Apollo 14
Day 8, part 4: Putting the Probe to Rest
Corrected Transcript and Commentary copyright © 2020-2023 by Johannes Kemppanen and W. David Woods. All rights reserved.
Last updated 2023-09-21
195:32:51 McCandless: Apollo 14, Houston.
195:32:54 Shepard: Go ahead.
195:32:56 McCandless: This attitude will be a good one to hold through the P52. Over.
195:33:05 Shepard: Okay. Is it also a good attitude for probe stowage?
195:33:10 McCandless: It's also a good attitude for probe stowage.
195:33:25 Shepard: How was the quality of the picture on that last television transmission, Houston?
195:33:31 McCandless: It was a very good picture; in fact, our estimate is that it was as good as it's been at any time during the flight.
195:35:33 McCandless: Apollo 14, Houston. Whenever you are ready, we'll press on with the probe stowage; and at this time, you can go ahead and take the - the TV monitor, the monitor cables, power cable, cable bracket, and stow all that in the Bravo-1, wrapping the monitor in a CWG. Over.
195:35:56 Roosa: Okay, in work.
195:42:17 Roosa: Okay, Houston. We're - we have the monitor and the cable on bracket B-l, and we're just touching up the cover for the probe head right now. Be back with you shortly.
195:42:31 McCandless: Roger. We're standing by.
195:44:24 Shepard: Okay, Houston. I think we have the probe head pretty well protected with that Beta bag we discussed and we're ready to press on.
195:44:31 McCandless: 14, this is Houston. The next step is an initial fitting of the probe into its stowage location. We'd like you to place the probe between the A-6 and A-10 lockers with a pitch arm down towards the aft bulkhead between A-6 and A-10 and the apex -that is, the probe head towards A-12. The base end of the probe with the Flight Data File Book on it should be touching the right-hand equipment bay panel. The probe should be oriented so that the yellow support arm touches the top or plus-X side of the A-6 locker. And it should be resting on five points, which I'll read off to you after you get it in position. Over.
195:46:06 Roosa: Hey, Bruce.
195:46:07 McCandless: Go ahead, Stu. You're very weak though - -
195:46:09 Roosa: Hey, Bruce. You said the hatch - What - what's the orientation of the hatch installation strut?
195:46:16 McCandless: Okay, the yellow one is on the top side, or the plus-X side of the A-6 locker and then there?s a pitch arm pointed down toward the aft bulkhead between A-6 and A-10. Over.
195:47:11 Shepard: Okay, tell us how it should look now.
195:47:14 McCandless: Okay. It should be resting on five points. The probe head should be on the A-10 locker, or somewhere above it.
195:47:32 McCandless: There should be a support arm touching the plus-7 side of the A-10 locker.
195:47:52 McCandless: The yellow support arm should be touching the top, or plus-X side of A-6.
195:48:03 McCandless: The base of the probe, with the Flight Data File Lunar Landmark Book, should be firmly up against the right-hand equipment bay wall. Over.
195:48:16 McCandless: And there should be a shock strut touching the plus-Y edge of the A-10 locker. Over.
195:48:34 Roosa: Okay. Bruce, it doesn't look like we can have the installation strut touching A-6, and the shock strut touching the top of A-10 at the same time.
195:48:47 McCandless: Okay, in the next step, we're going to shim at five locations, and one of the places where we're going to shim is underneath the yellow support arm on top of A-6; so if it's very close to the top, that'll be satisfactory.
195:50:07 Shepard: Okay, I think we see your point. This means that you do - actually do not have a shock strut touching the - the aft bulkhead.
195:50:16 McCandless: That?s affirmative. The shock strut is not touching aft bulkhead.
195:50:22 Shepard: Or at least the cable run, which is on top of the aft bulkhead at this point.
195:50:29 McCandless: Roger. It - I think it's the pitch arm you're referring to, and that's correct. It is not coming into contact with the aft bulkhead yet. Over.
195:50:57 McCandless: Al, what we should have...
195:50:59 Shepard: Okay. We're with you.
195:51:00 McCandless: - - We should have the shock strut which is attached to the support arm for installation of the probe assembly in the hatch resting on the plus-Y edge of the A-10 locker. Over.
195:52:06 Roosa: Okay, Bruce. The way we've got this probe now, it's making contact with the probe head on A-10 and it's up against the - the side bulkhead. And then this support strut that goes down to the support arm is - on - is on - is touching A-10. And those are the only three points right now that we have any contact. Now, it - Does that sound like we're in the right spot?
195:52:37 McCandless: Roger; it does. What you're calling the support arm is what we've been calling the shock strut. Over.
195:52:46 Roosa: Okay. To make sure we have our semantics right, we?ve got support arms and pitch beams. Is that right?
195:53:02 McCandless: Roger. We?ve got support arms and pitch arms -or pitch beams and the support arms are connected to the little shock struts. Over.
195:53:15 Roosa: Okay. So I think we're now in - in the position you're describing, and we have a space between the yellow installation strut and A-6, and a space between the pitch arm and the top of A-10.
195:53:33 Shepard: And a space between the pitch arm...
195:53:34 McCandless: Roger.
195:53:36 Shepard: ...we're running the other [garble].
195:53:39 McCandless: Okay, now then. We want you to locate, on the Command Module, the following locations where we intend to place shims. First is on the aft bulkhead, underneath the pitch arm that is thrusting down towards the aft bulkhead, but is not in contact with it. At this location, we intend to put in - a bumper. It will not be a solid shim, but it will serve to spread out any force should the pitch arm come into contact with the aft bulkhead. Over. We'll put one - one Flight Data File Book that you do not require for entry down there and, when we refer to Flight Data File Books here, you can of course, use LM books as well as Command Module books. It's your preference. Over.
195:54:36 McCandless: Okay, The next location is on the right hand, or plus-Y side of A-10, where the support arm comes close to touching on the side of the A-10 locker or where it may actually touch, depending on the precise location that you've got there. We'd like a thin Flight Data File Book in that place.
195:55:01 Shepard: Yes, we've got it figured - It'll be about 2 inches of padding there, but we see the point you're talking about.
195:55:10 McCandless: We're talking about the face of the A-10 locker that's over toward the right-hand equipment bay paneling. Are you talking about the same place?
195:55:19 Shepard: Right. Plus-Y side.
195:55:21 McCandless: Roger.
195:55:41 McCandless: Okay, it sounds like you've got the right location there. Another place is where the probe head touches A-10 and where the pitch arm comes over A-10. We'd like to shim up on both those locations.
195:56:01 Shepard: Okay. Then we've got one, two, three, four, five locations.
195:56:07 McCandless: Okay. And the fifth location, of course, is where the yellow support arm passes over the top of A-6. In all of those locations, except the first one -that is the aft bulkhead underneath the pitch arm -we'd like to shim with unused publications, such that the probe is firmly in contact with the underlying structure. And you may recall earlier this afternoon that I referred to use of the sleeping bag and window shade cover on the aft bulkhead - we've modified that stowage and deleted the requirement for the window shade; so, you can use them for a good night's sleep. Over.
195:56:45 Shepard: Very good. We understand.
195:56:48 McCandless: Okay, at this juncture - if you have the contents of the shims in mind and the locations in place, go ahead and remove the probe and tape the shims in place with the tape you have from R-6. Over.
195:57:11 McCandless: And, as you go along, we'd be interested in knowing which books go in which location. Over.
195:57:24 Shepard: Okay (laughter). . Would you also like to know which page they're opened?
195:57:30 McCandless: (Laughter) Negative. That doesn't matter. And you can delete our request for books.
195:57:40 Shepard: Okay. Thank you.
195:58:54 Roosa: Houston, 14.
195:58:56 McCandless: Go ahead, 14.
195:58:59 Roosa: Okay, Bruce. I just want to make sure that we've got it clarified. Tell me again what - you mean when you say the probe is fully folded.
195:59:14 McCandless: Stand by a minute, Stu. We're coming up on a site handover. I'll give you a call as soon as we reacquire. Over.
196:00:18 McCandless: 14, Houston.
196:00:29 McCandless: 14, this is Houston. Over.
196:00:33 Roosa: Go ahead.
196:00:34 McCandless: Okay, Stu. If you'll look at the yellow installation arm. About halfway down its length - If the probe is fully collapsed, then this arm should be bearing against a Teflon block that's part of the ratchet handle housing there. Over.
196:00:57 Roosa: Okay. The Teflon block is not bearing against -that. It's against the ratchet pawl - it's I believe - is what it's going to come in contact with. So how do I get it there?
196:01:11 McCandless: Okay, you?ve got about - probably one or two clicks left on the - the ratchet - should be able to extend it there by the normal procedures. I'll give you a talkthrough, if you like.
196:01:23 Roosa: Okay, stand by 1.
196:03:28 McCandless: Hey, Stu; aren't you glad you got a couple knot-tying swabbies on board for this job?
196:03:35 Roosa: Yes. How about that.
196:07:36 CC: 14, this is Houston. How are you coming? Over.
196:07:42 Shepard: Well, we're getting books now, and we have the probe fully folded, and we're in the shimming process.
196:13:19 CC: Apollo 14, this is Houston. Stand by for a mark on 100,000 miles from the Earth. Over.
196:13:32 CC: Mark; 100,000 miles.
196:13:36 Shepard: Beautiful, beautiful. Getting closer all the time.
196:16:14 Shepard: Okay. We're all ship and ready for the next step, Houston.
196:16:19 CC: Okay. The next step is to put the probe back in place and verify that it contacts the shims as required and the other hard points. Over.
196:16:31 Shepard: Okay. We verify that.
196:16:33 CC: Okay. Using the double rope from the A-6 anchor, tie that to the apex of the pitch arm which points in the plus-X direction, making the rope as tight as possible.
196:18:15 Shepard: Okay. That's complete.
196:18:18 CC: Okay, with the three-rope combination from the other footpad on A-6, we want you to tie that also to the apex of the plus-X pitch arm, cinching it up tightly and try not to use too much line in this knot because it's going to go on from there down to the tiedown point on the side of A-10 - directly beneath it. Over.
196:18:48 CC: But don't tie it to A-10...
196:18:50 Shepard: Okay. I think - just a loop through the fitting up against that - the apex of that pitch arm should do it, huh?
196:18:57 CC: Okay, a loop with maybe a half hitch in it or something like that.
196:19:06 Shepard: All righty.
196:19:08 CC: And if Ed or Stu could get out tools Foxtrot, Whiskey, and one, we'll be ready for the next step, when you're ready.
196:19:49 Roosa: Okay, Bruce. Now we're running that rope across through the hook on the outboard side of A-8. Is that - or is - is it the one on A-10?
196:20:01 CC: No. It's going to be going to A-10, but before you tie it down there, we'd like to disassemble one of the support arms shock strut assemblies at one point. Over.
196:20:13 Roosa: Okay. Well, we're standing by to tie down as soon as we get the toolkit out.
196:20:48 Mitchell: Houston, what tools do you think we need, now?
196:20:51 CC: Foxtrot, the crescent wrench; Whiskey, the ratchet driver; and one, which is a socket. Over.
196:21:06 CC: Now, what we're planning on doing is - on the support arm that points in the - diagonally in the plus-X, minus-Z direction - we want you to remove the bolt at the joint between the support arm and the shock strut with F, W, and one - and then you're going to put the bolt back in the hole of the support arm - We're reinstalling that finger tight, on that. . Over.
196:21:35 Roosa: Okay. Well, that's in work.
196:21:38 CC: And, of course, the reason for doing this is to get it out of the couch stroke envelope.
196:23:42 Shepard: Did you say you want the bolt and the nut back in the shock strut?
196:23:46 CC: That's affirmative.
196:24:00 CC: Al, this is Houston. Make that in the support arm part. Over.
196:24:28 Shepard: Okay, that is done.
196:24:31 CC: Okay. Now using some of the LM webbing - we'd like you to tie the support arm and shock strut against the body of the probe to keep it from flapping. Over.
196:27:26 CC: Apollo 14, this is Houston. We?d like to get Oxygen tank 3 Heaters to Off now. 1 and 2, Auto. Over.
196:27:36 Shepard: 3, Off; 1 and 2, Auto. Okay.
196:27:39 CC: Roger. That's 1 and 2, Auto. Over.
196:28:29 CC: 14, Houston. Confirm Oxygen tank 3 Heaters, Off. Over.
196:28:38 Shepard: Okay. We've got Oxygen tank Heater number 3, Off. O-F-F. We have oxygen tank Heaters number 1 and number 2, Auto. A-U-T-O.
196:28:53 CC: (Laughter) Roger, 14.
196:30:13 Mitchell: Okay, Houston, That step is complete now. The -the webbing has been used to tie down the support arm.
196:30:23 CC: Roger. Understand you've got the support arm and the shock strut tied down against the probe and the - the bolts back in the hole - the support arm, and are ready to press on with the lashing down. Over.
196:30:35 Mitchell: Roger. I suppose the next step is to tighten up the line going down to the A-10 island.
196:30:41 CC: Okay. That - triple-rope combination that came from A-6 and was looped or tied around the apex of the plus-X pointing pitch arm - then goes down to the plux-Z, plus-Y D-ring on the A-10 locker -tied there, and then up to the apex of the pitch arm which points in the minus-Z direction and from there it's going to go down to the minus-Z, plus-Y D-ring on A-10. We can take that a step at a time if you like.
196:31:26 Mitchell: Okay. This is the first rope you're talking about now, that comes up to the apex of the pitch arm and then goes down through the tiedown and A-10.
196:31:37 Mitchell: And then where?
196:31:38 CC: And then it comes up to the apex of the pitch arm which points in the minus-Z direction and then back down to the other tie ring on the side of A-10. You?re going to wind up with a - a rope that would look sort of M-shaped when viewed from the side. Over.
196:37:31 Shepard: Okay. Rope number 1 is tied in M as in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
196:37:39 CC: Roger, Al. And that rope number 1 is the triplerope combination. Is that correct?
196:37:48 Shepard: That's the first of the - of the tripartite agreements.
196:37:52 CC: Say again, please?
196:37:54 Shepard: That's the first party of the tripartite agreements.
196:37:59 CC: Okay. Then the other two parties have to follow suit, also. Over.
196:38:06 Shepard: Okay. All three follows same path, huh?
196:38:08 CC: That's affirmative.
This is Apollo Control 196 hours, 43 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. At the front of the Mission Control room here is a bouquet of red roses sitting on a table beneath the U.S. flag which is mounted on a replica of the lunar surface flagstaff and on the wall next to it, a replica of the Apollo 11 Lunar Module plaque "We came in peace for all mankind". This bouquet of roses has become a tradition during missions starting back with Apollo 8, the roses have been delivered - sent some time during the mission and there's always a card with a brief message and signed by a young lady named Cindy Diane - last name unknown from Montreal, Canada. The Apollo 14 bouquet of roses was delivered about an hour ago to the Control Room and accepted by Flight Director Gerry Griffin. The crew of Apollo 14 still lashing down the probe assembly and the cabin so it won't rattle around during entry. Spacecraft now 98 306 nautical miles out from Earth. Velocity continuing to build up 5,682 feet per second. Still up and live on Apollo 14 - still up and live on Apollo 14 air to ground communications. This is Apollo Control.
197:20:57 CC: 14, this is Houston. If one of you is free - we'd like to start the Verb 49 maneuver to the optics calibration attitude, now. Over.
197:21:06 Mitchell: Okay, Houston. We'll get it going.
197:25:14 Shepard: Okay, Houston. That?s been completed. We have a triple pass now as described - in the shape of an M.
197:25:21 CC: Okay. Now, taking the fifth and last rope, we'd like you to double it, and tie one end of it to the minus-Z, plus-Y footpad of the A-5 locker. You?ll then loop it around the probe head and tie it to the minus-Y, plus-Z D-ring on A-10. Over.
197:26:10 Shepard: Do you want this double or singled?
197:26:12 CC: It'll be a double strand. You can just double the rope up, and you can tie the bight of it around the minus-Z, plus-Y foot pad of A-5 and go on with the double strand from there.
197:26:25 Shepard: Okay. Very good.
196:51:44 Shepard: Okay, Houston. That step's complete.
196:51:49 CC: Okay, 14. That brings us to the end of the famous Apollo 14 probe stowage for reentry procedure. Who did the least work on stowing this? We'd like a quality control inspection, please. Over.
196:52:05 Shepard: Everybody did 33 and one-third percent. You'll have to call 21 Nancy - in on this.
196:52:11 CC: Roger. 21 Nancy. And the only outstanding items from this afternoon's efforts then are the final tying down of the 30-pound decontamination bag with contents on top of A-13, the 20-pound.bag on top of A?8 and the CMP's PGA, with helmet on top of the 20-pound bag and then verifying 4 inches of clearance under the couch. We'll check with you on that tomorrow.
196:52:43 Shepard: Okay. We?ve got that.
196:52:46 CC: Okay. That takes care of tying it down and I'm going to hand over to Gordon here and you can press on with the optics calibration and the - I guess you've got to get the P - the optics calibration and Flight Plan as normal. Over.
196:53:01 Shepard: Okay. Thank you very much. We're - That's a good stowage procedure. It's tight as can be here. We ought not to have any problems at all.
196:53:16 CC: And you're in a suitable attitude to run the P52, also, which you probably ought to do prior to starting in the P23. Over.
196:57:53 Fullerton: Al, this is Houston. Over.
196:57:58 Shepard: Go ahead.
196:58:00 Fullerton: Al, if you have time - it'll take about a couple of minutes here, but I have a fairly lengthy question here regarding the circuit breaker configuration yesterday during the DTO. Is this a good time to do it?
196:58:17 Shepard: Okay, I'm not sure we can remember - but give us the question and we'll take a whack at it.
196:58:27 Fullerton: Okay. At the start of the high flow portion of the DTO, Bruce was on and he read up to you to pull the O
2 Tank's 3 50-Watt circuit breaker - Heater circuit breaker. And you Rogered and we checked the transcript - but this call was made about an hour prior to actually starting the high flow - and then later when - after I came on during the low flow part of the DTO - I called - you went on a Tank 3 Heater cycle - the heater Temp hit the upper limit and we asked for the heater switch Off. We asked you to check and you confirmed that the Tank 3 50-Watt breaker was in and that you must have missed it earlier. Now, the problem is - that the engineers who are analyzing the data from the - whole DTO are not sure where the circuit breaker was during the entire period of the DTO, and it really doesn't matter whether the circuit breaker was in or out, as long as we know where it was during the test. Can you tell us the history of the position of the breaker during the high flow portion? Was it ever pulled prior to my call on the temperature going out of limits - and if so - when was it pulled, and then when did it get put back in? Over.
196:59:44 Mitchell: Okay. This is Ed. I probably have the story better than anybody, and I'm not sure I have it. It was pulled when it was called to be pulled and Al and I both remember that - and it was noticed that it was back in - shortly before you called us and asked about it. I was over - Oh, when I did the O
2 - when I closed the O
2 Isol Aux Battery switch - I saw at that time that the 50 1 Heater was in and I vaguely remembered it should be out and yet it was in and that's when it was noticed. When it went in - I don't know, but it was definitely pulled on call and I was surprised to find it back in when I reconfigured after the test - and you called us shortly after that.
197:40:44 Fullerton: Okay, Ed. If you'd stand by a minute, I'll see if they have any further questions to - to clarify.
197:41:35 Fullerton: Ed, if we really have no further specific questions - just - unless you could maybe make a best guess as to whether that breaker was in or out during the high flow portion of the DTO.
197:41:51 Mitchell: Well, it - We started the high flow portion shortly after the time it was pulled, did we not?
197:41:59 Fullerton: I think - I checked on that, and they say it was about an hour, actually, of time gap in there.
197:42:11 Mitchell: All right. Just a minute. We're talking here.
197:42:39 Mitchell: Let us - take a look at the Flight Plan here and see if I can refresh my memory a little bit.
197:42:45 Fullerton: Okay, Ed. Don't expend an excessive amount of time on it, but if you think you can remember anything more about it, we'd appreciate it.
197:48:24 Mitchell: Houston, Apollo 14.
197:48:28 Fullerton: Go ahead, Ed.
197:48:30 Mitchell: Okay, Gordon. In reviewing the - all the events that seemed to have taken place as per Flight Plan about that time, it was opened as the first item at 167 hours - I believe. We had to boost up the three items ... of the page. And, as far as I can tell no one was in that particular area - or had any work in that area - to tell when we terminated the test an hour or so later. And my best guess is that it was probably closed inadvertently by myself or by one of the other two guys - probably by myself - about the time that we were setting the circuit breakers for the end of the test. I noticed it at that point, but I don't actually know when it was closed.
197:49:30 Fullerton: Okay, Ed. I think that's - that's good for our purposes. Thank you.
197:49:40 Mitchell: Okay. [Pause.]
197:50:10 Mitchell: Houston, 14.
197:50:12 Fullerton: Go ahead, Ed.
197:50:15 Mitchell: Now, that we're talking about it - it is suppose to be open now, is it not?
197:50:19 Fullerton: That's affirmative. And your previous estimate of - of the time line there on the circuit breaker
197:50:38 Mitchell: tags up real well with the data. The - the engineers are pretty sure that that1s exactly what happened. Okay. .
197:50:43 Fullerton: If you have your Flight Plan still in hand, I got a short update for page 270.
197:50:49 Shepard: Stand by.
197:51:12 Shepard: Okay. Go ahead.
197:51:14 Fullerton: Okay. On the sixth or seventh line down from the top where it gives the dark-side photo attitude of 122, 270, and 0, change 122 to 125. And the high gain angles that follow are still okay. Over.
197:51:31 Shepard: Okay. 125 and minus 59 and [garble] 90.
197:51:36 Fullerton: That's affirmative. And then when the rates -when you damp the rates there, as per PTC procedure, we'll give you a Go when the rates are good for taking the photos.
197:51:51 Fullerton: That's it. Thank you.
197:54:06 Shepard: Houston, 14.
197:54:11 Fullerton: 14, Houston. Go ahead.
197:54:14 Shepard: Because of our bug with the - with the probe, it appears as though what we're going to do on this 23 is to skip the constraint stars, just mark on the first three, and then go directly from that into the Earth-darkside attitude. I still expect we may be 10 or 15 minutes late on that. Does that pose any problem to you all, if we do that way?
197:54:41 Fullerton: Stand by 1, Al.
197:54:49 Fullerton: That sounds like a good plan to us, Al. And there is no real-time criticality on the Earthside dim-line photography. Over.
197:55:02 Shepard: Okay. Good enough. We?ll do it that way, then.
197:55:06 Fullerton: Roger.
197:20:25 Fullerton: Apollo 14, Houston.
197:20:29 Shepard: Go ahead.
197:20:30 Fullerton: Ah...
197:20:31 Shepard: Go ahead.
197:20:32 Fullerton: The analyst for the P23 would like to see you shoot star number 4 also, Just the one star of the three constraint stars. They're using that as a trend star, and this permits them to tie the data between the other P23s into this one a little better. There's no problem being late with the dark-side photography. Over.
197:21:07 Shepard: Okay. Sounds good.
197:43:45 Fullerton: Apollo 14, Houston.
197:43:52 Mitchell: Go ahead, Houston.
197:43:54 Fullerton: Ed, if you'd pass this along to Stu. We noticed earlier today that he incorporated into the state vector the sightings on the constraint stars on earlier batches. We'd like to ask that he not incorporate his fourth star tonight into the state vector. Over.
197:44:12 Mitchell: Okay.
197:58:02 Roosa: Houston, 14.
197:58:06 Fullerton: Okay, Stu. Go ahead.
197:58:10 Roosa: Okay, Gordon. These backup alignments over here at 198. As far as I know, there's no DT0 or anything else associated with those; they were just put in - Because I wanted to try those. Why don't you talk it over there and consider about deleting, those?
197:58:31 Fullerton: Okay. I'll check on that.
197:59:01 Fullerton: Stu, this is Houston. It's strictly your choice. Over.
197:59:06 Roosa: Okay. I think I'll delete those this evening. It'll put us just about back on time for the - for the rest period.
197:59:17 Fullerton: Roger.
198:03:28 Fullerton: Apollo 14, Houston. I have a short update to the dim-light information.
198:03:36 Shepard: Roger. Stand by 1.
198:16:21 Fullerton: Apollo 14,'Houston. The update that I have affects the info to be loaded in the P22 there. Over.
198:16:31 Roosa: Okay, Gordon. Go ahead.
198:16:33 Fullerton: Okay. Just under the landmark coordinates, change the longitude over 2 from minus IT-5 to minus 25.000. Over.
198:16:54 Roosa: Okay. Longitude over 2 to a minus 25.000.
198:16:58 Fullerton: That's affirmative.
198:18:22 Fullerton: Stu, this is Houston. G&C reports your rates look good to take those photos when you get to them.
198:22:14 Fullerton: Stu, Houston. A reminder to disable all the jets.
198:22:22 Roosa: Roger, Gordon. You know, I was looking at this attitude. You know, we're right over - With a big trunnion - it looks like there?s a lot of glare. I suppose the sextant will be all right. It shoots by it, but I was wondering why the attitude was such where we had this large trunnion?
198:22:47 Fullerton: Stand by. I'll have to get an answer on that one.
198:22:52 Roosa: I mean, I'll go ahead and shoot it, but it's so far over.that I can't really see any of the Earth crescent through the telescope.
198:23:01 Fullerton: Roger.
198:23:04 Fullerton: Stu, in answer to your question - Stand by 1.
198:23:29 Fullerton: Stu, in answer to your question, the attitude is designed to afford the maximum shading from the Sun on the optics as possible. And we'd like you - wonder if you have looked through the sextant to verify that it - that they are boresighted on the Earth's - Earth dark side. Over.
198:23:49 Roosa: Well, yes. It is. We still got that same scattered light problem, which we discussed on the way out. But - it's - It's off the terminator, sure enough, so if everybody's agreeable, we'll shoot it here.
198:24:14 Fullerton: That's affirmative. They concur. They expected some scattered light and they'd like to go ahead and take the pictures as shown in the Flight Plan.
198:33:04 Shepard: Houston, 14. We've completed darkside photography now. We're going to start PTC.
198:33:11 Fullerton: Roger, Al. And one item on - for the Surgeon here. He noticed, after the probe stowage exercise, your EKG data and Ed's ZPN data degraded to - useless actually; and we'd like you to check your external leads, and Ed to check his ZPN leads, and also where Ed's leads go into the transmitter box.
198:33:43 Roosa: Okay, Gordo.
198:37:28 Shepard: How does the CDR look now, Houston?
198:37:34 Fullerton: Al, yours looks good now.
198:37:40 Shepard: Okay, one of my leads has a stripped thread so, it may or may not hold. Just keep me advised, and I'll tighten up from time to time.
198:37:52 Fullerton: Okay, thank you.
198:37:59 Roosa: Houston, 14.
198:38:01 Fullerton: Go ahead.
198:38:03 Roosa: Hey, Gordon, I don't want to make a big point out of it, but I just - broaden the education on this P23 here. I've been noticing, you know, except for when we shot the Moon and we dropped that difference between the vectors down to about 30 miles, it's been running rather consistently 50 to 55 to 60. Do the P23 specialists or that - Is that the way they think it - it should be working?
198:38:32 Fullerton: Stand by. We'll get you an answer.
198:38:43 Fullerton: Stu, the answer to the question is yes. That's the way they think it ought to work.
198:38:57 Roosa: Okay; very good.
198:43:37 Roosa: Houston, 14.
198:43:39 Fullerton: Go ahead.
198:43:41 Roosa: Okay, would you like to copy the Command Module RCS Temps?
198:43:49 Fullerton: Roger; go ahead.
198:43:53 Roosa: . Okay, systems test meter reading 5-C, 4.6; 5-Dog, 4.6; 6-Alpha, 4.4; 6-Bravo, 4.6; 6-Charlie, 4.5; 6-Dog, 4.5.
198:44:19 Fullerton: Okay, Stu, we got all of those.
198:51:47 Fullerton: Apollo 14, Houston.
198:51:51 Shepard: Go ahead.
198:51:52 Fullerton: We're in a.good attitude. We're also configured to take the presleep E-MOD at any time.
198:52:03 Shepard: Okay, we'll spin up here shortly, and we'll give you a 74 right now.
198:52:08 Fullerton: Roger.
198:52:14 Shepard: You've got it.
198:52:47 Fullerton: 14, Houston.
198:52:52 Shepard: Go ahead.
198:53:00 Fullerton: The attitude I was referring to is for getting the dump. I think that - We'd just like to remind you to be sure to complete most of your dumps before spinning up. There's no hurry to go into PTC if you want to just sit in that attitude; there's no thermal problems. Over.
198:53:20 Shepard: Oh, okay; I misunderstood you, Gordo.
This is Apollo Control. 199:55 Ground Elapsed Time. 10 hour sleep period - Beg your pardon. 8 hour sleep period scheduled to begin at 200 hours. The crew should be in the evening meal at this time, pass their onboard readouts, set up PTC. They actually should have set up the other spinup for PTC prior to this time. However, there will be some final adjustments to be made in conjunction with the ground to make sure it settles down to the proper rotation rate. The spacecraft is now 87 414 nautical miles out from Earth, approaching ever increasing velocity, now 6142 feet per second. This will increase to 36 170 at - by the time they reach 400 000 feet tomorrow afternoon. At 199 hours 56 minutes still alive and well on air-ground, this is Apollo Control.
200:03:33 Fullerton: Apollo 14, Houston.
200:03:41 Roosa: Go ahead, Houston.
200:03:43 Griffin: 14, this is Gold Flight. Before you guys sign off for tonight, on behalf of all the guys on the Gold Team that have worked during this mission, we want to tip our hat to you for a super job; and we're looking forward to you getting back here to the ranch; and we'll talk about it over a cool one.
200:04:07 Roosa: We - we thank you, Gerry. Al's not on the loop right now. We'll pass that on to him. But we sure appreciate the support. You all really do good work.
200:04:18 Griffin: Well, thank you very much. We enjoyed it.
200:04:21 Mitchell: Gerry, your guys really did a super job on PDI day. That was wonderful.
200:04:27 Griffin: Yes. We'll have to get together with the LM guys. Of course, they've already secured in their operations. But I agree with you. They and all their support people really hung in there and got up the answers that we needed.
200:04:42 Mitchell: They sure did. It was a great show.
200:04:46 Roosa: Hey, hang loose for a minute, Gerry; Al's getting on a headset here.
200:05:13 Shepard: Gerry.
200:05:14 Griffin: Go ahead.
200:05:17 Shepard: Sorry, you caught me right in the middle of a drink of cof - cocoa.
200:05:22 Griffin: Sorry about that.
200:05:24 Shepard: You al 1 - you all about to leave right now, huh?
200:05:26 Griffin: Well, we'll be on for a few more hours. But we -This is our last shift; and then, Orange Team's going to pick it up; and then, you'll have Maroon for entry.
200:05:39 Shepard: Well, we'll be talking to you directly in a few days, but I sure do want to thank you for that superb job you did for us, especially down there around those low altitudes. Everything went real fine, and we appreciate your persistence that I know you had in getting that job done right. It's a hell of a thrill for us to work with you, Ger.
200:05:59 Griffin: Yes. We had a real ball at it, Al. We'll be looking forward to getting that cool one when you get back here.
200:06:04 Shepard: Sounds good, Gerry. Give my thanks to all the troops.
200:06:09 Griffin: Okay. Wilco.
200:31:53 Roosa: Houston, 14.
200:31:56 Fullerton: Go ahead, 14.
200:32:15 Fullerton: 14, Houston. Go ahead.
200:32:21 Roosa: Houston, do you read? 14.
200:32:23 Fullerton: Roger. You're loud and clear now, Stu.
200:32:26 Roosa: Okay. Do our rates still look good enough for spinup?
200:32:32 Fullerton: That's affirmative. Rates are Go.
200:32:39 Roosa: Oops. I just heard a - I just felt a thruster fire. Maybe we'll just set here for a minute, and you take a look at it.
200:32:46 Fullerton: That was a roll jet, so that, shouldn't hurt anything.
200:32:55 Fullerton: And on the comm, you can go straight to Omni mode. In the checklist there, select Omni Bravo and mark the High Gain at minus 52, Pitch; and plus 270, Yaw. Over.
200:33:17 Mitchell: Okay, Gordon. We'll do it.
200:33:20 Fullerton: A couple of other items before we bid you goodnight . The - your - Ed, your ZPN has showed no change so far, if you've had any chance to look at it. And we'd like to suggest one...
200:33:34 Mitchell: What?
200:33:35 Fullerton: Your ZPN data.
200:33:41 Mitchell: Okay. [Garble].
200:33:46 Fullerton: The - the other procedure we'd like to suggest - upon awakening in the morning - that will improve your L over D slightly. We'd like to ask you to close the Potable Tank Inlet valve, and that'll divert the water you use after you wake up to the waste tank and let the potable tank decrease, which will give us a hair better L over D; and, I guess, every little bit helps. Over.
200:34:18 Mitchell: Okay. We understand.
200:34:20 Fullerton: Okay. That's to be done in the morning, not now.
200:34:26 Mitchell: Roger. Understand.
200:34:28 Fullerton: And, of course, it will...
200:34:30 Roosa: What - have you heard yet - have you heard an L over D figure being kicked around, Gordon?
200:34:37 Fullerton: Let me get one for you, Stu.
200:34:48 Fullerton: If - if you'd turn that tank valve off just before you start using water for breakfast, you should end up with an L over D of just shy of 0.28. . Over.
200:35:04 Roosa: Okay. Copy 0.28, if we do the water bit.
200:35:09 Fullerton: Okay. And I think the only thing remaining is the onboard read-out. Standing by any time.
200:35:36 Roosa: Okay, Gordon. Bat C is 37.0; [Garble] 7.3; 37.3. Get the RCS in a second - 58 for quad Delta; 57, quad Charlie; 55, quad Baker; and 59, quad Able.
200:36:09 Fullerton: Roger, Stu. We copy all those.
200:37:59 Shepard: Well, you saw the whole action on television. I missed the first one. The second one went, perhaps, a couple of hundred yards; and the third one, erhaps, about 400 yards, which was not bad for a six iron.
This is Apollo Control at 200 hours 40 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. With that last exchange of onboard readouts, apparently the crew has closed up shop for the evening. The communications engineer reports to the Flight Director that the crew has shut off the voice switch and the communications system aboard the spacecraft. So, apparently, they plan no more calls back to mission control tonight. The spacecraft is now 84,754 nautical miles out, approaching at a velocity of 6,265 feet per second. We'll take down the air-to-ground circuit at this time. At 200 hours 41 minutes Ground Elapsed Time, this is Apollo Control.
