Apollo Flight Journal logo
Previous Index Next
Day 1, part 1: Launch and Reaching Earth Orbit Journal Home Page Day 1, Part 3: Second Earth Orbit and Translunar Injection

Apollo 16

Day 1, Part 2: First Earth Orbit

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 2006-2022 by W. David Woods and Tim Brandt. All rights reserved.
Last updated 2022-12-04
The Apollo 16 spacecraft, together with the S-IVB third-stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle, is now in orbit around the Earth. Over the next two and a half hours, John Young, Charlie Duke and Ken Mattingly will check out the spacecraft systems and arrange their equipment in the Command Module (CM) which is to be their home for the next two weeks (except while John Young and Charlie Duke are in the Lunar Module and on the lunar surface). Their work is guided by the Launch Checklist, but they have plenty of time to discuss their work. To help readers find the more significant parts, the following is a short index of the main events.
Discussion of Stowage Locations. 000:23:22
Environmental Control System Checks 000:25:02
Optical System Checkout and Inertial System Alignment 000:31:34
ORDEAL System Set-up 000:39:07
Discussion of Reaction to Weightlessness 000:39:25
Main Oxygen Regulator Check 000:40:25
Camera Set-up 000:43:10
S-IVB APS Over Pressure Notification 000:56:15
S-IVB APS Over Pressure Discussion 001:02:09
SCS Attitude Reference Comparison Check 001:10:39
More S-IVB APS Over Pressure Discussion 001:15:56
Discussion of Launch Vibration 001:27:25
Over California 001:28:40
Acquisition of Signal with Texas 001:31:13
The crew are just coming into darkness over Africa on their first orbit. They are in contact with Mission Control in Houston through the tracking station in the Canary Islands. The parking orbit around Earth does not permit continuous communication with Mission Control. Indeed, the orbit is so low that when the spacecraft does come within range of a station, it is only above the horizon for a few minutes, even if it passes directly overhead. If it passes to one side or the other, the period of contact is further constrained; for this pass over the Canary Islands tracking station, communication lasts only four minutes. (A15FJ amended)
At this stage, John Young, Charlie Duke and Ken Mattingly are working their way through the (Orbit) Insertion and Systems Checks on the CSM Launch Checklist. They are on Page L2-12. The Capsule Communicator (CapCom) in Mission Control is Gordon Fullerton.
000:23:05 Young (onboard): Oh, would you look at all that. We could use some helmet stowage bags.
The crew has been wearing their spacesuits, including their helmets and gloves, since several hours before launch. Now that they are in orbit, the mission rules permit them to remove the helmets and gloves. They will not remove the rest of the suits until after the separation of the Lunar Module from the S-IVB during Translunar Coast.
000:23:09 Duke (onboard): Well, I'm getting them now.
000:23:10 Mattingly (onboard): I'll get them. I'll get you the Tool E down if you kind of watch your feet for a second.
The crew has a small tool set to help with a number of task on the spacecraft, stowed in a fabric pouch. These include an emergency wrench, an adjustable wrench (spanner), a ratchet wrench, and a selection of sockets, screw driver and torque bits to fit various fasteners. Most are modified off-the-shelf tools. Tool E is a adapter handle that, as well as fitting most of the specialist bits, can also be used by itself. As it is the most commonly used of the tools in the spacecraft, two are carried.
Command Module toolkit.
000:23:14 Young (onboard): I don't even know - I know - What am I kicking?
000:23:17 Mattingly (onboard): Well, in just a minute, it'll be me.
000:23:20 Young (onboard): Okay.
000:23:22 Duke (onboard): U-1.
CM stowage locations
Numerous items of personal and spacecraft equipment are stowed in compartments, lockers and bags throughout the Command Module (CM). Stowage compartments are part of the cabin structure and most of the equipment stowed in them is in cushioned bags. The lockers are pre-packed before the mission and are attached to the aft bulkhead and equipment bays a short time before launch. This allows groundcrew to gain access to the aft bulkhead during the pre-flight preparation of the spacecraft. Both compartment and locker doors have squeeze-type latches that can be operated with one hand. The compartments and lockers are labelled on the doors for identification and to aid location. They are numbered consecutively from fore to aft and are prefixed with a letter to indicate which equipment bay they are in.Lower equipment bay compartments are B1 to B8, the right hand equipment bay ones are R1 to R13 and the left hand equipment bay ones L2 and L3. The aft bulkhead has lockers A1 to A8 while the upperequipment bay as lockers and bags U1 to U4. There are two expandable temporary stowage containers under the left and right-hand forward equipment bays, designated F1 and F2.
Image of stowage U1.
The various stowage locations have to prevent the items they contain from coming adrift in zero g, and during in-flight manoeuvres. They must also retain the items during the forces imposed during launch and landing. The contents of each bay are supposed to be detailed in planning documents. However, there are almost always changes just before each flight and the crew may not always remember what is where. Stowage location U1 is immediately behind and below Charlie Duke's head on the right hand side of the cabin.
000:23:24 Young (onboard): No, they're over here, Charlie.
000:23:26 Duke (onboard): No, they're over here. The helmet stowage bags?
000:23:28 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah.
000:23:29 Young (onboard): You're dreaming.
000:23:30 Duke (onboard): No. They're in U-1.
There is some confusion over the correct location. Serial 8 of the checklist on Page L2-12 states that helmet bags are in U-1. The three helmet stowage bags are actually in U-2, next to John Young's head and in accordance with the Stowage List. See also Charlie Duke's comments at 000:30:20.
000:23:33 Young (onboard): Yeah, but here's the...
000:23:34 Mattingly (onboard): You got - you've got both TSBs [Temporary Stowage Bags] and helmet stowage bags to get out, guys.
The Temporary Stowage Bags are used for temporary stowage of small items, and for the disposal of dry refuse. There are three bags, one for each of the crew. The bags are stowed in U-1 for launch and entry. In flight, the Commander's bag attaches to the left shelf, the LMP's to the right shelf and the CMP's to the lower equipment bay. (AOH 2.12.5.4.1). The helmet stowage bags prevent scratches and damage to the crews' plastic "bubble" helmets while not being worn.
000:23:36 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000:23:37 Mattingly (onboard): That's all I need.
000:23:38 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:23:39 Mattingly (onboard): John, could you move this foot?
000:23:20 Young (onboard): Yeah. I don't know where I'm moving it to. [Laughter.] I must - Somehow it's ... Holy smokes, it's as bad as I thought it would be.
000:23:49 Mattingly (onboard): If you put your feet down, I'll get it out of your way somehow. Hang on a second - let me get this flashlight here and see what the heck that is. [Laughter].
[Download MP3 audio file. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.]
This is Apollo Control, Houston, at 24 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. We've had Loss Of Signal over Canary with the Apollo 16 spacecraft. They will be reacquired at 52 minutes, 39 seconds Ground Elapsed Time. We'll pass along at this time, peat - peak heart rates during the launch phase of flight. Peak heart rate for Command Module Pilot Ken Mattingly, during the powered flight phase of flight, read 115. For spacecraft commander John Young, 108; and for Lunar Module Pilot Charles Duke, 130. At 24 minutes Ground Elapsed Time; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
This was John Young's fourth spaceflight, after Gemini III and X, and Apollo 10 but even so a pulse rate of only 108 during launch is fairly exceptional.
000:24:08 Mattingly (onboard): In here somewhere is a Tool E.
000:24:12 Young (onboard): In L-2.
For launch and entry, the tool set pouch is stowed in a stowage locker on the aft bulkhead beneath the centre seat location.In flight, it can be attached to the CM structure by velcro pads.
000:24:13 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah.
000:24:14 Duke (onboard): There it is.
000:24:15 Young (onboard): Yeah. Is all the rest of that stuff coming out? We don't [garble] it.
000:24:18 Mattingly: Huh?
000:24:19 Young (onboard): Take out one thing. [Laughter.]
000:24:20 Duke (onboard): Oh, [garble].
000:24:22 Young (onboard): I'd have sworn he was gonna unpack the whole spacecraft. [Laughter]
000:24:25 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'm going to lower my seat.
The CM seats are intricate mechanisms in their own right, with nine separate major adjustments that can be made, and a host of smaller ones. The three seats also differ in detail. The seat functions are summarised in this link. Now at Serial 8 on Page L2-12 of the Launch Checklist, Charlie Duke is intending to lower the seatpan from its 85 launch degree to 170 degrees (effectively flat with the main seat back), to help him move to the Lower Equipment Bay to check the Main Regulator.
000:24:26 Mattingly (onboard):
000:24:27 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000:24:28 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000:24:29 Duke (onboard): [Laughter.]
000:24:32 Young (onboard): Hey, listen, you gonna have to just take it easy; we ain't really in no hurry.
000:24:35 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000:24:36 Young (onboard):Yeah, I don't - I think this is absolutely the greatest, but if you [garble] you torque your platform.
000:24:42 Mattingly (onboard): I'm gonna keep my plat - platform way over standard.
Throughout the mission, one of Ken Mattingly's jobs is to ensure that the inertial guidance platform is kept aligned. He is actually a bit early, since there are quite a few more checklist items before he gets to the stage where he can carry out the first of many such alignments during the flight. He will get to this later, at around 000:29:39.
000:25:02 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Tell you what, gang. Could you tell me that our oxygen flow looks good?
Ken Mattingly has moved onto Serial 9 of the Launch Checklist Page 2-12. This serial consists of a number of checks of the Environmental Control System before the crew can remove their gloves and helmets.
000:25:07 Young (onboard): I couldn't tell you nothing.
000:25:08 Duke (onboard): Yeah, it does.
000:25:09 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. The [oxygen] flow is less than 0.2 [pounds per hour] or something like that?
000:25:15 Duke (onboard): No, it's about 0.3.
The Apollo spacecraft uses a relatively simple system to maintain the cabin oxygen supply to the crew. Oxygen is stored in liquid form in three tanks in the Service Module. The Environmental Control System (ECS) draws off oxygen gas, heats it, and feeds it to the Command Module cabin through a pressure regulating system. As the crew converts oxygen to carbon-dioxide, the latter is absorbed by lithium dioxide scrubbers. This, and the inevitable leakage, reduces the pressure in the cabin, which is then topped up from the oxygen supply. Normal flow rate is about 0.43 lb/hour but this will depend on many factors, not least crew activity.
000:25:16 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, and how's the cabin pressure?
000:25:17 Duke (onboard): Cabin pressure's holding at 5 - about 5½ (psi, 34-38 kPa). Okay, let me get that. We have the Canaries LOS. Let me do what I'm supposed to do here at Canaries. Getting ready to flow.
000:25:29 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, the emergency regs I'm going to put on. They is on Both.
000:25:37 Duke (onboard): Shift [garble].
000:25:38 Young (onboard): Simplex B is off.
000:25:43 Mattingly (onboard): John, can you get the Suit Circuit Return Valve Open?
000:25:46 Young (onboard): Yeah, I can if I can get back to it.
000:25:48 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Okay - oh, no hurry!
000:25:49 Young (onboard): Suit Circuit Return Valve is coming Open. Nyuh-nuh-nuh-nuh.
An interesting transcription - possibly representing the sound of the valve opening?
000:26:00 Mattingly (onboard): You got her, huh?
000:26:01 Young (onboard): No.
000:26:02 Mattingly (onboard): I think you all...
000:26:03 Young (onboard): What was that?
000:26:04 Duke (onboard): RC...
000:26:05 Mattingly (onboard): Felt like it took a little Delta-P.
Delta-P would be a change in pressure, which might have occurred due to the suit valve opening. However, it is possible that there has been a transcription error and that Ken Mattingly really said "Delta-V" - to indicate that he had felt an acceleration. This would also fit with Charlie Duke's comment immediately before, which looks like "RCS. See the comment at 000:26:23.
000:26:07 Duke (onboard): Yeah. (Cough)
000:26:09 Young(onboard): Here we fly in comfort though. My - is my hand controller [garble] ...
000:26:16 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, [garble] the RCS Command is Off, too.
With John, Ken and Charlie moving around the cabin, there is a risk of nudging the hand controllers and associated RCS controls. Hence, the CM RCS Logic switch was selected Off earlier as one of the items in Serial 1 of the Insertion and Systems Checks.
000:26:18 Young (onboard): Let me do that one more time. The aft is fine, that's for sure.
000:26:23 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, there's some - there's some Delta-V in here.
Ken Mattingly is suggesting that there is some acceleration (change in velocity is termed Delta-V), This is probably due to the S-IVB APS operating to maintain the attitude of the spacecraft and stage.
Young (onboard): Well, I'm looking out the window at the flashes.
It is not clear if John Young is referring to the thunderstorms the crew saw over Africa a few minutes below, or to flashes from APS motors firing.
000:26:27 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, how about...
000:26:30 Young (onboard): You want your old hat back?
000:26:32 Mattingly (onboard): That's all right. Have you got the Suit Circuit Return Valve Open?
000:26:34 Young (onboard): Yeah, the Suit Circuit Return Valve is Open.
000:26:36 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, and don't want to forget our Window shadem Number 5 there.
Window Cover
Each of the CM windows could be covered by an opaque aluminium window shield, to reduce glare into the CM. The window numbers are (from the crew's perspective):
The cover for window 2 is shown.
000:26:43 Young (onboard): Oh, yeah. Charlie...
000:26:44 Duke (onboard): Oh, yeah. Am I supposed to put that in right now?
000:26:45 Young (onboard): ...Window shade Number 5.
000:26:46 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, and I'm gonna...
000:26:47 Young (onboard): Okay...
000:26:48 Mattingly (onboard): ...I'm gonna turn the flows off if you want to come out of the helmets and gloves.
The crew still have their spacesuits helmets and gloves on, and are getting their oxygen flow directly from the ECS. Before Ken Mattingly turns off the flow to the suits, the crew must take off their helmets.
000:26:51 Young (onboard): Okay, could you put my seat [garble].
000:26:53 Duke (onboard): Have you done the main reg [regulators] check?
See 000:40:25 for a description of the main regulators check.
000:26:54 Mattingly (onboard): Let me see. No, we do the main regs afterwards, don't we?
000:26:55 Duke (onboard): Oh, okay. Oh, I don't know...
000:26:57 Mattingly (onboard): Just following my checklist here.
000:26:58 Duke (onboard): Okay. What could make my feet want to climb up to the...
000:27:02 Young (onboard): Isn't that neat?
000:27:03 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Oh, heck.
000:27:07 Young (onboard): You want me to get it for you, Charlie?
000:27:08 Mattingly (onboard): Five on the [garble].
000:27:09 Duke (onboard): No, I got it, babe.
000:27:10 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. You want this thing down, John, or like this?
000:27:13 Young (onboard): Just out of the way.
000:27:14 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000:27:17 Duke (onboard): [Laughter] I just had a...
000:27:18 Mattingly (onboard): I do the main regs next, Charlie. We can go ahead and take helmets and gloves off.
000:27:21 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'm gonna get this...
000:27:22 Mattingly (onboard): And...
000:27:23 Duke (onboard): ...Window 5 so...
000:27:24 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, if you'll tell me when you want to - when you want your flow off, I'll turn it off for you.
000:27:29 Duke (onboard): Okay. And the Window 5 cover's the one in the bag?
000:27:32 Young (onboard): Yeah. UV [garble].
000:27:33 Mattingly (onboard): Yes, sir.
000:27:34 Young (onboard): [Garble].
000:27:36 Duke (onboard): You just st - stuff the bag back in there?
000:27:37 Mattingly: [Laughter]
000:27:40 Young (onboard): Huh? Stuff what bag back in there?
000:27:43 Duke (onboard): This UV camera [garble]...
See this link for details of the cameras carried by Apollo 16.
000:27:45 Young (onboard): Oh, for gosh sakes.
000:27:46 Duke (onboard): What?
000:27:47 Young (onboard): I didn't know they had a bag with it.
000:27:49 Duke (onboard): Yeah. It's so it won't get scratched [garble].
000:27:50 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] Hey, if you pull your helmet off, it's gonna go.
As Ken has unlocked his helmet at the securing neck ring, the residual pressure differential ("Delta-P") has pushed the helmet off his head. Under normal conditions, the ECS will keep the suit at 35kPa (5.1 psi), compared to a cabin pressure of 34.5 kPa (5 psi). The oxygen flow rate through the suit is approximately 0.2 to 0.3 cubic metres (7 to 11 cubic feet) per minute, and is used to cool the wearer, as well as removing CO2, odours and water. While on EVA, additional cooling is provided by passing water through a Liquid Cooling Garment that can be worn under the space suit, but this is not needed for normal use.
000:27:54 Young (onboard): Where does it go?
000:27:56 Mattingly (onboard): Straight up [Laughter].
000:27:57 Young (onboard): Did you shut your air off?
000:27:58 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, but there's still just as much Delta-P in [garble] [laughter] it [garble] my nose, I couldn't even see it.
000:28:05 Young (onboard): Well, pull your glove off first.
000:28:07 Duke (onboard): Can you - can you shut my flow off [garble], Ken?
000:28:09 Mattingly (onboard): Yes, sir. Here comes your flow off, now.
000:28:12 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:28:24 Duke (onboard): All these snaps.
000:28:30 Young (onboard): Man, that do make a difference. Okay, turn it back on, Ken.
Probably referring to the oxygen flow.
000:28:33 Mattingly (onboard): All right, Just a second [laughter].
000:28:37 Duke (onboard): I don't know what I'm kicking down there.
000:28:38 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter]
000:28:40 Duke (onboard): Achh!
000:28:41 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter]
000:28:42 Duke (onboard): Ah-ha!
000:28:43 Young (onboard): Look at that.
000:28:44 Duke (onboard): I can't believe it but I got her.
000:28:46 Young (onboard): Now, I know [garble].
000:28:47 Duke (onboard): Here I come.
000:28:48 Young (onboard): ...these things.
000:28:49 Duke (onboard): Here I come, everybody [laughter].
000:28:51 Young (onboard): Now - Well - well, be careful you don't hit the thrust switch, Charlie.
John Young is probably referring to the may be referring to the two SPS Delta V thrust switches on Panel 1, which were the subject of a short-circuit on Apollo 15. While trying to move around in the cramped confined of the CM cabin, wearing his spacesuit, there is a considerable risk that he will hit something. Even though the switches are guarded to protect against inadvertent operation, there is still some risk of knocking into them. Alternatively, John Young may be referring to either the Rotation Controller mounted on his right-hand armrest, or to the Translation Controller mounted on Ken Mattingly's left-hand armrest. Charlie Duke's seat has no armrests and, as CMP, he has no need for the CM flight controls.
000:28:53 Duke (onboard): Yeah, I know it. I'm trying to avoid that, John.
000:28:56 Young (onboard): Course it's guarded.
000:29:00 Mattingly (onboard): I keep forgetting you have to hold things.
000:29:04 Duke (onboard): Well, for some reason, I want to float right up against the instrument panel. Maybe my - maybe it's my helium in my suit.
Charlie Duke is joking - in weightless conditions, there is no tendency to float in any particular direction - and there is no helium in his suit to make him act like a balloon! It is more likely that the basic tendency of the suit to adopt a straight position is helping force him from his seat.
000:29:12 Young (onboard): You want your old dinner bag there, Ken?
000:29:14 Mattingly (onboard): Yes, sir; thank you now.
000:29:16 Young (onboard): Isn't that neat?
000:29:17 Unidentified (onboard): [Laughter]
000:29:18 Young (onboard): Isn't that neat, the way stuff just floats around?
000:29:19 Unidentified: [Laughter] Ahhh.
000:29:20 Young (onboard): That's got to be the world's greatest thing.
000:29:23 Unidentified (onboard): [Laughter]
000:29:28 Young (onboard): I hate to tell you this, you guys. John's got to go potty.
000:29:31 Duke (onboard): No, this thing won't fit [Laughter].
000:29:34 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, you're kidding me - I hope.
000:29:37 Duke (onboard): I can't get out of...
000:29:39 Mattingly (onboard): I guess I'd better get on with that P52.
P52 is another of the Command Module Computer (CMC) programmes. This one is used to align the Inertial Measurement Unit in the Guidance and Nav System. Throughout the mission, one of Ken Mattingly's jobs is to ensure that the inertial guidance platform is kept aligned. He has just completed the first of numerous such realignments, a task usually known by the name of the program used as part of the task, Program Number 52, or simply "P52".
Guidance and navigation are crucial to any journey and even more so in the ballistic dance of getting to the Moon and back. The crew must be able point the spacecraft in precise, well known directions, so that their engines will send them where they want to go. The spacecraft carries a gyroscopically stabilised platform within the IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) which remains fixed in attitude while the spacecraft rotates around it, connected to it by three orthogonal gimbals. The only way to ensure that the platform is properly aligned is to compare it to a fixed attitude reference - the stars are almost always used. Initially, the CSM (Command/Service Module)'s platform was aligned before launch, but is likely to have drifted in orientation since then through the rigours of ascent. Realignment is achieved by using P52 on the CMC (Command Module Computer). With the spacecraft held in a steady attitude, the sextant is pointed at a specified star, marked, then to a second star, where another mark is taken. The computer knows the attitude of the spacecraft relative to where it thinks the stars are. However, it now has an updated knowledge of where the stars are actually located on the celestial sphere. The difference is due to the drift of the platform's orientation since the previous realignment. This drift is calculated and displayed as the amount of correction needed to move, or 'torque' the gimbals to bring the platform back into accurate alignment. Known as 'gyro torquing angles', they are displayed on the DSKY as 'Noun 93'. These angles are usually very small, and are expressed in thousandths of a degree.
Before the platform realignment can begin, the optics dust cover, on the opposite side of the CM from the hatch, must be jettisoned to enable the spacecraft's optical instruments to be used. The cover protects the external surfaces of the sextant and scanning telescope during spacecraft preparation and launch. Ken is supposed to observe the jettison through the unity-power SCT (Scanning Telescope). (A15FJ amended)
000:29:43 Young (onboard): Yeah, I guess - Have you jettisoned the covers, Ken?
000:29:45 Mattingly (onboard): No. I - I was trying to move too slow, I think.
000:29:47 Young (onboard): Okay.
000:29:48 Mattingly (onboard): I'm gonna do that next, and then I'll get this stuff. I'll do it.
000:29:51 Young (onboard): It's 29 minutes, so we got plenty of time.
000:29:53 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, it won't take long.
000:29:54 Young (onboard): What - what all is in the checklist to do between now and tonight? Anything?
000:29:58 Duke (onboard): No. No, wait a minute. Let me get this thing. There you go [garble] it back, naturally.
000:30:04 Young (onboard): Oh, come on. My goodness sakes.
000:30:07 Duke (onboard): [Laughter.]
000:30:08 Young (onboard): [Garble] the optics coming around?
000:30:10 Mattingly (onboard): I figured I was gonna - I stuck Tool E in here where I've been keeping it. And it floats out. I thought I'd just started off the mission by losing Tool E.
000:30:18 Young (onboard): Oh, well. There's still [garble]...
While the crew are making themselves and the spacecraft ready, the Public Affairs Officer is giving a press briefing.
[Download MP3 audio file. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.]
This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control in the Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center. The successful launch of Apollo 16 took place at 12:54.00569 seconds, that is, 569 milliseconds past 12:54. Following the successful launch, the Vice President of the United States came into the firing room and had the following to say to the launch team.
Dr. Fletcher, from the post-launch speeches: "It is the best liftoff we've ever had and I think before I say any more, I'd like to introduce the Vice President who will talk to you."
Spiro Agnew, Vice President of the USA, from the post-launch speeches: "Thank you, Dr. Fletcher. Ladies and Gentlemen, you - you make the superb common place. This is my seventh occasion to visit the Cape at the time of an Apollo launch and this was one of the finest because, as Dr. Fletcher said, he thought it was so good. I have noticed one change since I've been here and that is that there's so much coolness in the room. I think you are getting a little bit bored with this thing, aren't you? I know you're not, and I assure that the people of this country aren't bored and if you went out in the vicinity of the Cape and looked around today you'd probably find the biggest crowd with more people enthusiastic about the space program than you'd ever seen before. And, I want you to know that the administration's interest has not diminished and, as Chairman of the Space Council, mine continues to accelerate as I look forward to [Apollo] 17 and through the Skylab launchings to follow. What's going to come after that will depend to a great extent on the continuation of your expertise and the great way you discharge your responsibilities. But you know that the people of this country still have that explorer spirit. They still have that tremendous sense of urgency for the United States to be the leader of the world in this kind of technological advance. So, congratulations again to - for a superb job, and I never fail to marvel at the way you bring these things off. We're all with you and we appreciate what you've done."
That was the Vice President of the United States speaking to the launch team in the Firing Room - Firing Room 1 at the Kennedy Space Center. Now Dr. Debus has a few words.
Dr. Fletcher, from the post-launch speeches: "Of course, you here in the Firing Room deserve all the credit plus all the thousands that are supporting you, wherever they are. But I think that as the leader of the team here at Kennedy Space Center, Kurt Debus deserves a little bit of congratulations and I'd like to turn the mike over to him."
Dr. Debus, from the post-launch speeches: "Thank you. Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking for the launch team of the NASA Kennedy Space Center and would like to thank you very much for the support you have given us by being here so many times in crucial moments. What you see as coolness here is merely external. I assure you internally we are still quite excited of every manned launch, and we will continue to give our best to make Apollo 17 and the Skylab a success. We are also grateful that you have decided to select this Center for the Shuttle, and since you are almost one of the launch team, we hope that you will be one of the very first present here as soon as they get ready for the first flight. Thank you Mr. Vice President."
That was Dr. Kurt H. Debus, Director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.
The crew have gone back to the check list. Charlie Duke is at Serial 9 on Page L2-12. Meanwhile, at Serial 8, Ken Mattingly is supposed to move to the Lower Equipment Bay in preparation for carrying out Serial 10, the Main Regulator Check.
000:30:20 Duke (onboard): Okay, let me get us back on the checklist here. Okay, you've done this main - no, we haven't done the main reg check. Okay, install command module - Okay, suit circuit return. And remove helmets and stow. And mount TSBs. I don't have that done yet. But this thing has helmet bags in U-l, but that's not really true. They're over on your side, John, aren't they?
000:30:42 Young (onboard): Yeah, here's yours, Charlie.
000:30:44 Mattingly (onboard): I - I think it's looking for TSBs out of yours, Charlie, and...
000:30:48 Duke (onboard): Okay, wait a minute, John.
000:30:49 Young (onboard): Okay, just leave it.
000:30:51 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000:30:52 Young (onboard): It won't go nowhere.
000:30:53 Duke (onboard): I know it.
000:30:54 Young (onboard): That's nice.
000:30:56 Duke (onboard): Okay, Ken. You can cut my flow off.
000:30:59 Mattingly (onboard): All right; stand by. Hey, John, if you want to put your hoses on, I'll cut this baby off again for you.
000:31:06 Young (onboard): No, that's all right. I'll leave them where they're at.
000:31:07 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000:31:08 Duke (onboard): Okay, cut it back on, Ken. I've got a glove popped [?] yet.
000:31:11 Mattingly (onboard): All right, sir; you're on.
000:31:13 Duke (onboard): Okay. I'm sorry, but the evil winds are blowing again, you guys. [Laughter.]
000:31:16 Young (onboard): [Garble.]
000:31:17 Mattingly (onboard): Ain't nothing you can do that's evil right now, babe.
000:31:21 Duke (onboard): You just got to [garble]...
000:31:22 Young (onboard): You know something, I never did like this, and I like it even less in zero gravity. I don't know why anybody ain't squawking.
000:31:34 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, [garble] this baby. G[uidance]/N[av] Power Optics going On. And [Optics] Zero Off. Then Zero. Oh, that light [garble].
Ken Mattingly has skipped Serial 10, and has moved onto Serial 23 on Page L2-16, to jettison the Optics Dust Covers in preparation to align the inertial platform. First, he selects power On, using switch S4 on Panel 100, then he moves to Panel 122 and continues with the checklist.
There are two separate optical instruments in the Guidance and Navigation System, and these are used by the crew to take navigational sightings of the stars or landmarks on the Earth and Moon. Together with their associated machinery, they are large heavy systems. They also represent an important design philosophy dating back to the earliest days of Apollo. By providing the crew with the means to navigate independently of ground control, they provide an important safety measure in case communication is lost. As well as allowing for breakdown of the communications system, there is another more sinister consideration here. Apollo was designed at the height of the Cold War, and there was a real fear that its communications could be jammed by the USSR. In the event, spaceflight proved to be co-operative, and the competitive nature of the "Space Race" never spilled over into aggression.
Optics Schematic
The first of the optical instruments is the Scanning Telescope, which is like the theodolite used by a surveyor to measure the azimuth and elevation of a target. It provides relatively coarse sightings of the stars or landmarks, and can be steered in two axes. It has a field of view of about 60 degrees at a magnification of just one times. The second instrument is the Sextant which, like its predecessors used to navigate ships at sea, is used to measure the angle between two targets. It has a magnification of 28 times (similar to that provided by a powerful set of binoculars) and, as a result, has a very narrow field of view. It can sight on two targets at once. One line of sight is along a shaft fixed at right angles to the spacecraft skin, the other line of sight can scan through plus or minus 270 degrees about the shaft, or up to 57 degrees away from it. The movement of the line of sight is provided by a moveable mirror. Rotational movement about the shaft is referred to as the "shaft" angle, movement away from it as the "trunnion" angle - a trunnion was originally the projection on the side of a cannon allowing the barrel to be moved in elevation and depression relative to the carriage. The Sextant is used for more accurate measurement, to within 10 arc seconds (or one 360th of a degree). Both instruments use separate eyepieces, stowed behind Panel 120, located in the Lower Equipment Bay. The Sextant and Scanning Telescope are made by the Kollsman Instrument Company in New York State.
Drawing of the navigation station in the Command Module, located in the Lower Equipment Bay.
The optics point out through the heatshield of the Command Module. During launch, they are covered first by the by the Boost Protective Cover, and after its jettison, by two separate covers which are jettisoned by the crew. Ken Mattingly is supposed to observe the jettisoning of the covers through the Scanning Telescope.
000:31:52 Duke (onboard): What's that?
000:31:54 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, I got a - a caution and warning on the PGNS. I don't know what that was. Must have been taking it out of the - [Optics] Mode is Manual. Optics Coupling is Direct, Speed [is], Hi[gh]. Now if [garble] up there. The [Optics] Zero's Off. Go Max speed to the right. The first one [ie cover] that comes off is the sextant at 40 degrees [shaft angle].
000:32:32 Young (onboard): I don't believe those [garble].
000:32:35 Mattingly (onboard): Ha-ha.
000:32:42 Young (onboard): Ha-ha-ha-ha.
Panel 122 - Optics Control Panel on Apollo 13 CM, Odyssey
000:32:45 Duke (onboard): What's that, John?
000:32:48 Young (onboard): Looky here. Well, why don't you get your - well -
000:32:50 Mattingly (onboard): Well, darn it. I didn't hear anything come off of the telescope.
000:32:54 Duke (onboard): Did you see out of it?
000:32:55 Mattingly (onboard): No.
000:32:57 Duke (onboard): Well, keep going.
000:32:59 Mattingly (onboard): I was going all the way to the Sun. Shoot. Oh, well...
000:33:07 Duke (onboard): Maybe you can run it back again.
000:33:08 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah.
000:33:09 Young (onboard): Maybe you ought to go the other way.
000:33:11 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I don't know. If I could ...
000:33:14 Young (onboard): Are you seeing anything out of the telescope?
000:33:17 Mattingly (onboard): No, sir.
000:33:18 Young (onboard): Well, but that's going to take awhile. You want to turn down the lights, Ken?
000:33:20 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah. I got my lights down here. I'm going to go ahead and do a P52.
Ken is now proceeding with Serial 24 on Page L2-17.
000:33:23 Young (onboard): Okay, but - okay, but...
000:33:26 Mattingly (onboard): You think there is anything wrong with turning the other way if they didn't - if the cover didn't come off?
The optics covers were supposed to jettison when Ken moved the Optical Hand Controller to the right to drive the Sextant and Scanning Telescope shafts. He is not sure if the covers have indeed jettisoned, and is wondering whether to try again, driving the shafts the other way.
000:33:30 Young (onboard): Well, I think you ought to wait and ask them.
000:33:32 Mattingly (onboard): I hate to mess up 52. Let's see - let me - let me get myself good and light adapted.
The IMU alignment with P52 is supposed to be carried out while the spacecraft is over the night side of the Earth. Waiting for the spacecraft to regain contact with Mission Control, when Apollo 16 is over Australia, will preclude this.
Contrary to popular belief, it is as hard to see the stars from a brightly lit spacecraft in orbit, as it is from inside a brightly lit house on Earth. To be able to see the stars through the telescope or the sextant, Ken Mattingly has to let his eyes adjust to the dark. The lighting controls at the Navigation Station are able to be dimmed independently of the rest of the cabin to aid this.
000:33:38 Young (onboard): Yeah, that's the problem.
John Young has experience of Ken Mattingly's tasks, having taken Apollo 10 to the Moon as the CMP on that flight.
000:33:39 Duke (onboard): You want me to turn the lights down?
000:33:40 Young (onboard): You want to turn down some of the lights?
000:33:41 Mattingly (onboard): I got my eye closed and...
000:33:43 Young (onboard): I forgot, the flood's turned all the way up in here. Stars are out there, Ken, I can see them.
000:33:50 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I don't see a thing. I heard the sextant go.
000:33:55 Duke (onboard): Can't you go back to Zero and try it again?
000:33:58 Mattingly (onboard): I'm going to. I'm going to Zero and [garble].
000:34:19 Young (onboard): We're 90 by 95, you guys.
John Young is reading off the orbital parameters from the DSKY. To obtain these, he will have called up P[rogram] 11 then entered Verb 82. The spacecraft is in an orbit with Apogee 95 nautical miles (176km), Perigee 90 nautical miles (167km).
000:34:21 Duke (onboard): That's neat.
000:34:23 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, you don't see anything wrong with trying to - to do a - Oh, hey, I think I do see some stars now.
000:34:29 Duke (onboard): There you go.
000:34:31 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, thank God. [Laughter.]
Mattingly, from the 1972 Technical debrief: "Once again, I heard the sextant cover go off, but I did not hear the telescope cover go. Like everyone else that has looked through there, I looked and didn't see a thing in the telescope and I was concerned about what to do next. In fact, we talked about it. What was the best thing to do? I didn't think the cover had gone. While we were playing around, we came across a star pattern that was bright enough to see and it was an excellent telescope. There was no debris that you would see from it."
000:34:33 Young (onboard): It takes awhile.
000:34:34 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, boy, you do have to be light adapted, I tell you.
000:34:36 Young (onboard): Yeah, yeah.
000:34:37 Duke (onboard): Where? I don't see them. Oh, yeah. There's some, I think...
000:34:39 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, I can - They're off because I saw our thruster fire.
000:34:43 Duke (onboard): I did, too [laughter]. Hey, that's a thunderstorm down there.
000:34:47 Mattingly (onboard): Was it?
000:34:48 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Must be that.
000:34:49 Young (onboard): Yeah, those are down [garble].
000:34:50 Mattingly (onboard): I'm looking in the other direction though.
000:34:51 Duke (onboard): Well, I'm looking on the ground...
000:34:52 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000:34:53 Duke (onboard): ...and that's - that's a thunderstorm.
000:34:54 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I'm going to do a [P] 52 if that's all right.
000:34:56 Young (onboard): [Garble] have to do a 52. That's a [garble].
000:34:58 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. I'm gonna ...
000:34:59 Young (onboard): I haven't got ORDEAL set up, but I got it laying here.
See 000:39:07 for a description of the Orbital Rate Display - Earth And Lunar.
000:35:01 Mattingly (onboard): Can I get rid of your thing for a minute?
000:35:03Young (onboard): Sure.
000:35:04 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, there's your flow. The Optics Zero is Off...
000:35:06 Young (onboard): What's the - what's the - what should we be doing?
000:35:08 Mattingly (onboard): ...[Optics Speed Controller] Speed should be Lo[w]; [Optics Zero?] Off.
000:35:10 Duke (onboard): I'm gonna turn the page here, and...
000:35:11 Mattingly (onboard): I tell you one thing you can do is - I'm going to stay in the dark here, so I can see.
000:35:15 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:35:16 Mattingly (onboard): Would you copy these numbers for me?
000:35:17 Duke (onboard): Yeah, I'll get them for you. John, we're up to speed, as far as I know.
000:35:23 Mattingly (onboard): I haven't started unstowing stuff.
000:35:25 Young (onboard): Okay, at 35 minutes.
000:35:27 Duke (onboard): Oh, we got to do the - we got to do the Main Reg Check, and the secondary Accumulator Quantity.
Charlie Duke is providing a gentle reminder that they have skipped several checklist serials.
000:35:36 Mattingly (onboard): Man, I tell you what, I - There's another thruster fire.
000:35:39 Duke (onboard): Okay. John, you want to go to Secondary Glycol?
000:35:41 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, would you record star 23?
The star reference numbers were given by their octal (base 8) number. The first star used by Ken Mattingly is Denebola, (number 23) which is also called Beta Leonis (the second brightest star in the constellation Leo).
The full list of stars, along with their reference numbers is as follows:-

Star Reference List

Octal Number Star name Alternative NameNotes
00Planet
01AlpheratzAlpha Andromeda
02DiphdaBeta Ceti
03NaviEpsilon CassiopeiaeThe name Navi was a result of a prank by Virgil "Gus" Grissom who gave names to three stars after the crew of Apollo 1. The three stars didn't have common names. "Navi" is "Ivan", Grissom's middle name, spelled backwards.
04AchernarAlpha Eridani
05PolarisAlpha Ursa Minor
06AcamarTheta Eridani
07MenkarAlpha Ceti
10MirfakAlpha Persei
11AldebaranAlpha Tauri
12RigelBeta Orionis
13CapellaAlpha Aurigae
14CanopusAlpha Carinae
15SiriusAlpha Canis Majoris
16ProcyonAlpha Canis Minoris
17RegorGamma VelorumAnother of Grissom's jokes, this time named after Roger Chaffee.
20DnocesIota Ursae MajorisThe third of Grissom's jokes, Dnoces is "Second" backwards, after Edward White II, who was also the second man to walk in space.
21AlphardAlpha Hydrae
22RegulusAlpha Leonis
23DenebolaBeta Leonis
24GienahGamma Corvi
25AcruxAlpha Cruxis
26SpicaAlpha Virginis
27AlkaidEta Ursa Major
30MenkentTheta Centauri
31ArcturusAlpha Bootes
32AlpheccaAlpha Corona Borealis
33AntaresAlpha Scorpii
34AtriaAlpha Triangulum Australis
35RasalhagueAlpha Ophiuchii
36VegaAlpha Lyrae
37NunkiSigma Sagitarius
40AltairAlpha Aquilae
41DabihBeta Capricornus
42PeacockAlpha Pavonis
43DenebAlpha Cygni
44EnifEpsilon Pegasi
45FomalhautAlpha Piscis Austrini
46Sun
47Earth
50Moon
Note that four of these are not really stars but allow the crew member to enter other celestial objects into the computer. For a more full description of the origins of the names, see Apollo 15 Commander Dave Scott's commentary at 105:11:33 in the Apollo 15 Lunar Surface Journal.
000:35:43 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:35:44 Mattingly (onboard): Denebola.
000:35:53 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:35:59 Mattingly (onboard): I don't - I flat don't think I can see a star pattern at all.
000:36:03 Duke (onboard): Well, I can out the front here, out the rendezvous window.
000:36:06 Mattingly (onboard): But I got a star in the sextant.
000:36:08 Young (onboard): What's the name of it?
000:36:10 Duke (onboard): You didn't see Denebola out the big [garble].
000:36:12 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I did not see a star pattern.
000:36:14 Young (onboard): Shoot.
000:36:16 Mattingly (onboard): And I'm - I'm well adapted enough in that - but I - I'm sure that the cover's off because...
000:36:25 Young (onboard): You can see some stars?
000:36:26 Mattingly (onboard): Because I see flashes, and - and occasionally I can see a star, but it's just - you know, you can't miss Denebola.
000:36:35 Young (onboard): Well, let me look whenever we get a chance here. [Garble].
000:36:37 Mattingly (onboard): All right. You got any question about whether it's okay to proceed with them?
000:36:40 Duke (onboard): Heck, no. Go, man.
000:36:42 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Yeah.
000:36:44 Duke (onboard): Hey, John?
000:36:45 Young (onboard): Yes, sir.
000:36:46 Duke (onboard): We want - we can do a secondary glycol accumulator or loop check - leak check, if you want to.
000:36:51 Young (onboard): Yeah. [Garble] Ken [garble] numbers [garble] ...
000:36:53 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, hang on a second and I will. Load it [garble] procedure.
000:37:01 Duke (onboard): This is so great.
000:37:07 Mattingly (onboard): Those optics [garble] are superb.
Ken Mattingly is evidently making progress with the P52.
000:37:16 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, the second star is Number 30.
000:37:19 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:37:20 Mattingly (onboard): Wouldn't you know. Just what I always wanted.
000:37:22 Duke (onboard): What's the number?
000:37:23 Mattingly (onboard): There it is. Menkent. That may not be in the sextant.
Menkent, Star No 30, is also known as Theta Centauri.
000:37:24 Young (onboard): [Garble] what it is.
000:37:29 Mattingly (onboard): - By golly, there are some stars out there. One just went by [garble] went by. But I'm sure - and I see some of those - Gosh, it looks like the center of the sextant - or the telescope is where I'm seeing [garble]. But this thing is - auto optics is just neat as I thought it was.
000:37:48 Duke (onboard): Man, I can't believe that. I just can't believe our view [laughter].
000:37:52 Young (onboard): Golly, you're here.
000:37:54 Duke (onboard): I mean [laughter].
000:37:55 Young (onboard): Twelve days from now, you won't believe it.
000:37:58 Duke (onboard): This is fan - You know, I just can't believe how much a thrill this is.
000:38:01 Young (onboard): It's really swinging, isn't it?
000:38:02 Duke (onboard): Oh, man, I've waited...
000:38:03 Mattingly (onboard): I mean to tell you.
000:38:05 Duke (onboard): ...so long for this.
000:38:06 Young (onboard): Just - just look! Look at that! Just hold your cotton picking hand out there in a 70-pound pressure suit, and you ain't got nothing on.
000:38:17 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, there's...
000:38:18 Young (onboard): That was a good start.
Ken is getting some good readings from his star sightings. See comments at 000 38 38 for more details.
000:38:19 Mattingly (onboard): That's a good start.
000:38:20 Young (onboard): There you go there, Ken, babe. Look at those torquing angles! [Laughter].
000:38:23 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter]
000:38:24 Young (onboard): Whoo, hoo, hoo!
000:38:25 Mattingly (onboard): You got those copied?
000:38:27 Duke (onboard): Wait, 040...
000:38:28 Young (onboard): Yeah.
000:38:29 Duke (onboard): ...plus ...
000:38:30 Young (onboard): 031.
000:38:31 Duke (onboard): Plus 031.
000:38:32 Young (onboard): Plus 045.
000:38:34 Duke (onboard): Plus 045. I got them. Give me the DET [Digital Event Timer] and I'm ready.
000:38:38 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. I'll torque them at 40.
Ken Mattingly plans to apply the correction torques at 38:40
After the star sightings, the computer calculated that the measured angle between the stars, as given by Noun 05, exactly matched the angle the computer knows is between them. This is a powerful check of the precision with which Ken Mattingly has made the measurements. The difference between the intended platform orientation and its actual state was 0.040° in X, 0.031° in Y, and 0.045° in Z. These values were displayed through the Noun 93 display on the DSKY and will be used to bring the platform back into correct alignment at 38 minutes, 40 seconds into the flight.
000:38:39 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:38:40 Young (onboard): Might as well [garble]...
000:38:41 Mattingly (onboard): Just for kicks, I'm going to do that over again.
Ken is slightly pleased at the accuracy of his sighting.
000:38:45 Duke (onboard): Okay...
000:38:46 Young (onboard): No, you don't, Ken...
000:38:47 Duke (onboard): No. Come on.
000:38:48 Young (onboard): ...you don't need to do it again, honest.
000:38:49 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000:38:50 Young (onboard): You're gonna get a blue million of them.
000:38:51 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, that - that really feels good.
000:38:52 Duke (onboard): Yeah. [Garble] of those [garble] EMP.
It is not clear what Charlie Duke is referring to.
000:38:55 Young (onboard): Because we're liable to have our torquing angles doubled the next time we did it.
000:38:58 Mattingly (onboard): That's right. I don't want to know it if it is.
000:39:00 Duke (onboard): Okay, John, get...
000:39:01 Mattingly (onboard): ...[garble] torture.
000:39:02 Duke (onboard): Give him a...
000:39:03 Young (onboard): [Garble] Tool E?
000:39:04 Duke (onboard): Give him a Tool E.
000:39:05 Young (onboard): Okay.
000:39:06 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah. I was going to float myself along underneath there, if you...
000:39:07 Young (onboard): I got the ORDEAL up.
The ORDEAL (Orbital Rate Display - Earth And Lunar) drives the FDAI (Flight Director Attitude Indicator, or "8-ball") to make it display the spacecraft's attitude relative to the ground below.
If a spacecraft is in orbit with a fixed attitude relative to the celestial sphere (i.e. the spacecraft keeps pointing to the same stars no matter where it is in its orbit), then its attitude relative to the body it's orbiting (Earth, Moon or whatever) is constantly changing. For example, if at one point in its orbit the front of a spacecraft is pointing directly at the planet below, then half an orbit later it will be pointing directly away. This is known as "stellar inertial."
Diagram explaining difference between orb-rate and stellar inertial attitude.
Conversely, if the spacecraft is to be flown in 'orb-rate,' keeping the same face towards the surface (to point cameras for example), it must rotate around one of its axes at a rate which matches the orbital period. Normally, the FDAI displays the spacecraft's attitude relative to the celestial sphere (i.e. it normally shows the inertial attitude) but the function of the ORDEAL is to provide the correct drive signal to rotate the FDAI at a rate which also matches the orbital period. With the ORDEAL, the FDAI will display attitudes relative to the surface below.
The ORDEAL is a separate box of electronics that must be connected by the crew during use. When not in use it is kept in stowage U3 in the Upper Equipment Bay. The ORDEAL has several controls: The ORDEAL is a separate unit that is plugged into the G&N system.
Drawing of ORDEAL controls.
000:39:08 Mattingly (onboard): You have? Oh, you.
000:39:10 Young (onboard): [Laughter]
000:39:11 Mattingly (onboard): That's [garble] I - in my job. It's so easy to do. Too late. [Laughter] Oh, [garble].
000:39:20 Duke (onboard): You know, I do feel like I'm standing on my head.
000:39:22 Mattingly (onboard): I don't. I feel like I've been here all my life.
000:39:25 Young (onboard): Yeah, that what comes with 2000 hours under your belt.
John Young is suggesting that the adaptation to weightlessness is due to the experience gained as an aircraft pilot. All three of the crew are ex-fighter pilots, and two thousand flying hours is a lot in that job. However, by 2003, John Young had logged more than 14,750 hours flying time in props, jets, helicopters, rocket jets, and spacecraft, including 835 hours in six space flights
During the technical debrief in 1972, the crew discussed their reaction to weightlessness.
Young, from the 1972 Technical debrief: "It's really neat. Beats work."
Duke, from the 1972 Technical debrief: "For the first rest period I had that fullness in the head that a lot of people have experienced. More of a pulsing in the temples, really, than a fullness in the head."
Young, from the 1972 Technical debrief: "I tried to outguess it by standing on my head for five minutes a night a couple of weeks before launch. Standing on your head is a heck of a lot harder. That's an overkill, but this is nice."
Mattingly, from the 1972 Technical debrief: "I really think going out and flying those airplanes helped us."
Young, from the 1972 Technical debrief: "Oh yes, I highly recommend that."
Mattingly, from the 1972 Technical debrief: "And I flew every day except one. I don't know if that helped, but I bet it didn't hurt."
Young, from the 1972 Technical debrief: "Yes, rate of roll in particular, it's got to help. It tightens up your eardrums."
Mattingly, from the 1972 Technical debrief: "I think that was a good thing to do."
Young, from the 1972 Technical debrief: "You ought to approach it with the idea that you are going in there and make yourself as uncomfortable as you can stand. Do rate of roll until you can't stand it anymore."
The astronauts fly NASA's fleet of T-38 two-seat trainer aircraft. With very small wings, these aircraft are renowned for their ability to roll rapidly, a manoeuvre that is particularly likely to induce motion sickness due to inner ear movements.
000:39:28 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000:39:30 Young (onboard): Okay, now I need a flashlight to see what the angle is. Okay, when do you want to do this, Charlie?
John Young and Charlie Duke now go back to checklist Serial 11 on page L2-13, the Secondary Radiator Leak Check. This provides a rapid pressure integrity check of the secondary radiator circuit, to confirm that no leaks have occurred during launch. The primary radiator circuit has already been selected on during the boost phase, but the secondary circuit is only used when additional cooling is needed. The radiators work by circulating a water-glycol mixture through the large panels at the bottom of the Service Module. With both systems operating, the radiators can remove excess heat at a rate of 4415 British Thermal Units per hour (approximately 1.3 kilowatts).
000:39:36 Duke (onboard): Okay, let me see. Secondary Accumulator Quantity is at 40. Go ahead, any time for 30 seconds. I'll give you a mark. Give me a mark when you open it.
Location of ECS Gauges.
Charlie Duke is monitoring the pressure in the accumulator over 30 seconds, looking for any change that would indicate a leak. The pressure gauge is on the right hand side of the twin Environmental Control System gauges on the middle portion of the Main Control Panel.
000:39:43 Young (onboard): Okay, going - going to Normal Right?
000:39:47 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Go to Normal.
000:39:48 Young (onboard): Okay; 3, 2, 1...
000:39:50 Young (onboard): Normal.
ECS Gauges.
000:39:51 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:39:52 Young (onboard): It's Normal.
000:39:56 Mattingly (onboard): You guys are screwing with my union card.
Ken Mattingly is ribbing John Young and Charlie Duke that they are doing the tasks the CMP is supposed to be doing
000:39:58 Young (onboard): Let me get out of your way there, ...
000:40:01 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. I'm gonna go play with the regulators. Okay?
000:40:04 Young (onboard): Let's have a sandwich.
John Young may be making a reference to his prank on Gemini 3 (the first manned Gemini mission) when he offered his commander, Gus Grissom, a corned-beef sandwich that he had smuggled past the authorities. John Young was officially rebuked for the incident.
000:40:05 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, let's get this all cleaned up [garble].
000:40:06 Duke (onboard): Yeah, let's get it cleaned up.
000:40:08 Young (onboard): It's clean as a whistle.
000:40:09 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, I want to get these regulators checked and all that stuff that I haven't done. Okay.
000:40:13 Young (onboard): Say when you want to shut it off, Charlie.
000:40:14 Duke (onboard): They're fine [laughter]. Okay...
000:40:21 Duke (onboard): Mark.
000:40:22 Young (onboard): Okay, going to Bypass.
000:40:23 Duke (onboard): Okay, it's good.
000:40:24 Young (onboard): Bypass.
000:40:25 Duke (onboard): Loop's good. Okay, we should [garble] ECS, and then the Fill valve [garble] On.
Having completed Serial 11, the crew now start on Serial 10 on Page L2-13, the Main Oxygen Regulator Check. This checks both halves of the main regulator which governs the flow of oxygen into the cabin and the spacesuits (when the latter have their hoses connected to the oxygen supply system). The controls are on Panel 351 in the Lower Equipment Bay. As with many Apollo systems there are two parallel control valves (A and B) for redundancy. Ken Mattingly selects each Off in turn, then operates the Emergency Cabin Pressure Regulator which would provide a rapid dump of oxygen into the cabin in case of a leak. During the flight, the crew will be in a shirt-sleeve environment; and the Emergency Cabin Pressure Regulator would give them time to don their spacesuits again if necessary.
000:40:29 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. I'm turning Main Reg B to Off.
000:40:35 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:40:40 Mattingly (onboard): Emergency Cabin selector is going to One. All right. How's the flow look [garble]?
000:40:46 Duke (onboard): It's 0.2 [pounds of oxygen/hour].
000:40:47 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. gonna hit the Press To Test.
CM Panel 351
000:40:48 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:40:52 Mattingly (onboard): Did you get some flow there?
000:40:54 Duke (onboard): A little bit, yeah.
000:40:55 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I may have [garble] in [garble] a little long...
000:40:57 Duke (onboard): I think you did. I - Okay, that's it [garble] out.
000:41:02 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Go back to Normal?
000:41:04 Duke (onboard): Not yet. Here it comes.
000:41:08 Mattingly (onboard): All right, Regulator B is coming on.
000:41:10 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:41:11 Mattingly (onboard): And [Regulator] A is coming off.
000:41:14 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000:41:15 Mattingly (onboard): Going to number 2. [Garble] Valve A Close, Number 2 [Emergency Cabin Pressure Selector]. Away we go.
000:41:26 Duke (onboard): Okay, it came up a little bit, Ken.
000:41:27 Mattingly (onboard): You want me to hold it longer?
000:41:28 Duke (onboard): That - no, that's fine with me.
000:41:29 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Go back to Normal?
000:41:30 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000:41:32 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I'm working mine. There's Both.
000:41:35 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'm going to do - We've been up here long enough. I'm gonna do the fuel cell purge...
000:41:39 Young (onboard): There's - Reg A.
The Main Regulator Check is now complete.
000:41:40 Duke (onboard): ...And check them out.
000:41:42 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, John, do you - did you do that Secondary Leak [check]?
With the crew carrying out the checklist in a non-standard order, it has become unclear what has been checked. Ken is asking if the Secondary Radiator Leak Check has been done. John Young and Charlie Duke actually carried it out two minutes earlier. Meanwhile, Charlie Duke has moved to Serial 14 on Page L2-14, the Fuel Cell Purge Check.
Fuel Cell Control Locations.
In a normal chemical batteries, like those in a flashlight, electricity is produced by reacting chemicals that are sealed in when the battery is manufactured. A Fuel Cell is effectively a battery that the reacting chemicals can be fed into continuously as needed, and the reaction products removed. On Apollo, the reactants are hydrogen and oxygen, and they react together to provide electrical power and water. However, the electrodes can become contaminated because of impurities. A fuel cell purge involves pumping extra hydrogen or oxygen through the cells, to flush out the impurities. Each of the three fuel cells in the Service Module has a purge switch on the right hand side of the Main Display Panel. Each switch has three positions: "Off", "H2" to purge the hydrogen side of the fuel cell and "O2" to purge the oxygen side of the fuel cell. To carry out a full purge, the switch is first set to "O2" for two minutes, then to "H2" for 80 seconds. However, for this check, Charlie Duke is just looking for an increase in the flow rate on the Fuel Cell Flow indicator as he operates the purge switch in turn. The increase in flow rate during purging is fairly small - 0.6 pounds (0.27 kg) per hour for oxygen, and 0.67 pounds (0.30 kg) per hour for hydrogen.
Fuel Cell Flow Gauge.
000:41:44 Young (onboard): What's that?
As a normal part of the purge operation initiated by Charlie Duke, the Master Alarm went off.
000:41:45 Duke (onboard): Fuel cell - Don't panic. I'm just testing them a little bit.
000:41:47 Young (onboard): Yeah, but still - you know.
000:41:48 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000:41:49 Young (onboard): I don't [garble]...
000:41:50 Duke (onboard): What the heck? I said I was going to do the fuel cell...
000:41:52 Young (onboard): Yeah, I know. I knew it. I'm sorry. I don't want anything to spoil this guy now.
000:42:01 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble]. Did you do the secondary leak check?
000:42:02 Duke (onboard): Yeah. It passed.
000:42:08 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, so I can get number 6.
Fuel Cell Purge Switches.
000:42:06 Young (onboard): Well, we just floated down there, Ken. It's so easy. [Laughter] Oh, gosh. This has really ruined me for this. [Laughter]
000:42:17 Duke (onboard): Okay, Purge Line Heater is Off.
Charlie Duke has now finished the Fuel Cell Purge Check.
000:42:20 Young (onboard): What do I do with this Tool E? Just let it sit there.
000:42:23 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'm going to check the cryos.
Charlie Duke is now moving on to Serial 15 on Page 2-14, the Electrical Power System Monitoring Check. This first involves checking the pressure in the cryogenic tanks in the SM that contain Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen. It then checks the operation of the three Fuel Cells in which the hydrogen and oxygen react to form water and electricity. Finally, the electrical distribution busbar voltages are then checked. While Charlie is doing this, John Young and Ken Mattingly continue to unpack storage canisters and prepare the cabin.
000:42:27 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, John. I'm going to pass you up some stuff from down in A-8, if that's okay.
The contents list for Stowage A-8 is given on Page A-147 of the Flight Plan.
000:42:31 Duke (onboard): Oh, wait - could you wait just...
000:42:33 Young (onboard): Sure, man...
000:42:34 Mattingly(onboard): Sure.
000:42:35 Young (onboard): ...what is it?
000:42:36 Duke (onboard): Go ahead.
000:42:37 Young (onboard): Throw it to me.
000:42:38 Mattingly (onboard): I'll wait.
000:42:39 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'll - I know some of that stuff has got to be coming over to me, and I'm...
000:42:40 Young (onboard): You ain't ready for it?
000:42:41 Duke (onboard): I ain't r - quite ready for it yet.
000:42:42 Young (onboard): I - I - I've got the bracket down there for the camera. Ha, ha, ha.
000:42:47 Duke (onboard): Okay, check your surge tank pres - Okay, I got that. Cryo fans, Off; on as required. Okay.
000:42:53 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, here's the nicest part of all in zero-g...
000:42:54 Duke (onboard): Fuel cell heaters. Okay, that's [garble]...
000:42:57 Mattingly (onboard): The container comes out of B-1 [laughter].
000:42:59 Duke (onboard): Okay, that [garble].
000:43:00 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, [laughter] that would be the part [laughter].
000:43:02 Young (onboard): [Garble] can, too, and go back in just like downtown.
000:43:08 Mattingly (onboard): John?
000:43:09 Young (onboard): Yes, sir.
000:43:10 Mattingly (onboard): May I present you with a 70-millimeter Hasselblad
As on previous lunar missions, a number of cameras are carried on Apollo 16; a detailed list can be found at this link. The three main still cameras are made by Hasselblad and take 70-mm film. Two of these are stowed in the LM, and one in the CM.
000:43:15 Crew (onboard): [Laughter]
000:43:22 Young (onboard): Oh, this is as nice as it's always been. That's all I've got to say. Just can't beat all this floating around.
000:43:27 Mattingly (onboard): But, in Gemini, you couldn't move around to enjoy it. This has got to be better than that kind of [garble]. Phew! Can you imagine what those guys are going to do when they get in Skylab?
The habitable cabin volume of the Apollo CM is only large in comparison to Mercury and Gemini. Mercury's cabin was 1.4 m3 (50 ft3), while Gemini's was 2.3 m3 (80 ft3). Apollo was a roomy 5.9 m3 (210 ft 3), but Skylab (based on a converted S-IVB stage) was to be in a whole new league at 319 m3 (11,303 ft3).
000:43:44 Duke (onboard): Well, I ain't gonna trade with them, I'll tell you that right now.
000:43:47 Mattingly (onboard): No, but they are gonna have a ball. When they get that great big volume down there.
000:43:53 Young (onboard): How are we going to drink water? That's been worrying me ever since we took off. You got to keep a count of it someway or another?
000:44:01 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I don't know. I'll check and see if [garble].
000:44:04 Young (onboard): Well, we're supposed to.
000:44:06 Mattingly (onboard): If so, it's not going to be any big deal, I can guarantee you.
000:44:10 Duke (onboard): Hey, how's the systems test look, 5B?
000:44:13 Mattingly (onboard): Looks good; okay.
The reference to Systems Test 5B indicates that Charlie Duke has reached the end of the Electrical Power System Monitoring Check.
000:44:15 Young (onboard): I'm going to hang Tool E around the handle up here. Is that a good place?
000:44:17 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, just be sure...
000:44:19 Young (onboard): Do you have a place it [garble].?
000:44:20 Mattingly (onboard): No, that'd be fine. Just be sure it's snapped wherever you put it. You know, it won't - I already made that hanging mistake once [laughter].
000:44:27 Young (onboard): Yeah, well, the thing is, it's - the thing around it is really tight, this snap around it.
000:44:38 Young (onboard): There must be something I have to do but I don't know what it is.
000:44:41 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] I think it's the [garble].
000:44:44 Young (onboard): Golly, I mean to tell you. If this isn't gonna be the neatest thing that ever was.
000:44:52 Duke (onboard): [Laughter] Oh, my helmet.
000:44:53 Young (onboard): Can't wait to get into that LM.
000:44:55 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000:44:58 Young (onboard): The thing just [garble] for another five minutes and 44 seconds. The pressure's all right - 48 - 38 and 18, Just exactly what they were at that other thing.
John Young is probably referring to the S-IVB propellant pressures. Liquid Oxygen pressures were predicted to be in the range 36 to 41 psi, and Liquid Hydrogen in the range 19 to 21 psi.]
000:45:17 Mattingly (onboard): For you, my friend, if you'll pull out a - out of that little U compartment down there, the camera bracket.
Checklist Serial 19 requires the Sequence Camera Bracket to be unstowed, along with the ORDEAL. However, this has already been done, and John Young and Ken Mattingly proceed directly to Serial 22 on Page L2-16.
000:45:24 Young (onboard): I already did.
000:45:26 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, you - Oh.
000:45:28 Young (onboard): Ha, ha, ha, ha. Well, I've got all these cameras, and I don't know what to do with them. It's really neat.
000:45:34 Mattingly (onboard): Here, I'll tell you what we'll do with one is raise your foot, right here, to start with. I guess we - I tell you what. You don't really need that guy right now. I can stow it back here in the...
000:45:44 Young (onboard): What, the Hasselblad?
000:45:45 Mattingly (onboard): ...In - no, the DAC.
The Data Acquisition Camera is a 16 mm movie camera, used to obtain short film records of events. Because of its ability to record the sequence of events, it is sometimes referred to as the Sequence Camera (which was also the name of the equivalent camera during the Gemini missions).
000:45:47 Duke (onboard): Okay, John. You're supposed to do a - a GDC align.
000:45:51 Young (onboard): Okay.
The GDC Align is Serial 18 in the Checklist. However, it will be delayed until 000:49:12.
000:45:52 Mattingly (onboard): Here, let me stow that DAC.
000:45:53 Young (onboard): No, let me just stick it on the thing. It's as good a place for it as any.
000:45:56 Mattingly (onboard): It won't be in your way [garble]?
000:45:57 Young (onboard): No.
000:45:58 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Why don't we - you want to set it while we're about it, then?
000:46:04 Young (onboard): Yeah. The T - the...
000:46:06 Mattingly (onboard): I hadn't - I didn't set it at all yet.
Serial 22 of the Checklist on Page L2-16 requires the DAC, Hasellblad and TV cameras to be unstowed and set up ready for use. The first camera is the 16 mm DAC, which is fitted with the 18 mm lens, and mounted in the left-hand rendezvous window. The camera settings are T8 with a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, focussed at 10 feet, at 12 frames per second and using Magazine AA.
000:46:09 Young (onboard): T - T-8...
000:46:10 Duke (onboard): Is that - is that APS mod - is that the APS module that's causing all those [garble] flashes?
000:46:14 Mattingly (onboard): ... want a T-8, John?
000:46:17 Young (onboard): T-8 at l0 feet, right?
000:46:18 Mattingly (onboard): Ten feet, 1/250...
000:46:19 Young (onboard): 1/250, at 12 frames a second.
000:46:21 Duke (onboard): I just started the secondary coolant loop pump.
Charlie Duke is carrying on with the Secondary Glycol Loop Check at Serial 21 on Page L2-16 while John Young and Ken Mattingly carry on unstowing the cameras.
000:46:22 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000:46:24 Young (onboard): Good, Charlie.
000:46:25 Mattingly (onboard): That's magazine AA.
Magazine AA contains DAC film.
000:46:28 Young (onboard): Magazine AA is what's on there. How about that? Another new [garble]...
000:46:33 Mattingly (onboard): You're kidding me.
000:46:35 Duke (onboard): It's really there?
000:46:36 Young (onboard): Yep.
000:46:37 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] Okay.
000:46:42 Duke (onboard): Can't believe it.
They now set up the Hasselblad EL and the Spotmeter (lightmeter), and stow it in Charlie Duke's Temporary Stowage Bag, ready for use. The Hasselblad is set at f/8 aperture, 1/250th of a second, and has Magazine NN loaded. NN contains colour film, with a capacity of 160 pictures (referred to as "frames"). It's first intended use will be to photograph the Lunar Module in the S-IVB after the Transposition Manoeuvre.]
000:46:44 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] Okay, you got the [Hasselblad] EL, John?
000:46:45 Young (onboard): The what?
000:46:47 Mattingly (onboard): You got the Hasselblad?
000:46:48 Young (onboard): Yeah.
000:46:49 Mattingly: How about an f/8.
000:46:52 Young (onboard): Okay, f/8.
000:46:53 Mattingly (onboard): 1/250.
000:46:55 Young (onboard): Reads 250th.
000:46:57 Mattingly (onboard): And...
000:46:58 Young (onboard): And infinity?
000:46:59 Mattingly (onboard): Well, why don't you take it about ten feet and go - well, put it on infinity for the time being. We might...
The checklist does not indicate what distance to set the Hasselblad focus to. John Young can either set it to ten foot, for general use in the cabin or to infinity for photography of the Earth.
000:47:03 Young (onboard): Okay, because as we come across the [garble], we might see something. Yeah.
000:47:06 Duke (onboard): Okay, and that thing just gets stowed out here. Here, I - I put up my little...
000:47:12 Young (onboard): I can't do it; they put velcro right here.
000:47:13 Mattingly (onboard): ...[garble] my goody bag.
000:47:14 Young (onboard): You don't want to do that.
000:47:15 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, okay.
000:47:17 Young (onboard): It can't get loose unless somebody bumps it.
000:47:19 Mattingly (onboard): Well, where did you put it?
000:47:20 Young (onboard): Right there. See?
000:47:22 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000:47:23 Young (onboard): Isn't that neat?
000:47:24 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. I've got to...
000:47:25 Young (onboard): I could have nailed it right up here to this Velcro, but I don't think [garble]...
000:47:27 Mattingly (onboard): Well, here, I've been using this little goody bag and getting my stuff emptied out of it.
000:47:31 Duke (onboard): Okay, here come the TSBs you guys.
Charlie Duke has finally unstowed the Temporary Stowage Bags.
000:47:35 Young (onboard): Old TSB Charlie.
000:47:36 Duke (onboard): It is so white and pretty.
000:47:39 Young (onboard): Kind of like our suits.
The TSBs are probably made of Beta Cloth which is actually teflon-covered glass fibre. This is the same fireproof material which the outer space suit garments are made of.
000:47:40 Duke (onboard): Who wants one? Ken, there's one for you.
000:47:43 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I'll be with it in a second, as soon as I get my things put in here.
000:47:51 Young (onboard): (Singing) I'll be dancing [garble]...
000:47:53 Duke (onboard): [Garble] be right in front of us on these, are there? They're all the same.
000:47:54 Young (onboard): ...before I leave.
000:47:56 Mattingly (onboard): I don't think there's any difference. I think it's like - like ... Okay. Oh, [garble] I was gonna put this thing back once you get the CMC up.
000:48:17 Duke (onboard): Okay, John, here's one for you.
000:48:19 Young (onboard): Oh, that's sure nice, Charlie. I'm sure glad you gave me that TSB.
000:48:22 Duke (onboard): I thought you'd like that.
000:48:24 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, how about the...
000:48:25 Duke (onboard): Aren't - aren't I supposed to put some cameras and mags back in here? In U-l?
000:48:30 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, I think that's [garble] yet, Charlie.
000:48:31 Duke (onboard): Okay. I'll leave it [garble]...
000:48:32 Mattingly (onboard): I'm taking one last look at my sextant - my telescope here...
000:48:34 Duke (onboard): Leave it at [garble]...
000:48:36 Mattingly (onboard): ...before I screw up on it.
000:48:37 Young (onboard): Oh, ho.
000:48:39 Mattingly (onboard): I got a star in it now.
000:48:40 Young (onboard): Hee, hee. Hee, hee, hee. It got away from me. Come back here, you [garble] [laughter].
000:48:49 Mattingly (onboard): Gosh, this is mag - Oh, look at those pretty stars. Look at that. Oh.
000:49:08 Duke (onboard): Okay, GDC Align is all we got left.
And back to Serial 19 on Page L2-15 GDC Align.
000:49:12 Young (onboard): Okay, Charlie. I'll align the old GDC. That'll be roll 180...
000:49:17 Mattingly (onboard): I know, I couldn't be looking at Denebola again, but...
000:49:21 Young (onboard): Can you see a pattern?
000:49:23 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, I don't recognize it. It's brighter than heck. It looked like Denebola, but...
000:49:26 Young (onboard): [Garble] constellation is [garble].
000:49:27 Mattingly (onboard): I bet it is.
000:49:34 Duke (onboard): See, the horizon is beginning to light up.
000:49:46 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, and I just won me a beer.
See 000:52:00.
000:49:49 Young (onboard): What's that?
000:49:50 Mattingly (onboard): Well, maybe I didn't here. What's going on?
000:50:01 Duke (onboard): I'm turning up S-band volume for the...
Charlie Duke is now onto Serial 25 on Page L2-17 of the Checklist, ready for Acquisition of Signal from Carnarvon, Australia at 000:52:21.
000:50:03 Mattingly (onboard): Oh-oh...
000:50:04 Duke (onboard): ...Canaries [sic - means Carnarvon] check.
000:50:05 Mattingly (onboard): ...I wonder.
000:50:06 Young (onboard): Okay, Charlie. We got a little roll drift in the GDC and a little yaw drift, but we don't have a heck of a lot of other, and it's - Goldang, it's been running for 50 minutes, and it's off 5 degrees in yaw - 5 degrees in yaw - and we're on Rate 2, so you don't really know. And two degrees in pitch - Heck, I'll take that. And - and 8 degrees in roll for 50 minutes. That's with the BMAGs [garble]. That ain't really all that bad.
The Attitude Reference sub-system takes its reference from the Body Mounted Attitude Gyros (BMAGs). These are "strapped down" gyros, in that they are fixed to the spacecraft structure and allowed to move only in one axis (one "degree-of- freedom"). BMAG 1 normally provides attitude error information, BMAG 2 normally provides attitude rate information. The gyros in the BMAGs are intended to provide relatively short-term attitude information, and will tend to drift a little with time. In this case, John Young is quite content with this, especially as he has been using BMAG 2 (Rate 2) to provide the input signals to the FDAIs through the Gyro Display Coupler (GDC).
The BMAGs differ considerably from the gyros on the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) of the Guidance and Navigation System. In the latter, the gyros are mounted on a gimballed (three "degree of freedom") stabilised platform. Typical gyro drift on the IMU was of the order of 0.03 degrees per hour or less.
000:50:44 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, I can even see stars now with the reticule turned on. Is it - guess what I got? Antares!
000:50:55 Young (onboard): Beautiful.
000:50:57 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] It even looked like Scorpio [laughter]. Oh.
Antares is Star 33, in the constellation Scorpio.
000:51:05 Young (onboard): Okay, the GDC's aligned behind - to behind you at 51:05.
000:51:09 Duke (onboard): Mark that down.
000:51:10 Young (onboard): So I get a - then I have that we're on Rate 2, BMAGs.
000:51:15 Duke (onboard): 51:05.
000:51:16 Young (onboard): Yeah, I'm gonna do some scientific research on this thing with my little pen - unless some dingaling give me a [garble] pen [garble].
000:51:31 Duke (onboard): Okay, I - do you want to do this reference comparison - SCS attitude reference comparison check, John?
The SCS Attitude Reference Comparison Check is Checklist Serial 26 on Page L2-17. It is not due until around 000:60, so the crew are slightly ahead of schedule.
000:51:37 Young (onboard): Yeah, but I - can we do it until after we've had some...
000:51:40 Mattingly (onboard): You've got to compile them.
000:51:42 Duke (onboard): Oh, okay. That's right. [Garble] be sure.
000:51:47 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, you beautiful [garble]. You little beauty. Hoo, hoo.
000:51:57 Duke (onboard): Okay, there's the comm coming up.
000:52:00 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I won me a six-pack.
000:52:03 Young (onboard): What's that?
000:52:04 Mattingly (onboard): I said that if I went from Manual, that the optics would drift.
[Download MP3 audio file. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.]
This is Apollo Control, Houston at 51 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. We're standing by. We have begun to acquire data over the Carnarvon pass. We presently show Apollo 16 with an orbit of 97 nautical miles by 91 nautical miles. We'll stand by now for conversations that will transpire between the CapCom Gordon Fullerton and the crew of Apollo 16.
That data being received was Instrument Unit data. We now have Acquisition Of Signal with the Command Module.
000:52:07 Fullerton: Apollo 16, Houston through Ca - Carnarvon. Over.
000:52:13 Young: Hello there, Houston. Read you loud and clear.
000:52:15 Mattingly (onboard): Tell them where we are.
000:52:15 Fullerton: You're loud and clear also.
000:52:17 Duke: Okay. Okay, Gordy. We're down through - on page 2-17, Ken's done the P52, and everything is copacetic on all the steps up to that point, and I'll let Ken - Well, I've got the numbers here. He marked on stars 23 and 30. It was - Noun 05 was all balls. Torquing angles were plus 040, plus 031, plus 045, and we torqued them at 38:40. Over.
These are the P52 figures from 000:38:38. The "all balls" refers to zero error in the measured angle between the stars (all zeros).
Break in CM Tape until 000:57:30.
000:52:51 Fullerton: Okay, Charlie. We got that. [Pause.]
000:52:56 Young: And that torquing angle was just super. [Pause.] And you can even see stars.
000:53:07 Fullerton: Very good. [Pause.]
000:53:14 Duke: Man, this is really something, Gordy.
Comm break.
000:54:19 Young: Hey, Gordon. Let me tell you a little bit about the ride.
000:54:25 Fullerton: Okay, stand by one, John. We're discussing the booster data here.
000:54:32 Young: Okay. Pressures look good up here.
000:54:37 Fullerton: Roger.
[Download MP3 audio file. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.]
000:56:15 Fullerton: John, this is Houston. If - if there is nothing startling to report about the ride, we'd rather hold off. We're watching - we're evaluating a need for a possible IU Nav update, and also we're seeing some pressure - overpressure in APS Module Number 2. We'll give you a full story on that over Honeysuckle. [Pause.]
000:56:41 Young: Okay, I - No, there's nothing really spectacular different to report on the ride. We'll hold off on that.
000:56:51 Fullerton: Okay.
Long comm break.
This is Apollo Control Houston. The rate pressure referred to there was on one of the attitude control engines. Readings here on the ground indicated it's about 100 psi [pounds per square inch, (690 kPa)] above the normal. We're at 57 minutes Ground Elapsed Time, continuing to monitor on this pass. This is Apollo Control Houston.
CM Tape On Again
Ken is unstowing the UV film magazine, bracket and lens, at Serial 20 on Page L2-15.
000:57:30 Young (onboard): Can you handle this, Charlie?
000:57:32 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Yeah, I can handle one of them.
000:57:34 Young (onboard): Want me to unstow your panel here?
000:57:39 Duke (onboard): No, no. Huh-uh. I don't [garble]...
000:57:40 Young (onboard): [Garble] do that.
000:57:48 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble] as crummy in zero g as they are on the ground ....
000:58:00 Mattingly (onboard): John?
000:58:01 Young (onboard): Yeah.
000:58:02 Mattingly (onboard): Got a [garble] that's coming up by your sh - [garble] that's your shoulder. Your [garble] right? No, [garble] going the wrong way. That'll get it. Okay, and here's the UV magazine. It goes over by Charlie.
000:58:22 Young (onboard): Okay. What was that? I just keep handing them to Charlie. I don't know what he's [garble]...
000:58:29 Duke (onboard): Well, wait a minute, now. I'm getting my hands full here.
000:58:31 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Well, the UV thing is the one that goes in - goes in that [garble]...
000:58:35 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Okay, John. You hold the camera and pass me the UV thing.
000:58:47 Mattingly (onboard): John, you got your hands full?
000:58:48 Young (onboard): Yeah. I'll take it.
000:58:49 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I'll wait.
000:58:50 Young (onboard): What do you need?
000:58:51 Mattingly (onboard): I got two TV cables here.
000:58:52 Young (onboard): Oh, heck. I can take the...
000:58:54 Mattingly(onboard): All right. The rest of this stuff I'm going to just go ahead and put up in the - in - my little stowage place up here, I think - while I'm here. Don't see any reason why not. Why not? Oh, you're gonna earn your pay today. I know you do good work ...
000:59:38 Mattingly (onboard): [Singing] De-de-dum-dum. Do-bee-do-dah-do-beedo - bee-do. (whistling) You're right. That camera did very well without practice.
000:59:58 Duke (onboard): [Laughter]
001:00:26 Young (onboard): [Garble] could have gone all day without telling about that.
001:00:28 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
001:00:29 Young (onboard): That ain't no problem, but [garble] those dingalings.
John Young is irritated at Mission Control...
001:00:33 Mattingly (onboard): Oh? Why do you say that, John?
001:00:35 Young (onboard): Well, I mean, I don't want to know there's a APS overpressure rate. What the heck can I do about it?
001:00:40 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, I guess...
001:00:41 Young (onboard): But I - I don't have no gauges to be alert for it, or what? Well, if they want me to take some positive action, like putting on my helmet and gloves, why - they ought to say so, don't you reckon?
001:00:52 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, but I think we - at least, I have badgered them so much about - you know - just [garble] looking at something, that maybe...
[Download MP3 audio file. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.]
This is Apollo Control, Houston. One hour Ground Elapsed Time, continuing with the pass over Carnarvon and Honeysuckle.
Break in CM Tape until 001:03:33.
[Download MP3 audio file. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.]
001:02:03 Fullerton: Apollo 16, Houston through Honeysuckle. Over.
001:02:07 Duke: Go ahead, Gordon.
Diagram of the Auxiliary Propulsion System.
001:02:09 Fullerton: Okay. I'll give you all the story on the APS module problem. Evidently APS module number 2, which is our one on top of the vehicle, the one that would cause you to pitch away from the Earth; the primary helium regulator there has failed to the backup, and the backup isn't regulating properly. Normally, it should hold around 190 psi [1,310 kPa]. This pressurizes both fuel and oxidizer. And it has gradually increased now up around the 320 [psi, 2,200 kPa] range. And there's a relief valve which will relieve helium pressure at 325 [psi, 2,240 kPa] and reseat when the pressure gets down to 225 [psi, 1,550 kPa]. There should be a gradual loss of helium. We'll have a better hack at the States pass as to when you could expect a deplete. But should you lose control in orbit, go to the procedure on [Page] L2-10 for Service Module RCS control of the S-IVB. Over.
At its base, the S-IVB stage has two thruster units, one on either side. Known as the APS (Auxiliary Propulsion System), each one has two thrusters facing to either side of the unit which can rotate the stage in yaw or roll. Each also has one facing away from the stage which allows control of pitch, and one facing the same direction as the main J-2 engine. This last is used as a ullage motor to help push the propellants to the bottom of their tanks and give a head of pressure in the propellant lines. (A8FJ)
001:03:11 Duke: Roger. [Long pause.]
CM Tape on again
001:03:33 Duke (onboard): Well, Ken, you might have your work cut out for you.
001:03:36 Mattingly: (onboard): It sure sounds that way.
001:03:40 Young (onboard): Well, shoot. Now I've got to set up ORDEAL. Can I call Verb 83?
Verb 83 calls up a Rendezvous Parameter Display routine on the DSKY. In this case, John Young wants to read the angle to the local horizontal (theta) display so that he can set the FDAI to the current pitch attitude as he initialises the ORDEAL.
001:03:46 Mattingly (onboard): Yes, sir. Go ahead.
001:03:48 Duke (onboard): Look at that sunrise coming up, you guys.
001:03:51 Young (onboard): Oh, yeah?
001:03:52 Duke (onboard): [Laughter]
001:03:52 Fullerton: [Apollo] 16, we're just about to LOS. The pressure shows right - in fact, a little bit above the relief pressure. We'll have to wait 'til the States to get a real good handle on how it's gonna deplete. Over.
001:04:06 Young: Roger. [quoted as Duke in Tech transcript.]
Very long comm break.
This is Apollo Control, Houston at 1 hour, 4 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. We've just had Loss Of Signal with Honeysuckle. The problem discussed between CapCom Gordon Fullerton and the crew of Apollo 16 was one relating to the APS, the Attitude [means Auxiliary] Propulsion System aboard the S-IVB and it deals with the regulator pressures on one of the - one of the APS, APS number 2. The normal reading is around 190 psi [1310 kPa]. We've shown an increase in the range of 320 psi [2,200 kPa]. This system relieves at 325 psi [2,240 kPa] and reseats once the number backs off to 225 psi [1,550 kPa]. These are helium pressures that are being read. We're now at 1 hour, 5 minutes Ground Elapsed Time, and we will switch to Kennedy Space Center for the News Conference which will shortly be in progress.
001:04:07 Mattingly (onboard): Sunrise out there?
001:04:08 Duke (onboard): Yeah, it's coming up. See it. On the horizon.
001:04:12 Mattingly (onboard): Oh! Oh, look at that! Isn't that - Holy smokes. Have you ever seen anything like that?
001:04:25 Young (onboard): [Garble] beautiful?
001:04:27 Mattingly (onboard): Oh.
001:04:28 Duke (onboard): That is really bright.
001:04:30 Mattingly (onboard): Man, that is - Gosh!
001:04:34 Duke (onboard): Hey, what does that mean to us now, is this - on this APS module.
001:04:37 Mattingly (onboard): Data [garble]. Get a hold of the - [laughter] It doesn't need APS for - it needs its attitude control.
001:04:45 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah. It doesn't have anything to do with TLI. How do we get our LM? You got your UV shade in the window, have you, Charlie?
Ken Mattingly is suggesting that if the APS module fails, the S-IVB's J-2 engine will be able to steer the spacecraft correctly. However, if the S-IVB cannot hold its orientation, then the crew could not carry out the docking manoeuvre to allow them to extract the LM from the booster.
001:04:53 Duke (onboard): Yes.
001:04:54 Mattingly (onboard): Did you have any trouble getting it in?
001:04:55 Duke (onboard): Nope.
001:04:56 Mattingly (onboard): You said something about getting it in.
001:04:57 Duke (onboard): I had it in backwards.
001:04:58 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Because that UV is - is a-coming at us. Okay, I'm gonna start unstowing some Flight Data File stuff - PAD updates.
001:05:11 Duke (onboard): Man, I think we've had sunrise.
001:05:15 Mattingly (onboard): You're right. Look how pretty it is. Now, how do we [garble]...
001:05:22 Duke (onboard): Hey, Ken, where can we put this - the cover for the TV lens? It doesn't have a piece of velcro.
001:05:26 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, okay. I'll - I'll put it down here with my optics cover - where I keep my optics in this little [garble] pouch.
001:05:36 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001:05:37 Mattingly (onboard): Right down here.
001:05:38 Duke (onboard): Right.
001:05:51 Mattingly (onboard): All the time we saved with that, I thought we would [garble].
001:06:17 Young (onboard): Well, I got an idea. We could get - we could do Verb 46, pitch it out of attitude, so it'd have to fire that APS module, and get back in.
John Young is thinking about how they might reduce the helium pressure in the APS. One option is deliberately to pitch the spacecraft away from the correct attitude using the Verb 46 procedure for direct control of the booster, then let it fire the APS to correct the resulting pitch error.
001:06:25 Mattingly (onboard): Well...
001:06:26 Duke (onboard): Then it wouldn't [garble].
001:06:27 Mattingly (onboard): Trouble is, there's too much backing up [garble] determine [garble].
001:06:32 Young (onboard): Well, the pressurization looks good. We got to get it down. What - what he's saying really is, we got to empty some of that fuel out of there. Right?
001:06:40 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah. What do you think?
001:06:47 Duke (onboard): Well, like he says - it seems to me what he means is that - is that the thing's just going to deplete the helium in there.
001:07:00 Mattingly (onboard): That's [garble]. It do seem like helium did that.
001:07:11 Young (onboard): Okay, get to those procedures on that page, and tell me what they are.
001:07:19 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, that - that would be where? In what?
001:07:43 Young (onboard): Flight Data File plus Dr. Spock's baby book.
Dr. Spock's 1946 book Baby and Child Care, was the most influential child-rearing book of the 1950s and 1960s, and a massive best-seller. It claimed to cover most eventualities that parents would meet with when rearing a child. The Flight Data File is the main set of reference documents carried on the spacecraft. It contains the checklists, manuals, charts, and more. It weighs about 9 kg (20lb).
001:07:49 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter.] You're kidding.
001:07:50 Duke (onboard): [Laughter.] Oh.
001:07:58 Mattingly (onboard): Would I be allowed to take a picture out here? (Laughter )
001:08:02 Young (onboard): [Garble].
001:08:05 Mattingly (onboard): You want the spotmeter?
001:08:07 Young (onboard): No, I'll Just use it 250 , f - f/8 and [garble]...
001:08:18 Mattingly (onboard): Flight Plan, Volume 1, [garble] Data Book. Data we essentially won't need for a while.
001:08:33 Young (onboard): Oh, [garble]. That's nice.
001:08:38 Duke (onboard): What, John?
001:08:40 Young (onboard): I got the dark slide in.
To allow the Hasselblad film to be changed, a light-proof slide has to be inserted between the film and the camera body. Leaving this slide in place while trying to take a picture is a very basic mistake that is made by most Hasselblad users at some time or other.
001:08:41 Duke and Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter]
001:08:42 Young (onboard): Dang it.
001:08:44 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter.] Oh, you're off to a good start, leader.
001:08:50 Mattingly (onboard): Lunar orbit chart.
001:08:53 Young (onboard): I got an Earth orbit chart here, but I don't think anybody really cares. Do you?
001:08:56 Duke (onboard): No.
001:08:59 Mattingly (onboard): There's one over there that's supposed to be [garble].
001:09:11 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, Charlie. I'm going to give you R12.
R12 is the Flight Data File container.
001:09:15 Duke (onboard): Yeah, wait a minute. I got to get this...
001:09:16 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. You want me to get that? The last three times, I've been able to just walk up there and put it in.
001:09:22 Duke (onboard): Yeah, naturally, the flight one doesn't have a color code on it. {Garble].
001:09:31 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, that's a - we're not - are we up on the States yet?
001:09:34 Duke (onboard): No, huh -uh.
001:09:37 Young(onboard): No. We're at 01:09. Where does that put us, Charlie?
001:09:41 Duke (onboard): Hey, your docking probe thing is out over here, your docking light.
Charlie Duke has noticed that the docking light has been deployed. This is a light mounted on a door in the SM just behind the CM. When initially selected On, the door is opened by a spring and the spotlight comes on to provide a 10-degree wide light beam pointing along the spacecraft X-axis.
001:09:45 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah.
001:09:46 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001:09:47 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, come on [garble]...
001:09:48 Young (onboard): Yeah. It stays out.
001:09:50 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001:09:51 Mattingly (onboard): We couldn't be in the States, could we?
001:09:52 Duke (onboard): Come on [garble].
001:09:53 Young (onboard): We're at an hour and 9 minutes.
001:09:54 Mattingly (onboard): Where's that? That's darn close.
001:09:56 Young (onboard): No, it ain't .
001:09:57 Mattingly (onboard): Isn't it? Well - didn't I see some land go underneath us?
001:09:59 Young (onboard): No, you didn't.
001:10:02 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter.] Okay, Charlie. [Garble] go in there.
001:10:06 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'll get that out of my pocket in a little bit.
001:10:09 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
001:10:10 Young (onboard): Where are we at, though, Charlie? Does it say?
001:10:13 Mattingly (onboard): He talked to us from Carnarvon a few minutes ago.
001:10:15 Duke (onboard): Yeah...
001:10:17 Young (onboard): We're about halfway across the Pacific.
001:10:20 Mattingly (onboard): I thought I saw - maybe that was Hawaii. Huh? I thought I saw some land down there.
001:10:24 Duke (onboard): What the heck? My checklist floated to the wrong page. U.S. AOS (Acquisition of Signal) 01:28.
001:10:33 Young (onboard): Yeah, we're a long way from [garble]. Is there any ship or anything that we'd be talking to between now and then?
001:10:39 Duke (onboard): Nope. You want to do this SCS attitude reference comparison check test?
001:10:45 Young (onboard): Yeah.
This is Serial 26 on the Launch Checklist on Page L2-17.
001:10:46 Duke (onboard): Okay. Verb 16 Noun 20.
001:10:49 Young (onboard): Okay,
001:10:51 Duke (onboard): FDAI Select, 1.
001:10:56 Young (onboard): FDAI Select to 1.
001:10:59 Duke (onboard): Um-mm. FDAI Source, Att Set.
001:11:01 Young (onboard): Att Set. Go.
001:11:04 Duke (onboard): Att Set to GDC.
001:11:05 Young (onboard): Att Set to GDC.
001:11:06 Duke (onboard): Att Set dials, null FDAI 1 error needle.
001:11:09 Young (onboard): Okay.
001:11:23 Young (onboard): Okay. Okay, and...
001:11:28 Duke (onboard): Okay, key V - Null the needles. Key Verb when nulled. Freeze display. And then...
001:11:36 Young (onboard): Okay, key - key Verb when nulled. Freeze display. Okay -
001:11:46 Young (onboard): Mark it.
001:11:47 Duke (onboard): Okay, give me from the DSKY roll, pitch, and yaw.
001:11:53 Young (onboard): Well, I key released it. Let me [garble]...
001:11:55 Mattingly (onboard): A LM chart? Oh, it's a Duke book.
Ken is going through the Flight Data File.
001:11:58 Duke (onboard): Yeah, there's a lot of LM stuff in there.
001:11:59 Young (onboard): [Laughter]
001:12:02 Mattingly (onboard): Man, I don't understand why I got an AOT [Alignment Optical Telescope] tag. It's not the [garble]...
001:12:13 Young (onboard): Okay, Verb. Go.
001:12:14 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001:12:15 Young (onboard): 179.79. [Roll]
001:12:19 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001:12:20 Young (onboard): Plus 086.86. [Pitch] That's on the DSKY. Plus 000.78 [Yaw].
001:12:28 Duke (onboard): 000.78. Okay.
001:12:29 Young (onboard): Yeah.
001:12:30 Duke (onboard): What are the thumbwheels?
001:12:31 Young (onboard): Thumbwheels say 178.4.
001:12:36 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001:12:37 Young (onboard): Pitch is 088.2.
001:12:41 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001:12:42 Young (onboard): Yaw is 356.2.
001:12:44 Duke (onboard): What's your time?
001:12:47 Young (onboard): Time is - 1 hour, 12 minutes and 45 seconds.
001:12:52 Duke (onboard): : Okay, that's nine at 21-minute check, and we got one degree on roll, got two degrees on - 1½ degrees pitch, and about 4 degrees yaw. FDAI Select 1/2, John.
001:13:14 Young (onboard): Okay. Well, tell me what that thing on Page 2 - whatchacallit says, Charlie.
001:13:24 Duke (onboard): Dash 10.
John Young and Charlie Duke are now looking at Page 2-10 of the Launch Checklist, which provides a procedure for controlling the S-IVB attitude using the Service Module Reaction Control System in the event of an APS module failure. This is precisely the failure that they are concerned may occur due to the excessive APS helium pressure. They now start rehearsing the procedure that they might have to follow.
001:13:33 Duke (onboard): Okay. Spacecr - Service Module RCS control of S-IVB. Launch Vehic - If APS module failed, Launch Vehicle Guidance, CMC; Manual Attitude Roll, Minimum Impulse.
001:13:45 Young (onboard): Okay.
001:13:46 Duke (onboard): CB [circuit breaker] SECS Arm, two [of], close. Auto RCS Select, Pitch and Yaw, Off.
001:13:53 Young (onboard): CB SECS Arm, two, closed?
[See explanation of the SECS Pyros at 002:13:46.
001:13:55 Duke > (onboard): Yeah.
001:13:56 Young (onboard): Yeah? Okay [garble] get the [garble] on this here.
001:14:01 Duke (onboard): Okay, then we got turn off - turn on - put A/C Roll to Main B, and B/D Roll to Main A. Then RCS Command to On.
001:14:10 Young (onboard): A/C Roll to Main B, B/D Roll to Main A.
001:14:21 Mattingly (onboard): Want to give me your boost cards?
001:14:22 Young (onboard): Why do we do that? [Garble].
001:14:23 Mattingly (onboard): I'm sorry.
001:14:24 Duke (onboard): To get - to get commands - to get roll commands. Here - here's one, Ken.
001:14:30 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, are you through with that?
001:14:32 Duke (onboard): Yeah, I'll just leave the landing card up here. Okay?
The landing card will only be needed if the crew have to abort the mission and return to Earth...
001:14:34 Mattingly (onboard): All righty.
001:14:35 Young (onboard): Oh, shoot.
001:14:36 Duke (onboard): Okay, you want to take it down? I don't care.
001:14:38 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] I'd like a more positive approach, Charlie. John, you want to give me some of your...
001:14:44 Duke (onboard): Wait a minute. Let me have the - L - the Boost cards back. It's got the TLI no-go's on it.
The crew still need the Boost reference cards for Trans Lunar Injection.
001:14:50 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Well, that's - this one?
001:14:54 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
001:14:55 Mattingly (onboard): There you go.
Charlie Duke is continuing to go through the contingency procedures.
001:14:56 Duke (onboard): Okay. Okay, then after that, the booster - guy he confir - he commands the burn mode.
001:15:06 Mattingly (onboard): These two over there?
001:15:21 Duke (onboard): Says if that's successful and we get control, the Launch Vehicle Guidance back to IU; we control pitch and yaw with THC, roll with RHC. Allow S-IVB to drift in pitch, gravity gradient. Control yaw within platform limits. Perform normal procedures except Time Base 6 minus 15 minutes, manoeuvre to TLI attitude and set up ORDEAL. Hold TLI attitude until ignition. Null ullage deviations with service module RCS. After ignition, RCS Command, Off. Auto RCS Select, 16, Main A, Main B. Manual Attitude, three, to Rate Command. After cut-off, go back to CMC. Manual Attitude, three, Accel Command. RCS Command, On.
Charlie Duke is providing a very short summary of the contingency procedure. Roughly translated, the crew first select the launch vehicle to be controlled by the Command Module Computer, then select the Reaction Control System to the appropriate mode. Mission control then set up the correct Launch Vehicle mode for the impending TLI burn. Launch Vehicle guidance is then returned to the Instrument Unit systems, so that the correct steering commands will be generated.
The crew can then control spacecraft pitch and yaw attitude with the Translational Hand Controller and its roll attitude with the Rotational Hand Controller].
The S-IVB is initially allowed to drift in pitch, allowing it to adopt the "gravity gradient" orientation, under which gravity will pull it gradually into vertical alignment with respect to the Earth. This minimises the use of RCS fuel, although it puts the S-IVB and CSM in an orientation that will cause more drag than its normal alignment pointing along the orbital track. It must be remembered that the spacecraft is still subject to the Earth's gravity field while in orbit, and that it is still low enough to feel the effects of Earth's atmosphere.
The crew meantime control the S-IVB's yaw alignment within the spacecraft inertial platform limits.
The crew otherwise follow normal procedures until 15 minutes before Time Base 6, then they manoeuvre to the correct attitude for TLI, and set up the ORDEAL. They then hold the correct TLI attitude until ignition.
When the S-IVB APS fires in the ullage manoeuvre, the crew correct any deviations with the Service Module RCS.
After S-IVB ignition for TLI, the crew select RCS Command Off, Auto RCS Select, 16, Main A, Main B. Manual Attitude, three, to Rate Command.
After the S-IVB cut-off, the crew go back to CMC. Manual Attitude, three, Accel Command. RCS Command, On. This sets the SM RCS back to the state needed for Transposition and Docking.
001:16:15 Young (onboard): Okay. Well, that's a good thing. I'm sure glad you told me that, Charlie. That - there's the Moon.
001:16:20 Duke (onboard): Where?
001:16:21 Young (onboard): Out the front window.
001:16:23 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, John. Would you put my DAC [garble] for me, please?
001:16:26 Young (onboard): Yeah, [garble].
001:16:27 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
001:16:33 Young (onboard): It's awful stiff velcro.
001:16:34 Mattingly (onboard): It goes right over the DSKY. Doesn't it fit there?
001:16:36 Young (onboard): Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! It goes right over the DSKY [laughter].
001:16:41 Mattingly (onboard): It - I mean, it probably really does.
001:16:45 Young (onboard): [Garble]....
001:16:46 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble] on top of that little DSKY. It doesn't fit there?
001:16:48 Young (onboard): Yeah, it does. And that's [garble] coming up.
001:16:57 Duke (onboard): I can't get my head down far enough. Oh, yeah, look at that. That - Ken, you ought to [garble] up here and look at that...
001:17:01 Mattingly (onboard): I don't have the time. I'm getting my - last little chore done here. I got - I think I overdid it.
001:17:09 Young (onboard): Laughter)
001:17:14 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] Things are getting out of hand.
001:17:18 Young (onboard): Well, let's take it f/11, at 250...
001:17:20 Duke (onboard): Are getting kind of what?
001:17:21 Young (onboard): You think in the middle of the day, we should go to f/11, Ken, or f/8 is still good enough?
001:17:26 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I'm just thinking. I've got a little bit of [garble] in that.
001:17:29 Young (onboard): Well, I think f/11 for this time of day is probably the best you can do.
001:17:34 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, we got all the cards we're gonna need now? For TD&E [Transposition, Docking and Ejection of the LM from the S-IVB] and all that stuff, straight through.
001:17:38 Duke (onboard): Gosh.
001:17:39 Mattingly (onboard): I got the Flight Plan out; I got the G&C Checklist; I got the Surface Checklist available; I got the star charts, I got the TLI cards, got the TD&E card in my pocket. Anything else we'd be likely to need?
001:17:54 Duke (onboard): Nope.
001:17:57 Mattingly (onboard): Here's your antenna card. Why don't you just stick that up? [Laughter]
001:18:00 Duke (onboard): Okay, thank you [garble] my copy.
001:18:02 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble].
001:18:05 Duke (onboard): Thank you.
001:18:08 Mattingly (onboard): I think I'm gonna sit down and think some more about that TD&E.
001:18:14 Young (onboard): Okay, there ain't nothing we can do about it if that module ain't holding attitude.
001:18:19 Mattingly (onboard): If it won't hold in attitude, we'll go get it out of attitude.
001:18:21 Young (onboard): That's right.
001:18:22 Duke (onboard): Looks like it's in attitude now.
001:18:24 Mattingly (onboard): Well, it is. I just don't want that little bugger to blow up back there, and get a leak...
001:18:29 Young (onboard): That's exactly what I've been thinking all this time. You know, they ain't never said nothing about that.
001:18:34 Duke (onboard): Well, they got this...
001:18:35 Mattingly (onboard): They said they got that relief valve.
001:18:36 Duke (onboard): They got the relief valve.
001:18:38 Young (onboard): Yeah. God willing, when the relief valve comes through, Charlie.
001:18:44 Mattingly (onboard): But he said it was over the relief pressure, didn't - already, didn't he?
001:18:47 Young (onboard): Something like that...
001:18:48 Duke (onboard): He said that it was - as far as they could tell, it was right at the relief pressure. How can...
001:18:52 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble] you talking about? We don't have double gauge [?]. We didn't start...
001:19:02 Duke (onboard): I'm gonna take this thing - little dealy off here. The official ASPO [Apollo Spacecraft Program Office] circuit breaker putter-inner. Coming off.
It is not clear what this is but there is a fair likelihood that Charlie Duke means his finger!
001:19:16 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I've got a stowage place for it, but it's kind of hard to get to right now.
001:19:19 Young (onboard): Oh, yeah.
001:19:20 Duke (onboard): You just want me to leave it on, then?
001:19:21 Mattingly (onboard): If it's not in your way.
001:19:23 Duke (onboard): No, it's not. I [garble]...
001:19:24 Mattingly (onboard): Why don't we just leave it there until I get a chance to take it down and play with it, because I have a place for it [garble] in.
001:19:30 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001:19:34 Young (onboard): It's right on [garble] should start.
And back to discussing the S-IVB APS.
001:19:37 Mattingly (onboard): Apparently, it's just the regulator. But the helium supply [garble]...
001:19:41 Duke (onboard): Well, they're afraid...
001:19:42 Young (onboard): [Garble] off.
001:19:43 Duke (onboard): ...I think they're gonna give - afraid they're gonna give out of gas.
001:19:47 Mattingly (onboard): Well, that's what I'm afraid of, too.
001:19:50 Young (onboard): It won't start up.
001:19:53 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble]. Get it in?
001:20:14 Mattingly (onboard): What time?
001:20:15 Duke (onboard): [Garble] 01:20.
001:20:29 Young (onboard): A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I said, "The pressure looks good up here." They said, "Well, it ain't your pressure; it's the APS."
001:20:36 Duke (onboard): Oh.
001:20:56 Mattingly (onboard): How's everything up in this old panel look?
001:20:59 Duke (onboard): Fine, Ken.
001:21:00 Young (onboard): This just looks downtown, Charlie and Ken.
001:21:02 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah.
001:21:03 Duke (onboard): Well...
001:21:04 Mattingly (onboard): Well.
001:21:05 Young (onboard): Well.
001:21:07 Mattingly (onboard): Is it ever beautiful.
001:21:08 Duke (onboard): It is ever beautiful.
001:21:18 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, man.
001:21:19 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
001:21:42 Mattingly (onboard): I thought it [garble]...
001:21:43 Young (onboard): You got it wrapped around [garble].
001:21:44 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
001:21:45 Mattingly (onboard): Hot dang.
001:21:46 Duke (onboard): Okay. Twist the other one, Ken, because all the [garble] going around your back.
001:21:49 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, I see what's happened. Yeah.The old [garble] put it on one way, and [garble].
001:22:10 Duke (onboard): What makes the helium pressure - would make it go up?
001:22:14 Young (onboard): The regulator failed to open.
001:22:21 Mattingly (onboard): Did - did you get a picture of all that good stuff, John? I'm sure we got...
001:22:28 Young (onboard): That's 10,000 pictures of horizons and sunrises. I got a picture of the Moon out there [garble] coming up.
001:22:33 Duke (onboard): It's gone.
001:22:34 Mattingly (onboard): Going [garble]...
001:22:35 Young (onboard): ... [Garble] coming up.
001:22:36 Duke (onboard): Supposed to be up.
001:22:48 Young (onboard): Okay, here's [garble] that's gonna get [garble] as about [garble].
001:22:54 Mattingly (onboard): Two [garble].
001:22:55 Duke (onboard): What?
001:22:56 Mattingly (onboard): 220, [garble] you think?
001:22:57 Duke (onboard): 210.
001:22:59 Young (onboard): All that [garble] right after insertion [garble].
001:23:07 Duke (onboard): You can extend the docking probe if you want to.
001:23:10 Young (onboard): We gonna do that over the States?
001:23:12 Duke (onboard): Well, they can't tell.
The docking probe is the complex mechanism at the front of the CM, used to dock to the LM. Although the checklist Serial 27 is termed "Extend Docking Probe", the Serial actually requires an extension and retraction, to check the correct operation of the probe. Without a functional probe, there is no point the crew going ahead with TLI, as they would be unable to dock with the LM. There is no downlink-report of the docking probe, so there is no reason to delay its release until the spacecraft is over the USA in accordance with the Flight Plan's timeline. The crew now proceed to release the probe, following Checklist Serial 27 on Page L2-18.
001:23:14 Mattingly (onboard): Look under...
001:23:15 Young (onboard): Want to hear it go "clunk?" Circuit breakers are in.
001:23:24 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
001:23:25 Young (onboard): Take that and put it somewheres else.
001:23:26 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, shall we? Extend/Release. Cover.
001:23:36 Duke (onboard): There it goes.
001:23:37 Young (onboard): [Garble] what it does.
001:23:38 Mattingly (onboard): And the cabin pressure didn't go up?
001:23:40 Young (onboard): [Garble].
001:23:41 Mattingly (onboard): Oxygen flow [garble] go up. That's also very nice.
001:23:44 Duke (onboard): Did you get the [garble] through?
001:23:45 Mattingly (onboard): No, I just want to make sure it doesn't. Every time I do something mechanical on the spacecraft, I [garble].
001:23:53 Duke (onboard): Okay. Did you go to...
001:23:54 Young (onboard): Just about...
001:23:55 Duke (onboard): Did you go to Retract?
001:23:56 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. [Garble] two gray, just like they told me. Back to...
The probe has reached the fully extended configuration, with two gray talkback indicators. The next stage is to set it to back to Retract.
001:24:10 Young (onboard): [Garble] supposed to leave it there.
001:24:12 Mattingly (onboard): Looks like we leave it in Retract, all right. Talkback gray at full extension. Did all those things. That's all did [sic]. (Sigh) [starts talking to himself about the emergency procedures in case of APS failure.] Got all that stuff unstowed. And hold us on a hold attitude. That means I got to [garble], damp the rate. If we do it, we'll do it with a - I'll make the turnaround in G&N; then we'll go to SCS - Yes, because with the - the proportional control, I can set up a rate that's equivalent to the [garble] one. Okay.
001:24:59 Young (onboard): Lift that [garble] up [garble].
001:25:01 Duke (onboard): Well, yeah. Well [laughter].
001:25:04 Young (onboard): Have to do it [garble].
001:25:07 Mattingly (onboard): The thing I don't want to do is that I don't want to be talking about what we're gonna do and - when they're saying, hurry up and get over here before you lose attitude.
001:25:16 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Did you put the Flight Plans in R-12, Ken?
001:25:18 Mattingly (onboard): You should have Volume One in here.
001:25:20 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001:25:21 Young (onboard): [Garble].
001:25:22 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Why don't you pull that out? Well, you remember we talked about it?
001:25:26 Young (onboard): Yeah, I remember that.
001:25:27 Mattingly (onboard): We went over the procedures on how to dock the thing in [garble]...
001:25:28 Young (onboard): Yeah.
001:25:29 Mattingly (onboard): ...because you get there faster...
001:25:30 Duke (onboard): Well, I hate to tell you, but I forgot to hook up R-12, and [garble]...
001:25:32 Mattingly (onboard): I'll go get it.
001:25:33 Young (onboard): It's just floating. Just reach around there, and it will just float right up.
001:25:35 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Sometime here, before we hit the States or something, I sure would like for us to recap the checklist to make sure we haven't left something out.
001:25:42 Duke (onboard): I've gone over it three times.
001:25:44 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, you have?
001:25:45 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
001:25:46 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
001:25:47 Duke (onboard): Based on the - our...
001:25:49 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I just wanted to make sure that I - you know, there's some - some of my things that I didn't do because you did, and I don't have all of my stuff checked off, I'm sure.
001:25:58 Duke (onboard): Okay, you want me to get the Flight Plan out?
001:26:00 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, I wrote some things in there. I think I got some camera settings [garble].
001:26:06 Young (onboard): 01:28, we come up [garble] States.
001:26:08 Mattingly (onboard): 01:18?
001:26:10 Duke (onboard): 01:28. Here you go, Ken.
001:26:12 Mattingly (onboard): All right. Thank you.
001:26:19 Young (onboard): (Singing) Dum-do-da-dum-da-dee-do-dee-do-do.
001:26:31 Duke (onboard): 01:26. Sure is quiet up here.
001:26:42 Mattingly (onboard): It sure is. Okay, [garble] one coming at [garble].
001:27:05 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, at 01:30 - Just couldn't believe that these [garble], and I'm already so baffled by these things that I wanted to remember about that I need to do. I was trying so hard to remember times and things; and there just wasn't any way.
001:27:25 Duke (onboard): Well, I'll tell you, all I was doing was holding on to that ascent [garble].
001:27:28 Mattingly (onboard): Man, when that thing started to shake [laughter]...
001:27:31 Young (onboard): Oh, [garble] at staging?
001:27:33 Duke (onboard): No.
001:27:34 Mattingly (onboard): No. The...
001:27:35 Mattingly:/Duke (onboard): Lift-off.
001:27:36 Mattingly (onboard): Just in general.
001:27:37 Young (onboard): Oh, I mean, that's for sure.
001:27:40 Mattingly (onboard): Well, it's just like everybody said. They said it's like being on a freight train on a rough track. [Laughter] That's really weird. And when the...
001:27:51 Young (onboard): The only thing that I didn't recognize was - there was a little ripple of pogo that kind of built up and died out to - to - to about 09:07 in the S-II burn, and then it quit at - and then after - after the engine shut down, I felt a little pogo.
001:28:07 Mattingly (onboard): After the engine shut down, you felt pogo?
001:28:08 Young (onboard): After center engine shutdown.
001:28:10 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, in the S-II?
001:28:11 Young (onboard): Yeah.
001:28:12 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, it quit at 09:05. I remember that number.
001:28:14 Young (onboard): Yeah, 09:07.
001:28:15 Mattingly (onboard): And it was - Yeah. And it was - the thing that bugged me was that the pogo or the buzz that we got in the S-IV was the same frequency; makes me think maybe that was coming from, not from the booster, but from the understage or something like that. Because it was a - I would have expected to, you know, to get a frequency change, wouldn't you?
001:28:40 Young (onboard): [Garble] I wouldn't even think about it anymore. Okay, there's the coast of - of Baja.
001:28:48 Duke (onboard): Yes, sir.
001:28:52 Mattingly (onboard): Look at him out there ahead.
001:28:54 Duke (onboard): Look. Yeah, way ahead.
001:28:58 Young (onboard): You know that center window isn't too good for that. Charlie, do you want to see if you get to take a pic - picture, or do you think it's worthwhile?
001:29:06 Duke (onboard): Well, I don't know.
001:29:09 Young (onboard): Huh? I got so much junk in the window, I can't do it.
001:29:13 Mattingly (onboard): Like my [garble].
001:29:14 Young (onboard): Yeah. Very good.
AS16-118-18857
001:29:15 Duke (onboard): Yeah, give me - give me the camera.
001:29:17 Young (onboard): Yeah, well, I got it set up at f/11, infinity...
001:29:21 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, how about let's record the - what you take pictures of and things like this and all that [garble] and how to do it.
001:29:25 Duke (onboard): Yeah, well, here comes...
AS16-118-18858
001:29:27 Mattingly (onboard): You took - did you just take one, John?
001:29:29 Young (onboard): No, I took two, one of which was the - No, that was the - it was the thunderstorm that really attracted me down there...
001:29:38 Duke (onboard): Okay, that's Baja down there.
AS16-118-18859
001:29:40 Young (onboard): Yeah.
[Download MP3 audio file. Clip courtesy John Stoll, ACR Senior Technician at NASA Johnson.]
This is Apollo Control, Houston at 1 hour, 29 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. We presently show Apollo 16 in an orbit of 96 nautical miles [177 km] by 94 nautical miles [174 km]. When we pick up over our State-side pass, we expect to have seen a relief cycle with the regulator on the attitude control system Mod. Number 2 before we lost data over Australia. We have been noting an increase in the pressures on APS number 2. The one other point to bear in mind is that one module can control the spacecraft during the TLI burn since the only movement during that burn would be in roll. We're at 1 hour, 30 minutes. We're standing by now for acquisition. This is Apollo Control, Houston.
001:29:43 Mattingly (onboard): Why don't you read off and tell me what you got there, Charlie?
001:29:45 Duke (onboard): Okay, frame count number [garble]...
001:29:47 Young (onboard): You got signal strength yet?
001:29:48 Duke (onboard): Not yet.
001:29:49 Mattingly (onboard): You on the right antenna?
Drawing of antennae locations.
At this stage in the mission, the crew are using four small S-band antennae on the CM to communicate with the Earth. These are flush-mounted, 90 degrees apart. Each antenna broadcasts and receives in a roughly hemispherical pattern, so the crew must select the one facing Earth to ensure reception.
001:29:51 Young (onboard): [Garble] now.
001:29:52 Duke (onboard): Yeah, well, I don't know.
001:29:54 Mattingly (onboard): Well, let's do that the first [garble].
001:29:55 Duke (onboard): Well, we have it - orb rate. We ought to be...
001:29:59 Mattingly (onboard): We ought to be on the top one, or we ought to be on B or D.
001:30:05 Duke (onboard): We're on B [garble].
001:30:10 Mattingly (onboard): All right [garble] we get it. We get a signal right now.
001:30:19 Duke (onboard): It's about a minute late.
001:30:31 Young (onboard): You got our VHFs [Very High Frequency radios] going?
001:30:33 Duke (onboard): [Garble].
001:30:42 Young (onboard): No signal strength, huh?
001:30:44 Duke (onboard): Not a thing.
001:30:54 Duke (onboard): Look at that. That [garble].
From the context, it seems that the crew have seen the contrail of a high-flying aircraft.
001:30:57 Young (onboard): I don't worry about any jet. Let's worry about a little comm here. [Garble].
001:31:02 Duke (onboard):There it comes. There it comes.
001:31:05 Young: Hello, Houston. How are you doing?
Prior to comprehensive audio recordings becoming available, there was often some difficulty in determining what the real conversation was at some points in the mission. For this last utterance, the three transcripts all give different versions. In the Command Module transcript, we have "Hello Houston, are you there," but in the Technical transcript, it is quoted as "Duke: OK, Houston. How are you doing," while in the Public Affair Office transcript it is "CapCom: How are you doing". The audio recording revealed that it was John speaking though he come through very faint with "Hello, Houston. How are you doing?"
001:31:07 Duke (onboard): Be - Let them get locked up, John.
001:31:11 Young (onboard): Now you got signal strength; they ain't locked up yet.
001:31:13 Duke (onboard): Well, it's coming up Max now. Okay, you should have them.
Previous Index Next
Day 1, part 1: Launch and Reaching Earth Orbit Journal Home Page Day 1, Part 3: Second Earth Orbit and Translunar Injection