Apollo 9

This is Apollo Control 17 hours 50 minutes GET. The crew of Apollo 9 has less than an hour of their sleep period remaining. The countdown clock showing the wake time - one might call it the alarm clock - shows some 38 minutes remaining in the sleep period. Apollo 9, at the present time, is over the northern portion of Africa, approximately Libya or Tunisia at the start of the 12th revolution. All three crewmen apparently are still sleeping soundly. We've had no conversation with the crew in the recent passes over Canary Island station or the Mercury earlier in the preceding revolution. After the crew wakes up, the first order of business, of course, will be breakfast. The eat period is scheduled for about an hour after the wakeup. The spacecraft will be powered up during the pass over the tracking ship Vanguard during this next revolution. The Mission Control Center or the spacecraft communicator here in Mission Control will confer with the crew on the flight plan update for the upcoming day's activities and also coordinate the - all the numbers and values of the consumables remaining onboard the spacecraft. There will be also a fuel call oxygen purge. The inertial measurement unit - inertial measuring unit on the command module will be aligned. The - over the tracking station at Antigua one revolution later, there will be what is called the maneuver pad or the all the numbers and necessary information passed up to the crew for service propulsion system burn number 2, which is now scheduled at some 22 hours 13 minutes into the flight. The GO-NO GO for this burn will be given over the tracking ship Mercury at 21 hours 45 minutes. There are some three burns scheduled in today's activities: SPS burns 2, 3, and 4. At 17 hours 52 minutes GET, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 18 hours 33 minutes GET. Within the next few seconds, we'll be having acquisition of signal at the tracking ship Mercury in the South Pacific. We're some two-thirds of the way through revolution number 12. At this time the crew is scheduled to be awakened. The spacecraft communicator, Ron Evans, likely will put through a call to the crew remoting through the tracking ship Mercury. We'll stand by to monitor any conversation. Until we do hear Ron Evans put through a call, perhaps we could review some of the items coming up in the flight plan. We have service propulsion system burn number 2 at 22 hours 12 minutes GET. This will involve a test of the digital auto pilot set at the 40-percent amplitude stroking of the engine. It will be primarily an out of-plane burn, but will raise the apogee some 190 nautical miles. Two other burns of the SPS are scheduled later in the day. Further details on those will be generated later in the day and passed up to the crew in what is called a maneuver pad. These are not expected to be changed too drastically from the prelaunch flight plan. We're continuing to monitor the air-ground loop for any call through the Mercury. We should have had acquisition signal a minute and half ago. Still standing by here. Spacecraft communicator Ron Evans is now standing up leaning over to look at the displays in the flight surgeon's console to see if lunar module pilot Schweickart is awake. He's putting in a call. Let's eavesdrop.

Apparently, we have had loss of signal from the tracking ship Mercury after a brief exchange between Apollo 9 and spacecraft communicator, Ron Evans, here in Mission Control. The crew will next break out their breakfast meals, and begin powering up the spacecraft for the day's activities. We'll be coming up on the tracking station Antigua followed by Vanguard and Canary. The acquisition time for Antigua will be 1 minute past the hour. At 18 hours 40 minutes GET, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo control. 19 hours 1 minute ground elapse time. Within seconds we should be coming over the tracking station at Antigua. The acquisition time table shows 19 hours 1 minute and 52 seconds. Mark 52 seconds we should have acquisition. We'll stand by until spacecraft communicator Ron Evans makes a call to the crew through Antigua. Between the Antigua loss of signal and Vanguard acquisition of signal there's a drop out of some two minutes and again between Vanguard loss of signal and Canary Island loss of signal there's approximately one minute drop out, we'll continue to stay on the line though and get these three stations in a semi-continuous fashion. Still waiting now for the conversation to begin. He's putting in a call now.

Apparently we've had loss of signal at Antigua. Should be acquiring at Vanguard in less than a minute. Ron Evans will be standing by to continue the block up date of contingency landing times and deorbit times and so on so that the crew will have this data aboard in case they're out of touch with the ground at any particular time and for some reason we'd have to go into any of these areas. These are routine updates that are passed up to the crew.

Apparently we have had lost of signal from the Madrid, Spain tracking station. Had a little problem there getting, lock on between the spacecraft antennas and the ground antenna at Madrid. At 49 past the hour the spacecraft will be coming up on the Carnarvon, Australia tracking station. At 19 hours 22 minutes GET this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 19 hours 49 minutes GET. Expecting acquisition of Apollo 9 by the tracking station at Carnarvon, Australia in a few seconds now. Apollo 9 is mid-way through the 13th revolution. The crew should be ending their breakfast meal about this time. At the end of the pass at Carnarvon there will be some 2-1/2 minutes of drop-out until the Honeysuckle Creek station in Australia acquires the spacecraft. We'll stand by now as we wait for spacecraft communicator Ron Evans to put a call in to the spacecraft. This is a fairly low elevation angle pass over Carnarvon - some 2.7 degrees. Somewhat higher over Honeysuckle - 10.7 degrees.

Apparently, we've had loss of signal at Carnarvon. We'll continue to monitor the alt-to-ground circuit until the tracking station at Honeysuckle Creek acquires Apollo 9.

Apparently we have had loss of signal at Honeysuckle tracking station. Meanwhile here in the control center the space flight meteorology group based here in the control center has issued a forecast for the Apollo 9 mission weather. Weather conditions for the flight of Apollo 9 will be satisfactory in most landing areas for the next 24 hours, and the primary landing area in the West Atlantic centered about 800 miles east of Jacksonville, skies will be mostly cloudy with scattered showers. Winds will be southerly at 20 to 25 knots, with seas 5 to 8 feet and temperatures ranging between 64 1/4 and 70 1/4. In the Mid-Pacific landing zone, centered about 600 miles northwest of Honolulu weather will be mostly cloudy with a few showers. Winds will be southerly about 25 knots, seas 8 feet and temperature 63 1/4. In the West Pacific landing zone centered about 400 miles southeast of Tokyo skies will be partly cloudy. Winds will be northwesterly 15 to 25 knots, seas 5 to 8 feet, and temperatures near 54 1/4. In the East Atlantic landing zone centered about 500 miles southwest of the Canary Island the weather will be partly cloudy with easterly winds 10 to 15 knots and seas 4 to 5 feet. Temperatures will be about 70 1/4. The next station to acquire Apollo 9 will be the Mercury tracking ship. The acquisition table shows that 07 past the hour, some 3 minutes from now we'll come back up at that time and go live with the Mercury pass. At 20 hours 4 minutes GET this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 20 hours 07 minutes ground elapsed time; we're some 40 seconds away from acquisition at the tracking ship Mercury. Just passed midway of the 13th revolution. At this time, the spacecraft crew is aligning or orienting the inertial measuring unit as part of the procedures for getting the spacecraft ready for the day's activities and maneuvers. We'll continue to stand by here as the spacecraft comes in range. The tracking map at the front of the Control Center has shown that the Mercury has acquired signal, the little spacecraft that's projected on the big screen changes color when the acquisition time comes in. That doesn't necessarily mean that we have voice contact but merely the time in which the spacecraft comes over the hill. The spacecraft communicator will wait a few seconds before making the call to assure that the lock-on is solid. Spacecraft Communicator Ron Evans' replacement for the next 12 hours, Stu Roosa, has come into the Control Room and Evans is now briefing him on the nights activities and what is coming up in the next day's activities. We'll leave the line open and await any call from the Spacecraft Communicator console to Apollo 9 through Mercury.

This is Apollo Control again. Stu Roosa and Ron Evans are still in a hand-over type huddle down there at the spacecraft communicators console; apparently there are no plans to contact the crew through Mercury. We'll continue to leave the air-to-ground line active here and eavesdrop on any conversation that might take place.

This is Apollo Control. We've had loss of signal at Mercury, very brief conversation there just a standing by and advisory from spacecraft communicator Ron Evans that the Apollo 9 was approaching gimbal lock, this has to do with the attitude of the spacecraft relative to the inertial measuring unit and the guidance system. We'll be coming up on Antigua with acquisition at 34 minutes past the hour. During that pass the Mission Control Center will pass up to the crew the so called maneuver pad, the velocity and the time of the ignition and all the other data the crew needs onboard for the service propulsion system burn number two which is now scheduled for 22 hours 12 minutes ground elapsed time. At 20 hours 15 minutes ground elapsed time, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control. 20 hours 34 minutes ground elapsed time. We should be picking up the Apollo 9 spacecraft through the Antigua tracking station in some 6 seconds from now. The Antigua and the Vanguard tracking ship, the Canary Island and the Madrid pass all overlap this time. We should have a solid 20 minutes of tracking and possibilities for a conversation between the ground and Apollo 9. Spacecraft communicator Stu Roosa has relieved Ron Evans at the spacecraft communicators console. We're standing by now for Stu Roosa to make his call. Let's eavesdrop.

This is Apollo control again. Flight director Pete Frank and Stu Roosa are having a huddle here over the console before Stu Roosa makes his call to Apollo 9. We'll leave the circuit open here and stand by for any conversation.

This is Apollo Control. Apparently we have had loss of signal at Madrid station. During the pass after communications were locked in, we had some problems over the tracking ship Vanguard with some of the return lines coming back through Goddard. During the pass over these stations the spacecraft communicator passed up to the crew the necessary information for the service propulsion system burn number two. The essence of which is burn time of ignition time of 22 hours 12 minutes and 03 seconds with a velocity change of 850.6 feet-per-second. We'll be coming up on the Carnarvon, Australia tracking station at 20 minutes past the hour. At 20 hours 56 minutes ground elapsed time, this, is Apollo Control.

This it Apollo Control 21 hours 22 minutes ground elapsed time. Let's join the conversation in progress between the spacecraft communicator and the spacecraft Apollo 9 through Carnarvon, Australia.

This is Apollo Control here; we are still in acquisition through Honeysuckle but apparently the spacecraft communicator doesn't plan to talk. He's punching up now; perhaps he plans to call the spacecraft now before LOS. We'll continue to eavesdrop on the air to ground circuit.

This is Apollo Control. We are right on loss of signal at Honeysuckle. One of the items that is upcoming is over Mercury will be GO/NO/GO for the SPS burn number 2 and this burn will take place over the States at 22 hours, 12 minutes ground elapsed time. Our present orbit stands at 107.8 nautical mile perigee, about 125.7 nautical mile apogee. The [garble] we have had LOS at Honeysuckle; flight director Pete Frank just advised the spacecraft communicator Stu Roosa to tell Apollo 9 that they were GO for SPS number 2 burn, however this was in the flight plan to take place over Mercury. As Apollo 9 came over the hill at Carnarvon, they just began talking to MCC through Carnarvon without spacecraft communicator having made a call. We'll go back and play a little catch up on the first several sentences of this transmission so that it'll tie it all together. Let's roll the tape now.

This is Apollo Control here, 21 hours, 38 minutes ground elapsed time. We'll be coming up on Mercury Tracking Ship at 41 minutes past the hour. This is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 21 hours 41 minutes, ground elapsed time. Should have acquisition with the tracking ship Mercury of Apollo 9 spacecraft. During this pass Stu Roosa will no doubt go ahead and give the crew the GO decision for the SPS burn number 2 that he attempted to pass up just at loss of signal at Honeysuckle. We'll leave the circuit open now, and listen for any air-to-ground communications through Mercury.

This is Apollo Control. Although we have not had loss of signal at tracking ship Mercury, it is unlikely there will be any further conversation. The crew presently is donning helmets and gloves on their pressure suits for the burn scheduled at 22 hours 12 minutes over the Texas tracking station. This SPS burn number 2 is one of a series of tests to demonstrate the attitude control of the command and service module during the service propulsion system thrusting, when both the CSM and the Lunar Module are docked. These burns are varying durations, are set up where the digital autopilot will damp out the oscillations that are induced by gimbaling the big engine of the service propulsion system, and thereby give a measure of the dynamic response of the spacecraft's structure. Other by-products of the burns is to reduce the command and service module weight, and also being out-of-plane it drives the orbital plane further back to the east so that it improves tracking later in the mission for the rendezvous and the extravehicular activity. We'll be coming up on the Texas station at 22 hours 04 minutes ground elapsed time, at 21 hours 49 minutes ground elapsed time, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 22 hours 04 minutes ground elapsed time. We are coming up on a stateside pass here, across Texas, Mila, Bermuda, Vanguard, and on over to Canaries, a total time of about 25 minutes. At this time, the command module pilot should be climbing out of the lower equipment bay and on up into the couch and strapped in for the burn. The burn is scheduled for 22 hours 12 minutes and 03 seconds ground elapsed time, some 08 minutes from now. We will stand by, he is making a call now.

This is Apollo Control some 03 minutes 48 seconds away from ignition time. No conversation going on at the present time. The guidance reported that the gimbal motors on the big engine had come on, according to telemetry. We will continue to monitor the air-to-ground circuit for any conversation between Mission Control and Apollo 9.

Apollo Control here. One minute mark until ignition SPS burn number 2.

Five seconds.

Apogee is going up. Apparently the burn did go off on time and is still underway. Some 45 seconds into the burn. No conversation from the crew; they are quite busy at this time and will probably read back their residuals at the conclusion of the burn. We will continue to monitor the circuit.

We've had confirmation of the end of the burn. Perigee has remained right where it was supposed to; however, apogee is going on up around 187.6 and from the initial tracking, this will be refined somewhat as we get further tracking across the states. Gimbals motors are off on the big engine. These are the motors that actually swivel it in its mount to move the thrust vector. Now showing an apogee of 189.5. Let's listen in.

This is Apollo Control still standing by on the tail end of this pass.

Apparently we have had Loss of Signal at the Madrid tracking station. The next station to acquire Apollo 9 will be the Carnarvon, Australia tracking station at 53 minutes past the hour. Apollo 9 has just begun the 15th revolution. Service propulsion system burn number 3 is scheduled to take place at 25 hours 17 minutes 38 seconds. It will be a much longer burn and will exercise the digital autopilot in the full stroking of the big engine. The last 45 seconds of SPS burn number 3 will be under manual thrust vector control by the crew. At 22 hours 29 minutes ground elapsed time, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 22 hours, 53 minutes ground elapsed time. We are less than a minute away from acquisition at the Carnarvon, Australia tracking station. The refined tracking after the service propulsion system burn number 2 during the last stateside pass has now come up with numbers of 107.7 nautical mile perigee, by 189.6 nautical mile apogee. This is a more refined number than the earlier cuts that were given by the flight dynamics officer after first tracking. We'll stand by here as we come up on the acquisition here; they are putting in a call now.

This is Apollo Control at 23 hours, 12 minutes. Apollo 9 is out of range at Honeysuckle Creek. The orange team of flight controllers lead by Pete Frank now in the process of handing over to Gene Kranz and his white team. We're estimating the change of shift news conference for 9:30 CST. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 23 hours, 15 minutes into the mission. The Mercury tracking ship in the south Pacific is acquiring Apollo 9 now.

This is Apollo Control at 23 hours 23 minutes into the mission. Mercury has LOS of signal now. Very chatty pass. This time crew reporting at least four occasions where they have heard VHF communications from control tower at an airfield. Dave Scott complimenting the tower operator for his ability to handle heavy traffic. The network controller is now attempting to run a check and see where this traffic may have come from. They identified 4 times - elapsed times 10 hours 18 minutes, 11 hours 57 minutes, 16 hours 35 minutes, 18 hours 12 minutes. Smokey to whom you have heard reference to several times is Astronaut Stu Roosa. Back in his college days he spent several summers as a smoke jumper with the U.S, Forest Service - parachuting in to fight forest fires. At 23 hours 24 minutes - this is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 23 hours 50 minutes, Apollo 9 out over the Atlantic now in it's 16th revolution. It's been a fairly quite pass over the United States. We did pass up the maneuver pad for the third SPS burn. We have the tape of this pass starting with the Guaymus station, we'll play that for you now.

This is Apollo Control at 24 hours 2 minutes into the mission. We have had loss of signal at the Canary Islands station. During this pass we passed up information for the third service propulsion system burn. That will come at 25 hours 17 minutes 38 seconds, delta V 2,570.7 feet per second, duration of this burn 4 minutes 41.9 seconds. The biggest component of this delta V will be out of plane. We are expecting a resulting orbit from the third burn in the neighborhood of 270 by 109 nautical miles. We are now at about 189 by 108. The Tananarive station is down as far as the voice is concerned and we will not be in contact at Tananarive during this revolution, the 16th revolution. The next station to acquire will be Carnarvon at 24 hours 29 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston at 24 hours 4 minutes.

This is Apollo Control at 24 hours, 25 minutes into the mission. Apollo 9 is in the nightside of the 16th revolution, out over the Indian Ocean, east of Tananarive. Tananarive Station is down; we had no communications during this pass. Command Module pilot Dave Scott should be down in the lower equipment bay at this time at the optics station and the crew should be realigning the inertial measurement unit. We are about 4 minutes away from acquisition at Carnarvon; we'll come back up then. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 24 hours, 29 minutes. We should be acquiring Carnarvon very shortly. This pass will continue right on through the tracking ship Huntsville just about a 10 second break between the Honeysuckle Station and the Huntsville; we will carry it through live through the Huntsville.

This is Apollo Control, 24 hours, 46 minutes and we have had LOS at Honeysuckle. The Huntsville due to acquire within a few seconds; we'll stand by and see what the quality of the communications is there.

This is Apollo Control, 24 hours, 50 minutes and it seems very unlikely we are going to have good communications here at the Huntsville and we will not assault your ears with that noise any more. If there is communication, we will come back up and play it for you. We are at 27 minutes and about 10 seconds away from this third SPS burn, which will occur right at the end of the 16th revolution. We'll still be in contact with the Texas station with overlapping coverage from Mila. The biggest component of this very long burn, 4 minutes 42 seconds, almost, 4.41.9 and 2,570.7 feet per second, out of plane. Designed for two primary purposes. One, to lower the weight of the command and service module so that when we reach the rendezvous stage, the command module will be in a better posture to use its reaction control system in the event that a rescue maneuver is required. It doesn't need as much thrusting propellant to shove around a lighter spacecraft. Also designed to move the node of the orbit, that's the point at which the ground track of the orbit crosses the equator. We are driving this node about 10-1/2 degrees east, with this one burn. We launched deliberately on a pitched azimuth of 72 degrees which put the node about 22 degrees west of where we want it to be during the rendezvous and this series of out of plane burns, the docked SPS, and the docked descent propulsion system burn, which comes later in the mission, primarily out of plane to move this node to the east for proper ground track over the tracking stations and also for lighting, to get the proper lighting at the terminal phase and breaking and docking of the two spacecraft. There has been no further communication at Huntsville, we have LOS now. The next station to acquire will be the Redstone, at 25 hours 3 minutes. We are now at 24 hours 53 minutes, this is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control ac 25 hours 3 minutes. We are coming up on the Redstone and then we'll go right into the states pass. And we are about 14 and one half minutes away from the burn.

Apollo Control. We may not have much conversation. Crew getting busy for this burn. We'll do another stroker test on this third SPS burn. The computer wagging the engine bell on the service module. It's checking the digital auto pilot and seeing how quick the auto pilot can steer out the little inaccuracies put in. In some ways it's like checking the play in your steering wheel of your automobile. During the last 45 seconds of this burn the crew will take over manually. Called manual thrust vector - the last 45 seconds.

Apollo Control. We are now 7 minutes away from this third SPS burn.

Apollo Control. We expect the resulting orbit following this burn to be in the neighborhood of 270 by 109 nautical miles. We are now at 190 by 107.

Flight Director Gene Kranz has just taken a status report. All of his controllers report they are GO for this burn.

This is Apollo Control. We are two minutes away from the burn now.

Mark one minute.

Fifteen seconds.

We have ignition. G&C reports it looks very stable.

Still nice and stable.

Engine looks good, the rates are low, and very stable burn. Apogee going up slowly as most of this burn is out of plane, approaching 200-mile apogee. Still looking good at the 2-minute 30-second mark into this third SPS burn.

Engine and vehicle both still stable. Apogee is up to 225 nautical miles now.

Looking for cut-off at 25 hours 22 minutes 20 seconds. We are 21 minutes 28 seconds now.

Crew flying it manually now and it looks good. Cut-off.

Initial look at the onboard computer looks like we are right in there close.

This is Apollo Control. We are in a keyhole between the Vanguard and the Canaries now. We'll continue to standby live. Flight Dynamics Officer wants to look at tracking for a while before he comes up with refined orbital numbers, but it looks like we are going to be very, very close to nominal - what we were expecting after this burn.

The ECOMM has been taking a look at this fuel cell number 302 flow-high. He reports its running about 2 tenths of a pound per hour above normal. He says he will continue to watch, but he is not really concerned with it at this time - at that low-rate.

And we have the heartrate highs during that long SPS burn. McDivitt - 115, Scott - 108, Rusty Schweickart - 70 - seven zero.

This is Mission Control. We still have about 2 minutes left at the Canaries. We'll continue to standby.

This is Apollo Control - 25 hours, 37 minutes into the mission. Canaries has loss of signal now. FIDO, the Flight Dynamics Officer, expects to have a good look at the orbit by the time Apollo 9 gets to Tannanarive, and we'll pass up the numbers at that time. This long third SPS burn went essentially as planned, according to all preliminary indications. We will acquire Tannanarive at 47 minutes 44 seconds. We are now at 25 hours, 38 minutes, 23 seconds. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 25 hours, 47 minutes. Apollo 9 coming up on Tananarive now; we'll stand by.

This is Apollo Control. Apollo 9 is beyond Tananarive's range. Next station to acquire will be Carnarvon at 26 hours, 5 minutes. During this pass communications were bad, we did pass up the ground computed orbital parameters based on tracking information through the Canary Islands. We are showing an orbit of 271.8 by 109.5 nautical miles. At 26 hours, this is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 26 hours 4 minutes. Apollo 9 still in the nightside on this 17th revolution, coming up on Carnarvon now.

This is Apollo Control at 26 hours 23 minutes. We have acquisition at the Huntsville and we will continue to stand by.

This is Apollo Control. The Huntsville is very very noisy again this time. We're going to come down off this loop. If there is any air-to-ground over the Huntsville we will come back up. This is Mission Control Houston at 26 hours 24 minutes.

This is Apollo Control, at 26 hours, 25 minutes. We've had a little bit of air to ground in with all this noise; we will play that for you.

This is Apollo Control at 26 hours, 30 minutes. Huntsville has LOS now. The crew has been running some malfunction procedures on the fuel cell number 302 flow, which is still a little higher than it should be, and even more so when they purge. So, COMM would like for them to do the next purge over a ground station where he can watch it also; that next purge comes about 29 hours and 45 minutes. They'll delay it a couple of minutes till they get into acquisition at Hawaii; that'll be during the 19th revolution. The DSE voice you heard them refer to, in which the tone is wiping out some of the voices, data storage equipment, is used to store the voice comments when the spacecraft is out of range of a station, and then it can be dumped to the ground at selected stations. We are getting a tone on there which is interfering with the voice quality on the tape, and they are going to take a look at that. Next station to acquire will be Hawaii at 26 hours, 34 minutes, at about 2 minutes from now. We'll be doing some more communication tests over the Hawaii station looking forward to rendezvous day. This is Mission Control, Houston, at 26 hours, 32 minutes.

This is Apollo Control 26 hours 34 minutes into the Mission, and we are within range of Hawaii, we'll stand by.

This is Apollo Control at 27 hours 18 minutes. Ascension has loss of signal now. We are an hour and 5 minutes away from the fourth SPS burn. That burn will take place at 28 hours 24 minutes 40.3 seconds. Delta V of 300.9 feet per second, duration of the burn 28.3 seconds. This again will be an out of plane burn. We expect the perigee to stay essentially where it is, 109 and 1/2 nautical miles and we expect the apogee to go up about 2 miles from 271.8 to 273.8. We got a report on the windows. The first window report in this report. The crew reported the lefthand rendezvous window starting to fog up a bit, film on the outer pane. It was difficult to tell whether it was on the inside or outside of that pane. It's moved about 1/2 inch from the edge. They also reported a circle of fog in the middle of the hatch window, appeared to be a very light coating, disappeared when the sun was shining on it. The other windows reported clear. We will acquire at Tananarive in about 4 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 27 hours 24 minutes ground elapsed time. Apollo 9 about to acquire at Tananarive.

This is Apollo Control at 27 hours, 36 minutes. Tananarive has had LOS; next station will be Carnarvon at 27 hours, 42 minutes. Astronaut Al Worden, another member of the Apollo 9 support team, has joined Astronaut Stu Roosa at the CAP COMM console. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 27 hours 41 minutes. Apollo 9 is nearing acquisition at Carnarvon. We will stand by.

This is Apollo Control at 27 hours, 53 minutes into the mission. Carnarvon has LOS. Over this station we performed a test on the PUGS, the propellant utilization gageing system, it's been acting up causing warning lights to come on, warning tones and lights during the burn. We have decided to disable this system for the 4th SPS burn which is scheduled at about 30 minutes, 30 seconds from now. We can perform the burn without this system. It is merely a gageing system, and we will disable it. The Huntsville will acquire at 27 hours, 58 minutes, 23 seconds. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control, 27 hours 58 minutes into the mission. We'll stand by for conversation at the Huntsville.

This is Apollo Control at 28 hours 6 minutes, and the Huntsville does have loss of signal. During this pass Apollo 9 disabled the propellant utilization system, will not be used during the 4th service propulsion maneuver. We're 17 minutes 36 seconds away from the 4th SPS burn, will be performed near the end of the 18th revolution, while in acquisition at Texas. Next station to acquire is Hawaii, the GO/NO-GO decision for this SPS burn will be made over the Hawaii station. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 28 hours, 10 minutes and Hawaii has acquired Apollo 9.

This is Apollo Control; we are 10 minutes away from SPS number 4. To summarize again, the Delta V, or change of velocity on this burn, 300.9 feet per second, duration of the burn, 28.3 seconds. We expect the resultant orbital parameters 273.8 by 109.5. Perigee is the same as the present perigee, the apogee would move up 2 miles. This burn essentially out of plane.

5 minutes away from the burn.

Telemetry confirms the gimbal motors are on now. Those are the orders that drive the engine bell - steer it.

Three minutes away from the burn now.

Ignition planned at 28 hours, 24 minutes, 40 seconds - cutoff 28 hours, 25 minutes, 9 seconds. G&C confirms the spacecraft is trimmed up - ready for the burn.

One minute away.

Thirty seconds.

Ignition.

Good burn so far - nice and steady.

Engine OFF.

Initial onboard orbit looks like 274 by 109.

This is Apollo Control. We have the heartrates now during this short burn - SPS number 4. Jim McDivitt - 108, Dave Scott 68, Rusty Schweickart - 62.

This is Apollo Control. Sim Sup is the simulation supervisor who introduces problems into the simulations prior to the actual mission.

Apollo Control, we had during that burn, and they are still here, two members of the backup crew of Apollo 9, the backup crew commander Pete Conrad, and the command module pilot Dick Gordon.

This is Apollo Control; we are 28 hours, and 41 minutes into the flight. And Apollo 9 is beyond the range at Antigua now. This burn, SPS number 4 went very well. The initial onboard readout of the orbit - 274 by 109. That will be refined from ground tracking. We do not have that number yet but very, very near the nominal we were looking for. We were expecting on the order of 273.8 by 109.5. Ascension will acquire the spacecraft in about 3 minutes; we'll be back up then. This is Mission Control, Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 28 hours 45 minutes. Apollo 9 coming up on the Ascension station now. We'll stand by.

ECOMM reports that the crew is purging all three fuel cells and the purge rates look normal.

This is Apollo Control at 28 hours, 57 minutes and Ascension does have LOS. We are in the process now of handing over from the white team lead by flight director Gene Kranz to the gold team, flight director Jerry Griffith. Next station to acquire will be Tananarive in about 6 minutes, however, as you heard, Stu Roosa said that he would not attempt to contact the crew over the Tananarive station; we will stand by in case the crew wants to put in a call to us, but the voice quality experienced over Tananarive today has been pretty bad, so it's very likely that the next station over which we will have communication will be Carnarvon, at 29 hours, 19 minutes. The crew is in the process of powering down the spacecraft for the night, going into drifting flight, during the next hour, they will be eating and then their rest period begins at 30 hours even. This is Mission Control at 28 hours, 58 minutes.

This is Apollo Control. Good afternoon from the Gold Team. Here at Mission Control we've completed the shift changeover. Flight Director Jerry Griffin's crew has replaced the White Team and they made a status check of the consoles here and they indicate that they are ready to support Apollo 9. The spacecraft will come within range of the tracking station at Carnarvon in a matter of a minute or so. That time we expect some conversation between the crew and the CAPCOM. Meantime, we estimate that the change of shift briefing involving the participants of the White Team will start here in Houston at 3:45 PM Central Standard Time. We'll be standing by momentarily for expected air-to ground conversation between Houston and the crew at Carnarvon. This is Apollo Control standing by.

We've acquired the spacecraft at the Carnarvon tracking station. Standing by.

While we are waiting for air-to-ground conversation, we have received refined tracking data on the apogee and perigee from the last SPS burn and we understand that it was 200 - the resulting perigee was 272 nautical miles and 109.3 nautical miles.

We have an indication here at Mission Control that the spacecraft has moved out of range of the Carnarvon tracking station. It will be reacquired by the site at Guam in another 3 minutes or so. We'll come up at that time. At 29 hours, 30 minutes in the flight of Apollo 9 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 29 hours, 32 minutes into the flight. We expect acquisition at Guam momentarily. At that time CAPCOM will transmit some final data up to the crew, and if all goes well as planned that will be about our last conversation with them. For we plan to have them go into their rest cycle immediately after loss of signal at Guam. In the meantime, we will standby here, we have acquisition at the present time. We will standby and listen for the air to ground.

We have an indication that the spacecraft has moved out of range of the tracking station at Guam. At 29 hours, 40 minutes into the flight of Apollo 9, this is Mission Control.

This is Apollo Control at 30 hours, 15 minutes into the flight. Sometime back during the last pass over Hawaii we recorded about a minute of air-to-ground between the CAPCOM here at Houston, which is Stu Roosa, and the Commander, Jim McDivitt. We're prepared to play that back to you at this time.

At 30 hours, 19 minutes into the flight of Apollo 9 the spacecraft now is heading over the tip of South America. The next station to acquire will be Ascension. The crew pretty much has rested, or bedded down rather, not rested yet, but they're pretty much bedded down. Doing a few housekeeping duties. We'll continue to monitor here in Mission Control. At 30 hours, 20 minutes, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 30 hours, 50 minutes, ground elapsed time. Apollo 9 has just passed out of range of the Tananarive Tracking Station at this time heading out over the Indian Ocean. Crew is settled down during their rest cycle with the spacecraft commander, Jim McDivitt, as the only one who is connected to bioinstrumentation at the present time. We've had some recent readings on McDivitt's heart rate and respiration and the flight surgeon reports this is what he saw. He read McDivitt as having 72 beats per minute and having a respiration of 11 per minute. The cabin temperature at the present time is holding at 72 degrees Fahrenheit, while cabin pressure has been steady at 4.9 pounds per square inch. Next station to acquire the spacecraft will be the Carnarvon tracking station on this 20th revolution. They will get acquisition in about 30 hours, 57 minutes or almost 30 hours, 58 minutes. However, we do not expect any communication between the ground since we are in the rest cycle and there has been no effort here to talk to the crew. All systems are looking well on the spacecraft at the present time at 30 hours, 52 minutes into the flight. This is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 31 hours, 50 minutes into the flight. Apollo 9 is just crossing the South American country of Ecuador, at the present time. Our present orbital measurement show a perigee of 109.2 nautical miles, apogee of 272.1 nautical miles, a total weight of Gum Drop and Spider, that is the Command Service Module and docked Lunar Module, is now calculated at about 62,605 pounds. During the pass, the last pass over the States where we had acquisition at the tracking station Texas, the Flight Surgeon, Dr. John Ziegelschmid reported that the Command Module pilot and the Commander were both in their couches and we were receiving biomedical information on them indicating they were resting, but not yet sleeping soundly. There is no indication of sleep on the part of the two pilots. The Lunar Module pilot, of course, is down in the sleep station and he is not connected with the - at the present time with biomed instrumentation. And as a result, we haven't received any data, any recent data on him. Mean while, the Flight Controlers here at Mission Control in Houston report that the systems are looking okay. They have been powered down for some time now, and that the spacecraft, of course, is in drifting flight. At 31 hours, 52 minutes, ground elapse time, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 32 hours, 52 minutes at GET. Apollo 9 is presently in West Pacific area having moved out of range at the tracking station at Guam. We had a very short pass over Guam because of the position of the spacecraft in reference to the tracking site. Very little information was transmitted down, however, the spacecraft systems are working or looking well. We had a report that we were getting a good charge on battery A, for the batteries are being charged at the present time. About an hour and a half ago we had a shift change here with Astronaut Ron Evans at Capcom, replacing Astronaut Stu Roosa. We expect to acquire the spacecraft again in about ten minutes over the Hawaii tracking site. On this the 21st revolution at 32 hours, 53 minutes into the flight of Apollo 9. This is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 33 hours, 50 minutes GET. Apollo 9 presently is over the Atlantic Ocean approaching the lower tip of the continent of Africa. Earlier during this pass. Dr. John Ziegelschmidt reported that biomedical telemetry beamed down from the spacecraft showed that the Commander, that would be Jim McDivitt, and the Command Module Pilot, Dave Scott, were in the initial stages of sleep. Dr. Ziegelechmidt reported that the Commander, Commander's heart rate was averaging about 60 beats per minute, and the Command Module Pilot's heart rate was averaging about 48 beats per minute. The next station to acquire the Apollo 9 spacecraft will be Tananarive in about 3 more minutes. We expect no conversation since the crew is in its rest cycle. At 33 hours, 52 minutes into the flight of Apollo 9 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 34 hours, 59 minutes ground elapsed time. The crew of Apollo 9 has some 4 hours and 20 minutes of their sleep period remaining. The countdown clock shows, well, less than 4 hours and 20 minutes of - left in their rest cycle. I guess one might call that an alarm clock. Earlier while the spacecraft was in range of the Hawaii station, the Flight Surgeon reported that McDivitt and Scott appear to be sleeping rather soundly now. Their rates were 54 heart beats per minute, that is an average, for McDivitt; and 42 for Scott. The LM pilot, Rusty Schweickart, is in the sleep station under the crew couches and therefore his TM is not available because of the way the biomedical instrumentation cabling is arranged. Spacecraft systems appear to be functioning normally and well at this time. The next station to acquire Apollo 9 will be Tananarive at about one-half hour from now. At 35 hours, 1 minute ground elapsed time all systems are well and the crew is sleeping. This is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control. Apollo 9 is in the 23rd rev at the present time, flying over the Indian Ocean - well, it's actually across India at the present time. During the Tananarive pass which occurred about a quarter of an hour ago, the TM again indicated that spacecraft systems were performing well and the crew apparently is sleeping rather soundly. So, the period of quiet is being maintained and it's fairly quiet here in the control center also, at 35 hours and 52 minutes, GET. This is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control at 36 hours 51 minutes into the flight. There is increased activity in Mission Control at this time. A change of shift is under way. The Gold team members are saying goodnight while the Orange team members are saying good morning. Meanwhile the Apollo 9 is crossing the Atlantic Ocean approaching the Ascension tracking station. Aquisition there will be in about four more minutes. During the last pass over Hawaii about a half an hour ago the biomedical telemetry from the commander showed that he had an average heart rate of 68 beats per minute. This lead Doctor John Ziegelschmidt, the flight surgeon to conclude that Astronaut McDivitt probably was awake, however there was no air to ground conversation between the two, the ground letting him rest. All systems appear to be working normally on the spacecraft at this time. The astronauts still have about two hours and 26 minutes of rest, rest time before they will be awakened for what promises to be a very very busy day. At 36 hours 53 minutes into the flight of Apollo 9 this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 37 hours 50 minutes ground elapsed time. The Apollo 9 spacecraft is over the Central Pacific at this time and will be coming over the tracking ship Mercury in approximately 6 minutes. The three crewmen aboard Apollo 9 are still apparently asleep; there have been no conversations with the ground in the last several hours since the rest period began. The onboard cabin pressure readouts as telemetered to the ground now show a cabin pressure of 4.9 pounds per-square-inch, a temperature of 69 degrees Fahrenheit. Recent tracking has shown the orbit to be 109.1 nautical mile perigee by 271.9 nautical mile apogee. The gross weight is computed to be 62,605 pounds of the command and service module and the docked lunar module. The countdown clock, or alarm clock, for waking up the crew shows one hour 28 minutes remaining of the rest period. When the crew is awakened and have breakfast, they immediately go into putting on their pressure garment assemblies and prepare to transfer two men, the lunar module pilot Rusty Sweigart first and the commander Jim McDivitt later on, into the lunar module through the tunnel connecting the two spacecraft for complete rather exhaustive series of systems checkouts. At 37 hours 52 minutes ground elapsed times this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 38 hours 50 minutes ground elapsed time. Apollo 9 is presently over North Central Africa at the beginning of the 25th revolution. Earlier in the evening during the later part of the 24th revolution and crossing over the tracking ship Mercury at about 38 hours ground elapsed time, flight surgeon Ken Beers, reported that the commander and command module pilot heart rates were in the mid 50's and mid 30's respectively for the two men. The lunar module pilot, Rusty Schweickart, is in the sleep station beneath the couch and is not - does not have his biomedical harness attached. The wake time now - the clock on the wake up clock is 28 minutes 55 seconds; a second countdown clock here in Mission Control gives a time of 3 hours 18 minutes until the hatch between the command module and the lunar module will be opened for the intravehicular transfer of the lunar module pilot and later the commander into the LM for the days activities in powering up and checking out the lunar module. At 38 hours 51 minutes ground elapsed time, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 39 hours 18 minutes ground elapsed time. Apollo 9 midway through the 25th revolution is now over the tracking station at Guam. The tracking at Guam and also the ships Huntsville and Mercury all overlap for a total time of about 25 minutes. The countdown clock for awakening the crew now shows a minute and a half left until the end of the rest period for the crew of Apollo 9. After the crew does wake up and get a flight plan update here from Mission Control, they will then go into an eat period for their breakfast before a very busy day of checking out and activating the lunar module, the first manning of the lunar module of this mission. We're monitoring the air-ground here for any calls that spacecraft communicator Ron Evans might make to the crew of Apollo 9 to see if they're awake. We'll stand by to join that conversation when it begins. Another countdown clock here in Mission Control is showing now 2 hours 50 minutes until the hatch is open between the lunar module and the command module for the intravehicular transfer of two of the crewmen into the LM. He's putting in a call now, let's listen.