Apollo 7

This is Apollo/Saturn Launch Control at T minus 2 hours and counting, T minus 2 hours countdown proceeding satisfactorily. The Apollo 7 prime crew aboard the spacecraft, going through some checks, primarily of their suit loop, the environmental control system that they have been tied into now aboard the Apollo 7. The spacecraft hatch remains open. It is due to be closed according to countdown about 10 minutes from this time.

A short while after the hatch is closed and the cabin itself pressurized with a combination of 60 percent oxygen and 40 percent nitrogen, used for on the ground, we will go through some leak checks and then the commander will proceed into the abort advisory system check. In the meantime, we are in the block house, although the elements of the mission are going as well as the crew is doing aboard the spacecraft at this time.

We spent some 2½ hours bringing the propellants aboard the Saturn IB launch vehicle earlier this morning, starting at 5 am when we resumed our countdown at T-6 hours. We brought the liquid oxygen aboard both stages and then the liquid hydrogen, some 67,000 gallons [250,000 litres] of liquid hydrogen will go out of the second stage a little later in the count. Following the propellant loading, the closeout crew attend that into the spacecraft area and Command Module Pilot, backup Command Module Pilot John Young, still aboard the spacecraft to perform some final checks. The prime crew arrived on time and are now aboard. All our checks of the mission still going well and no further reports on our wind conditions, they remain the same as forecast earlier and we will continue to take a hard look at the wind situation, the one questionable factor in the countdown at this time. T minus 1 hour, 58 minutes and counting; this is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control; T minus 1 hour, 49 minutes, 58 seconds and counting. We are continuing at this time. The three pilots are in the Apollo 7 spacecraft, now checking out some major systems of the spacecraft with the spacecraft test conductor. Now that they are aboard and restrained into their seats, we have brought some final checks of the suit loop into play. We have been checking the flow of the oxygen to the space suits on the three pilots and they appear to be satisfactory at this time. In addition to this, the Command Module Pilot Donn Eisele made some preliminary checks with the spacecraft test conductor and his team are concerned with the guidance and navigation system.

Just a matter of seconds ago the commander, Wally Schirra, began a series of checks of the abort advisory system. These are the cues that he receives in the spacecraft; a series of lights on panels indicating malfunctions. He will make a judgment based on these readouts, plus cues he receives from the ground, to make a decision on whether an abort would be required and he would take the action if necessary. At this time, the launch operation manager, Paul Donnelly, here in the blockhouse, is sending a series of cues to the spacecraft in a test of the system. The commander, Walter Schirra, is responding to these abort cues by confirming lights going On and Off in the console to his left front.

Our checkout continuing, in the meantime with the launch vehicle, the propellants are still relatively stable. We are running a few computer program runs with the Instrument Unit above the two stages of the launch vehicle. These computer tests, using the automation system we have at the pad, continue throughout most of the countdown. All proceeding satisfactorily at this time, weather conditions are still the same with the forecast of surface winds 11 to 16 knots in the launch area at launch time, which is planned for 11:00 am Eastern Daylight Time. The winds appear to be marginal. We'll be keeping a close eye on them as we continue down in the count. The launch director is receiving reports on wind profiles from Houston Flight at the Manned Spacecraft Center, the Control Center in Houston. So we'll be keeping a close eye on this. Other aspects of weather appear to be great. The checkout continuing at T minus 1 hour, 47 minutes, 25 seconds and counting; this is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 1 hour, 44 minutes and counting. Just about a minute ago the hatch was closed on the Apollo 7 spacecraft. We have it logged at 15 minutes and 30 seconds after the hour; the hatch was closed and secured on the Apollo 7 spacecraft. The support crew is still in the White Room at the 220-foot level. They'll be standing by, as we pressurize the spacecraft, to keep an eye on the progress of pressurization using that 60-40 atmosphere - that is, 60 percent oxygen and 40 percent nitrogen in the spacecraft cabin on the ground. The astronauts of course in their suit loop are checking oxygen directly into their pressurized suits. The countdown is continuing to go satisfactorily at T minus 1 hour, 43 minutes, 8 seconds and counting.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 1 hour, 39 minutes and counting. One hour, 39 minutes and counting; and we are continuing with the Apollo Saturn count at this time. The astronauts are aboard the spacecraft with the hatch closed and we are starting the pressurization of the cabin with the 60/40 combination atmosphere; that is 60 percent oxygen and 40 percent nitrogen. The astronauts in their spacesuits receiving oxygen directly through the suit circuit at this time with the helmets down. Our weather conditions remain the same as earlier forecast. The forecast for the Cape Kennedy area at launch time, 1100 am EDT here at the Cape, calls for partly cloudy to occasionally cloudy in showers - these are the conditions. The winds are forecast as surface winds, east northeast some 8 to 16 knots. This gets close to our parameters and we are going to keep a close eye on wind conditions throughout the remainder of the count. Temperatures expected to be 82 degrees and we will have several cloud layers in the area, some scattered middle clouds 10 to 14 thousand feet and some high cirrus clouds 30,000 feet. In the event rain comes in, of course, we will get some low clouds in the area of 2,800 feet. Around the rest of the world track, the weather conditions are satisfactory for launch, particularly in the main contingency recovery areas. In the mid Pacific, we expect partly cloudy conditions, winds of 15 knots, sea state of 4 feet. Western Pacific; partly cloudy, winds from the east at 12 knots. Sea state of 4 feet. Conditions are about the same in the Western and Northern Atlantic. The one weather condition the Astronauts might be able to observe on their first pass, following a successful launch, would be as they approach the United States coast on the first pass as they go over Baja, California off the west coast. They might be able to observe a small tropical storm, tropical storm Rebecca, which is a small storm sitting over the Pacific, just off Central America; otherwise, the weather is generally good, cloudy conditions in the three major oceans, but that is the one minor weather condition that they would be able to notice. The checkout continuing in the spacecraft, as well as with the check crew here in the Blockhouse and all aspects of the mission are still going well at T minus 1 hour, 36 minutes, 15 seconds and counting. This is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at 30 minutes past the hour and T minus 1 hour, 30 minutes and counting. The crew aboard the Apollo 7 spacecraft is still making the various checkouts of their consoles as we purge the cabin with an atmosphere of 60 percent oxygen and 40 percent nitrogen. Once the cabin is purged and pressurized, the standby crew - the support crew - will be ready to depart the area. However, we expect they will be in there for at least another hour standing by as required. The standby crew must depart from the area by the T minus 40-minute mark in the count when we're in our terminal countdown. They will stand by in the White Room for quite a while yet to rechecks of the spacecraft and to assure that everything is Go as far as Apollo 7 is concerned from the 220-foot level. Here in the blockhouse, the crew continuing to monitor the status of the various propellants aboard the Saturn IB launch vehicle; liquid oxygen and the RP-1 fuel in the first stage and the liquid oxygen and hydrogen fuel in the second stage of the IB. We get continuing status reports here from the propellant monitors and all indications are that the propellants are in a very stable condition and are Go at this time. Of course throughout the whole remainder of the countdown we will be replenishing the supply of the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen since they are cryogenic propellants, and must be maintained at an extremely low temperature. As a result, the supply does boil off and we need to replenish it to assure that we have a hundred percent load on when we're ready to fly and those engines ignite at the 3-second mark in the countdown. The next major milestone coming up in about 10 minutes will be some checks of the Emergency Detection System. These are checks between the crew here in the blockhouse, the spacecraft crew in the Manned Spacecraft Operation Building back at the Kennedy Space Center, and the Apollo 7 spacecraft. The spacecraft commander, Walter Schirra, will be conducting most of the operations as far as EDS or the Emergency Detection System, is concerned from the spacecraft end of the test. We're now at T minus 1 hour, 27 minutes, 33 seconds and counting. This is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 1 hour, 20 minutes and counting; and we are proceeding, still aiming toward our planned lift-off time of 11:00 am Eastern Daylight Time here at the Cape. Launch vehicle here at Pad 34 still going very well at the time as the crew continues to monitor its overall status using two large computers, one here in the blockhouse and one beneath the launch vehicle on the pad to keep checks on the thousands of parameters and feedbacks that we get from the vehicle over these last several hours of the count. At the 220-foot level atop the pad, the prime crew for the mission, astronauts Walter Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham, aboard their Apollo 7 spacecraft with the hatch closed, and we have just completed a purge of the cabin. That is, bringing in the 60 percent oxygen and 40 percent nitrogen atmosphere into the cabin. In the meantime, however, the crew members themselves are on the suit circuits, that is, taking in 100 percent oxygen through their space suits. We've completed the purge and the crew will now make a sample of the atmosphere inside the cabin and report back on the aspects of the sampling. The countdown continuing, weather conditions still the same, still keeping a close eye on the surface winds in the area, which are forecast to be some 11 to 16 knots from the East Northeast at launch time. Now at T minus 1 hour, 18 minutes, 27 seconds and counting; this is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 1 hour, 9 minutes and counting and we are proceeding with the Apollo 7 mission count. At this time in the count astronaut Wally Schirra is still working on several tests with the ground control people both here in the blockhouse and at the control center back at the main spacecraft operations building at KSC. The commander gave us another report a short time ago as he looked out, he reported, 'from what I can see, it's blue as a bluebird out there'. The checkout is continuing; we have completed the cabin purge of the Apollo 7 spacecraft and Schirra also completed about 5 minutes ago a series of rather extensive final checks of the Emergency Detection System. This is the system that would send cues to the spacecraft atop the launch vehicle in the event of any type of malfunction. We ran through a series of tests lasting some 15 to 20 minutes with the commander in the spacecraft participating with the crew here in the blockhouse and at the spacecraft control center. We are now in the process of calibrating the Q ball which is a small device atop the launch escape tower, right at the top of the bird itself. The Q ball is an angle of attack meter that reads pressures and can give inputs as far as the attitude of the entire space vehicle is concerned during the early portions of flight. This calibration is going on at this time, we're also getting some readouts and checks of the tracking beacons in the Instrument Unit of the Saturn IB Launch vehicle. The large C-Band radar here at the Cape has been sending signals to these beacons in the Instrument Unit and verifying that they are operating satisfactorily. We are still Go at this time, still keeping an eye on the surface wind conditions, but the countdown is continuing. T minus 1 hour, 6 minutes, 37 seconds and counting; this is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control, T minus 60 minutes and counting, T minus 60 and we are still proceeding with the Apollo 7 count at this time. The spacecraft test conductor, Skip Chauvin, still making checks with spacecraft commander Walter Schirra in the Apollo 7 spacecraft at a 220-foot level here at launch complex 34. Our countdown is still progressing satisfactorily. We will be starting the terminal count in about 9½ minutes from this time. A short while ago Houston Flight [Glynn Lunney] made final status check to see if all elements were ready to pick up the terminal count and all reported Go. We will make our checks here shortly at the Cape, both spacecraft and launch vehicle-wise, to assure all is in readiness for the terminal countdown, which we will start at 50. We are now starting to break up the White Room at the 220-foot level. We have actually pulled some of the openings, although the White Room is still attached to the hatch, some of the openings are now being pulled away in preparation for removing the Apollo access arm which will come about 20 minutes from this time. Checkout is going quite well. Wally Schirra just informed the spacecraft test conductor that we are a little bit ahead on the count in the spacecraft checkout at this time. All aspects still looking good, the one question still remains, surface winds in the Cape Kennedy area. They are close to our marginal limits and we will be keeping a close eye on them as we go further down. Once again, the reported weather conditions, the forecast was for surface winds 11 to 16 knots from the east northeast in the Cape Kennedy area. We are now T minus 58 minutes, 19 seconds and counting; this is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 50 minutes and counting. Fifty minutes and counting, we have started our terminal countdown here at the 50-minute mark and the countdown is a Go for the Apollo 7 mission. At this point in the count, the Capsule Communicator here in the blockhouse, astronaut Stu Roosa, going through some communications checks with the crew aboard Apollo 7 located some 220 feet above the pad here at complex 34. In the meantime checks with the launch vehicle still continuing to go satisfactorily. As we come into our terminal countdown, we will have some major events coming up in some 10 or 15 minutes or so. As the support crew clears away from the White Room, we will be ready to pull back that Apollo Access Arm to a standby position some 3 feet away from the Spacecraft. Countdown still proceeding satisfactorily at 49 minutes, 4 seconds and counting; this is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 45 minutes and counting, T minus 45; the countdown proceeding satisfactorily. We've been in our final countdown for Apollo 7 now for some 19 hours since it picked up yesterday afternoon, and all aspects of the mission are still Go. We're still keeping a close look on weather conditions, particularly the surface winds in the Cape Kennedy area. Following is a recount of the activities since we picked up the countdown early this morning. We came out of a built in hold at 5:00am Eastern Daylight Time with the count down at T minus 6 hours. We then proceeded to load the cryogenic propellants, the liquid oxygen and liquid nitrogen, aboard the two stages of the Saturn IB launch vehicle. In total, we loaded close to 100 thousand gallons of liquid oxygen in total between the two stages, and then proceeded to load some 64 thousand gallons of hydrogen aboard the second stage. Following that operation, we were able to bring our close out crew back in to prepare for the astronaut's arrival. The prime crew, astronauts Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, and Walter Cunningham, were awakened per the astronaut countdown at 6:00 am Eastern Daylight Time this morning. They were awakened at their quarters at the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building at the Kennedy Space Center, some 7 miles from the launch pad. They then went down the hall to a medical examining room where they took a brief physical examination, given by Doctors Jerry Joyner and John Teegan. Following the physical, Dr. Joyner said the astronauts' physical exams were within normal limits and that they are ready to go. The crew then sat down for breakfast. The menu was steak and eggs, orange juice, toast and coffee. They had a number of guests at breakfast this morning, and these guests included Mr. James Webb, the former administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Mr. John Healy from North American Rockwell, Mr. Fred Peters, who has been NASA representative at North American on the west coast, Mr. Ken Kleinknecht, who is deputy at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, deputy for Command Service Module operations under the Apollo Program Office. Two of the support crew astronauts who have been working so close with the Apollo 7 crew for these many months also were at breakfast with the prime crew. These were astronauts Ron Evans and Bill Pogue. Deke Slayton, Director of Flight Crew Operations, also joining the crew for breakfast. Following breakfast the crew put on their space suits and were called to the pad at the key time in the countdown. Just as the countdown called for, astronaut Walter Schirra came aboard the Apollo Spacecraft at the 2 hour and 25-minute mark in the count. At 10 minute intervals thereafter he was followed in by first the Lunar Module Pilot Cunningham, and finally by Donn Eisele, the man who has the middle seat in the spacecraft, who came aboard 10 minutes later. The hatch on the spacecraft was closed at 9:15am this morning and the count has been continuing satisfactorily since that time. The latest weather report we have for the Cape Kennedy area at this time calls for scattered clouds at launch time, winds from the east 15 to 18 knots with gusts to 22 knots. The temperature in the launch area expected at 82 degrees. For a status report we now switch you to the Mission Control Center in Houston.

This is Apollo Control in Houston. It's a typically beautiful Texas day out here, blue skies and almost no wind. I know you people in Florida will appreciate that. Around the world it's pretty much the same. There is some weather out in the Pacific, a typhoon out near Japan, which we won't see for a few revs, and a new tropical storm kicking up off Baja, California. Our world range of stations is in excellent condition, only the most minor problems being reported from the 17 high speed data stations around the world. The Launch Control - Flight Control team that will manage the early revolutions of the flight has been on duty here in Houston now about 2 hours, and all in all we look pretty good. Wally Schirra, while Jack King was talking, I heard him observe as we evacuated the flight room, he is still Wally Schirra. He noted the departure of Gunter Wendt, the pad room - the white room pad leader, by reporting to the crew that Gunter went. And he also suggested that Gunter have a good trip down on the elevator. All in all at 39 minutes before launch we look good here in Houston.

This is Apollo Launch Control at T minus 39 minutes and counting. T minus 39 and we are proceeding. Coming up in a few minutes will be another milestone in the countdown as we retract the Apollo access arm from the spacecraft. Up to this time the access arm has been attached even though the spacecraft hatch has been closed. The countdown in the blockhouse calls for the access arm to be pulled back at the 33-minute mark in the count. However, when this does occur, we will pull the access arm some 3 feet [1 metre] away from the spacecraft, 12 degrees to be exact, and this will be a stand by position in the event it was necessary to bring it back to the spacecraft rapidly. The access arm will not be fully retracted to its fall back position on the umbilical tower until the 5-minute mark in the count. Countdown still proceeding and weather conditions still the same, and we are still keeping a close eye on the surface winds as we come up on 38 minutes and counting. This is Launch Control.

This is Apollo/Saturn Launch Control at T minus 33 minutes, 30 seconds and counting. However, we appear to have encountered difficulty, perhaps the first difficulty in our countdown today. It is concerned with the elevator at the launch pad. This is the high speed elevator that travels from the base of the pad to the 220-foot level and of course, carries the crew and other support people up and down from the spacecraft location. The elevator appears to have malfunctioned at this time. We plan to hold 3 minutes from now, the 30-minute mark in the count, and send several technicians in to take a look. In the meantime, the access arm remains attached to the Apollo and of course, directed toward the hatch. In the event of an emergency condition, we have the slide wire available right there on the umbilical tower for escape if necessary. We are going to hold at the 30-minute mark in the count and take a look at the elevator. We are now at T minus 32 minutes, 26 seconds and counting; this is Launch Control.

This is Launch Control; T minus 30 minutes. However we are counting. T minus 30 minutes and counting. We have discussed the problem; it appears the difficulty with the elevator now is okay and the countdown is continuing. In the meantime we have completed Apollo transfer with the Saturn IB launch vehicle; that is, going from an external power source to the flight batteries aboard the vehicle and then returning to the external power. We will not go to internal power finally until the 28-second mark in the count. The elevator appears to be okay at this time and the countdown is continuing. We are standing by at T minus 29 minutes, 20 seconds and counting. This is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control; T minus 28 minutes, 14 seconds and counting and we are proceeding. Just a matter of seconds ago, the Apollo access arm, which had been connected to the spacecraft at the 220-foot level was retracted to a standby position. This is a location some three feet [1 metre] away from the spacecraft. Later on in the count, actually at T minus 5-minute mark, the access arm will be fully retracted. The removal of the access arm at this time, the Launch Escape Tower, about 155,000 pound thrust Launch Escape Tower atop the Command Module, now has been armed. It is now activated and can be used if required. Our status with the elevator is as follows: we understand that the elevator is at the bottom level of the pad. Discussions during the period indicated that this would not be a hazardous condition, since we have the escape system operating on the spacecraft itself and in the event of bringing the access arm back for any difficulty we would have the slide wire and all probability, a capability of bringing the elevator up to the 220-foot level. So we are proceeding and that is our status as we come up on 27 minutes and counting. Mark, T minus 27 minutes and counting; this is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 25 Minutes and counting. T minus 25. We are standing by for another milestone event here at the pad at this time. Coming up shortly will be a check of the Reaction Control System thrusters on the Apollo 7 spacecraft. The spacecraft commander Wally Schirra in a few minutes will in fact static fire some of these modules in order to assure that they will be operating properly. The crew aboard the spacecraft now pressurizing the Reaction Control System, in readiness before the test of the thrusters that will be coming up shortly. All, still all aspects going well with the launch vehicle; we completed a key power transfer test and the count is still going well on the launch vehicle side. Now at T minus 24 minutes, 12 seconds and counting; this is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 21 minutes and counting, T minus 21. At this time, the commander of the Apollo 7 Spacecraft, Wally Schirra, has gone through a series of checks with the Reaction Control System on the Apollo 7 Spacecraft. We have a total of some 16 Reaction Control System engines on the Service Module of the Apollo 7. They're located in four quadrants around the Service Module and each of the engines is capable of generating some 100 pounds [445 N] of thrust. Astronaut Schirra fired these thrusters and the report from the Spacecraft Test Conductor is the static firing went very well. We actually did fire several of the thrusters during this test and the report was that the test went well. In the meantime we completed some final checks of the range safety destruct system aboard the Saturn IB launch vehicle. These are checks between the launch crew and the Air Force Eastern Test Range. Those checks also went very well, and the count is continuing. We have just passed the 20-minute mark. We are now at T minus 19 minutes, 54 seconds and counting; this is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 16 minutes and counting. T minus 16. We are Go for launch at this time. Our latest check on weather conditions and particularly surface winds in the area indicate the winds are Go at this time, at the 16-minute mark in the count; to repeat, the winds are Go for launch. Coming up shortly, the Apollo 7 spacecraft will go on full internal power; this will come at the 15-minute mark. This means we will go on the full power of the three fuel cells aboard the Apollo 7. Up to this time the fuel cells have been sharing the load with an external power source. When we go internal we remove the external power source from the spacecraft. This will be coming up shortly. In the meantime we are going through final calibrations of the overall telemetry systems, concerned with the Saturn IB launch vehicle. We are now coming up in a matter of seconds on the 15-minute mark in the count; Mark, T minus 15 minutes and counting. T minus 15. This is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at T minus 12 minutes and counting; T minus 12, and we are Go for the Apollo 7 mission at this time. At the final 11 minutes or so of the count, we will have a number of major highlights, we will have a status report that will come in about the 5-minute mark and a check of all aspects of the mission to assure that we are still Go at that time. The complete launch vehicle will go on an automatic sequence at the 2-minute and 43-second mark in the countdown. From that time down, all aspects of the count will be automatic, run by the computer system manager here in the blockhouse and also managed spacecraft-wise at the Control Center at the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building at Kennedy Space Center. Countdown continuing at this time; we are now T minus 11 minutes, 6 seconds and counting. As this automatic sequencer continues down, we will have a transfer to internal power with the launch vehicle at the 28-second mark and the eight engines in the first stage of the Saturn IB due to ignite at the 3-second mark in the count. The engines will ignite in tandem and will be up within 3/10 of a second. During those remaining 3 seconds, we basically will check the thrust of the eight engines to assure we have that 1.6 million pounds [7.1 MN] of thrust desired for the launch. At that time, when we close the vents on the Saturn IB launch vehicle, we will have a vehicle on the pad weighing some 1.3 million pounds [590 metric tonnes]. Now approaching the 10-minute mark in the count; we are T minus 10 minutes, 18 seconds and counting. This is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control. We're at T minus 8 minutes, 25 seconds and counting; and we are still Go for the Apollo 7 launch at this time. Spacecraft Test Conductor Skip Chauvin going through a final status check with his spacecraft crew here at the Kennedy Space Center. In the Blockhouse, the crew still monitoring the performance of the Saturn IB vehicle and all is Go for the mission at this time. He's completing up the status report as we complete the 8-minute mark. T minus 8 minutes and counting, T minus 8 and we are Go for launch at this time. This is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control at 6 minutes, 38 seconds and counting. We are still Go for launch at this time. Astronaut Wally Schirra just got a report that he was Go for 164 laps, he said he was ready to go without a tire change. The count still proceeding at this time. T minus 6 minutes, 20 seconds and counting; however, we just heard a report over the circuit we are asking for a Hold. We are standing by for further reports. We are now at T minus 6 minutes, 15 seconds and holding; T minus 6:15 and holding. This is Launch Control; 6 minutes, 15 seconds and holding. The test supervisor advises he expects this to be a very brief hold. The reason is concerned with a chill down of the engine of the second stage of the Saturn IB launch vehicle. From the 20-minute mark down we introduced gaseous helium into the engine chamber of the second stage to condition it for those propellants that will come into the engine chamber during flight. Of course, the liquid oxygen is at minus 297 [°F, -183°C] and the liquid hydrogen at 423 degrees below zero [°F, -253°C]. The request for the hold came to give an additional several minutes for the chill down. To repeat, we are holding at 6 minutes, 15 seconds expecting to resume the count shortly. This is Launch Control standing by.

This is Launch Control. We are holding at 6 minutes, 15 seconds. Launch Vehicle Test Conductor has advised we expect to resume the count about 35 seconds from this time. To repeat, the reason for the hold concerned with additional time for the chilldown of the second stage engine of the Saturn IB launch vehicle. We are standing by to resume the count.

This is Launch Control. We have just resumed the count down now at T minus 6 minutes and 8 seconds and counting. We resumed the count at 56 minutes past the hour. Now coming up on the 6-minute mark; mark T minus 6 minutes and counting. T minus 6, we are proceeding. All reports are that we are Go for a launch at this time. At this point in the countdown now, we will be coming up on the 5-minute mark, we will be ready to retract that Apollo access arm to its full retract position. It has been on a standby position some 3 feet [1 metre] from the Command Module up to this time. We have now armed the ignition system of the Saturn IB launch vehicle. This means that it can now receive the signals to ignite those engines at the proper time in the countdown, which will come at the 3-second mark. We'll be coming up on some final status reports at this time. T minus 5 minutes, 15 seconds and counting. The mission director, Bill Snyder, has given a Go for the launch. Coming up on the 5-minute mark; Mark, 5 minutes and counting, says Supervisor Don Phillips, giving a final call of Go/No-Go to the various elements of the mission. We are standing by as the reports come back in.

This is Apollo Launch Control now at T minus 4 minutes, 7 seconds and counting. Spacecraft Test Conductor Skip Chauvin has told Commander Wally Schirra 'You are Go for the launch.' Schirra reported that all looks good. We have now armed the destruct system of the two stages of the Saturn IB launch vehicle, and will be coming up about a minute from this time on the automatic sequencer. From that time down we will be completely automatic in the launch vehicle. We are now at 3 minutes, 40 seconds and counting. This is Launch Control.

This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control coming up on the 3-minute mark on the count, several seconds from this time. Mark, 3 minutes and counting, T minus 3; we are continuing. The astronauts in the spacecraft having just completed some final checks on the guidance and navigation system.

We are now at 2 minutes, 50 seconds; coming up shortly on the automatic sequencer. The astronaut abort advisory system is in effect at this time; the key people here at the launch complex ready to advise. Now at T minus 2 minutes, 35 seconds and counting, it appears that the automatic sequencer is in at this time; T minus 2 minutes and 30 seconds. At this point, the various tanks in the two stages of the Saturn IB vehicle are starting to pressurize. We pressurize these tanks with helium. They are pressurized, of course, to force the various propellants into the engine chambers for the proper ignition. The S-IB first stage fuel tank is pressurized and the second stage liquid oxygen tank pressurizing at this time.

Now coming up on the 2-minute mark; T minus 2 minutes and counting, T minus 2. Not as much reports now on the communications circuits as everybody stands by monitoring the various consoles and watching the various parameters to assure everything is okay. T minus 1 minute, 43 seconds and counting; we are still proceeding. Astronauts standing by in the spacecraft as we come up on the 92 mark in our countdown. Mark; T minus 90 seconds and counting; T minus 90. We have conditioned the liquid oxygen in the first stage of the Saturn Launch Vehicle; all tanks in the two stages now pressurizing. Most of the work over these final several minutes concern with the launch vehicle directed by the test conductor, Don Carlson.

One minute, 10 seconds and counting. We are still Go at this time. Coming up on 1 minute; Mark; T minus 60 seconds and counting. We are Go for Apollo 7 at this time. T minus 50 seconds; the vehicle now pressurized and the vehicle is Go as is the spacecraft at this time. Coming up on the 40-second mark; T minus 40 seconds and counting.

T minus 40. All reports look good from here in the blockhouse at this time. All aspects of the mission Go; T minus 30 seconds and counting. We'll get ignition of those 8 engines in the first stage at the 3-second mark in the countdown. Now at T minus 21 seconds and counting, we have completed our power transfer. The Saturn IB launch vehicle, which now weighs 1.3 million pounds is ready to go; coming up on the 10-second mark.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, we have ignition...

Commit... lift-off; we have lift-off.

This is Launch Control; we have cleared the tower.

12 seconds out and the roll program has commenced.

24 seconds out and Schirra reports the pitch program has commenced.

40 seconds, the roll program is complete.

55 seconds, the cabin is relieving. Schirra reported a little noise.

One minute, 20 seconds into the flight; all systems Go on the ground and in the air.

One minute, 40 seconds. Flight Director asked the Flight Dynamics Officer if he likes it, and he says, 'Yes sir; it looks good.'

Coming up on 2 minutes; Mark, 2 minutes. We're having a status check; Apollo 7 has been given a Go for staging.

Inboard engines have shut down; outboard engines have shut down; Schirra called both events.

He's got ignition and he says we are up to thrust on the second stage.

The thrust is okay at 2 minutes 40 seconds into the flight.

Wally says all beautiful, that tower has really jettisoned; it went way out. We are near the 50-mile [93-km] altitude now and about 60 miles [111 km] downrange. Three minutes, 5 seconds into the flight.

Schirra has just tagged up with the comm here in Houston; a very clean voice communication today. Three minutes, 25 seconds into the flight.

Trajectory and guidance give another Go here.

Wally says, 'A little bumpy' on the second stage; a little bumpy, but we can't hear any complaints. Seventy miles altitude [130 km]; and about a 120 miles [222 km] downrange.

Four minutes, 10 seconds into the flight.

Schirra says, 'The gimbal check looks very good'.

His observation is the 1g stuff is great. Apparently the g-loads were quite low. We've been monitoring Schirra's heart rate because that's the only physical parameter we have coming through and it, at launch, and through the early stages, ran about 90 and 92 beats. Four minutes, 50 seconds into the flight.

Flight Director's polling all his stations here and is getting enthusiastic Gos at every console. Five minutes into the flight.

And we've heard from Don Eisele; reported the spacecraft guidance Go. 90 miles [167 km] altitude now. Nearly 250 miles [463 km] downrange at 5 minutes and 25 seconds into the flight. The guidance tracks are exactly overlays here in the Control Center. That is the plan versus the actual.

Wally says she's riding like a dream at 5 minutes, 58 seconds into the flight.

Six minutes.

Six minutes, 20 seconds. Flight reports everything is right on track.

Mark 6 minutes, 30 seconds; where the trajectory now is beginning to level out at nearly 110 miles [204 km] altitude and we are coming up nearly 400 miles [740 km] out over the Atlantic Ocean.

Capcom Jack Swigert here in Houston reassures the crew that, 'You're right on the old button' and the communications are so clear it sounds like the crew is working from the simulator.

And we just had our first report from Walt Cunningham in the right seat reporting on the antennas. Seven minute, 5 seconds into the flight.

His communication was not quite as clean as that from Eisele and Schirra but quite readable. Seven minutes, 30 seconds into the flight.

Seven minutes, 45 seconds into the flight.

And the crew reports the guidance - Donn Eisele reports the guidance is Go at 8 minutes. We are 8 minutes, 15 seconds.

We are predicting a cut off time at 10 minutes plus 16 seconds, plus 16 seconds I believe. Eight minutes, 40 seconds now; the trajectory has flattened out at about 125 nautical miles [232 km] and we're 800 miles [1,480 km] downrange.

The communication in the last minute has gotten somewhat gravelly, not nearly as clean as it was in the early part."

And Schirra at 9 minutes reports we're Go for orbit.

Control Center here is considering shifting the comm loop to the Vanguard Ship which is parked out south of Bermuda somewhere mid-Atlantic. The communications are still quite good. They were just extraordinary through the first 6 minutes of flight. At 9 minutes, 30 seconds into the flight, all systems are in excellent shape. We are now predicting shut down at 10 minutes and 20 seconds; 10 minutes, 20 seconds into the flight. We are now coming up on our mark 10 minutes into the flight. Mark; 10 minutes.

10 minutes, 10 seconds.

And - we got a cut-off that sounded to me like at about 10 minutes, 19 seconds. Schirra confirmed it. And Eisele noted that it felt a little different than when they were on the booster; when that cut off came through. They will remain attached to the S-IVB that second stage and they will be given a Go to stay in the planned configuration, attached to the second stage for perhaps - nearly 3 hours.