Apollo 7

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 120 hours into the flight of Apollo 7. Through Tananarive we had this conversation.

Apollo Control, Houston here; 120 hours, 27 minutes into the flight and we have acquired through Hawaii and here is what it sounds like.

You heard Schirra advise a moment ago that the seating was per the flight plan, that would be Donn Eisele in the left couch, Walt Cunningham in the center, and the commander, Wally Schirra in the right couch. They are prepped and ready for the minimum impulse burn to be performed at 120 hours, 43 minutes, about 13 minutes from now, which burn should take place over the states. Standing by.

This is Apollo Control 120 hours, 30 minutes. It obviously is going to be pretty quiet until we get over the states. We will come back up to you then.

This is Apollo Control; 120 hours, 39 minutes into the flight. In about 3 minutes we expect the minimum impulse burn; it will be a burn with a duration of .4 seconds. Four tenths of a second. It is to impart a differential velocity of about 13 feet per second. The flight plan shows it at 12.9. The burn will be done in plane and the result in orbit should be 90 by 156 nautical miles. Presently in about 89 by 156. Schirra is advising the attitudes are all set up; let's tune in on some of that conversation.

That's Wally Schirra calling off the items on the check list and Don Eisele responding to the check list. Schirra is over in the right seat, Cunningham in the center, Eisele on the left, and Eisele will manage the burn. Spacecraft is over Arizona.

Our charts down here show that the ullage maneuver at 20 seconds worth is being performed using quads B and D 4, 3, 2, 1 - and we have here a shout which would indicate we had a burn.

All in all it sounds like a good burn.

As you can hear, it is all quiet in the loop after that successful burn. The spacecraft is right over New Orleans coming up on the Cape.

Perhaps it was a little hard to understand that transmission; Schirra has likened that little blip burn we just did to the impact that one gets at an amusement park in operating the little dodging cars - the kind that operate from an electrical source and bump into each other. A pretty good - brisk bump as I recall. He was asked when the last time he had operated one of those cars and he - his memory failed him. We'll keep the line open.

The Flight Dynamics Officer has computed the orbit resulting from that little blip burn a few minutes ago and he presently reads it at 90.3 by 157.5 nautical miles. 90.3 by 157.5.

This is Apollo Control. Donn Eisele apparently spotted the carrier Essex, which is cruising off the southeast coast of Florida. He just put in a call and raised the carrier using the call sign AIR BOSS, and we're getting one half of the ...

Well, with the spacecraft out in the far edge of the Antigua area I'm sure that's the last we'll hear of it until it reaches Ascension and we won't know just how well they received the AIR BOSS - the call sign AIR BOSS, which is the carrier Essex operating about a thousand miles southeast of the coast of Florida. At 120 hours, 56 minutes into the flightthis is Apollo Control

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 121 hours, 05 minutes into the flight. Through Ascension, we have been talking to the crew and Wally Schirra cleared up the mystery of that broadcast to the - to AIRBOSS, which is the code name for the primary search and recovery airplane operating off the carrier Essex, that the crew hopes to see in a business way on about next Tuesday morning. Apparently, the recovery people were having a practice run this morning and were using all the call signs. Unbeknownst to them, Apollo 7 was overhead, heard it's name called, and answered the call, so they had a brief chat. Here is the tape from Ascension.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. Wally Schirra demonstrated an extraordinary interest in medical matters this morning. He asked for the pulse rates of all three crewmen and he suggested that, inasmuch as we had caught Donn Eisele on the chart plugged in, got a pulse rate of 118 at the start of that burn, which he was operating, that the doctors should save the chart indicating the pulse rate and give it to him as a souvenir after the flight. It will be done. At 121 hours, 11 minutes into the flight; this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 121 hours, 34 minutes into the flight. During this recent swing across the Indian Ocean we had some remarkably clear communication with the spacecraft on the S-band channel via an ARIA aircraft. Remarkably clear - it was clear here on the ground, it was clear in the spacecraft. First let's take the tape from Tananarive, then we'll follow through the aircraft pass. Here it goes.

And that wraps up the Carnarvon pass, and the spacecraft is proceeding due north of Australia in a northeasterly direction, and we should pick up in Hawaii at 59 - 129 hours, 59 minutes, 17 minutes from now. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 121 hours, 53 minutes. Through Guam a minute or so ago we had this communication.

This is Apollo Control at 122 hours even into the flight of Apollo 7. Hawaii is about to acquire. Let's listen.

This is Apollo Control, Houston, 122 hours, 29 minutes. In the course of that pass, you heard Wally Schirra marking the hurricane Gladys with great accuracy. He went right over the eye of the hurricane and seemed to take a little understandable pride in this Manned Weather Satellite function, which the crew assumed riding right over the top of a hurricane. We'll be back with an Ascension acquisition in about 3 minutes.

Apollo Control, Houston. We should have Apollo 7 by Ascension any moment. Let's listen.

This is Apollo Control, Houston 123 hours, 15 minutes into the flight. A few minutes ago over Carnarvon we heard some interesting observations on meal planning, and on the taste of the meals, the caloric comments, and some very pungent comments from Walt Cunningham. Let's listen.

This is Apollo Control, Houston 123 hours, 20 minutes. We should be acquiring via Guam just any second.

The Guam data has just flashed on our screens. The television displays here, I notice the cabin out there is running 69 degrees today.

This is Apollo Control, 123 hours, 55 minutes. Through Hawaii, we're having this conversation.

At 123 hours and 55 minutes we have a loss of contact with the spacecraft over Honduras, and I would say in Central America. Of increasing interest as we near the midpoint of the mission is the retro fire clock. All the while it has been counting and it now reads 135 hours, 45 minutes to retrofire. Almost as large a number as our elapsed clock at 123 hours, 56 minutes. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 124 hours, 27 minutes into the mission. We are on the 78th revolution around the Earth and we are about to tag up with Apollo 7 via Tananarive. Our orbital elements are thusly: perigee 90.2 miles, apogee 157.3. The orbital period is 89 minutes, 04 seconds.

This is Apollo Control 124 hours, 53 minutes and we're in touch with Apollo 7 at the Mercury now. Here is how it sounds.

This is Apollo Control. 125 hours, 1 minute. Guam has LOS. During the passes at the Mercury and Guam, Wally Schirra discussed the - what he termed perigee torque. That's the pitch moments that the spacecraft seems to get at perigee. In the discussion of that, he described some of the weather near the hurricane. He reported the star horizon sightings didn't work, and indicated that the crew would spend a little time this evening planning tomorrow's TV show. The next station to acquire Apollo 7 will be Hawaii. At 125 hours, 9 minutes, this is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 126 hours. We have the tape from the Hawaii and the Huntsville pass. We'll follow that with the Tananarive pass. We'll play the tape now.

This is Apollo Control at 126 hours, 24 minutes. Apollo 7 coming up on the Mercury now. This is a quiet time in the flight plan, no activities are scheduled. Apollo 7 just coming out of the night side as it acquires at Mercury. Mercury has acquisition now, we'll stand by for a call.

This is Apollo Control 126 hours, 32 minutes into the mission. Mercury has LOS. During this pass we updated the spacecraft with ground computed reaction control system propellant quantities and we got a readout from the onboard RCS quantities. This is the sleep period for the command module pilot, Donn Eisele. Hawaii will acquire at 126 hours, 43 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 126 hours, 54 minutes. The next station to acquire will be Tananarive at 127 hours, 36 minutes.

This is Apollo Control at 107 hours, 36 minutes. Tananarive is acquiring Apollo 7 now in its 81st revolution.

This is Apollo Control at 127 hours, 43 minutes. Very noisy circuits on that pass. CapCom Ron Evans passed up the battery status to the crew, gave them the amount of ampere-hours remaining in their batteries. Walt Cunningham gave a report on the continuing water problem inside the cabin. Much of it was unreadable, but we did copy it that there is a puddle of water by the fitting of the waste water disconnect. Walt also reported getting several good pictures of the West Coast of Chile. The tracking ship Mercury will acquire Apollo 7 next. That will be at 127 hours, 59 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control 127 hours, 59 minutes. The Mercury has acquired Apollo 7. There is no overlapping coverage at Guam on this pass. We'll stand by through the Mercury.

Apollo Control 128 hours, 6 minutes. The Mercury has LOS now. We passed up a flight plan update asking them to have an oxygen purge in a fuel cell at 130 hours. And Walt Cunningham reported failure of an orange juice bag. The next station to acquire will be Hawaii at 128 hours, 17 minutes.

This is Apollo Control at 128 hours and 17 minutes and Apollo 7 has just been acquired by the Hawaii station. We'll monitor this pass.

One minute to LOS Restone at 34. This is Apollo Control 128 hours and 23 minutes. Hawaii has LOS. Walt Cunningham reported that he and Wally Schirra were eating dinner and would postpone the environmental control system redundant component check until over the Mercury on the next rev. The Redstone will acquire Apollo 7 very briefly on this revolution. The maximum elavation in the Redstone range is a degree and a half. That'll give us about three minutes worth of acquisition time. Redstone due to acquire at 128 hours, 34 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

Apollo control at 128 hours, 34 minutes and Apollo 7 is tagging up at the Redstone now.

This is Apollo Control at 128 hours, 37 minutes and Apollo 7 is beyond Redstones range. Coming up on the end of the 81 revolution. Apollo 7 will miss the Ascension station and Tananarive station this time, that makes the next station to acquire the tracking ship Mercury in the western Pacific at 129 hours, 33 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 129 hours, 33 minutes. Apollo 7 coming up on the tracking ship Mercury now after a long spell of not being in contact with the station. Mercury has acquisition, we'll stand by.

This is Apollo Control 129 hours, 40 minutes. The Mercury has LOS. Guam does not acquire on this the 82 revolution. The next station to acquire will be the tracking ship Redstone at 130 hours, 5 minutes. We have two clocks from the Control Center supper imposed on the world map on your television monitor in the news center. The one at the top is the elapse time since lift-off. The one at the bottom is counting down to the de-orbit burn. These two clocks should read out the same at 129 hours, 50 minutes. About 9 minutes from now both clocks should read 129 hours, 50 minutes. The mid point between lift-off and SPS burn number 8, the de-orbit burn. The mission will continue for another 25 or 30 minutes after that de-orbit burn for the re-entry phase. But we are rapidly coming up on the mid point between lift-off and de-orbit. At 119 hours, 42 minutes this is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control 129 hours, 49 minutes 37 seconds, coming up on the mid-point between lift off and the nominal deorbit burn. Mark 1295000

This is Apollo Control at 150 hours, 4 minutes coming up on five minutes which will be the nominal point in the mission from lift-off to splash. Apollo 7 about to be acquired at Redstone now. The best estimate at present is that the reentry time from de-orbit burn to splash will be approximately 30 minutes. It can't be figured precisely at this time due to atmospheric elements and dispersion that might occur in the de-orbit burn but it will be on a order of thirty minutes; so we are at the mid-point now for lift-off to splash. Apollo 7 has been acquired now, although there has not been a call go up yet, we will stand by through this pass at the Redstone.

This is Apollo Control, 130 hours, 13 minutes Redstone has LOS. The next station to acquire will be Ascension at 130 hours, 31 minutes, Apollo 7 completing its 82 revolution now.

This is Apollo Control at 130 hours, 31 minutes. Apollo 7 is in its 83rd revolution of the Earth now, and coming up on the Ascension Island tracking station. We'll stand by through this pass.

This is Apollo Control at 130 hours, 39 minutes. Ascension has LOS now. A network problem during this pass prevented us from establishing voice contact with the spacecraft. We were unable to get the circuit restored prior to LOS. The next station to acquire will be the tracking ship Mercury. At 132 - stand by - 131 hours 07 minutes, this is Mission Control, Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 131 hours, 7 minutes into the mission. Apollo 7 is in it's 83 revolution and is approaching the tracking ship Mercury in the western Pacific. Mercury has acquisition now, we'll stand by.

This is Apollo Control 131 hours and 19 minutes. Guam has LOS now. That was a fairly long pass over the Mercury and the Guam. We got some onboard readouts on the battery voltages and gave the crew some oxygen tank pressures at their request. It's pretty good communication this time. I'll hit the high spots however of their health reports. The lunar module pilot, Walt Cunningham, reported he has taken two decongestant tablets to date in the mission that - the last one was the night before last. He voiced the wish that he had some nose drops onboard with him. Said he got about seven hours sleep last night, sound sleep, he thought it was the best sleep he'd had yet. Wally Schirra, the commander, said he believes all of the crewmen have been averaging good sleep lately. He reported he still has his head cold, that he's off pills and he indicated that the crew may reenter with their helmets off so that they will be able to relieve the pressure on their ears if their ears are still stopped up at the time of reentry. There was also a discussion, we passed up some advice to them that may enable better TV pictures. Persons in the Houston area will have a choice to make. Tomorrow morning they can either step outside and attempt to see the spacecraft pass over in the Houston or they can stay in and watch the television. The television is due at 7:15 AM Central daylight time that is the same pass on which Apollo 7 may be visible. The S-IVB, the second stage of the launch vehicle may also be visible from Houston tomorrow. The S-IVB will approach from the southwest at 7:10 AM, reach a maximum elevation of 27 degrees due south at 7:14 AM and disappear over the horizon due east at 7:17 AM. Apollo 7, the command and service module will approach from the southwest at 7:16 AM, reach maximum elevation of 30 degrees due south at 7:20 AM and leave due east 7:25 AM. The next station to acquire will the Redstone at 131 hours, 39 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 131 hours, 39 minutes. Apollo 7 coming up on the Redstone now. We'll listen.

Apollo Control at 151 hours, 47 minutes. The Redstone has LOS as Apollo 7 nears the end of its 83-rd revolution. The next station to acquire will be Ascension. At 132 hours, 04 minutes, this is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, 132 hours, 4 minutes. Apollo 7 in its 84th revolution now. Ascension has acquired, we'll stand by.

This is Apollo Control at 132 hours, 13 minutes, ascension LOS. That was the command module pilot, Don Eisele in this pass over Ascension. He's just up from his sleep period. He reports that Wally Schirra and Walt Cunningham have got into their sleeping bags, settling for 8 hours. He reported they - each took two aspirins at 132 hours elapsed time. That is the time their sleep period started. He reported he had gotten 8 solid hours of sleep, and that he has taken no medication lately. Also he reported that the thermometer is broken so they can't tell whether they have fevers or not. The next station toacquire will be the Mercury at 132 hours, 41 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 132 hours, 41 minutes. Apollo 7 is at Mercury now.

This is Apollo Control, 132 hours, 49 minutes. Guam has acquisition now. We'll continue with this pass.

This is Apollo Control; 132 hours, 54 minutes. Apollo 7 over the horizon at Guam now. The Redstone will acquire at 133 hours, 15 minutes.

This is Apollo Control 133 hours, 13 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We now have acquisition at the Redstone tracking ship. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control; 133 hours, 21 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're leaving Redstone acquisition and we're anticipating Canary Islands at 135:17, correction, Canaries 133:45. During this pass, Eisele indicated he had taken 30 clicks of water which is 15 ounces and 2 aspirin and at 133 hours, 21 minutes, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control; 133 hours, 45 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have indicated that - at 133:45 we would have acquisition at Canary Islands but it appears the ground tract is too far south for such acquisition. Therefore, we have another long dry spell. The next acquisition point will be the Redstone Tracking Ship at 134:47. At 133:46, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control; 134 hours, 47 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We are approaching the Redstone tracking ship once again, we should have acquisition in a very few seconds. Let's stand by.

This is Apollo Control 134 hours, 55 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We've just lost acquisition at Redstone tracking ship. We're anticipating Canary Islands at 135 hours and 17 minutes. This is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 13S hours, 17 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're beginning our eighty sixth revolution. We're coming upon Canary Island acquistion in a very few seconds. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control; 135 hours, 25 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have just lost acquistion at Canary Islands. Our next acquisition point will again be the Redstone Tracking Ship at 136:21. We're now in our eighty sixth revolution. You heard astronaut Eisele talk to CapCom Pogue here in the control center at some length concerning the auto optics. And the reason yesterday they did not function on the landmark tracking problems as they should have. Seemingly, centering around trunnion problems and landmarks being beyond the limits of auto optics system. At 135 hours, 25 minutes this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 136 hours, 21 minutes into the mission. We now have voice acquisition at Redstone tracking ship. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control 136 hours, 29 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We are completing our 86th revolution going into our 87th revolution very shortly. Anticipating contact with Antigua at 36 hours, 39 minutes into the missioh. That pass you heard astronaut Pogue in the Control Center and astronaut Eisele in the spacecraft have a conversation concerning landmark tracking, sextant star observation, they're considering star lunar horizon sightings later on in the flight, had some conversation'concerning that. Eisele also indicated that the stars are hard to identify. At 136 hours, 30 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 136 hours, 39 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming upon acquistion with Antigua Tracking Station, beginning our eighty seventh revolution. Let's listen at it.

This is Apollo Control, 136 hours, 47 minutes into the mission. We had a series of flight plan updates in that pass as we heard. In 140 hours, they'll set up a TV; 141 hours, 12 minutes the TV will be turned on which be 2 minutes before Texas acquisition tomorrow or rather this morning. We have several minutes to wait before the pass at Canary Islands, 2 minutes to be exact. So we'll standby for conversation at Canary Islands.

This is Apollo Control, 136 hours, 58 minutes into the mission. We have lost of signal at Canaries. We will pick up Canarvon at 137:27. One interesting thing that has peen indicated to Flight Director, Griffin on this shift is that the SVI-B stage, Saturn Booster, should reenter at 166 hours ground elapsed time. That's the seventh day into the mission. At 136 hours, 59 minutes, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 137 hours, 27 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming up on Carnarvon at this time, we should have acquisition shortly, let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control 137 hours, 33 minutes into the mission of Apoll 7. We're standing by through the Honeysuckle pass for some - another some seven minutes. It does not appear that there will be any more voice conversation but we'll stand by anyway.

This is Apollo Control 157 hours, 42 minutes into the mission. We're anticipating Redstone tracking ship at 157 hours, 56 minutes. At 137:45 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control. We're coming upon Redstone with Apollo 7. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control, 138 hours, and 2 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're now losing acquisition at Redstone Tracking Ship. The next contact will be the MILA facility at Cape Kennedy, Florida, 138 hours, and 12 minutes, 10 minutes from this time. At 138:02, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 138 hours, 12 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming up on acquisition of Mila and Florida. Just acquired, let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control 138 hours, 21 minutes into the mission. We're anticipating contact with the Canary Island station at 138:25. This is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 138 hours, 25 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. Judging from our last couple of passes, we do not anticipate any startling conversation on the Canary Islands Pass, but let's join the conversation.

This is Apollo Control, 138 hours, 33 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. At last communications try with Madrid, did not produce an answer that we heard. We're anticipating Carnarvon at 138 hours, 59 minutes. At 138:34, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 138 hours, 59 minutes. In the 88th revolution of the Apollo 7 flight we're now approaching Carnarvon and in a few seconds should have acquisition. Let's stand by.

This is Apollo Control 139 hours, 5 minutes into the mission. We just heard astronaut Eisele indicate to Cap Com Pogue here in the Control Center that he was powering up a little early to get the P-51 program in a night pass and he was doing it at that time at 139:59. The P-51 program is inertial measuring unit orientation and he is now in the middle of that program and we probably will have little voice contact but we'll stand by through this pass.

This is Apollo Control 139 hours, 16 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We've lost acquisition at Honeysuckle, we are coming up the pike to Texas. We're anticipating Texas acquisition at 139:44. At 139:16, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 139 hours, 41 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming up now on the acquisition point for Texas. We should acquire in a very few seconds, let's join in.

This is Apollo Control 139 hours, 55 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We will be acquiring at Canary Islands at 139:59, about four minutes from this time. Ah, during this last pass, we had passed up to the crew through CapCom Pogue the GO for 106 dash one. That is GO for 105 orbits at 139:55, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 139 hours, 59 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming up now in acquisition with Canary Islands Tracking Station. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control, 140 hours, 6 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have lost our signal at Canary Island Tracking Station at this time. Our next acquisition point will be Canarvon at 140:33, At 140:06, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 140 hours, 15 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We'll have a wrapup of the activities for the past 8 hours or going on 8 hours. And we will start back at revolution 84, 133 hours, 13 minutes into the mission. It was at a time when astronaut Eisele indicated that he had 30 clicks of water or 13 ounces and two aspirins. He had some contact with the ground. Schirra and Cunningham were in their sleeping bags and sleep mode. Things were very quiet through this night time. They gave at 133 hours, 47 minutes the current cryogenic quantities were given in the form of plus 66 pounds of oxygen. In other words, 66 more pounds of oxygen than had been planned for, plus 1 pound of hydrogen up to that point in the mission. Information came in that the S-IV reentry - that's the S-IVB stage of the Saturn launch vehicle that is in orbit presently - should be 166 hours. That's the seventh day of the mission it should reenter the Earth's atmosphere. They have updates on the flight plan. At 135 hours, 17 minutes, astronaut Pogue, the CapCom, indicating that landmark tracking would occur during revolutions 90, 91, and 92. Landmark tracking - of yesterday wasn't so good because the optics didn't out too well. There was a trunnion problem. Eisele indicated at 136 hours, 21 minutes, in looking for stars they were hard to identify even if there was a star field with several stars apparent. The stars themselves individually were hard to identify. At revolution 87, 137 hours, Eisele indicated he just took some neat pictures of Australia. And he also indicated going back a bit that he had slept well. He also said that harkening back to a problem with their camera - the camera was working well. And again told about taking out the gummy grease as he called it and putting nose cream - applying nose cream to parts of the camera. And now it was operating very nicely. He also indicated at that time twenty more clicks of water. That's 10 ounces. And in a conversation with Pogue here in the Control Center, we've talked about water dumps interfering with the optics operations. In that interference - it seemed to be the water dump turns to an icy crisp - or turns to icy crystals after the dump. And for 3 or 4 minutes at least, the optics are sort of unusable. And then they are usable again after the ice crystals clear away. Things were very quiet - up through Carnarvon. At 138 hours, 59 minutes in revolution 88 When Eisele indicated he was powering up a little bit early to get the P51 program which is the inertial measuring unit - going in a night pass. He wanted to get it operational in the night pass and he was doing it at that time. At 139 hours, 41 minutes, there was a landmark update. And had a GO for 106-1 which means 105 revolutions. The flight plan update for today - indicates that for the most part we have orbital navigation, landmark trackings, sextant star counts, and we have synoptic weather photography S006 photography, a synoptic weather of the south Atlantic and of North Africa and we have terrain photography, synoptic terrain photography, S005 experiments, taking pictures of Lake Chad area in North Africa and the southwest coast of Africa. The command module computer will be powered up but the spacecraft positioning will be controlled by the astronaut's use of the manual attitude hand controller, for such attitudes that they should have. That update goes through 152 hours of the mission. We are now at 140 hours, 21 minutes. The television schedule for today, Thursday, is 7:15 am. They will unstow, or have unstowed, and set up the TV at 140 hours into the mission, or 22 minutes ago, and they are scheduled to power up the camera at 141 hours, 12 minutes into the mission. That will be about 2 minutes before Texas acquisition. We have on the sighting table for this morning on the 17th of October, for the S-IVB stage, it will approach from the southwest at 7:10 am, Central Daylight Time, maximum elevation 27 degrees due south at 7:14 am, Central Daylight Time, and it will leave us here in Texas going due east at 7:17 am, and it should be visible. The command and service module approached from the southwest at 7:16 am maximum elevation 30 degrees due south at 7:20 am and will leave due east 7:23 am. At 140 hours, 23 minutes into the mission, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 140 hours, 34 minutes into the mission. At the present time the spacecraft is coming up on the Carnarvon, Australian tracking center and we anticipate that the crew would be having breakfast at this time. Wally Schirra and Walt Cunningham having completed their sleep cycles and we'll stand by here as CapCom Jack Swigert prepares to put in a call to the crew over Carnarvon. At the present time here in the Control Center, we are undergoing a change of shifts with flight director Glynn Lunney's team coming on to replace that of flight director Gerry Griffin and our CapCom at the present time is Astronaut Jack Swigert who has just put in a call to the crew. We'll pick up that conversation now over Carnarvon.

This is Mission Control. We'll have a brief dropout of signal now as the spacecraft passes out of range of the Carnarvon station. We'll be acquiring again in about one minute as we come back in range of the Honeysuckle station over in eastern Australia. During that pass over Carnarvon, you heard Donn Eisele comment with the flight controllers on the ground pertaining to the use of the sextant for star count and the ground advised that they would like to do another sextant star count at a different side angle. We also heard reference to recycling of the upper two oxygen cryogenic tank fans. This is a procedure that apparently is working quite well in preventing momentary overvoltages on the AC busses. We also heard their problem. Walt Cunningham for the first time since he began his sleep cycle, over 8 hours ago, still haven't heard from commander Wally Schirra at this point, and Cunningham advised that the partial pressure of oxygen in the cabin is now up to 245 mm of mercury. That is well above the partial pressure or oxygen content that we have here at sea level. So that enrichment process of the cabin atmosphere is continuing and will continue throughout the mission, probably never reaching pure O₂ in the cabin. We would expect to have a small amount of nitrogen left in the cabin at reentry. We will stand by now as the spacecraft moves to within range of Honeysuckle and we should be reacquiring again in just a few seconds from now.

Evidently the spacecraft has passed out of range of the Honeysuckle station. You heard CapCom Jack Swigert advise the crew that we will be reacquiring over the tracking ship Huntsville in about 18 minutes. The spacecraft will continue to pass on up across the Pacific and on over the Guaymas, Mexico tracking station. We are scheduled to acquire at Texas, the Corpus Christi station, at 141 hours, 12 minutes ground elapsed time for that television pass over the United States this morning. That will be about 7:15 am Houston time. At 140 hours, 51 minutes into the mission, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 141 hours, 8 minutes into the mission. The Apollo 7 spacecraft at the present time is coming up south of the tracking ship Huntsville in the western Pacific. We should be acquiring there shortly. We've just shown that we do have acquisition and we expect a call to go in to the crew from CapCom John Swigert momentarily. Coming up on our stateside pass with the television transmission this morning, and we anticipate we will be acquiring at the Texas station, Corpus Christi, Texas, about 3 or 4 minutes from now. We'll stand by now for the CapCom to put in a call to the crew over Huntsville.

We have been advised that the converter from the Texas site, the one that gave us a little trouble yesterday, appears to be working well this morning. We're getting a signal from the station, a test pattern on our screens, we just now put in a call to the crew. We'll pick up conversations from the Huntsville.

We have just gone out of range of the Huntsville, we'll be reacquiring at Guaymas, Mexico shortly. The spacecraft ground track on this pass over the southern part of the North American continent will actually take us down below Baja, California, and out on across the central part of Mexico. We'll cross over about a third of the way down into the Gulf of Mexico and continue on across the Gulf and out over the upper part of the Florida peninsula into the Atlantic. Here is the call now to the crew through Guaymas.

The crew aboard Apollo 7 at the present time carrying out some last minute functions before we begin this television pass. They should have the TV camera on and warming up at the present time. Now we're just a little over a minute from acquisition at the Texas site and first resumption of those television pictures.

And we are starting to get the first flickering of the picture. It fades in, and we have the picture dropping out again. There we have a good solid picture.

We're going to switch antennas here to try and improve the picture a little bit.

And we appear to be having trouble maintaining a good lock on this picture now as we've gone out of range of the Corpus Christi station, and over the station at Mila, the CapCom Jack Swigert, has now asked the crew to change antennas and they were back again with pictures.

And we appear to have gone out of range as you heard CapCom Jack Swigert advise the crew. We had a very good picture early in that pass from Texas, and also excellent communications from the spacecraft on across the United States. We appear to have some problems with the scan converter at the Mila site, and we would anticipate that we got quite good recordings of that transmission, although the live play back left something to be desired with a little bit of trouble getting the frame rate properly centered. We'll continue now to monitor the crew conversations as they continue out on over the western Atlantic toward the northern part of Africa.

And this is Mission Control; we show that we have lost our acquisition with the spacecraft from Bermuda. We will be reacquiring in about 3 minutes from now over the Canary Islands. This is Apollo Control at 141 hours, 29 minutes.

This is Apollo Control at 141 hours, 35 minutes. The spacecraft has been acquired now over the Canary Island tracking station. The crew, at the present time, is scheduled to be involved in weather photography over the south Atlantic and on over the northern part of the African continent and we'll listen in now for the conversations between the crew and Mission Control Center.

This is Mission Control, we have had LOS from the spacecraft over the Canary Islands. Spacecraft now passing over the northern part of the African continent and we will continue on down across Central Africa and out across the Madagascar Republic where we will acquire at the Tananarive station. Present - this is Mission Control at 141 hours, 40 minutes into the flight."

This is Apollo Control at 141 hours, 54 minutes, coming up on Tananarive and we will listen for the conversation with the crew.

This is Mission Control. Apollo 7 is now out of range of the Tananarive tracking station and we will acquire the spacecraft next as it goes over Carnarvon. During this rev, the Apollo 7 crew will be searching out a number of targets of opportunity for their synoptic weather and terrain photography, including volcanoes in the Hawaiian Islands and the Philippines. At 141 hours, 59 minutes, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 142 hours, 11 minutes. Our CapCom Jack Swigert has just put a call into the crew over Carnarvon and we'll pick up the conversation.

This is Mission Control. That appears to be about all we'll get from the crew over Carnarvon. We'll pick up again in a few minutes as the spacecraft comes into view of the HSK station.

This is Apollo Control at 142 hours, 37 minutes into the mission. We've acquired the spacecraft over Hawaii, and are in communication with the crew.

This is Mission Control; we'll have a brief dropout in communications here as the spacecraft crosses between acquisition at Hawaii, and is picked up again by the Tracking Ship Huntsville. We'll stand by.

We have had no conversation from the crew yet over Huntsville; we will have a pretty solid contact with the spacecraft now on across this Stateside pass. At the present time, the spacecraft is in an orbit 155 miles at his high point, with a perigee, or a low point, of just about 90 nautical miles. Now the orbital weight of the vehicle is 29 580 pounds at the present time.

This is Mission Control at 143 hours, 4 minutes. We have completed that stateside pass now, and have lost acquisition with the station at Antigua. The next station to acquire will be the Tananarive station. The spacecraft will pass north of Ascension. We don't anticipate any conversation with the crew over Ascension. This is Apollo Control at 143 hours, 4 minutes.

This is Apollo Control at 143 hours, 27 minutes. At the present time the Apollo 7 spacecraft is coming up on the Tananarive Tracking Station. Flight plan calls for the crew to be involved in photographing the southwest coast of Africa at the present time; and we have a call in to the spacecraft.

This is Apollo Control. We are having some difficulty getting good communications with the spacecraft during this pass over Tananarive. We'll stand by and pick up the loop again if any conversations develop.

This is Apollo control at 143 hours, 43 minutes. We're standing by now to pick up the spacecraft over the Carnarvon, Australia tracking station. We've just put in a call to the crew.

This is Mission Control. We've lost acquisition now at the Carnarvon station, and we'll be reacquiring the spacecraft again at Hawaii. During that pass you heard Wally Schirra describe a small leak that they encountered. As he described it, it was on the water panel during a dump of waste water. He said they get about 4 or 5 ounces of water which apparently comes out as one big bubble when the waste water is dumped. He said they had tightened the fitting in an effort to cut down the leakage, but they were still getting about 4 to 5 ounces in that bubble. This is Apollo Control at 143 hours, 52 minutes into the mission.