by Acer
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Present estimates are that at MSI, the spacecraft will be 33,821 miles from the Moon and 176,275 miles out from Earth.
2 days 6 hours 56 minutes mission time
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Frank now has attached the filter to the camera and the camera to the bracket and has the camera pointing at the Earth. But down here, we are just seeing it at 3 o’clock on our screen as a bright, blurry blob.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Now the image is disappearing at our 5 o’clock. Coming back now, half off our screen at the 2 o’clock position. Okay, now in the center of our screen and coming more into focus. Looking better. Looking good… real good!
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
What we are showing through the telephoto lens is the Earth’s illuminated western hemisphere. Looking to the top is the North Pole. Just lower to the center is South America and we can see all the way down to Cape Horn.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
These images are of course black and white. It would be good if Jim could give us some indication of the colors he is seeing right now.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
The reflection off the Earth is much greater than off the Moon. The oceans are a royal blue and the land masses are a kind of dark brownish to light brown in texture.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
A long band of variously-shaped cirrus clouds extend from the entrance to the gulf of Mexico out across the Atlantic. The terminator (line of shadow) of course cuts right across the Atlantic Ocean right now as we are looking at a ‘half Earth’.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
We’re getting a rough idea of what Jim is seeing from the TV transmission, but it’s nothing like the vivid image he is looking at according to the oral description he is sending us. I guess you just have to be there.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
We are looking back at the Earth from over 200,000 miles out in space, and I keep imagining if I were some lonely traveler from another planet, what I would think about the Earth from this distance. Would I think that the Earth was inhabited or not?
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Jim Lovell seems to be wondering if anyone down on Earth here is waving back at him.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
I was just kind of curious if I would land on the blue or the brown part of the Earth. We’d better hope that we land on the blue part as planned.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
This Earth photography session was scheduled as a 15-minute transmission, but with the success they are having with getting a picture of the receding Earth, they are extending the transmission. This is great!
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
Well, if there was any doubt as to whether the Earth was round, and there are still organizations out there that don’t believe it, but there it is - live on television.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
I’m so relieved the looking back at Earth pictures seem to have been good. I don’t think we can get any good pictures of the Moon right now. We’ll have to save those for a bit later.
Mike Collins @MCCAPCOMApollo 8
Well, that was a fine show from the boys of Apollo 8! They’re signing off now and we will see them on the morrow.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
We are preparing for a midcourse correction burn. The first maneuver was performed using the service propulsion system (SPS) engine. Planned midcourse maneuvers 2 and 3 were not performed because of the small amount of correction needed.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The upcoming burn will be in the range of 3 feet per second and will occur at the nominal time in the flight plan of 61 hours.
Jerry Carr @JCCAPCOMApollo8
We’ll be switching antennas from Madrid to Goldstone Station in 3 minutes. Apollo 8 can expect a glitch on their communications at that point.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
We are maneuvering the spacecraft right now. The Earth is passing through my window. It’s getting smaller and smaller. It’s only about as big as the end of my thumb at arm’s length.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
CAPCOM just welcomed us to the “Moon’s fair” and announced that we are “under the influence”. Folks back on Earth must be thinking we’re having a hell of a party up here.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
Just to clarify: we welcomed the crew to the “Moon’s sphere” and told them they are now “in the influence” of the Moon’s gravitational field – no longer the Earth’s… but I think they knew that.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The spacecraft’s velocity is now 4,011 feet per second as it comes increasingly under the influence of the Moon’s gravity and begins to accelerate.
Paul Haney @PHPublicAffairsNASA
The most dramatic increase in velocity will come between 65 hours and 69 hours elapsed mission time, at the point of LOI (lunar orbit insertion). The velocity will just about double, going from 4,350 feet per second to 8,420 feet per second.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
I just read up a whole bunch of numbers, vectors and coordinates to Apollo 8. Hundreds of them which the crew painstakingly noted down. No point in me noting them down here. They only have meaning to the crew and the onboard computer.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
We’re having some trouble entering in all that new data and having the spacecraft respond predictably. Our plan is to go back and re-enter much of program 52. It did not drive to the star Capella and I can’t recognize it in the scanning telescope.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
We are now 28 minutes and 35 seconds away from the midcourse correction burn. Apollo 8 is currently at an altitude of just 22,211 nautical miles above the Moon’s surface, travelling at a speed of 4,085 feet per second.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
We are coming up with a whole range of unacceptable differences in our stars. We’re going to have to recycle. If we don’t get this midcourse correction burn in successfully, I’m not sure what that does to our mission.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
In the event that we don’t get this midcourse correction burn in, Apollo 8 should still be GO for an attempt at lunar orbit insertion. Less than ideal but still do-able.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
The crew continue to be heavily involved in somewhat frantic preparations for the midcourse correction burn, scheduled to begin in 14 minutes. The burn will be using the spacecraft’s reaction control system thrusters.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
It will be a retrograde 11 second burn slowing the spacecraft down by about 2 feet per second in order to lower the pericynthion, or point at which the spacecraft passes closest to the Moon. The burn will be performed with the spacecraft yawed slightly out of plane.
2 days 12 hours 54 minutes mission time
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
Coming up on 3 minutes to the midcourse correction burn and noting the slight time delay between our clock and the ones in Houston. About a one and a half second delay there – the time it now takes for the signals to travel across space at this distance out from Earth.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
Two minutes to the burn. Looking good for the maneuver now. At the present time, the spacecraft is 21,144 miles above the Moon and travelling at a speed of 4,100 feet per second.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
Now coming up on the midcourse maneuver… counting down the last 10 seconds.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
6.. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1.. burning engine!
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
We are burning now… 8.. 9.. 10..11 seconds… shutdown!
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
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Here on the ground, we see the burn as being completed at this time. We should have some preliminary figures shortly.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
Power Guidance and Control Officer advises that they clocked the burn at 12 seconds. We nominally planned it for 11 seconds. That would be a one second, or about a 10% differential. No big deal there we think.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
That maneuver will have had the effect of lowering the pericynthion by 6 or 7 nautical miles. The latest readings estimate that the height of perigee (lowest point in the lunar orbit) will be 62.3 nautical miles.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
We had been shooting for a perigee of 61.5 miles when Apollo 8 goes into lunar orbit and around the Moon’s far side, but 62.3 miles is very good and the flight controllers here at Mission Control are quite happy with that figure.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
Good to hear that the pericynthion estimate in our onboard computer so closely correlated with the estimates on the ground. Meanwhile, we have just completed out second meal of the day.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
Meals A and B took up most of our intake except for the hard, hard bite. Nobody cares for it. Pudding was outstanding though.
Jim Lovell @CMPApollo8
That old Moon out there must be getting pretty close. Not that we are currently able to see it. And there’s not a whole lot going on in the cabin right now. We’re all pretty tired.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
The crew have advised that they do hope to get some rest before the intense activity leading up to LOI (lunar orbit insertion). According the flight plan, they’ll have about 3 hours of relative quiet before picking up activities leading to that critical maneuver.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
At the present time, the spacecraft is travelling at 4,176 feet per second at an altitude of 16,414 nautical miles above the Moon. Elapsed mission time is 62 hours 54 minutes.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
Bill Anders has just asked the flight surgeon for permission to take a Seconal tablet. That has been approved as long as he takes one of the smaller pills.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
Seconal is one of the short-acting sleeping tablets that the crew has on board. The smaller and larger tablets contain 50 milligrams and 100 milligrams respectively. Anders will be taking the 50 milligram tablet.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
The crew need to give both their oxygen and hydrogen tanks a stir at this point.
Ken Mattingly @KMCAPCOMApollo8
We are changing shifts here in Mission Control. Flight Director Glynn Lunney and his Black Team are coming on to replace Milton Windler and his Maroon Team.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Uh oh! I hear the Black Watch team are now on our case. Have to be doubly careful to keep everything shipshape from here on in.
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
We are now 65 hours and 48 minutes into the mission of Apollo 8. At this time, the spacecraft is 9,128 nautical miles from the Moon and its current velocity relative to the Moon is 4,460 feet per second and increasing.
Jerry Carr @JCCAPCOMApollo8
We have been provided some updated numbers for loss of signal (LOS) and acquisition of signal (AOS) as the spacecraft heads behind the Moon and re-appears about 33 minutes later.
Jerry Carr @JCCAPCOMApollo8
We should lose communications with the spacecraft at 68 hours 58 minutes 4 seconds. AOS should be at 69 hours 31 minutes 34 seconds Apollo 8 comes again into line of sight with the Earth. So LOS should continue for 33 minutes.
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
Time of ignition for the lunar orbit insertion (LOI) engine burn should be just about 6 minutes after the spacecraft passes behind the Moon. Apollo 8 will, of course, be out of communication with us during the LOI burn.
Jerry Carr @JCCAPCOMApollo8
I’ve just read up to Jim Lovell a whole bunch of pages of preliminary coordinates, gimbal settings, star sightings, etc. for the LOI burn. It took several minutes of reading and repetition before he had them all noted down.
2 days 22 hours 14 minutes mission time
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
We are now 66 hours 57 minutes and 14 seconds into the mission. Apollo 8 is now just 6,067 nautical miles from the Moon, travelling at 4,730 feet per second. The crew is getting pretty busy now.
Jim Lovell @JLCMPApollo8
We’re about to do another series of star checks with the sextant in preparation for the lunar orbit insertion burn. Jerry Carr tells me the double cluster Chi Persie Zeta should be about exactly midway between stars Aldebaran and Mirfak. We shall see.
Jerry Carr @JCCAPCOMApollo8
It is now 2 hours past midnight here in Houston - Christmas Eve as our three Apollo 8 astronauts proceed on the last segment of the flight path toward a position where the Moon will be when they begin to go around to the other side.
Jerry Carr @JCCAPCOMApollo8
As the spacecraft gets ever nearer to the Moon, its velocity is expected to increase dramatically, almost double, over a period of just a few minutes.
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
Uh oh! We have just lost all telemetry from the spacecraft!
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
Indications are that it is a ground problem. We’re working on it. This needs to be fixed, and quickly - we are now just minutes away from a GO/NO GO decision for lunar orbit insertion.
INTO LUNAR ORBIT
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
We’ve made a change of 1 second to the time of ignition for lunar orbit insertion. LOI should now be at 69 hours 8 minutes and 19 seconds.
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
Thankfully, we are once again receiving telemetry data from the spacecraft. Seems that it was indeed just a ground problem leading to a temporary loss of data. There’s a lot of relief down here.
Jerry Carr @JCCAPCOMApollo8
Flight Director Glynn Lunney is beginning his GO/NO GO poll of all the controllers here at Mission Control. The anticipation and hope of all here is for a GO decision for lunar orbit insertion.
Walter Cronkite @WCCBSNews
The entire flight control team in Mission Control (all the mission controllers) has examined all the data and Apollo 8 has been unanimously deemed a GO – a GO to enter into orbit around the Moon… oh boy!
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
Just heard the news that we are GO for LOI. Houston also informed us that they have checked everything out and told us that we have “the best bird ever”. I can believe it. It has been a real smooth ride so far.
Jerry Carr @JCCAPCOMApollo8
As Apollo 8 draws ever closer to the Moon (now just 2,556 nautical miles out), the velocity of the spacecraft is starting to increase rapidly. Current speed has now reached 5,528 feet per second.
Frank Borman @CDRApollo8
As a matter of interest, we have yet to see the Moon, even though the numbers tell us we are now so close. In fact, we’re seeing nothing at all right now. It’s like being on the inside of a submarine.
Jerry Carr @JCCAPCOMApollo8
Uh oh! We just got another CAUTION AND WARNING light! Seems like the high-gain antenna is going out.
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
We are looking into possible reasons for the CAUTION AND WARNING light. Hope is that it’s just a sensor problem.
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
Following this critical upcoming burn, the spacecraft should be about 16,000 pounds lighter due to the expenditure of propellants. A slight plane change of about 2 degrees is combined with this burn.
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
The plane change is intended to guide Apollo 8 to pass over the desired landing site for the lunar landing. That wo
uld be the Sea of Tranquility. Of course, the burn will take place on the far side of the Moon out of contact with Earth.
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
The LOI burn will be a retrograde maneuver to take out energy allowing the craft to drop into a lunar orbit rather than continue in its free return trajectory.
Glynn Lunney @GLFlightApollo8
For the burn, the crew will be in a heads down position giving them a visual reference to the lunar surface, and the vehicle will be pitched slightly nose up, perhaps on the order of 8 degrees from the local horizontal.
Bill Anders @LMPApollo8
We haven’t really taken many pictures on the way out. Every now and then, we’ve taken a shot with the 70mm camera and 80mm lens, but it’s questionable how good these will be because of the haze on the windows.
Bill Anders @LMPApollo8
Another problem has been trying to record the development of the smear on the windows. This is important because our mission is largely one of reconnaissance for the lunar landings to come.