Spacelog Apollo 11

Roger. Understand, Neil. Next topic, as—just after landing, you pointed out that there was a hill to the west along the plus Z axis from the LM. Are there any large rocks in that direction that might block the solar ray during the sunset—as sunset approaches in your locality—Are there any large rocks that might tend to obscure the ray? Over.

No. I don't believe so, I think that it's—It's about as level as any other areas that we chose.

Roger. I —

There's nothing large, anyway, that's going to get in the way.

Roger. Copy. That's also the way it appeared from the television, I think. And now the final question. You commented, Neil, that on your approach to the landing spot, you had passed over a football field sized crater containing rather large blocks of solid rock perhaps 10 to 15 feet in size. Can you estimate the distance to this football sized crater from your present position? Over.

I thought we'd be close enough so that when we got outside we could see its rim back there but I couldn't. But I don't think that we're more than a half mile beyond it. That is a half mile west of it.

Roger. So you estimate your present position less than half a mile approximately west of this large crater. Over.

That's correct.

Okay. Well, that takes care of the questions from our geologists for tonight, and unless you have something else, that'll be all for—from us for the evening. Over.

Okay. Thank you.

Tranquility Base, Houston. We've now collected all the ranging data that we can use, and you can go back to caution and warning ENABLE. Over.

Hi, Ron.

Hey, Mike, how's it going this morning?

How goes it?

Hey, real fine. While you're —

I don't know yet, how's it going with you?

Real fine here. Columbia, request P00 and ACCEPT. We'll shove the state vector in for you right away.

Okay. It's coming up now, Columbia. We're going to keep you a little busy here. As soon as we get the state vector in, we'd like you to go ahead and do a P52 option 3 on this night pass, and then when you come on around the other side there, we'll give you some landmark tracking information on prime 130.

Okay.

And for your information, we're also going to have Tranquility Base do a P52 when you come around the other time; and I have the P22 information if you're ready to copy.

Go ahead.

Okay. Track landmark 130 prime using P22, and for information, this will properly position your rendezvous radar transponder. T1 is 122 plus 16 plus 05—whoops, okay. Stand by.

Columbia, Houston. The computer is yours.

Okay. And I'd like the grid square of this crater 130 prime. Over.

Columbia, Houston. Say again about 130 prime.

I'd like its grid square, please.

Columbia, Houston.

Go ahead.

Roger. I have the T1 and T2 times and also the longitude of the 130 prime. We're working on the grid squares and we'll get them shortly.

Okay. Ready to copy.

Okay. T1: 122 plus 16 plus 05. Tango 2 is 122 plus 21 plus 11, and 6 miles north of track. And do you want your NOUN 89 values?

Yes, please.

Roger. Latitudes, plus 01.243. Longitude over 2, plus 11.844. Altitude, minus 001.46. Over.

Copy T1: 122 16 05. T2: 122 21 11, 6 miles north, NOUN 89 is plus 01243, plus 11844, minus 00146.

Columbia, affirmative. And at the T1 time, put your rendezvous radar transponder switch to OPERATE.

All right.

And this 130 prime is the same one that you tracked prior to descent. Over.

Okay. You've updated your information as to the LM's position and this is your best estimate of where the LM is, is that correct?

Columbia, that's negative. This 130 is the little bitty crater there that you tracked—John Young's crater—that you tracked prior to descent. And we want that —

Fine. Okay. You've given up looking for that.

Affirmative. We want this for one last fix on your plane.

All right. Fine. Understand. Thank you.

And when the LM does his P22 on your transponder, well then, that'll be our last shot at the LM's position.

Roger. Understand. Do you care whether my transponder is on before T1?

Roger. It'll be on WARMUP prior to that time, and you can go to OPERATE anywhere around that time.

Yes. I gather it's on its 24 minute warmup now?

Roger.

And, Houston. The computer is yours, you can go to BLOCK anytime.

Roger. BLOCK, going P52, option 3.

Roger. And we'll see you coming around the other side. About 1 minute to go, and all your systems are looking good.

Tranquility Base, Tranquility Base, Houston. Over.

Good morning, Houston. Tranquility Base. Over.

Roger. Loud and clear. And how is the resting standing up there. Did you get a chance to curl up on the engine can?

Roger. Neil has rigged himself a really good hammock with a waste tether, and he's been lying on the ascent engine cover, and I curled up on the floor. Over.

Roger. Copy, Buzz. Got a couple of changes to your surface checklist here, and in general, what we're going to want you to do is P22, tracking the command module for one last hack on your position there. And this will be—in other words, P57, P22, and then to press on with the checklist, and the rest of them are a couple of minor changes in the checklist. The main one being that we do not want the rendezvous radar on during the ascent, and we think that this will take care of some of the overflow of program alarms which we're getting during descent.

Okay. We had the rendezvous radar in SLEW during descent, though.

Tranquility Base, Houston. I missed that. Say again.

Roger. I say again. We had the rendezvous radar switch in the SLEW position, not the LGC position.