Apollo 7

This is Apollo Control at 144 hours, 07 minutes into the mission. At the present time, the spacecraft is coming up on Hawaii and the crew, during this pass, will have an opportunity to view one of those volcanoes that we understand is active on the island of Hawaii, the volcano Kilauea. Later on in this pass, they are scheduled to attempt two more landmark trackings, one of these sites is the city of El Paso and the other in south Africa on the western coast, will be Walvis Bay. During the first two tracking exercises that - actually three were scheduled, the crew successfully carried out two of them. The third site was covered by - obscured by clouds. This landmark tracking, of course, will be of value to a subsequent mission to the Moon, where the astronauts would be able to update their orbital information in lunar orbit, from onboard information, and supplemented by ground tracking updates. We now have acquired at Hawaii and we will be putting a call to the crew shortly. We will stand by for that.

We are having a relatively quiet pass over the United States at this time. The crew indicated they would be quite busy taking photographs and we expect that they will be attempting shortly to get some additional pictures of Hurricane Gladys as they move out over the Gulf of Mexico and across the Florida penisula. We will continue to monitor for conversations.

This is Apollo Control. We've had LOS now of the spacecraft from Antigua. A very active and interesting pass there on the latter part as Wally Schirra gave us a birdseye view from space, of hurricane Gladys, which he described as a real spinner and a spectacular view. He seemed to have been especially impressed with the tight vortex of the storm. Eisele also commented that, as you heard, on how busy things were in the cabin at the time. Describing he and his fellow crewmen as looking like a bunch of squirrels in a cage, and of course, we'll look forward to seeing some of the photos that the crew referred to and they apparently got some good ones on that pass, both still and motion picture of the Houston area and out on across the Gulf getting some good views of hurricane Gladys. We'll be picking up the spacecraft again over the Ascension tracking station. Acquisition due there in about 6 minutes. This is Apollo Control at 144 hours, 40 minutes into the flight.

This is Apollo Control at 144 hours, 45 minutes and the spacecraft is coming up on the Tananarive or rather the Ascension Station at this time, and we have just acquired CapCom Jack Swigert, he has put in a call to the crew.

Shortly after this pass over Ascension is completed, the crew will be scheduled to conduct another land mark tracking exercise as they move over Southwest Africa. They will attempt to acquire Walvis Bay in the scanning telescope and once they have picked it up there, they'll transfer to the sextant and attempt to track and feed mark inputs into a computer. This information can then be used to determine their orbital parameters.

This is Apollo Control. The spacecraft has now gone over the horizon and is out of range of the Ascension Tracking Station. We'll acquire next at Tananarive and that's scheduled to occur in about 8 or 9 minutes from now. Flight surgeon Dr. Hawkins reports that the crew conditions appear to be improving; the crew reports that they are getting caught up on their sleep, the water in-take is good, and he says that Schirra and Eisele both report their colds are now somewhat improved. Walt Cunningham continues to report that there is some congestion, but says he feels fine. The space flight meteorology group said this morning that weather conditions for the flight of Apollo 7 will continue to be satisfactory over the next 24 hours, and in the West Atlantic landing areas, the weather will be partly cloudy with a few showers. In the East Atlantic skies will be fair to partly cloudy and in the Western Pacific landing areas the weather will be mostly cloudy with a few showers. In the Mid Pacific area, weather will be fair to partly cloudy, and as we heard, the astronauts again this morning, got a good look at hurricane Gladys as the storm moves across the west coast of Florida. But later this afternoon it is anticipated that they will get a good view of Tropical Storm Gloria, located in the West Pacific. The spacecraft is due to pass almost directly over that storm. At 144 hours, 54 minutes into the flight, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 145 hours, 3 minutes. The spacecraft has just passed from daylight into darkness crossing the terminator, and CapCom Jack Swigert has put in a call to the crew. We'll pick up there.

This is Mission Control. We are about to lose acquisition of the spacecraft over Tananarive. The communications on that pass were not too good, as the spacecraft was passing well south of the tracking station. Just barely clipping the end off the acquisition circle. You heard the crew advise that they had gotten, been able to acquire the land mark on the southwest coast of Africa in the scanning telescope and had gotten 5 marks on it as they passed over through the sextant. The next station to acquire will be one of the 5 ARIA aircraft; that's scheduled at 145 hours, 12 minutes. Following that we will have a pass over Carnarvon, and on up just barely catching Guam over the Hawaiian Islands. At 145 hours, 7 minutes, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 145 hours 16 minutes. We'll be coming within range of the station at Carnarvon shortly as the spacecraft passes just parallel to the northwestern Australian coast and out over the Pacific Ocean. We'll stand by now for the call to the crew from CapCom Jack Swigert.

This is Apollo Control. We're about to lose acquistion with the spacecraft over Carnarvon. We'll be acquiring next from the station at Guam. Coming up on this pass the Apollo 7 crew is scheduled to attempt another star count in daylight with the onboard sextant. The flight plan calls for that activity to occur as they pass over their upcoming stateside pass from Guaymas, Mexico, and out over the site at Mila. At 145 hours 25 minutes into the flight this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 145 hours 42 minutes. We recently completed a pass over Guam and we'll play that back for you in it's entirety, and then pick up with the pass over Hawaii.

This is Apollo Control. We have just lost contact with the spacecraft over Antigua as the spacecraft moves down over the northeastern coast of the South American continent, just parallel to the coast. You heard Wally Schirra note a phenomenon they had noted before on this mission, what appears to be a very small amount of aerodynamic drag the spacecraft encountered at perigee. Schirra reported that they were in a 30 degree pitch down attitude and for no apparent reason, the spacecraft pitched back up into the horizontal attitude. At the present time, the spacecraft is in an orbit about 153 nautical miles at its highest point and slightly under 90 nautical miles at the low point. This is essentially the orbit that we have been in since that third service propulsion system burn. We have noted a slight decrease in the apogee since that time. The perigee following the burn was 90 miles, essentially the same as it is now. Apogee immediately following the burn was about 160 nautical miles, so we have lost about 7 nautical miles in apogee, but perigee has remained essentially the same. We will acquire the spacecraft again at Ascension and acquisition there is scheduled to occur at 146 hours 20 minutes, or about 7 minutes from now. This is Apollo Control at 146 hours 13 minutes.

This is Apollo Control at 146 hours 20 minutes, and we have just put in a call to the crew over Ascension. We'll pick that up now.

This is Apollo Control. We've had loss of signal now from Ascension. The next station to acquire will be the tracking station at Tananarive. At 146 hours 26 minutes, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 146 hours, 36 minutes. Apollo 7 is crossing the southern tip of Africa and coming up on the station at Tananarive. We'll stand by for a call to the crew from CapCom Jack Swigert.

This is Mission Control. We had a very difficult communications on that pass over Tananarive; the spacecraft passed the station just about on the horizon and will be acquiring at Carnarvon, Australia, in about 10 minutes from now and also that will be a low elevation pass, and we would expect rather brief and perhaps difficult communications through that station also. At 146 hours, 42 minutes, this is Apollo Control

This is Apollo Control at 146 hours, 52 minutes and we've just acquired the spacecraft at Carnarvon. We'll pick that up for you here.

This is Apollo Control, we've lost acquisition with the spacecraft at Carnarvon as you heard on that pass. Crew apparently having lunch at this time. In a short while, CMP Donn Eisele is schedulds to begin his sleep period. We will be reacquiring the spacecraft over Guam. That acquisition scheduled at 147 hours, 1 minute or about 6 minutes from now. At 146, 56 minutes, this is Apollo Control

This is Apollo Control at 147 hours 1 minute. Now we are just about to put in a call to the spacecraft over Guam. Let's listen in.

This is Mission Control. We've lost contact with the spacecraft over Guam. Our flight controllers here in Mission Control have been consistently pleased with the high quality of the unified S-band communications system, especially when we've have a high elevation pass such as this one on Guam where the spacecraft passed almost directly over head the station. We will acquire the spacecraft again over Hawaii, at 147 hours 17 minutes, that will be about 7 minutes from now. At 147 hours 11 minutes this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 147 hours 17 minutes. The spacecraft is approaching Hawaii. We will have acquisition shortly and we will stand by for a call to the crew.

This is Apollo Control at 147 hours 24 minutes. We have gone beyond range now of the Hawaiian station and we will come back up with any conversation that develop between the crew and the ground over the Huntsville and from the Guaymas station.

This is Apollo Control at 147 hours, 31 minutes. The spacecraft is now passing over Baja, California, and will be going down across the Mexican Continent, rather the country of Mexico and over the South American Continent. Coming up, the start of Rev 94. We just put in a call to the spacecraft from the Corpus Christi station, we'll join the conversation there." [Pause]

This is Apollo Control at 147 hours, 37 minutes. We've had LOS now with the spacecraft. The next station to acquire will be Tananarive, off the southeast coast of Africa, and we'll pick up the spacecraft there in about 25 or 30 minutes. At 147 hours, 37 minutes, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apolle Control at 148 hours 09 minutes. The spacecraft is now crossing the southern tip Of Africa and are in the middle of a nightside pass. We will be acquiring at Tananarive shortly. At the present time, the crew should be involved in completing power down of the guidance and navigation system and the stabilization and control system aboard the spacecraft. Command module Donn Eisele is well into his sleep period, according to the flight Plan. We will stand by now tor acquisition at ?ananarive,

This is Apollo Control at 148 hours 18 minutes. We had some garble on the comunications that time over Tananarive. We did copy Schirra's comment that the temperature of the gases flowing into the cabin, I believe that would be the suit inlet temperature reading, since the crew is not wearing suit at this time, but that still provides the reading for the gas flow into the cabin and he said it had gotten up to 64 degrees during the time that the spacecraft was fully powered up. Now that the guidance and navigation system has been powered down, along with the stablization and control system, Schirra noticed that the cabin temperature had dropped down to about 58 degrees. A 64 degree reading is still low within the comfort level for airflow into the cabin, the 58 is a little bit more nominal, however. Our next acquisition of the spacecraft will be over the tracking ship Mercury and we will have overlapping coverage there from Guam, scheduled to pick the spacecraft up next at 148 hours 33 minutes, about 14 minutes from now. This is Apollo Control Houston.

This is Mission Control just a little more than half way through the 94th revolution. The spacecraft is coming up on the tracking ship Mercury. We have been advised that the unified S band antenna at Mercury is down temporarily; they expect to have it back in operation within about an hour, but we will not have unified S band coverage over Mercury. However, that will be for a relatively short period of time and we move on across the Philippines and out toward Guam; we'll pick US band coverage from Guan. We'll stand by now for a call to the crew.

Communications rather garbled there, using the VHF system in the absence of S band from the Mercury. Schirra advised that the crew would chlorinate the spacecraft water tonight, at least that's the way we copied it here, and we can expect communications to clear up somewhat as we move over Guam.

This is Apollo Control. We are about to lose contact with the spacecraft over Guam. During that pass Wally Schirra requested a status report on the service module RCS propellant quantity and was advised he has 666 pounds remaining. We'll pick up the spacecraft again over the Hawaiian tracking station. Acquisition is Scheduled there at 148 hours 51 minutes. At 148 hours 43 minutes this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 148 hours, 51 minutes. We have just acquired on the spacecraft and established contact; here is the conversation.

This is Apollo Control at 150 hours and 16 minutes. Apollo 7 passed over the tracking station at Tananarive and Mercury during the news conference. We'll play the tapes of those passes now.

This is Apollo Control, 150 hours and 21 minutes. That's the end of the tape through the Mercury pass. As you heard the flight director has concurred with the crew's recommendation that there'll be no TV tomorrow because of the activity in the flight plan associated with this long number five SPS burn. The crew reported good pictures of our good weather down here. Lunar Module Pilot is having biomed harness problems again but he is repairing that now. There's was good com on this pass in which they discussed that burn. I'll go over those figures for you again though. These are the best numbers available at this time, we are looking for the burn at about 165 hours elapsed time. Duration of the burn one minute, six seconds, Delta V at 160046 feet per second. We'll-change the inclination of the orbit from 31.22 to 30.08 and we're predicting the orbital perameters post burn to be an apogee of 241 miles, perigee of 89.6 miles. Present apogee is 152.1, perigee 89.7, those are nautical miles, we're showing an orbital weight of Apollo 7 at the present time of 29538 pounds. Hawaii will acquire the spacecraft in about a minute, we'll come back up then.

This is Apollo Control at 150 hours 24 minutes. Hawaii has acquired now and we'll stand by.

This is Apollo control at 150 hours 34 minutes, we'll pick up the ARIA aircraft again this pass, in just about a minute so we will have some extended coverage and we'll continue to stand by through the ARIA pass.

This is Apollo control 150 hours 40 minutes into the mission, Apollo 7 out of range of ARIA three now, during this coverage , which started at a - Hawaii, some slight overlap at the Huntsville tracking ship and then into the ARIA aircraft range, there was film reports passed back and forth. The crew was advised the tropical storm Gloria is now due east of Luzon and they will obviously attempt to take a look at that their next pass in that area and we advised the crew that flight controllers for Apollo 8 are beginning simulation for that mission. The next station to acquire will be Tananarive at 151 hours 17 minutes. This is mission control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control 151 hours 17 minutes, Apollo 7 is in the night side of its 96th revolution. Tananarive is about to acquire. We'll stand by for this pass.

Apollo Control at 151 hours 24 minutes. Tananarive has LOS. There are no activities scheduled on the flight plan during this period. And Apollo 7 passed Tananarive without conversation. The tracking ship Mercury will acquire next. At 151 hours 40 minutes, this is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo control at 151 hours 40 minutes into the mission, Apollo 7 coming up on the Mercury now, we'll listen.

This is Apollo control at 151 hours 47 minutes, the Mercury has LOS. Brief transmission during this pass, Wally Schirra gave some film reports, indicating that he had done some photography over Japan including Mount Fujiyama. We told the lunar module pilot, Walt Cunningham, that we still are - still are unable to get a reading on his biomed, he believes that he's done all he can to fix the harness, but we'll continue to pursue that problem. The next station to acquire will be Hawaii at 151 hours 58 minutes.

This is Apollo Control at 151 hours and 58 minutes. Hawaii has Apollo 7 now.

This is Apollo Control 152 hours, 4 minutes. Hawaii has LOS. During this pass Walt Cunningham reported that the environmental control system redundant component check had been completed satisfactorily. We ask the crew to give us a taste versus time report on the water chlorination and at that time Wally Schirra indicated that the - from what we could copy apparently the water is getting a brown tinge to it that they are not quite pleased with. We attempt to see if we can read that a little bit better on some tape. Next station to acquire will be the Redstone at 152 hours, 14 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control 152 hours 07 minutes. We have a better handle now on that last report. Wally Schirra reports quote: brown goopy stuff at the base of the chlorine injector. It is not in the water. At the base of the chlorine injector. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control 152 hours 14 minutes into the mission. The Redstone has acquired Apollo 7.

This is Apollo Control 152 hours 19 minutes into the mission. The Redstone has LOS now. Apollo 7 nearing the end of its 96th revolution. During this pass the crew reported seeing a smoke trail of a ship, and remarked that should make Gordon Cooper happy, is a reference to Col. Cooperts Mercury flight, in which he reported seeing smoke at various locations, from ships and trains, and drew some disbelief from people that this was possible. The next station to acquire will be Ascension. 152 hours 40 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo control, 152 hours 40 minutes, Ascension has acquired Apollo 7, very low elevation pass nine tenths of a degree, this will be about a two and a half minute pass.

This is Apollo control 152 hours 44 minutes, Ascension has LOS now and the Mercury will acquire at 153 hours 15 minutes.

This is Apollo Control at 152 hours 47 minutes. We had a brief bit of additional conversation at Ascension after the normal LOS time. The network reports that we went past the predicted LOS by almost a minute. Since the tracking station there is on a hill over 2000 feet high and apparently they can track down past zero degrees which gave us that extra time. There was about 20 or 30 seconds of additional conversation, and we have a tape of that for you now.

This is Apollo Control 153 hours 54 minutes. The Redstone has LOS now. Next station to acquire will be Ascension at 154 hours 12 minutes.

This is Apollo Control 154 hours 12 minutes and Ascension is about to acquire Apollo 7.

This is Apollo Control 154 hours 20 minutes LOS at Ascension. The command module pilot, Don Eisele, is awake now, and conducted the transmission during that pass. He reported that Wally Schirra and Walt Cunningham each took 2 aspirin before beginning their sleep period at 154 hours. The next station to acquire will be the tracking ship Mercury. At 154 hours 48 minutes, this is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 154 hours 48 minutes into the mission. Apollo 7 coming up on the tracking ship Mercury, now. Guam has overlapping coverage this pass.

This is Apollo Control at 155 hours 1 minute. Guam has LOS. Not a lot of conversation during that pass. We're in the period set aside for command module pilot to eat. Donn Eisele had just completed a lithium hydroxide canister change a short time ago. Reported that the stowage location under one of the couches. Apparently it's difficult to remove a fresh canister from that location. The next station to acquire will be the Redstone at 155 hours 20 minutes.

This is Apollo Control at 155 hours 20 minutes into the mission. Apollo 7 just about within the range of the Redstone. We'll stand by for this pass.

This is Apollo Control, 155 hours 28 minutes. Apollo 7 beyond the range of the Redstone. We got a health summary from Donn Eisele that time. Reported he had about 5 hours sleep last night, but he believes that was enough because he is not tired. Says he still has a head cold, but that his ears have cleared some, that his sinus stuffy. The other crewmen, Wally Schirra, Walt Cunningham still complain some about their ears. He has taken no medication other than aspirin. And he was completing his breakfast as we came across the Redstone there. The next station to acquire will be Ascension at 155 hours 46 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control 155 hours 46 minutes into the mission. Apollo 7 in it's 99th revolution now about to tag up at Ascension.

This is Apollo Control 155 hours 54 minutes. Ascension has LOS. Apollo 7 about 10 minutes away from sunrise on this rev. Next station to acquire will be the tracking ship Mercury, at 156 hours 22 minutes. The Mercury is experiencing heavy seas and may have some trouble tracking with its antenna. These heavy seas caused by tropical storm, Gloria in that area. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 156 hours and 22. minutes and Apollo 7 is approaching acquisition at the Mercury. Guam has overlapping coverage on this rev.

This is Apollo Control at 156 hours, 34 minutes. Gums has LOS now. During this pass Donn Eisele reported seeing what he believes to be typhoon Gloria but reported that there was no discernable pattern that he could see on hurricane Gladys in the Gulf of Mexico. Redstone will acquire at 156 hours, 54 ninutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 156 hours 54 minutes into the nission. Apollo 7 coming within range of the Redstone just at sunset on the 99th revolution. We'll stand by.

This is Apollo Control at 157 hours 2 minutes. Redstone has LOS. In approximately 5 minutes Apollo 7 will begin its 100th revolution of the Earth. The next station to acquire will be the Canary Islands station at 157 hours 25 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control 157 hours 25 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're now at the point of acquisition, the Canary Island tracking station, let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control 157 hours 30 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have just lost acquisition with the Canary Islands tracking station. Apollo 7 is just ending a night pass, starting off on its 100th revolution around the Earth. We are anticipating Redstone tracking ship at 158 hours 28 minutes. That's about one hour from now. At 157:31 this is Apollo Control.

Eight minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. It's been about one hour since the last communication with Apollo 7. We're now approaching the Redstone tracking ship and we're just beginning a night pass and let's join the conversation.

This is Apollo Control 158 hours 36 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We are losing acquisition at the Redstone tracking ship. During this pass we had a flight plan update for the next several hours through the fifth service propulsion system burn. The change in that burn is that it will be 66 seconds in duration instead of 60.9 seconds according to the flight plan. Flight plan also had a Delta V or velocity change of 1465.4 feet-per-second now it's indicated that the Delta V velocity change will be 1646. The burn will take place at 165 hours into the mission. We are ending up our 100th revolution of the Earth at 158 hours 37 minutes, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 158 hours 49 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming up now to the acquisition point for Antigua. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control 158:52 into the flight. We have just lost acquisition with Antigua. The next point will be in some six minutes with the Canary Islands. We're beginning our 101st revolution of the Earth at this point and we'll come up on Canary Islands at 158:57. This is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 158 hours 57 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. The last hour and one half we've had a very quiet spacecraft with the exception of a flight plan update that was passed to them about an hour ago. Now we're coming up on acquisition with Canary Islands tracking station, let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control 159 hours 05 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. That's 6 days 15 hours and 05 minutes. We've lost acquisition with the Canary Island tracking station. Our next point of contact will be Honeysuckle Creek at 159 hours 43 minutes. During this pass Astronaut Pogue here in the Control Center had a communication check. Astronaut Eisele indicated that he was - everything was fine on the spacecraft and that he had two sleeping beauties and a sound sleep. At 159 hours 06 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 159 hours 43 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming up now on a pass at Honeysuckle Creek in Australia. It'll be a short pass but stand by.

This is Apollo Control 159 hours 47 minutes into the mission. You heard Cap Com Pogue here at the Control Center indicate that it was a poor contact at Honeysuckle. Our next contact will be with the Redstone tracking station, excuse me, the Redstone tracking ship 160 hours and one minute. At 159:48, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 160 hours one minute into the flight of Apollo 7. We're coming up now on the Redstone tracking ship. We've entered a nightside pass, just had acquisition, let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control 160 hours 10 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We are losing acquisition with the Redstone tracking ship. Our next acquiring point will be at Antigua at 160 hours 20 minutes, 10 minutes from now. With a little less than 100 hours to go in the mission, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 160 hours 20 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're just coming up now on Antigua and just had acquisition; let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control 160 hours 28 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7, Apollo 7 has started on its 102nd revolution of Earth, the next acquisition point will be the Canary Islands at 160 hours 31 minutes. At 160:28 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 160 hours 31 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming up on acquisition with Canary Islands just acquired, we'll stand by.

This is Apollo Control 160 hours 39 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have just lost acquisition at Canary Islands and we have about one minute to go on the S-band Madrid acquisition. There will be no further conversation until we get to Carnarvon at 161:07. At 160:40 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 161 hours, 7 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming upon acquisition with a rather long pass, Carnarvon which has almost a 6 minute pass and then about a minute delay into Honeysuckle Creek for anoter 5 or 6 minute pass. We will stay up for all of the 12 or 14 minutes. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control, 161 hours, 22 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have passed out of acquistion with Honeysuckle Creek in Australia. We will acquire at Redstone Tracking Ship for a short pass at 161 hours, 37 minutes. You just heard an update, a DAP update which is digital auto pilot. Also, the SPS number 5 PUGS update, PUGS standing for propellant utilization and gauging system update. For the service propulsion system engine burn which will occur at 165 hours, ground elapsed time. At 161:23, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 161 hours 37 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We are approaching the Redstone tracking ship and should have acquisition shortly. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control 161 hours 41 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. In about 15 seconds we'll have loss of signal at the Redstone tracking ship. We're in the 102nd revolution, coning to the end of it. We'll be starting very shortly in the 103rd revolution. Our next point of contact will be MILA, that's Merritt Island, Florida at 161 hours 52 minutes. At 161:42 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 161 hours 52 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7, We're acquiring now at the Merritt Island facility, let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control 162 hours 02 minutes into the mission. We have about a two and one-half minute wait for Canary Island acquisition. At 162:02 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 162 hours, 5 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming upon acquisition point with Canary Islands now. Let's listen in,

This is Apollo Control, 162 hours, 13 minutes into the mission. We've just had lost of signal at Canary Islands. Our next point of contact will be Canarvon at 162 hours, 40 minutes. During this pass, CapCom Pogue here in the Control center indicated to astronaut Eisele in the spacecraft that the S-IVB stage of the Saturn booster was ahead of the command and service module off the coast of Africa at about 400,000 feet. The S-IVB is due to reenter at approximately 166 hours into the mission. Eisele made the comment that as near as we could hear - Adios, Big Brute. Eisele is keeping watch on the spacecraft attitude and he says he will try and not fire any thrusters to keep it - to keep it within limits. At 162 hours, 15 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 162 hours 40 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're now coming up on Carnarvon tracking station and our 103rd revolution. We should have acquisit$on in a very few seconds, let's join in.

This is Apollo Control, 162 hours, 56 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have just lost acquisition at Honeysuckle and we will be coming upon Guaymas, Mexico Tracking Station at 163 hours, 20 minutes, toward the end of the one hundred third revolution. During this pass we heard CapCom Pogue talk first of all about the camera onboard. The question Eisele had asked him of how many frames were in the camera. And Pogue indicated in this pass that there were 165 useable frames, total frames in the camera and after that it just kept clicking and there was no way to tell that there no some frames left. Eisele had a reply to that which was "Oh no, you gotta be kidding", which probably indicated that he did not realize that. Eisele indicated he just got a picuture of Canarvon and later indicated that he took three pictures of Carnarnon and terrain feature pictures of Austrailia. Pogue indicated that our ground readouts and the control center show the fuel cell number two condenser temperature at 174 degrees. He also indicated that if it went to 176 degrees, the alarm indication light will go on and not to sweat it. There was no reason for concern. In that fuel cell process, the hydrogen pump - provides a continuous circulation of hydrogern in primary loop. And it withdraws water vapor of and heet from the cell stacks. The - then the primary bypass valve regulates the flow through the hydrogen which is called the regenerator and takes exhaust heat to the incoming hydrogen gas as it is required to maintain the proper cell temperature. The exhaust gas flows to the condenser where the waste heats transfer to the glycol and the result temperature decrease liquifies some of the water vapor. It's this condenser that he was refering to when he indicated that it was now reading 174 degrees. At 162 hours, 59 minutes into the mission, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 163 hours 20 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're now coning up on acquisition for Guaymas, Mexico, we should have it in a few seconds. The astronauts should all be up now and in an eating period, let's stand by for conversation.

This is Apollo Control, 163 hours, 37 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have 2 minutes, roughly, to wait before acquistion at the Canary Islands at 39 past the hour. During this pass we heard fuel cell number 2 condenser situation talked about. The suggestion from the spacecraft was to open the circuit now, cool it down, and put the fuel cell back on the line again just before the SPS number 5 burn on the next revolution. That was what they were instructed to do. To open she circuit and put it back on the line at 164 hours, 15 minutes into the mission which would be 15 minutes before the service propulsion system burn. It was also indicated that two fuel cells, however, can handle the loads involved. Cunningham indicated he had 15 clicks or 7 and 1/2 ounces of water. He had 6 and 1/2 to 7 hours of sleep. And that Schirra the spacecraft commander had had 4 and 1/2 hours of sleep. Cunningham indicated again that he understood that astronaut Pogue our CapCom here is a big TV fan of theirs. Schirra said that he would like to try for an Emmy for the best weekly series at which point astronaut Pogue here in the control center said you mean a Hammy. Cunningham indicated that ham and applesauce is a great dish. And Schirra said that steak and eggs are better for the CDR, meaning the spacecraft commander. We have 1 minute to wait for acquisition at Canary Islands. We will just stay on the line here and standby for conversation.

This is Apollo Control, 163 hours, 47 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have just lost acquisition at the Canary Islands and we are looking for Apollo 7 at 164 hours, 1 minute at Tananarive. At Carnarvon we are looking for it at 164 hours, 14 ninutes. At 163:47 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 164 hours 01 minute into the mission of Apollo 7. We are coming up on a pass, a very short pass, a 2 minute pass at Tananarive, We should have acquisition in a very few seconds. Let's stand by.

This is Apollo Control 164 hours 03 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We just had a voice check and that was all at Tananarive. We are standing by for Carnarvon, which will be 164 hours 14 minutes. At 164:03, this is-Apollo Control." [Long pause]

This is Apollo Control 164 hours 14 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We are on our 104th revolution, approaching Carnarvon acquisition, approaching Australia. After this Carnarvon and Honeysuckle pass, we will have an update of the past 8 hours of activity, or 7 and 1/2 hours of activity. Now let's join the conversation.

This is Apollo Control; 164 hours, 29 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have lost acquisition at Honeysuckle. We are anticipating contact with the Huntsville ship at 164:47. For a recap of the last, roughly 7-1/2 hours of the mission, from 157 hours through 161 hours, it was relatively quiet. At 160 hours, Donn Eisele reported he had taken 12 clicks, or 6 ounces of water. At that time, he was dumping the waste water. He was at 53 percent on the dump and bringing it down to 25 percent. At 161 hours into the mission, CapCom Pogue here at the Control Center, sent up the information to Eisele that Apollo 7 had a go for 121 dash 1, which means 120 revolutions. At 162 hours into the mission the Canary Island tracking station acquisition Pogue told Apollo 7 that the S-IVB stage, the Saturn stage, was ahead of the command and service module off the coast of Africa at about 400, 000 feet. That S-IVB stage is due to reenter at approximately 166 hours into the mission. Eisele's comment at that time was, "Adios Big Brute". Eisele at that time was keeping a watch on the spacecraft's attitude trying not to fire any thrusters to keep it within limits. At 162 hours 40 minutes over Carnarvon it was indicated that 165 frames were the maximum number of frames in the camera. Eisele had asked that question of the ground before, and after that it just keeps turning and there is no indication that there is no more film available. Eisele's comment there was, "Oh no, you've got to be kidding." Eisele then indicated that he had gotten three pictures of Carnarvon and terrain features of Australia. At that time CapCom Pogue indicated that our ground readouts here showed that the fuel cell number 02 condenser temperature was 174 degrees F and that if it went to 176 degrees F the alarm indication light would go on and not to sweat it because there was no reason for concern and we were watching it here on the ground. That condenser, the way it works on the fuel cell is the hydrogen pump provides a continuous circulation of hydrogen in the primary loop of the fuel cell, and it takes water vapor and heat from the spec - from the fuel cells - and through a series of bypass valves it regulates the flow through the hydrogen, what's called a regenerator, and through that to impart exhaust heat to the incoming hydrogen gas which of course is cryogenic, as that is required to maintain the proper temperature in the cell. Then the exhaust gas flows to the condenser, which is the thing in question, where the waste heat is transferred to the glycol and the resultant temperature decrease liquifies some of the water vapor. Well, this is the condenser that is in question as far as the temperature was concerned at that time. At 163 hours 20 minutes into the mission at Guaymas, Cunningham indicated, who was then awake, that fuel cell number 02 condenser the light had gone on, it was now an open circuit, and we are going to cool it down and put it on again. That was also according to ground instructions just before the SPS burn which was scheduled to occur at 165 hours into the mission. Cunningham indicated that he had taken 15 clicks or 7 and a half ounces of water and he had had 6 and a half to 7 hours of good sleep, and that the spacecraft commander, Schirra, had had 4 and a half hours of sleep. He also indicated he understood Pogue, the CapCom was a big TV fan of theirs, and Schirra chimed in about the TV that he would like to try for an Emmy for the best weekly series. Pogue replied, "You mean a Hammy." We have had during the pass at Carnarvon further comment concerning fuel cell number 02 and the fact that Pogue indicated it should go on the line at 164 hours into the mission. Cunningham indicated that possibly we might get a warning light again if we put it on that soon, that if we waited till 164 hours, 45 minutes or 15 minutes before the service propulsion system burn, that it might be better. However, at 164 hours 29 minutes fuel cell number 02 was put back on the line. The fuel cell number 01 then was indicating by an onboard reading by Cunningham that it was 178 degrees, and the condenser reading - and Pogue the CapCom, indicated that it was coming down, that we had a light reading on the ground - that it was coming down. At 165 hours into the mission we will go in for a fifth service propulsion system burn. It will be a performance test of the service propulsion system or engine, and it will be a propellant utilization and engaging system test, and also a control mode changeover test. The control mode changeover will be initiated under the guidance and navigation control mode first when the start the burn, and the last 30 seconds of the burn it will change over to a mode where the pilot onboard, Schirra, will control it with the hand controller. The resulting DELTA-V, or change in velocity, will be approximately 1646 feet per second. This will be the longest burn of the mission for the service propulsion system. It will be preceded by a 20 second ullage burn, and the total SPS burn will be 66 seconds long. In the flight plan the burn originally had been scheduled for 61.5 seconds for a change in velocity of 1465 feet per second. The resulting orbital change will put the spacecraft at an apogee of 240.6 miles, and perigee or low point of 89.8 miles. As I say, this manuever will occur at 165 hours into the mission, which is 6 days 21 hours, that will at 7:00 Central time this morning. Our spacecraft sighting table indicates that for the 18th of october, this morning, the command and service modules, providing the skies are clear, could be viewed from Houston, Texas here, and it could be viewed approaching from the west southwest at 6:54 A.M., some 10 minutes from now, or a little more. Maximum elevation would be 38 degrees due south at 6:59 A.M. and it will leave going east at 7:02 A.M. There will be no TV scheduled for today and again the S-IVB stage of the Saturn rocket vehicle should reenter at 166 hours ground elapsed time. At 164:40 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 164 hours, 47 minutes into the flight of Apollo 7, We are coming up now on the tracking ship Huntsville, and after that we have simultaneous acquisition almost by Guaymas and we'll go into a Stateside pass and we'll be live through that pass and during that pass we should have our 5th service propulsion system engine burn. Let's stand by.

This is Apollo Control; you just heard the crew in the countdown and the checkhst prethrust checkout for the SPS number 5 firing. We are waiting now for a 2 minute warning for the firing, which should come up in about 8 seconds from now.

This is Apollo Control. The first 36 seconds of this burn will be handled by the G6N, guidance and navigation system, and the last 30 seconds will be by Schirra's manual thrust vector control, with his hand controller. We are now about 47 seconds away from the burn." [Long pause]

The SPS engine is now trusting - the spacecraft commander Schirra said, "Yaba-daba-doo." This will be a 66 second thrust Delta V; the velocity will change 1,646 feet per second.

This is Apollo Control. They are now securing the systems onboard. The SPS firing has completed. [Long pause]

This is Apollo Control; the results of that burn, you heard, at 89 by 243 nautical mile orbit we had aimed for 89.8 by 240.6, so that's pretty well on the money.

This is Apollo Control. There are several things to be gotten from this SPS burn. Some of the requirements were to analyze the inertial measuring unit performance, the entry monitoring system performance, the SPS performance, and some of these readouts of course we don't have at this time but it certainly looks good from here.

This is Apollo Control. Spacecraft commander Schirra just indicated the machine performed beautifully. This of course must also refer to the manual thrust vector control or his controlling the SPS engine during the last 30 seconds of that burn as well as the functioning of the spacecraft and the engine during the rest of the burn.

This is Apollo Control. The command and service module total weight before this burn was 29 494 pounds before the thrust. After the thrust it was scheduled to be 25 036 pounds which would be a difference of 4 458 pounds. This is Apollo Control, 165 hours, 10 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7; we have had from all appearances a successful 5th and longest in duration SPS burn, which was scheduled to last for some 66 seconds, 30 seconds of which was manual thrust vector controlled by spacecraft commander Schirra. The resulting orbital situation now is 89 nautical miles perigee, or a low point, by 243 nautical miles apogee, or high point. The original aim was 89.8 nautical miles perigee, 240.6 nautical miles apogee. Spacecraft commander Schirra indicated the machine performed beautifully. We don't have any more definitive readouts at this time. We anticipate contact with the Canary Islands tracking station at 165 hours, 14 minutes into the mission, some 3 minutes from this time. At 165:11, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control Houston at 165 hours 22 minutes into the flight. Over the Canary Islands a few minutes ago Wally Schirra had some observations about the press corps covering Apollo 7. Here is that conversation.

This is Apollo Control Houston 165 hours 31 minutes into the flight. We are about to tag up with Apollo 7 by Tananarive. Let's listen.

This is Apollo Control. You heard Wally Schirra note during that pass the water gun is sputtering a bit. As he put it it's putting out more gas than it is water. We'll be taking a look at that system here as the spacecraft swings across the Indian Ocean. At 165 hours 41 minutes into the flight this is Apollo Control.

At 165 hours S2 minutes. And through Carnarvon, we are having a discussion with the crew about fuel cells. Let's listen." [Long pause]

This is Apollo Control, Houston at 166 hours, 15 minutes into the flight. A few minutes ago it was confirmed to us through Norad and through the Goddard Space Flight Center sources, that the S-IVB, the second stage of the Apollo 7 booster, has reentered the earth's atmosphere, and apparently burned up. The reentry took place south and east of the Indian Pennisula in the Indian Ocean. Presently estimating the time of reentry at 4:30 am, Central Daylight Time, on this time. We have acquired through Hawaii and here's how that conversation is going.

This is Apollo Control here, Well, we seem to have a very reactive, jolly crew this morning. Upon being read the item of the upcoming marriage of Mrs. Kennedy and Mr. Onassis, we thought we heard Captain Schirra remark "That's Greek to me." - and a little later they all seemed to take great delight in the fact that Wally's secretary is being deluged with the cards and letters which were advertised earlier in the mission. The comm is a little choppy here over the Huntsville, but we'll continue to monitor.

This is Apollo control here. This fuel discussion, quads A through D, as in dog, read like this presently, according to our televised data coming through from telemetry. Quad A 150 pounds, quad B 149, quad C, charlie, 146, quad D, as in dog. 162. The SPS fuel remaining 1,118 pounds, the SPS oxidizer remaining, 1,859 pounds. We used about 1700 hundred pounds of fuel and nearly 3,000 pounds of oxidizer, 2800 hundred, in that big burn this morning.

Apollo Control Houston at 166 hours 55 minutes. A minute or two ago we acquired over Ascension.

This is Apollo Control Houston, at 167 hours, 25 minutes into the flight. The crew has been having a late breakfast for about the past hour, and we had no contact with them through Tananarive; the communications were so choppy during the earlier pass, it was just decided not to attempt it. This morning, we did put in a call and establish the line but that's all that was done. The spacecraft is in a cold soak, service propulsion system cold soak, test, wherein for approximately 1 complete rev, the attitude will be held so that the service propulsion systems sees only cold space and not the Sun. We have put in a call through Carnarvon however little more than an identifying answer has come back. Let's listen.

We have lost signal through Carnarvon and ye will pick up the Spacecraft in Hawaii. Guam will be very low. I doubt they even established contact. About 167 hours 55 minutes into the flight, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control Houston 167 hours and 51 minutes into the flight on the 106th revolution around the Earth. A call has gone out to the spacecraft through Hawaii, we haven't gotten a "Roger". Our apogee and perigee right now 89.9 nautical miles by 244.4 nautical miles. Earlier today you heard discussions about the fuel cells. Let's take a look and see how they're fairing, reading data coming to us through Hawaii the load sharing looks like this: 32 percent on fuel cell 01, 34.9 on fuel cell 02, and 35.1 on fuel cell 03. They're pulling within 24 to 26 amps each, and all in all are behaving quite well. The temperature started to mount on one of the fuel cells earlier, and it was taken off the line. Our present temperatures read like thus: fuel cell 01 160 degrees F, and fuel cell 02 178 degrees F. Fuel cell 01 161. We'll monitor here the Hawaii pass and come back with more information about consumables in just a moment.