn that—that triangular shaped mountain that you see in the center of the screen at the present time with crater Secchi Theta on top of the far northern edge of the mountain.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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And now we're looking at what we call Boot Hill; occurs 20 seconds into the descent.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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The bright, sharp rimmed crater at the very right edge of the screen, Censorinus T. Now passing the—the 1 minute point in power descent.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. And for your information, your current altitude is 148 nautical miles above the surface.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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I'm unable to determine altitude at all looking out the window. I couldn't tell whether we were down at 60 or up at 170.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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We're passing some steep ridges here. The edge of some old craters that were photographed by Apollo 10; and those—the crew of Apollo 10 was very impressed with the steepness of these ridges when they came over them at about 50,000 feet.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We can observe they're also steep even from this altitude. You got quite a shadow being cast by the Sun at these low angles.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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The entire surface is getting considerably darker than the surface that we looked at previously when the Sun was quite high above us. The crater in the—bright crater in the center of the screen,—well, the smaller one is Censorinus.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. And we show you low over 1 minute from the terminator at the present time.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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How's the brightness of the picture you're receiving? You think we ought to open f stop some as we approach the terminator?
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Yes. The brightness is still doing quite well. You can go ahead and open it up a stop or two. The automatic light level compensation seems to be working beautifully.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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The next crater coming into the bottom, that's Duke Island right there, and to the left, the crater—the largest of the craters near the center of the picture right now is Maskelyne W. This is a position check during descent at about 3 minutes and 39 seconds, and it's our down range position check and cross range position check prior to yawing over face up to acquire the landing radar. Past this point, we would be unable to see the surface below us until getting very near the landing area.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. I imagine you'll get a—you'll get a real good look at that tomorrow afternoon.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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That's a good name, too: Sidewinder and Diamondback. It looks like a couple of snakes down there in a lake bed.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Contrast has increased and only the sunlit side of these ridges remain illuminated, while the dark sides and the shadow will become completely black.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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11, this is Houston. The picture's getting a little grainy now. You might go ahead and open up the f stop.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Landing point is just barely in the darkness. That one crater, the upper part of which you see, lower part completely in darkness. The small, well defined crater is Moltke, which is about abeam of the landing sight.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We can just see; it looks like a little less than half of its rim right now.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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And we can make out just barely some features on the surface, maybe from earthshine.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Yes. And it looks like we're just about to get the Sun coming into the lens, so we'll have to move the camera away.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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We can't see any earthshine or any surface features at all in earthshine now due to the fact that the LM is very bright and is causing our pupils to contract. It's a very fantastic view to see the terminator as you look along the edge of it. I think you'll agree that some of these craters that you're seeing in the picture now are really accentuated by the lengthening of the shadows as they come close to the terminator.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Yes. It's a very beautiful and a rugged sight that we've got on the screen now.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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And I think you've got some interesting data on thruster firing versus pitch angle. It looks like that LM just wants to head down towards the surface, is all.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 11, Houston. When you're ready to copy, I have an LOI 2 PAD and a TEI 5 PAD. Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger on the inertial. And here we go on the LOI 2 PAD. LOI 2, SPS/G&N: 38320, plus 166, minus 081; TIG 080 11 3603. NOUN 81: minus 01408, minus all balls, minus 00743. Roll all balls, 196 359 00657, plus 00537. DELTA-VT 01592 017 01531. Sextant star 23 1160 138. The rest of the PAD is NA. GDC align, Vega and Deneb 243 183 012. Ullage, two jets 19 seconds. Remarks: On your DAP load, we would like an R1 20101 vice the value which appears in the flight plan. In making the sextant star check this must be done between GET of 79 30 10, at which time the star comes above the horizon, and 79 52 10, which is your local sunrise due to the fact that this star's relatively close to the Sun. Your burn orientation is heads down, retrograde pitched up 28 degrees with respect to local horizontal. The calculated values for NOUN 42 are HA 65.6 and HP 54.6. Both of those being plus. Read back. Over.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Roger, LOI 2: SPS/G&N: 38320, plus 166, minus 081 080 11 3603, minus 01408, minus all balls, minus 00743, all zeros, 196 359 00657, plus 00537, 01592 017 01531 23 1160 138. Vega, Deneb 243 183 012, two jet 19 seconds, DAP, R1 20101. Sextant star between 79 30 10 and 79 52 10. Attitude is heads down, retrograde pitched up 28 degrees. HA after the burn—Was that NOUN 42 for HA and 64.6 and HP 54.6? Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. On the NOUN 42 value, the last stuff you gave, HA is 65.6, HP is 54.6. Otherwise, I readback correct. I'm standing by with your TEI 5 PAD. Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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11, this is Houston. TEI 5 SPS/G&N: 37201, minus 060, plus 047; TIG 086 09 3666. NOUN 81: plus 33521, plus 03441, minus 01458; roll NA, pitch 032. The rest of the PAD is NA. Ullage two jet, 16 seconds undocked. Over.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Roger. TEI 5 SPS/G&N: 37201, minus 060, plus 047 086 09 3666, plus 33521, plus 03441, minus 0145 458, NA, 032. The rest is NA. Two jet, 16 seconds, undocked. Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 11, this is Houston. That's affirmative on the downvoice backup. We'd like you to confirm your UPTELEMETRY switch in the NORMAL position. Over.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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Roger. It's in BLOCK. Did you get us the—You got us a new CSM state vector and an LOI 2 target load in between all that television, didn't you?
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. During the LOI 1 burn, your engine burned a little bit more propellant than we predicted, and consequently, we'd like to update—or send you a new TEI 4 PAD. Over.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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Our chamber pressure onboard was higher that time, too. It's all on the onboard tape, the time entry, and the chamber pressure; but to make a long story short, it worked its way up to 100.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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And down here, we showed a chamber pressure of on the order of 103 to 104 psi during your burn on playback.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. TEI 4 revised: SPS/G&N: 38320, minus 055, plus 060 084 30 2749, plus 31380, plus 03475, minus 01032; roll NA, pitch 034. Rest of the PAD is NA. Ullage two jets 16 seconds, undocked. No LOI 2. Over.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Just in TEI 4 SPS/G&N: 38320, minus 055, plus 060 084 30 2749, plus 31380, plus 03475, minus 01032, NA, 034. All the rest of the PAD's NA. Two jets, 16 seconds, undocked. No LOI 2.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We've been looking at your systems data on playback, and everything is looking good. In particular, the SPS looks good. I would like to remind you, though, of a request to perform this burn on the bank A ball valves only, and you are GO for LOI 2. Also, we have currently in the flight plan, you scheduled tomorrow to start entering the LM at about 96 hours GET, and we'd like to know if you have any plans to initiate this ingress into the LM earlier. If so, we can call the people in ahead of time. Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We just wanted to make sure that we were ready when you were ready. Over.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Okay. And to get the sextant star in LOI 2, that's roll zero. Is that affirmative?
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 11, Houston. Five minutes until LOS. And with respect to your request for the nitrogen bottle pressures preburn, just before the burn, we were showing 2270 pounds per square inch on bottle Alfa and 2350 on bottle Bravo. Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 11, this is Houston. Two minutes to LOS. Your AOS on the other side is 80 33 21, and the friendly White Team will see you when you come out from behind the Moon.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Make that your friendly “Greens”. Your friendly White Team CAP COMM will see you when you come out from behind the Moon. I think it's basically the Maroon Team here, and we “Greenies” are leaving.
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Neil Armstrong (CDR)
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VGY minus 0.0, VGZ minus 0.1, DELTA-VC minus 5.2, fuel 362, OX 364, unbalance plus 50, and our postburn now 94's, 66.1 by 54.4. Go ahead.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 11, Houston. We missed your DELTA-TIG and also your DELTA burn time. Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 11, Houston. If you read, please attempt to acquire on the high gain. We're having trouble locking up on the TM and we have no voice. Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We lost the TM and the voice for about 5 minutes here. We attempted a handover and fouled it up in some manner, but we got you back now. Thank you much.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. We have a P22 AUTO optics update for you if you're ready to copy. Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Mike. It's landmark Alfa 1: T1, 82 37 35; T2, 82 42 50. We're 7 miles north. Over.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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Copy. P22: T1, time 82 37 35; T2, 82 42 50. And the target is 7 miles north. Thank you.
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Neil Armstrong (CDR)
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I get the distinct impression, Charlie, that mare there laps up over the edge of the mountains at the shorelines.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Houston. On your comment about the mare lapping up to the terrain—mountainous terrain, is that an impression like a lava flow coming in around a prominence, Neil, or is it more -looks like it's sloping up at that point? Over.
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Neil Armstrong (CDR)
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It isn't true everywhere, but there's certainly places where there seems to be a slope downward towards the shoreline on the mare. In other words, from the mare down to the shoreline is a downward slope indicating that it might be a lava flow.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. We're wondering if you've started into the LM yet. Over.
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Neil Armstrong (CDR)
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We have the CSM hatch out, the drogue and probe removed and stowed, and we're just about ready to open the LM hatch now.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Charlie, apparently there just doesn't seem to be any slow way to get that REPRESS to AUTO without making a big bang.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Roger. There just doesn't seem to be any slow way to get the REPRESS closed to AUTO and avoid a big bang. Over.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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Houston, Apollo 11. I am going to start a maneuver to P22 attitude at this time.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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Okay. We're noticing some water inside the command module for the first time. There's a little puddle of it on the aft bulkhead sort of like 101 had.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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I'd like to know how EECOMM wants to get rid of it. There are a number of different ways and what does he think is the best one?
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. We've played back the LOI 2 burn. It looks really good to us. The systems were all good. We got an orbit on the limited amount of tracking at 65.4 by a 53.9. Over.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. We're standing by. Out.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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Roger. You copy that NOUN 49 on your downlink? If you've had enough time, I'll proceed.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Apollo 11, Houston. We see a NOUN 89. You can do the VERB 34 now. Over. Beat me to it.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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All that procedure for P22 seemed to work very well. The only thing that was a little odd, is that there was some DAP thruster activity. I had pitch in ACCEL COMMAND, and roll and yaw in RATE COMMAND, and somehow, roll and yaw got excited and the DAP went into a flurry of thruster firing. We've noticed the same thing in the CMS, and just written it off as a CMS peculiarity.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger. We saw that activity, Mike. We'll see if we can track it down and let you know. Over.
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Michael Collins (CMP)
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Houston, we're holding inertial a little while to study the approach to the landing zone.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Houston, this is Apollo … in the Eagle—Apollo 11 in the Eagle. I've got … for our landing area.
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Buzz Aldrin (LMP)
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Roger. I can see the entire landing area from the position I'm in looking out the left window in the LM.
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Charlie Duke (CAPCOM)
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Roger, Buzz. Understand you can see the entire landing area looking out the LM windows. Over.
Spoken on July 19, 1969, 8:16 p.m. UTC (55 years, 3 months ago). Link to this transcript range is: Tweet
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