The crew are called by Mission Control after a good night's sleep. As they have breakfast, they view Earth including Africa, Europe and Arabia. Midcourse Correction 3 is cancelled, while they check and adjust various spacecraft systems.
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This is Apollo Control at 38 hours, 26 minutes. Here in Mission Control, we are presently going through the shift change. Flight Director Glynn Lunney and his team of flight controllers are coming on to replace Gene Kranz. The capsule communicator on the upcoming shift will be astronaut Ron Evans. Flight Surgeon John Ziegleschmid reported that two of the three crewmen apparently began sleeping at about 38 hours Ground Elapsed Time or about 26 minutes ago. The two that are asleep are Command Module Pilot Mike Collins and Commander Neil Armstrong. Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin, at last report, was still awake. We expect the change of shift press briefing will occur at about 11:15 Central Daylight Time. At 38 hours, 27 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
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This is Apollo Control; 39 hours, 40 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. Apollo 11 crew at this time, all three soundly asleep. The space digitals display - stand by. Space digitals display here in Mission Control now showing 82,905 nautical miles [153,540 km] out from the Moon. Velocity; 3,897 feet per second [1,188 m/s] relative to the Moon. Awake time; 7 hours, 19 minutes away. Spacecraft presently over the west-central Pacific, if a line were projected back toward its nearest point on Earth. And at 39 hours, 41 minutes Ground Elapsed Time; this is Apollo Control.
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This is Apollo Control; 40 hours, 58 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. Apollo 11 presently 146,300 nautical miles [270,900 km] out from Earth. Velocity; 3,917 feet per second [1,194 m/s]. Six hours, 1 minute remaining in the sleep period - the ten-hour sleep period scheduled in the Flight Plan. Rather quiet here during the nightwatch, or the Black Team which tonight is being headed up by Flight Director Gerry Griffin who is spelling the usual Black Team Flight Director, Gene Lunney [means Glynn Lunney]. One clock here in Mission Control shows landing time 61 hours, 48 minutes from now. This is similar to the entry clock which the - is used in the same position in the control room toward the end of a mission, will be refined continuously as we get down to the gnat's hair, the exact second of landing. At 40 hours, 59 minutes Ground Elapsed Time; this is Apollo Control.
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This is Apollo Control; 42 hours, 28 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. Crew of Apollo 11 still asleep at this time. Some 4 hours, 31 minutes remaining in the scheduled 10-hour sleep period. Altitude now from the Moon; 76,529 nautical miles [141,732 km]. Velocity from the Moon - toward the Moon; 3,842 feet per second [1,171 m/s]; relative to the Moon that is. And at 42 hours, 28 minutes; this is Apollo Control.
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This is Apollo Control; 43 hours, 29 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. Apollo 11 presently on the spot directly above or directly out from the Malay Peninsula. Some 3 hours, 30 minutes remaining in the scheduled 10-hour sleep period for the crew. And if the space digitals display were up here at the time, coming out of the computer we would know what the distance and velocity were. So, at 43 hours, 29 minutes Ground Elapsed Time; this is Apollo Control.
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This is Apollo Control; 44 hours, 28 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. Apollo 11 crew has another 2 hours, 31 minutes remaining in their 10-hour sleep period. The spacecraft is now some 72,010 nautical miles [133,363 km] out from the Moon. Velocity continuing to decelerate as we get nearer the changeover point in influence between the Earth and the Moon. Velocity now showing 3,811 feet per second [1,162 m/s]. The spacecraft now calculated to weigh 96,068 pounds [43,576 kg]. At 44 hours, 29 minutes Ground Elapsed Time; this is Apollo Control.
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This is Apollo Control; 45 hours, 28 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. A little more than an hour remaining in the Apollo 11 crew sleep period. Present velocity; 3,799 feet per second [1,158 m/s]. Distance from Moon; 69,810 nautical miles [129,288 km]. Apollo 11 will continue decelerating as it gets to the point where the Moon's sphere of influence overcomes the Earth's sphere of influence. This point will take place - This event will take place at 61 hours, 39 minutes and 57 seconds Ground Elapsed Time; according to the Flight Dynamics Officer. At this point, the spacecraft-to-Moon distance will be 33,822 nautical miles [62,638 km]; spacecraft-to-Earth distance, 186,437 nautical miles [345,281 km]. The velocity will have slowed to a relative crawl. At this point; the Earth-referenced, 2,990 feet per second [911 m/s]; Moon referenced, 3,772 feet per second [1,150 m/s]. Clock counting down to lunar touchdown, which as mentioned before will likely be changed as the spacecraft goes into lunar orbit and the data is refined, some of the times change a few seconds one way or the other. At any rate, the landing clock now showing 57 hours, 17 minutes until lunar landing. At 45 hours, 30 minutes Ground Elapsed Time; this is Apollo Control.
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This is Apollo Control; 46 hours, 28 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. A little more than half hour remaining in the crew sleep period. Members of the Green Team of flight controllers headed up by prime Flight Director Cliff Charlesworth are coming into the control room at this time, and at each console, a handover is taking place from the Black Watch. At the time - at the present time, the Apollo 11 spacecraft is 67,518 nautical miles [125,043 km] out from the Moon, traveling at a velocity of 3,787 feet per second [1,154 m/s]. Apollo 11 presently is being tracked by the Madrid S-band station. And at 46 hours, 29 minutes Ground Elapsed Time; this is Apollo Control.
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This is Apollo Control at 46 hours, 58 minutes into the mission. The Green Team led by Flight Director Cliff Charlesworth has just relieved Glynn Lunney's Black Team. The Flight Surgeon Dr. Willard Hawkins indicates the crew appears to be still asleep. We're nearing the end of the scheduled rest period. Cliff Charlesworth indicates we will put in a call to the crew within a few minutes. Apollo 11 is 158,681 nautical miles [293,877 km] from Earth. Velocity; 3,578 feet per second [1,091 m/s]. Spacecraft weight is 96,068 pounds [43,576 kg].
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This is Apollo Control at 47 hours, 3 minutes. Cliff Charlesworth has decided to let the crew sleep a little longer. He's just had a conversation with the Flight Surgeon. Dr. Hawkins reports all indications are that the crew is sleeping soundly. The Flight Plan does not warrant awaking them just to get them up. There's no - nothing in the Flight Plan that requires their attention at the present time, so the Flight Director has made a decision to not put in a call to the crew and wake them. Flight Surgeon says that a look at the data throughout the night indicates that the crew slept rather well all night.
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This is Apollo Control at 47 hours, 41 minutes into the mission. From all indications the crew is still alseep. We're 41 minutes past the end of the scheduled 10-hour rest period now. Flight Director Cliff Charlesworth has decided to let the crew remain asleep; not awaken them from the ground. There is no need to awaken them. Nothing scheduled in the Flight Plan that requires their attention at this time. Apollo 11 is 160,137 nautical miles [296,574 km] from Earth. Velocity; 3,544 feet per second [1,080 m/s].
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This is Apollo Control at 48 hours into the Apollo 11 mission. The spacecraft is 160,760 nautical miles [297,728 km] from Earth. The distance from the Moon is 64,115 nautical miles [118,741 km]. Earth-referenced velocity; 3,529 feet per second [1,076 m/s]. The rest period has now lasted an hour longer than the 10-hour period scheduled. It's extended to 11 hours now. Flight Surgeon says there are indications that the commander, Neil Armstrong, may be awakening. Some stirring around. However, we have not yet put in a call to the crew. The midcourse correction-3, scheduled for this afternoon at an elapsed time of 53 hours, 54 minutes, has been cancelled. The velocity value for that midcourse is only eight-tenths of a foot per second so we will not - not do midcourse correction Number 3. We'll continue to stand by for either a call from the ground or a call from the spacecraft.
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This is Apollo Control at 48 hours, 9 minutes. We just put in a call to the crew. Here's that conversation.
048:09:00 McCandless: Apollo 11, Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.
048:09:08 Aldrin: Good morning, Houston. Apollo 11.
048:09:10 McCandless: Good morning, Apollo 11.
048:09:19 Aldrin: Nice sleep. Be getting around to the...
048:09:34 Aldrin: How's everything look up here from the ground?
048:09:47 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Roger. Say again, please.
048:09:54 Aldrin: Roger. How do all our systems look?
048:09:59 McCandless: Roger. They're looking great, and as far as we can tell everything is good from down here. Over.
048:10:08 Aldrin: Rog. Looks like the attitude held up real well during PTC last night.
048:10:13 McCandless: Yes, it did. We were showing you remaining well within a circle of 10 degrees radius throughout the night. Seems to be working beautifully. [Long pause.]
048:10:37 Collins: How's the old Green Team this morning? Did you have a quiet night?
048:10:40 McCandless: Yeah. It was a very quiet night down here. The old Black Team is complaining they didn't get a chance to make any transmissions. Ron Evans is getting...
048:10:53 Collins: Well, we'll be seeing them tomorrow, I guess.
048:10:56 McCandless: Yeah. Ron's getting to be known as the silent CapCom.
048:11:41 McCandless: When you feel up to copying, 11, I've got a couple of small items in the way of a Flight Plan update and your morning consumables update. Over. [Long pause.]
048:12:14 Aldrin: Apollo 11.
048:12:17 McCandless: Roger, 11. We'd like to perform a waste-water dump at your convenience some time in the near future here. No particular time scheduled. Down there at the time for Midcourse Correction 3, which is about 53:55, we're deleting Midcourse Correction number 3 and all the items associated with it. For your information, the calculated value of the burn for Midcourse number 3 was eight-tenths of a foot per second, that is 0.8 feet per second. Canceling this, if we decide to burn Midcourse Correction-4, this would then give you a burn for Midcourse Correction-4 of 2.0 feet per second. At 53 hours, we have an IMU realign P52. We're requesting that you do this while in PTC, and we plan to continue PTC throughout the day. Over.
048:13:52 Aldrin: - then we'll get to the waste-water dump [garble].
048:13:57 McCandless: Say again, please. You're cutting out.
048:14:04 Aldrin: [Garble.] Roger. [Garble] for now it looks like [garble].
048:14:26 McCandless: 11, this is Houston. Stand by a minute, please. We're having difficulty receiving you. [Long pause.]
048:15:12 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Radio check. Over.
048:15:17 Aldrin: Roger, Houston. Read you loud and clear. How me? Over.
048:15:20 McCandless: Roger. Reading you the same. We did a minor reconfiguration down here. Stand by. Out.
Comm break.
This is Apollo Control. That first conversation was with Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins joined in. We've not yet heard from Neil Armstrong.
048:16:37 McCandless: Okay, 11. This is Houston. We switched your Omni antennas as you rolled through the appropriate position. Did you copy the Flight Plan update item? [No answer.]
048:17:08 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over
048:17:15 Aldrin: Apollo 11, go ahead.
048:17:17 McCandless: Roger, 11. Did you copy the Flight Plan update items? Over.
048:17:23 Aldrin: Roger. How do you read me now, Bruce?
048:17:25 McCandless: Loud and clear, now.
048:17:29 Aldrin: Okay. The battery charge is in - in the process now and the waste-water dump is in work. MCC-3 has been cancelled. It would have been 0.8 feet per second. MCC-4 now looks like about 2.4 feet per second. At around 53 hours we'll do a P52 in PTC. Over.
048:17:56 McCandless: Roger, 11. The magnitudes of the midcourse corrections were just for your information, but Midcourse 4 was down around 2.0 feet per second. Again, for your information, on SPS chamber pressure, it looks like your onboard readout of 87 psi corresponds to 92 psi by our telemetry, and your value of 89 on board corresponds to 94. Over. [Long pause.]
048:18:53 McCandless: Apollo 11, Houston. Radio check on a new power amplifier in our transmitter. Over.
048:19:02 Aldrin: Roger. Read you loud and clear. How me? Over.
048:19:04 McCandless: Roger. Loud and clear. Did you copy my notes on SPS chamber pressure?
048:19:12 Aldrin: Negative.
048:19:13 McCandless: Okay. Just for your information again, it appears that your readout of 87 psi corresponds to our corrected TM readout of 92 - that's 92 psi, and 89 on board is really 94 psi. Over.
048:19:48 Aldrin: Roger, I got that you were reading about 5 psi low.
It is actually the spacecraft meter that is reading low, but the readings from the sensors are also radioed to Earth and can be read by Mission Control on the ground. MCC can apply a more sophisticated analysis of the telemetry from the engine to generate a more accurate reading of chamber pressure when compared to the relatively crude meter in the spacecraft.
048:19:53 McCandless: Roger. And are you ready for the consumables update?
048:20:00 Aldrin: Ready to copy.
048:20:02 McCandless: Okay. Consumables update for GET of 46 plus 00: minus 5.5 percent, minus 6.5 percent, minus 2.5 percent, minus 7.5 percent, minus 5.0 percent, minus 2 pounds hydrogen, plus one pound oxygen, and that minus 5.5 percent on the RCS total corresponds to minus 66 pounds. Over.
048:20:54 Aldrin: Okay. I copy those, and I'll give you our percentages now: Alpha, 82; Bravo, 84; Cocoa, 85; Delta, 87. Over.
048:21:07 McCandless: This is Houston. We copy your percentages, and do you have a crew status report on sleep for us? [Pause.]
048:21:24 Aldrin: Roger. In descending order; 8, 9, and 8. Over.
048:21:30 McCandless: Houston. Roger. Out.
Comm break.
That would be Armstrong, 8; Collins, 9; Aldrin, 8.
048:22:54 Collins: Houston, we're getting Cryo pressure warning now in the middle of stirring up the [garble].
048:23:02 McCandless: Roger. We copy.
Long comm break.
This is Apollo Control. The flight surgeon reports that is not a record for sleep. The Apollo 10 crew, during one rest period, logged 10 hours of sleep.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
048:32:35 Aldrin: Houston, Apollo 11. We've got the continent of Africa right facing toward us right now, and of course, everything's getting smaller and smaller as time goes on. The Mediterranean is completely clear. The Sun looks like it's about to set around Madagascar. The equatorial belt of Africa stands out quite clearly. We're seeing a dark green or a muddy colored green, compared to the sandier colors of the southern tip of Africa and, of course, the Sahara northern coast of Africa. There's a rather remarkable cloud that appears in the vicinity of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. It's just about to go into the sunset now. It is casting quite a large shadow. It's isolated. There don't seem to be any other clouds. The band of clouds near the tropical convergent clouds down around the equator clearly separate the clockwise and the counter-clockwise cloud formations. Over.
part of AS11-36-5377 - The cloud feature on the Pakistan/Afghanistan border mentioned by Buzz.
048:33:57 McCandless: Roger, 11. We copy your word description on that. I understand you can see a shadow being cast by that cloud over between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Any estimate on how long that shadow would be? Over.
048:34:18 Aldrin: [Garble.] It looks like it's a shadow. [Garble] coming around to - back that way [garble].
048:34:33 McCandless: We're getting a lot of background noise now, also. If you will stand by a minute or so until we roll a little further in PTC, I think things will get better.
048:34:44 Aldrin: Okay. It's coming around to the number 1 window. We'll get you there.
048:34:49 McCandless: Roger, we're hearing you.
Comm break.
That's Buzz Aldrin with the description.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
048:37:02 McCandless: 11, this is Houston. The noise on the comm seems to have quieted down now. I guess that we've rotated a new antenna into view and probably also the Earth out of view in your window. Over.
048:37:17 Aldrin: Okay. It looks as though the length of the shadow of that cloud is about the same as the width of the Persian Gulf.
048:37:26 McCandless: Okay. We copy the width of the Persian Gulf, and I guess that all I can give you first hand is a single isolated data point, and that is that it was clear here in Houston this morning. That's a pretty localized observation. As a result of your waste-water dump, it looks like the PTC mode has been disturbed somewhat. We're showing you about 20 degrees out in pitch right now and about 6 degrees in yaw, which is significantly greater, about twice as much - a little more than twice as much as the deviation you had prior to the waste-water dump. We're watching it down here, though, and we'll let you know if we think any corrective action's required. Over.
048:38:14 Aldrin: Okay. Maybe we ought to - next time split that in half, and put half of it on one side and half on the other or something like that.
048:38:25 McCandless: Yeah. We could do that. We were actually pretty interested in seeing what the effect on PTC would be of the waste-water dump. We don't recall ever having performed a waste-water dump during PTC on previous missions. Over.
048:38:44 Aldrin: Well, now we know.
048:38:46 McCandless: Roger.
Long comm break.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
048:42:54 Aldrin: Houston, Apollo 11. I'm looking at that cloud now around Pakistan through the sextant, and it appears to be one single cell in the latter stages of development. There is a smaller, more isolated one just to the south...
048:45:38 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. We lost you down in the noise on the comm link here about the time you were describing the single-cell cloud formation over Afghanistan-Pakistan area through the sextant. Over.
048:45:55 Aldrin: Rog. It came through a lot clearer through the sextant than with the monocular, and you could definitely tell it was one single cell in the latter stages of development. It must have gone up to over 50,000 feet, though. The eastern Mediterranean is phenomenally clear. You can see all the lakes; the Dead Sea stood out quite well. Over.
048:46:24 McCandless: Roger. What appears to be the limit of resolution through that sextant from your current position? Over.
048:46:39 Aldrin: Well, I can't see it right now. It's outside the field of view.
048:46:43 McCandless: Roger.
048:46:44 Aldrin: And, I don't know how you'd really describe the limit of resolution. I'll think about that a little.
048:46:50 McCandless: Okay. I guess the smallest object that you could pick out looking through it would give us a pretty good hack.
048:47:00 Aldrin: Well, you can see the Nile River going almost up to its source. The lake is obscured by clouds, but you can trace it all the way on up.
048:47:14 McCandless: Roger. [Pause.]
048:47:20 Aldrin: I guess that's down though, isn't it?
Comm break.
048:48:39 McCandless: Apollo 11, Houston.
048:48:46 Collins: Go ahead, Houston.
048:48:48 McCandless: Roger. We've been working under the assumption that it would take about an hour for the interference from a waste-water dump to dissipate to the point where you could reasonably take star sightings for platform alignment, navigation or something of this sort. If you have a spare minute or two, could you comment on the observation conditions now? Over,
048:49:19 Collins: Yeah. Stand by one, Bruce.
048:49:21 McCandless: Okay. [Long pause.]
048:49:44 Collins: My guess would be the telescope's probably pretty useless, but you can differentiate in the sextant between water droplets and stars by the difference in their motions.
048:50:02 McCandless: Okay, Mike. And I guess that we've still got - what you're saying is that we've still got a lot of water droplets visible, but you can pick them out and distinguish them in the sextant there.
048:50:13 Collins: Right. I think so, but Buzz is looking through it now. Just a second.
048:50:17 McCandless: Okay.
Long comm break.
Based on image measurement and triangulation, it seems that two photos, AS11-36-5376 and 5377 are taken around this time.
AS11-36-5376 - Earth at about 300,800 km or 162,400 nautical miles. North is left. The continent of Africa is very clear with the Sahara Desert and the southern European countries around the Mediterranean Sea clear of cloud. Image by LPI.
AS11-36-5377 - Earth at about 300,800 km or 162,400 nautical miles. North is left. The continent of Africa is very clear with the Sahara Desert and the southern European countries around the Mediterranean Sea clear of cloud. Image by LPI.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
048:56:36 Aldrin: Houston, Apollo 11. It looks like at this time the sextant would be quite usable for any alignment. There's actually very few particles drifting by.
048:56:50 McCandless: Roger, Buzz. How about the telescope? Is it useful now? [Pause.]
048:57:02 Aldrin: Well, it's not quite as useful; it never seems to be. Depending on the position of the Sun, it's got that band that seems to go across the center. I don't think it's because of the waste-water particles that it would lack its effectiveness. Over.
048:57:22 McCandless: Roger. What - Is this band something that's deposited on the outside of the optics? Over.
048:57:31 Aldrin: No. It's the reflection from the Sun.
048:57:35 McCandless: Roger.
048:57:41 Collins: The Sun bounces off the LM structure. With the LM attached, that telescope is just about useless. Those star charts that MPAD provided us, I think, would be most useful if we had to use the - if for some reason we had to mark through the telescope. We could use those as a guide for what we're looking at and say, 'Well, that bright blob over there has got to be that star because that's the position we're in. But so far, we've been - not been able to pick out any decent star patterns while docked with the LM using the telescope.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
This is Apollo Control at 49 hours, 7 minutes into the mission. Apollo 11 is 163,040 [nautical] miles [301,950 km] from Earth. Velocity; 3,476 feet per second [1,059 m/s].
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
049:40:38 Aldrin: Houston, Apollo 11. [No answer.]
049:41:07 Aldrin: Houston, Apollo 11. Over.
049:41:09 McCandless: Go ahead, Apollo 11. [Pause.]
049:41:18 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Go ahead.
049:41:20 Aldrin [underneath McCandless]: Houston, Apollo 11. How do your read? Over.
049:41:22 McCandless: Roger. We're reading you loud and clear.
049:41:24 Aldrin: Roger. Roger. You're coming back a little scratchy. It looks like our O2 flow transducer's gotten a good bit worse. I just looked at it at the last water accumulator cycle, and it just barely registered - barely crept up above 0.2. Over.
049:41:45 McCandless: Roger. [Long pause.]
049:42:40 McCandless: 11, this is Houston. At the time of your cyclic accumulator stroking, we were on low-bit-rate data, and consequently not receiving the O2 flow parameter. We expect that what you're seeing is probably nominal. That is, it's probably what we would expect from a transducer that's malfunctioning in this fashion. It's probably just going to keep on getting worse like that. Nothing to worry about. We'll monitor things on the ground here. Over.
049:43:17 Aldrin: Okay. It does look like it's gradually degrading to about zilch.
049:43:24 McCandless: Roger. We copy.
Very long comm break.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
This is Apollo Control at 49 hours, 52 minutes. Apollo 11's distance from Earth is 164,558 nautical miles [304,761 km]. It's velocity is 3,441 feet per second [1,049 m/s].
At around 050:06, based on image measurement and triangulation, it appears that photo AS11-36-5378 is taken.
AS11-36-5378 - Earth at about 305,600 km or 165,000 nautical miles. North is to the bottom right. The Sahara Desert and the southern European countries around the Mediterranean Sea are clear of cloud. South America is appearing at the top. Image by LPI.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
This is Apollo Control at 50 hours, 16 minutes. Apollo 11 is now 165,346 nautical miles [306,221 km] from Earth, traveling at a velocity of 3,423 feet per second [1,043 m/s]. Flight controllers report all systems well within the normal range and operating very satisfactorily.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
Another photograph of Earth, AS11-36-5379, is taken around 050:39, based on image measurement and triangulation.
AS11-36-5379 - Earth at about 305,600 km or 165,000 nautical miles. North is to the left. The Sahara Desert and the southern European countries around the Mediterranean Sea are clear of cloud as they approach the terminator. Most of South America is at the bottom. Image by LPI.
This is Apollo Control at 50 hours, 40 minutes. Apollo 11 is 166,135 miles [307,682 km] from Earth. CapCom is going to take a radio check here, I think, with the crew.
050:40:59 McCandless: Apollo 11 CDR, this is Houston. Radio check. Over.
050:41:07 Armstrong: Roger, Houston. CDR loud and clear.
050:41:10 McCandless: Roger. We're reading you the same. Out.
050:41:15 Armstrong: And would you check with FAO and see where that errata sheet is? We haven't been able to locate that.
050:41:24 McCandless: Roger. I understand it's supposed to be the back page in Buzz's operations checklist.
050:41:34 Armstrong: Okay.
Very long comm break.
FAO is the Flight Activities Officer.
Apollo 11's velocity is 3,404 feet per second [1,038 m/s]. Spacecraft's still in the Passive Thermal Control mode, rotating at three-tenths of a degree per second or three revolutions per hour. Sporadic bursts of static that you hear on the air-ground is caused by the rotation of the spacecraft - changing the orientation of the antennas as the spacecraft slowly rotates to maintain thermal balance.
The back-up Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise is at the CapCom console with Bruce McCandless.
That radio check was with the Apollo 11 Commander, Neil Armstrong.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
This is Apollo Control at 50 hours, 53 minutes into the mission. An important news release will be available in the Apollo News Center at 11:45 Central Daylight Time this morning. At noon, Colonel Frank Borman will be in the Building 1 auditorium at MSC for a briefing concerning the news release. Repeating, an important news release will be available at 11:45 am Central Daylight Time in the Apollo News Center at MSC.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
This is Apollo Control at 51 hours, 7 minutes. Apollo 7 - Apollo 11's distance is 167,007 nautical miles from Earth. Velocity; 3,386 feet per second.
051:09:15 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Did you find it? Over.
051:09:22 Aldrin: Roger. We found it.
051:09:24 McCandless: Roger. And I see you're in P00. If you can give us Accept, we'll uplink a new state vector to you and update the CMC clock. Over.
051:09:38 Aldrin: Okay. You've got it.
051:09:41 McCandless: Roger.
Long comm break.
A short reprise of the topics that McCandless is discussing. The spacecraft is designed so that its computer (the CMC) can only be accessed by mission control if the crew specifically give them access to it. On panel 2, there is a switch, 'Up Telemetry', top right of the DSKY that can be placed in either Block or Accept, the former being its default position. With it in Accept, Mission Control can directly access and upload to the 2Kwords of erasable memory that the computer uses to store important but varying values.
One of these is the state vector. This is a collection of six numbers that are relevant to a particular time. They give the spacecraft's three-dimensional position in space and its velocity along three axes. These numbers can be used, along with a knowledge of the solar system, to describe the spacecraft's trajectory. They are constantly refined based on careful tracking of the spacecraft by the ground stations and on occasion, updated values for the state vector are uploaded to the computer. Additionally, since Earth-based clocks are much more accurate than the spacecraft's, the computer's clock is also occasionally updated.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
051:12:44 McCandless: 11, this is Houston. We're through with the uplink. You can go back to Block.
051:12:54 Aldrin: Roger. Back to Block.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
Long comm break.
051:16:30 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. We would like to terminate charging Battery Bravo at GET of 51:30. Over. [No answer.]
Comm break.
051:18:06 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. We'd like to terminate charging Battery Bravo at 51:30 GET. Over.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
This is Apollo Control at 51 hours, 25 minutes into the mission. Apollo 11 is 167,594 nautical miles [310,384 km] from Earth, moving toward the Moon at a velocity of 3,373 feet per second [1,028 m/s]. All systems are normal. We will be utilizing this release line for the Colonel Frank Borman briefing. During that briefing we will tape any air-to-ground transmissions and play them back after the briefing. This is Mission Control Houston.
The available PAO tapes include a portion of this press conference, which relates to the flight on the Soviet probe, Luna 15. This is a transcription of that conference:
PAO: Ladies and gentlemen. I think all of you have the statement about Luna 15 and Frank... No sound? Alright. PAO: Any sound here? Okay. I think you all have the statement on Luna 15 and Colonel Frank Borman's here just to answer any questions, and Chris Kraft, the Director of Flight Crew Operations is making his way in case you have some other questions about trajectories. So, with no further ado, we're open for questions. Rudy? Wait for the mike. [Garbled. Press 1: Colonel Borman. Did - did you ask or did they give you any indication what the mission of Luna 15 is?
[Microphone thump and laughter.] Borman: That was a real burp. They said that it would remain in orbit - in its present orbit for two days and that they would notify us immediately of any - any future changes in the trajectory. They also said that at no time would the Luna 15 trajectory intersect the published trajectory of Apollo 11. PAO: Hal? Press 2: You say, ah, the length of the two days. In other words, from when were they counting when they said two days? Borman: From 13:00 17 July, Moscow time. Press 3: Frank, for audio purposes, would you briefly repeat what the press release says? Borman: The press release briefly says that Mr Kraft - Dr Kraft - excuse me - called me and said, 'We're a little bit interested in what Luna 15 is doing and could you check with some of the people that you met in the Soviet Union recently and see if you can find out?' So I, after checking with the appropriate people, called - placed a call to the Soviet Union and talked to a Dr Keldysh, and to his assistant who speaks English, and asked them if they could relay us any information and explain the - that some - there was some interest, more than casual interest in it on the part of the flight operations people here in Houston. And they responded with a cable that I received at home last night that gave the orbital parameters plus the indication that we just mentioned that they would inform us of any further changes. PAO: Howell Simons? [?] Press 3: Could either one of you tell us how you interpret what you've just told us, that it will remain in the present orbit two days? Kraft: Ha, that would be conjecture. So, your guess is as good as ours at this point. I'm an honorary doctor. [Laughter.] Borman: If you're a doctor, I'd better move over [garble]. [Laughter.] Kraft: We could - I'm sure Frank and myself would probably come up with the same answer. We can only guesstimate what the Russians are doing in this instance. And we said to each other that probably, we would guess, they were doing a step-by-step program, just as we would do a step-by-step program in this country. And they've been flying circumlunar flights with their lunar vehicles and this flight is a lunar orbit flight in which they'll return from lunar orbit. It's a step in their lunar exploration program. PAO: Harry Piece? [?] Press 4: Can you translate these orbital parameters for us into an altitude, an apogee and perigee and tell us where this is with respect to the projected Apollo 11 trajectory? Borman: Well, the eccentricity is pretty low, and the period is about the same as ours; two hours. We compute that to be 72 by 156 and an inclination of about 45 degrees. Press speaker: Could you repeat that? Borman: 72 by 156 and an inclination of about 45 degrees. 72 at perigee and 156 at apogee. Nautical miles, yes. I'm sorry. Multiply that by 1.82-something to get kilometers. [Laughter.] Press 4: Can you tell us why you held up the announcement this long? Borman: Pardon me? [Laughter.] Press 4: If you got this information last night or early this morning, why did you hold up... Borman: Oh we got the - I didn't - I didn't, quite frankly, didn't see any - I thought there wouldn't be any more news last night than there was this morning, and we... [laughter] ...put it out. I was at home. Kraft: He didn't talk to me until this morning. Borman: I didn't tell Chris about it 'til this morning. After all, the important thing is here that it isn't going to bother Apollo 11. So. PAO: F. Carr? [?] Press 5: Chris, could we clarify what you said, when you said a step-by-step program, and you said it was in lunar orbit and did you say you expected it to leave lunar orbit? Kraft: That would be my - That would be my guess, yes. Press 5: To return to Earth? Kraft: Affirmative. Press 5: Does that tell you anymore about the mission? Kraft: Yeah, it says it's a lunar orbit mission. Press 5: But you're a doctor. You're a... Kraft: I'm not trying to be smart with you... Press 5: No, no... Kraft: I'm just guessing, and I think you would guess the same way, that the Russian programs traditionally have been very methodical in stepping through the various phases of an operation, unmanned, et cetera, before they do manned and they do cert...
At this point, the tape ends.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
051:36:35 McCandless: 11, this is Houston. We show you terminating Battery B charge. Over. [Long pause.]
051:37:56 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over
051:38:03 Aldrin: Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 11.
051:38:05 McCandless: Roger, 11. We show you terminating Battery B charge at about 51 hours, 30 minutes. Over.
051:38:17 Aldrin: Okay.
051:38:23 McCandless: Roger. Out.
Very long comm break.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
This is Apollo Control at 51 hours, 58 minutes into the mission. Apollo 11 is 168,658 nautical miles [312,355 km] from Earth, traveling at a velocity of 3,349 feet per second [1,021 m/s]. We have 30 seconds of air-ground conversation taped during the news briefing. We'll play that for you now.
PAO is referring to the conversation given above. The audio available for the next conversation is incomplete.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
051:59:23 Aldrin: Houston, Apollo 11. Would you like to have both oxygen and hydrogen purge on? Over.
051:59:32 McCandless: 11, this is Houston. Say again. Both what on? Over.
051:59:41 Aldrin: On the fuel cell purge: would you like to see both oxygen and hydrogen? Over.
052:00:02 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Affirmative. We request hydrogen and an oxygen fuel cell purge. Over.
052:00:17 Aldrin: Okay. Any preference which first?
052:00:22 McCandless: Negative. As long as you've got the H2 purge line heaters on.
052:00:29 Aldrin: Okay. I'll go get - Go ahead with the hydrogen then.
Very long comm break.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
This is Apollo Control at 52 hours, 40 minutes. Apollo 11 is 170,010 nautical miles [314,859 km] from Earth. Velocity; 3,319 feet per second [1,012 m/s].
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
052:58:29 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. Over.
052:58:32 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Go ahead.
052:58:38 Collins: Roger. You copy my Noun 93?
052:58:43 McCandless: That's affirmative. We've got it.
052:58:48 Collins: Okay. I am going to go ahead and torque and star angle difference is 0.01, but it's sort of difficult at three-tenths rate. I'm required to use medium speed unresolved, and it's difficult to hold the star centered long enough to get a decent mark on it. [Pause.]
052:59:15 McCandless: Roger. We copy. It looks okay to us. [Pause.]
052:59:22 Collins: Rog.
Very long comm break.
Mike has completed the sixth realignment of the guidance platform. Using P52, he sighted on star 10 (Mirfak, Alpha Pegasi) and star 16 (Procyon, Alpha Canis Minoris). As a result of these sightings, the computer determined that the platform had to be rotated, or 'torqued' by 0.103° in X, 0.366° in Y and -0.004° in Z. Mike is ever keen to get a perfect 'all balls' figure for the star angle difference reading, this being a comparison of the actual angle and the measured angle between the two stars. However, the constant rotation of the spacecraft in its barbecue roll has made it more difficult to get perfect marks on the stars, leading to a difference of 0.01°; still a very good value.
This is Apollo Control at 53 hours, 3 minutes into the mission. Apollo 11 is 170,746 nautical miles [316,222 km] from Earth. Velocity; 3,303 feet per second [1,007 m/s]. The crew is now in the process of realigning the spacecraft's inertial platform.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
This is Apollo Control at 53 hours, 20 minutes. Apollo 11's distance from Earth is 171,293 nautical miles [317,235 km], traveling at a velocity of 3,291 feet per second [1,003 m/s]. Spacecraft weight is 96,068 pounds [43,576 kg].
This is Apollo Control. We have a correction on the orbital parameters of Luna 15 as given in the news briefing, recently over. The parameters given in that briefing of 72 by 156 nautical miles [133 by 289 km] were based on a - on computations from an orbital period of 2 hours and 30 minutes instead of the correct 2 hours and 30 seconds. The orbit has been recomputed based on the proper numbers and the parameters for Luna 15, based on a period of 2 hours, 30 seconds, are 30 by 110 nautical miles [56 by 204 km], a perilune of 30, apolune of 110 nautical miles.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
053:51:36 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.
053:51:42 Collins: Go ahead, Houston.
053:51:45 McCandless: Roger. I've got the morning news here if you're interested. Over.
053:51:51 Collins: Yeah, we sure are. We're ready to copy and comment.
053:51:54 Aldrin: Isn't that 2:30 there?
053:51:57 McCandless: Roger.
Buzz's point is that if it's 2:30 in the afternoon, it isn't the morning.
053:52:02 Armstrong: Okay. Go.
053:52:03 McCandless: Okay. Here we go. The interest in the flight of Apollo 11 continues at a high level but a competing interest in the Houston area is the easing of watering rules. Mayor Louie Welch promises a lifting of lawn watering restrictions if the rains continue. Friday is partly cloudy, and there is a 30 percent chance of thundershowers in the afternoon. In Washington DC, the Senate Finance Committee approved extension of the income tax surtax, but a Senate vote on the bill...
053:52:35 Collins: You cut out, Houston. You cut out.
053:52:40 McCandless: Roger. Where do you hold me cutting out? Over.
053:52:46 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11.
053:52:48 McCandless: Apollo 11, Houston. Over.
Comm break.
053:54:51 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. How do you read now? Over.
053:54:57 Aldrin: Loud and clear, Houston. Go ahead.
053:54:59 McCandless: Roger.
053:55:00 Aldrin: Start after the rains in Houston.
053:55:03 McCandless: Roger. In Washington, the Senate Finance Committee has approved extension of the income tax surtax, but a Senate vote on the bill currently seems remote. In Austin, State Representative Ray Lemmon of Houston has been nominated as the National Director of the American Society for Oceanography. Lemmon has proposed a study of the possibility of establishing an institute of oceanography in Texas. This would be the first such institute on the western Gulf of Mexico. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, the weather bureau, after recapping today's weather showing a high of 88 and a low of 72, has noted "snowfall: none." From St. Petersburg, Florida, comes a radio report from the Norwegian explorer, Thor Heyerdahl, which said that the crew of his papyrus boat, the Ra, will sail into Bridgetown, Barbados, despite damage from heavy seas. The crew, however, will sleep on an escort vessel. Norman Baker, navigator of the expedition, said the crew was aboard the Ra today repairing damage from storms this past week, which split the footing of the mast. Part of the broken mast was jettisoned overboard, and the vessel was 725 miles east of the Barbados. "It is possible but uncomfortable to sleep aboard the Ra," Baker said in the radio report. "But the purpose of our voyage is not a test of strength or human endurance. That is the reason why the crew was spending nights aboard the escort vessel, Shenandoah, which rendezvoused with the Ra on Tuesday."
053:56:39 McCandless: In sports, the Houston Oilers are showing plenty of enthusiasm in their early pre-season workouts at Kerrville, and Coach Wally Lemm says he is impressed with the fine group of rookies. National League baseball for yesterday, Thursday: St. Louis 11, Philadelphia 3; Montreal 5, over Pittsburg 4; Atlanta 12, Cincinnati 2; San Francisco 14, and Los Angeles 13. American League: we have Baltimore 3, over Cleveland 2; Detroit 4 to Washington's 3; Minnesota 8 to Chicago 5. Boston at New York was rained out. And in Corby, England, an Irishman, John Coyle has won the world's porridge eating championship by consuming 23 bowls of instant oatmeal in a 10-minute time limit from a field of 35 other competitors. Over. [Pause.]
053:57:48 Armstrong: Roger. I assume Houston didn't play yesterday.
053:57:51 McCandless: That's correct.
053:57:55 Collins: I'd like to enter Aldrin in the oatmeal eating contest next time.
053:58:00 McCandless: Is he pretty good at that?
053:58:04 Collins: He's doing his share up here.
053:58:13 McCandless: Let's see. You all just finished a meal not long ago, too, didn't you? [Pause.]
053:58:20 Aldrin: I'm still eating.
053:58:24 McCandless: Okay. Does that - that...
053:58:27 Collins: He's on his - He's on his 19th bowl.
053:58:30 McCandless: Roger. Are you having any difficulties with gas in the food bags like the 10 crew reported?
053:58:40 Collins: Well, that's intermittently affirmative, Bruce. We have these two hydrogen filters, which work fine as long as you don't hook them up to a food bag. But the entry way into the food bag has enough back pressure to cause the - the filters to start losing their efficiency. A couple of times, I've been tempted to go through that dry-out procedure, but we found that simply by leaving the filters alone for a couple of hours, their efficiency seems to be restored.
053:59:14 McCandless: Roger. We copy. [Pause.]
053:59:23 Collins: Their efficiency ranges anywhere from darn near perfect to terrible, just depending on the individual characteristics of the food bags we're putting to them. Some of the food bags are so crimped near the entry-way that there's no way we can work them loose to prevent back pressure.
053:59:44 McCandless: Roger.
Very long comm break.
That's Mike Collins from the spacecraft.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
This is Apollo Control at 54 hours, 6 minutes. Apollo 11's distance from Earth now is 172,748 nautical miles [319,929 km], traveling at a velocity of 3,260 feet per second [994 m/s].
At around 054:24, based on image measurement and triangulation, it appears that photo AS11-36-5380 is taken.
AS11-36-5380 - Earth at about 321,000 km or 173,300 nautical miles. North is to the bottom. The North and South American continents run along the daylit face of the planet. This version suffered from a degree of camera shake. Image by LPI.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
054:32:12 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.
Comm break.
054:34:22 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.
054:34:32 Armstrong: Hello, Houston. Go ahead.
054:34:33 McCandless: Roger, 11 As you've probably noticed, your coning angle in PTC mode is increased substantially as a result of the waste water dump, the fuel cell purge, and natural coupling, so it looks like we are going to have to terminate PTC here in a little while. And we'd like to get your feeling as to whether you're still anticipating trying to send back TV signals from inside the LM. And, if so, we'll try to provide an attitude that you can hold that'll give us High Gain Antenna lock on the Earth during the TV and LM activation period. Over.
054:35:18 Armstrong: Yes, we're still planning that activity if the cord lengths work out all right, and we'll accept those attitudes that you work up for us.
054:35:29 McCandless: This is Houston. Roger. Out.
Comm break.
054:35:34 Aldrin: When you work up an attitude to get High Gain, is there any way that we could get partial Sun in one of the two LM front windows?
054:35:40 McCandless: This is Houston. We'll have a look at it.
Long comm break.
That was Neil Armstrong confirming they will attempt TV at approximately an elasped time of 56 hours, 20 minutes and then the last of the question was by Buzz Aldrin.
At around 054:39, based on image measurement and triangulation, it appears that photo AS11-36-5381 is taken.
AS11-36-5381 - Earth at about 321,000 km or 173,300 nautical miles. North is to the bottom. The North and South American continents run along the daylit face of the planet. Image by LPI.
This image is very similar to 5380 though it does not suffer from camera shake. By flicking between the two, a small degree of rotation of the planet is visible that reflect the approximate 14 minutes between the two.
AS11-36-5380 and 5381 - An animation of these two frames shows the rotation of Earth between the two exposures.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
054:39:14 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.
054:39:20 Collins: Go ahead, Houston.
054:39:21 McCandless: Roger. We have a TV attitude for you if you're ready to copy. [Pause.]
054:39:32 Armstrong: Go ahead. Ready to copy.
054:39:35 McCandless: Okay. We recommend stopping PTC at GET of 54:45:00, and this should put you at just about the right roll angle. The attitude we recommend is roll 263, pitch 090, yaw 000. This gives you the Earth out of window number 1 in the Command Module and places the High Gain Antenna and the CSM window for TV at your convenience. You will also have the Sun shining in - or shining at the hatch on the LM, and if you take down the window shades you should get some sunlight in. We're recommending wide deadband. Over. [Pause.]
054:40:36 Armstrong: Roger. Thank you, Houston. We'll look at that.
054:40:41 McCandless: Roger. Out.
Comm break.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
054:42:53 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. When we pass the proper roll angle, we're not going to be anywhere near zero degrees yaw. Do you want us to just stop at the angle we find ourselves in and then Verb 49 to the three angles you gave us?
054:43:06 Duke: Stand by. [Long pause.]
054:43:20 Duke: Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. We'd like you to stop at the proper roll angle, then do a Verb 49 to the roll and pitch. Over. Correction, roll and yaw. [Long pause.]
054:43:52 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. Over.
054:43:54 Duke: Go ahead, 11. Over. [Long pause.]
054:44:12 Duke: Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. Do you read? Over. [Pause.]
054:44:22 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. Over.
054:44:24 Duke: Roger, 11. Do you read me? Over. [Long pause.]
054:44:38 Duke: Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. Over. [Pause.]
054:44:46 Armstrong: Stand by, Charlie. We're going to come out of PTC here at 263 roll and then do a Verb 49 to the recommended attitude.
054:44:58 Duke: That sounds fine to us. Over.
Comm break.
This is Apollo Control at 54 hours, 45 minutes. Apollo 11 is 173,997 nautical miles [322,242 km] from Earth. Velocity; 3,234 feet per second [986 m/s]. In the control center, the White Team led by Gene Kranz is preparing to relieve Cliff Charlesworth and the Green Team. CapCom is Charlie Duke. We're estimating the change of shift news conference for 4:00 PM Central Daylight Time.
054:46:56 Duke: Hello, Apollo 11. Houston. Before you open the pressure equalization valve, we'd like a LM/CM Delta-P. Over.
054:47:06 Armstrong: Okay. Let me check it again. It was about 155.
054:47:12 Duke: Rog.
054:47:14 Armstrong: I read it 158 right now, Charlie.
054:47:17 Duke: Roger. Thank you much.
Comm break.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
054:49:51 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. We're stopping PTC at 263 [garble] 0.
054:49:59 Duke: 11, Houston. You're about one-by on this transmission. Say again. Over.
054:50:08 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. Do you read?
Comm break.
054:51:46 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. How do you read on the High Gain?
054:51:50 Duke: 11, how do you read me? Over.
054:51:55 Collins: Reading you loud and clear, Charlie. We just switched to High Gain, and we stopped PTC at roll 263, pitch 90, yaw 0. How do you read?
054:52:03 Duke: Roger, Mike. You're five-by now on the High Gain. We're right between the Omni antennas and pretty horrible Comm on the Omnis. We got you five-by on the High Gain, and we copy the PTC stoppage. Over.
054:52:18 Collins: Okay, fine. [Long pause.]
054:52:35 Collins: Houston, we're going to open the Direct O2 valve and start pumping up the cabin.
054:52:40 Duke: Roger. Copy. [Long pause.]
The air from the Command Module's cabin will be used to pressurise the tunnel and the Lunar module's cabin. This will entail a drop in overall cabin pressure so extra oxygen is introduced to the CM to compensate.
054:53:06 Duke: Apollo 11, Houston. We're going to hand over to Goldstone for uplink in about 2 minutes. We might have a momentary drop-out of comm. Over.
054:53:16 Collins: Alrighty. Can you hear our Master Alarm in the background? That's O2 Flow High coming through this amplifier.
054:53:27 Duke: Roger. Copy. [Pause.]
054:53:37 Collins: That photoelectric cell is a good device. It's worked very well.
054:53:46 Duke: 11, Houston. Say again. Over.
054:53:50 Collins: I say that photoelectric cell amplifier for the Master Alarm is a good device. It's working very well, and it's a nice pleasing tone.
054:54:00 Duke: Rog. Copy. Thank you. [Pause.]
054:54:08 Collins: Makes you almost glad to get master alarms! [Long pause.]
054:55:01 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. As a matter of curiosity, our O2 flow meter is pegged full-scale High.
054:55:08 Duke: Roger, 11. We copy that here. Over.
054:55:14 Collins: Okay. [Long pause.]
054:55:26 Collins: Boy, that transducer's working somewhat.
054:55:32 Duke: Rog. [Long pause.]
054:55:51 Duke: 11, Houston. We'd like to try to attempt to correlate your O2 flow in transducer with the flow valve that you've got open. How far - How far open would you say you have the Repress O2? Over. Correction, the Direct O2.
054:56:10 Collins: Stand by, Charlie. [Pause.]
054:56:19 Collins: Okay, Charlie. It's not open very far. It's hard to give you a good reading without shutting it again, but the arrow is about at the one o'clock position. Now I reduced the flow, and I'll let it stabilize here. Right now our onboard reading is about 0.4, and that's with the arrow on the O2 valve at the two o'clock position. Would you rather have comparisons of O2 flow readings or would you rather have valve position comparisons?
054:56:48 Duke: Roger. Stand by.
054:56:52 Duke: EECOMs say they'd like to look at the valve positions. Over.
054:57:01 Collins: Okay. Well, we're holding steady now at three-tenths of a pound per hour, and our cabin pressure is about 5.4; and I'll close the valve momentarily and then open it again to this position and tell you how much travel is required.
054:57:18 Duke: Roger. [Pause.]
054:57:29 Collins: It's about 30 degrees of travel, Charlie, from the closed position, which is with the arrow pointing at about three to three-thirty, four o'clock.
054:57:38 Duke: Roger. [Pause.]
054:57:47 Collins: Our flow is stabilized now at 0.6.
054:57:55 Duke: Roger. We copy. We're reading the same.
054:58:00 Collins: Okay. [Pause.]
054:58:06 Collins: Yeah, open it back to the one o'clock position.
054:58:10 Duke: Rog. [Long pause.]
054:58:31 Collins: Is that enough different positions, or you want more, Charlie?
054:58:36 Duke: Mike, that's a good - good enough. We're satisfied now. Over.
054:58:42 Collins: Okay.
Long comm break.
Download MP3 audio file. PAO loop. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.
055:02:02 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. We've terminated direct O2, our cabin pressure is 5.7, and, as a matter of curiosity, when we turn the Direct O2 valve off, we get a master alarm just like they did in the spacecraft testing.
055:02:17 Duke: Roger.
055:02:20 Duke: 11, Houston, we have a little update for you. When you go into the LM, we'd like you to unstow and bring back to the Command Module the following items. Over.
055:02:35 Collins: Ready to copy.
055:02:36 Duke: Roger. We'd like you to pick up the - out of the flight data file, the surface checklist, the mission rules No-Go card, the DPS, APS, RCS limit cue card. Over.
Comm break.
055:04:34 Duke: Apollo 11, Houston. The reason we wanted you to bring those three items back, we'll have some updates for you, for those three. Over.
055:04:45 Armstrong: Roger. We figured you would.
With instructions to retrieve certain documents, the crew are now preparing to enter the Lunar Module Eagle, and televise the operation.
