Apollo 8

Apollo Control, Houston here; 146 hours, 26 minutes. We've had no additional conversation since our last report from the crew. Apparently they're all settled down in their couches and waiting for the re-entry. The next major event will be the Command/Service Module separation which should occur about 5 minutes from now. The Capsule Communicator's just been advised to tell the crew we are Go for that event. This, by the way, will be the fourth, this is the fourth manned flight to be returned to the Pacific area. And, coincidentally, all of the 8 series, Mercury 8, Gemini 8, and now Apollo 8 were brought back to the Pacific area. In addition, Mercury 9 landed off Hawaii. Here's some conversation; Ken Mattingly, our CapCom is talking to Bill Anders.

Recovery is advising the Flight Director of their good status, saying he has good weather out there. They're on station. The route of flight, in case you're not looking at a map, will be over northeast China, Peking, and over Tokyo, then we start a southeastern slant. The ship Redstone is parked at 24° north, 169° east. And the next listening point will be the ship Huntsville, tracking the ship at 172 west, 12° north, and the landing point just a few hundred miles southeast of there at 165 west, approximately 8 north. That point, by the way, is just 600 miles northwest of Christmas Island, which I'm sure has been noted.

The crew has been advised that their primary evaporator has dried out, a fact that I'm sure they couldn't care less about. They're about to say goodbye to that entire system in the Service Module in about two minutes.

And the spacecraft is now - we see our systems here show that they have gone to ring 2; the Reaction Control System. The system looks quite good, it's operational at 200 pounds of propellant available in that system. It is a redundant system. A few of the events, as we plan to clock them here: the point of - the 400,000 foot point, which is that point when many of our events begin to happen, we call it, the area of reaching some little small amount of atmosphere, is to occur at 146 hours, 46 minutes. The blackout period should begin about 25 seconds later. The maximum heating point would be 146 hours, 47 minutes; and which should occur at roughly 200,000 feet. And at this point, the roller-coaster type ride that the spacecraft will take will bend slightly upward for approximately 40,000, 50,000 feet, and then level off and begin its last plunge back. But as it hits the first breaking point at 180,000 feet, the max g force will be felt by the crew, of 6.8 g's. A second g spike of 4.2 will be noted about 4 or 5 minutes later. The total blackout we're predicting this morning is on the order of 3 minutes, but since we have very little experience re-entering at these velocities, we must caution you, those are only estimates.

The Flight Director has confirmed separation - separation of the Command Module and the Service Module. We've been looking at data on the Command Module alone and all the values look quite good. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston here. We continue to look good on all sources. We - in 11 minutes from now, we will be at the 400,000-foot mark and the velocity of the crew at this point will be 36,220 feet per second [11,040 m/s], we estimate. That converts to 24,530 [statute] miles per hour, which is - which is nearly, it's more than 500 miles per hour faster than the crew was moving only 2½ days ago [means 6 days] at Translunar Injection. Their burnout speed at that point 180 miles above the Earth was 35,556 feet per second [10,837 m/s] or 24,080 miles per hour. Today, as we come back to that point, after all the maneuvering and all of the burning at 180 miles above the Earth, we will see a velocity of 35,644 feet per second [10,864 m/s] and still building up down to this value at 400,000 feet [121.92 km]. These are estimates and will be refined based on post-flight data, but they're good estimates at this point. All in all a very quiet re-entry up to this point. This is Apollo Control, Houston. We'll continue to monitor.

And this is Apollo Control here. We've put in a call through the Redstone.

And they were advised by Ken Mattingly that they were looking good, which they certainly are. The cabin pressure is 4.9 pounds per square inch, the cabin temperature is down a little bit, purposely, so it's down to 61. Most of the flight it ran between 77 and 78 degrees. We're estimating that the crew are still head down and tracking the horizon visually out their rendezvous - out the windows, any handy window, and letting the G&N system do its work. At 146 hours, 41 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston; 146 hours, 45 minutes. And we're very nearly at that 400,000-foot point. We just gave the crew a call and here's how it sounded: [brief communication with the spacecraft]. In the course of this blackout period, which we'll be into very shortly here, the comm control will be handed over from the Redstone to the Huntsville, and we have lost signal, our network controller says we lost signal at 146:46 minutes and with very nearly 46 seconds. And our estimate is that this blacked-out period will - will continue - oh, let's see, three minutes. And right about now the crew should be getting the spike, the g spike that they'll see, just under 7 gs. We would estimate they're down to the 180,000-foot point, flattening out and actually beginning to ascend slightly. They should be - their heat rate will dramatically recede but they'll still maintain a large heat load, nearly 5,000 degrees [Fahrenheit, about 2,700°C] out on the leading edge of the heatshield. Flight Director notes that he hears some keying coming, as in Morse code keying and he's wondering as to the source of it. 146 hours, 48 minutes.

And our curves put the spacecraft down about 35 to 36 miles above the Earth and elevating slightly, perhaps up to 40.

Ken Mattingly just put in a call and just frankly labeled it a radio check. He's gotten no response as yet.

And Ken tries a second call through the Huntsville. Our estimates say that the crew, along about now should be emerging. The Huntsville advises they have not established contact with the spacecraft at this time. About three and a half minutes since we went into the blacked-out area. And now the Huntsville is handing over communication checks - communication authority to one of the range aircraft, they call them AIRA. And the Huntsville - the Huntsville says they have acquired an S-band signal, at 51 minutes, 4 seconds; and they immediately called back and said no contact, they negate that first announcement.

One of the recovery helicopters reported seeing something, but those kind of reports at these critical moments aren't unusual. Ken Mattingly puts in another call and there's Jim Lovell! He says, 'We're looking good.' I can't tell whether it's Borman or Lovell. Let's try to cut it in.

Now one of the range ships is reporting a radar contact. The first communication was extremely broken up, but the two words that did come through were 'looking good'. Another one of the flight controllers here in the control center heard the crew mention, something like 'a real fire ball'.

We estimate here we're about one minute to drogue deploy. Drogue chutes out at 23,000 feet, and the time plot says 146 hours, 54 minutes. The Yorktown is reporting and confirming a radar contact, the bearing is being passed to the recovery room, here in Houston.

That's Jim Lovell.

Apollo Control, Houston here; at 146 hours, 55 minutes. According to our numbers we should have main chute deploy, we should have had it within the last minute. We've heard nothing but a lot of noise on the circuit for the last minute or so. It is understandable at these low level relays, everyone is passing it. And here comes something from Apollo 8: "Over" he said.

The transmission from Apollo 8, no follow up. In a simulation yesterday we had extremely good communication from the recovery area and we see - we're hopeful that that situation will be duplicated today.

146 hours, 57 minutes; and according to our estimates, they should be hitting the water just about 147 hours even. If and when we get some intelligible comm, we'll come back up on the line. This is Apollo Control, Houston; standing by.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston; 146 hours, 58 minutes. Recovery II, within the last minute, has reported they have a flashing light in sight, and they followed that with, 'We have voice contact with the crew.' I repeat, they said, 'We have voice contact with the crew.' At 146 hours, 58 minutes; we're going to try to patch that conversation into our consoles here. Right now, we've not heard it.

The lookout - a lookout on the Yorktown now reports a visual sighting. They must be close at hand. The helicopter nearest them is piloted by Lt. Kenneth Owen of Pensacola, Florida. There are three swimmers in that helicopter. And the Flight Director has advised us to bring up a special circuit, which we hope will bring us the - any communication that develops out there.

We've - We have an estimate here now, that the splashpoint may be as close as 5,000 yards [4.6 km] from the Yorktown. I repeat, 5,000 yards from the Yorktown. That's a very rough estimate. Now, we've gotten a second estimate of 5,000 yards from the Yorktown.

This is Apollo Control, and if you've been listening to that circuit, you can tell why we can't be too sure of these events. It's a little ragged, but I have talked to the - to our Public Affairs Officer on the carrier. He assures me the spacecraft is 5,000 yards [4.6 km] away. And the general plan was to wait [for] a little more daylight before attempting a pickup. Intermittently we have been able to pick Borman's voice out of the noise and he seems to be carrying on the routine kinds of conversations that pilots use when they talk to each other in these kinds of situations. Very unruffled and we have no words there, no indication yet upon the attitude of the spacecraft, whether it is nose down, as was the case in Apollo 7, or up. Nearly everyone agrees it's only 5,000 yards away from the Yorktown, which we'll settle for right now at 147 hours, 5 minutes.

Apollo Control, Houston here; 147 hours, 8 minutes. We have had several things confirmed or reverified in the last few minutes. The crew condition number 1 is okay, and that came through loud and clear, just as I was talking, crew condition okay. We have thought we monitored several conversations between the crew and local helicopters, airplanes, and what not. We do have it back now, crew condition okay. The estimate from the Yorktown is the swimmers will wait approximately 20 to 25 minutes before deploying, this as per planned that as long as the crew is in satisfactory condition and in fact now we know that they're floating quite nicely in a stable 1 condition. I'm sure the chatting will continue over the next 20 to 25 minutes, but we're assured that everything is all right out there, This is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston here at 147 hours, 13 minutes. We have been advised by the recovery forces that recovery helicopter 3 is hovering over the spacecraft, 50 feet [15 metres] above it, and they estimate they are 6,000 yards [5.5 km] away from the Yorktown. The helicopter pilot is Commander Donald S. Jones of Madison, Wisconsin. When the swimmers get the signal to deploy, the first man in the water will be a Sonar Technician from Columbia, South Carolina, named Chester Coogin. Two other swimmers will follow him: Lt. J.G. Richard Flanagan of Oklahoma City, and Donald L. Schwab of Imperial Beach, California. And at 147 hours, 14 minutes; that's all the new information we have.

Apollo Control, Houston here. Two new reports. The inflation bags around the spacecraft are inflated and there have been reports, additional visual reports of course, of the flashing light seen from the Yorktown. And now illuminating the area is a helicopter with a big floodlight. So the entire area should be visible from the Yorktown. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. From the Yorktown, we have learned they're proceeding toward the spacecraft. They're now 4,500 yards away, 4,500 yards away. And that's our situation at 147 hours, 21 minutes.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston at 147 hours, 25 minutes. Apparently Frank Borman is making small talk with the crew of that helicopter out there. It was just relayed to us that he had, in chatting with the pilot, he had asked him if anyone had seen the spacecraft on main chute. And of course, there were several reports and this has become the subject of a continuing chat, the pilot of that helicopter is Commander Donald S. Jones. And, that's all the new information we have right now. At 147 hours, 26 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston here; and Ken Mattingly, our Capsule Communicator here, has just tried to call through an ARIA aircraft. While we try to establish the communication on that shot, we've been advised that the ship is now 3,800 yards away, and it's off the port side of the ship. The Yorktown has also advised us that in about in 14 minutes, they expect to deploy their first swimmers, about 14 minutes from now. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. Ken Mattingly's call just worked and we were kind of frightened at the volume and at the level the answer came back. Borman responded enthusiastically, 'Hello, there, Houston, how are you doing?. Here's the tape.

This is Apollo Control, Houston, that begins to make you understand the size of our communication program, it isn't a matter of just understanding every other word, it's a case of trying to understand a piece of every other conversation, but we're cheered up and we feel good, we know the crew is feeling fine and within a very few minutes, swimmers will be in the water and we should start the movement of the crew into the helicopters and over to the Yorktown. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston; 147 hours, 34 minutes. And if anybody had any doubts about the condition of the crew, this little conversation which has been relayed to us, should clear up those doubts. In conversation with the helicopter commander, the crew commander, apparently, of the helicopter asked the crew what the Moon was made out of, whereupon Borman responded that it's not made out of green cheese at all, it's made out of American cheese, and, well, I think the crew's in pretty good shape. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. The report to us from the scene is that the first light of dawn is beginning to show in the east, and seeing streaks of light. The capsule's riding very nicely in relatively calm waters and just any minute from now we expect to hear a report that the swimmers are in the water. The conversations that have come back to us, except for an intermittent, occasionally hearing from the crew directly have been relayed from on the water to aircraft at approximately 25 - 30 thousand feet. There it's being repeated to another man in Honolulu at Hickam Air Force Base and at that point it's being relayed again, back here to Houston, at which point I am trying to relay the content of them to you. And now we get an estimate that the swimmers will be in the water in five minutes. He's preparing to put swimmers in the water in four to five minutes. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. We have a report from one of the on-scene helicopters that the spacecraft is still riding very nicely in the water and rotating at about 1 revolution per minute. I say again, spacecraft rotating at about 1 revolution per minute, which would be a little unusual. I don't know that we have ever seen that. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 147 hours, 42 minutes since we lifted off. From the communications out there, which are perhaps understandably bad at this time of day, this time of year, and under the circumstances we have plucked a breakfast order out and we managed to record it and we would like to play it for you.

In case you missed it the order came back, 'We'll have steak and eggs, the same as we had before we left.' Now the helicopter's maneuvering in a position to drop swimmers and we expect that drop to start just any moment. Recovery 3 helo will deploy the swimmers. The helicopters continue to hover between 75 to 100 feet [30 metres], as low at 50 feet [15 metres], for certain inspection type passes. And Air Boss - Air Boss, Lt. Glen Byers of Evansville, Indiana, reports the first swimmer is in the water. And now we're advised that the swimmer has attached a sea anchor, and now the helicopter is moving in to deploy his two swimming colleagues. And then immediately one of the swimmers will plug in a phone and have a quick conversation with the crew.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. We're advised that the sea anchor has been attached. The swimmers and the helicopter report they can see a light glowing through the windows from the spacecraft. The hatch, apparently not yet open. And the last measured distance we have between the Yorktown and the spacecraft is 2,900 yards [2.7 km]. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston here; 147 hours, 49 minutes since lift-off. Now all three swimmers from helicopter number 3 are in the water and they are clearly visible to the helicopter. They are working to affix the flotation collar still an added measure of flotation insurance, around the blunt end of the spacecraft. And immediately they will inflate the Mae West type device. And that's our situation.

Apollo Control, Houston here. In the last few minutes, we've deciphered from one relay communication from Jim Lovell that he could see the swimmers working around the spacecraft. We've had confirmation now that the inflation collar is fully inflated and secured. And we've had some queries regarding our splash point, and our best estimate is the aiming point. We have no reason to - we know that is was 5,000 yards [4.6 km] away from the Yorktown, the Yorktown is very, very close to the aiming point which was 165 degrees north, I say again 165 degrees north, - correction - 165 degrees west and 8 degrees, 8 minutes north. The collar, fully inflated. We still have no word as to when we might expect the crew open that hatch and come out and take a breath of Earth air. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. We've just been advised that the swimmers are standing on the inflation collar, awaiting the crew's pleasure. And we still have no estimate as to when the crew will emerge, but it's our guess that that'll come at just any - any minute right now. Now the swimmers are going through additional precautions to ensure that the inflation collar is very securely fastened to the spacecraft. Our elapsed time clock shows 148 hours. Just keep, with the line open for some word on that hatch opening.

Apollo Control here. We've just been advised that Recovery 3 is preparing to drop a large life-raft. The collar's been inspected and just any moment we expect to see - two life-rafts now have been dropped. Two life-rafts, and this probably signals a hatch opening just any moment.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. Our extraordinary communication coincidences continue. The swimmers advise us that they cannot talk to the crew via an interphone, which is a hard line interphone connection, but they can talk with the crew from little hand radios. Still no word yet as to - as to when that hatch is going to open, but we're getting our first look at it here in this Control Center in color television which is an addition for this first flight. Both the camera - color camera and color monitors. And there's been some discussion that if that ship doesn't stop pitching and rolling we may have some seasickness cases here. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. Now we've been advised that the recovery plan will be thusly: the crew will exit the spacecraft, get into a life raft, and then the hatch will be secured before we begin any spacecraft pickup or any pilot pickup. I thought I copied - stand by just one moment. Yeah, I'm sorry, no time estimate just yet as to when we can expect these events but with the light situation out there, we may be able to see them. They're estimating 1,500 yards [1.4 km] now from the spacecraft. We'll continue to monitor here. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. We've just been advised that the hatch of Apollo 8, the hatch is now open. Just any moment we should have some reports on exiting crew members. At 11:04 Houston time we received the report the hatch was open. And even though our - and now we're getting the first astronaut, who's not identified but - by anything other than 'the first astronaut', is now exiting the spacecraft. He's now getting in a life raft. And now a second astronaut is leaving the spacecraft, and if we're following military tradition, the next astronaut should be Frank Borman, although since he's Air Force he may not follow the Navy tradition of the captain of the ship leaving 1ast. Now a second astronaut is sitting in the life raft. And now recovery advises the third astronaut, the final - and of course the usual jokes about 'And now the fourth astronaut!' but we've succeeded in suppressing the recovery room from advising us of any additional astronauts. All three astronauts are in the lift raft, the swimmers are positioned on the collar around the spacecraft. They are preparing to close and seal the hatch for the pickup which will come perhaps, an hour from now. And the order of the pilots leaving the Command Module was exactly opposite that that I intimated. Borman left first, the second, I believe - let's check it. Lovell second. Lovell went second and the junior member of the crew, Bill Anders, was last to leave.

And now we have had a third change on it. We're told that Jim Lovell may have been the first to leave the spacecraft. That makes good sense. Since he was in the center couch, it's entirely possible that he would leave first in order to let the other two out.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. We have learned within the last couple of minutes that the crew has transferred to a new liferaft, for what reason we don't know, but we do know they're in a second liferaft now and the recovery helicopter is maneuvering to begin the pickup operation. On our recovery board here we see a message from Admiral McMannes, which reads, 'Please convey to our NASA friends my congratulations, re. this magnificent achievement, this reflected glory, has permitted all of us to stand taller in today's world; epic, historic, amazing, fantastic, heartwarming, and the next word I can't make out - unbelievable until it happened, hyphen, magnificent. It's signed Admiral McMannes and staff, who is the commander of the task force charged with this recovery effort. And we are advised that the first astronaut is in the helicopter, no more identification than that. Just first astronaut in a helicopter. Now the line is going down for the second astronaut. And the line is dangling and awaiting the pickup of the second man. Second astronaut's on his way up. A second astronaut in the sling and on his way.

And now we have had it confirmed; the second astronaut is in the recovery helicopter. And the line is going down for the third astronaut. Earlier we had given a position of the helicopter - of the carrier, only 1,500 yards [1.4 km] from the scene. That was incorrect, it should be corrected. The position at that time was 3,500 yards [3.2 km] from the scene and the carrier is making its swing now, preparatory to spacecraft pickup. All right, the third astronaut is in the sling and is being brought up into the helicopter. And the third astronaut steps into the helo at 11:14 Houston time. The helicopter pilot confirms that the helo door has been secured, all three men are aboard and they are preparing to embark on a short flight to the Yorktown. And as we can see on our television monitors, the helicopter is now proceeding toward the Yorktown.

And from the deck of the Yorktown, we learn that the helicopters have been advised the wind is from 355 degrees and it's blowing at 20 knots.

And this is Apollo Control here. Recovery 3 has been given permission to land first. Recovery 3 is bearing the pilots, we believe. And we can - we hear Recovery 2 being instructed to return to the helo at this time. Brisk, windy, situation out there. Navy helicopter number 66 prepares to touch down on the deck of the Yorktown. And touchdown at 20 minutes after the hour, 11:20 Central Standard Time. For those reporters not looking at a television monitor, the engines are being shutdown now. Two crew members have moved out to block them - block the wheels. And the television camera shifts to the door.

Apollo Control, Houston here. We had it confirmed through recovery, that apparently, at the request of Frank Borman, there was an electric razor aboard helicopter, and Frank Borman used it on the way in. Very clean shaven, in contrast to the rather scraggle comrades with him. Apollo Control, Houston here.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. If you are listening to this loop you probably hear applause in the background as demonstration going on here in the Control Center that we haven't seen ever in our history. If you are in front of a television monitor, you can see an American flag, approximately 15 feet long, and about 10 feet from top to bottom. It was rigged in the Control Center earlier this morning. It has been pulled into place. Every console operator is displaying a flag at his desk, very similar to what we saw immediately after the rendezvous in Gemini VI. That's the only other time that we've seen such a display of flags in the Control Center. The earlier display didn't begin to touch this one. Huge flag. It completely blocks out the wall map that we've looked at so intensely for the last six and one half days. Everyone applauded, and in one of the loops we could hear the Star Spangled Banner. We're absolutely jammed with people here. All three Flight Controllers shifts are in the room. All the program officials.

Apollo Control here, if you can hear me above all these voices. It is a veritable roar in here. The North American people are in, the room is awash with cigar smoke. A number of congratulatory messages are coming across this console. We've seen several, we've read several. Here's one from I think it will describe itself. The world's greatest tracking station sends its heartfelt congratulations to the Apollo 8 crew, its beautiful spacecraft and all those who have shared in this magnificent accomplishment. And it's signed, of course, from the tracking station in Madrid, Spain. Courtesy of Dan Hunter, former MSC man before he moved to Madrid. We might return the compliment to Madrid which made possible so many of those beautiful television shots. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

Again this is Apollo Control. I'm not sure how well our voice is getting out. There is tremendous roar, an undercurrent and roar in the background. I have never seen a degree of this emotional outpouring in any previous mission, including Alan Shepard's. I guess one of the big differences there between that one and this one is Alan is here standing right in the middle of this one puffing on a long black cigar. I've seen rallies in locker rooms after championship games, happy politicians after elections, but never - none of them do justice to the spirit pervading this room. For the benefit of reporters listening I have been advised that we estimate the center director's and other officials well be available in our auditorium in 30 minutes for a press conference. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control here. Again, I think that many of you can see this tumult. Someone suggested that we have set the American Cancer Society's antismoking campaign back several light years, I take it from one who quit smoking a year and a half ago that this is a strong cigar. I don't know how the room can hold any more people, but they keep coming in. Someone is standing on a console next to mine. It's a photographer. I can't even make out who is in front of the flight director's desk, but he's produced box after box of cigars. Al Shepard just threw one back here. It ricocheted off the wall. That's our status.

We have just had - Apollo Control here, we have just had a chat with Donald K. Slayton, the director of Flight Crew Operations. He tells me that he plans to fly to Hawaii this afternoon. He is going out commercial; he expects the crew will land at Hickam tomorrow afternoon about 2 o'clock, Hawaii time. It will be - primarily the reason for the delay is that the carrier is out of airplane range at Hickam, Deke estimates that they will be on the ground about an hour, leaving Hawaii about 3 o'clock, Hawaii time and they should be back here at Ellington Air Force Base, next to this center about 2 o'clock Sunday morning, and I suspect that there are three families that are happy to hear that word. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control. We have been asked to pass along the figures that we have here in Mission Control Center on the time of splash, that figure is 147 hours, 00 minutes and 11 seconds. Almost precisely as planned, and to repeat again our landing coordinates: 165 degrees west; 8 degrees, 8 minutes north; also right on target. This is Apollo Control, Houston, out.