Apollo 12
Day 2, part 2: Quiet end to the day
Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 2004 - 2022 by W. David Woods, Johannes Kemppanen and Lennox J. Waugh. All rights reserved.
Last updated 2022-11-10
This is Apollo Control, Houston. Although we are looking at a relatively blank Flight Plan for the remainder of the evening and expect a quiet evening, we will leave the release line up live at least for a while. If we continue to have long intervals between conversations with the crew, we will take the release line down and play back the tapes at periodic intervals. At 31 hours, 37 minutes into the flight; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
031:39:04 Conrad: Houston, 12.
031:39:06 Carr: 12, Houston. Go.
031:39:10 Conrad: Roger. Battery vent is - Battery compartment has been vented and we started charging Bat A at 31:37.
031:39:19 Carr: Roger, Pete.
031:40:46 Conrad: Houston, we just got a Master Alarm with nothing on the panel. Got any idea what that might have been?
031:40:53 Carr: Stand by, 12. We'll start checking.
031:42:18 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston.
031:42:23 Carr: Roger. We don't see much out of the ordinary, Pete. We are on a low bit rate right now, and we will be in high bit rate shortly where we can look at things a lot more closely. About the only suspicious item is your O
2 flow rate is just a shade high, but we see nothing else.
031:42:40 Conrad: Okay. We're venting the - the urine system - that new one, and we're just letting it run. I'll go shut her off.
031:42:50 Carr: Okay, Pete.
031:43:04 Conrad: Looking at the Earth down there, Houston, it looks like you are littler than a golf ball at arm's length now. Sure looks pretty though. The terminator looks like it's - it's kind of hard to tell from this distance - looks like it's passing somewhere just west of Tallahassee.
031:43:28 Carr: Roger, Pete. It's just getting dark out here now.
031:45:26 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston.
031:45:30 Conrad: Go ahead.
031:45:31 Carr: Roger. Your accumulator cycled just about the time you got that Master Alarm, so it may have been an O
2 flow high, and you may have just had a flicker on your matrix panel.
This is Apollo Control, Houston; at 31 hours, 48 minutes now into the flight of Apollo 12. We currently read a velocity on Apollo 12 at 4,214 feet per second [1,284 m/s]. Its present altitude, 119,204 nautical miles [220,766 km].
032:00:47 Conrad: Well, Houston, we have settled down to a normal routine during the day.
032:00:58 Carr: Roger, 12. We'll have some scores for you shortly.
032:02:37 Conrad: Hello, Houston. Do you read 12?
032:02:40 Carr: 12, Houston. Reading you loud and clear on voice.
032:02:45 Conrad: Roger. Did you get the transmission a little while ago?
032:02:48 Carr: We got a few words and a little bit of music, and then it quit.
032:02:53 Conrad: Okay. I think you lost our antenna about then.
032:03:03 Conrad: We're trying all these things we didn't have in Gemini, like toothpaste and shaving and - We are really having a ball up here.
032:03:23 Carr: All dressed up and no place to go.
032:03:28 Conrad: Oh, we're going someplace. We can see it getting bigger and bigger all the time. [Long pause.]
032:03:55 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston. I have a little sports news for you.
032:04:01 Carr: Roger. The Phoenix 200 is still in a hold status; they apparently couldn't get past the thunderstorms. And here are some scores.
032:04:16 Conrad: We were...
032:04:17 Carr: ...Go ahead.
032:04:20 Conrad: No, go ahead.
032:04:22 Carr: Roger. Some scores: Texas Tech 41, Baylor 7 - these are all finals - Texas 69, TCU 7; Arkansas 28, SMU 5; Rice 7, the Aggies 6; Northwestern 30, Indiana 27; Michigan 51, Iowa 6; Wisconsin 55, Illinois 14; Ole Miss 38, Tennessee 0; Missouri 40 and Iowa State 13. And the scores on the West Coast are starting to come in now. Dick, you'll be happy to hear Washington and Southern Cal are tied 7 to 7 in the third quarter, and Oregon is - in the third quarter - is ahead of oh - UCLA 10 to 7.
032:05:17 Gordon: Jerry, I - makes me happy but I'll bet it doesn't make you happy, does it?
032:05:21 Carr: Game's not over, Dick.
032:05:31 Gordon: We've been trying to look at the United States through the monocular, and it just looks like most of the States is covered with clouds. Are you having bad weather generally over the country?
032:05:47 Carr: We'll have to take a look at an overall map, but here in Houston, it's been CAVU all day and beautiful, a wonderful, clear fall day.
032:06:08 Carr: 12, Houston. Dick, I got bad news for you. A final: USC 16, Washington 7.
032:06:18 Gordon: Boy, you sure changed that in a hurry, didn't you.
032:06:29 Carr: I didn't want to give you too long to gloat over that one.
032:06:45 Gordon: I think you were sandbagging me, Jerry. I was about to bet you.
032:06:49 Carr: I should've waited. [Pause.]
This is Apollo Control, Houston. We currently show Apollo 12 at an altitude of 119,954 nautical miles [222,155 km].
032:07:03 Carr: 12, Houston. I've got a weather map here for the United States. All up through the northeast part of the country it looks like it's either overcast or broken. And then in the Southeast and in the South and up through about the panhandle of Texas down into Florida it's all clear. And then, moving on further west, you get into New Mexico, Arizona, California, and you begin to pick up overcast skies again, all the way from Montana all the way down to Arizona. Montana has got a few broken and scattered clouds in the eastern side and then it's pretty bad over on the western side.
032:07:49 Gordon: Yes, we - we could - We were having a hard time picking out exactly where we were looking at. Even with the monocular everything is now - tends to be brown - and having a hard time picking out the land from the water, but it seems like that part of the country that we can see is pretty well covered with clouds.
032:08:11 Carr: Roger. It looks like the whole West Coast is socked in [Pause.]
032:08:37 Carr: 12, Houston. The weather system is a great big high sitting down over, oh, Gulfport - Biloxi area, so that's why we are so clear down in the Southeast. We have a weak high up around the four corners area of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona. And then everywhere else is just bad news.
032:09:08 Conrad: How are our families doing, Jerry?
032:09:13 Carr: Haven't talked to them, but I'll make a few calls and give you some answers.
032:09:18 Conrad: Okay. Appreciate that every day if you could.
032:09:21 Carr: We'll do her. Everybody is probably at supper right now, so probably catch them all at home.
This is Apollo Control, Houston. We are at 32 hours, 10 minutes into the flight.
032:14:22 Gordon: Houston. We are just looking out of the window now and we were all talking about old project FSMOE. You remember that?
032:14:36 Carr: I guess that one doesn't compute, 12.
032:14:41 Gordon: Say again.
032:14:42 Carr: That one doesn't compute.
032:14:45 Gordon: Project FSMOE? Full-Scale Mock-up Of Earth?
032:14:56 Gordon: Hard to tell which one we've got out the window.
032:15:05 Carr: Is it blue or gray?
032:15:13 Gordon: Pretty blue and white [Long pause.]
032:15:37 Gordon: Hey, Jer, somebody's probably already said this before, but - That place looks like an oasis down there.
032:15:46 Carr: Roger, Dick.
This is Apollo Control, Houston at 32 hours, 17 minutes now into the flight of Apollo 12. The Apollo 12 spacecraft at this time 120,348 nautical miles [222,884 km] above the Earth. It is now traveling at 4,172 feet per second [1,272 m/s]. At this time we will take down the live release line and come up at periodic intervals with taped replays. We expect relatively quiet period with regard to conversation between our capsule communicator, Jerry Carr, and the crew. At 32 hours, 18 minutes into the flight of Apollo 12; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
This is Apollo Control, Houston, at 32 hours, 42 minutes now into the flight of Apollo 12. Since our last report, we have had no further conversation with the Apollo 12 crew, no doubt who are relaxing at this time after an active day and half in space. Mission Control Center now at this time, they - what would appear to be a somewhat powered-down mode? Very little activity aside from the individual flight controllers looking at their displays; perhaps one or two having sandwiches being brought in to them. At present we show an altitude above the Earth for Apollo 12 at 121,393 nautical miles [224,820 km]. Apollo 12's velocity now reads 4,134 feet per second [1,260 m/s]. And at 32 hours, 43 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
032:53:07 Conrad: Houston, 12.
032:53:10 Carr: 12, Houston. Go.
032:53:13 Conrad: What's your preliminary look at the midcourse show?
032:53:24 Carr: Stand by a second, Pete. While they're ginning up the answer, got some nice warm words for you on your SPS burn. Evaluation shows that your ISP is within one tenth of a second, and your thrust is within 20 pounds on that engine so you got a real hummer there.
032:53:42 Conrad: Very good. I guess we can thank Mr. Thibodaux [NASA propulsion expert] for that one.
032:54:12 Gordon: Hey, Jerry, it says in the Flight Plan to perform housekeeping chores. We're having a devil of a time finding a housekeeper up here.
032:54:23 Carr: Who's the Junior man, Dick?
032:54:27 Gordon: He's on the Exer-Genie right now. He thinks he made Captain already, but he's got a surprise.
032:54:35 Carr: Roger. Your next midcourse looks like about a foot per second.
032:54:44 Conrad: Okay. So I guess maybe we won't need to do any of those, huh?
032:54:48 Carr: Roger. Looks real good for here anyway. Another little gem of wisdom we got for you here, when you entered PTC, you collapsed your deadband when you used Verb 37 Enter to get the P00, so just as a little helpful reminder, we want you to remember that when you come out, you're going to zap to your Noun 22 attitude as soon as you activate your jets unless you come out in SCS.
032:55:14 Conrad: Okay. Understand.
032:55:17 Carr: We figured you already knew it, but we wanted to show you how smart we were.
032:55:22 Conrad: Good, thank you [Long pause.]
032:56:21 Gordon: Houston, 12. What do you think now? I just redid a Verb 79.
032:56:27 Conrad: Will that do it?
032:56:29 Carr: Roger. You just cured it.
032:56:32 Conrad: Okay. I guess we called a P21 in there or something; we got curious to see how far out we were and that must have collapsed it.
032:56:39 Carr: That's affirmative, that's what you did.
This is Apollo Control, Houston at 33 hours, and 9 minutes now into the flight Apollo 12. At present the Apollo 12 spacecraft is 122,405.6 nautical miles [226,695.2 km] above the Earth. Its velocity steadily decreasing now reads 4,098 feet per second [1,249 m/s]. Since our last status report of some 20 minutes ago we've had only brief conversations with the crew of Apollo 12...
033:10:56 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston.
033:10:54 Conrad: Go ahead, Houston.
033:10:55 Carr: Roger. Dick, you listening?
033:10:59 Conrad: No, Dick's not on the horn.
033:11:01 Carr: Okay. How about Al, is he listening?
033:11:05 Bean: I'm listening, yes.
033:11:07 Carr: Okay, Al. I checked home for you and Sue got back this afternoon from the Cape. She said to say yesterday was a pretty exciting day for her, kind of wet, too. And she wanted to let you know that she had attended a birthday dinner party that was honoring Vice President Agnew yesterday and had a real fine time. She says her Mom and Dad are there with her at home now. They just finished dinner, and the kids are headed for bed, and she wishes you Godspeed.
033:11:39 Bean: Thanks, Jerry.
033:11:40 Carr: Okay. Pete, I guess Jane and the boys are...
033:11:43 Conrad: Dick's up now.
033:11:45 Carr: Pete, I guess Jane and the boys are out to dinner, I haven't been able to get a hold of them yet. And Dick, you up?
033:11:55 Carr: Okay. Barbara says that Barb and Norman and your mother are all there now, and everybody's doing fine, and they've had enough excitement for a while, thanks. And if you don't mind, they just as soon you lay off the spectaculars.
033:12:13 Gordon: Why? What in the world has happened?
033:12:15 Carr: [Laughter.] She said Aunt Dorothy is passing through Houston now, and she called in to say hello, and she said also to let you know that Bill Der Bing is there with them, and he's doing a great job.
033:12:30 Gordon: Very good, thank you.
This is Apollo Control, Houston. The Mr. Thibodaux who is thanked very early in that exchange by Pete Conrad is Mr. Guy Thibodaux who is the Chief of the power and propulsion division at the Manned Spacecraft Center. The reference was an obvious reference with regard to the performance of the engine on Midcourse Correction 2. Bill Der Bing who is referred to later in Jerry Carr's report is also an MSC employee who is a member of the special events office of the Public Affairs. At 33 hours, 15 minutes into the flight; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
033:17:47 Conrad: Hello, Houston, 12.
033:17:50 Carr: 12, Houston. Go.
033:17:54 Conrad: Say, you know, yesterday we talked to you about this stuff that's all over the windows, and on Dick's rendezvous window - window 2 - We've got some kind of a white deposit that's like a - I don't know, it's like an ash and it's not flush on it, it's built up in little humps and tabs of it sticking out, especially in the upper right-hand corner. What we'd like to do is photograph this for you. We don't have much to do right now. We thought we'd photograph these windows and thought maybe you'd come up with some recommended settings and everything. Seems to me I remember somewhere we had those procedures for photographing windows back in D or something because they were bad.
033:18:43 Carr: Roger, Pete. We'll get somebody going on that right away.
033:18:48 Conrad: We expect this stuff will be long gone after re-entry.
033:18:53 Carr: Roger. We've been kind of dying to ask you too about the ice situation. How long did it take that to sublime off?
033:19:01 Conrad: Well, now, that's a funny thing. The ice was sublimed off, but it's left a white deposit all along the perimeter of the number 1 window, that - that's on the black surface of the outside of that window, and it's up along the side of the window too. It's similar to the same stuff that's on the rendezvous window. Now, the ice that was on the inside of the outer pane in the number 1 window - that's sublimated, too, since we started PTC. We have a - a fine deposit of water droplet; whatever was in the water - has adhered to the window and that's all in streaks and dots and splatters, so we kind of think some of this may have come when - when the tower was jettisoned; we're not sure, and I guess what we want to do is try and photograph this as best we can for you to see - because I haven't heard [garble] before either.
033:20:05 Carr: Roger, Pete. How long did it take for that outer layer of ice on window 1 to sublime? How long was it before it was gone?
033:20:16 Conrad: Yes, it didn't go until we were finally asleep last night or - we stopped looking at it. It was still there, I think, when we went to bed last night.
033:23:15 Carr: 12. Houston.
033:23:19 Conrad: Go ahead, Houston.
033:23:20 Carr: Roger. The polls are closed now and - soon as we get enough election results to give you a meaningful information here, we will run you up some returns.
033:24:32 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston. I'm going to run to get a bite to eat right now and your friendly AFD is going to be monitoring the line for you.
033:24:41 Conrad: Roger-Roger.
This is Apollo Control, Houston, at 33 hours, 29 minutes now into the flight of Apollo 12. Our displays in Mission Control now show the Apollo 12 spacecraft at an altitude of 123,206 nautical miles [228,178 km] above the Earth and now traveling at 4,069 feet per second [1,240 m/s]...
This is Apollo Control, Houston. The election results referenced by CapCom, Jerry Carr, are from the Houston city elections. We will try to pass these along to the crew sometimes later this evening and as you heard in that last comment, Jerry is now out of the Mission Operations Control Room grabbing a bit to eat. At 33 hours, 34 minutes into the flight; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
033:48:07 Carr: 12, Houston.
033:48:10 Gordon: Go ahead, Houston.
033:48:12 Carr: Roger. I've got some words for you on the camera settings.
033:48:18 Gordon: Okay. Wait 1 [Long pause.]
033:48:30 Gordon: Okay, Houston. Go ahead.
033:48:32 Carr: Roger. Step number 1: make sure the Sun is incident to the window but not shining directly into the camera. Step number 2: set the focus at 3 feet, and then do as best you can to hold your camera 3 feet from your target, realizing that this focal length is pretty sensitive to the distance. Your shutter speed is 1/250th. And if you don't have the spotmeter out, use an f-stop of 5.6 and take a picture of each window, and then go to an f-stop of 4 and take one of each window. And if you do have the spotmeter out and want to use that, then the only caution here is to be sure that the spotmeter is focused on the window or the target itself.
033:49:32 Gordon: Understand, Houston.
033:57:21 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston, with some election news.
033:57:26 Gordon: Go ahead.
033:57:27 Carr: Okay. About 10 per cent of the votes are in and counted now, and Mayor Louie Welch is leading his nearest contender, who is Curtis Graves, by 10,000 votes to 3,000; these are approximates. In the six City Council positions that are up for grabs, all the incumbents are leading at this time, and the housing code question in Houston is running about 8,800 for and 6,200 against.
033:57:58 Gordon: Okay. Thank you.
This is Apollo Control Houston. The photo settings passed up were to allow the photography of the white deposits around the spacecraft windows. That was Al Bean talking with Capsule Communicator Jerry Carr.
We've just picked up another conversation with the Apollo 12 crew and we'll play that for you very shortly.
This is Apollo Control Houston at 34 hours, and 4 minutes now into the flight. The Apollo 12 spacecraft is presently 124,563 nautical miles away from earth. Its velocity, continuing to decrease and now reading 4,022 feet per second ...
034:06:38 Carr: 12, Houston.
034:06:42 Gordon: Go ahead, Houston.
034:06:43 Carr: We have a - some little bits of information here on the P23 that you've done so far. Also, it's generated a few questions that we'd like to ask. The first batch that you did showed a Delta-H of 49.2 kilometers, and the second batch showed 24.8 kilometers, and the marks that you took in each batch, in each set, were consistent. And the uncertainty both times was about 4 kilometers, so we've got four questions to ask you which might possibly help us decide which Delta-H to use. Over.
034:07:24 Gordon: Go ahead.
034:07:26 Carr: Okay. First question. Did you notice any difference between the horizons on the two batches; in other words, did you select a new horizon the second time?
034:07:34 Gordon: Abso - absolutely, on the first one, they used top of the haze layer; on the second one, the haze layer was hardly discernible, used - what considered the true Earth horizon.
034:07:47 Carr: Okay, Dick, and the second question is - well, you've answered the second question essentially. We wanted to know if you used the same technique, or did you put the star below or above the upper part of the horizon, but that's answered. Next, is - were the stars...
034:08:06 Gordon: Well, Jerry, the reason I...
034:08:08 Carr: Go ahead, Dick.
034:08:11 Gordon: The reason I did that, the second batch, that haze layer was hardly discernible at all, and the Earth's sphere was so sharp at that point, that I used it.
034:08:35 Carr: Okay then, Dick. Then, I guess you're saying then that you liked the second batch better than the first hatch. Is that affirmed? [Long pause.]
034:09:09 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston.
034:09:13 Carr: Okay. Did you get my last question, Dick? Is - I'm assuming that you liked the second batch better than the first batch then.
034:09:21 Gordon: That's affirmative, it was much sharper, much easier to define the horizon on the second batch.
034:09:27 Carr: Roger, Dick. We kind of got the impression that the altitude seemed to be a function of the star of magnitude and we're wondering, were the star images pretty well focused?
034:09:39 Gordon: That's affirmative. I didn't seem to notice that. The only thing I can say about the first batch is that they were at the very top of the - of the haze layer where it just starts to turn that very light blue, and I thought it was a lot further away than I expected it to be.
034:10:01 Carr:. Roger, Dick. And last question, was there any noticeable stray light and was it different on each batch?
034:10:09 Gordon: No, the optics appeared to be excellent, they didn't have any problem with stray light whatsoever.
034:10:14 Carr: Okay. Thank you, Dick.
This is Apollo Control Houston. That was Dick Gordon critiquing with Jerry Carr, the Program 23, the star sighting navigation program onboard the spacecraft. We're now at 34 hours, 12 minutes into the flight and we show Apollo 12 registering at an altitude of 124,872 nautical miles [231,263 km]. Its velocity now reads 4,011 feet per second [1,223 m/s].
034:23:09 Conrad: Houston, 12.
034:23:12 Carr: Go ahead, 12.
034:23:16 Conrad: We've been having a little discussion here on this photograph in the windows. We had the exterior color - I presume, really what you wanted was the CEX - HCEX rather than the normal color.
034:23:40 Carr: Stand by a second, Pete; I'll check on it.
034:23:51 Conrad: Well - We were showing for the color exterior, the 368, that we should have shot at a much slower speed, so that prompted us to think you meant us to use the HCEX, and so maybe you'd better clarify that.
034:24:13 Carr: Okay. They're checking right now.
034:24:18 Conrad: Thank you.
034:24:31 Carr: 12, Houston. While we're looking for that answer for you, I've got an LOI minus 5 flyby PAD - maneuver PAD for you if you want to grab out a form.
034:24:43 Conrad: Okay. Wait one.
034:25:11 Conrad: Okay. We're ready to copy.
034:25:16 Carr: Roger, Pete. LOI minus 5 flyby, SPS/G&N: 62633, Noun 48, plus 0.90, minus 0.17; Noun 33, 078:27:16.61, Noun 81, plus 0068.4, minus 0206.0, plus 0579.3; roll, pitch, and yaw is 052, 217, 338; Noun 44 is NA, NA. Delta-V
T 0618.6, 1:26, 0613.6; sextant 32, 184.6, 38.6; boresight is NA, NA, NA; Noun 61, plus 07.38, minus 169.95, 1165.9, 36231; GET 0.5 g's, 145:52:20; GDC Align stars are Sirius and Rigel. Roll is 256, pitch 152, yaw 069. Ullage, none. Other burn is SPS docked. The LM weight is 33585. Over.
034:28:21 Conrad: Roger. LOI minus 5, SPS/G&N, and I may have screwed up on this [garble] 62633, plus 0.90, minus 0.17, plus 078:27:16.61; Noun 81, plus 0068.4, minus 0206.0, plus 0579.3; roll, pitch, and yaw 052, 217, 338; Noun 44, NA, NA. Delta-V
T 0618.6, 1:26, 0613.6; 32, 184.6, 38.6, NA, NA, NA; Noun 61, plus 007.38, 1165.9, 36231, 145:52:20. The stars Sirius and Rigel, roll 256, 152, 069, ullage none, SPS docked, LM weight 33585.
034:29:55 Carr: That's affirmative, 12.
That was Commander Pete Conrad taking down the T minus 5 hour...
034:31:06 Conrad: Hello, Houston; 12. Do you read?
034:31:09 Carr: 12, this is Houston. Your read back was correct.
034:31:15 Conrad: Okay. Very good. [Long pause.]
034:32:08 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston.
034:32:11 Conrad: Go ahead, Houston.
034:32:12 Carr: Roger. Pete, you guessed us right. The data we sent you was based on HCEX film. So that is what you ought to use.
034:32:22 Conrad: Okay. Thank you.
This is Apollo Control, Houston, at 34 hours, 33 minutes since lift-off. Apollo 12 is now 125,686 nautical miles [232,770 km] away from Earth. Velocity now reads 3,982 feet per second [1,214 m/s]. We've had discussions with the crew who asked about the type of film to be used in their window photography. Additionally, we passed up one of the contingency PADs to them for storage in their computer...
034:35:46 Carr: 12, Houston. Can we put our headsets back on now?
034:35:51 Conrad: Yes. That's Dick's music.
034:36:00 Gordon: They're friends of yours. [Long pause.]
034:36:48 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston. You might consider taking a stereo pair with that camera on the window.
034:36:56 Conrad: Okay. We'll give her a try.
Hatch window (No.3) with streaks left behind after water evaporation/sublimation. Image credit: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center.
Window 1 (beside left couch) to show streaks left behind after water evaporation/sublimation. Image credit: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center.
First image of a stareo pair of window 1 to show streaks left behind after water evaporation/sublimation. Image credit: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center.
Second image of a stareo pair of window 1 to show streaks left behind after water evaporation/sublimation. Image credit: Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center.
This is Apollo Control, Houston. You heard the reference from Jerry Carr jokingly saying can we put our headsets back on. That was Pete Conrad responding that it's Dick's music. At 34 hours, 42 minutes of the flight, this is Apollo Control, Houston.
034:44:27 Conrad: Houston, 12.
034:44:29 Carr: Go ahead, Pete.
034:44:32 Conrad: Does it look like we are going to have to reinitiate the purge or not on the CSM?
034:44:50 Carr: Pete, dumping the tunnel down to 1.6 eliminated the requirement for it.
034:44:57 Conrad: Okay. Very good.[Pause.]
034:46:12 Carr: Hey, Pete. If you're looking for something to do, we got a geology pop quiz for you.
034:46:19 Conrad: [Laugh] Oh, thanks a lot.
034:46:24 Gordon: Go ahead, give it to them.
034:50:43 Conrad: Houston, 12.
034:50:46 Carr: 12, Houston. Go.
034:50:49 Conrad: We think we have the S-IVB in sight. We've - had a - an object which is in the same place all the time and appears to be tumbling. We've had it ever since yesterday, and it just seems to be tagging along with us, so I guess that's the S-IVB. It's usually out our center hatch window when our roll angle is about 35 degrees right now. Maybe that'll give you a clue, and somebody can figure out if that's what we've really looking at.
034:51:24 Carr: Roger, Pete.
This is Apollo Control, Houston, at 34 hours, 56 minutes now into the flight. Apollo 12 is presently at altitude of 126,547 nautical miles [234,365 km]. Its velocity now reads 3,953 feet per second [1,205 m/s]...
This is Apollo Control, Houston. That was Jerry Carr offering Pete Conrad and Al Bean a geology pop quiz if they wanted something to do and we literally could do that in Mission Control Center now. Astronaut/Geologist, Jack Schmitt has joined Jerry Carr in the Control Center and in fact was a source of inspiration for Jerry Carr's offering. You heard Dick Gordon, Command Module Pilot, who will not go to the lunar surface, suggest that we give them the quiz. That was Pete Conrad who reported sighting an object out the window, which he thought, might be the third stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle. At 34 hours, 59 minutes now in the flight of Apollo 12; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
This is Apollo Control Houston at 35 hours and 29 minutes since lift-off. We've had no voice contact or communications with the Apollo 12 crew since our last announcement. However, we currently show an altitude of 127,808 nautical miles [236,700 km] for Apollo 12. Its velocity now reads 3,910 feet per second [1,192 m/s]. So at 35 hours, 29 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston continuing to monitor.
This is Apollo Control, Houston; at 36 hours, 6 minutes now into the flight of Apollo 12. Since our last communication, we have not attempted to contact the crew nor have they called the Mission Control Center. Our present altitude, as shown on our displays, reads 129,204 nautical miles [239,286 km] above the Earth. Velocity now reading 3,862 feet per second [1,177 m/s] for Apollo 12. So at this time we continue with a very quite phase of the mission and this is Apollo Control, Houston.
036:12:01 Carr: 12,Houston.
036:12:05 Conrad: Go ahead.
036:12:07 Carr: Roger, Pete. That thing you saw off the hatch, at a roll of 35 degrees, we figured there's probably three possible answers. Number 1: it could be the S-IVB, or possibly a SLA panel, or it could be the backup crew flying trail on you.
036:12:24 Conrad: Roger. Actually we have two objects out there. One's not anywhere near as bright as the other, so I think the real bright one's the S-IVB and the other one's probably a SLA panel. They're about 20 degrees apart. And as far as the backup crew goes, tell them we'll meet them on the back side of the Moon.
036:12:48 Carr: Roger, Pete. Best as we can tell down here now - best as we can tell down here now, the S-IVB should be near Denebola, and if it's SLA panels - correction, what you are saying now ought to be near Enif; is that correct?
036:13:06 Conrad: Yes, it's near Enif.
036:13:13 Carr: Roger, Pete. And the words here are that the S-IVB is about 180 degrees away, near Denebola.
036:13:23 Conrad: Okay. I wonder what that could be.
036:13:28 Carr: Okay. We'll go back to our drawing board.
036:13:29 Conrad: The object's very bright - The object's very bright, and it's obviously something that's tumbling. It's tumbling about 1½ rev's per second, or at least it's flashing at us about that. And Dick - Dick is going to tell you what star it's near. He's messing with his chart right now.
036:13:55 Carr: Roger. We're standing by.
036:26:25 Carr: 12, Houston.
036:26:29 Conrad: Go ahead.
036:26:30 Carr: Pete, as best as we can tell, looking at things down here, on those SLA panels, we assume that they weren't imparted any great amount of Delta-V, like anything more than 1 or so feet per second when they separated. Your SLA panels would probably only be about 300 miles away from you right now.
036:26:51 Conrad: That could be true but, gee whiz, when we turned around, I saw one of those SLA panels leaving the area at a high rate of speed; it looked to me like it was leaving us pretty - pretty rapid clip, like it got a lot more than a foot per second or so.
036:27:21 Carr: Well, since we don't really have any idea how they left or what their trajectory could be, it's kind of tough really to say just what the heck that could be.
036:27:33 Gordon: Okay. We'll assume it's friendly anyway, okay?
036:27:37 Carr: Roger. If it makes any noises, it's probably just wind in the rigging.
036:27:41 Conrad: Okay. Understand.
This is Apollo Control, Houston at 36 hours, 36 minutes into the flight of Apollo 12. Apollo 12 is presently 130,289 nautical miles [241,295 km] above the Earth. It's velocity now reading 3,825 feet per second [1,166 m/s]. Capsule communicator Jerry Carr has been passing along to Apollo 12 some of the Mission Operations Control Room insights as to the tumbling object, which the crew reported seeing earlier. We will play that conversation to you now.
This is Apollo Control, Houston. So we have no definite agreement as to what the crew may have sighted. Our best estimates place the S-IVB to be about 2,500 nautical miles [4,600 km] away from Apollo 12 at this time. The SLA panels that were not attached at the time of the S-IVB as slingshot maneuver. A smiling Dave Scott was in the control room when they remarked about the back up crew following was made. That was Dick Gordon from the spacecraft who makes the assumption that whatever they saw must be friendly. At 36 hours, 40 minutes into the flight; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
This is Apollo Control, Houston at 37 hours, 26 minutes now into the flight of Apollo 12. The Apollo 12 spacecraft is now 132,125 nautical miles [244,696 km] away from Earth. It's velocity now reads 3,763.7 feet per second [1,147.2 m/s]. Since our last announcement, we have had no further contact with the Apollo 12 crew and quiet studied atmosphere predominates in the Mission Control Center. Although you saw the midcourse correction burn performed on television earlier today, and knew that it was performed as advertised, we will pass along the official statistics from the Flight Dynamics Officer's log. The Time Of Ignition for that burn was 30 hours, 52 minutes and 43 seconds Ground Elapsed Time. Its Delta velocity was 61.8 feet per second [18.8 m/s] and burn duration was 8.82 seconds. Although the requirement for additional midcourse corrections is considered very slight at this time the Flight Dynamics Officer will continue to evaluate his vectors and the option will remain open at least for the time being. At 37 hours, 28 minutes into the flight of Apollo 12; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
037:57:53 Conrad: Houston, 12.
037:57:57 Carr: Hello, 12. Go.
037:58:06 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston.
037:58:07 Conrad: Houston, Apollo 12.
037:58:09 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston. Go.
037:58:11 Conrad: Roger. Huh?
037:58:19 Conrad: Houston, if you haven't got anything to do down there, how about telling us where - what longitude line the terminator of the Moon is on.
037:58:34 Carr: Roger, 12. It's in work. Sure you don't want that geology pop quiz?
037:58:43 Conrad: Al's all eager. He says give it to him. [Long pause.]
This is Apollo Control at 37 hours, 59 minutes. At the present time Apollo 12 is at an altitude of 133,311 nautical miles [246,892 km] from the Earth, traveling at a speed of 3,724 feet per second [1,135 m/s]...
037:59:34 Bean: Houston, Apollo 12.
037:59:37 Carr: 12, Houston. Go.
037:59:40 Bean: Roger. We're getting close enough to the Moon now so that, even with the - the monocular, the Moon looks a lot like these photographs that you see taken from many of the observatories that are around the center. We were looking at it through the sextant a minute ago, and it really looks spectacular. It's starting to take on less of a silver color and more of a gray color when you look at it up close.
038:00:13 Carr: Roger, Al. Watch those color descriptions.
038:00:19 Bean: You said it.
038:01:52 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston. We're working on that question of yours. Also, it's about time now to terminate battery A charge. Over.
038:02:04 Conrad: Okay. That's in work.
038:06:15 Carr: Apollo 12, Houston.
038:06:23 Conrad: Go ahead.
038:06:24 Carr: That terminator longitude is between 7 and 8 degrees east. Over.
038:06:33 Conrad: Roger. Thank you.
This is Apollo Control. We're getting a bit of noisy communications here as the spacecraft rotates through one Omni antenna and on to the next. The change of shift is presently going on in Mission Control. Flight Director Clifford Charlesworth is coming on to replace Flight Director Pete Frank and his team of flight controllers. The capsule communicator on this shift will be astronaut Ed Gibson replacing astronaut Jerry Carr. At 38 hours, 10 minutes into the flight of Apollo 12, the spacecraft is now 133,689 nautical miles [247,592 km] from Earth, traveling at a speed of some 3,700 feet per second [1,130 m/s].
This is Apollo Control at 39 hours, 10 minutes. Apollo 12 presently at an altitude of 135,809 nautical miles [251,518 km] from Earth, traveling at a speed of 3,642 feet per second [1,110 m/s]. We've had no further conversations with the crew since our last report. Flight Director Clifford Charlesworth went around the room and polled each of his flight controllers for a status shortly after coming on shift. The spacecraft continues to function normally and no problems. The crew is scheduled to begin a 10-hour rest period at 43 hours into the mission or about 4 hours from now. The spacecraft is continuing to maintain a stable Passive Thermal Control attitude, rotating at a rate of about 3 revolutions per hour. At 39 hours, 11 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
039:13:18 Gibson: Apollo 12, Houston.
039:15:36 Gibson: Apollo 12, Houston.
039:15:41 Gordon: Go ahead, Houston.
039:15:44 Gibson: Hello, troops. Looks like a good burn today. Good show. Say, Pete, we got some folks sitting next to us here who would like to get some Biomed data on the three of you tonight. Why don't you kick it around and give us a reply?
039:16:07 Conrad: What do you want us to do? Keep our Biomed hooked up tonight?
039:16:11 Gibson: That's affirm.
039:16:17 Conrad: Okay. You want it on all three?
039:16:20 Gibson: That's correct. One thing they'd like to do is to get a baseline to help them during the EVA. They'd like to get - Apparently they use some of that data for input to the equations which they'll be using during the EVA.
039:16:41 Conrad: Sleep - stuff?
039:16:44 Gibson: That's what we're told.
039:16:50 Conrad: Okay. We'll leave it hooked up unless it bothers us.
039:16:55 Conrad: I'm not exactly sure how you get it inside the sleeping bag.
039:17:01 Gibson: Okay. That sounds good. Thank you.
040:00:03 Gibson: Hello, Houston; Apollo 12.
040:00:12 Gibson: Hello, 12; Houston. Go ahead. [Long pause.]
040:00:30 Gibson: Hello, 12; Houston.
040:00:31 Conrad: Hello, Houston; Apollo 12.
040:00:36 Gibson: 12, Houston. Go ahead. [Long pause.]
040:01:01 Gibson: Hello, 12; Houston. Go ahead.
040:01:05 Conrad: Roger. The LM/CSM Delta-P is plus 1.7.
040:01:15 Gibson: We copy. 1.7.
040:01:20 Conrad: And we'll be bringing the purge line heaters on at 40 plus 35 per the Flight Plan.
040:01:30 Gibson: Roger, Pete.
040:01:33 Conrad: And what do you want us to dump the waste water to - 25 per cent or 15 per cent?
040:01:44 Gibson: Let's take it down to 10 per cent this time. That'll give you a pretty good margin.
040:01:55 Conrad: Roger. Ten per cent.
This is Apollo Control at 40 hours, 2 minutes. Apollo 12 now traveling at a speed of 3,585 feet per second [1,093 m/s] and 137,600 nautical miles [254,835 km] from Earth. We're in conversation with the spacecraft at this time...
040:02:03 Gibson: You folks have been pretty quiet. What's up?
040:02:08 Conrad: Nothing. We're just exercising and listening to the tape recorder and looking at the Moon and looking at the Earth - or reading the books.
040:02:19 Gibson: Roger. How's that tape recorder? Is the RPM up to nominal?
040:02:26 Conrad:Yes. It works pretty good here in zero g. It works better than it does down there on the ground.
040:02:35 Bean: It just doesn't have much in the way of volume up here with a 5 psi.
040:02:56 Gibson: How's that cloud cover over the Pacific at this time?
040:03:02 Conrad: Well, Australia is real clear again, and it doesn't look quite as cloudy north of Australia. It's sort of a - It's got a rectangular shape to it, whatever the system is north of Australia there. It's kind of funny looking.
040:03:23 Gibson: Roger. What's the smallest piece of land you can pick out? Can you see any of the Pacific islands?
040:03:34 Conrad: [Laughter] No, we haven't - We can't see any of them. One of - Dick just says he can see Borneo right now. He's looking through the monocular.
040:03:46 Gordon: You can't see it with your naked eye, though.
040:03:51 Conrad: I think one of the problems is that - The only thing that we could see would be close to the curve. All the - the terminator - We're not looking at that much of an Earth and all the water in the Pacific that's close to the terminator has a very shallow Sun angle on it, and it's fairly washed out.
040:04:19 Gibson: Roger. You still getting a pretty good glint off the surface then?
040:04:25 Conrad: Yes. Dick says the subsolar point is just west of Australia. By the way, how far out are we now?
040:04:47 Gibson: Okay. The board's showing a little over 140,000 - Stand by. We'll give you a little more accurate.[Pause.]
040:04:57 Conrad: Okay.[Long pause.]
040:05:35 Gibson: Pete, you're now 137,720 [nautical miles, 255,057 km] out, and you're going along at 3,580 feet per second [1,091 m/s].
040:05:47 Conrad: Roger.[Pause.]
040:06:01 Conrad: Okay. We're going to ask the DSKY and see what it thinks.
040:06:14 Conrad: Not bad. 137,750.
040:06:25 Gibson: Roger. We're showing...
040:06:26 Conrad: ...[garble]...
040:06:27 Gibson: ...755 right now.
040:06:31 Conrad: It'll only read to the nearest tenths, and the velocity is 3,579.
040:06:42 Gibson: Roger. We're just about the same as you, Pete.
040:09:06 Gibson: 12, Houston. We have some unofficial results from the elections today. It looks as though Mayor Louie Welch was re-elected to a fourth term. His closest competitor, Curtis Graves, got about 59,000, and the mayor's up to 98 now. According to - that's the first time since, I believe, 1927 we got a fourth term for a mayor.
040:09:38 Conrad: Very good.
040:11:15 Gibson: Say, Al, is that Moon beginning to look a little bigger to you now?
040:11:22 Bean: It sure is. We were watching it through the sextant a while ago, and the features on the Moon are much more pronounced than they are - than we've seen before we left Earth. They looked almost like one of these strip pictures you see from an Earth-based telescope. The terminator is about 7 or 8 degrees east, and it's right on the edge of a maria and running through some of the terra, and it's very stark and beautiful from this point of view. I imagine tomorrow it's going to be even more impressive.
040:12:04 Gibson: Probably be very impressive from a distance of around 3 or 4 feet.
040:12:13 Bean: That, too.
This is Apollo Control. We're now about 3½ hours from the scheduled beginning of the crew sleep period. It continues to be quite quiet, both from the spacecraft and from here in Mission Control. The crew scheduled to begin a eat period at about 41 hours, 30 minutes; about an hour from now. Spacecraft presently traveling at a speed of 3,561 feet per second [1,085 m/s], has reached an altitude of 138,330 nautical miles [256,187 km] from Earth. At 40 hours, 23 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
040:55:59 Gibson: Apollo 12, Houston.
040:56:05 Gordon: Go ahead, Houston.
040:56:07 Gibson: 12, if you hold off on the waste water dump and the fuel cell purge until 41:20, you'll minimize the effect on PTC.
040:56:19 Gordon: Sounds like a good suggestion. We'll do that.
This is Apollo Control at 40 hours, 58 minutes into the flight of Apollo 12. The spacecraft now traveling at speed of 3,523 feet per second [1,074 m/s] and an altitude up to 139,509 nautical miles [258,371 km]. Continues to be very quiet here this morning. We have had one brief conversation with the crew since our last report requesting that they hold off on the scheduled waste water dump until about 41:20:00 at which time will be any more favorable position from standpoint of the Passive Thermal Control, and have the minimum impact on the Passive Thermal Control...
041:20:14 Conrad: Okay, Houston. Apollo 12 is dumping waste water and purging fuel cells.
041:20:21 Gibson: Roger, 12.
041:20:35 Gibson: Pete, can you see any ice crystals from that?
041:20:42 Conrad: You can see the water dumps; there's no doubt about that. There's all kinds of it. In fact, they look like a regular snowstorm.
041:20:54 Gibson: Does the snowstorm tend to hang around or does it move off pretty quickly?
041:20:59 Conrad: It moves out pretty fast.
041:46:33 Gordon: Hello, Houston; 12.
041:46:39 Gibson: 12, Houston. Go ahead.
041:46:43 Gordon: Hey; Roger, Ed. I don't think that water dump did that PTC any good at all.
041:46:53 Gibson: G&C concurs with that down here. [Long pause.]
041:47:20 Gibson: Dick, let us watch it a little while. We haven't seen you - much travel since you made that dump. You're around 25 degrees out now. We'll be keeping an eye on it and see which way you're going.
This is Apollo Control at 41 hours, 50 minutes. Apollo 12 now traveling at a speed of 3,467 feet per second [1,057 m/s] up to an altitude of 141,270 nautical miles [261,632 km]. The crew advised us a short while ago that they were performing the waste water dump and fuel cell purge as listed on the Flight Plan. A little while after that Dick Gordon reported that apparently the energy imparted by dumping the waste water had affected the Passive Thermal Control attitude apparently setting up some sort of a mild rate in the slow rotational rate that we have. We're watching that in Mission Control now to see if it's going to be necessary for the crew to damp out the movements about the spacecraft axes and reestablish the Passive Thermal Control before they go to sleep.
041:54:21 Gibson: Apollo 12, Houston.
041:54:25 Gordon: Go ahead, Houston.
041:54:28 Gibson: In looking at your - your angles here, it looks as though you might be pretty touch and go during the sleep period if you don't go ahead and re-initialize the PTC, and when you do that, give us a little better - a little better propellant margins. We'd like you to go ahead and reinitialize the DAP to 0.2 degrees per second rather than the 0.5 you have in there now.
041:54:56 Gordon: Got you.
This is Apollo Control. As you heard, CapCom Ed Gibson advised the crew to re-establish the Passive Thermal Control mode. This is primarily because of the wobbling motions imparted to the rotational rate of the spacecraft by the water dump. It's felt that if the wobble is allowed to continue during the sleep period, it could conceivably grow to the point during the night where it would be necessary to awaken the crew to damp out this wobbling movement. Rather than take that chance and perhaps have to awaken the crew during the night, we've elected to go ahead and re-establish the Passive Thermal Control mode after stabilizing the spacecraft and the roll rate. And the new Passive Thermal Control mode will be about 2 revolutions per hour. The purpose of this, of course, is to maintain the proper temperature balances within the spacecraft as the vehicle rotates putting first one side and then the other toward the sunlight. Apollo 12 now 34 - out of 141,562 nautical miles [262,173 km] from Earth and traveling at a speed of 3,457 feet per second [1,054 m/s]. At 41 hours, 59 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
042:06:03 Gibson: Apollo 12, Houston. We've got a state vector for you, if you'll give us Accept.
042:10:01 Gibson: 12, Houston. The state vector is in, and we're ready for the E-Mod, whenever you want. No hurry.
042:13:48 Gibson: 12, Houston.
042:13:53 Gordon: Go ahead.
042:13:55 Gibson: State vector's in; the computer is yours. We're also ready to pick up on the roll now, Dick; and we're ready for the E-Mod dump, no hurry on that. Also, we have a question; have you cycled the water quantity indicator switch recently?
042:14:17 Gordon: Yes, which one do you want it in? [Long pause.]
042:14:30 Gibson: Your position - I guess you have it in Waste right now - is fine. No problem either way, we just wanted to know whether you cycled it because we saw a funny down here.
042:14:41 Conrad: Well, it's in Potable right now, do you want it in Waste?
042:14:52 Gibson: Affirmative, Pete. Waste is good.
042:14:58 Conrad: What was the funny? Okay. It's in Waste, and what was the funny? [Pause.]
042:15:19 Gibson: Pete, we saw the water quantity go from 101 per cent down to 72 per cent and remain there for a period of time and then work it's way back on up to 101 per cent, and if you had cycled that switch, that would do it. That's the reason for the question.
042:15:43 Conrad: Okay. I don't really remember, but we may have cycled it a couple of times.
042:27:06 Conrad: Houston, 12.
042:27:10 Gibson: 12, Houston. Go ahead.
042:27:13 Conrad: E-memory dump coming at you.
042:27:16 Gibson: Roger. We're standing by.
This is Apollo Control; 42 hours, 29 minutes. Apollo 12 now 142,546 nautical miles [263,995 km] from Earth; 3,426 feet per second [1,044 m/s]. The crew is presently going through their pre-sleep checklist, getting the spacecraft prepared for the sleep period. They are scheduled to begin an eat period at about this time and then begin their rest cycle - a 10-hour rest period at 43 hours, or about 30 minutes from now. We have had a couple of brief conversations with the crew since our last report. Pete Conrad advised a short while ago that they were going to dump the erasable memory for a routine check. The pre-sleep check list also [garble] plus chlorinating the onboard drinking water and setting a number of switches in the proper positions prior to beginning the sleep period.
042:31:09 Gibson: 12, Houston. We have the E-Mod.
042:31:14 Conrad: 12, Roger.
This is Apollo Control, it appears we will have no further conversation, at least for the time being. I probably will hear from the crew at least once more before they begin their sleep period. Probably within about 30 minutes. The spacecraft continues to function normally, all systems normal. We are now 142,814 nautical miles [264,492 km] from Earth, traveling at a speed of 3,417 feet per second [1,042 m/s]. At 42 hours and 37 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
043:02:29 Conrad: Houston, Apollo 12.
043:02:34 Gibson: 12, Houston. Go ahead.
043:02:38 Conrad: Roger. Let me give you the onboard readouts: Bat Charlie, 37.0; pyro Bat A, 37.0; pyro Bat B, 37.1. We have no RCS quantities. The indicator is on Main A. Pre-sleep checklist is complete, and we'll be going to our Comm configurations for sleep here in just a minute. And we're still doing some housekeeping chores, so you'll see some Biomed on and off, a little bit, while we get ready to go to bed.
043:03:21 Gibson: Roger, Pete. We copy. 37, 37, 37.1. And we have the RCS consumables if you're interested.
043:03:33 Conrad: Okay. Ready to copy.
043:03:36 Gibson: RCS total 80.9, A 78.9, 83.1, 79.2, 82.8. And that's at 40 hours even.
043:04:02 Gibson: And we are assuming a negative crew status report.
043:04:10 Conrad: That's right.[Long pause.]
This is Apollo Control at 43 hours, 4 minutes. The crew just called in and reported that they have completed the pre-sleep check list, and will be beginning their sleep period shortly.
043:05:06 Gibson: 12, Houston.
043:05:11 Conrad: Go ahead.
043:05:12 Gibson: Before you go on off to sleep, would you take the - clear the DSKY and do it with a Verb 45 or Verb 66 rather than 37?
043:05:31 Conrad: Is there any reason why we can't leave the clock time up there? [Pause.]
043:05:43 Gibson: Yes. We just prefer, although it's not a strong desire, to clear the DSKY so you're not working the relays in the DSKY, give you a little longer life.
043:06:00 Gibson: And, 12, your PTC is looking good; we expect less than 6 degrees excursion during the sleep.
043:xx:xx Gibson: And 12, we'll be talking to you tomorrow. So long.
043:xx:xx SC: That's good night.
The crew sleep period is scheduled to last some 10 hours, beginning at about 43 hours as scheduled in the Flight Plan. Apollo 12 is presently 143,833 nautical miles [266,379 km] from the Earth. The spacecraft velocity down now to 3,386 feet per second [1,032 m/s]. At 43 hours, 9 minutes into the flight; this is Mission Control, Houston.
