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Day 7: LM Jettison, Rev33 to 43 Journal Home Page Day 8: Cislunar Navigation and Geology Questions

Apollo 12

Day 7: Rev 44 to Trans-Earth Injection

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 2004-2020 by W. David Woods and Lennox J. Waugh. All rights reserved.
Last updated 2020-03-28

Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control, Houston at 168 hours, 55 minutes now into the flight. We're less than 30 seconds away at this time from reacquiring Apollo 12, so we'll stand by and listen."

Public Affairs Office - "We're receiving data at this time from the spacecraft but Jerry Carr our Capsule Communicator has not yet attempted to contact the crew."

[AOS Rev 44 168:55:10.]
[Flight Plan 3-153.]
168:57:24 Conrad: Hello, Houston. Clipper ready to copy DE-1 and FM-1.

168:57:32 Carr: Hello, Clipper; this is Houston. Roger. P22 tracking update. Your target is Delta Echo 1: T-1 is 169:21:10, 169:26:04, North 05; the Lat, Long, and altitude are unchanged from your last PAD. For the second target, Foxtrot Mike 1: T-1 is 169:31:55, 169:36:53, North 16; Lat, Long, and altitude, no change. Over.

168:58:38 Conrad: Roger. Delta Echo 1: 169:21:10, 169:26:04, North 05; FM-1; T-1: 169:31:55, 169:36:53, North 16; and Lat and Long unchanged on both.

168:58:57 Carr: That's affirmative, Pete, and I've got your Rev 45 update if you're ready?

168:59:09 Conrad: Go ahead.

168:59:10 Carr: Okay, Rev 45 map update: 170:07:19, 170:32:25, 170:53:40. Over.

168:59:36 Conrad: Roger. Copy. 170:07:19, 170:32:25, 170:53:40.

168:59:44 Carr: Affirmative, and I've got a TEI-45 preliminary for you.

168:59:52 Conrad: Okay. Wait 1.

168:59:54 Carr: Okay, that's a maneuver PAD, Pete.

168:59:59 Conrad: You have a lot of systems data.

[Flight Plan 3-154.]
169:00:11 Conrad: Okay, go ahead.

169:00:13 Carr: Roger, preliminary. TEI-45, SPS/G&N: Noun 47: 34163; minus 0.64, plus 0.24; Noun 33: 172:27:16.15; Noun 81: plus 3027.4, plus 0297.8, minus 0019.6; roll, pitch, and yaw, 180, all zips, all zips; Noun 44: both NA; Delta-Vt, 3042.1, 2:10, 3020.9; sextant: 01; 232.9; 23.7; boresight: 041; down 01.6; left 4.8; Noun 61: minus 15.82, minus 165.00; EMS: 1171.2, 36198; GET of 0.05g is 244:21:55; GDC align on Sirius and Rigel; roll is 138; pitch, 079; yaw, 002; four jet ullage; 11 seconds. Over.

169:03:22 Bean: Roger, Houston. Copy 34163; minus 0.64, plus 0.24; 172:27:16.15; plus 3027.4, plus 0297.8, minus 0019.6 200,000,000; NA, NA; 3042.1, 2:10, 3020.9: 01; 232.9; 23.7; 041; down 01.6; 14.8; minus 15.82, minus 165.00; 1171.2, 36198; 264:21:55. Let's go back up to the sextant, counting the boresight star, SXT, I think that should have been 648. Over.

169:03:40 Carr: That's negative, Al. That's an L for left, 4.8.

169:04:47 Bean: Roger. Understand. [Pause.]

169:04:59 Carr: Okay, Al. And did you copy the GDC align stars and angles?

169:05:06 Bean: Roger. Sirius and Rigel, 138, 079, 002; four jets, 11 seconds.

169:05:14 Carr: Roger. You got it, Al.

[Very long comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control Houston at 169 hours,8 minutes now into the flight. You heard CapCom Jerry Carr pass along the preliminary TEI revolution 45 PAD, and we will discern some of those numbers and pass them along to you. The Ground Elapsed Time for ignition included in this PAD is 172 hours, 27 minutes, 16.15 seconds, with a Delta velocity in the X axis of plus 3,027.4 feet per second, with a burn time of 2 minutes, 10 seconds. The Ground Elapsed Time for .05 G based on this preliminary pad is 244 hours, 21 minutes, 55 seconds, with a longitude and latitude shown as 15.82 degrees south latitude, and 165 degrees west longitude. This of course is a preliminary PAD and will be updated. We are at 169 hours, 9 minutes into the flight and this is Apollo Control Houston."

Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control Houston at 169 hours, 34 minutes into the flight of Apollo 12. We presently show Apollo 12 in an orbit around the Moon of 65.2 nautical miles apolune and 55.5 nautical miles perilune. We've had no conversation with the Apollo 12 crew since we contacted them on the onset on this acquisition. The crew no doubt presently involved with their stereo photography and following that landmark tracking of this the 44th revolution. Meanwhile, we have received a report that the ALSEP central station and all experiments continue to function at this time, 47 hours after deployment on the lunar surface by the crew of Apollo 12. Normal scientific measurements were supplemented by significant effects of the Lunar Module ascent and the impact of the empty ascent stage onto the surface. The impact point was 39 nautical miles from ALSEP and the resulting waves were seen by the passive seismic experiment for some 55 minutes. The magnetometer observed flux variations for about 10 minutes at the time of LM ascent. At 9:00 pm Central Standard Time on November 20, it detected entry of the Moon into the Earth's magnetic tail. Removal of the dust covers from the sensors of the Solar Wind Spectrometer were accomplished by ground command 1 hour after LM ascent. This event was detected by the Passive Seismic Experiment. The Solar Wind's Spectrometer instrument is now in full operation. Measurements of the Suprathermal Ion Detector increased at the time of LM ascent. There was also a slight increase, which may be related to LM impact. High voltage power supplies in this instrument shut themselves off after an initial period of operation. Command turn on can be performed successfully, but subsequently cuts off. This is believed to indicate an outgassing of the instrument in the lunar vacuum, and should clear up after a thorough bakeout perhaps around lunar noon. We're at 169 hours, 37 minutes now into the flight of Apollo 12 and this is Apollo Control continuing to monitor."

169:41:47 Carr: Yankee Clipper, Houston.

169:41:51 Conrad: Go ahead.

169:41:53 Carr: Roger. Tracking looked real good. When you get to the P52 attitude, we'd like to have the High Gain, and we've got your REFSMMAT for TEI coming up.

169:42:05 Conrad: Okay.

[Long comm break.]
169:47:35 Conrad: There you go, Houston. We're on the High Gain.

169:47:38 Carr: Roger. Reading you loud and clear.

[Comm break.]
169:49:29 Carr: Clipper, Houston. If we can have a P00 and Accept, we will ship your REFSMMAT up.

169:49:38 Bean: You've got it.

169:49:43 Carr: Roger. It's on the way.

169:49:53 Carr: Clipper, Houston. Got a special report for you on your CSM consumables. We've had you doing so many off-nominal things; we thought you'd probably like a quick off-the-cuff report. Right now you stand, as of 169 plus 20, you stand with 37 percent RCS total and its - Alfa is 38 percent, Bravo is 37, Charlie 37, and Delta is 36. Over.

169:50:28 Conrad: Roger.

[Comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control Houston at 169 hours, and 51 minutes now into the flight. We've had relatively little conversation with the Apollo 12 crew on this the 44th revolution around the Moon. Jerry Carr just passed along a quick look at consumables aboard, referring there to propellants for the Service Module RCS quads, and at this time we show Apollo 12 in an orbit of 65.2 nautical miles by 55.2 nautical miles. Presently near its apolune with - showing an altitude of 62 nautical miles. We'll stand by and continue to monitor. We've got 15 minutes remaining until we lose signal with the Apollo 12 Command Module on this front side pass around the Moon."

169:52:39 Carr: Clipper, Houston. Computer's yours.

[Long comm break.]
169:56:43 Gordon: Houston?

169:56:46 Carr: Clipper, Houston. Go.

169:56:48 Gordon: He drives a good bus. Houston, are you copying those angles?

169:56:53 Carr: Roger. They're beautiful.

169:57:01 Gordon: And we're torquing at this time.

169:57:03 Carr: Roger.

[Flight Plan 3-155.]
Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control Houston at 170 hours, 4 minutes now into the flight. We're less than 4 minutes away now from scheduled time of Loss Of Signal. We'll stand by and continue to monitor for any final call offs that Jerry Carr might make to the Apollo 12 crew before they pass out of range and over the far side of the Moon."

170:06:16 Carr: Yankee Clipper, Houston. You're 1 minute from LOS. Things are looking good, and we're looking for you around the horn at 170:53. Over.

170:06:32 Gordon: Roger. 170:53; see you then...

170:06:35 Carr: Roger.

[LOS Rev 44 170:07:19.]
Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control, Houston at 170 hours, 8 minutes now into the flight of Apollo 12 and we've just had Loss Of Signal with the Command and Service Module as it - as the spacecraft with the Apollo 12 crew passes above the back side of the Moon. Meanwhile in Mission Control Center, Houston, we're undergoing a Change Of Shift among Flight Controllers. Flight Director Pete Frank and his Orange Flight Control Team will be leaving their consoles and be replaced by Flight Director Jerry Griffin and the Gold Flight Control Team. As Pete Frank's group of Flight Controllers came on duty this morning, the crew was awake, however, it had been previously reported by the crew that Pete Conrad slept some 4-1/2 hours during the rest cycle and Al Bean reported 4 hours and Dick Gordon 4 hours, somewhat under the period of time allocated as a 7-1/2 hour rest period. During the day, the crew showed some signs of weariness, no doubt accumulated from the busy schedule of the preceding days. They lacked some of the exuberance and tendency to talk that they have shown during the more active periods of their lunar flight. The day itself was spent in photography of a possible future Apollo landing site and landmark tracking. When Pete Conrad reported that a 500-millimeter magazine was knocked off of the camera, the Control Center and the crew of Apollo 12 became involved in what was termed by one of the Flight Controllers in the Mission Control Center as Gemini type flight planning, real time changes in flight. On Rev 33 landmark tracking was replaced with a repeat of the photography of the Descartes and Fra Mauro sites. On the front side pass, Rev 44, the Apollo crew did a combination of stereo photography and landmark tracking. Also at the request of the Mission Control Center, Apollo 12 switched over to the secondary propellant tanks on the 4 RCS quads on the Service Module. At the start of - at the onset of acquisition of the 44 revolution, a preliminary PAD for TEI was passed up to Pete Conrad who copied down those numbers - a preliminary PAD, and there will be a final PAD that will be passed on to the crew just prior to the burn itself. We'll repeat again some of those preliminary numbers that were included in that PAD. The Ground Elapsed Time for ignition, 172 hours, 27 minutes 16.15 seconds. The total Delta-V of 3,042.1 feet per second, posigrade burn of course for this return trip from the Moon, and a burn duration of 2 minutes, 10 seconds, We're at 170 hours, 12 minutes into the flight of Apollo 12 and this is Apollo Control Houston."

Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control at 170 hours, 32 minutes. At 1:00pm CST, 5 minutes from now, in the Houston News Center, there will be a briefing on the release of onboard photography. Repeating, the briefing on the release of onboard photography will begin in the Houston News Center in 5 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston."

Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control at 170 hours, 53 minutes. We're about 15 second away from acquisition of Yankee Clipper on the 45th lunar revolution. The CapCom on this shift is Astronaut Don Lind. We'll stand by for acquisition."

Public Affairs Office - "We have acquisition of signal."

[AOS Rev 45 170:53:40.]
170:58:19 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston.

170:58:20 Conrad: Hello Houston; Clipper here.

170:58:23 Lind: Roger. We've got...

170:58:24 Conrad: Hello, there! How are you today?

170:58:26 Lind: Just fine. How's things up near the Moon?

170:58:31 Conrad: Not too bad, but I think we're about ready to leave.

170:58:35 Lind: Very good. We'll be glad to have you back.

170:58:37 Conrad: We haven't met anybody up here.

170:58:40 Lind: Hey, listen. I've got some times...

170:58:41 Gordon: We haven't found any strangers.

170:58:45 Lind: Thank goodness! Hey, Dick, we've got the state vector and a target load for you any time you want to give us the computer; and, also, I've got the data for the higher resolution photography PAD for Lalande, but we want to make sure that you understand that this is your option. We don't want to press you too much on this last pass before TEI, so if you want to do it, fine. We'll appreciate it. If not...

170:59:11 Gordon: No,

170:59:12 Lind: ...it's your option.

170:59:15 Gordon: Don, we understand that, and we want to do it, because I messed it up myself this morning. I want to get it.

170:59:20 Lind: Okay. Whenever you're ready to copy, I can give you the money - the information.

170:59:27 Gordon: Go ahead. I'm ready to copy.

170:59:29 Lind: Okay. T-1 is 171:30:52, T-2 is 171 plus 34 plus 52; roll, 7.1; pitch, 141.1; yaw, 8.2. Maneuver to the attitude by l71 plus 24. Now, the target is not the crater rim; the target has been displaced South 8 nautical miles, so what we'd like you to do is estimate that; pick a point near that spot, and track whatever point you pick. Now, the gouge on 8 nautical miles is that it's three lines on the COAS, and the radius of the crater is 6-1/4 nautical miles. The camera settings remain the same.

[Flight Plan 3-156.]
171:01:36 Bean: You've got P00 and Accept on the computer, Houston.

171:01:39 Lind: Thank you.

[Comm break.]
171:03:49 Gordon: Hey, Houston. I want to check on this three-line-widths-business over - Are you saying that it's 8 nautical miles at acquisition, is three-line-, widths'- worth on the COAS?

171:04:03 Lind: Three degrees, that is three marks offset.

171:04:09 Gordon: Oh, oh, oh! Three degrees. Okay, very good. Understand.

171:04:15 Lind: I have for you, when you want to copy them, the updates to your TEI-45 PAD and also a TEI-46 PAD. We can do that any time, either before or after the photography, that you want.

171:04:29 Bean: Okay. We're ready to do that in about 2 seconds.

171:04:34 Lind: Roger.

171:04:36 Bean: Okay, go ahead.

171:04:38 Lind: Okay, do you want the whole TEI PAD over again, Al, or just the changes? There will be four of them.

171:04:46 Bean: Why donÂ’t you just give us the changes?

171:04:49 Lind: Okay. This is the TEI-45 PAD. The first change is Noun 33; the correct time is 172:27:16.14; Noun 81 is plus 3027.2, plus 0302.1, minus 0025.3. The Delta-V burn time box is 3042.3, 2:10, 3021.1; and the GET for 0.05g is 244 plus 21 plus 56.

171:05:56 Bean: Okay, we need the Delta-Vt, the burn time, and Delta-Vc one more time, please.

171:06:01 Lind: Okay. Delta-Vt is 3042.3 2:10 3021.1. [Long pause.]

171:07:30 Lind: Apollo 12, the computer is yours. Thank you.

171:07:37 Gordon: Roger. And, Houston, did you agree with that readback?

171:07:42 Lind: We didn't get your readback.

171:07:50 Gordon: Roger. How do you hear now?

171:07:52 Lind: Hear you loud and clear.

171:07:57 Gordon: Okay. First correction was Noun 33, the seconds column should read 16.14; Noun 81, Delta-Vx is plus 3027.2; Delta-Vy is plus 0302.1; Delta-Vc is minus 0025.3; Delta-Vt is 3042.3; burn time remains 2 plus 10; Delta-Vc is 3021.1; and GET at 0.05g is 244:21:56.

171:08:38 Lind: That is correct. Do you want the TEI-46 PAD?

171:08:46 Gordon: Wait just a second.

171:08:48 Lind: Okay.

[Comm break.]
171:10:00 Gordon: Okay, Houston. Apollo 12 is ready to copy the next PAD.

171:10:03 Lind: Roger. This is the TEI-46, SPS/G&N: Noun 47, NA; Noun 48, NA; time is 174:27:15.41; Noun 81, plus 3072.3, plus 0312.7, minus 0189.5; roll, NA; pitch, 359; yaw, NA; ullage is four jets, 11 seconds.

171:11:06 Gordon: Roger. Understand. SPS...

171:11:23 Lind: Apollo 12. Break. Break. We're losing you. Omni Delta, please. [Pause.]

171:11:39 Gordon: Houston, Apollo 12. Sorry, we were maneuvering then and lost you. How do you hear now?

171:11:44 Lind: Read you loud and clear, again. We lost you just an you started your readback.

171:11:51 Gordon: Okay. SPS/G&N, and we go down to Noun 33: plus 0017.4, plus 0002.7, plus 0154.1; plus 3072.3, plus 0312.7, minus 0189.5; NA, 359, NA, four jet ullage for 11 seconds. Over.

171:12:21 Lind: That's affirmative. I've also got a Rev 46 map update if you want it.

171:12:31 Gordon: We don't need it.

171:12:37 Lind: I'd better give you your AOS times, don't you think?

171:12:43 Gordon: These guys are getting eager. Zip it up.

171:12:49 Lind: Roger. AOS with TEI is 172 plus 40 plus 42, and without TEI is 172 plus 52 plus 00.

171:13:13 Gordon: Okay. That's 172:40:42 and 172:52:00.

171:13:19 Lind: Roger. Just a question. We missed that one readback attempt. Did you give us a readback on that Lalande photography stuff that we missed also?

171:13:33 Gordon: I sure did. I'll read it back again, if you'd like.

171:13:37 Lind: Okay.

171:13:40 Gordon: How about 171:30:52, 171:34:52; roll, 7.1; pitch, 141.1; yaw, 8.2; be there by 171 plus 24.

171:13:52 Lind: We agree to all that; thanks very much. [Pause.]

171:14:06 Lind: Okay, you have your state vector and your target load, and the computer's yours if [garble].

171:14:16 Gordon: Thank you, Houston. Roger.

[Very long comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control at 171 hours, 14 minutes. To recap the TEI, Trans Earth Injection maneuver, time of ignition 172 hours, 27 minutes 16 seconds. This will be performed while Yankee Clipper is behind the moon. Delta-V increase in velocity of 3,042 feet per second. Duration of the burn, 2 minutes, 9.84 seconds. The - some of the entry numbers, based on this TEI, and these numbers do not take into account any midcourseÂ’s, they are based strictly on the TEI burn, 400,000 feet time would be 244 hours, 21 minutes, 27 seconds. Yankee Clipper would reach 0.05Gs at 244 hours, 21 minutes, 56 seconds. Splash predicted time 244 hours, 35 minutes, 21 seconds, based on this burn, the velocity entry interface is projected to be 36,116.4 feet per second and this TEI burn is targeted for an entry angle of minus 6.50 degrees. Acquisition time with a successful TEI burn, 172 hours, 40 minutes, 42 seconds: acquisition time without a burn, 172 hours, 52 minutes, 00 seconds. We'll continue to stand by for any air-to-ground. This is Mission Control, Houston at 171 hours, 17 minutes."

171:28:43 Gordon: Houston, Apollo 12.

171:28:46 Lind: Go.

171:28:50 Gordon: Pre-TI -TEI systems checks are complete.

[Comm break.]
171:34:24 Lind: Apollo 12, Omni Alfa, please.

[Comm break.]
171:36:22 Lind: Apollo 12, would you verify Omni Alfa? [Pause.]

171:36:34 Lind: Apollo 12, Omni Alfa, please. [Long pause.]

171:37:19 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston. Do you read?

[Long comm break.]
171:42:40 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston.

171:42:44 Gordon: Go ahead.

171:42:46 Lind: Roger. We just had a few moments of data dropout. Wanted to say hello again.

171:42:52 Gordon: Okay. Thank you. We're at the burn attitude at this time. We're doing a star check here shortly.

171:42:58 Lind: Roger. You...

171:42:59 Gordon: And we're beginning a P40.

171:43:00 Lind: Roger. Your star is going to be just a little late coming into view for the - on the - the Flight Plan. It'll be in view at 171:57:08; that's number - star number 1. [Pause.]

171:43:26 Gordon: Say the time again, Houston.

171:43:29 Lind: The time is 171:57:08, which is about 2 or 3 minutes after it's shown in the Flight Plan for the star check.

[Comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "Twenty minutes of acquisition time remains in this 45th lunar revolution. Dick Gordon reporting that Yankee Clipper is in the proper attitude for TEI. Reporting that shortly he will be going to program 40 on the Command Module Computer. That's the program for SPS thrusting, using the big Service Propulsion System."

171:46:43 Gordon: Hello, Houston. You're looking at P40.

171:46:46 Lind: Roger. Thank you.

[Very long comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "Two members of the backup crew for Apollo 12 have joined Don Lind at the CapCom console. They're the Commander Dave Scott and the backup Command Module pilot Al Worden. Deke Slayton, the Director of Flight Crew Operations, and Astronaut Tom Stafford, Chief of the Astronaut Office are also at the console."

171:58:07 Gordon: Houston, 12. The star check's okay.

171:58:11 Lind: Very good.

[Long comm break.]
[Flight Plan 3-158]
172:03:45 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston. We show about 2 minutes to LOS, and everything's looking good to us down here.

172:03:54 Conrad: Roger. See you on the other side.

172:03:57 Lind: Very good. We got a nice spot in the South Pacific all reserved for you.

172:04:04 Conrad: Okay.

[Comm break.]
172:05:25 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston. We'll see you coming around the other side at 172:40, headed for home.

172:05:34 Conrad: Roger-Roger. By-by. See you on the other side.

172:05:36 Lind: Have fun.

Public Affairs Office - "And we've had LOS from Yankee Clipper. At 172 hours, 05 minutes, Commander Pete Conrad says, "Roger, roger; bye bye. See you on the other side." Trans Earth Injection planned for 172 hours, 27 minutes, 16 seconds. With a good burn, we'll acquire a signal from Apollo 12 at 172 hours, 40 minutes, 42 seconds. It will probably be a few seconds after that when we get some voice. Without a burn, Acquisition Of Signal 172:52 even. And we should have some television approximately 15 minutes after acquisition with the TEI burn, television planned about 172 hours, 55 minutes. This is Mission Control Houston at 172 hours, 7 minutes. "

Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control at 172 hours, 27 minutes. We're 10 seconds away from ignition time for the Trans Earth Injection burn. Mark! The burn should be starting right now. Yankee Clipper is behind the moon where we cannot monitor the burn. We'll get a report on it when we acquire the spacecraft. Yankee Clipper's weight at Loss Of Signal on this revolution with 34,163 pounds should be considerably lighter the next time we see the spacecraft after this burn. Duration of this burn, 2 minutes 9.84 seconds, according to the clock we're 50 minutes and 50 seconds into this burn right now. Yankee Clipper's velocity just prior to the burn was 5,320 feet per second, to this will be added 3,042.3 feet per second. We'll come back up just prior to acquisition time. We're now 11 minutes and 50 seconds away from acquisition time given a good burn. This is Mission Control, Houston at 172 hours, 28 minutes."

Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control at 172 hours, 39 minutes. We're 1 minute, 35 seconds away from the time we should receive Yankee Clipper's signal after Trans Earth Injection burn. We'll stand by live from now on. All of the TV lines are up and it is conceivable that the crew could have the TV on at the time that they come around the moon. It's not scheduled for that time, but we're prepared to take a TV picture should the camera be on. 30 seconds, 15, AOS. We've had Acquisition Of Signal."

[AOS with TEI 172:40:42.]
[AOS without TEI going into Rev 46 172:52:00.]
MP3 Audio Clip GET 172:41:01 to 172:46:19 [04 mins 11 sec]

172:41:01 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston.

172:41:07 Conrad: Hello, Houston. Apollo 12's en route home.

172:41:10 Lind: Very good.

172:41:14 Conrad: Got a burn status report for you. Burn was on time. Burn time was 2 plus 11; VGX was 0; VGY was plus 0.7; VGZ was plus 0.1; Delta-VC was minus 14.4; fuel was 7.4; oxidizer was 7.7; imbalance, plus 50.

172:41:52 Lind: Roger, 12. We got on time; 2 plus 11; zero, plus 0.7, plus 0.1, minus 14.4, and will you say again. Your transmissions were pretty weak on the end.

172:42:13 Conrad: Roger. Fuel was 7.4; oxidizer was 7.7; and the unbalance was plus 50.

172:42:23 Lind: Roger. 7.4, 7.7, and plus 50. Looks good.

172:43:28 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston. If you have a camera out already and plan some pictures coming back, we have a target of opportunity for you. However, if you don't have the camera out, we don't want you to bother to dig one out.

172:43:46 Conrad: We have a camera out.

172:43:48 Lind: Roger. They would be extremely happy if you could get some pictures of high lunar latitude so that we can get some small-scale mapping. The procedure is as follows: at time 173 plus 05, we'd like you to use the Hasselblad with an 80-millimeter lens, black-and-white film, f: 5.6, 1/250th, and infinity, and take pictures at high latitudes, three frames, about every 30 seconds.

172:44:39 Lind: To clarify. They want three frames together at 30-seoond intervals.

172:44:53 Conrad: Roger. And give me the time again, would you, please?

172:44:56 Lind: Well, the time's not critical. 173 plus 05, which is sort of during the last half of your TV pass, but this is your option.

172:45:10 Conrad: Okay. Are you ready to receive TV?

Public Affairs Office - "Yankee Clipper is 426 nautical miles away from the Moon now; velocity 7,396 feet per second; weight 25,289 pounds."

172:45:59 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston. We're ready for TV anytime you want to send some down to us.

172:46:06 Conrad: Okay. We're trying to get into a good position right now. The formal one is a little bit later, but we're leaving the Moon so fast, we thought we'd better take it.

172:46:19 Lind: We're ready any time you want to send it.

[Comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "We're standing by for a TV signal. We have nothing yet. And the black and white picture coming in."

MP3 Audio Clip GET 172:47:56 to 172:49:37 [02 mins 40 sec]

172:47:56 Lind: Apollo 12, we're coming through in black and white. We expect color any minute.

Public Affairs Office - "And the black and white picture coming in."

172:48:04 Conrad:Okay. Looks like we're climbing straight up from it. [Pause.]

172:48:25 Lind: Ah! Now we've got a good picture in true and living color.

172:48:32 Conrad: Roger. [Pause.]

172:48:42 Conrad: Let's change windows with it, Houston.

172:48:46 Lind: Roger. We really get the impression that you're on a fast elevator. [Long pause.]

172:49:37 Lind: We see your view along the terminator now, although we don't see quite as much coverage as we did before. Oh, here it comes in now.

172:50:46 Lind: 12, it really looks you are climbing out in burner.

MP3 Audio Clip GET 172:50:55 to 172:55:14 [05 mins 08 sec]

172:50:55 Gordon: Yes, we're really moving out, Don. It doesn't take very long to get some altitude out of that place.

172:51:07 Gordon: We've got you looking right at the terminator, now, of course, and then up towards the North. Al's over getting - busy getting black and whites. I'm on the - the [garble] holding the TV monitor for Pete. We're all kind of busy letting you see all this. [Pause.]

172:51:27 Lind: It looks great.

172:51:42 Bean: One of the things that you're probably seeing – probably noticed on your TV screen is how rough it looks along the terminator line. And this is - was our impression the first time we passed over it. We said to ourselves, "There, now there's a real rough part of the Moon." And the next day when the terminator moved 14 degrees, we found that the part that was now in a higher Sun looked fairly smooth, or at least like the rest of the Moon as you see it, and the part that was now into the terminator looked the roughest. So, I guess you get a real feel for the texture of the Moon by looking at - at near the terminator where you can see the height of the craters and the mountains and all the many features that are on the Moon and more relief.

172:52:31 Lind: Roger. That's...

172:52:32 Bean: Hey, Pete, if you point the camera up there toward the north, you can show them a couple of long rilles.

172:52:38 Conrad: Okay.

172:52:40 Lind: Roger. That texture really comes through loud and clear on your picture.

Public Affairs Office - "That's a report from Al Bean."

172:52:59 Bean: The impression that I get, Don, and I had this impression the first time I looked at the terminator, too, is that it's really useless for you all to have color down there, because it is pure black and white, and the way it looks to me right now, where we are, it looks to me like a [garble] and that I'm not really looking at the real Moon. It - it just doesn't look right, it's so black and white. It is sort of like a painting.

172:53:31 Gordon: Roger. Looks just like a black-and-white photograph, doesn't it?

172:53:35 Lind: Roger. We copy.

172:53:37 Conrad: Well, it - it's real enough to make me want to go into the direction I'm going after 90 hours.

Public Affairs Office - "Altitude 902 miles. "

172:53:48 Gordon: Just looks like the sailors are ready to go on liberty, that's all. [Long pause.]

172:54:07 Bean: Up at the upper top, I see one rille up there. I don't know if you can see it on your TV camera. It's almost a straight line. It's about - I'm looking at the monitor, and I can't see it on the monitor. It's about a third of the way down from the top, and they run horizontally across there. It looks just almost like a straight line.

172:54:32 Lind: Roger. It's hard for us to see it on our screen down here.

Public Affairs Office - "Altitude 940 miles, velocity 6,576 feet per second. "

172:54:52 Lind: Can you identify any of the features for us, 12?

172:55:01 Bean: Well, we'll - we'll break out our map. You know our map doesn't go to the higher latitudes and lower ones, but we'll see what we can find that we can point out to you that we know.

172:55:14 Lind: Roger.

[Comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "Altitude 1,017 nautical miles."

MP3 Audio Clip GET 172:56:23 to 173:00:xx [04 mins 17 sec]

172:56:23 Bean: Hey, Don, how long did you want us to keep up this photography of the high latitudes, three each 30 seconds?

172:56:30 Lind: Stand by. [Pause.]

172:56:41 Lind: You probably got enough now. Anything you want to give us is fine, but don't push yourself. We're happy with what we got now. [Long pause.]

172:57:14 Lind: 12, it's really amazing how much the size of the Moon has changed just in the few minutes you've been on the air so far.

172:57:29 Gordon: I'm looking out my small hatch window to the right and I can see the Moon as an entire sphere right now. We have really moved out.

172:57:39 Lind: We sure concur.

172:57:41 Bean: I've got to have FIDO crank- have FIDO crank out what's our altitude right now. What's our altitude rate? Anybody know?

172:57:59 Gordon: Now, I think one of the things you can't see in your TV, though, is how the texture of the Moon changes, the higher the Sun angle, and over to the extreme Westerly region there, you can see how light it is and how much more gray and stark it is by the terminator. But we, as Al said, found it that way as the terminator moved across. It all really looks the same.

172:58:27 Lind: Roger. That shows up very clearly down here.

172:58:39 Conrad: Our onboard computer says that we're 109 miles right now.

172:58:43 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston. Right now you're getting close to 1,100 nautical miles above the surface, and you're coming up about 4,000 feet a second.

172:58:52 Bean: Okay. We were - We were reading our DSKY wrong; we're showing 8,098 miles.

172:59:23 Bean: The area that's sort of dark down in the lower corner of your screen is Smyth's Sea, and it's – It looks, as you pass over, to be one of the about-medium-size Mares that we see on the Earth side of the Moon. The thing that's the most noticeable about it is the fact that there's many craters in it that are all filled up with the mare material. You can just see the – the rare outline of the rim. They apparently were once very big like a lot of the craters you see over there near the terminator. Now they've filled up and so they don't appear so. Now it's down at the bottom of your screen by that little white dot.

[Flight Plan 3-159.]
173:00:11 Lind: Roger. We see it very clearly. We assume that's the Sea of Fertility that's over on the West limb. [Long pause.]

173:00:XX Bean: That's affirmative.

Public Affairs Office - "Altitude 1,230 nautical miles."

MP3 Audio Clip GET 173:01:00 to 173:29:00 [28 mins 37 sec]

173:01:00 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston. We show that you're coming up at about 1 nautical mile a second. You're really moving out.

173:01:12 Gordon: Okay. [Long pause.]

173:01:27 Gordon: We had talked about it on the back side of the Moon just before the burn. We only put in 3,000 feet a second. We were going a little over 5,000 feet a second around the Moon, and we were talking about how it didn't seem like very much additional velocity to get to take you away from the Moon and head you on back to Earth, but I guess this low gravitational field here just allows you to not put in a lot and escape the sphere of influence pretty readily.

173:02:00 Lind: Right. Your velocity is dropping off at about 1 foot per second each second, so you needed all you put in.

173:02:10 Gordon: Roger. That's a lot less than our velocity dropped off per second when we left Earth. It, of course, was trying to pull us back much harder, and so we ended up slowing down from our 36,000 feet per second much more rapidly. You could look at the computer and see that the velocity was dropping many times that per second.

173:02:30 Lind: Roger. We were watching you down here.

173:02:43 Conrad: Today, while the picture-taking was going on, the three of us had the opportunity to discuss what we thought the texture of the surface was, especially because we were interested in our landing area and possibly finding some Copernican ray materials, looking at the rays and everything. And they are quite readily visible from 60 nautical miles, but if you look at them carefully through the monocular or something like that, I think that the difference in texture is so slight when you get actually down on the surface that Al and I had the impression on the lunar surface at our landing site that we just could see no contact difference whatsoever anywhere we went, and I think that as you look at the Moon going away you get that idea. You see highlights and whites and grays. You can see rays and things like that, but they're really not that much difference in color from one another.

173:03:55 Lind: Roger. What about the white and gray differences you saw around the West side of Head crater? Could you see those out over the regional area?

173:04:10 Conrad: Well, I kind of had the feeling that - Al and I talked about this, that when we were in the right place and our foot subtracts turned up the lighter material that it was still the same material. It's just that it hadn't weathered on the surface, and we had the feeling that the ray material is probably the same thing. It's pretty much the same general material, but it came at different times and it's bad different amounts of exposure to the weather.

173:04:45 Lind: Roger.

173:04:49 Bean: Yes. This is - There just didn't seem to be any difference in the colors at all. If you look at any part of the Moon at the same time as any other part of the Moon, as you started at the terminator and went around the Moon, it changed colors from gray to white and finally to brown. And we all sort of thought that was about what it was, and then the next day, it did the same thing. The part that used to be more to the white, now it was the gray, because the shadows were over there more as the terminator moved in that direction. And we weren't able to see except in several spots any real large differences in colors. I'll tell you, Pete; could you show them that large crater down there in the lower left hand?

Public Affairs Office - "That was Al Bean."

173:05:37 Gordon: [Garble] monitor.

173:05:39 Bean: No. It's way over here on the opposite side of the terminator. There's Tycho. Can you show them that one? The one with the cracks and several craters in the middle. That's a beautiful crater.

173:06:04 Lind: To give us some idea of the color, how would...

173:06:07 Conrad: [Garble] take the TV and I'll show them.

173:06:08 Lind: ...How would you describe the color of Smyth's Sea and the Sea of Tranquillity for us, so we'll know how accurate our TV color is.

173:06:21 Conrad: It just seems a chalky gray to us.

173:06:26 Lind: Like Portland cement?

173:06:32 Conrad: Pretty much. That's good as anything else.

173:06:36 Lind: We want to know whether it's wet or dry.

173:06:38 Bean: ...dark, mare material. Some of it looks wet. Would you believe that?

173:06:45 Conrad: As a matter of fact that's probably not too bad a description. If you just threw some Portland cement down and threw water on it in varying amounts it would be a little more moist than others and I get the same idea looking down here.

173:07:00 Gordon: The wet parts, of course, would be the darker mare material that's there, and it is lightened considerably by rilles and craters and ejecta that's been taking place there, this giving it a lighter texture, but basically remaining the same type of material, I'm sure.

173:07:21 Lind: Hey, listen. Tell us about all those grooves and ridges you saw on the surface. Did you get any patterns out of those? Could you see those from orbit? [Pause.]

173:07:37 Gordon: Let me take it....

173:07:46 Lind: Hey, 12. Is that the subsolar point...

173:07:48 Conrad: Don, the ones we saw...

173:07:54 Lind: Sorry to cut you off, there...

173:07:56 Conrad: [Garble] bright impact crater, yes. Also, the sea just to the South of that great impact crater is the one that in the middle of it are two craters; one crater has a single ray that runs horizontally all the way through it, and the other crater has a single ray that just runs out one side of it. A very odd set of ray patterns there.

173:08:22 Lind: Roger.

173:08:23 Bean: Say, Don, you were asking about those lines. We don't - The ones we saw on the ground were very, very small; maybe an eighth of an inch. But there are definite patterns on the Moon. I'm going to show you up at high latitudes right now. Let's see the monitor, Pete, so I can see if I'm pointing to the right place. Now, I think you'll be able to see some lines that's either run from the pole all the way down towards the center of the Moon, towards the equator. Let's see if I can get over to the right place. Are you able to see that, Don? It seems to emanate right from the pole region right where the terminator strikes the pole, and then they seem to come down toward the Mare area. They seem to run in parallel lines from that point on down.

173:09:12 Lind: Roger. They just barely show up on our screen.

173:09:19 Bean: Did you get a look at the crater Tycho? That's pretty impressive because it's large and has a lot of rays. And it also has - although the rays at this particular Sun angle aren't so visible, you can see it as a large - one of the larger craters down in the southern part of the Moon, easily visible from Earth. In fact, one of the most visible from Earth.

173:09:41 Lind: Roger. We didn't know whether that was Tycho or whether that was the subsolar point.

173:09:47 Bean: No, that's Tycho. And also that crater just to the North of it, which I don't know the name of, is also a very bright crater. It appears very white in our little monitor up here.

173:09:59 Lind: Roger. We see it very clearly down here, too.

173:10:06 Conrad: Here you are.

173:10:08 Bean: Hey, let's move it to that hatch window. It's a better window, Pete. [Pause.]

Public Affairs Office - "Altitude 1,699 nautical miles. Velocity 5,868 feet per second."

173:10:27 Bean: Take a few more pictures.

173:10:38 Conrad: High Gain looks okay. Stop there! You got it now.

173:10:44 Lind: That's a very impressive picture.

173:10:52 Bean: Okay. I've got the monitor, Pete.

173:10:55 Conrad: Okay, Dick. Just a little bit higher.

173:10:57 Gordon: [Garble] so that we could - I can't hold it any higher because of the top of the window.

173:11:01 Bean: Okay.

173:11:03 Conrad: Dick just maneuvered it so that I can see the whole Moon, and that's it now. We have the whole Moon out our window.

173:11:13 Lind: We've got a good picture of that. You know, the most amazing thing is that you were just in orbit down there a few minutes ago.

173:11:27 Gordon: More so to us than, I'm sure, to you, Don.

173:11:33 Lind: I'm sure that's true.

173:11:41 Conrad: I'm getting that sort of detached feeling, detached from the Moon.

173:11:54 Gordon: Can they see it as a whole sphere now, Pete?

173:11:58 Lind: You're cutting out just a little bit of the South.

173:12:06 Gordon: Yes, it's in the - I just can't move the camera there in the window.

173:12:11 Lind: No, you're doing a great job.

173:12:16 Gordon: Well, I keep the camera up and down the same way all the time. [Pause.]

173:12:43 Gordon: Hey, that's about the most I can get in right now. And we're going so fast, though, that I think that it'll all show up in there in a minute.

173:12:50 Lind: That's beautiful. We can see all the way, of course, to the Western limb and the North terminator, about halfway down to the South.

173:13:01 Gordon: Say, are ye coming out in the Earth-Moon plane here, or are we going over the top or what? We were just discussing this and wondering, it's not - You know, it's not obvious when we leave what we're doing. It's my guess to say that we'd be coming out right along the equatorial plane, but what are we actually doing?

173:13:29 Lind: We'll get it for you in just a second. [Long pause.]

Public Affairs Office - "Altitude 1,865 nautical miles, velocity 5,765 feet per second."

173:13:51 Lind: Hey, listen. While we're getting that, since you're the international experts on lunar rock rolling, how does that work? Tell us what a rock looks like when it rolls down a lunar crater, since you did some of that on Earth.

173:14:08 Conrad: Well, it goes very slowly. And I guess the impression you have is the same way as if you throw something up there, and we had the occasion to throw some things away. They sort of move out, not too rapidly, but they just keep going, and that's exactly what happens when you roll a rock down the side of a crater. Once you get - It was hard to get them going; I was surprised. I think everybody had the idea up there that because you're in such light gravity, that things would roll down rather easily. And that really wasn't the case. Once you got it going, it just sort of went along in animated slow motion, but it kept going for a long, long time.

173:14:54 Lind: Did it bounce, or did they dig in, and did they go through this bounce [garble]?

173:14:59 Conrad: Well, they bounce and slide, a little bit of everything, just like they do on Earth, but just stretch it out. I was - I found that I couldn't walk; wherever we went, we loped, and it just didn't seem natural not to lope. And – But when you lope, it reminded me of these pictures, high-speed motion pictures of watching a grey hound run or something like that. That's just the feeling I had as I loped across because I'd have to step out and then just sort of hold what I had until I came down. And that's the way Al and I moved around on the whole traverse.

173:15:38 Lind: Sounds like you were having a ball.

173:15:41 Bean: Dick, if you could pitch down the little board, it'd help Pete a lot.

173:15:44 Conrad: Well, Al accused me of making him carry all the tools. One time he said that he had wound up with all the ones that I had, too, and I was just running there in front of him. He's probably right, now that I think about it.

173:15:58 Bean: You know the funny thing about moving around on the lunar surface, you put on this pressurized suit we wear, and you try to do it on Earth, with even close to the weight you have on your back on the Moon and you get tired very rapidly from the walking, and you don't have to walk over, you know - let's say 200 or 300 yards and you're ready for a rest. But, on the Moon, in the light gravity with the same suit on and the same weight, your legs never seem to get tired. I guess when you run up the side of a steep slope, you could do it, but just running around on level ground, you assume some kind of normal pace and you're able to go for long distances without your legs getting tired. The suit doesn't always want to bend like you want to bend. For example, it bends pretty well in the knee and it bends pretty well in the ankles, but it doesn't want to bend up near the thigh, the top of the thigh. So what happens is you tend to run with straight legs, land flatfooted and then push off on your toes. And you think to yourself, "Well, I'm going to tire out my calves pretty soon because I'm not used to this sort of thing," but apparently the force it takes to push off on your toes on the Moon is much less than you just have when you walk or run on Earth, so your legs just don't seem to tire. You can move around rather easily, don't you think, Pete?

173:17:28 Conrad: Yes. I'd like to ask the doctors because I haven't any idea, but I'm sure that our heart rate stayed fairly low even when we were loping. I don't think we approached anywhere near the heart rates that we had in just our normal walk-through and practices in just one g back on Earth and I agree with Al. You could go for 8 or 9 hours out there and still be [garble]. The other thing that we did was - I think was kind of interesting - everybody got worried about falling over and going down slopes and things. I fell over once up there, but I didn't have any problem getting up and we just finally - to expedite things - We would just either fall over on our face picking up the rock and give ourselves a one-hand push up or just get down on our knees and with it get whatever it was we needed to pick up down there, because we picked up many rocks that were bigger than the tongs would pick up.

173:18:22 Lind: Roger. Your heart rates were just about as expected, and the report is that you are just about in the Earth-Moon plane, just a very small bit out of the Earth-Moon plane, but almost coming straight home. Also, we are about to lose one of the satellites that is bringing this TV back to the States, so we're probably going to have to bid goodbye here fairly soon.

173:18:46 Conrad: Okay. Why don't we - We'll just slip inside for a second and say hello to everybody and then you can shut her off.

173:18:59 Lind: Very good. [Long pause.]

173:19:15 Gordon: Who's got the monitor?

173:19:20 Bean: Okay. That's a good idea.

173:19:39 Bean: The way we were hunting the monitor just then as we moved the camera inside the spacecraft, one of the fun things about this zero-g living, when you spend a day or two here, you have lots of items that you keep around - pencils, cameras, and scissors to open your food - Do you? Do you need more light?

173:19:58 Lind: Roger. Are, you on your inside switch?

173:20:00 Bean: We got it [garble], Yes. How's this do for you?

173:20:07 Lind: Now you are coming in better.

173:20:09 Bean: How does that do?

173:20:10 Lind: Pretty good.

173:20:11 Bean: Okay. Let's me see. What you got in focus, here?

173:20:14 Lind: You're looking good now.

173:20:16 Bean: Okay. That is a good idea.

173:20:18 Conrad: Is this better?

173:20:19 Lind: That's affirmative.

173:20:23 Bean: That ought to do it. When you end up like – I don't know if you can see this camera that I have got on TV - the one that I was taking pictures of the Moon with, but they float around just like you see. The funny part is - The funny part is when you're not watching them, they'll float off, and then you will hunt for them, but the problem is all your training all of your life has been to hunt for them on top of things - like on top of the seat or on top of the floor, or somewhere else. And so you walk around the spacecraft hunting for them, but really they may be in plain view, just resting right on the underside of the seat, or maybe just up there near the top of the strut, and you have one whale of a time finding these objects. You look all around aud then somebody on the other side will say "Look, it's right by your left ear." It really becomes quite a lot of fun when one of these things gets lost. You spend a few minutes hunting around and usually end up right in plain view, but you just don't look there from all these habits you built up over the years.

173:21:21 Lind: Hey, now we see Dick.

173:21:25 Gordon: Hey, Don, I understand you have changed your schedule around there quite a bit since we left last Friday, and we are very sorry about that, but that can't be helped either.

173:21:38 Lind: No problem.

173:21:39 Gordon: We did all our work, I understand, real early in the morning or very late at night down there, and we understand very late the first night out –about 20-hour day to adjust our schedule to the activities around the Moon and we sure enjoyed it, and hope that everybody there has enjoyed having us bring what we can to them.

173:22:03 Conrad: We were particularly disappointed that we weren't able to give - Yes, we were particularly- disappointed that we weren't able to give you the lunar surface TV. It just didn't seem to work out and I guess that maybe the next flight, Apollo 13, will give you a chance to look at what's going on down there because it's going to be a lot of fun.

173:22:24 Lind: Listen. Everybody was absolutely delighted with the tremendous job you did. [Pause.]

173:22:38 Lind: What happened to Pete? We haven't seen him yet.

173:22:44 Gordon: He's going to come into view.

173:22:46 Conrad: I've been hiding in my favorite spot in the top of the tunnel.

173:22:55 Bean: We've got all our gear stowed in here by the way. Why don't you show them some of the gear we've got stowed? Surveyor bag, particularly, because that's unusual, and we've got it stowed in a pretty slick place.

173:23:03 Conrad: I don't know whether they can see all of this, but we do - We have the rock boxes put to bed and all the Surveyor gear. I guess one of the big thrills, of course, for Al and I was to sit down next to the Surveyor, and especially when we stepped outside and looked out around the back of the spacecraft...

173:23:26 Bean: Yes. That was a thrill!

173:23:27 Conrad: ...and saw it sitting right there on the other side of the crater. I also gave myself quite a thrill. I think you'll appreciate it when you see the pictures and you see how close we landed to the crater - which I didn't notice at the time because it was behind me, but I didn't want to overfly too far, but I guess I parked it pretty close to the edge of the crater. And we were also very impressed that the tracking and everything put us right down the middle. Everybody at home certainly did their homework there. We didn't have to do anything but land it. And Dick surprised me, I think, by finding us - not only finding us in the sextant, but also finding the Surveyor and the LM in the sextant. He also took some pictures through his sextant with a 16-millimeter camera of that on the next Rev and, hopefully, we'll have movies of the LM and the Surveyor on the ground that are discernible in the movies. I don't know if that will work or not. We'll have to wait until we see the film.

173:24:34 Lind: Very good. We will be looking for them.

173:24:35 Conrad: We have enjoyed the trip. We have enjoyed the trip. Everybody adapted to zero g real well. Me enjoyed whistling in and out of the LM and after having flown 8 days in Gemini, it's a real pleasure riding around in this thing and being able to move around, and have all the good food and hot water, and shaves, and all those good things we couldn't do. We've kept the ship pretty spick and span, and we do have things all neatly stowed. I don't know if you can show them, Dick, why don't you show them the Surveyor bay?

173:25:08 Gordon: No, they can't see it.

173:25:10 Conrad: Well, with that, I think we'll sign off, and we'll see you in about 3 days.

173:25:14 Lind: Thanks a million! All three of you did a 4.0 job, and your families and the whole team are waiting for you back down here on the ground.

173:25:24 Conrad: Thank you.

173:25:43 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston.

173:25:49 Conrad: Go ahead.

173:25:50 Lind: If you will give us P00 and Accept, we will give you a PTC REFSMMAT, and for the PTC we want to use quads Alfa and Delta.

173:26:06 Gordon: Hey, we are going to stay at this attitude if [garble].

173:26:08 Conrad: Okay. You got it. P00 and Accept.

173:26:10 Lind: Thank you. [Pause.]

Public Affairs Office - "PTC is Passive Thermal Control."

173:26:21 Bean: You know something, Don? This Moon is just this white ball right out in the middle of a big black void, and it doesn't seem like either - We're separating from one another, but there just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason why we are or why it's setting out there. All the time we were in lunar orbit we were discussing this thing - how unreal it looked, and it is amazing to us to fly around it as it is when you just think about going to the Moon. It is very, very unreal to be there.

173:26:57 Lind: You know, your pictures were absolutely fantastic showing how fast you moved away from the Moon. You really gave us a good picture of that.

173:27:08 Bean: We're still doing it. - It's really getting small in a hurry. It's just sort of unreal to look outside. -It is almost like a photograph moving away from you. It doesn't seem possible it can be a whole sphere that you were orbiting a couple of hours ago.

173:27:28 Lind: Well, when you first gave us a picture, you looked like you were very close to your orbital altitude; but, by the time the picture went inside, it looked like about a basketball out at arm's length.

173:27:50 Conrad: That's pretty good, because right now at arm's length it's about 6 inches.

173:27:55 Lind: Tremendous. [Long pause.]

Public Affairs Office - "Yankee Clipper is 2,551 nautical miles away from the moon now. Velocity 5,403 feet per second."

173:28:27 Bean: Hey, Don. Do they have any hack on the midcourse yet?

173:28:31 Lind: Yes. It's extremely small, something like a third or a quarter - a third or a half foot per second.

173:28:41 Bean: Yes. That's great. That's great.

173:28:43 Lind: It was a very excellent burn. It's going to be a real small one.

173:28:51 Gordon: I'll tell you this SPS engine is a real hummer. It really gets out and goes and really performs well at that. It's really a smooth ride.

173:29:00 Lind: We copy. [Long pause.]

Public Affairs Office - "During the TV transmission you heard Don Lind pass up a figure of 4,000 feet per second. That was not Apollo 12's inertial velocity. That was the range rate at which Apollo 12 was going away from the Moon."

173:29:41 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston.

173:29:46 Gordon: Go.

MP3 Audio Clip GET 173:29:47 to 173:31:12 [01 mins 27 sec]

173:29:47 Lind: Listen. Once you guys get bedded down, we're not going to awaken you in the morning. So whenever you get up and want to start a new day, you give us a call. You've earned a good long night's sleep. So sleep in as long as you want.

173:30:03 Conrad: Okay. No problem.

173:30:04 Gordon: Yes. Swell idea.

173:30:12 Gordon: I think I gained weight on this trip. They've accused me of being a chowhound.

173:30:18 Lind: How come you're not getting out and doing your mile a day?

173:30:24 Conrad: He does it running from his couch to the food compartment.

173:30:29 Lind: [Laughter].

173:30:30 Bean: He's topped Conrad now.

173:30:31 Conrad: Al Bean is discouraging everybody from running these days.

173:30:33 Bean: Yes. That's right.

173:30:39 Conrad: Al's got a new training schedule? He's going to become the Training Officer.

173:30:45 Lind: Roger. The computer's yours. We've finished sending up your REFSMMAT.

173:30:53 Conrad: Okay. Thank you. How long can we - When do you want us to start PTC?

173:31:01 Lind: Anytime you want.

173:31:05 Conrad: Okay. We'd like to hold off on it for a while.

173:31:12 Lind: Let's hold off. We're in the middle of a playback data. So, give us some time on that.

[Long comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "At 173 hours, 32 minutes, Apollo 12's distance from the moon 2,761 nautical miles, velocity 5,321 feet per second."

Public Affairs Office - "As we were explaining earlier, that 4,000 feet per second that we passed up was the range rate in the vector directly away from the Moon. It did not have several other components of velocity in it. It was only in the vector directly away from the Moon."

173:36:47 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston.

173:36:52 Bean: Go ahead.

173:36:53 Lind: Roger. We finished dumping the data, and so you can start PTC any time you want to, after you finish 52.

173:37:05 Bean: Okay.

[Very long comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control at 173 hours, 40 minutes. Yankee Clipper's distance from the Moon now 3,139 nautical miles, velocity 5,185 feet per second. Apollo 12 in the process of realigning its inertial platform at the present time. At 4:30 p.m. Central Standard Time, there will be a briefing in the briefing room at the Houston News Center by the Apollo Spacecraft Program Manager, Jim McDivitt and by the Chief of the Test Division of the Program Office, Don Arabian, concerning the completed analysis of the electrical phenomena associated with the launch of Apollo 12. That's at 4:30 p.m. central standard time in the briefing room at the Houston News Center. That briefing will be carried on this release line. The crew should have entered into their sleep period at that time. We'll continue to stay up and monitor until the crew does bed down and this is Apollo Control, Houston, at 173 hours, 41 minutes."

Public Affairs Office - "At 173 hours, 50 minutes, Yankee Clipper's distance from the moon 3,606 nautical miles, velocity 5,044 feet per second."

173:52:35 Bean: Houston. You looking at our DSKY? [Long pause.]

173:52:58 Lind: Go, 12.

173:53:03 Bean: Roger. We just wanted to give you the torquing angles on the DSKY.

173:53:07 Lind: Roger. We got them, 12. Thank you.

[Comm break.]
173:55:34 Bean: Houston, you ready for an E-memory dump?

173:55:40 Lind: Give us just a moment.

173:55:45 Bean: Okay.

[Long comm break.]
173:59:42 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston. We're ready for that E-memory dump now.

173:59:47 Bean: Okay. [Long pause.]

[Flight Plan 3-160.]
174:01:11 Lind: Apollo 12. We've got a good E-memory dump. Thank you very much.

174:01:22 Bean: You're welcome. Thanks for the good P30 PAD.

174:01:29 Lind: Yes, sir.

[Very long comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control at 174 hours, 5 minutes. Apollo 12 is 4,295 nautical miles away from the Moon heading towards home at a velocity of 4,876 feet per second. The briefing in the Houston News Center on the analysis of the electrical phenomenon during launch of Apollo 12. It is about to begin. We'll take down this release line during the briefing, tape any air-to-ground transmissions and play those following the briefing. At 174 hours, 6 minutes this is Mission Control Houston."

174:11:09 Gordon: Houston, Apollo 12. Which quads did you want disabled for the PTC?

174:11:16 Lind: Disable Baker and Charlie. We want you to use Alfa and Delta.

174:11:25 Gordon: Roger. I guess when we're established in PTC attitude you will want us to go off the High Gain and use the Omni's tonight because of the performance of the High Gain?

174:11:44 Lind: That's affirmative. [Long pause.]

174:12:11 Lind: Apollo 12, when you go off the High Gain, we'd like you to turn off the High Gain power during the sleep period and pick up with Omni Bravo.

174:12:24 Gordon: Okay. Will do.

174:12:29 Lind: Also, we'd like you to turn off the optics power this evening for the sleep period.

174:12:38 Gordon: You want us to turn off the optics power this evening, huh?

174:12:41 Lind: That is affirmative.

174:12:51 Gordon: And - Let me ask you again, Houston. Say again those two quads that you want disabled.

174:12:59 Lind: Bravo and Charlie, off; Alfa and Delta to be used.

174:13:07 Gordon: Okay.

174:19:25 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston.

174:19:33 Bean: Go ahead, Houston.

174:19:35 Lind: Roger. I checked with your wives and I have a short status report on the family whenever you get a minute.

174:19:41 Bean: Outstanding. Let's hear.

174:19:44 Lind: Okay, Pete. I talked to Jane, and she said she really enjoyed the TV show. Also she sent a letter out...

174:19:50 Bean: Hold on just a second. Hold on just a second.

174:19:52 Lind: Roger.

174:19:57 Bean: He'll be on in just a second. [Long pause.]

174:20:30 Conrad: Go ahead.

174:20:31 Lind: Okay, Pete. Talked to Jane, and she said she saw the TV show and enjoyed it mightily, that it was a great show. Also, she sent a letter for you out to the carrier that will be there with all the family news when you arrive. But she wanted you to know that all the family is well, and that they're anxious for you to hurry home. Dick, Barbara...

174:20:53 Conrad: Very good.

174:20:56 Lind: ...said that they also saw the show and they thought it was great, and the family's in – She says again, great shape, so they're looking for you back in a hurry. Al, I talked to Sue...

174:21:08 Gordon: ...Okay, Don. Thank you.

174:21:10 Lind: ...You bet. Al, I talked to Sue and it seems that when the network pub on the TV show, they had Pete's name up under your picture, and she said it's been so long since she has seen you, that it even confused her for a moment. But the family's been watching the flight. They're waiting for you, and they're looking forward to splashdown and everybody's fine.

174:21:38 Bean: Thank you for checking, Don.

174:21:40 Lind: You might wear a nametag or something so that she'll recognize you.

174:21:49 Bean: There won't be any worry about it for another 20 days or so.

174:21:52 Lind: Roger.

174:21:53 Gordon: I'll talk to her through the glass in the LRL for a while. We're just finishing up a meal now, Don, and we'll be coming at you with the post sleep check report in about, I don't know, 10, 15 minutes.

174:22:09 Gordon: Fine. We'll be down here.

174:22:15 Gordon: I hope so.

[Very long comm break.]
174:42:18 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston. [Long pause.]

174:42:41 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston.

174:42:46 Conrad: Go ahead, Houston.

174:42:51 Lind: You're extremely weak, Pete.

174:42:56 Conrad: Okay. Well, we've been on the - [garble] High Gain [garble].

174:43:07 Lind: Roger. Your rates look good, so you can spin up anytime you want, and we assume you have no dumps to do that will perturb the roll.

174:43:18 Conrad: No.

174:43:20 Lind: Roger. [Long pause.]

174:43:37 Lind: Pete, would you ask one of the other crew to transmit? We can just barely read you.

174:43:46 Bean: Okay [garble] How do you read me, Houston?

174:43:51 Lind: Still extremely weak, Al. You're just barely audible.

174:43:57 Bean: [Garble] Houston [garble] having any problems with your earphones [garble].

174:44:10 Lind: Roger. The problem is probably between the site and Houston. We've got a good downlink signal, so we'll check it out here on the ground. Thank you. [Long pause.]

174:45:03 Lind: 12, we copied just a little dumping going on. As soon as that damps out, you can go ahead and roll.

[Comm break.]
MP3 Audio Clip GET 174:47:00 to 173:47:56 [00 mins 57 sec]

174:47:00 Lind: It appears that we've lost the downlink long line for a few minutes. As soon as we get it re-established, we'll be back with you.

174:47:23 Conrad: Houston, 12.

174:47:24 Lind: Roger. That one came down loud and clear.

174:47:30 Conrad: Okay. Are you telling me you don't want us to dump any urine? Is that correct?

174:47:34 Lind: No. We're saying just damp out your rates for a few more minutes and then start your roll.

174:47:43 Conrad: Okay. But you don't want us to dump urine after we start PTC. Is that right?

174:47:48 Lind: Whatever is necessary, go ahead and do, but we - damp out your rates as much as you can before you start to roll.

174:47:56 Conrad: Okay.

174:48:03 Lind: We just don't want to have to wake you up in the middle of the night and do a maneuver for us.

174:48:09 Conrad: Yes, I - it's no problem. We - we can keep it onboard. So I just - I just didn't know when we're down this light if it was going to mess us up, and Z guess it probably will, so we'll go ahead and keep it onboard. It's no problem.

174:48:23 Lind: Roger.

[Very long comm break.]
175:07:21 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston. Your rates look good to us. If you want to spin up, we're agreeable.

175:07:28 Conrad: Okay. We were just getting ready to do that now. Thank you.

175:07:31 Lind: Roger.

[Long comm break.]
175:13:49 Conrad: Houston, 12.

175:13:51 Lind: Go ahead, 12.

175:13:56 Conrad: I screwed that one up, so I'm going to start over again.

175:14:01 Lind: Roger.

[Long comm break.]
Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control at 175 hours, 15 minutes. Apollo 12 is 7,392 nautical miles from the Moon. Velocity 4,443 feet per second. The crew has not yet turned in. They're now establishing the Passive Thermal Control mode for the sleep period..."

175:19:07 Lind: Apollo 12, Houston.

175:19:14 Conrad: Go ahead.

175:19:15 Lind: Roger. We're going to be on Low Bit Rate most of the night, so we won't be getting any Biomed data from you, so if you want to disconnect your harnesses, that's fine with us.

175:19:28 Conrad: Okay, very good. Okay. Let me give you the checklist here. The crew status report: The Commander had one decongestant; the CMP had nothing; the LMP had one sleeping pill last night and one decongestant. The fans have been cycled. The water's been chlorinated. We've verified the valves; Bat C at 37.0; pyro Bat A, 37.1; pyro Bat B, 37.1. You've got the E-memory dump, and as soon as I get PTC going here, we're going to hit the pad. Actually, LMP and CMP are already asleep.

175:20:14 Lind: Very good. Have a good night. You've certainly earned your rest.

175:20:22 Conrad: Thank you.

175:20:23 Lind: We'll see you in the morning.

175:20:25 Conrad: And how do the rates look to you down there?

175:20:28 Lind: Looks fine. Spin her up.

175:20:36 Conrad: Okay.

Public Affairs Office - "This is Apollo Control at 175 hours, 26 minutes. That's the end of the tape. We signed off with the crew at an Elapsed Time of 175 hours, 20 minutes. We do not plan to call them from the ground. We're going to let them sleep until they call us. We won't put in a wake up call to them in the morning. Let them sleep as long as they like. An early look at the data from the TEI burn by the Flight Dynamics Officer William Boone shows the burn on time. The Delta-V achieved of 3,042.4 feet per second against a predicted 3,042.3 feet per second. Based on that he has not changed the Entry Interface velocity numbers. They remain at 36,116.4 feet per second. An early look at the entry angle shows it to be minus 6.69 degrees against a targeted minus 6.650 degrees. This will continue to be refined through tracking. We haven't had too much tracking since the burn not as much as the Flight Dynamics Officers like to look at. But based on this preliminary look, Midcourse Correction 5 would be only 1/2 foot per second or less. We also have the latest status report on the Lunar Surface Experiment Package, in particular, the Cold Cathode Ion Gauge. The Cold Cathode Ion Gauge performed well when first activated but its high voltage power supply turned itself off around 4:00am Central Standard Time on November 20th. This shut off is probably due to arcing. The instrument can be reactivated but turns itself off after a few seconds, indicating no permanent damage. Outgassing of the electronics is the suspected cause of arcing. To solve this problem, the gauge has been placed in a standby mode and further operation is not planned until residual gases have been baked out. This is expected to take from one to two weeks. Arcing is a common problem in high voltage circuits including home television sets. Electrical current jumps from one point to another across an air gap accompanied by crackling noises and a visible flash. Small traces of gas are more likely to sustain the current flow than either a normal atmosphere or a high vacuum. In the Cold Cathode Ion Gauge the combination of high vacuum and moderate temperatures is conducive to release of gas molecules contained in non-metallic materials such as potting compounds. Until the gas is dissipated, it permits arcing to occur. The overload resulting from current flow in the arc activates a safety circuit shutting off the device. The condition has been encountered in vacuum chamber tests but was avoided by presoaking the equipment in a vacuum for a few days before applying operational power. Flight to the Moon had been expected to provide adequate soaking time. Apollo 12 is 8,013 nautical miles from the Moon; velocity 4,389. The crew has turned in for the night. And at 175 hours, 30 minutes this is Mission Control Houston."

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