Apollo 9

This is Apollo Control; 181 hours, 55 minutes ground elapsed time. Apollo 9 is just crossing the coast of China directly over Hong Kong. Midway through the 115th revolution. The tracking station at Guam will acquire the spacecraft in approximately 4 minutes. The crew and spacecraft are powered down for the rest cycle. They have another 4 hours remaining in their rest period but it will likely run longer than that if yesterday's flight plan was any indication. The countdown clock now shows 56 hours, 55 minutes remaining until retrofire or deorbit burn. At 181 hours, 56 minutes ground elapsed time this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control; 182 hours, 50 minutes GET. Apollo 9 has just begun its 116th revolution, and is just south of the city of Baylean, Brazil. Canary Islands tracking station will pick up the spacecraft at 57 minutes past the hour. Crew and spacecraft are both still resting. There's 3 hours 9 minutes remaining in the crew rest period, and at 182 hours, 50 minutes GET, this is Apollo Control.

This Apollo Control; 183 hours, 50 minutes ground elapsed time. Apollo 9 presently is north of the north island of New Zealand midway through the 116th revolution coming up on tracking ship Mercury. In about 2 minutes some current numbers of the Apollo 9 spacecraft's orbit and gross weight 98 nautical mile perigee 249.2 nautical mile apogee total weight 25 thousand and 78 pounds. The retrofire people are generating numbers for the Thursday morning nominal splash down in landing area 151-1, which shows a retrofire or deorbit burn time of 238 hours 51 minutes 57 seconds. The sequence of events following retrofire and in given in expressed in times after retrofire, 4 hundred thousand feet altitude or sensible atmosphere at 17 minutes 5 seconds after retrofire. Begin blackout 19 minutes 46 seconds. End blackout 22 hours 56 minutes, 22 minutes 56 seconds. Drogue deploy 27 minutes 13 seconds. Main parachutes deploy 28 minutes even. Splash down 32 minutes 55 seconds. This computes out in ground elapsed time to 239 hours 24 minutes 52 seconds or in central standard time 9:24 am. The targeting point for this entry 151-1 is 67 degrees west longitude 30 degrees, 39 minutes north latitude. The retrofire burn will occur at an altitude of 212 nautical miles which is downhill from apogee. Apollo 9 crew are still asleep at this time with a little over 2 hours remaining in their sleep period, at 183 hours 52 minutes ground elapse time this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control; 184 hours, 50 minutes GET. Apollo 9 about one-fourth of the way through the 117th revolution is now over the northern portion of the Arabian Peninsula, will be picked up by the Carnarvon, Australia tracking station at 11 minutes past the hour. Earlier in this revolution, during the crossing of the Antigua tracking station, from which biomedical and spacecraft systems data was telemetered to the ground and on into Mission Control Center here in Houston, Flight Surgeon Ken Beers commented to the flight director that quote: "Looks like the crew is still embraced in the arms of Morpheus." Beers said that he can tell by the heart-rate and respiration rates whether the crew was dreaming at the time - or individual crewmen are dreaming at the time. Morpheus, of course, was the God of the dreams in the Greek Pantheon. At 184 hours 51 minutes GET, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control; 185 hours, 12 minutes ground elapsed time. The alarm clock is about to ring for the crew of Apollo 9, we're coming over Carnarvon, Australia for a brief pass of about 3 minutes. It is anticipated that spacecraft communicator Stu Roosa will call the crew at this time and continue the conversation over Honeysuckle and later over Mercury. We're standing by now for the initial call. Apparently Roosa is conferring with the flight surgeon to see whether the biomedical telemetry indicates whether they're really awake at this time. Apparently the wakeup call is being delayed for a few moments. We have lost acquisition at Carnarvon, however, Honeysuckle is coming up in a little less than two minutes. This is the first Carnarvon contact. Among the notations to be passed up to the crew in the initial pass of the morning will be the RCS quads to be used for maneuvering today. Spacecraft communicator Roosa is getting from flight director Pete Frank this last bit of information jotted down so that he can pass it up to the crew. Their routine flight plan update, consumables update, block data for contingency landing areas; all of the routine housekeeping type chores will be taken care of first. The spacecraft will be powered up for the day's activities, the crew will immediately begin digging out their breakfast meals before moving into the days activities of the SO65 multispectral photography experiment and whatever else is generated here in Mission Control in the way of tasks for the day. Still a few seconds out of Honeysuckle. We've had acquisition, we'll stand by for Roosa's call. Minor huddle going on down around the environmental electrical and communications engineers console as they discuss the spacecraft's systems configuration for the day. Roosa has activated his air-ground transmit button, we're anticipating a call momentarily provided, of course, the crew ... there he goes.

No response from Apollo 9 over Honeysuckle. Apparently they do not have their S-band receiver volume turned up where they could hear a call. Another attempt will be made over Mercury in about 7 minutes using VHF. At 185 hours 21 minutes ground elapsed time, this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control 185 hours 28 minutes GET. We're standing by now for a second attempt to talk to the crew by spacecraft communicator, Stu Roosa. He has actuated his transmitter key. We're in acquisition at tracking ship, Mercury. About a 10-minute pass. The crew apparently did not have their S-band receiver volume turned up during the Honeysuckle pass.

This is Apollo Control 185 hours 28 minutes GET. We're standing by now for a second attempt to talk to the crew by spacecraft communicator, Stu Roosa. He has actuated his transmitter key. We're in acquisition at tracking ship, Mercury. About a 10-minute pass. The crew apparently did not have their S-band receiver volume turned up during the Honeysuckle pass.

And this is Apollo Control. We've had, or momentarily will have, loss of signal at the tracking ship Mercury. The conversation and flight plan updates and all the preliminary exchange of information for the day's activities will pick up again at Antigua at 56 minutes 48 seconds past the hour when Apollo 9 is acquired by the Antigua tracking station in the Eastern Test Range. People in Miami may have an opportunity, this morning, to see the spacecraft at 6:30 am Eastern Standard Time. The spacecraft will rise from the southeast, will have a maximum elevation angle of 19 degrees, and will be at that maximum height at 6:35 eastern standard time. The spacecraft will set in the east at 6:38 eastern standard time. The slant range at maximum elevation will be 372.7 nautical miles. This will be during the, or actually, at the beginning of the 119th revolution. At 185 hours 40 minutes GET, this is Apollo Control."

This is Apollo Control, 185 hours, 56 minutes GET. Apollo 9 is just south of the isthmus of Panama, at the start of the 118th revolution. We're anticipating continuation of the wake up conversation that was begun over tracking ship Mercury toward the end of last revolution. Should have acquisition of the eastern test range tracking station at Antigua with-in about 6 seconds. Stu Roosa has activated his transmitter button. We'll listen for that first beep."

This is Apollo Control. There was some deterioration in communications quality over the Vanguard. There was an earlier report that the Vanguard's COM CEP antenna relay antenna was on the fritz. This may account for the poor communications over Vanguard. Stu Roosa is waiting for acquisition at Canary Islands to pick up on the flight plan update. We'll leave the circuit open and stand by for restart of the air-to-ground communications. Apollo 9 is in mid-Atlantic at the present time just South of the point at which the tracking ship Vanguard is hove to. Some 2 minutes out of Canaries yet. Less than a minute out of Canaries for resuming the conversation. Standing by.

This is Apollo Control. We're still more than a minute away from loss of signal, as you were, 4 minutes away from loss of signal out of Madrid; however the conversation has been terminated so that the crew can unlimber their cameras and take some photos of the Northern portion of the continent of Africa. The crew rest reports and also the updates on the targets of opportunity for photography that were made yesterday will be passed on during the Carnarvon pass or possibly the next stateside pass. We'll continue to monitor the air-ground circuit for any possible conversation until Madrid LOS some 3 minutes from now.

It appears there will be no further conversation during this pass. At 186 hours 16 minutes ground elapsed time this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 186 hours 44 minutes GET. Apollo 9 is mid-way through the 118th revolution, coming up on Carnarvon. Should have acquisition at this time. Carnarvon tracking overlaps Honeysuckle. Honeysuckle has about 1 minute 30 second dropout between LOS Honeysuckle and acquisition at Mercury. Apollo 9 is near apogee over these stations and consequently the tracking times are somewhat longer than at a lower Earth orbit. Spacecraft communicator, Stu Roosa, is busily jotting down notes at his console. His transmitter key is activated, but he's not making any move at this time to start the pass."

This is Apollo Control. Apollo 9 presently is crossing the eastern coast of Australia. Just about to the point of Sidney where we'll continue to monitor the Honeysuckle pass with about a minute 30 second dropout between Honeysuckle loss of signal and Mercury acquisition of signal. Apollo Control monitoring air ground."

This is Apollo Control. We've not actually had loss of signal in Honeysuckle according to the acquisition table. Still about a minute remaining. Mercury coming up at 4 minutes and 12 seconds past the hour. 3 and 1/2 minutes from now. At 187 hours 1 minute ground elapsed time this is Apollo Control standing by for Mercury.

This is Apollo Control some 6-1/2 minutes remaining of this pass over the tracking ship Mercury. We'll leave the circuit open and monitor any possible conversation during this pass."

This is Apollo Control, apparently that concludes the conversation over the tracking ship Mercury. We'll have acquisition at the Corpus Christi, Texas tracking station at a little after 29 past the hour. At 187 hours, 15 minutes GET, this is Apollo Control."

This is Apollo Control, 187 hours 29 minutes ground elapsed time and one item of information not directly related to Apollo 9 but to Apollo 10, the roll-out should begin right at this moment 6:30 am Eastern Standard Time of Apollo 10 space vehicle from a vertical assembly - er, vehicle assembly building at Kennedy Space Center out to launch complex 39B. Apollo 10 will be a launch to a lunar orbit mission in the spring in which the lunar module will descend to 50 000 feet above the lunar surface. Crewmen on that mission will be Tom Stafford, Eugene Cernan, and John Young. During the Apollo 9 pass over Carnarvon and Honeysuckle, the crew gave a report on sleep and medications. McDivitt had 7 hours sleep last night, took one Actifed which is a decongestant; Schweickart had 6½ hours sleep took 1 Actifed; Scott had 6½ hours sleep took no pills. All had one vitamin pill yesterday. They have taken 85 frames of the SO65 multi-spectral photography experiment so far in the mission and they have some 200 frames of 70-mm color remaining. We'll listen in now for the conversation about to begin over the tracking station at Texas."

This is Apollo Control. Apollo 9 is in the Mid-Atlantic now in acquisition by the Canary Island tracking station. We'll continue to monitor the air to ground circuit for the duration of this pass, which will be at Madrid LOS at 53 minutes past the hour, approximately 6 minutes from now.

This is Apollo Control. A few seconds away from loss of signal at Madrid. The next station to acquire Apollo 9 will be the Carnarvon, Australia tracking station at 19 minutes past the hour. At 187 hours 53 minutes ground elapsed time this is Apollo Control."

This is Apollo Control 188 hours 19 minutes GET, about 30 seconds out of acquisition at Carnarvon, Australia. Meanwhile, the Space Flight Meteorology Group of the SL Weather Bureau issues the following forecast for today and tomorrow. In the primary landing zone in the West Atlantic about 800 miles east of Jacksonville, skies will be mostly cloudy and winds northwesterly 20 to 25 knots. Seas will range 6 to 8 feet, and temperature 55 to 63 degrees. In the mid-Pacific landing zones about 600 miles northwest of Honolulu partly cloudy skies will prevail with northwesterly winds about 18 knots. Seas are expected to be 5 to 6 feet and temperatures near 60 degrees. In the West Pacific landing area about 400 miles southeast of Tokyo, skies will be cloudy with widely scattered showers and winds southeasterly 15 knots. Seas will be 4 to 5 feet and temperatures near 60 degrees. In the East Atlantic landing area, about 500 miles southwest of the Canary Islands, mostly cloudy skies with widely scattered showers are expected. Winds will be southwesterly 20 to 25 knots, seas 5 to 7 feet and temperatures around 70 degrees. We're standing by now for the initial call here at Carnarvon. Carnarvon and Honeysuckle overlap for a total time of about 19 minutes, and then there's about a minutes and a half of dropout or a minute and 3 seconds dropout, between Honeysuckle and Mercury. These long passes are due to the fact that the spacecraft is near apogee at this time in the southern hemisphere over Australia and Mercury tracking ship. Standing by until spacecraft communicator, Stu Roosa, punches up on the air-to-ground and begins the conversation. During this pass over the tracking stations at Carnarvon and Honeysuckle Creek, Australia, the crew has scheduled a realignment of the inertial measurement unit, Program 52. Here they go.

This is Apollo Control continuing to monitor the Carnarvon Honeysuckle pass.

This is Apollo Control. Although we're a few seconds out, actually about 3 minutes away from loss of signal at Honeysuckle, apparently the conversation has been terminated. Tracking ship Mercury will acquire Apollo 9 at 40 minutes past the hour. At 188 hours 36 minutes ground elapsed time this is Apollo Control.

This is Apollo Control, 188 hours 40 minutes ground elapsed time. Just acquired at tracking ship Mercury for a pass of at least 11 minutes. We'll stand by for any air-ground during the pass over this ship. Here in Mission Control Center, the members of the White Flight Control Team are beginning to drift in for the handover from the Orange Team which has manned the sleep watch during the night. It appears spacecraft communicator Stu Roosa is about to call the crew again.

This is Apollo Control. Some 5 minutes remaining in the pass over the tracking ship Mercury, fairly high elevation angle of 54 degrees. We'll continue to monitor for the duration of this pass over Mercury for any further conversation.

Apollo Control, 2 minutes remaining in the Mercury pass. It doesn't appear there will be any further conversation but we'll leave the circuit up just in case."

This is Apollo Control and we have had LOS at the tracking ship Mercury. We'll be coming up on the tracking ship Redstone at 57 past the hour, overlapping Guaymas, Texas, MILA, Bermuda, tracking ship Vanguard, Canary Islands, running on through to 28 minutes past the hour, past the next hour. At 188 hours, 52 minutes GET, this is Apollo Control."

This is Apollo Control at 188 hours, 57 minutes and the Redstone has acquired Apollo 9.

This is Apollo Control. Astronaut Ron Evans has relieved astronaut Stu Roosa at the spacecraft communicator's console"

This is Apollo Control at 189 hours 28 minutes. Apollo 9 is out of range at the Canaries, next station to acquire will be Tananarive at 189 hours 41 minutes. During this last pass over the United States we updated the crew with some SO65 photography experiment explanations, asking them to photograph Austin and Charleston on the next revolution, which would be number 121. Ron Evans is the CAPCOM at the present time. We'll come back up at Tananarive. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 189 hours 42 minutes. Apollo 9 is within range of the Tananarive station."

This is Apollo Control at 189 hours 49 minutes. Tananarive has LOS of signal. Apollo 9 going through this station without conversation. Apollo 9's orbit now is 248 and one-half nautical miles apogee, 98 nautical miles perigee. Showing a cabin pressure of 4.9 pounds per square inch. Cabin temperature 70 degrees. The next station to acquire will be Carnarvon at 189 hours 56 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 189 hours, 57 minutes and Carnarvon has acquired Apollo 9.

This is Apollo Control. That photo target is Cape Blanc - BLANC - it's on the west coast of Africa about 20 degrees north."

This is Apollo Control. Apollo 9 is in acquisition at the tracking ship Huntsville now. We've had continuous coverage since Apollo 9 was acquired by the Carnarvon station. We'll continue to monitor through the Huntsville pass.

This is Apollo Control. The Huntsville and the Mercury have overlapping coverage on this 120th revolution. So our coverage will be extended several minutes by Mercury after leaving Huntsville.

This is Apollo Control at 190 hours, 25 minutes and Mercury has lost the signal. During this long pass CAPCOM Ron Evans advised the Apollo 9 crew they have been using about 20 pounds of Reaction Control System propellant per day - rather low usage. We told them that they still have 70 pounds of RCS propellant above the red lines for the best mode of RCS deorbit and we advised them that if they want to use more propellant for attitude control during photography that they can double - just about double - the usage that they had been experiencing. However, Jim McDivitt came back and said that they have been able to perform the photography within the usage to date and he doesn't think they need to use much more than they already have. The Redstone will acquire at 190 hours, 29 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 190 hours 40 minutes. Apollo being acquired at the Redstone now and we will have continuous coverage across the United States and most of the Atlantic down through the Canaries station.

This is Apollo Control. Apollo 9 is approaching the coast of Mexico now. Very shortly we will be doing the SO65 photography in the Austin, Texas, area, and then, shortly after that, the Charleston, South Carolina, area will be photographed.

This is Apollo Control at 191 hours, 4 minutes and Canary Island Station has LOS. We've asked the Apollo 9 crew to take some 16mm movie footage from the Gulf of Guinea to the Island of Madagascar and we've asked for some footage of the Gulf Stream. We also advised them of projected onboard gage readings at which time they can expect the fuel manifold pressure to start a slow decay. As the fuel gets lower, we don't expect to reach that point today, however, because the present fuel usage is quite low. The next station to acquire will be Tananarive at 191 hours, 9 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 191 hours, 16 minutes. Apollo 9 is coming within range of the Tananarive station."

This is Apollo Control at 191 hours, 25 minutes. Apollo 9 out of range at Tananarive now - going through that pass without conversation. The Carnarvon station will acquire at 191 hours, 32 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 191 hours, 32 minutes and Carnarvon has acquired Apollo 9.

This is Apollo Control. We go right into coverage at the Huntsville on this revolution. We'll continue to stand by."

This is Apollo control continuing to stand by through the Huntsville. Most of the Australian pass was devoted to transmitting information to the crew concerning the S-band high gain antenna test which is scheduled over Carnarvon and over Hawaii in the 122nd revolution, about 193 hours at Carnarvon."

We also passed up information concerning the next multispectral terrain photography test to be conducted over the United States on this present revolution. Areas to be photographed, Colorado River, Snyder, Texas and the Cumberland Plateau."

This is Apollo Control at 191 hours 58 minutes. The tracking ship Huntsville has loss of signal. In this 121st revolution, there is a very short LOS time between the Huntsville and Hawaii, about a minute and a half total. We will continue to stand by for Hawaii acquisition. Apollo 9 has started it's slow maneuvering to get into the proper attitude for the multispectral photography, which will be performed over the United States during this pass. Hawaii is due to acquire at 191 hours 59 minutes. We should acquire at Hawaii within the next few seconds. We will stand by."

This is Apollo Control at 192 hours, 33 minutes. The Vanguard has Loss Of Signal. Ascension will acquire at 192 hours, 38 minutes. It will be during this Ascension pass that the crew will have an opportunity to try to take a look at the satellite Pegasus. We passed up the pointing information to them for this - advised them that it should pass through their COAS - Crew Optical Alignment Sight - at 192 hours 43 minutes, 9 seconds. It should be in view for approximately 45 seconds. They will be 920 miles - nautical miles - trailing, 77 nautical miles below. We advised them that Pegasus has 150 square feet of area, so they might get a good look at it - at that time. During this long pass across the United States the crew performed some more multispectral terrain photography. We gave them some additional information on the S-band high gain antenna test. That is coming up - starting at Carnarvon during this revolution. We want to simulate a lunar coast period when the crew might be asleep. We want to test the Automatic Reacquisition Mode of the antenna during Passive Thermal Control. Jim McDivitt volunteered that he could make it even more authentic by sleeping during the test. Ron Evans advised he thought Jim had enough sleep and Rusty Schweickart came back with the assurance that Jim probably would make it authentic by sleeping. Spacecraft Commander McDivitt also advised us that if we go through the flight plan tomorrow as it is presently scheduled, he believes the crew will have enough time to get ready for entry on Thursday. There has been some discussion earlier in the day; crew saying they'd like to do as much of the work as possible the night before so that they would not be pressed too hard on the time line zone reentry morning. They advised the crew of the recovery ship Guadalcanal that they are looking forward to seeing them on Thursday, and Ron Evans accused them of still thinking about that 350 pound cake that awaits them on the Guadalcanal. We'll be up at Ascension in about a minute and a half. We'll standby at Ascension to see what luck the Apollo 9 crew has in spotting the Pegasus satellite. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 192 hours 38 minutes and Ascension should acquire any second. We'll stand by.

This is Apollo Control at 192 hours 45 minutes. Ascension has loss of signal. Rusty Schweickart reporting that the crew did see the satellite Pegasus during this pass. Communications were poor there, but we did understand that the Apollo 9 crew spotted the Pegasus. This Pegasus spacecraft was launched in May of 1965 aboard a Saturn I. Upon reaching orbit it deployed 2 large folding wing-like panels. It was launched to collect data on meteoroids. Spacecraft measures 96 feet from tip to tip, the center section 71 feet long. Pegasus is visible from the ground. It twinkles instead of reflecting a steady light because it is slowly tumbling in space as it orbits the Earth. We're also looking for other satellites that might be in favorable position to Apollo 9. If they are located we will pass that information up to the crew to give them a chance to take a look at them. Next station to acquire will be Tananarive at 192 hours 52 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 192 hours, 52 minutes and Apollo 9 is coming up on the station at Tananarive."

This is Apollo Control at 193 hours, 1 minute. Apollo 9 has gone by Tananarive without conversation. Carnarvon will acquire at 193 hours, 8 minutes. Apollo 9 will be performing the S-band high gain antenna test during this Carnarvon pass, and will repeat the teat again over the Hawaii station during this revolution. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 193 hours 08 minutes. Carnarvon has acquired Apollo 9.

The Guidance Navigation and Control officer has just advised Flight Director Gene Kranz that Apollo 9 is in passive thermal control rolling slowly to control the thermal environment. That is part of this test."

This is Apollo Control at 193 hours 19 minutes. Apollo 9 is beyond the range of the Carnarvon station. The tracking ship Huntsville will acquire at 193 hours 24 minutes. During this pass at Carnarvon Apollo 9 has been involved with the S-band high gain antenna test. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 193 hours, 24 minutes into the mission and the tracking ship Huntsville is acquiring Apollo 9."

And the entire contingency of Kansas astronauts is at the CAPCOM console now. Astronaut Joe Engle has joined Ron Evans.

This is Apollo Control at 193 hours, 33 minutes. Apollo 9 is past the range of the Huntsville now. Hawaii will acquire in about 2 and a half minutes. During this Huntsville pass we asked the crew to take 15 photographs of the Dallas/Fort Worth area, during this upcoming pass over the United States. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 193 hours, 35 minutes. Apollo 9 about to tag up at Hawaii.

Guidance and control officer just reported that Apollo 9 has loaded the Pegasus information into the digital autopilot. We're in contact through Antigua now for about another 3 minutes. This second attempt to see the Pegasus will come at Ascension Island acquisition again. However, there is an ARIA tracking aircraft in the area between Antigua and Ascension, so we may have continuous communications down through Ascension. That was Jim McDivitt talking about seeing the big ship, thought it might have been the recovery carrier, the U.S.S. Guadalcanal, but of the recovery area.

We will recap Pegasus information again. Acquisition time of 194 hours 14 minutes 10 seconds, it should appear in the right side of the crew optical alinement sight at that time, pass out of the left side of the sight 30 seconds later. Range between the two vehicles will be 715 nautical miles, that is the slant range. Apollo 9 will be behind and below Pegasus.

Apollo 9 is about a minute away from that Pegasus this time. And Ascension has acquired.

This is Apollo Control at 194 hours, 22 minutes and Ascension has Loss Of Signal. Thanks to the ARIA aircraft between Antigua and Ascension we've been in contact with Apollo 9 since it was acquired by the Hawaii station, and the S-band communications through the ARIA were good. Apollo 9 crewmen getting their second look at Pegasus during this pass at Ascension. Range was 715 nautical miles at the time of that sighting. The crew is continuing to do a great deal of photography - the targets of opportunity. We passed up a couple this time - the Barbados area and the Virgin Islands. The spacecraft was near the Virgin Islands area at the time we requested that and had already started photographing the area with the 16-millimeter motion picture camera. And we have asked Rusty Schweickart to - at his convenience to - clean the sternal sensors in his biomedical harness. We are not receiving EKG from Rusty. We passed up a couple of landmark tracking areas for the crew to track through the sextant and take marks in a navigational exercise. Landmark number 6 is the Point Loma lighthouse at San Diego. We don't have the identification yet on landmark number 130. We'll pass that along as soon as we do get it. And that was Dave Scott who asked if we wanted the crew to rendezvous with Pegasus. Tananarive will acquire the spacecraft at 194 hours, 30 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo control at 194 hours 30 minutes. Tananarive has acquired Apollo 9. However, we have not yet put in a call nor have we heard from the crew. Identification on landmark 130 that's Guarico Dam, Guarico, near a city in Venezuala named Calabozo, spelled Calabozo. We'll stand by through Tananarive."

This is Apollo Control at 194 hours 38 minutes. Apollo 9 is beyond range of Tananarive. The next station to acquire will be Carnarvon at 194 hours 44 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston."

this is Apollo Control at 194 hours 44 minutes and Carnarvon has acquired Apollo 9."

This is Apollo Control at 194 hours 55 minutes. Carnarvon has loss of signal, Guam will acquire Apollo 9 at 194 hours 57 minutes, about 2, 2 and a half minutes from now. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 194 hours 58 minutes and Guam has acquired Apollo 9."

This is Apollo Control at 195 hours 7 minutes and Guam has loss of signal. Hawaii will acquire at 195 hours 12 minutes. We passed up another photographic target of opportunity to be performed, if possible, at 195 hours 43 minutes, the delta of the Amazon river. That byplay between the crew and astronaut Ron Evans at the end of the Carnarvon pass and acquisition at Guam concerned a gimbal angle on the inertial platform. The guidance officer here was watching closely on the ground but the crew was apparently maneuvering and the guidance officer was watching him get near the gimbal lock area and we warned him about that. If the spacecraft does go into gimbal lock, it tumbles the platform and it's then necessary to realine the platform. This is Mission Control Houston."

This is Apollo Control at 195 hours, 12 minutes. Apollo 9 is about to be acquired at the Hawaii station."

This is Apollo Control. Within a few seconds Dave Scott will start tracking this dam in Venezuela. He reports he got five good marks while tracking the Point Loma lighthouse in San Diego. He said the surf looks good there.

Also during this pass over South America the crew will photograph the mouth of the Amazon River Delta. In the beginning of this day the Apollo 9 crew reported they had 200 frames of 70mm film remaining. That's out of a total on board of 880 frames.

Antigua has acquisition now. We have another ARIA aircraft in the area between Antigua and Ascension. We'll attempt to acquire through the ARIA about 2 minutes after LOS at Antigua. And ARIA acquisition should carry us up to within 2 minutes of Ascension acquisition.

Antigua has had loss of signal at 195 hours, 42 minutes. We should get acquisition through the ARIA tracking aircraft in approximately 1 minute. We'll continue to stand by and see how we make out through the ARIA.

This is Apollo Control, Apollo 9 is out of range of that ARIA; we did not converse with the crew. Ascension will acquire in about 2 minutes. We'll come back up then.

This is Apollo Control at 195 hours 51 minutes and Apollo 9 is within range of Ascension Island now.

This is Apollo Control at 195 hours 56 minutes. Ascension has lost Apollo 9 signal. Tananarive will acquire at 196 hours 06 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 196 hours, 6 minutes. Apollo 9 coming up on the Tananarive station.

This is Apollo Control at 196 hours, 15 minutes. Tananarive has loss of signal. Apollo 9 will miss the Carnarvon, Australian station on this revolution. The next station to acquire will be Guam at 196 hours, 33 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 196 hours, 33 minutes and Apollo 9 is within range of Guam.

This is Apollo Control at 196 hours, 42 minutes. Apollo 9 beyond the range of the Guam station. Hawaii will acquire at 196 hours, 50 minutes. During this pass at Guam we asked the Apollo 9 crew to do some photography over Ecquador during their next pass over South America. This is Mission Control Houston.

This is Apollo Control at 196 hours, 52 minutes into the mission, and Hawaii has acquired Apollo 9.

This is Apollo Control at 196 hours, 54 minutes. Hawaii has loss of signal, Redstone will acquire in approximately 2 minutes.

This is Apollo Control. We have some tape from this Hawaii pass that we started into late. We'll play that for you now."

This is Apollo Control. The Redstone should acquire in 2 or 3 seconds.

This is Apollo Control at 197 hours. Apollo 9's orbit is now 247.8 nautical miles Apogee, 98 nautical miles perigee. The white team is in the process of handing over to the Gold Team. We estimate the change of shift news conference for 3:30 PM central standard time.