Apollo 7

Apollo Control, Houston here, 240 hours, 8 minutes into the flight. From Carnarvon, we have some tape, we're in Guam now and we'll just bridge over and pick up the conversation that has developed there

This is Apollo Control, at 240 hours, 16 minutes. Or to say it another way, 19 hours, 22 minutes from retrofire. Deorbit, as it is called in Apollo. We have tagged up with Apollo 7 over Hawaii and here is how the conversation is going.

This is Apollo Control, Houston, at 241 hours and 33 minutes and back from lunch. In the last half hour to 45 minutes since our last transmission, we've had a very brief chat with 7 at Tananarive and we're about to acquire with the ship Mercury. Let's hear the Tananarive tag first.

And this is Apollo Control. That wraps it up via Guam, at 241 hours, 45 minutes into the mission.

Apollo Control, Houston here 241 hours, 55 minutes. We have acquisition via Hawaii. Here is the pass.

This is Apollo Control at 242 hours, 47 minutes into the flight. At Tananarive we have already done a brief tag up; I don't know how much communication will result and one new time of interest has been generated this morning; we are now estimating splash time in the morning that's based on a 164-1 nominal landing point. Time of 6:11 am, Central Daylight Time - 6:11. Here is the beginning o the Tananarive pass.

Apollo Control at 243 hours, 18 minutes over the Ship Mercury, we had the following communication.

This is Apollo Control, Houston here at 244 hours, 11 minutes into the flight. And we are 15 hours, 27 minutes away from retrofire and the only item, two items now, on our Flight Plan that are very significant, one reads, "Initiate deorbit storage." Command Module Pilot Donn Eisele is well along into the sleep period, and about an hour from now the crew will do a ECS redundant component check, and take a careful look at their environmental control system. Some minutes ago we had a conversation with the crew over Hawaii. Deke Slayton discussed the helmet suit configuration for reentry with the crew. We have that tape and let's listen now.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. In the discussion you heard Deke Slayton reference a Gemini 3 incident. That was when John Young and Gus Grissom reentering the earth's atmosphere on their parachute, and the Gemini parachute, and when it went to 2 point suspension, which was the landing mode for Gemini, the spacecraft popped - moved violently, and the crew, the crew and the engineers planning the mission hadn't anticipated the violence of the movement, and the result was that Gus' head banged forward and hit the window on his side, the commander's side of the spacecraft, and cracked his visor. It didn't do any damage to Gus' person, but it did, it was an unexpected jolt and it was a severe one. Other Gemini pilots took a lesson from that and made sure their heads were restrained and that was the - that's the background on the Gemini reference in that conversation. At 244 hours, 18 minutes into the flight, this is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Mission Control Houston 244 hours, 27 minutes. At Tananarive, we tagged up with the spacecraft and this is how it went.

This is Apollo Control at 244 hours, 44 minutes. Apollo 7, being acquired at the tracking ship Mercury. We'll standby for this pass.

Apollo Control at 244 hours, 52 minutes. Mercury has LOS. Walt Cunningham describing a colorful sunrise during this pass, and rather extensive photography of that sunrise. Hawaii will acquire next at 245 hours, 3 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo control at 245 hours, 03 minutes, Apollo is within range at Hawaii.

This is Apollo control 245 hours, 09 minutes into the mission, Hawaii has LOS now. During this pass we completed another of the daily environmental control system redundant component checks. Next station to acquire is the tracking ship Redstone at 245 hours, 19 minutes. This is mission control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 246 hours, 08 minutes into the mission. During the news conference, Apollo 7 touched base at the Redstone and at Ascension. There was no conversation at Redstone other than an acknowledgment that we were standing by. There was a brief conversation at Ascension. Wally Schirra reported that he has powered down the SCS stabilization and control system. We'll bring you that tape now.

This is Apollo control at 246 hours, 20 minutes into the mission. Apollo 7 will be coming out of the night side into sunrise again as it is acquired at Mercury. Mercury has acquisition, we'll stand by for a call.

This is Apollo control at 246 hours, 28 minutes, Mercury has LOS. During this pass Walt Cunningham had a couple of questions, one concerning the operations of fuel cell 2 tomorrow, the other concerning the possibility of taking the primary evaporator off the line tomorrow, using radiators only on that loop and activating the secondary coolant loop. We hope to have the answer to his question over the Redstone. The Redstone acquires at 246 hours, 52 minutes. This is mission control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 246 hours, 52 minutes into the mission. Apollo 7 nearing the end of its 155th revolution. About to be acquired at the tracking ship Redstone. We'll stand by for a call.

Apollo Control at 247 hours, 01 minute. Redstone has LOS. Apollo 7 will enter the night side of the 156th revolution about 5 minutes before acquisition at Ascension. Wally Schirra and Walt Cunningham will be in the middle of their dinner hour at Ascension. Due to acquire there at 247 hours, 18 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 247 hours, 17 minutes. Ascension has acquired Apollo 7.

Apollo Control at 247 hours, 28 minutes. LOS at Ascension. Wally Schirra and Walt Cunningham preparing for bed very shortly. Their sleep period due to start 248 hours, just after acquisition at the Mercury. Donn Eisele should be up when we contact Apollo 7 next at the Mercury. Acquisition time there 247 hours, 56 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 247 hours, 56 minutes into the mission. The tracking ship Mercury is just acquired. Guam has overlapping coverage on this rev.

This is Apollo Control, 248 hours, 8 minutes into the mission. Guam has LOS. During this pass before beginning their period, Wally Schirra and Walt Cunningham had a discussion with Gene Kranz, the Flight Director on this team, the last shift of the Kranz team in Apollo 7, each of the crewmen expressed their appreciation to him for the support of this team. Donn Eisele is awake now. He's getting his breakfast. Next station to acquire will be the tracking ship Redstone in the south Pacific at 248 hours, 27 minutes. This is mission control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 248 hours, 27 minutes. Apollo 7 in acquisition at the Redstone now. We'll stand by for a call.

Apollo Control at 248 hours, 37 minutes. Redstone has LOS now. During this pass, Donn Eisele asked for permission to spend a few pounds of RCS propellant for photographic purposes. He'd like to use up as much of the unexposed film as possible, during his watch, and he asked us for some suggestions on areas to photograph. As you heard, we will pass this information up to him over the Mercury during the next pass at that station. Apollo 7 about to enter its 137th revolution. Ascension will be the first station on that rev. We'll acquire at 248 hours, 53 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 248 hours, 44 minutes. A decision has been made not to move the primary landing area 164 dash 1. The area will not be moved. Areas 164 dash 1 will remain at these coordinates 27 minutes 38 degrees - 27 degrees 38 minutes north latitude, 64 degrees 10 minutes west longitude. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 248 hours, 53 minutes into the mission. Apollo 7 coming up on Ascension now.

Apollo control at 249 hours, 04 minutes, Ascension has LOS. During this pass we gave Donn Eisele his RCS propellant quantities remaining, 553 pounds. We updated him with reentry information for each of the remaining revs and the (garble) and he advised us that all three crewmen had taken the decongestant tablet on schedule. Next station to acquire will be the tracking ship Mercury at 249 hours, 32 minutes. This is mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 249 hours, 32 minutes. Apollo 7 coming up on the Mercury. Guam has overlapping coverage.

Apollo Control at 249 hours, 44 minutes. Guam has LOS. Donn Eisele completed fuel cell O₂ purge. Got permission to expend some RCS propellant for photography purposes, and we gave him a few recommendations on what he might photograph. Next station to acquire will be Redstone at 250 hours, 02 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo control at 250 hours, 02 minutes, and the Redstone has acquisition.

Apollo control at 250 hours, 13 minutes, Apollo 7 beyond the Redstone's range now. During this pass Donn Eisele powered up the command module computer. Ron took a look at the navigation vector, determined that it looked good and the computer powered down again now. Apollo 7 nearing the end of the 157 revolution. Next station to acquire will be Ascension at 250 hours, 31 minutes. This is mission control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 2S0 hours, 31 minutes into the mission. Apollo 7 coming up on Ascension now. Canaries will acquire about the time Ascension LOS. We'll stand by.

This is Apollo Control at 250 hours and 41 minutes. Canaries has LOS. Apollo 7 will be out of touch for about the next hour. The next station to acquire will be Redstone in the South Pacific. At 251 hours, 38 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 251 hours, 58 minutes. Apollo 7 coming up on the Redstone now after about an hour of being out of touch. We'll stand by for this pass.

This is Apollo Control at 251 hours, 49 minutes. Redstone has LOS. The flight controller team lead Gerry Griffin is in the process of relieving the Gene Kranz team. To recap the activities of this shift picked up in revolution 154 over the tracking ship Mercury. The crew was doing sunrise photography at that time. Walt Cunningham gave a rather colorful description of the sunrise. Completed an environmental control system redundant point check over Hawaii on that rev. And over Ascension on rev 155, Wally Schirra reported shutting down the SCS for the evening. That same rev over the Mercury, Walt Cunningham came up with a couple of questions he wanted some advice from the ground on. One was on fuel cell 2 which the condenser temperatures have been running a little higher than normal. He wondered about taking fuel cell 2 off the line if it got too warm in the morning, letting it cool down, and putting it back on the line just before the de-orbit burn. He also advised that he had over serviced the primary evaporator today, and thought it might be a good idea to use the secondary coolant loop for the suits circuit, and use radiators only on the primary loop. We haven't passed any answers up yet on either of these items. The EECOM officer and his assistants are still in the process of studying them, and the answers will be passed up prior to the time they'll be needed. We got a battery status over Ascension the start of REV 156. Batteries looked good. Over the Mercury on that rev all of the crew talked to Gene Kranz, and expressed their appreciation for the support of his team during this mission. Donn Eisele was awake, and at this time Schirra and Cunningham started their sleep period. And that same revolution over the Redstone, Donn Eisele asked for permission to use a few pounds of RCS propellant. He wants to use up as much unexposed film as possible, and he asked for suggestions on areas that he might photograph. He got permission to use the film and some suggested areas over Ascension at the beginning of REV 157. REV 157 over the Mercury we had a fuel cell O₂ purge. Over the Redstone on that pass we powered up the command module computer, checked the navigation vectors. They looked very good, and the computer was powered down. We're now about to end the 158th revolution. At the start of this rev we've got a read-out on pyrotechnic batteries. And just now over the Redstone we advised Donn Eisele that a cabin cold soak which had been listed as an optional activity would not be necessary. He reported the cabin temperature at 65 degrees. He said it was very comfortable. During this shift the decision was also made to keep the primary recovery area 164 dash 1 at its present coordinates 27 degrees 38 minutes north, 64 degrees 10 minutes west. There had been some discussion of moving it slightly because of a front, but that will not cause a problem so that primary will not be moved. Present ephemeris of the spacecraft, apogee 228.5 nautical miles, perigee 90 nautical miles. Showing an orbital period of 90 minutes 28 seconds, weight in orbit 24,021 pounds. Next station to acquire will be Antigua at 251 minutes - 251 hours, 59 minutes. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control; 252 hours into the mission. We have acquisition at Antigua, Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control, 252 hours, 05 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have lost contact with Antigua. We're anticipating picking up the spacecraft at Canary Islands at 252:09. That's about 4 minutes from now. This is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo control 252 hours, 09 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're acquiring now at Canary Island tracking station. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo control 252 hours, 18 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have lost acquisition at Canary Islands our next point of contact will be Honeysuckle Creek at 255. At 252:18, this is Apollo control.

This is Apollo Control; 252 hours, 55 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming up on Acquisition at Honeysuckle Creek. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control; 253 hours into the mission. We're some little more than 6 hours, 38 minutes away from retrofire. We have lost acquisition at Honeysuckle. We're anticipating the Redstone tracking ship at 253:13. We have a weather report for the West Atlantic zone for tomorrow morning, which indicates that we'll have a weak cool front oriented northeast-southwest dividing the zone approximately in half. The weather on either side of the cool front will not be appreciably different. The prime target point will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with the ceiling 1,500 to 1,800 feet; visibility 10 miles; scattered showers; wind from 210 degrees at 15 knots; seas 3 to 5 feet; and temperatures in the mid 70's. So, all in all, it looks like a fairly good morning. At 255:01 in the 159th revolution, this Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 253 hours, 13 minutes into the flight of Apollo 7. We're approaching the Redstone Tracking Ship. We should have acquisition in a very few seconds. Let's listen in.">

This is Apollo Control, 253 hours, 24 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. For the past couple of hours we've had a very quiet spacecraft. All systems are functioning properly though. They're anticipating Antigua at 253 hours, 32 minutes. We're now completing the 159th revolution at near our apogee of 228 nautical miles. We're approaching the West Coast of South America at 253 hours, 25 minutes, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control; 253 hours, 32 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're just starting on our 160th revolution of the Earth. We have three revolutions to go before our re-entry. We should have acquisition with the Antigua tracking station in a very short while. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control; 253 hours, 41 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We will lose acquisition at Antigua in a very few seconds and we will pick up acquisition at Canary Islands at 253:44 about two and a half minutes from now. We're now beginning the 160th revolution. After this revolution we will have three more to go before deorbit and re-entry. We'll stand by now for the Canary Island pass.

This is Apollo Control, 253 hours, 54 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have lost acquisition at the Canary Islands. And in a few seconds, we will lose acquisition at Madrid. Our next point of contact will be Carnarvon at 254:21. The last couple of hours as we said before have been exceptionally quiet - the quietest during the mission for a light period of time. All goes well with the spacecraft at this time. At 253:54, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control; 254 hours, 20 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We are now approaching the Carnarvon tracking station; let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control, 254 hours, 37 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're anticipating the Redstone Tracking Station acquisition time at 254:50, some 13 minutes from now. During that pass we heard astronaut Eisele talking to CapCom Pogue here in the Control Center indicating that Schirra and Cunningham were asleep. He also indicated he had stowed everything he could without disturbing Schirra and Cunningham. He was shortly going to put on his spacesuit. He said at the beginning of the next pass he would do a P51 and a P52. The P51 of course being the inertial measuring unit orientation program. And the P52 program being the inertial measuring alignment. Astronaut Pogue indicated that for entry the three fuel cells should be put on the line - all three of them that the primary coolant loop should be on with the evaporator shut down and the secondary bypass radiators with the water boilers on. And the secondary evaporator should be on at 258 hours. At 254 hours, 38 minutes, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control; 254 hours, 49 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming up now on acquisition with the Redstone tracking ship on the 160th revolution; let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control; 254 hours, 58 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We are completing our 160th revolution very shortly, at that point we'll have three more to go. At this time, it is 04 hours, 41 minutes and 01 second to the initiation of the retrofiring of SPS engine for reentry. Our next point of contact will be Merritt Island facility in Florida. They should have acquisition at 255 hours, 06 minutes into the mission. At 254:58, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control; 255 hours, 06 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We have a retrofire time that was just passed to us; retrofire time now stands at 259 hours, 39 minutes 16 seconds, which would be 5:42:01 Central Daylight Time. We now are coming up with acquisition at Merritt Island, Florida tracking facility; let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control, 255 hours, 17 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. On that pass we heard astronaut Eisele indicate that voice communications were not too good because there was a loud squeal on the line. CapCom Pogue indicated that we're checking on it. We have acquisition coming up with Canary Islands Tracking Station in about 2 minutes. So we'll standby for the Canary Islands Pass.

This is Apollo Control, 255 hours, 28 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We've lost acquisition at Canary Islands. We're anticipating our next acquisition point to be Carnarvon at 255:55. We're now in our one hundred sixty first revolution. After the completion of this revolution we have two more to go for the Apollo 7 mission. At 255:29, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control; 255 hours, 54 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're just coming up on acquisition with Carnarvon; let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control; 256 hours, 12 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We are losing acquisition at Honeysuckle, anticipating Guaymas at 2536. During our Carnarvon pass we heard astronaut Eisele indicating that Schirra and Cunningham were eating and the spacecraft. And Eisele is presently in his suit - in his lumpy suit, as he put it. The whole team offered congratulations and the Apollo 7 crew responded and send regards and talked to the flight director, Griffin. Astronaut Swigert is now on as CapCom as the pime came - the launch team comes on duty here at the Control Center. Astronaut Swigert indicated fuel cell number 2 is close to the master alarm but that they should not be concerned about it on board. Eisele came back indicating that Schirra would possibly like to take fuel cell number 2 off the line for now and let the temperatures go down and put it on the line prior to re-entry. And astronaut Swigert, the CapCom, indicated no that it won't reach more than 185 degrees during retro fire and therefore there is no concern. At 256 hours, 14 minutes into the mission this is Apollo Control."

This is Apollo Control, 256 hours, 36 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We're coming upon the completion of revolution 161. After this there are two more to go for reentry. We should have acquisition at Guaymas, Mexico very shortly. Letts listen in.

This is Apollo Control; 256 hours, 52 minutes into the mission of Apollo 7. We are beginning the 162nd revolution, we will complete this revolution, go one more, retrofire and land Apollo 7. Next point of contact will be Canary Islands, it will only be about 2½ minutes from this time so we'll stand by for any possible voice contact. At 256:53 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 257 hours, 31 minutes. We've just tagged up on Carnarvon.

Apollo Control here. That fuel cell temperature climbed about a hundred and eighty nine degrees. We've seen it higher in the flight but for various reasons, mainly a look-see, a chance to give the cell some time to cool down. That's why they decided to take it off line and let it cool down before they reach the stateside area again. At 257 hours, 47 minutes, this is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 258 hours, 04 minutes into the flight. We are due to acquire here just any second via Guaymas; via the ship Huntsville first and then break into Guaymas, let's tune in and listen.

Apollo Control here. Fuel cell number 2 as you heard it back on the line, its temperature when we took it off the line. Back at Australia it was about 189 degrees, it's now 169 degrees compared to fuel cells 1 and 3. Both of which read - a temperature of 163. Fuel cells starts its gentle climb up again, it's prone to run a little warmer than the other two. It has been throughout the flight. The load sharing is quite evenly distributed around 33 percent. And the amps are shown also in equal distribution - 27 to 28 amps from each cell. In a very few minutes we'll start what might in this Olympic year be called the gun lap. The final lap and if it is anything like some past manned flight - we can expect the crew to be giving a sign off to the ground stations as they pass over them. You heard some of that activity last night. As the crew said good-bye and thanked the ship Mercury, the Guam station, the Redstone, other stations that will not be seen today. Flight Director is asking his positions. Now for any last minute instruction, to speak now or be quiet. And for the record, the Flight Director has said we know of no more configuration requirements. Here is the COM again.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. That will wrap up the conversation for this pass as the crew makes additional final checks on their stowage list. We're getting some information on one of the rescue aircraft - Kindley Kindley rescue 1 - I think I heard had some which took off very long ago. And had some engine trouble shortly after take off, has returned to Kindley and will be replaced. Its replacement apparently has not yet left but - we'll give you more information on that as we get lt. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 258 hours, 32 minutes. We should have acquisition by the Canaries for this last circuit just any second; here goes the first call.

And, that will wrap up any communication possibilities via Canaries. Be back up in about 6 or 7 minutes through Tananarive

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 258 hours, 51 minutes into the flight and just any second we should get our last tag up through Tananarive.

And that will wrap it up via Tananarive.

Apollo Control, Houston. The first call is going out by Carnarvon.

This is Apollo Control, Houston; we are about to lose signal by the Honeysuckle Station in Australia for the last trip in this 163rd rev. We'll make Hawaii at 259 hours, 33 minutes, about 14 minutes from now. The weather out there in the recovery area this morning is quite good; the seas are described by news almost a dead calm. Wave heights on the order of 1 foot. They have had some showers in the area, but they are somewhat overcast, 15 hundred feet and broken. Gentle winds - the recovery point about 950 miles east of Cape Kennedy. We have just talked to the flight deck of the Essex; they are all set. We are sure the airplanes and the helicopters have been deployed and they are ready for their recovery role. In addition to the Essex, there is the destroyer The Storms, which is running with the Essex at 1500 yards to the East to rescue aircraft, Rescue 1, Rescue 2, operating out of Kinley Airforce Base in Bermuda. There is an AIRA aircraft, radar aircraft, capable of communicating and receiving signals from space; that aircraft is out of Patrick Air Force Base in Florida and the recovery helos, you'll hear reference to them, they are Recovery 1 and Recovery 2, both of which are backups, recovery choppers; recovery 3 will be the prime recovery chopper this morning. All 3 are Sikorsky helicopters; that will carry 5 - a crew of 2 or 3; and about 3 swimmers. In addition, the helicopters designated 1, a Sikorsky 3D helicopter, and finally and the most important helicopter, that one designated Air Boss. And it's entirely possible Air Boss will provide us with a running on scene copy, overview or commentary of the action. If that's a good signal, we will patch it right out to you, because obviously they have the best vantage point. At 259 hours, 22 minutes, this is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 259 hours, 33 minutes. In just any moment, we should acquire the spacecraft via Hawaii and then there will be a handover to the ship Huntsville as we start our course across the States. You have heard, in the last few days, a lot of discussion about the pressure on the eardrum. That pressure, the pressure will change in the cabin and it should go from 5 pounds starting its climb to sea level pressure of about 14.7. The change will occur at around 27,000 feet and by the time we are down to 10,000, we should very nearly be at 14 pounds. So if our communication with the spacecraft is good back from the recovery area, we may be able to get a report on how the ears fared while the crew is on main chute. The first call has gone out to the spacecraft but we have not heard their return call. We will stand by until we get that.

Mark 1 minute from the deorbit burn, within 2 minutes after that deorbit burn, the spacecraft and the service module should separate. The spacecraft will be in a pitchdown 48 degree attitude at the time of the deorbit burn, about a 300 foot per second burn, some 10 seconds duration.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, retrofire.

Schirra says we are burning right on the mark.

And we show that indication here on the ground with 4 good ball values, cutoff and to emphasize the point, Wally added 'Very good.' Good retroburn.

We are reading 259 hours, 39 minutes, and already we are 35 seconds counting up from the retrofire point, 35 seconds from it. We will take -

That is Walt Cunningham you hear calling out those checklist items, and primarily Wally Schirra answering, Donn Eisele answering a few of them.

That retroburn took place at an altitude of about 180 miles, 180 miles, and at a point on Earth of about 500 miles east of Hawaii.

We are standing by for some word on separation. Still do not have confirmation on that event.

The spacecraft is still about a thousand miles west of the Baja California coast approximately over New Orleans; we'll be at 400,000 feet or 80 miles up, and at that point it will begin the warmer part of its journey. About 3 minutes after New Orleans, it will be over the Florida Coast and will be at an altitude of about 35 miles, and it will be quite warm. We will lose it during this 3 minutes, that will be our black out period.

And that confirms separation of that last communication from Cunningham. We don't know the time on it, but it is confirmed the service module and the command module have separated.

And as we go over the West Coast of the lower California Pennisula we are at about 120 miles altitude, and descending rapidly down what's come to be known as vacuum hill.

And we are 9 - 10 minutes from deorbit burn, we are at a hundred miles altitude; we are now over the Mexican mainland, and proceeding east. The line of flight will bring us across southern Texas, right over Houston, on east to New Orleans, and along the Florida coast. Flight director advises the deorbit maneuver was normal in all respects. This is Apollo Control standing by.

The spacecraft has reported heads down; the pilots are heads down, and they have just started a roll attitude, a roll left maneuver, controlled by the computer, and they will roll up to about 55 degrees and hold that, for whatever a period of time the computer believes is necessary and then they will execute the opposite maneuver. It's called about a half lift reentry. Max G on the order of 5. This is Apollo Control, Houston. Standing by.

Apollo Control here. We have a very happy crew and the navigation of this maneuver is proving exactly as preplanned. We are at 60 miles altitude, and very close to Houston, almost right overhead, proceeding towards New Orleans. It's 14 minutes - we should be directly over New Orleans at the 400 000 foot mark, proceeding on east; blackout begins 3 minutes less than 3 minutes from now. And it will last just under 3 minutes. The 05G point should be acquired at about a minute and half from now.

The 05 G point should be upon us about a minute and a half from now, 60 miles altitude. I think earlier I had given an indication the blackout would occur between the New Orleans and Florida area, let's move that out between the Florida coast and about half way out, two thirds of the way out to Bermuda, about 700 miles. That will be the sector where we will not have communication. Hopefully we will then as we get on main chute.

Earlier Wally Schirra reported separation was a real slap on the face, and you probably heard him just a second ago saying "We're flying a pink cloud." We are almost to our begin blackout point, about 40 seconds away from it. Flight Director has just adjusted the blackout time to 17 minutes and 30 seconds after the deorbit burn, now there is some question over the seconds. I think we will now stick to 17:02 after the deorbit, which would be right now, and now we do have confirmation they are in the blackout area. The spacecraft is right over the Florida Peninsula.

This is Apollo Control. This is the quiet time here, even the Flight Director, all the voices are subdued. 18 minutes and 17 seconds since deorbit, and about a minute and a half from now we should be out - out of blackout.

This is Apollo Control here now. The crew should beginning - should start beginning to feel the G buildup, and it will peak out, it's a very comfortable 3G's but still that will be the peak load approximately the time that we leave the blackout zone. According to our clocks that's 10 or 15 seconds from now.

This is Apollo Control. Jack Swigert, the CapCom, has put out a call, no answer.

20 minutes 25 seconds since deorbit, and there goes the second call. Bermuda reported has acquisition of signal. Bermuda acquisition 259 hours, 59 minutes and 55 seconds, most all 59s. And we think we can detect the crackle of the Comm carrier in the ear phones, we have data from Bermuda, we've not voice yet, but we do have data, we have positive acquisition of the spacecraft. We are told the steering errors look real good from the telemetry. The flights dynamics officer and the retro fire officer are confident that we will be very close to target. Retro just said we're looking right at the target point.

22 minutes since deorbit. Flight reports - flight dynamics officers says that during the manuevers they observed 50 degrees roll in either direction left and right banks, and they estimate drogue chute coming out in about 2 minutes.

According to the computer solution here he was - the spacecraft was within 3 miles of target when we lost lock - lost data lock - with the spacecraft only seconds ago from Bermuda. Still no voice contact with the spacecraft. This is not unusual. They probably configured for their recovery voice circuit which we can also monitor. Flight Director reminds us the drogue chutes should come out in about 1 minutes 50,000 foot point and down to 20 for the main chutes.

Mark 24 minutes since deorbit. Still no voice and it is very quiet on the recovery circuit. You can see those choppers though by television. It's absolutely quiet here in the Control Center as everybody simply watches and waits to hear that transmission.

We should have main chute deploy. Main chutes due out at 25 minutes. Recovery reports via Kinley Rescue two in aircraft we have an electronic contact. An electronic contact from one of our C-130's operating out of Kinley Air Force Base. And now from the deck of the carrier we get the word from our recovery force that they are monitoring voice from the spacecraft, they're on chutes and all is well.

From the Essex, we get a report that the spacecraft is reporting their windows are slightly steamed up, apparently not yet on the water.

And now from the Essex, they advise the crew's report being "The wheels are down and locked". Would be a navy - typical Schirra navy approach to landing "the wheels are down and locked" they apparently are preparing to hit that water, Apollo 7 now is in contact with Air Boss, the recovery helicopter over the scene.

The carrier says they haven't had a report for a minute or so now but apparently they got very steady reports 2,000 feet altitude, 2,000 feet.

And now from the Essex we're told the crew has been reading our calls from here loud and clear. We have not heard from them, however, the Essex has. And Apollo 7 now reporting an altitude of 600 feet, six zero zero feet. Altitude 300 feet, this the crew reporting to us back via the Essex. The carrier was just queried to see if they have any visual sightings yet and they reported they had not which is confirmed by our television view. And we should be on the water or very very close to SPLASH. We still have received no direct voice contact from here. As we said before, the Essex has been in touch and we would assume they are in the water.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston, we have not established an electronic contact by our recovery helicopters as yet, the Sarah beacon is a little search beacon that the spacecraft puts out. They had glod voice com between the various recovery units right up to SPLASH and since then we just don't know but the ceiling and the cloud conditions could have some effect on their operation out there today. Certainly the visual sighting.

There is some question as to whether the spacecraft had turned on its rescue beacon, its recovery beacon. The last voice contact was at 300 feet. We got no visual sightings, several electronic sightings coming in. We're just standing by and waiting like everyone else. We have a report from the Essex that Recovery Two and Recovery Three, the helicopters, are reporting intermittent signals, they are trying to plot a bearing right now, they think they have something in sight, they think they're reading something on their scopes. Stand by. Ah, Rescue Two is proceeding on a bearing which they think is the spacecraft. As yet we have no range estimate. Now from the Essex, we get the report that Recovery Three has lost contact momentarily with their target. Our target point indicator shows 64 degrees by 27, very nearly 27, as the likely SPLASH area. And now, Recovery helicopter three has a new contact and they are proceeding to run it down. And now Air Boss and Recovery Three are tracking bearings, proceeding on the target. We as yet have had no estimate on the range and apparently no voice contact on the water.

Now Recovery Two is proceeding on a bearing of two one zero and our voice circuit out to the Essex is getting a little noisy in the last few minutes, which is making it difficult to hear.

From the deck of the Essex they advise very cautiously that they are looking now at a very tentative splash point. This tentative bearing turns out to be a point about 18 miles from the Essex, about 18 miles, and the Essex emphasizes that this is a tentative bearing. The voice - our voice line to the Essex is now restored. We can - it is an intelligible transmission. We lost it there for a few minutes. This is Apollo Control in Houston, when we get more information we will be right back to you.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. Now Recovery 1 has established electronic communication with Apollo 7.

Now we have a report from the Essex that the spacecraft was in what's called stable 1 in NASA talk. That means they were heads down. They were submerged there with their bottom side up towards the air, which probably precluded a lot of transmission, however, they have - apparently inflated their right bags, or their floatation bags. They are now apex up floating and they are establishing electronic contact. Recover 1 has positive contact and now we got the picture. Everybody gets faked out by "recorded picture". Again now the Essex reports that the spacecraft is floating upright and at last reports the spacecraft is about 18 miles north of the aiming track.

Now from the Essex we get a report that recovery Hilo 1 has been in communication with the spacecraft all is well. Our voice circuit out there is getting a little erratic again. Now we are getting a report 17 miles from the Essex. That's 17 miles and apparently north of the aiming point from the Essex. Now Recovery 2 has a Sarah beacon and this would account for the fact that we got no electronic contact during those early minutes on the water. The spacecraft had submerged. This was something that had been anticipated. It was practiced with the crew practiced in a number of engineering tests in the development of the spacecraft. The fact that the spacecraft could submerge apex down, in which case we would have to right it in order to get electronic contact. We may hear a little later here as we move through this recovery operation from somebody who will be called simply Airboss, that's Commander William C. Haskell, of Norwich, New York. He will be in command of the Airboss helicopter.

And Apollo Control here and Recovery 3 - Recovery 2 correct that, has a visual sighting now on the spacecraft about 17 miles north of the Essex. Recovery 2.

Now Recovery 3 is reporting they are on top of the Command Module. The chopper under the command of Commander Edward A. Scobee, Edward A. Scobee, of Pueblo, Colorado, is reporting that he is right on top of the Command Module.

This is Apollo Control, Houston now we are in touch. We are hearing the spacecraft. We hear Wally Schirra talking with the Recovery Helo. Just to give you an idea of how noisy this voice circuit is let's bring it up so we can all hear it. We may have deafened a lot of people, but that's what we're listening to this morning.

Now our Recovery - one of our Recovery Helos is all set to deploy swimmers. Swimmers, swimmers are in the water and we'll assume that they are from Recovery Helo 3, which is the prime Recovery Helo.

Now this is Apollo Control, Houston. The swimmers are installing the flotation collar at this time. Now the flotation collar is fully inflated and around the spacecraft.

And Apollo Control, Houston here. We've just gotten a report from Airboss. That report was, "there is no visible damage, no visible damage from the trip in space to the Command Module", it is riding nicely now on its flotation collar. Now we have a report [garble].

Now we have a report that one of the crew members may be a little nauseated, a little nauseated. We could not make out which crew member that was.

Apollo Control, Houston here, The Essex reports they are reading the helicopter and the spacecraft quite clearly now. There is some joshing going on now about Schirra getting his first submarine service, a reference to the inverted spacecraft. I don't think in his long naval career he has had any submarine service, but 16 miles I think we copied. 16 miles and the collar is fully inflated.

This is Apollo Control now. Now the Essex is giving us new position, they are 5 miles from the spacecraft, 5 miles and proceeding directly on it. Now we have a report from the Essex. They report the flight crews have tagged up, their physical status is good, they say they are all in good shape.

This is Apollo Control, Houston here. We are, at last report, 4 miles from the spacecraft. The crew will go aboard the Essex via helicopters. They will be picked up by probably Rescue 3, whose swimmers are now in the water.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. Our circuit out to the Essex is quite garbled at this point, but we believe he said they are dropping a ladder, one of the recovery helos dropping a ladder to the crew. We'll see if we can't get confirmation on that here.

Apollo Control, Houston, here. They are reporting from the Essex a light rain shower in the area, and they also got a question the Essex wants to know if we're seeing the television picture back here in Mission Control, and of course we are. We've advised that we'd like to see a spacecraft on that television screen, just like everybody else. They are estimating now 5,000 yards, 5,000 yards on a cloudy day.

Apollo 7 has just advised the Essex they are going off the air. They are turning off their radios and securing, and we've been advised the crew is getting ready to open the hatch of their spacecraft. The next step would of course be to enter the helicopter, and the astronauts have already expressed congratulations to the recovery forces before they turned off their on-the-water radio.

This is Apollo Control, Houston, the hatch is open, and the pilots are moving in to a helicopter. The first astronaut is now getting into a helicopter.

This is Apollo Control, Houston, and now we are advised the swimmers are arrayed around outside the spacecraft on the collar, but they are just waiting for apparently additional astronauts to emerge. They are also looking in the area for the Apex cover from the spacecraft.

The crew reported a little slow getting out of the command module.

Now we are getting a report down range that one of the pilots is stepping into the life raft, but we don't know which one yet.

Now we're getting the report the second astronaut is getting out of the spacecraft. This is frequently a problem out there because the recovery - the recovery crews don't know the the pilots by a visual sighting, so they can only report first astronaut, second astronaut. An astronaut is on his way up into the helicopter, is being hoisted by a net.

Now we have a pilot about to enter the door to the helicopter and the last, a third and last astronaut, probably Wally Schirra, is leaving the command module now. And now we have a report that a second astronaut is in the helicopter, second astronaut is in the helicopter.

Now Wally Schirra is reported out of the command module. It's not clear to us whether he's in the raft or on the ladder. The second astronaut is reported fully aboard the recovery helicopter. That would leave only Wally, who at last report was on the raft and waving vigorously.

Now we are getting a report that all three astronauts are aboard the helicopter and if that is the case, they should be proceeding directly to the Essex.

This Apollo Control, Houston. We have a report from the scene that the hatch is now being closed by the swimmers. The spacecraft has been secured, all three pilots are in the helicopter. From the AIRBOSS hovering over the scene just advised that the helicopter is about 3 miles from the carrier and is proceeding now towards the Essex, recovery 3, with the three astronauts proceeding now toward the Essex at 2-1/2 miles out.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. We now have a report from the helicopter that it should be on deck in about 3 minutes, estimating 3 minutes to the deck of the carrier. They are deviating to avoid some shower activity out in the area. Looks like we have got it in sight now. We clocked the pickup at something on the order of 50 minutes after splash - the pilots were in the helicopter.