Apollo 8

This is Apollo Control at 139 hours, 15 minutes. At the present time, Apollo 8 is at an altitude of 51,198 nautical miles [94,819 km] and our velocity is 8,698 feet per second [2,651 m/s]. ...

Apollo Control here at 139 hours, 52 minutes; and a good, good morning from the maroon team. We're 48,000 [nautical] miles [89,000 km] from home, moving at nearly 9,000 feet per second [2,750 m/s]. And in the last half hour we have had these bits and pieces of conversation with the crew. Among other items of interest, Jim Lovell awakened, which you may already know. He awakened a little bit earlier than his planned seven-hour sleep period; he was awake at least a half an hour ago. ...

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 140 hours, 40 minutes into the flight and we just had a chat with the crew which was significant in two respects. They were advised that we would not have another midcourse. None was necessary. And we heard from Frank Borman that the crew was up now, alert and awake, and Frank said they had a real good night's rest. And they are all set for the re-entry. ...

Apollo Control, Houston; at 140 hours, 55 minutes into the flight. And before we get all wrapped up in the entry process, why don't we take a final look at our onboard system quantity readings? Our cabin pressure remains, as it has now for some days, at 4.9 pounds per square inch [33.8 kPa]; cabin temperature, 78 degrees [F, 26°C]. The amount of waste water on board right now is 69.5 percent of the tank capacity or 38.9 pounds [17.6 kg]. The potable drinking water quantity remains as it has throughout most of the mission at slightly over 100 percent, it is constantly being refilled from the fuel cell production. The potable quantity in pounds is 37.3 pounds [16.9 kg]. And the temperature of the water dump nozzle is 65 degrees Fahrenheit [18°C]. Now in the oxygen area, tank 1 has 59 percent of its oxygen supply remaining, and tank 2 has 59.5 percent. And the hydrogen area; the number on tank 1 is 40.4 percent, tank 2, 42.5 percent. As we dial up further displays, we will give you that information. And pilot biomed harnesses, we are not taking information right now apparently, (we) have turned that system down for the duration of the mission. And we are still searching here, stand by one. For your information, we are 42,293 [nautical] miles [78,327 km] away from Earth now, and velocity has built up to 9,600 feet per second [2,926 m/s]. To convert that to statute miles per hour, you multiply by 0.68. The oxygen flow is running at 0.3 pounds [0.14 kg] per hour. Point 3 pounds per hour. The fuel cell status still load sharing very nicely. Fuel cell 1 carrying 33.1 percent; fuel cell 2, 32.2; fuel cell 3, about 34 percent; all very steady values, no problems at all on our fuel cells during the flight. ...

This is Apollo Control, Houston here at 141 hours, 29 minutes. It's been at least a half an hour since we've heard from the crew but no concern here. Things are very quiet obviously in the spacecraft, They're very quiet here in the Control Center. I suppose the two most active areas are the recovery forces. They're working very hard to make sure the adequacy of their communications circuits. They're running almost constant checks. And the retro people, who work very hard over this final entry into atmosphere maneuver. And all the members associated with it - they're working and comparing and talking to each other at a brisk pace. Other than that, it is all quiet at 141 hours and 30 minutes.

This is Apollo Control, Houston, and everything seems to be proceeding very nicely. Ken Mattingly has been running through entry, pre-entry checklists with Frank Borman. We're content, so are they. At the news conference a little while ago, numbers were passed to the press based on a final maneuver of something on the order of one or two feet per second. As you know, we scrubbed it, there is no need for such a maneuver, and it has been terminated, but the fact that we are not going to have the maneuver matters almost not at all on the numbers. For instance, it changes the splash time by one second, so if you recorded numbers earlier, well, stick with those. ...

This is Apollo Control, Houston. 142 hours, 3 minutes into the mission. A word or two on some of the congratulatory message traffic that we have experienced during this mission. I would call it unusually high. Probably associated with the general interest in the mission. The fact that it is the holiday season and more people have more time to express themselves. In general, far and away, the comments have been extremely laudatory, praiseworthy, and of course, there has been - as there always is, a very small but an extremely vocal minority who thinks we shouldn't have done the mission or if we should have, we shouldn't have done it over religious holidays. Still others have criticized any religious overtones that have crept into the mission. But perhaps, typical of the happier kinds of messages is one that was received here just a few hours ago simply from an anonymous well-wisher in Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia. It reads, 'Happy landing Apollo 8 astronauts.' At 142 hours, 4 minutes into the flight, this is Apollo Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control Houston here 142 hours, 59 minutes into the flight. And the velocity increase we are seeing is now becoming dramatic. We are up to 11,298 feet per second [3,444 m/s] and it is really building. We are 30,424 [nautical] miles [56,345 km] from home. Here is the conversation with the crew.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. ... And to amplify one remark I think you heard Bill Anders say, he would try to call on VHF and - if it was received, it was badly garbled. If I recall correctly, on the way out, and they were quite a way from the Earth, we - they heard us broadcasting on VHF out to about 22,000 [nautical] miles [41,000 km]. Just about the reverse situation here, where it is slightly more than 29,000 [nautical] miles [54,000 km] out. At 143 hours, 4 minutes into the flight, this is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston; at 143 hours, 36 minutes into the flight. And we have been chatting more with Bill Anders primarily on how things look. The spacecraft is now 26,458 [nautical] miles from Earth [49,000 km], moving in a velocity of 12,075 feet per second [3,680 m/s]. The weight of the spacecraft is 31,600 pounds [14,300 kg]. Now that weight will change dramatically 15 minutes before we reach the 400,000-foot mark when the Service Module leaves us and it will go from 31,600 down to about 12,000 pounds [5,400 kg] and will hold close to that on in. ...

Apollo Control here, and that brings us up to the point where we are now. For those newsmen watching the projection on monitors in our MSC Auditorium news area, you'll be able to see very shortly the spacecraft do a long loop-the-loop kind of maneuver against a flat map such as we are viewing. The maneuver will be quite similar to that that we saw the other day after the TLI burn when we did a big loop before we started tracing a steady flight path away from the Earth. Of course, we are going to see this morning the mirror image of that maneuver, only in this case it will be performed almost directly over India. The spacecraft is now looking down on the southern tip of India. It is directly over Ceylon, and it will, for Earth-mapping purposes, seem to proceed in a northwesterly direction. As it prepares to make its entry, lines up for its entry PAD back to Earth and the Pacific Ocean. We are 25,309 [nautical] miles [46,872 km] away from the spacecraft and it is moving at 12,328 feet per second [3,758 m/s]. At 143 hours, 47 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston; at 144 hours, 8 minutes into the flight. And things are continuing to rock along. In the last few minutes, we had a little surprise here with a not-yet-completely-explained water dump. We chatted with the crew about it and, apparently, Bill Anders had dumped some waste matter, some urine overboard earlier, which he had collected for a while. We still don't completely understand it. We're talking a little about this ...

So much for our water situation. That's apparently been laid to rest now. As Anders said, it's not really a problem. Just not immediately explainable so he turned off the potable tank. There are two tanks here; the potable tank - the drinking water, and the waste water tank. He had vented the waste water tank to some degree but apparently had not - they saw some kind of action on the potable meters. In any case, it's been adjusted. Our present distance is 22,276 nautical miles [41,255 km] from Earth. This puts the spacecraft at the synchronous orbital altitude and it will now begin to sink its direction in relation to our lunar map. In other words, it will start flying in the direction of the turn of the Earth. Or, at least, it will appear to us down here on Earth to do that. The spacecraft, in fact, is a fixed point in inertial space, just as the Earth is. For mapping purposes, it will appear to turn from approximately this point forward. Our velocity is 13,102 feet per second [3,993 m/s]. At 144 hours, 13 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston; at 144 hours, 38 minutes into the flight. Apollo 8 is 19,000 [nautical] miles [35,188 km] from the Earth; it's moving at 14,029 feet per second [4,276 m/s]. Present combined weight of the Command Module and Service Module is 31,600 miles [means pounds, 14,300 kg]. ...

Apollo Control, Houston. ... We look good all across the board. People at the Control Center are beginning to fill up now with official observers, officials of the program. The 70-seat viewing-room immediately behind this Control Center is about - about half filled right now, and within the next hour, I imagine we will see it filled to overflowing, which it has been during every critical event of this mission. At 144 hours, 41 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston here; and the spacecraft is now a mere 15,256 [nautical] miles [28,254 km] from the face of the Earth. Its velocity is almost a match in feet per second; 15,459 feet per second [4,712 m/s]. Its weight; 31,600 pounds [14,300 kg]. The Service Module of approximately 20,000 pounds [9,000 kg] will be jettisoned abruptly at 15 minutes before we reach the 80-mile high - the 400K - the 400,000-foot mark. At - one other mention, the viewing room as we said earlier is beginning to fill with visitors and among is Dr. Kurt Debus, director of the Kennedy Space Center, and his number one deputy for launch operations, Rocco Petrone, the gentleman who had so much to do with the departure of Apollo 8 from the - six - more than six days ago, they are here to watch it come back to Earth this morning. At 125 hours [means 145 hours], 09 minutes.

Apollo Control, Houston here at 145 hours, 32 minutes into the flight, and the trajectory of Apollo 8 is programmed against the - our flat wall map here - is carrying it on a path up the west coast of India. It will proceed northerly - northeasterly in a very few moments, and curve, and start in an easterly direction carrying it across China, perhaps before then it will see a little of the southern extremities of the Soviet Union, the Himalayas, China and then down across Guam. Present velocity is 17,272 feet per second [5,265 m/s]; the spacecraft is only 11,626 [nautical] miles [21,531 km] from the face of the Earth. A few minutes ago, Frank Borman called us and suggested he might entertain doing the pyro arm check a little early. It was considered here, we quite agree with him and we're all set to go on it. ...

Apollo Control, Houston here at 145 hours, 45 minutes into the flight, All is continuing to operate quite satisfactorily. We tried a VHF check with the spacecraft a few minutes ago, and it didn't work out so well. Neither Carnarvon nor Guam picked up on VHF; that from about 10,000 miles out. We are now 9,600 [nautical] miles [17,800 km] from Earth. The velocity is up to 18,332 feet per second [5,588 m/s]. ... Some may be wondering what happens to the Service Module. Well, it is jettisoned at 15 minutes before we reach our Entry Interface or entry point. There is a preset burn of 90 feet per second [27 m/s] cranked into the Service Module and it departs from the Command Module at that rate. The burn continues for some period of time, exactly which period, I don't have in front of me; but at any case, the new trajectory of the Service Module carries it about 100 miles or more south of the track of the Command Module. It is not known exactly what will happen to the Service Module. Some people think it will come on down to an altitude of perhaps 300,000 or 400,000 feet, hit the thicker atmosphere and then bounce out into a sun-circling orbit. Others think it will be captured and will certainly burn up before any of its pieces reach the Pacific Ocean. We just can't predict at this point. We are certain it will be safely out of the way of Apollo 8. At 145 hours, 48 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston; at 146 hours, 12 minutes into the flight. I think all of the consoles here have been reconfigured for this re-entry effort now. Probably the most noticeable item, leaving the consoles, are the lunar maps. They are being replaced by maps, which rested right under the lunar maps, which were simply projections of good old Earth. A few minutes ago, the crew checked some of the events that will take place in the re-entry process. ... Now the velocity acceleration pickup is quite dramatic. Our display here integrates a new value every 12 seconds, I believe. Let me give you a sample of how it is building; 23,303 feet per second [7,103 m/s] now; altitude, 4,950 [nautical] miles [9,167 km]. Still reading 23,353, 23,403. It has been stepping up here in these last few minutes in increments of 50 to 60 feet per second. For reference purposes, the peak velocity previously reached prior to this mission by a manned vehicle was the Gemini 11 spacecraft, at perigee after its high altitude burn, which was the other two altitude record as well, 740-odd miles. That velocity was 26,352 feet per second [8,032 m/s]. Today, we should, at the point of Entry Interface or the 80-mile mark, as we come back into the Earth, we should see a velocity on the order of 36,220 feet per second [11,040 km]. Converted to miles per hour, that is 24,530 miles per hour. And at 146 hours, 16 minutes, that is our status and this is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston here; 146 hours, 26 minutes. We have had no additional conversation since our last report from the crew, apparently they are all settled down in their couches waiting for the re-entry. The next major event will be the Command/Service Module separation which should occur about 5 minutes from now. The Capsule Communicator has just been advised to tell the crew that we are Go for that event. This, by the way, will be the fourth, this is the fourth manned flight to be returned to the Pacific area. And, coincidentally, all of the 8 series, Mercury 8, Gemini 8, and now Apollo 8 were brought back to the Pacific area. In addition, Mercury 9 landed off Hawaii. Here is some conversation; Ken Mattingly, our CapCom is talking to Bill Anders.

Recovery is advising the Flight Director of their good status and has good weather out there. They are on station. The route of flight, in case you are not looking at a map, will be over northeast China, Peking, and over Tokyo, then we start a southeasterly slant. The ship Redstone is parked at 24 degrees north, 169 degrees east. The next listening point will be the ship Huntsville, tracking the ship 172 west, 12 degrees north, and the landing point just a few hundred miles southeast of there at 165 west, approximately 8 north. That point, by the way, is 600 miles northwest of Christmas Island, which I'm sure has been noted.

The crew has been advised that their primary evaporator has dried out, a fact that they couldn't care less about. They are about to say goodbye to that entire system and the Service module in another 2 minutes.

And the spacecraft is now - we see our systems here - show that they have gone to ring 2 - the Reaction Control System, the system looks quite good, it's operational at 200 pounds of propellant available in that system. It is a redundant system, A few of the events, as we plan to clock them here, the 400,000 foot point, which is that point when many of our events begin to happen, we call it, the area of reaching some little small amount of atmosphere, is to occur at 146 hours, 46 minutes. That blackout period should begin about 25 seconds later. The maximum heating point would be 146 hours, 47 minutes; and which occur at roughly 200,000 feet. And at this point, the roller-coaster type ride that the spacecraft will take will bend slightly upward for approximately 40,000, 50,000 feet, and then level off and begin its last plunge back. But as it hits the first breaking point at 180,000 feet, the max g force will be felt by the crew, of 6.8 g's. A second g spike of 4.2 will be noted about 4 or 5 minutes later. The total blackout we are predicting this morning is on the order of 3 minutes. Since we have very little experience re-entering at these velocities, we must caution you that those are only estimates.

The Flight Director has confirmed the separation - separation of the Command Module and the Service Module. We have been looking at data on the Command Module alone and all the values look quite good. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston here. We continue to look good on all sources. We - in 11 minutes from now, we will be at the 400,000-foot mark and the velocity of the crew at this point will be 36,220 feet per second, we estimate. That converts to 24,530 (statute) miles per hour, which is nearly, is more than 500 miles per hour faster than the crew was moving only 2½ days ago (means 6 days) at Translunar Injection. Their burnout speed at that point 180 miles above the Earth was 35,556 feet per second or 24,080 miles per hour. Today, as we come back to that point, after all the maneuvering and all of the burning at 180 miles above the Earth, we will see a velocity of 35,644 feet per second and still building up down to this value at 400,000 feet. These are estimates and will be refined based on post-flight data, but they are good estimates at this point. All in all a very quiet re-entry up to this point. This is Apollo Control, Houston. We will continue to monitor.

This is Apollo Control here. We have put in a call through the Redstone.

And they were advised by Ken Mattingly that they were looking good. They certainly are. The cabin pressure is 4.9 pounds per square inch, the cabin temperature is down a little bit, purposely, so it's down to 61. Most of the flight it ran between 77 and 78 degrees. We're estimating that the crew is still head down and tracking the horizon visually out their rendezvous - out the windows, any handy window, and letting the G&N system do its work. At 146 hours, 42 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.

The comm control will be handed over from the Redstone to the Huntsville, and we have lost signal, our network controller says we lost signal at 146:46 minutes and with very nearly 46 seconds. And our estimate is that this blackout period will continue - oh, let's see, three minutes and right about now the crew should be getting the spike, the G spike that they will see just under 7 Gs. We would estimate they are down to the 180,000 foot point, flattening out and actually beginning to ascend slightly. They should be - their heat rate will dramatically recede but they will still maintain a large heat load, nearly 5,000 degrees out on the leading edge of the heat shield. Flight Director notes that he hears a keying coming, as in Morse code keying and he is wondering as to the source of it.

146 hours, 48 minutes. And our curves put the spacecraft down about 35 to 36 miles above the Earth and elevating it slightly, perhaps up to 40.

Ken Mattingly just put in a call and just frankly labeled it a radio check. He has gotten no response as yet. And Ken tries a second call through the Huntsville. Our estimates say that the crew, along about now should be emerging. The Huntsville advises they have not established contact with the spacecraft at this time. About three and a half minutes since we went into the blacked out area. And now the Huntsville is handing over communication checks - communications authority to one of the range aircraft, they called in AIRA. And the Huntsville - the Huntsville says they have acquired an S-band signal, at 51 minutes, 04 seconds; and they immediately called back and said no contact, they negate that first announcement.

One of the recovery helicopters reported seeing something, but those kind of reports at these critical moments are not unusual. Ken Mattingly puts in another call and there is Jim Lovell. He says, 'We are looking good.' I can't tell whether it's Borman or Lovell. Let's try to cut it in.

Now one of the range ships is reporting a radar contact. The first communication was extremely broken up, but the two words that did come through were 'looking good'. Another one of the flight controllers here in the control center heard the crew mention, something like 'a real fire ball'. We estimate here we are about one minute to drogue deploy.

Drogue chutes out at 23,000 feet, and the time plot says 146 hours, 54 minutes. The Yorktown is reporting and confirming a radar contact, the bearing is being passed to the recovery room, here in Houston.

That's Jim Lovell. Apollo Control, Houston here; at 146 hours, 55 minutes. According to our numbers we should have main chute deploy, we should have had it within the last minute. We have heard nothing but a lot of noise on the circuit for the last minute or so. It is understandable at these low level relays, everyone is passing it.

And here comes something from Apollo 8, 'Over,' he said. No answer to the Apollo 8 transmission, the transmission from Apollo 8, no follow up. In a simulation yesterday we had extremely good communication from the recovery area and we see - we are hopeful that that situation will be duplicated today.

146 hours, 57 minutes; and according to our estimates, they should be hitting the water just about 147 even. If and when we get some intelligible comm, we will come back up on the line. This is Apollo Control, Houston; standing by.

This is Apollo Control, Houston; 146 hours, 58 minutes. Recovery II, within the last minute, has reported they have a flashing light in sight, and they followed that with, 'We have voice contact with the crew.' I repeat, they said, 'We have voice contact with the crew.' At 146 hours, 58 minutes; we are going to try and patch that conversation into our consoles here, right now, we have not heard it. The lookout on the Yorktown reports a visual sighting. They must be close at hand. The helicopter nearest them is piloted by Lt. Kenneth Owen of Pensacola, Florida. There are three swimmers in that helicopter. And our Flight Director has advised us to bring up a special circuit, which I hope will bring up any communication that develops out there. We've an estimate now, that the splashpoint may be as close as 5,000 yards [4.6 km] from the Yorktown. I repeat, 5,000 yards from the Yorktown. That is a very rough estimate. Now, we have got a second estimate of 5,000 yards from the Yorktown.

This is Apollo Control. If you have been listening to that circuit, you can tell why we can't be too sure of these events. It's a little ragged, but I have talked to the Public Affairs Officer on the carrier and he assures me the spacecraft is 5,000 yards [4.6 km] away. The general plan was to wait for a little more daylight, before attempting a pickup. Intermittently we have been able to pick Borman's voice out of the noise and he seems to be carrying on the routine kinds of conversation that pilots use when they talk to each other in these kinds of situations. We have no word yet upon the attitude of the spacecraft, whether it is nose down, as was the case in Apollo 7, or up. Nearly everyone agrees it is only 5,000 yards away from the Yorktown, which we will settle for right now at 147 hours, 5 minutes.

Apollo Control, Houston here; 147 hours, 8 minutes. We have had several things confirmed or reverified in the last few minutes. The crew condition number 1 is okay, and that came through loud and clear, just as I was talking, crew condition okay. We have thought we monitored several conversations between the crew and helicopters, airplanes, and what not. We do have it back now, crew condition okay. The estimate from the Yorktown is the swimmers will wait approximately 20 to 25 minutes before deploying, this as per planned that as long as the crew is in satisfactory condition and in fact now we know they are floating quite nicely in a stable 1 condition. I'm sure the chatting will continue over the next 20 to 25 minutes, but we are assured that everything is all right out there, This is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston here; at 147 hours, 13 minutes. We have been advised by the recovery forces that recovery helicopter 3 is hovering over the spacecraft, 50 feet [15 metres] above it, and they estimate they are 6,000 yards [5.5 km] away from the Yorktown. The helicopter pilot is Commander Donald S. Jones of Madison, Wisconsin. When the swimmers get the signal to deploy, the first man in the water will be a Sonar Technician from Columbia, South Carolina, named Chester Coogin. Two other swimmers will follow him: LTJG Richard Flanagan of Oklahoma City, and Donald L. Schwab of Imperial Beach, California. And at 147 hours, 14 minutes; that's all the new information we have.

Apollo Control, Houston here. Two new reports. The inflation bags around the spacecraft are inflated and there have been reports, visual reports of course, of the flashing light seen from the Yorktown. Now illuminating the area is a helicopter with a big floodlight. So the entire area should be visible from the Yorktown. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. From the Yorktown, we have learned they are proceeding toward the spacecraft. They are now 4,500 yards away. And that is our situation at 147 hours, 21 minutes.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston; at 147 hours, 25 minutes. Apparently Frank Borman is making small talk with the crew of that helicopter out there. It was just relayed to us that he had, in chatting with the pilot, he had asked him if anyone had seen the spacecraft on main chute. And of course, there were several reports and this has become the subject of a continuing chat, the pilot of that helicopter is Commander Donald S. Jones. That is all the new information we have right now. At 147 hours, 26 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control, Houston here; and Ken Mattingly, our Capsule Communicator here, has just tried to call through ARIA aircraft. While we try to establish the communication on that shot, we have been advised that the ship is now 3,800 yards away, and it is off the port side of the ship. The Yorktown has also advised us that in about in 14 minutes, they expect to deploy their first swimmers, about 14 minutes from now. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. Ken Mattingly's call just worked and we were kind of frightened at the volume and at the level the answer came back. Borman responded enthusiastically, 'Hello, there, Houston, how are you doing?. Here is the tape.

This is Apollo Control, Houston, that begins to make you understand the size of our communication program, it isn't a matter of just understanding every other word, it's a case of trying to understand a piece of every other conversation, but we are cheered up and we feel good, we know the crew is feeling fine and with in a very few minutes swimmers will be in the water and we should start the movement of the crew into the helicopters and over onto the Yorktown. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston; 147 hours, 34 minutes. If anybody had any doubts about the condition of the crew, this little conversation which has been relayed to us, should clear up those doubts. In conversation with the helicopter commander, the crew commander of the helicoptee asked the crew what the Moon was made out of, whereupon Anders responded that it's not made out of green cheese at all, it's made out of American cheese, and, well, I think the crew is in pretty good shape. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. The report to us from the scene is that the first light of dawn is beginning to show in the east, they are seeing streaks of light, the capsule is riding very nicely in relatively calm waters and just any minute from now we expect to hear a report, the swimmers are in the water. The conversations that have come back to us, except for an intermittent, occasionally hearing from the crew directly have been relayed from the water to aircraft at approximately 25 or 30 thousand feet. There it is being repeated to another man in Honolulu at Hickam Air Force Base and at that point it is being relayed again, hack here to Houston, at which point I am trying to relay the content of them to you. And now we get an estimate that the swimmers will be in the water in five minutes. He is preparing to put swimmers in the water in four to five minutes. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. We have a report from one of the on-scene helicopters that the spacecraft is still riding very nicely in the water and rotating at about 1 revolution per minute. I say again, spacecraft rotating at about 1 revolution per minute, which would be a little unusual. I don't know that we have ever seen that. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control Houston 147 hours, 42 minutes since we lifted off. From the communications out there, which are perhaps understandably bad at this time of day, this time of year, and under the circumstances we have plucked a breakfast order and we managed to record it and we would like to play it for you.

In case you missed it the order came back, 'We'll have steak and eggs, the same as we had before we left.' Now the helicopter is maneuvering in a position to drop swimmers and we expect that drop to start just any moment. Recovery 3 helo will deploy the swimmers. The helicopters continue to hover between 75 to 100 feet [30 metres], as low at 50 feet [15 metres], for certain inspection type passes. And Air Boss Lt. Glen Byers of Evansville, Indiana, reports the first swimmer is in the water. And now we are advised that the swimmer has attached a sea anchor, and now the helicopter is moving to deploy his two swimming colleagues. And then immediately one of the swimmers will plug in a phone and have a quick conversation with the crew.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. We are advised that the sea anchor has been attached. The swimmers and the helicopter report they can see a light glowing through the windows from the spacecraft. The hatch, apparently not yet open. The last measured distance we have between the Yorktown and the spacecraft is 2,900 yards [2.7 km]. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

Apollo Control Houston here at 147 hours, 49 minutes since lift-off. Now all three swimmers from helicopter III are in the water and they are clearly visible to the helicopter. They are working to affix the flotation collar still an added measure of flotation insurance, around the blunt end of the spacecraft. Immediately they will inflate the Mae West type device, and that is our situation.

Apollo Control, Houston here. In the last few minutes, we've deciphered from one relay communication from Jim Lovell that he can see the swimmers working around the spacecraft. We have had confirmation that the flotation collar is fully inflated and secured. We have had some queries regarding our splash point. Our best estimate is the aiming point, we have no reason to - to know that is was 5,000 yards [4.6 km] away from the Yorktown, the Yorktown is very, very close to the aiming point which was 165 degrees north, I say again 165 degrees north, - correction - 165 degrees west and 8 degrees, 8 minutes north. The collar fully inflated. We still have no word as to when we might expect the crew open that hatch and come out and take a breath of Earth air. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. We have just been advised that the swimmers are standing on the inflation collar, awaiting the crew's pleasure. We still have no estimate as to when the crew will emerge, but it's our guess that that will come at just any minute right now. Now the swimmers are going through additional precautions to insure that the inflation collar is very securely fastened to the spacecraft. Our elapsed time clock shows 148 hours, with the line open for some word on that hatch opening.

Apollo Control here. We have just been advised that the Recovery 3 is preparing to drop a large life-raft. The collar has been inspected and just any moment we expect to see - two life-rafts have been dropped. Two life-rafts, and this probably signals a hatch opening just any moment.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. Our extraordinary communication coincidences continue. The swimmers advise that they cannot talk to the crew via interphone, which is a hard line interphone connection, but they can talk with the crew by little hand radios. Still no word as to when that hatch is going to open, but we are getting our first look at it here in this Control Center in color television which is an addition for this first flight. Both the color camera and color monitors. There has been some discussion that if that ship doesn't stop pitching and rolling we may have some seasickness here. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. Now we have been advised that the recovery plan will be thusly: the crew will exit the spacecraft, get into a life raft, and then the hatch will be secured before we begin any spacecraft pickup or any pilot pickup. I thought I copied - stand by just one moment. Yes, I'm sorry, no time estimate just yet as to when we can expect these events but with the light situation out there we may be able to see them. They are estimating 1,500 yards [1.4 km] now from the spacecraft. We will continue to monitor here. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, Houston. We have just been advised the hatch of Apollo 8, the hatch is now open. Just any moment we should have some report on exiting crew members. At 11:04 Houston time we received the report the hatch was open. And even though our - and now we're getting the first astronaut, who is not identified by anything other than 'the first astronaut', is now exiting the spacecraft. He's now getting in a life raft. And now a second astronaut is leaving the spacecraft, and if we're following military tradition, the next astronaut should be Frank Borman, although since he is Air Force he may not follow the Navy tradition of the captain of the ship leaving 1ast. Now a second astronaut is sitting in the life raft. And now recovery advised the third astronaut, the final - and of course the usual jokes about 'And now the fourth astronaut!' but we've succeeded in suppressing the recovery room advising us of any additional astronauts. All three astronauts are in the lift raft, the swimmers are positioned on the collar around the spacecraft. They are preparing to close - seal the hatch for the pickup which will come perhaps, an hour from now. And the order of the pilots leaving the Command Module was exactly opposite that that I intimated. Borman left first, the second - let's check it. Lovell went second and the junior member of the crew, Bill Anders, was the last to leave.

And now we have had a third change on it. Jim Lovell mav have been the first to leave the spacecraft. That makes good sense. Since he was in the center couch, it's entirely possible that he would leave first in order to let the others out.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. We have learned within the last couple of minutes that the crew has transferred to a new liferaft, for what reason we don't know, but we do know that they are in a second liferaft now and the recovery helicopter is maneuvering to begin the pickup operation. On our recovery board here we see a message from Admiral McMannes, which reads, 'Please convey to our NASA friends my congratulations on this magnificent achievement, this reflected glory, has permitted all of us to stand taller in today's world; epic, historic, amazing, fantastic, heartwarming, and the next word I can't make out - unbelievable until it happened, magnificent. It's signed Admiral McMannes and staff, who is the commander of the task force charged with this recovery effort. We are advised that the first astronaut is in the helicopter, no more identification than that. Just first astronaut in helicopter. Now the line is going down for the second astronaut. And the line is dangling and awaiting the pickup of the second man. The second astronaut in the sling and on his way.

And now we have had it confirmed; the second astronaut is in the recovery helicopter. And the line is going down for the third astronaut. Earlier we had given a position of the helicopter - of the carrier, only 1,500 yards [1.4 km] from the scene. That was incorrect, it should be corrected. The position at that time was 3,500 yards [3.2 km] from the scene and the carrier is making its swing now, preparatory to spacecraft pickup. All right, the third astronaut is in the sling and is being brought up into the helicopter. And the third astronaut steps into the helo at 11:14 Houston time. The helicopter pilot confirms that the helo door has been secured, all three men are aboard and they are preparing to embark on a short flight to the Yorktown. And as we can see on our television monitors, the helicopter is now proceeding toward the Yorktown.

And it is blowing at 20 knots.

And this is Apollo Control here. Recovery III has permission to land first. Recovery III is bearing the pilots, we believe. We hear Recovery II being instructed to return to the helo at this time. Brisk, windy, situation out there. Navy helicopter number 66 prepares to touch down on the deck of the Yorktown. And touchdown at 20 minutes after the hour, 11:30 CST. For those reporters not looking at a television monitor, the engines are being shutdown now and two crew members have moved out to block the wheels. And the television camera shifts to the door.

Apollo Control, Houston here. We had it confirmed through recovery, that apparently, at the request of Frank Borman, there was an electric razor aboard helicopter, and Frank Borman used it on the way in. Very clean shaven, in contrast to the rather scraggle comrades with him. Apollo Control, Houston here.

And this is Apollo Control, Houston. If you are listening to this loop you probably hear applause in the background as demonstration going on here in the Control Center that we haven't seen ever in our history. If you are in front of a television monitor, you can see an American flag, approximately 15 feet long, and about 10 feet from top to bottom. It was rigged in the Control Center earlier this morning. It has been pulled into place. Every console operator is displaying a flag at his desk, very similar to what we saw immediately after the rendezvous in Gemini VI. That's the only other time that we've seen such a display of flags in the Control Center. The earlier display didn't begin to touch this one. Huge flag. It completely blocks out the wall map that we've looked at so intensely for the last six and one half days. Everyone applauded, and in one of the loops we could hear the Star Spangled Banner. We're absolutely jammed with people here. All three Flight Controllers shifts are in the room. All the program officials.

Apollo Control here, if you can hear me above all these voices. It is a veritable roar in here. The North American people are in, the room is awash with cigar smoke. A number of congratulatory messages are coming across this console. We've seen several, we've read several. Here's one from I think it will describe itself. The world's greatest tracking station sends its heartfelt congratulations to the Apollo 8 crew, its beautiful spacecraft and all those who have shared in this magnificent accomplishment. And it's signed, of course, from the tracking station in Madrid, Spain. Courtesy of Dan Hunter, former MSC man before he moved to Madrid. We might return the compliment to Madrid which made possible so many of those beautiful television shots. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

Again this is Apollo Control. I'm not sure how well our voice is getting out. There is tremendous roar, an undercurrent and roar in the background. I have never seen a degree of this emotional outpouring in any previous mission, including Alan Shepard's. I guess one of the big differences there between that one and this one is Alan is here standing right in the middle of this one puffing on a long black cigar. I've seen rallies in locker rooms after championship games, happy politicians after elections, but never - none of them do justice to the spirit pervading this room. For the benefit of reporters listening I have been advised that we estimate the center director's and other officials well be available in our auditorium in 30 minutes for a press conference. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control here. Again, I think that many of you can see this tumult. Someone suggested that we have set the American Cancer Society's antismoking campaign back several light years, I take it from one who quit smoking a year and a half ago that this is a strong cigar. I don't know how the room can hold any more people, but they keep coming in. Someone is standing on a console next to mine. It's a photographer. I can't even make out who is in front of the flight director's desk, but he's produced box after box of cigars. Al Shepard just threw one back here. It ricocheted off the wall. That's our status.

We have just had - Apollo Control here, we have just had a chat with Donald K. Slayton, the director of Flight Crew Operations. He tells me that he plans to fly to Hawaii this afternoon. He is going out commercial; he expects the crew will land at Hickam tomorrow afternoon about 2 o'clock, Hawaii time. It will be - primarily the reason for the delay is that the carrier is out of airplane range at Hickam, Deke estimates that they will be on the ground about an hour, leaving Hawaii about 3 o'clock, Hawaii time and they should be back here at Ellington Air Force Base, next to this center about 2 o'clock Sunday morning, and I suspect that there are three families that are happy to hear that word. This is Apollo Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control. We have been asked to pass along the figures that we have here in Mission Control Center on the time of splash, that figure is 147 hours, 00 minutes and 11 seconds. Almost precisely as planned, and to repeat again our landing coordinates: 165 degrees west; 8 degrees, 8 minutes north; also right on target. This is Apollo Control, Houston, out.