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Day 4, part 1: Waking Up and Approaching the Moon Journal Home Page Day 4, part 3: Checking the LM EPS

Apollo 14

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Day 4, part 2: Midcourse Correction 4


Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 2020 by W. David Woods, Ben Feist, Ronald Hansen, and Johannes Kemppanen. All rights reserved.
Last updated 2021-01-07
Only a few hours remain for Apollo 14 to make the engine burn that will put them onto a lunar orbit. The crew has been relatively busy with paperwork relating to the various standard and contingency manoeuvres needed to be accomplished before that. There has also been discussion on how to deal with a small yet potentially serious battery issue with the Lunar Module's Ascent Stage.
Editor's note: All transcript times are presented according to the GET update at 054:53:36 that saw the mission timer moved forward 40 minutes, 2.90 seconds.
This is Apollo Control at 76 hours 37 minutes. We are beginning a shift hand over at this time. Flight Director Gerry Griffin coming on to replace Flight Director Milton Windler and the capsule communicator on the upcoming shift will be astronaut Fred Haise. We do anticipate a change of shift briefing, probably within about 30 minutes of the shift handover which is scheduled to occur at 7:30. Also during the S-IVB impact, which will be occurring early tomorrow morning at about 1:26 AM central standard time, we will have Dr. David W. Strangway, who is chief of the Geophysics branch at the Manned Spacecraft Center available in the news center briefing room to provide background on the event and also to do what real time data analysis is possible. We will have video from the control center piped into the briefing room and we'll have available such things as video of the seismic data that we are expecting to receive on the Apollo 12 passive seismometer. At the present time we are showing that the impact will occur at a Ground Elapsed Time of 83 hours 17 minutes, 55 seconds, and the current impact coordinates for the S-IVB are 7 degrees, 52 minutes south and 26 degrees 3 minutes west. And at the present time, we show Apollo 14 at 14,022 nautical miles [25,969 km] from the Moon. The spacecraft velocity up now to 3,624 feet per second [1,105 m/s].
Flight Plan page 3-070
076:39:22 McCandless: Apollo 14, this is Houston. We would like you to reload Tephem prior to midcourse 4; over.
076:39:32 Roosa: Okay, Bruce; we'll reload Tephem. I'll do that right now. And the Delta-V test went real well, and the null bias check with a minus 100 at the start, and went to a minus 98.4. [Long pause.]
The EMS accelerometer has once again been tested before a powered manoeuvre, to ensure that the system is working properly. The results are positive, and clear the EMS for use.
076:39:51 McCandless: Roger, we copy.
076:40:01 McCandless: Did you say 98.4, Stu?
076:40:07 Roosa: That's affirmative; 98.4.
076:40:09 McCandless: Roger.
Comm break.
076:42:20 Roosa: Okay, Bruce, I reloaded. And there it is if you'd like to check it and make sure we're all squared away.
076:42:26 McCandless: Okay, stand by. Roger, we concur, Stu; it looks good.
076:42:35 Roosa: Okay.
Comm break.
076:44:19 McCandless: Apollo 14, Ed. This is Houston. Do you have a copy of the LM Activation Checklist in the Command Module at this time, or did you leave both of them in the LM? Over.
076:44:34 Mitchell: Yes, I've got them ...
076:44:35 Shepard: We have them here in the Command Module.
076:44:37 McCandless: Roger. Thank you.
Long comm break.
076:51:26 Roosa: Okay, Bruce. The torquing angles are on the DSKY, and I'll be torquing at 76:51:30.
Instead of reading the numbers aloud over the air to ground and subject them to possible mistakes, Stu announces that Mission Control can get their Noun 93 results via their simultaneous view of the contents of the DSKY down in Mission Control.
This is Stu's eighth P52 realignment of the guidance platform during the flight. As a reference, he sighted on star 23 (Denebola,) and star 32 (Alphecca,). As a check of his sighting accuracy, the computer compared the measured angle between these stars and the actual angle. The difference between them was 00.000 degrees, or 'all balls' , a perfect result. Finally, the computer displayed Noun 93, the angles by which the gimbals would be rotated or 'torqued' to restore perfect alignment. These were +0.056° in X, -0.262° in Y and +0.038° in Z axis. According to the post-flight Mission Report, the platform was torqued at 76:52:00 GET.
076:51:37 McCandless: Roger, Stu. [Long pause.]
076:51:54 McCandless: Okay. It looks good from down here, Stu.
076:51:59 Roosa: Okay.
Very long comm break.
Flight Plan page 3-073
077:06:53 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] the old filter on the air is on the right. Is it not? [Garbled.]
077:08:15 Shepard (onboard): Hope this [garble] helps us.
077:09:25 Roosa: Houston, 14.
077:09:28 McCandless: Go ahead, 14.
077:09:33 Roosa: Okay, Bruce. Looking over the Flight Plan, we moved up that maneuver to the Moon-view attitude, and I'm going to go the way I did back here right after midcourse 4 instead of where it shows over at 78:50 if you all agree.
077:09:53 McCandless: Roger. We concur.
077:09:58 Roosa: Okay.
Long comm break.
077:10:36 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] might, I['ve] been looking for residuals. See how well it burns when we [Garbled.]
077:10:50 Mitchell (onboard): Amazing. [Garble] residuals [Garble] the whole thing on RCS.
077:10:54 Roosa (onboard): Oh, that'd kill it. Man, that'd be - What's the Delta-V total that time? 3.8? Yes. Forty pounds of gas.
077:11:25 Roosa (onboard): Yes, looks like that ought to be pretty clear [Garbled.]
077:11:30 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] out there.
077:11:43 Roosa (onboard): You know, just like this morning. Now, we're - we're not in any panic, but we're having to hustle to - be right. Tomorrow morning, it's going to be much worse.
077:11:57 Shepard (onboard): We want to be sure we get up a little early. [Garbled.] like you say.
077:12:02 Roosa (onboard): Besides, we want to really [Garble] over and have things organized.
077:12:33 Shepard (onboard): Ed.
077:12:35 Mitchell (onboard): Yes.
077:12:36 Shepard (onboard): Does everything look good up in the tunnel for the burn?
077:12:39 Mitchell (onboard): Say again.
077:12:40 Shepard (onboard): Does everything look good up in the tunnel for the burn?
077:12:42 Mitchell (onboard): Yes. Just a second. I think it does. Let me get this tape. How far are we away from the burn?
077:12:49 Shepard (onboard): Oh, about 20 minutes, I guess.
077:12:52 Mitchell (onboard): Okay.
077:12:53 Roosa (onboard): Twenty-six minutes.
077:13:00 Mitchell (onboard): Stuff that in there.
077:13:05 Shepard (onboard): Okay.
077:13:06 Mitchell (onboard): All right, let me swing up here and take a quick look.
077:13:19 Shepard (onboard): Delta-VC, 00002.
077:13:24 Roosa (onboard): Yes. I was just smoking that over. I wonder - Now let me see here. We got a - a 98.4, so it went - 1.6.
077:13:39 Mitchell (onboard): Everything's good. You'll - switch. Wait a minute. No. You have to come - up around this way.
077:13:57 Roosa (onboard): We've got a 0.16 per second. No - 100 seconds. We got a 1.6, so we got a 0.016. Okay.
077:14:23 Mitchell (onboard): Okay?
077:14:24 Shepard (onboard): Yes.
077:14:25 Mitchell (onboard): Went right by you.
077:14:27 Roosa (onboard): [Garble.]
077:14:31 Mitchell (onboard): Oh, went pretty smooth.
077:14:56 Shepard (onboard): Okay. Do we have those optics zeroed, you suppose?
077:15:01 Roosa (onboard): We - we should have them, yes. I - sure meant to do that. Thank you. Power is still on, I think.
077:15:31 Shepard (onboard): Let's stop that - [Garble] alarm.
077:15:39 Mitchell (onboard): Give me that [garble] before it goes floating around all over the place.
077:15:43 Shepard (onboard): Yes.
077:15:45 Roosa (onboard): It went away.
077:15:46 Shepard (onboard): I didn't - I reset it. I just went into Zero and then Off - turned the power off. That's where the alarm came from.
077:15:57 Roosa (onboard): Oh, no. We - we - we want the switch in Zero.
077:16:01 Mitchell (onboard): Do you?
077:16:02 Roosa (onboard): Yes. Hope. Yes.
077:16:11 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] is just turn it off.
077:16:14 Roosa (onboard): Yes. I'm not sure what it does with the - with the optics off; whether or not it really ought to be Zero with G&N power on.
077:16:30 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] would be sure, if you did it that way.
077:16:51 Shepard (onboard): Okay. Now they're [garble] we locked.
077:17:05 Roosa (onboard): Yes, because we got a sextant star check, as a matter of fact, so we do want the power on.
077:17:10 Shepard (onboard): Yes.
077:17:16 Shepard (onboard): Okay. How do we stand on your burn card?
077:17:21 Roosa (onboard): Okay. We just cycled the cryo fan. No, I don't think we have to [Garble] do that. EMS Delta-V check, we have done. Now, let me think here. Now, we - In 30 seconds, that's going to go through zero, the way I figure that. We got a bias at 0.016 per second. We're going to have it on 30 seconds. Looks like it's going to go to 0.48.
The hydrogen tank fans are to be stirred before every SPS firing to ensure that the contents are homogenous.
077:18:02 Shepard (onboard): Oh; 89 04? Is that what you want?
077:18:07 Roosa (onboard): 98 ...
077:18:08 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] 98 04, 1.6, 0.16, 0.016 per second. Right? 0.016 per second.
077:18:32 Shepard (onboard): Want me to check it?
077:18:37 Roosa (onboard): Yes.
077:18:43 Shepard (onboard): You're right.
077:18:44 Roosa (onboard): How about a sextant star check there, leader.
077:18:48 Shepard (onboard): Okay.
077:18:49 Roosa (onboard): We're in attitude.
077:18:52 Mitchell (onboard): Did you get your optics set up?
077:18:55 Shepard (onboard): I just caught up.
077:18:59 Mitchell (onboard): Okay.
077:19:13 Shepard (onboard): You want to give me the angle?
077:19:14 Mitchell (onboard): Roger. 17320.
077:19:30 Roosa: Houston, 14.
077:19:35 McCandless: Go ahead, 14.
077:19:40 Roosa: Okay. The PAD value for Delta-VC is 0.2, and you all gave us that before we ran our null bias check. Is that - is that still a good value?
077:19:56 McCandless: Yes, that's still a good number, Stu.
077:20:01 Roosa: Okay.
Stu's question is in regard to the number to be input into the Entry Monitoring System's counter during the midcourse correction burn. If the null bias test had revealed a systematic error in the functioning of the EMS accelerometer, they could adjust the number to be input accordingly to take the innate error into account.
Long comm break.
077:20:48 Shepard (onboard): There's a lot of reflected light on, I'll tell you.
077:20:55 Mitchell (onboard): Say again?
077:20:56 Shepard (onboard): There's a lot of reflected light on this - sextant.
077:21:06 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] star? We still moving?
077:21:10 Roosa (onboard): Verb 16 Noun 20 Enter. We're probably in the deadband, but we're in attitude.
077:21:17 Shepard (onboard): Okay. This baby looks all out of focus. [Garble] a light.
077:21:59 Shepard (onboard): Okay.
077:22:29 Roosa (onboard): No star, leader?
077:22:40 Shepard (onboard): Well - our - Something doesn't look right to me, somehow. The way it's bringing this 353, which is about a minus -
077:23:14 Roosa (onboard): Why don't you zero the optics?
077:23:18 Shepard (onboard): Okay.
077:23:21 Roosa (onboard): Wait 15 seconds, then - try again.
077:23:35 Shepard (onboard): See where we are [Garbled.]
077:23:43 Roosa (onboard): Okay. Now try your Verb 41.
077:23:46 Shepard (onboard): Okay. And Zero, Off. [Garbled.]
077:23:57 McCandless: 14, Houston.
077:24:02 Mitchell: Go ahead.
077:24:03 Roosa: Go ahead, Houston.
077:24:05 McCandless: Okay. We'd like to get the high gain, whenever you can crank it up.
Comm break.
077:24:12 Shepard (onboard): That looks better.
077:24:29 Mitchell (onboard): Let me have the PAD, Al.
077:24:36 Roosa (onboard): You want a 91, Al? So I'll - You can tell me when you're there?
077:24:39 Shepard (onboard): Yes.
077:24:40 Roosa (onboard): Okay. Tell me when you got it.
077:24:45 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] much.
077:24:47 Roosa (onboard): Okay. 33072. Let's - add something [Garbled.]
077:24:52 Mitchell (onboard): Yes, that figures. 335.
077:24:55 Roosa (onboard): And we're 330, so we're 0.5. We pass?
077:25:00 Shepard (onboard): Pass.
077:25:01 Mitchell (onboard): Pass.
077:25:02 Roosa (onboard): Pass.
077:25:18 Roosa (onboard): Hey, [Garble] why don't you leave it on there. Last night, we noticed it took a little while for the narrow to take effect.
077:25:24 Mitchell (onboard): All right.
077:25:35 Roosa (onboard): Okay. Circuit breakers. Let me check them again.
077:25:42 Mitchell: Houston, 14 on the high gain. How do you read?
077:25:47 McCandless: Loud and clear, Ed.
077:25:51 Mitchell: Okay.
Long comm break.
This is Apollo Control 77 hours 27 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. Flight Director Gerry Griffin who heads up the Gold team of flight controllers is settling in to his chair in the middle of the room and having handover from Flight Director Milton Windler off going shift. Meanwhile aboard Apollo 14 the crew's making preparations for the midcourse correction burn number 4 upcoming in 9 minutes and 45 seconds. That burn with an ignition time of 77 hours 38 minutes 14 seconds will be for a 3.8 feet per second [1.2 m/s] change in velocity. Total burn time is .7 of a second which for that big engine is a wee small burp. The midcourse correction burn number 4 in local time will be 8:01:14 central time. Communications engineers asked that the crew be asked to swivel the high gain antenna for a better lockon upcoming on this burn - apparently the communications is somewhat spotty at this time. We're standing by live on air-ground with Apollo 14 for the upcoming burn.
077:25:57 Roosa (onboard): Manual Attitude, three are Rate Command; Attitude Deadband, Min; Rate is Low; THC, Power, we don't need; SCS TVC, two, is Rate Command; Delta-VCG is LM/CSM; TVC Gimbal Drive, Pitch and Yaw, is Auto. Okay. I think we're down to 54 minutes. Let's try it again.
077:26:21 Shepard (onboard): Okay.
077:26:23 Roosa (onboard): [Garble] Optics are Zero. [Garble] that's cycle Cryo Fans; EMS Delta-V, check; set Delta VC at 0.21 EMS Function in Delta V; BMAG, three, to Rate 2; Auto RCS Select, I have 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. DAP is loaded; RC Power Normal, two, DC. No television. Okay. Shall we go into P40 while we're given time to smoke that over. Okay. All right. Verb 16 Noun [Garble] Enter. [Garbled.]
077:27:17 Roosa (onboard): Hack. Okay.
077:27:19 Mitchell (onboard): Something's wrong.
077:27:21 Shepard (onboard): Oh, [Garble] right.
077:27:23 Roosa (onboard): Okay, does 3.8 agree with the Delta-V total?
077:27:28 Mitchell (onboard): 3.8.
077:27:29 Roosa (onboard): Okay. All right. The event timer is set; Spacecraft Control is CMC and Auto, we've maneuvered to the pad burn attitude; sextant star check, pass; we're P40 to the 50 18; GDC is alignd 000. I have rechecked my circuit breakers twice. Let me do it for three times.
077:27:57 Mitchell (onboard): [Garble] switches, too, huh?
077:27:59 Shepard (onboard): They looked all right this morning.
077:28:01 Roosa (onboard): I have pushed each one of these [Garbled.]
077:28:17 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] seconds?
077:28:21 Mitchell (onboard): Yes. That's what they said.
077:28:30 Shepard (onboard): So, all we do is pitch to 0, plus 1, and ...
077:28:35 Mitchell (onboard): Hey, how come the air is shut off here? I'm not getting any air flow.
077:28:41 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] when Stu was sleeping ...
077:28:42 Roosa (onboard): Oh, I shut that off last night. Boy, you - sent me to sleep with all three in Suit Full Flow. I think because you were taking a crap. Man, that thing blowing down on my - froze my butt off, so I slipped up in the dark of the night and turned the flow off.
077:29:12 Roosa (onboard): Okay. Manual Attitude, three, is Rate Command; Dead Band is Min; Rate is Low; TC, Power, we don't need; Rate Command; Delta VC, LM/CSM; TVC Gimbal Drive, Pitch and Yaw, to Auto. Okay. We're at 54 minutes.
077:29:40 Shepard (onboard): All you have to do is blink your eye to turn it off.
077:29:44 Roosa (onboard): That's about it.
077:29:46 Mitchell (onboard): And then you'll be too long.
077:29:49 Roosa (onboard): And Delta-V - Thrust A. All [Garble] ...
077:29:53 Shepard (onboard): I'll count down to zero and, say, plus 1; then you shut it off, then; okay?
077:30:00 Roosa (onboard): Don't have to worry about this.
077:30:02 Shepard (onboard): Not going to have any [Garble] down ...
077:30:03 Haise: 14, Houston.
077:30:05 Mitchell (onboard): It's their [Garbled.]
077:30:07 Mitchell: Go ahead, Houston.
077:30:09 Haise: Okay. Your high gain is oscillating a bit there. Want you to try another acquisition there, Ed?
077:30:11 Shepard (onboard): 1.0.
077:30:12 Roosa (onboard): For 1?
077:30:20 Mitchell: Roger, Fred. We've tried it twice, and it's still doing it. I'll give it one more go.
077:30:24 Roosa (onboard): What?
077:30:25 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] RCS.
077:30:25 Haise: Okay.
Comm break.
077:30:26 Roosa (onboard): 1.0. Hey, that's beautiful.
077:30:38 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] No ullage.
077:30:41 Mitchell (onboard): No ullage. All right.
077:30:43 Roosa (onboard): There any other remarks on the pad I don't know about ?
077:30:46 Mitchell (onboard): That's all. No ullage? That's all of them.
077:30:59 Shepard (onboard): Got the Verb 30 from Rigel.
077:31:03 Roosa (onboard): You know, I can't relax in this couch? Just flatass can't do it, damn it. I'm always tense.
077:31:10 Shepard (onboard): Plus 32, yaw, 290.
077:31:16 Mitchell (onboard): That's where I am.
077:31:41 Mitchell: Houston, 14. That seems to be the best we could do. It's still oscillating. Got another suggestion?
077:31:44 Shepard (onboard): I still don't know if I can ...
077:31:45 Mitchell (onboard): Got a suggestion?
077:31:47 Roosa (onboard): I called and asked him.
077:31:48 Shepard (onboard): Yes. I know. I heard you.
077:31:48 Haise: Stand by, Ed.
Comm break.
077:31:49 Roosa (onboard): I don't believe him. I want to see when that is. [Garble] zero. I'll be looking down here at zero. [Garbled.] zero. The way I figure it, that should have already gone through zero. Yes. Okay, Ed. Let's have Main Bus Ties.
077:32:20 Shepard (onboard): [Garbled.]
077:32:22 Mitchell (onboard): Got A - and B.
077:32:25 Roosa (onboard): Okay.
077:32:26 Shepard (onboard): Okay, Main Bus Tie is on.
077:32:28 Roosa (onboard): I'm lost here, Al. PCM power; we don't do that.
077:32:30 Shepard (onboard): Okay, TVC Servo Power 1, AC 1?
077:32:33 Roosa (onboard): Okay.
077:32:35 Shepard (onboard): 2 AC 2.
077:32:36 Roosa (onboard): Okay.
077:32:37 Shepard (onboard): Rec 2 AC. [Garble] Direct, two, Off.
077:32:40 Roosa (onboard): Okay.
077:32:41 Shepard (onboard): BMAGs, three, one-half.
077:32:46 Roosa (onboard): Okay.
077:32:47 Shepard (onboard): Spacecraft, SCS. Arm the RHC. Okay. Start number 1 [Garbled.]
077:32:55 Haise: 14, Houston. [Long pause.]
077:32:58 Roosa (onboard): Okay. You ready, Ed?
077:33:00 Mitchell (onboard): All right. Bring it on.
077:33:02 Roosa (onboard): Okay. Pitch 1?
077:33:03 Mitchell (onboard): You have it.
077:33:04 Roosa (onboard): Yaw 1.
077:33:05 Mitchell (onboard): You have it.
077:33:06 Shepard (onboard): Okay. Verify plus 0.9 ...
077:33:06 Haise: Okay, Ed. Suggestion is to take the Servo Electronics switch, panel 2; go to Secondary; and then try REACQ.
077:33:10 Shepard (onboard): ... minus 0.33.
077:33:17 Shepard (onboard): Verify MTVC.
077:33:18 Mitchell: Okay.
Comm break.
077:33:19 Roosa (onboard): Okay. I have it.
077:33:20 Shepard (onboard): Okay.
077:33:22 Roosa (onboard): Okay. MC.
077:33:25 Roosa (onboard): No ...
077:33:26 Shepard (onboard): No - Go to bias.
077:33:27 Roosa (onboard): Yes. Now twist the handle.
077:33:29 Shepard (onboard): Right.
077:33:30 Roosa (onboard): Okay. You ready for number 2s, Ed?
077:33:33 Mitchell (onboard): Bring them on.
077:33:34 Roosa (onboard): Pitch 2.
077:33:35 Mitchell (onboard): You have it.
077:33:37 Roosa (onboard): Yaw 2.
077:33:38 Mitchell (onboard): You have that one.
077:33:40 Roosa (onboard): Damn!
077:33:41 Shepard (onboard): Set the trim - plus 0.9.
077:33:43 Roosa (onboard): It's set.
077:33:46 Shepard (onboard): 0.33.
077:33:48 Roosa (onboard): Minus 0.33.
077:33:49 Shepard (onboard): Minus 0.33.
077:33:51 Roosa (onboard): Okay, and a half. Okay, we're setting there. CMC.
077:33:57 Shepard (onboard): Okay. THC ... verified [Garble] ...
077:34:00 Roosa (onboard): Twist the handle.
077:34:01 Mitchell (onboard): ... MTVC.
077:34:02 Roosa (onboard): Zero. No MTVC.
077:34:04 Shepard (onboard): Verify GPI returns to zero. Okay.
077:34:06 Roosa (onboard): Okay. Then?
077:34:07 Shepard (onboard): RHC Power, Normal, two, AC/DC?
077:34:09 Roosa (onboard): Okay.
077:34:10 Shepard (onboard): Direct, two, Main A/Main B.
077:34:12 Roosa (onboard): Okay.
077:34:14 Shepard (onboard): And Rate 2 on three, and we'll final trim.
077:34:17 Roosa (onboard): Okay.
077:34:25 Shepard (onboard): Okay. That's in there.
077:34:28 Roosa (onboard): ATT - Okay.
077:34:32 Shepard (onboard): Okay, BMAGs, one-half.
077:34:34 Roosa (onboard): Okay, let's - let's just let it settle down on its - oscillation there. Okay, BMAGs are one-half.
077:34:42 Shepard (onboard): Okay. The gimbal test option.
077:34:44 Roosa (onboard): Okay, let's let her rip. Up 2. Down 2, zero. [Garbled.]
077:34:48 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] Those babies swing, don't they?
077:34:54 Roosa (onboard): Two. Zero.
077:34:57 Shepard (onboard): One in trim.
077:35:01 Mitchell (onboard): Okay,
077:35:01 Mitchell: Okay, Houston. I think we've finally got it up on the fourth attempt.
077:35:02 Roosa (onboard): Okay.
077:35:05 Roosa (onboard): Minus 33. We are at trim. Okay.
077:35:08 Haise: Okay, Ed.
Comm break.
This is Apollo Control. Coming up on 1 minute away from midcourse correction number 4 burn which will lower the nearest approach altitude from about 67 nautical miles [124 km] to 60 nautical miles [111 km] after the burn. 50 seconds.
077:35:09 Mitchell (onboard): Okay.
077:35:10 Roosa (onboard): [Garble] Okay [Garble] attitude. Let me align the GDC again.
077:36:23 Mitchell (onboard): High Bit Rate; Record; Forward; Command Reset.
077:36:33 Shepard (onboard): Okay. No ullage.
077:36:34 Roosa (onboard): Okay, a no-ullage burn. We have one thing left to do; that's Delta-V, Normal. We are in one-half. GDC is looking good. We're somewhere here. Okay. We are in Rate Command; Minimum; Rate, High; they're AC; AC; Direct; CMC, Auto; 1/Rate 2; Delta-V Thrust is On; Rate Command; Auto; TVC; our SPS circuit breakers are in; RCS Logic is out; docking probe; Command Module heaters; Direct Ullage. We are ready to burn. Okay.
077:37:20 Mitchell (onboard): Sounds good.
077:37:26 Roosa (onboard): We are in attitude. We are in trim. SIM SUP's taking it easy on us today.
Stu is joking to his crewmates that everything is proceeding smoothly, unlike in their many simulations where the people running the simulator gave them simulated problems to solve.
077:37:35 Shepard: Okay, Houston. We got about 40 seconds to burn. We're ready to go on time.
077:37:39 Shepard (onboard): Okay. Coming down to 30, DSKY blank ...
077:37:40 Haise: Roger, Al. [Long pause.]
077:37:47 Shepard (onboard): Go.
077:37:48 Roosa (onboard): ... and EMS Mode, Normal. [Garble] quiet.
077:37:53 Mitchell (onboard): Got to turn it up. [Garble] Turn it up one flip.
077:37:57 Unknown crew member (onboard): [Garbled.]
077:37:58 Mitchell (onboard): Coming up on minus 100. It's going the other way.
077:38:01 Roosa (onboard): That's right. If you plus, it'll go - Disregard that. Okay, we're ...
077:38:03 Shepard (onboard): Okay. We're 13 seconds until the burn. 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, Pro, 3, 2, 1 -
077:38:15 Shepard (onboard): Burn.
077:38:18 Roosa (onboard): Okay. Delta-V Thrust, A, is Off.
077:38:21 Shepard (onboard): That was a shock.
This is a very short burn, but nonetheless produces a perceivable burst of acceleration. With an approximate mass of 97,104 pounds for the stack and with an SPS thrust capacity of 20,500 pounds, this amounts to some 0.21 g's. After several days in microgravity, even this one fifth of Earth gravity will have felt like a considerable weight.
077:38:22 Shepard: Okay, we had a good burn.
077:38:24 Shepard (onboard): Minus 2.7.
077:38:24 Haise: Roger, Al.
Comm break.
077:38:26 Shepard (onboard): Okay. Gimbal Motors, Off.
077:38:29 Roosa (onboard): [Garble] number 2.
077:38:30 Mitchell (onboard): Wait a minute. [Garble] All right, tick them off.
077:38:33 Roosa (onboard): Yaw 2.
077:38:34 Mitchell (onboard): Got it.
077:38:35 Roosa (onboard): Pitch 2.
077:38:36 Mitchell (onboard): Get it.
077:38:37 Roosa (onboard): Rotation number 1.
077:38:38 Mitchell (onboard): Okay.
077:38:39 Roosa (onboard): Yaw 1.
077:38:40 Mitchell (onboard): Got it.
077:38:41 Roosa (onboard): Pitch 1.
077:38:42 Mitchell (onboard): Got that one.
077:38:43 Roosa (onboard): Okay. TVC Servo Powers, Off.
077:38:46 Shepard (onboard): Okay.
077:38:47 Roosa (onboard): Main Bus Ties, Off.
077:38:48 Shepard (onboard): Main Bus Ties, Off.
077:38:49 Roosa (onboard): Pro.
077:38:51 Mitchell (onboard): A's Off.
077:38:52 Roosa (onboard): Beautiful.
077:38:55 Mitchell (onboard): And B's Off.
077:38:56 Shepard (onboard): [Garble] zero [Garbled.]
077:39:00 Roosa (onboard): Minus 2.4.
077:39:02 Shepard (onboard): [Garbled.]
077:39:03 Roosa (onboard): Okay.
077:39:47 Shepard: Okay, Houston. 14 with a burn report.
077:39:51 Haise: Okay. Go ahead, Al.
077:39:56 Shepard: Delta-VC minus 2.6; and the fuel and oxidizer, no appreciable change. [Long pause.]
077:40:10 Haise: Okay Delta-VC, minus 2.6; and the fuel/OX, no change.
077:40:20 Shepard: That's correct.
Comm break.
077:42:08 Shepard (onboard): Just so we'll be there, And I need to do a P51 [garble.] Okay. [Garble] six.
077:42:24 Roosa (onboard): And I tell you. I want to hang on to some sort of alignment. Tenaciously!
077:42:36 Haise: 14, Houston.
077:42:40 Mitchell: Go ahead.
077:42:41 Haise: We would like Auto on the High Gain now, Ed. And just one other question. Did you mean you tried four times on the Secondary Servo Electronics to get locked up?
077:42:56 Mitchell: Yes, it was about that, Fred. It could be that I wasn't giving it enough delay time before I tried something else when it was in the Narrow position. But I thought I was, and I don't know what I did differently on the last attempt that did work than the previous attempts which didn't work.
077:43:14 Roosa (onboard): Okay. We have a good GDC alignment. All right, we're going to maneuver, leader.
077:43:15 Haise: Okay. You tried to lock up in Narrow rather than Wide. Is that correct?
077:43:26 Mitchell: Roger. I went from Wide to Medium to Narrow.
077:43:28 Haise: Okay.
Long comm break.
077:43:35 Roosa (onboard): [Garble] Wide deadband [Garble] Wide deadband [Garble] with a little gas [Garble.]
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Day 4, part 1: Waking Up and Approaching the Moon Journal Home Page Day 4, part 3: Checking the LM EPS