019:51:21 - This is Apollo Control at 19 hours, 51 minutes. On the telemetry data that we have here in the Control Center, we're watching as the spacecraft is automatically killing off its rates, in preparation for setting up its Passive Thermal Control mode. They're getting the vehicles very stable, and they're measuring rate changes in thousandths of a degree per second. And when it is as essentially as stable as it appears possible to get it, they'll then fire the thrusters, to begin rolling at a slow 3 revolutions per hour rate. This is the second Passive Thermal Control mode established.
019:52:11 Overmyer: The rates are looking good, they're damped adequately. We're ready for spin-up. [Pause.]
019:52:20 Cernan: Okay, Bob.
Comm break.
019:52:35 - The crew set up the spacecraft in the Passive Thermal Control mode before their previous sleep period and experienced no difficulties, and they appear to be going very smoothly in this Passive Thermal Control setup. You heard CapCom Robert Overmeyer, who's come in to relieve CapCom Gordon Fullerton, advise them that the rates have been killed off sufficiently to begin rotating the vehicles now.
019:54:40 Cernan: Okay, Gordo. We're in PTC. Or, Bob, I guess you're down there now.
019:54:51 Overmyer: Roger, Gene. [Long pause.]
019:55:36 Schmitt: Bob, did you ever find out what part of Antarctica we were seeing at various Earth orientations?
019:55:46 Overmyer: Jack, I've - I tried that this afternoon, and I couldn't get hold of anybody, and I looked on a map for a while, and I - I'm not sure where Little America was. I can't truthfully say I did it - get it. I'll keep looking at it.
019:55:59 Schmitt: Okay. I - at any rate, it looks like there's a very well-developed front coming out of the northwestern portion of Antarctic ice shelf. And - and it - let's see here. Well, stand by 1.
019:56:25 Overmyer: Roger.
019:56:26 Schmitt: Have to change windows. [Long pause.]
019:58:42 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. That front looks like it starts and develops as a small... [pause] It actually seems to start with an anticyclone development off the coast of Antarctica. Moves up across New Zealand, looks like the South Island primarily, a little bit of the North Island is still visible, and into the eastern coast of Australia. And I'll give you a spot where it intersects and crosses the whole of Australia. However, it - it breaks up and is not very well formed, once it gets inland away from the coast. I see no well-developed waves on it at this time, so it's hard to say how strong it is. There might be one developing just to the south of New Zealand or right off the coast of New Zealand.
019:59:55 Overmyer: Roger. I copy that, Jack.
019:59:58 Schmitt: There at least is some sinusoidal motion or appearance to the front [garble]. And you'll have to wait, because I lost it again.
020:00:16 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]
020:00:22 Schmitt: I took two 5 - two 50-millimeter pictures. Mag November November is on 132.
020:00:33 Overmyer: Roger. November November on 132. Those are pictures of the...
020:00:39 Schmitt: And that was the... [Long pause.]
020:00:51 Overmyer: Jack, Houston. Was that - were those pictures of those fronts you're talking about?
020:02:39 - That was Jack Schmitt giving us the description of the weather patterns developing off the northwest coast of Antarctica and extending up towards New Zealand and Australia. Apollo 17 at the present time is about 85,500 nautical miles [158,350 km] from Earth and situated over the south Pacific. The spacecraft now essentially fixed with the respect to the Earth and Moon, but the Earth rotating beneath it as the Earth rotates...
020:03:14 Schmitt: Bob, I got our orbital map out now, and that front is going off across to the coast of Australia north of Sydney and largely a little south of Brisbane and - and swings across the whole of Australia and seems to come - near as I can tell, go by into the Indian Ocean about - well, where the Great Sandy Desert intersects the northwestern coast of Australia.
020:07:15 Overmyer: 17, I've got a Flight Plan update here. [Pause.]
020:07:23 Schmitt: Stand by, please.
020:07:24 Overmyer: Rog. It's just a short one. One item to change.
020:07:31 Schmitt: Well, if you saw my hands right now [laughter], you'd know why I said wait 1.
020:07:34 Overmyer: Understand. I'm just - just waiting for your call. Just didn't want you to think we're going to give you a whole rafter of it.
020:07:43 Schmitt: Oh, we know you wouldn't do that. [Long pause.]
020:08:03 Overmyer: If you're eating, Jack, just go ahead and eat. This is nothing that can - we can just wait, and any time, just go ahead.
020:08:11 Schmitt: Yeah, I'm not panicking. [Long pause.]
020:09:13 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. Go with the update, and LM/CM Delta-P at 20 plus 09 [garble].
020:09:30 Overmyer: Want you to know, Jack, we just cut out by the antenna switching. Say again the LM/CM Delta-P.
020:09:36 Schmitt: Okay, 0.6 at 20 plus 09.
020:09:43 Overmyer: Roger. Okay. My update is just simply on the bottom of page 3-23 at 2300 hours in the Flight Plan or 23 hours in the Flight Plan. "Waste Stowage Vent valve, Closed." Just delete that one, and move it over to 24:30, That's because you got started late on that.
020:10:10 Schmitt: Okay. You could've just said, move it.
020:10:12 Overmyer: Okay. Just change it down to 24:30.
020:12:00 Schmitt: Okay. Bob - about revision one on my previous discussion of the weather around Australia. That front does cross - probably Brisbane is probably cloudy. It does cross about that area, and - however, there is a bank of clouds that runs off of it down the coastline. So Sydney is either cloudy or has some pretty nice clouds off - off shore. And the remnants of the front as it dissipates in the hinterland of Australia dies out at about the Great Sandy Desert, and there is not a good indication that it crosses into the Ind - Indian Ocean. But we're getting over near the LM, and that's a little hard to tell.
020:12:53 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]
020:13:03 Schmitt: Now, it - more - looks more and more like the cyclone circulation developing right over the top of New Zealand; the South island, I think. And now I'm looking with the binoc, and as much - that anticyclone circulation is centered on the ice shelf. And I think that - well, I just don't know - I think that's the Ross Ice Shelf, but I'm not sure, off Antarctica. And the clouds from that circulation do extend over the ice shelf and barely onto the Antarctic con - continent.
020:13:45 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. [Long pause.]
020:13:58 Schmitt: Now to the north of Antarctica. [Pause.] Let's see now. I ought to give you a better orientation than that. But, anyway, there is a large cyclone circulation pattern that has its southern extremity right on the edge of the ice shelf. And that - that is east by 20 or 30 degrees of longitude of the front that I just was discussing. By the way, that front intersects Antarctica.
020:16:22 Schmitt: Between New Zealand and Australia, the front I was discussing previously has some fairly strong transverse cloud patterns. It's hard to say whether they're high cirrus or not. But the clear area to the south of the front suggests that maybe the jet stream is roughly paralleling that front in that area. [Pause.]
020:16:53 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]I'd have to look up and see...
020:17:01 Schmitt: If I had to guess, I'd...
020:17:01 Overmyer: ...if they do have any jet stream down there right now.
020:17:05 Schmitt: I - if I had to guess, if you were flying - west from Sydney this afternoon, you'd have a pretty strong tailwind behind you, Bob.
020:17:23 Overmyer: Roger.
020:17:27 Schmitt: Let's see, did I get that right? [Pause.]
020:17:49 Schmitt: But the bulk of Australia is very clear, all the south and the north. It's just that one line of - of cloud that crosses the center section.
020:18:04 Overmyer: Roger. [Long pause.]
020:18:56 Schmitt: That put all the major cities of the south, Perth and Adelaide, at least, and Melbourne, certainly in the clear. And in the north, Darwin, in those areas, are very nicely clear today.
020:19:15 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.] I hope we can get this out to them and let them know that you're watching and tell them how good the weather is.
020:19:28 Schmitt: Oh, that's all right. I'm just having fun, Bob,
020:19:31 Overmyer: Understand. I imagine they'd appreciate it though.
020:35:18 Schmitt: Bob, I tried to pick out the Hawaiian islands on that last little turn here through window 5. And I can't say that I did. I think I've got them - the area spotted. It looks like they might be under some fairly heavy cloud cover today. I do not see the islands. I'm not sure I could, if it was clear.
020:35:38 Overmyer: Roger. Hey, Jack, I got some answers to your question from last night on where Little America is with respect to - on Antarctica.
020:35:51 Schmitt: Go ahead.
020:35:53 Overmyer: There's a - inden - indentation that looks like a gulf that's called the Ross Sea, and on the northwest edge of the Ross Sea is Little America, That's the location of it.
020:36:09 Schmitt: Okay. And that would be the coast of Antarctica that sort of faces New Zealand and Australia. Is that correct?
020:36:18 Overmyer: Negative. According to the map I've got, it's - the Ross Sea looks like it would be more facing up towards the South America area. [Pause.] It's actually kind of facing up sort of the middle between Australia and South America, Jack. [Long pause.]
020:37:01 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. You cut out, and I presume you meant that - the Ross Sea was facing north - sort of the Pacific between South America and Australia?
020:37:12 Overmyer: That's affirmative, Jack. It's a very sharp indentation or sea or gulf onto the Antarctica. [Pause.]
020:37:29 Schmitt: Okay. I think I know the area you mean, and I'll check it out again when it comes by.
020:37:35 Overmyer: Okay. That's Little America on that west-northwest edge of that Ross Sea. That's where Little America is.
020:37:46 Schmitt: Yeah, all that - those names are familiar. I just had forgotten my geography. I'll see if I can recognize them.
020:45:11 - This is Apollo Control at 20 hours, 45 minutes. We're occasionally picking up a bit of noise on the Air-to-Ground circuit. This is due to the fact that the spacecraft is in the Passive Thermal Control mode. As it rotates, we're gradually losing contact through one of the Omni antennas and re-establishing adequate signal strength on another one. And as it moves from antenna to antenna on our coverage, we get the noise. This is a characteristic that becomes more pronounced as the spacecraft gets farther and farther from Earth. Here in Mission Control, the Flight Activities Officer has been actively involved in figuring out how in the Flight Plan we're going to make up for the 2 hours, 40 minutes difference from the Flight Plan lift-off time and the actual lift-off time. One of two things happens when you lift off late for a mission. Either the events that are called out in the Flight Plan occur at a different Earth time, Central Standard, Eastern Standard, or Greenwich Mean - whichever reference you happen to be using, or the elapsed times change. And the flight planning is all done in terms of elapsed time for the most part. Events that are called out in the Flight Plan are listed by the amount of time that has elapsed from lift-off. At the present time, in the Apollo 17 Flight Plan, the amount of time that has elapsed since lift-off is unchanged from the pre-mission Flight Plan time. However, as, by the time we have approached or reached the Moon, because of the speeded up translunar coast time, occasioned by slightly faster or slightly greater amount of energy that was put in during the Translunar Injection burn, we'll have to make up 2 hours and 40 minutes. In other words, we'll be arriving at the Moon 2 hours, 40 minutes earlier than Flight Plan allowed for. This means that all of the events that are called in the Flight Plan to occur between now and lunar arrival have to be accomplished in 2 hours, 40 minutes less time than the Flight Plan allows for. This creates no serious problems, because it's a relatively quiet period of the mission. It's very easy, by adjusting sleep period slightly and moving the activities up to accomplish it. However, the flight planning officer, Flight Activities Officer, prefers to accomplish this shift in two increments rather than in a single one. And this could be likened to a change of daylight savings time, where you don't want to make the jump too big at once, and you might start interfering in a way that would be noticeable, say, with sleep periods. But by accomplishing it in two segments, the change is relatively insignificant. And what this amounts to is that at two different times in the Flight Plan, we'll read up changes to the crew, and they will go down the Flight Plan, moving a series of events approximately 1 hour earlier. The second time that this is done, they'll actually be moving events 1 hour, 40 minutes earlier and at the same time, we'll update the clocks in Mission Control, the Ground Elapsed Time clocks, which serve as the key to where you are in the Flight Plan to agree with the changes that we have made in the Flight Plan. And from that point on, the GET clock will then be back in synchronization with the Flight Plan. This clock update is presently scheduled to occur at 66 hours Ground Elapsed Time, rather at 67 hours, 40 minutes Ground Elapsed Time, and we'll move the clocks to 66 hours. Apollo 17 at the present time is 88,091 nautical miles [163,145 km] from Earth.
020:50:13 Schmitt: Okay, Bob, checking on the Ross Sea, and if I've got her pegged right, it's got a fair amount of open water in it this time of year.
020:50:27 Overmyer: Roger.
020:50:27 Schmitt: Although it's completely surrounded, I think, completely surrounded, I think by portions of the icepack. And off to the west of there, it looks like there's an area that might be - clear of snow, and - does my memory serve me correctly, that that's where McMurdo Sound is, and some of the dry valleys?
020:50:57 Overmyer: I believe so. That's the Little America area right now, all that general vicinity, Jack. [Pause.]
020:51:11 Schmitt: Okay. It looks like the prime recovery area and the Samoa island region is clear, and my guess would be, from the fairly subdued zero phase point, that they might have fairly nice seas out there. The boys on the Ticonderoga are probably enjoying themselves immensely, I hope.
020:51:36 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]
020:51:42 Schmitt: Indonesia looks like it's having a nice day, with the possible exception of the region over just north of Australia. New Guinea and that area they - some clouds in there. I can't tell whether they're high or low clouds though. They look like they're probably fairly high clouds. But north of New Guinea, there's a strong concentration of clouds. Although small, it looks fairly dense like there might be a little tropical depression in that area.
020:52:20 Overmyer: Roger. [Long pause.]
020:52:36 Schmitt: The folks in Carnarvon ought to be enjoying a very nice day. [Long pause.]
020:53:30 Schmitt: I've been trying to spot tropical storm Teresa, which is - a couple of days ago was in the Philippines. But I can't - I don't think I quite have that visible to me right now.
020:53:47 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. Say, you might want to put something in the back of your mind here a minute. We made a run of the DSE recording just now of the TLI to get an idea of the quality of the DSE recording, and Gene came through loud and clear. Ron was very weak and almost unreadable, and we never caught you, Jack, in there. We don't - maybe you weren't saying anything during TLI, but we never did catch anything you said.
020:54:17 Schmitt: Okay. I don't recall talking too much during TLI.
020:54:21 Overmyer: Roger. Understand. Now Gene - Gene came through real loud and clear. So whatever technique he was using went on that tape real well. [Long pause.]
020:55:26 Roosa: Hey, Jack; Houston. [Pause.]
020:55:31 Schmitt: Hello.
020:55:33 Roosa: Hey, Jack. Just a couple more comments on that DSE. I think, as you well know, it's very critical on the position of your - of your boom there, and those areas that you're critical in, why, make sure that you've - you've really got those beauties up or you're talking right in - right into it. And this - this really makes a difference, because the DSE - The volume is - is fairly low, and if you're muddled just the least bit, why, it - it's going to be difficult to pick it up. So talk slow, and - and get right up next to the mike, because I know you - you're doing it. Just some voices come across a little better than others.
020:56:18 Schmitt: Roger, Stu. Thanks for the comments. As a matter of fact, you probably called it just right. I think during - once I got the helmet off, I loosened up my chinstrap, and my mike booms had moved away from my mouth some. And I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the reminder.
020:56:38 Roosa: Yeah. It's - that's probably the most critical item is that - is the position of those, and this has been true of - in the past, and it just really makes a difference in - in that - being able to pick up the data off the voice.
020:56:54 Schmitt: Roger. I've - Ron and I did some experimentation with that in the chamber, and couldn't agree more. But I sometimes don't remember it. Thank you.
020:57:05 Cernan: Well, Stu, I just...
020:57:07 Schmitt: I - I
020:57:07 Cernan: ...thought I'd...
020:57:10 Cernan: Okay. Go ahead, Stu.
020:57:12 Roosa: No, I was saying I was - I'm sure you - you're aware of that, but I think the fact that the volume is - is down just accentuates the - the problem. [Pause.]
020:57:28 Schmitt: Okay. Gene had something he wanted to ask you.
020:57:31 Cernan: Stu, I - I just thought you'd like to be aware of it, as much time as we've all spent down at the Cape, probably May is one of the nicest months down there. However, having had the opportunity to - to be up here during May, I find out that it's not nearly as nice up here.
020:57:53 Roosa: Okay. [Pause.]
020:57:59 Cernan: And I'd like to - to thank all my friends for that
021:03:21 - This is Apollo Control at 21 hours, 3 minutes. Things continuing to progress smoothly and very quietly here in Mission Control and aboard the spacecraft. And we'd like to have a bit more discussion of the Ground Elapsed Time update after first making the disclaimer that GET clock updates are not done for the purpose of confusing people; although, I'm sure it seems that way at times. And, by way of clarifying the previous description of this GET update we should - should point out that the amount of time that the clocks are changed both here and Mission Control and aboard the spacecraft will be 2 hours and 40 minutes and this clock change is scheduled to occur as mentioned previously at about 65 hours Ground Elapsed Time. In other words when the clocks here in the control center and the clocks in the spacecraft keeping track of the time that has elapsed since lift-off reach 65 hours, they'll be arbitrarily jumped ahead 2 hours and 40 minutes so that at that point the clocks agree with the Flight Plan. However, in order to account for these 2 hours and 40 minutes which are suddenly going to disappear from the amount of time available to the crew to accomplish their activities to make it easier on the crew it will be done in two increments. The first increment of 1 hour and the second increment of 1 hour, 40 minutes. And, at about the time the second increment of change is made in the Flight Plan we'll also simultaneously update the clocks. Apollo 17 at this time, 88,909 nautical miles [164,659 km] from Earth and the velocity continuing to decrease gradually, down now to 5,603 feet per second [1,708 m/s]. Very little activity scheduled in the Flight Plan between now and the time the crew begins its rest period. This day aboard the spacecraft has been planned as a relatively short one recognizing that the crew would not get a great deal of sleep on that very long - as a result of the very long launch day, and a relatively short sleep period following, this day was intentionally kept short. They're now - should be completing their eat period although they really have nothing showing in the Flight Plan until about 22 hours or about another hour from now where they have alloted time for exercise. They'll be changing the lithium hydroxide canisters that remove carbon dioxide from the spacecraft cabin atmosphere. They'll be realigning the spacecraft platform, the stable platform that's used as an attitude reference by the guidance, navigation and control system. Then they have one more eat period and go through the pre-sleep checklist beginning an 8-hour rest period at about 25 hours Ground Elapsed Time or a little less than 4 hours from now.
AS17-148-22737 - Earth at a distance of approximately 166,000 km (based on photo analysis). Australia, Antarctica - JSC scan
AS17-148-22738 - Earth at a distance of approximately 166,000 km (based on photo analysis). Australia, Antarctica - JSC scan
The following is a selection of photographs taken on a Nikon 35-mm camera with a 55-mm lens. This camera is kept in the CM cabin and there are eight magazines of film included. Two are loaded with Ektachrome colour reversal film with a speed rating of 160 ASA/ISO. The remaining six are loaded with type 2485 very high speed black & white film rated at 6,000 ASA/ISO film, primarily intended for dim light astronomical photography. The following is from the start of magazine SS (number 162), one of the colour films.
AS17-162-24035 - CM Interior, Cernan - JSC scan
AS17-162-24035 - CM Interior, Food packet - JSC scan
AS17-162-24038 - CM Interior, Schmitt - JSC scan
AS17-162-24039 - CM Interior, Cernan - JSC scan
AS17-162-24041 - CM Interior, Evans - JSC scan
AS17-162-24042 - CM Interior, Evans - JSC scan
AS17-162-24043 - CM Interior, Evans - JSC scan
AS17-162-24044 - CM Interior, Astronaut's Feet - JSC scan
021:10:24 Overmyer: Roger. We wouldn't go away, Jack. We're listening. Did you call?
021:10:29 Schmitt: Well, I just - I'm - Yeah, I almost lost a pass here, and just a couple more words about Australia. As a - as a general landmass, it's red. Very strong red hues, except for the north and eastern coasts, where that red gradually merges into a greenish-gray. It's as - as red as portions of - of northern Africa appeared to be yesterday.
021:11:12 Overmyer: Roger.
021:11:13 Schmitt: Very striking color. It would be more of an orange-red, really, with brown subduing it. It's not - obviously not crimson or anything like that.
021:11:29 Overmyer: You think it's a function of Sun angle, Jack? Or is it just - just the red like we see out in New Mexico area sometimes - some of the areas?
021:11:37 Schmitt: Yeah. No, it's not Sun angle, because that'll hold a good red color right - right in towards sunset or sunrise. It's - it's due primarily, I'm sure, like most desert areas, to the oxidation of the iron-bearing minerals in the sands and rocks in those regions.
021:11:58 Overmyer: Roger.
021:11:59 Schmitt: Getting limonite and hematite. Little geology thrown in there, Bob. Sorry.
021:12:08 Overmyer: That's all right. [Pause.] Got to keep you warmed up for the next couple of days. [Long pause.]
021:12:30 Schmitt: Well, I think the Flight Plan will probably keep me warmed up, too.
021:12:35 Overmyer: Roger. We thought that time around T&D was just outstanding.
021:12:44 Cernan: Hey, Bob. We - I think we've pretty well got impressions from you down there on that - on that night launch. I might give you a few of mine.
021:12:54 Overmyer: Go ahead, Gene. [Long pause.]
021:13:34 Overmyer: 17, Houston. Are you there? [Pause.] You're right - right on the edge, if you read me. We're getting a lot of static. If you'll just hang on a minute, we'll be in - back into some comm here. [Pause.]
021:13:59 Overmyer: Gene, Houston. Go ahead. [Long pause.]
021:14:47 Overmyer: 17, Houston.
021:14:49 Cernan: Go ahead.
021:14:50 Overmyer: We're just standing by for your comments you wanted to make. I think we lost comm there a minute. We're back with you.
021:14:58 Cernan: Okay, Bob. The entire boost itself was not unlike what you've heard and what Stu down there understands from the physical cues, and what have you. But the significant part of going at night is that as soon as we did have ignition down there in the bottom of the S-IC stack - even though I only have a little slit out of - out of the rendezvous window here, and Ron doesn't have much of a hole in the boost protective cover out of the hatch window, we could definitely confirm ignition because we could see the reflected light on out through in front of us. It was by no means blinding, of course; we had the cockpit pretty well lit up. We - as soon as we lifted off, that light immediately went behind us. We came into one - S-IC staging, and I had an opportunity to say, "I told you so," to Jack and Ron. It was just like the great train wrecks of the past. I definitely could see the S-II ignite; and, then, of course, the - I could see the significance of the reflection through the window, besides all the other cues we had for ignition, very much like the S-IC lit up the windows on the stack. Tower jett was pretty spectacular. I could see - the entire boost protective cover and some flame from somewhere - I'm not sure - maybe it was through the hole in the windows - but I could definitely see it. Of course, it disappeared in short order. When the S-II shut down, the delay time between shutdown there and the - and the S-IVB igniting, the entire - the entire flame overtook us, and we literally through - flew through the S-II flame when the S-IVB ignited, if you can imagine that. It's very similar to the Titan staging, where you actually fly through the fireball on the S-II. And that's something you never see - none of those things you ever see quite that way in daylight. On the S-IV, I could see - Of course, once we got going, I couldn't see any light from that plume again, but we could see the APS firing all the way through the burn. And once we got in orbit, as other guys have seen, you could see the APS firing at night without any difficulty. One of the most significant things about TLI is the fact that we, of course, started at night and flew right on up and through a sunrise, which in itself was a pretty spectacular thing. But, when you do it during a TLI burn, it even adds a little bit of momentum to your effort.
021:18:17 Overmyer: Roger, Gene. Any comment you might make on the possibility of picking up your yaw, if you'd lost your platform at that time - remember the discussion we had about the yaw in the late - like a Mode IV or something like that?
021:18:32 Cernan: Yeah, Bob. I not only will comment - I was aware of it, and I was looking for it. And during parts of the S-II and parts of the S-IVB burn, I even turned the lights down in the cockpit - in hopes that I could see stars out there; but I could not make out a one. Ron, I think, may have saw Saturn out the overhead hatch; but looking through the rendezvous window, during a boost phase and during a time-critical phase like a Mode II or Mode IV, I am very much afraid that we would not have been able to pick up that reference.
021:19:08 Overmyer: Roger.
021:19:11 Cernan: As I remember it, as low as I had the interior lights there for a period of time - and I didn't want to keep them that low, of course - to see if I could get adapted very fast because we were in a dynamic phase of the burn. But my window just gave me a very deep purplish hue, a hue of which I could not, literally, see through to look to see any stars at all. Now, that may have been due to the very low intensity of our interior flood lights.
021:19:45 Overmyer: Roger, Gene. [Long pause.]
021:20:01 Schmitt: Bob, this is Jack. A little lay impression there. I think I - saw just about everything Gene was talking about - as far as his description - and felt like it was - although everything was an amazing experience, each one in itself, after each one was over, you could think back and say, "Yeah, that's what other guys said it was like." The old Saturn V has got to be a pretty consistently performing vehicle. But - with the added night-time contrast, I think it made it probably the best ride any three guys have ever had.
021:20:45 Overmyer: Roger.
021:20:48 Cernan: Bob, I might add, that the S-I was, as usual, pretty shakey on lift-off. I saw all the maneuvers as I called them out - the yaw and small reverse roll. Going through Max Q, I got up to 25 per cent; but my yaw attitude error was zero and my pitch attitude error probably wasn't even at - oh, certainly less than 2 degrees. After Max Q, she smoothed out by comparison quite a bit; and the S-II was a very quiet ride, a very smooth ride. However, you are always aware, due to just a little rumbling out in the S-IVB, that she was still burning for you. The S-IVB, I think, was just a continually - rumble but smooth or consistent ride, all the way through TLI. [Pause.]
021:21:54 Overmyer: Roger.
021:21:56 Schmitt: Gene I think one of the big things that impressed me was the - how instantaneous the decelerations were of each one of the boosters when they cut off. That included the S-IV TLI cut-off. No physical appreciation of tail-off at all. [Long pause.]
021:22:38 Schmitt: And, Bob, from my rendez - from the right-hand rendezvous window when the tower jett occurred, there seemed to be a lot of burning particles streaming away from it. I could not see - did not notice or remember seeing the actual cover or tower itself; but I - we were inside the cone of the burn and with a lot of streaming. It looked very much like a sky rocket - portion of one at any rate. Reminded me of the Fourth of July out in Silver City a few years ago.
021:23:16 Overmyer: Roger. Say, any time you got your Flight Plan handy, I've got a discussion here I'd like to run through with you on the - how we're going to recover those 2 hours and 40 minutes from the launch delay - and you'll need to copy it into the Flight Plan. And then just wanted - want you to be advised, we're not happy with the PTC. We get a half angle of about 17 degrees; and so sometime after the P52 coming up at 23:00, we'll want to do another PTC, or initiate PTC again. [Pause.]
021:23:54 Cernan: Well, that was the commander who initiated PTC, and I've already heard about that.
021:24:00 Evans: [Laughter.] You bet he has. Okay. We've got the Flight Plan here, Bob. Which part of it are you talking about [garble]?
021:24:06 Overmyer: Well, let's just talk some words here for a minute, and then I'll go through some specifics that you can just write down on a page because you don't want to do it until a little later. Okay, what we're going to set up here - You will arrive at lunar orbit at the same GMT time. The landing Sun angle - Sun elevation angle - and the camera settings and everything will be unchanged when you get to lunar orbit. To compensate for the 2 hour, 40 minute late launch, we're going to hack 2 hours and 40 minutes out of the timeline. And we're going to - They'll be out of the TLC timeline - and we're going to do it in two groups. And this is where you might want to start copying now, Ron. Delete 1 hour from 46 to 47. From 46 to 47, we're just going to delete the activities that are presently scheduled at 46:30 to 47:00, you'll perform at 45 - move those to 45. Let me read that again. Delete 1 hour from 46:00 to 47:00. The activities that are listed at 46:30 to 47:00, perform at 45:00. [Long pause.]
021:25:31 Evans: Okay, Bob, looks like we delete 1 hour from 46 to 47 hours. And then the activities that are at 46:30, we'll do those at 45:00.
021:25:40 Overmyer: Roger, Ron. And then starting at 47, just take - just scratch 1 hour off of each time, just subtract 1 hour from each of those times up through 66 hours. Just subtract 1 hour from 47 up through 66. [Long pause.]
021:26:10 Evans: Okay, we can do that. Subtract 1 hour from 47 through 66 hours.
021:26:14 Overmyer: Okay. And then just for your information - you won't have to do it - but we're going to play the old simulator step-ahead game at 66 hours of the old time, which will be 65 hours of the new time. So however you want to call it, we'll call you; and we're going to sync you up at 67:40 at that point. We'll play the old step-ahead game there.
021:26:33 Cernan: Okay, Bob. That means that you're not going to actually do any clock updates or syncs until - until somewhere in the 60's there and not in the 40's.
021:26:46 Overmyer: Roger. It'll be 65 hours of the new time or 66 hours under the old time; depends on how you want to look at it. But that's when we'll sync you up.
021:26:55 Cernan: Okay.
021:26:57 Overmyer: You'll be in sync all the way out to that time; just - we're just going to delete and jump you to 67:40.
021:27:06 Cernan: Okay.
021:27:10 Overmyer: And just another note of interest - You don't have to write this down - what - let's see; I'll read it to you. The awake periods will be - on day 3, you'll be 15 hours, 8 hours sleep starting at 11:33 CST; then at day 4, you'll be 14 and 20 hours, with 8 hours sleep. So - it actually just shortens a couple days there. [Pause.]
021:27:37 Evans: Okay. Mighty fine. [Pause.]
021:27:45 Overmyer: The beauty of that - that Tommy came up with on that, Ron - is that all you have to do is go subtract those 1 hours and no more reading or anything else; just subtract them and we're in business.
021:27:57 Evans: Yeah, it looks real fine.
021:28:02 Overmyer: We're going to give Tommy a gold star for that one.
021:28:07 Evans: [Laughter.] You bet. [Long pause.]
021:28:24 Schmitt: [Cough] Bob, this is Jack. I'm going to try and get a little exercise. I'd be interested to know how high I can get my heart rate just fooling around up here.
021:28:33 Overmyer: Okay, if we can [pause]. We'll keep you posted, Jack. [Long pause.]
021:28:59 Cernan: Bob, just to keep you and the people there thinking a little bit, today is a relatively short day; but it is a good day because it gives us a chance to again get acclimated, finish our stowage and just generally go through all the things that have to be gone through for the rest of the mission. We've got 3 eating days today, and judging from what we're thinking and talking about now - that the last two are going to be sort of stretched into one eating period because three meals on this particular day just is not really going to be stomachable. [Pause.]
021:29:47 Overmyer: Roger. We understand that. [Pause.]
021:29:57 Cernan: I think you'll find out that our eating and drinking, for the most part, is starting off relatively slow; but - I think we'll pick it up here by tomorrow.
021:33:04 Cernan: Bob, one other thing while I'm thinking about it. The PU shifts were - were all noticeable, but probably the one that really caught me a little bit by surprise was the PU shift on the S-IVB during - during TLI.
021:33:20 Overmyer: Roger.
021:33:23 Cernan: It just felt like you lit in the other burner.
021:33:47 Overmyer: Just for Jack's information, you're running in the 80s on your heartbeat. We saw a 91 or 2 there for a few minutes. Are you working - still working out?
021:33:59 Schmitt: [Laughter.] Yeah. That's sort of discouraging.
021:34:11 Cernan: Hey, Bob, what was Jack running before he started that? [Pause.]
021:34:20 Overmyer: He was running in the 60s; a constant somewhere in the mid 60s.
021:34:26 Cernan: Okay. [Long pause.]
021:35:15 Overmyer: Okay, Jack. You're running about 105 and 103 right now. [Long pause.]
021:36:02 Overmyer: Kind of interesting, Jack. You slowed down, and then you're back up to 105 right now. Now you're slowing down again. [Long pause.]
Long comm break.
021:37:00 - Flight surgeon John Zieglschmid is watching the heart rates of Jack Schmitt, as Jack exercises aboard the spacecraft using a modified exerciser, that consists primarily of a cylinder and a cord that comes out of it. Allows him to adjust the amount of tension or resistance to pull that the device has, and there are a variety of ways in which it can be used, allowing him to pull against the adjustable tension - this bungee like device. And he's gotten his heart rate up somewhat in excess of 100 beats per minute .
021:40:30 Overmyer: Go ahead, 17; this is Houston.
021:40:33 Cernan: Hello, Houston; this is 17.
021:40:35 Overmyer: Roger. Go ahead. [Pause.]
021:40:43 Overmyer: 17, Houston. Go ahead. [Long pause.]
021:40:57 Cernan: Hello, Houston; this is 17.
021:40:59 Overmyer: Roger, 17. Go ahead. Roger, 17. Go ahead. [Long pause.]
021:41:25 Overmyer: Hello, 17; Houston. Do you read?
021:41:28 Comm Tech: Honeysuckle Comm Tech, Houston Comm Tech, Net 1. Goddard voice, Houston Comm Tech, Net 1.
021:41:38 Comm Tech: Goddard voice.
021:41:39 Comm Tech: Roger, Goddard. I'm reading you loud and clear, Honeysuckle. I'm not getting to him.
021:41:44 Cernan: Hello, Houston; this is America. Over.
021:41:47 Overmyer: America, Houston. Stand by. If you read us, don't change anything in the cockpit yet.
021:41:53 Comm Tech: 17, Honeysuckle.
021:41:56 Comm Tech: Roger, Honeysuckle. I read you...
021:41:57 Cernan: Hello, Honeysuckle. 17's reading you loud and clear.
021:42:00 Comm Tech: Roger. We have a comm outage and I'll be right with you.
021:42:05 Cernan: Okay. Very fine. How are things down there today?
021:42:08 Comm Tech: Fine, your weather report was beautiful. [Garble.]
021:42:14 Cernan: Oh, your country looks beautiful from here. [Long pause.]
021:42:30 Overmyer: Okay, 17; Houston. How do you read now?
021:42:36 Cernan: We got you, Bob.
021:42:37 Overmyer: Okay. That was our network problem, not your problem onboard.
021:42:43 Cernan: Okay thank you, I just figured out what happened on my PTC. Here - with his exercises, Jack is shaking all of America in all three axes, here.
021:42:54 Overmyer: Roger. He finally got to 115 on the heart rate.
021:43:01 Cernan: Yeah, my rate needles are bouncing back and forth a half a degree [laughter].
021:43:04 Overmyer: Roger. Got to find something to pin it on. [Long pause.]
021:44:55 Overmyer: Jack. Surgeon over here says you got a 120 on the heartbeat for a moment there - 122 right now. [Long pause.] Okay, 130, Jack. 130. [Long pause.] 140, Jack, 140.
Comm break.
021:46:16 - The numbers reported to Jack Schmitt by CapCom are his heart rate. And you heard him report a heart rate up to about 140 beats per minute as Jack is apparently continuing to exercise vigorously with the onboard exerciser. This is aimed, among other things, at keeping the cardiovascular system which tends to get lazy in zero gravity in condition.
021:47:25 Overmyer: 17, we've got a serious one here. You might be interested. All that exercise banging around in there destratified tank 3 O2, so it stirred it all up good.
021:47:38 Cernan: Yeah, glad we brought him along then. We found some use for him.
021:47:44 Schmitt: Once an EECOM, always an EECOM. [Pause.] I have to cre - create my own G in order to run in place.
021:47:55 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]
021:48:01 Schmitt: How high up did the heart rate get, Bob?
021:48:05 Overmyer: We got you at 140, Jack. Were you running in place? is that...
021:48:09 Schmitt: 140 was - Yes, I was - I'm underneath the right-hand couch holding on to the main Y-Y strut with my hands and running against the LEB.
021:48:23 Overmyer: Roger. It worked real well. 140 and you were running in the mid-60's, so you picked up about - almost 70 beats there, no problem. Surgeon is very happy.
021:48:34 Schmitt: Roger. [Laughter.] Well, I'm happy too. You know, it took a while to find a technique I was - initially, I got up to 90 with just isometrics - pushing against the couch, and the running is obviously what it takes.
021:48:55 Overmyer: Roger.
021:48:55 Schmitt: But I don't - Bob, I don't I really don't feel - I guess I lost you.
021:51:38 Schmitt: Hello, Houston; 17. You still there?
021:51:41 Overmyer: Roger. We're with you. We had a little comm problem there as - you know, coning on this - as we were changing on the antenna - but we're with you.
021:51:52 Schmitt: Okay. What's the heartrate right now?
021:51:57 Overmyer: Right at - Stand by. [Pause.] We had a data dropout, Jack, that's why I'm holding up. And it just came on and we'll tell you in a second here. [Pause.] About 60, Jack. Right about 60 even.
021:52:23 Schmitt: Okay. That's where I was when I started, so that's - you certainly recover fast. And I don't know whether that's faster than in one g or not.
021:52:35 Overmyer: Well, we're happy with it - the Surgeon is happy with it, so it's good.
021:52:40 Schmitt: Well, I just - How does that compare - do they have any data on how that compares with the recovery - say, the 5-minute recovery time on the ergometer?
021:52:51 Overmyer: We can look it up, Jack, if you're interested. We do - we'll have to check your records, they don't have it right in front of us.
021:52:57 Schmitt: Well, no big deal, just curious.
021:55:50 Overmyer: Jack, just for your information - the Surgeon's pulled out the recovery rate data and it's the same with our data, which is a little rough here. It's the same for zero-g as your one-g ergometer data. [Long pause.]
021:56:12 Schmitt: Okay. That's - that's very interesting.
021:59:46 Schmitt: Bob, since we've got a few moments to talk - which I know we won't have later in the mission. Something I don't ever remember happening, but it's happening now in the windows. That's the 1, 3, and 5, but not 2 and 4, is that in the center of the window about 6 or 8 inches in diameter, as you come through the night side of the rotation, you pick up a very light - oh, you'd might call it even a frost. Very light frost on the window - more like a - a moisture frost, film of moisture, or film of frost - not very thick like crystals at all. As you come through the sunlight, it tends to sublime away, but never - you never fully lose it until you go back into darkness again. The - the very artistic definite ice crystals that we had on my number 1 window over here yesterday - I think we reported to you this morning that they were gone or they sublimed away. But the impression they left on the window is still there; it's very sharp and it's very evident.
022:01:16 Overmyer: Roger. We copy that.
Comm break.
022:02:38 Schmitt: Bob, I don't know whether you were copying Honeysuckle's call to us, while you lost comm there for a while.
022:02:45 Overmyer: Roger. We copy.
022:02:46 Schmitt: But they said that they had [hearing Overmyer] - Okay. [Pause.]
022:02:55 Overmyer: They kind of concurred with your...
022:03:00 Schmitt: Oh, lucky guess. I might say that the sub - the zero phase point that we're looking at is right at the northeast coast of Australia, and it's much brighter. It's very - it's a very bright point now - oh, it's hard to say how far across. But, quite unlike what I mentioned being in the vicinity of the Samoan islands earlier. And it's right at the shore, and it could be just that the shore area has somewhat choppier seas. So maybe - maybe the brightness of that point is a function of sea state, although I don't know exactly what type of seas it would take to brighten it up. I suspect choppy seas are better than long swells.
022:03:55 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. [Long pause.]
022:04:15 Schmitt: That front is - seems to have slowed down its progress. It's about in the same position, possibly slightly farther north than when I started talking about it this morning. The wave that has - seems to be developing off the - now off the southwest coast of New Zealand is much more pronounced than it was. Definitely seems to now have a slight cyclonic pattern - clockwise pattern. And I wouldn't be surprised if the next couple of days that moves along the front over towards Sydney. And maybe a little farther north than that might - Brisbane is probably more likely.
022:05:06 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. [Pause.]
022:05:11 Schmitt: Except I got the movement wrong again. Although it does seem to have progressed west from - from New Zealand. [Pause.]
022:05:26 Overmyer: Roger.
022:05:31 Schmitt: I take back what I said about forecasting Sydney's weather. I think that'll - I would suspect that would move to the northeast like - now that I look - it seems like an earlier front, which is partly dissipated, had the same kind of motion, and now lies considerably north and east of the one I've been talking about.
022:05:58 Overmyer: Roger. [Long pause.]
022:06:44 Schmitt: Thinking back on some weather briefings we had last week, Bob - Are you there?
022:06:49 Overmyer: That's affirmative.
022:06:54 Schmitt: I'll talk to you later. I think you're - We're losing you for a little bit here.
022:06:59 Overmyer: Okay, Jack. We're reading you loud and clear right now. Oh, you're going out a little bit now.
022:10:41 Schmitt: Okay, I was going to try to recover there from that last few statements. As I recall, the weather briefings that we had at the Cape last week, that - talking with Ken Nabor and Jim Nicholson down there, that the patterns we were seeing from the satellite pictures in their forecast - or analysis anyway, charts in the New Zealand part of the Pacific, those waves formed along the front would move north and then curve east. And that appears to be the pattern that was visible in one of the older fronts. And I suspect if that pattern would hold with the wave that's developed off the co - right on the coast of New Zealand now, that it might move on up the western coast of New Zealand. We'll probably have a chance to watch that the next few days and see what happens to it.
022:11:49 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. [Long pause.]
022:12:40 Cernan: Houston, how are you reading now?
022:12:42 Overmyer: Reading you loud and clear.
022:12:46 Cernan: Okay, Bob. As I look at the clock, we're - just 24 hours ago we were about within our hold somewhere. For this period yesterday we were in our hold, and I think it goes without saying; but we'd sure like to pass on our debt of gratitude and thanks for the response that the people down at the Cape came up with. And particularly at Marshall. I think we all knew no one would be going anywhere unless everyone was satisfied that we were going all the way. And that's certainly the way we felt, but we do want to thank everybody who had a part in making that come true.
022:13:28 Overmyer: Roger, Gene. I think it was a superb show between the Cape and Marshall and Houston and probably even Goddard, with the Network and just about everybody concerned, really, had to do some work there to bring it off. It went off real smoothly.
022:13:46 Cernan: Yeah. After flying with Stafford a couple of times and having that happen a few times back, I thought maybe he was aboard.
022:13:54 Overmyer: [Laughter.] Okay. [Pause.] I think that was a first for getting a Saturn V to 30 seconds before ignition and - or rather actually 30 seconds before lift-off and holding there.
022:14:12 Cernan: It got mighty quiet onboard about 30 seconds.
022:14:16 Overmyer: I sure imagine.
022:14:19 Schmitt: We all felt like old hands the second time around, though.
022:14:23 Overmyer: Roger.
022:14:28 Cernan: Bob, I've been at that 30-second count one other time and it's no different the second time around.
022:14:36 Overmyer: Roger.
022:14:40 Cernan: But we - we do appreciate the work, and I think it's typical of - of what made this manned space program such a super program. The response of people like that.
022:14:52 Overmyer: We concur with that, Gene, wholeheartedly. [Long pause.]
022:15:13 Cernan: And with that in mind, tell everyone to stick around because there's a lot yet to be done.
022:20:20 Schmitt: The old accumulator cycle again, I guess, gang.
022:20:25 Overmyer: Roger. We're seeing it. [Pause.] Looks like you got a Master Alarm. is that affirm?
022:20:35 Schmitt: Yes, sir. That's how we tell these days. Although it doesn't happen all the time, and I guess as long as - Whenever we have that Waste Vent, Closed, we probably wouldn't be bothered by it at night.
022:21:16 Overmyer: Say, Gene and Ron, I talked to your fraus on the phone here a little while ago, and they gave me a very interesting observation you might appreciate. They were standing close to some water when launch and they noticed that when the booster lit up, something scared all the fish because the water literally began to boil with fish jumping from the light, I guess, or from the shock wave or something. It was - made a very distinct impression because that's the first thing both of them told me about.
022:21:54 Evans: That's pretty neat.
022:21:58 Overmyer: It's a neat way to go scare up the fish, I guess.
022:22:02 Evans: [Laughter.] Right [Long pause.].
022:22:14 Cernan: How are they doing today, Bob?
022:22:17 Overmyer: Really fine, really fine. They're just - like I said, they're just really tickled pink, and Barbara said that she wants you to know she's going into quarantine until after the weekend here, until after landing.
022:22:31 Cernan: If she goes into quarantine, it'll be a space first.
022:22:34 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]
022:22:44 Overmyer: You got to be careful about all this.
022:22:45 Cernan: Well, you know what to tell them...
022:22:49 Cernan: Go ahead, Bob.
022:22:49 Overmyer: You got to be careful now - The hotboxes are open - the hotlines are open at the houses there, so everything you say is being listened to. [Pause.]
022:23:03 Cernan: Yeah; okay. In that case, just want to say hello and we're having a super good time looking forward to what's coming, and we thank you for the news, Robert.
022:23:19 Overmyer: Roger.
022:23:24 Cernan: And my impression of the world, philosophically, I suppose you'll be getting from time to time, but it sure hasn't changed.
022:23:32 Overmyer: Roger, Gene.
022:23:33 Cernan: It's sure beautiful. It's sure beautiful and, looking back at it, there's several billion people who have got a lot to work for because it's one of the most beautiful sights we've ever seen here.
022:23:51 Overmyer: Roger, Gene. You guys are sounding great and doing real great. We're pressing right on here.
022:23:59 Cernan: I just want to emphasize, Bob, that these first 2 days - of course, yesterday was a pretty good day, but today we're catching up and - and, as I say, on the food consumption, don't be expecting too much.
022:24:14 Overmyer: Roger. [Long pause.]
022:24:27 Cernan: Acclimation and familiarity, and stowage, and preparation, and enjoyment and relaxation - are ready to call it a day today, which is probably the most ideal day in the Flight Plan to put it, because it's probably the only one we'll have.
022:24:43 Overmyer: Roger.
022:24:47 Cernan: Not that they aren't all going to be enjoyable.
022:24:52 Schmitt: Hey, Bob, your hourly weather report is due and - I'll wait awhile [laughter]. I keep losing your comm.
022:26:02 Schmitt: Okay, I had a quick - quick look and just to bring you up to date, we're starting to be able to see the coast of Asia. The Philippines are wide open today. And the - that tropical storm Theresa that I mentioned I thought I could see - indeed, I'm sure that's what that little concentrated mass of clouds was north of New Guinea. And, I suspect, although I didn't get a good fix on it, that the folks in Guam may be in for some heavy weather. [Pause.]
022:26:37 Overmyer: Roger. [Long pause.]
022:27:19 Schmitt: Oh, and, Bob, I got another pair of pictures. And that would be up to 134.
Jack's frame count indicates that he has taken AS17-148-22739 and 22740. The stated distances for these images are based on pixel measurements and are bound to be approximate, especially as the distance increases and errors are magnified. Nevertheless, the correlation is good as, in about 10 minutes time, the PAO announcer will give the altitude as being 94,000 nm or 174,000 km, and mentions Australia, which is prominent in these images.
AS17-148-22739 - Earth at a distance of approximately 174,000 km (based on photo analysis). Australia, Antarctica - JSC scan
AS17-148-22740 - Earth at a distance of approximately 174,000 km (based on photo analysis). Australia, Antarctica - JSC scan
022:27:27 Overmyer: Roger. That's on November November, is that affirm?
022:27:31 Schmitt: That's affirm.
022:27:32 Overmyer: Real - Good show. [Pause.]
022:27:41 Schmitt: And that was taken - the last pass, about 10 minutes ago, if you want to keep track of GET.
022:28:22 Overmyer: Just for some information for Ron, in particular. We've evaluated the data from the mapping camera and the pan camera cycling there and it looks real good. Everything looks right normal.
022:28:34 Evans: Hey, that's outstanding. Good deal.
Long comm break.
By the time Jack next calls on the air-ground link, CapCom Robert Overmyer has taken a short break. In his place comes Flight Director Gene Kranz who temporarily breaks with the astronaut only rule for speaking to the spacecraft.
022:34:59 Schmitt: That's the strangest sounding Bob I ever heard.
022:35:04 Kranz: He's taking a short break.
022:35:06 Schmitt: Okay. Good. Nice to talk with you. Hey, I don't know whether you were around, Gene, the other day when I was talking about the circulation patterns around Antarctica. We were looking then at the Indian Ocean - actually, South Atlantic in the Indian Ocean region. And you see the same pattern at about the same latitude, say 60 degrees south, where all the linear cloud patterns which presumably are - reflect the various cold fronts have - are arcuate with their convex sides, or more actually, almost pointed sides are all lined up in a west-to-east direction around that latitude. It's quite a spectacular-appearing circulation pattern. And the little wave that I mentioned on New Zealand seems to be beginning to form another arrow or another convex point on that front that's fitting right into the same circulation pattern.
022:36:28 Kranz: Okay, copy.
022:36:32 Schmitt: That would make four of those major convex fronts that I can see from this view crossing - south of Australia up into the South Pacific.
022:36:49 Kranz: Okay. [Long pause.]
022:37:04 Schmitt: On - on that tropical storm that was Theresa, I don't know whether they're still calling it now - that now, but I'm not sure, it may be a little south of Guam. Guam may not be in trouble with that one.
022:37:21 Kranz: It looks like it's just a bit to the west of Manila there - about 5 or 6 degrees, no more than that about. [Long pause.] Looks like it's about 5 degrees west of Manila and about 5 degrees south. And it is still called Theresa.
022:39:37 Schmitt: Okay, Gene, if you're still there, I don't like to argue with you but I think our analysis chart's a little more up to date.
022:39:44 Kranz: Okay.
022:39:45 Schmitt: That center - that area that you just mentioned is very clear now - east of the Philippines. Did you say west or east of the Philippines?
022:39:55 Kranz: West of the Philippines.
022:40:01 Schmitt: Okay, that area that you mentioned, 5 degrees east, is very clear and the center of the - what appears to be the storm that I'm speaking of, would be about 142 longitude and maybe 8 degrees north latitude.
022:40:19 Kranz: Okay.
022:40:19 Schmitt: Which would put it south of Guam.
022:40:22 Kranz: Okay, yeah, you're over in the area between Guam and the Carolines, then.
022:40:26 Schmitt: Say again, Gene?
022:40:27 Kranz: You're over in the area between Guam and the Carolines, then. You're saying it would be just about due west of the Carolines, then. Okay.
022:40:38 Schmitt: Yeah, you're probably looking at a - oh, I don't know - maybe a what - a 12-hour old prog, or something?
022:40:44 Kranz: Yeah, that's the one I had for launch day.
022:40:49 Schmitt: Okay. Well, it's - it's - moved quite a bit now, and I guess it's the same storm; still - still seems to be very well organized but quite concentrated and small. [Pause.]
022:41:02 Kranz: Okay. I'll get a new prog in and compare your estimate there.
022:41:10 Schmitt: Okay. I think that's pretty good - those - 142 and 8 degrees would be pretty good center of that storm. I've got some pretty good coor - I can see Mindanao, and I can see the - let's see - just a second - what is that on Australia? [Long pause.]
022:41:52 Schmitt: Yeah, of course, that is Port Moresby. I can see that point there, and between those two - I can pin that one down probably within a couple of degrees.
022:42:02 Kranz: Okay. We'll get a satellite photo and bring it in here in just a bit.
Long comm break.
022:42:54 - The conversation over the past few minutes has been between Flight Director Gene Kranz and Jack Schmitt. Apollo 17 at this time, almost directly above the northeast coast of Australia, some 94,000 nautical miles [174,000 km] from Earth.
022:56:33 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. That storm off the - just off the southwest coast of New Zealand is still intensifying and has both high and low level clouds as you can see by shadow lines. It looks like it may grow into pretty - pretty fair storm system. Borneo is very clear today; and, as is the Philippines. And I mentioned, there's a - looks like a very strong frontal system that stretches from, oh, let's say, the south coast of - or southeast coast of Vietnam up - up between and across Tai - between the Philippines and Taiwan and across Taiwan. And right along, and I can't tell, I think, just off - just south of Japan. I can't tell whether Japan's in the front or not. I'll look at it some more. The strongest storm center that I can see on that is - is way north, and probably - Hokkaido is - has a fair amount of weather from that storm system. [Pause.] There seems to be a tropical depression just north of Borneo. A very strong circulation system north of Borneo and, I guess, just south of - of Vietnam.
022:58:34 Overmyer: Roger.
022:58:36 Schmitt: Probably south - probably southeast. I hadn't noticed it before, but it's extremely concentrated northern hemisphere cycl - cyclone pattern. I don't know whether that's on your prog or not. That's not what's left of Sally, is it?
022:58:58 Overmyer: Stand by. Let me look at the prog over here a sec. Okay. We - it doesn't show on the old one; the new one is coming in there shortly, Jack.
022:59:07 Schmitt: Okay. If that is a developing depression, it's approaching Luzon and not very far away - 2 or 3 degrees of longitude now, although Luzon is clear.
022:59:25 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]
022:59:36 Schmitt: I can see Korea quite well, Bob. It's clear today.
022:59:43 Overmyer: Yeah, we - we've got the fronts. The leading edge of the front on our prog was past Korea and on Japan, and you've got it moving quite a bit further east there.
022:59:54 Schmitt: Well, I'm not absolutely sure...
022:59:57 Schmitt: Master Alarm on the accumulator.
023:00:01 Overmyer: Roger. We copy.
023:00:06 Schmitt: I can't make out Japan spe - specifically yet; but it's clearly past Korea, and, by - by inspection, it looks like it would be also past Japan by now, the trailing edge of the front. However, the circulation center on farther northeast may be affecting Hokkaido, as I said.
023:00:33 Overmyer: Roger. Like I said, the front on the old prog for yesterday showed that front on the other side of Japan, so it's moved across pretty well.[Long pause.]
023:00:59 Schmitt: As I recall, they had a tropical storm called Sally that went into - [garble] a few days ago, and so I suspect this new one that seems - that I think I see between Borneo and Vietnam may be something else; a new depression or I may be - be fooled by it.[Long pause.]
023:01:49 Schmitt: Mainland China, Bob, was the last pass here. I can't see the Ear - see the Earth now, but Mainland China looked like it was clear as far as I could see. There might be another front quite a ways inland, but that gets right at the LM, and I can't tell. But Korea, Yellow Sea, and the regions of China south of there - Shanghai, Nanking and those places are - look as if they are quite clear today. I'll check that again next time around.
023:02:21 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]
023:02:28 Overmyer: And, Jack, we're ready to terminate the charge on Battery B and start the charge on Battery A.
023:06:30 Schmitt: Bob, you got any of the LMies in there today?
023:06:36 Overmyer: Any of the LMies? Rog. They're all sitting by. Just gave me a big thumbs up, Jack.
023:06:44 Schmitt: Okay. Give them a thumbs up on the Rendezvous Radar antenna. It looks real good. [Pause.]
023:06:55 Overmyer: Roger.
023:06:57 Schmitt: I'm nose-to-nose with it practically here at about 2 feet, and it's extremely clean. And I see absolutely no sign of any - anything abnormal with it. [Pause.]
023:07:18 Overmyer: Roger. [Long pause.]
023:07:31 Schmitt: Matter of fact, compared to some of the flaking problems and things like that we've heard about in the past, I never saw a cleaner piece of hardware than that LM looks right now.
023:07:41 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]
023:07:50 Schmitt: Appropriately, finally we're getting - we're starting to use it during the Christmas season. It sure looks like a Christmas package with all the orange tape on it.
023:07:59 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]
023:08:08 Overmyer: Ron, we got your Noun - Noun 05.
023:08:13 Evans: Okay. I'll go ahead and accept that one this time. [Long pause.]
023:08:59 Overmyer: We got the 9 degrees, Ron. You can torque. [Pause.]
023:09:06 Evans: Okay. I'll torque at 940. [Pause.]
023:09:14 Overmyer: Okay. We got it. [Pause.]
023:09:26 Overmyer: And, Jack, we've been looking at our records. We don't have a previous Systems Test reading for 7 Alpha. Do you recall any previous readings on that one? [Long pause.]
023:10:03 Schmitt: Okay, that looks like another accumulator cycle - got a Master Alarm. [Pause.]
023:10:15 Overmyer: We dropped data just then, Jack, so we can't concur or confirm it. That is exactly the right time...
023:10:25 Schmitt: [Garble] all right. [Pause.]
023:10:34 Schmitt: Bob, you cut out about your Systems Test meter discussion.
023:10:38 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. Do you have any previous 7 Alpha readings? We don't have any in our log here written. We're just wondering what the past readings on that was.
023:10:51 Schmitt: No, I think that was the first one we would have been called to make after a battery charge, right?
023:11:28 Overmyer: Go ahead, Jack. I - you're coming in very weak.
023:11:35 Schmitt: Well, I didn't intend to be transmitting. We were just discussing the battery vent and things. We may have missed something in the dump checklist. We'll check it out.
023:11:44 Overmyer: No, sir. We don't think so. We just thought may you might have read it earlier.
023:11:50 Schmitt: Oh, yeah, you want the battery vent - it should be closed now, right?
023:11:56 Overmyer: Stand by, Jack.
023:12:00 Schmitt: Okay. Ron says it ought to be open.
023:12:02 Overmyer: That - that's affirm...
023:12:03 Schmitt: [Garble] So let me check the checklist.
023:12:04 Overmyer: ...it should be open. That - there's no question about that. It should be open.
023:12:09 Schmitt: Okay. It's open.
023:12:12 Overmyer: Really, there's no problem, Jack. It should be open, but the value appears a bit low to us, and we'd like to read it again before you go to sleep. We may want to close it. [Pause.] And a nominal reading would be 1.7...
023:12:31 Schmitt: Okay. We - we closed it when we were doing all our dumping some time back and neglected to open it again. So, it was closed when I gave you the reading, and it has been closed during some 2 hours, anyway. I'll - you can figure out how long.
023:12:52 Overmyer: Okay. We - we copy that. [Long pause.]
023:13:26 Overmyer: Jack, would you mind opening the vent and watching the system meter concurrently with it? [Pause.]
023:13:38 Schmitt: Stand by.
Comm break.
023:14:39 Schmitt: Well, it's - it's Closed now, and it's still reading what it - 0.6. Do you want us to open it again?
023:14:49 Overmyer: Rog. Open the Vent and...
023:14:50 Schmitt: I mean, it's open now. I'm - I'm sorry, Bob. It is now open and reading 0.6. It read 0.6 when it was Closed.
023:15:00 Overmyer: Okay. Just leave it open now.
023:15:05 Schmitt: Okay.
023:15:07 Overmyer: And we will want to still check it prior to your sleep period.
023:15:14 Schmitt: Okay. [Long pause.]
023:15:34 Schmitt: Okay, Bob, a little update on the coast of Asia. It looks like some residual cloudiness would be affecting the Pusan region of Korea. And, also, that's residual after the frontal passage. And it looks like maybe Shanghai, after all, may have some storms associated with it, but it's really hard to pick out exactly - the exact coast line of Asia, but I - there are some clouds in the Yellow Sea, behind the front, Look like they might be possibly some high cirrus is all.
023:16:21 Overmyer: Jack, do you still see that storm that you said was sitting between Guam and - Borneo in that area?
023:16:34 Schmitt: Okay. I see there is this cloud concentration between New Guinea and Guam. The more I look at it the less well developed it appears to me compared to some of the other circulation patterns. It could be just a residual depression from Theresa that has moved out into that area. It is an isolated, a relatively isolated cloud pattern, fairly small, but apparently fairly dense. But has - does not have a strong cyclonic pattern to it. Nothing at all like the pattern that now exists above Borneo and seems to be moving towards Luzon.
023:21:33 Schmitt: Okay, Houston. We're moving in the pieces of a Presleep Checklist. Here's some onboard read-outs for you. Battery C is 37.0; Pyro Bat A, 37.2; Pyro Bat B, 37.2; RCS A, 95; Bravo, 94; Charlie, 94; Delta is 96. [Pause.]
023:22:10 Overmyer: Roger. We copy that. And if you've started it, we don't want you to reinitialize the PTC until about 24:00 on the timeline.
023:22:27 Schmitt: Okay. We're - we're just getting a little ahead - we - took us longer last night on the presleep than we expected. We're trying to work it out again.
023:22:35 Overmyer: Yeah. We don't to - we want to terminate the waste stowage vent at that time, because we think that that vent is what's contributing to our PTC coning.
023:22:46 Schmitt: Okay. We're - we're not - we're not really ready to go to sleep yet, but we're just moving ahead.
023:22:52 Overmyer: Roger. [Pause.]
023:22:58 Schmitt: And if it's okay, I'll cycle the H2 fans.
023:24:36 - This is Apollo Control at 23 hours, 25 minutes. The crew has completed realigning the inertial measurement platform, the platform used as a stable reference. The spacecraft Guidance and Control system uses it as a reference in determining its own attitude. They've also been charging the two entry batteries that are used during peak electrical loads of lift-off, and then are recharged during the translunar coast when the fuel cells are producing a surplus of electrical energy. They've recharged one of those two batteries and are in the process of recharging the second one at this time. And you heard the - heard the crew describe going into their pre-sleep checklist, getting things aboard the spacecraft configured for the sleep period, which is scheduled to begin at 25 hours Ground Elapsed Time or a little more than 1½ hours from now. Apollo 17 at this time is 96,244 nautical miles [178,244 km] from Earth, traveling at 5,264 feet per second [1,604 m/s]. And all spacecraft systems continue to function almost perfectly as planned. A little while ago the Lunar Module officer - control officer - confirmed from telemetry what Gene Cernan [Or Jack Schmitt] was reporting visually out the window and that is that the Lunar Module appears to be in very good shape. Of course we have a limited number of telemetry readings on the LM at this point. But one of them that we do have gives us an indication of the integrity or tightness of the LM cabins. We can see that in the amount of pressure decaying. It appears to be a very tight vehicle.
023:28:27 Overmyer: Say, Jack, we got a request in here from our ARIA friends. [Pause.]
023:28:38 Schmitt: Go ahead.
023:28:40 Overmyer: They're just wondering if your looking out that way, if you could give them some sort of update of what the weather in the Wake island - Kwajalein - the south of the Wake area looks like.
023:28:51 Schmitt: Okay. Let me work on that one.
023:28:53 Overmyer: Okay. You're going to mearn - earn your American Meteorological Society badge here pretty quick.
023:29:07 Schmitt: Okay. Let me get the monocular, and we'll look at Wake island. [Pause.] I miss having all those nice latitude and longitude lines on the globe.
023:29:23 Overmyer: Yes sir.
023:29:43 - The ARIA friends that CapCom, Robert Overmeyer, was refering to, are the crews of the Apollo Range Instrumented Aircraft, used in supplementing the Manned Space Flight Network coverage. They'll be leaving from Patrick Airforce Base prior to the end of the mission and flying into the Wake island area to be on station during Apollo 17's reentry and splashdown.
What the PAO officer is calling the Manned Space Flight Network (MSFN) had, by Apollo 17, been renamed the Spaceflight Tracking and Data Network (STDN) in view of its increasing use in the 1970s for communication with the various unmanned probes that had been or were planned to be sent out across the Solar System.
023:33:44 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. I'll probably have to work on this one a little more, but - but it looks like around Wake, or in the vicinity of the Kwajaleins and north to Wake, about all you have is a lot of cloudiness although - and in a generally - over a wide part of that Pacific, I'm talking about 15 or 20 degrees of longitude and latitude, there's a - roughly a clock - a clockwise circulation pattern. But the clouds do not look very dense or concentrated in any one area. And at leading off to the southeast from that general cloud mass, there're cyclonic - anticyclonic cloud mass is a - is one of the old fronts - or at least one of the old linear cloud patterns that extends down into the South Pacific. [Pause.]
023:35:06 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. I'm sure that the ARIA troops are listening down at Patrick and caught all that.
023:35:14 Schmitt: Well, my guess is, Bob, and it's purely a guess, is that there - probably - if they were out there right now, would be experiencing an intermediate layer of clouds with scattered showers. And a not too strongly developed circulation system, so I can't predict the winds. But I wouldn't expect them to be anything - anything what might be down - associated with the remnants of the tropical depression Theresa. Now that Theresa - what's left of it, if I'm correct in - in picking it out there, probably is - is moving in that direction, although it looks weak enough that, right now I don't think it would be any big problem. And it may, in fact, go south of there.
023:36:11 Overmyer: Roger. The prog I got in my hand for 3-hour-old weather has Theresa located just about in the Manila area. Did you concur with that, or do you think it passed the - the Philippines?
023:36:25 Schmitt: Well, I don't - Manila's clear. The only thing approaching near Manila is - is this other storm center that now is north of Borneo. And to the east of Manila, it's clear all the way over to this little cloud mass that I was guessing might be Theresa.
023:36:44 Overmyer: Roger. All I say, this is 3 hours old so...
023:36:46 Schmitt: ...And that's about - I gave Gene Kranz some coordinates on it. You can look it up. Those were pretty good coordinates for that cloud mass. Now whether that's really Theresa or not, I don't know. [Pause.]
023:37:02 Overmyer: We got one thing with - for the last couple of hours here, we've been getting high-bit-rate data through our new facility - a new facility at Tidbinbilla, Tidbinbilla is through a 210 [-foot, 64-metre] dish, and they're covering the first...
023:37:14 Schmitt: ...between Wake in the Kwajaleins, Marshall islands, in that area, it doesn't look like a very concentrated weather pattern, although it looks like you'll have ceilings in that region. And they're overcast ceilings rather than broken. Except around the fringes of it.
023:37:31 Overmyer: Roger.
023:37:35 Schmitt: We'll keep an eye on it of course. [Long pause.]
023:37:51 Overmyer: Jack, how do you read us now?
023:37:54 Schmitt: You're loud and clear.
023:37:56 Overmyer: Okay, 17, for the last 2 hours, we've been getting high-bit-rate data from a new facility, the facility at Tidbinbilla and they're working their first Apollo flight ever, you might give them a cheery hello. [Pause.]
023:38:21 Schmitt: Tidbinbilla, is that correct?
023:38:24 Overmyer: That's affirmative. It's very close to the Honeysuckle base...
023:38:28 Schmitt: Where is that?
023:38:29 Overmyer: Very close to Honeysuckle.
023:38:33 Schmitt: Well, how you doing - how you doing mates? We certainly appreciate you guys being on the loop for this one.
Comm break.
023:39:23 - That new 210-foot dish antenna at Tidbinbilla, which is near Honeysuckle Creek, which in turn is near Canberra, now online and accounting for our excellent signal strength from the spacecraft. Apollo 17 at this time is 96,958 nautical miles [179,566 km] from Earth. The speed is 5,233 feet per second [1,595 m/s].
023:40:01 Overmyer: 17, Houston. We'd like Accept, and we'll update your gyro drift, the pitch, roll, and yaw drifts. [Pause.]
023:50:15 Overmyer: Rog. We've got a recommended configuration for your H2 fans and H2 heaters. We would like the H2 Heaters 1 and 2 to Auto and H2 Fans 1 and 2, Off; 3 to Auto. Your O2 heaters look good. [Long pause.]
023:50:45 Schmitt: Okay. Let me verify that I've got these right. H2 Heaters 1, 2, Auto. O2 Heaters, 1 Off; 2, Off; 3, Auto. H2 Fans - H2 Fans, you want Off; Off; and Auto. is that correct?
023:51:07 Overmyer: That's what we wanted on the H2 Fans. And the O2 is fine, as you've got it.
023:51:14 Schmitt: Okay. They're Off, Off - Okay; H2 Fans: Off, Off, and Auto.
023:51:33 Cernan: Okay, Bob. I just cleaned the suit circuit return valve screen, here. It was probably, as expected, a little crud on it. A few things have collected, but really not too bad.
023:51:48 Overmyer: Roger, Gene.
Comm break.
023:53:29 Schmitt: Bob, a little more about Wake and the Marshalls and Kwajalein. That large pattern of what appear to be broken overcast clouds in a - a clockwise circulation pattern - crosses the equator region now that I've tried to project that through.
023:57:33 Overmyer: Roger, Ron. When you stop the present roll on the PTC to reinitialize, pick a roll angle of 315 or 130 for stopping, so that we have good comm during the damping period.
023:57:51 Evans: Okay. 315 or 120, okay.
023:57:53 Overmyer: 130, Ron.
023:57:57 Evans: Okay. 315 or 130.
023:58:03 Overmyer: Roger. That'll give us good comm to watch the data on the damping.
023:58:08 Evans: Okay.
Comm break.
023:59:35 - This is Apollo Control, now 24 hours after lift-off and Apollo 17, 97,917 nautical miles [181,342 km] from Earth. The crew, at the present time, is stopping the Passive Thermal Control mode. They'll be reestablishing it. It had begun to diverge a little bit - begun to wobble about the axis, and the concern in going to sleep with that sort of situation is that it will wobble through the point at which they would have gimbal lock and of course we would wake them up before then but in order to avoid having to disturb the crew's sleep they'd like to get the Passive Thermal Control very stable, so that it'll hold up during the entire sleep period.
024:00:29 Cernan: Hello, Houston. How do you read?
024:00:31 Overmyer: Read you loud and clear, 17.
024:00:34 Cernan: Okay. We're at 300. Do you want us to go to 315 yet, or is 300 going to be okay?
024:00:39 Overmyer: That's good enough, Gene. And we'd like you to close your waste vent at this time, please. [Pause.]
024:00:56 Cernan: Okay. [Pause.]
024:01:07 Cernan: Okay. It's Closed now.
024:01:09 Overmyer: Roger. [Long pause.]
024:01:32 Overmyer: And, 17, Houston. We've got the same recommendation. We recommend Alpha and Bravo for damping; Bravo and Delta for spinup. Over. [Pause.]
024:01:48 Cernan: That was Alpha and Bravo for damping and Bravo and Delta for spinup.
024:04:58 Overmyer: If one of you want to break out the Flight Plan Supplement, we have a change to the E-Loads on page 143 due to the change of gyro-compensation parameters. If you want to copy them down when you get the Supplement out.
024:05:14 Cernan: Okay. We'll give you a call.
024:05:15 Overmyer: Roger. We'll be standing by.
Comm break.
024:06:27 Cernan: Okay, Bob. We're in our - we're on our damping cycle now.
024:08:16 - This is Apollo Control. We're in the midst of turning over the shift now to Mission Control, to the team of Flight Director Pete Frank. Gene Kranz and his team will be going off shift in about 25 minutes. We do not plan to have a change of shift press briefing. The crew aboard Apollo 17, scheduled to begin an 8-hour sleep period in a little less than one hour at a Ground Elapsed Time of 25 hours. And we have no major activities in the Flight Plan before that time. At 24 hours, 9 minutes; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
024:17:15 Schmitt: Houston, 17. Okay if we close the waste stowage vent now? Oh, okay. I'm sorry. It's closed.
024:17:23 Overmyer: Roger, 17.
024:17:28 Schmitt: Forget it. We got it, I - I was left out. [Long pause.]
024:17:53 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. On the film status, we're still where we were, November-November, 134. And I'll probably take two more pictures before we go to sleep.
Based on measurements of Earth's image size and calculations of distance derived thereof, it seems that Jack will take two more images shortly after 25 hours GET, AS17-148-22741 and 22742.
024:33:03 Cernan: Hello, Houston. I think we've got everything done on the checklist. The chlorine has been - water has been chlorinated, we're in PTC, and I think Jack picked up everything else. How does it look to you?
024:33:19 Overmyer: Roger, Gene. Let's - let us make a check through the room here, and then just a reminder that I've got that addition on the E-Loads for the - in the Flight Plan Supplement. [Pause.]
024:33:35 Cernan: Yeah. Stand by. Jack's going to keep the headset on and the biomed, and he'll close you out with that, and if there's nothing else, I'm going to go off the air.
024:33:46 Overmyer: Roger, Gene.
024:33:49 Cernan: Okay, say goodnight to my friends back there.
024:33:53 Overmyer: We certainly will.
024:33:56 Cernan: Hey, just so that we know, it is about midnight, right?
024:34:00 Overmyer: It's about 7 minutes after midnight, Gene.
024:34:06 Cernan: Okay, just didn't want - wanted to make sure it wasn't noon.
024:35:55 - This is Apollo Control at 24 hours, 36 minutes. As Gene Cernan says goodnight, Apollo 17 is 99,714 nautical miles [184,670 km] from Earth; velocity, 5,114 feet per second [1,559 m/s]. The Lunar Module Pilot, Jack Schmitt, will be wearing the communications headset and the biomedical harness for the sleep period tonight.
024:36:44 Schmitt: Bob? This is Jack. Your last report for the day as the Earth goes past window 5. The first thing I noticed was that our zero phase point is not nearly as bright on the west coast of Australia as it is on the - was on the east. And it's looking right at the coastline now and see no bright spot in the center. Also, that circulation pattern or tropical depression possibly that I saw earlier north of Borneo is now even more strongly developed at the tail end of the front that stretches up toward Japan. And it - it really looks like a humdinger from here. Beautiful circulation pattern and very concentrated. And it is now east of Vietnam, and again between Vietnam and - and the island of Luzon. [Pause.]
024:37:56 Overmyer: Roger. We copy.
024:37:57 Schmitt: And I'd be very - be very curious to know tomorrow morning if you - you people are carrying that one on their progs or on their analysis chart.
024:41:33 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. You want me to erase something on page 1-43 and insert something else?
024:41:40 Overmyer: That's affirmative, Jack. On 1-43 under column A, down at line 11 and 12 and 13. Just to make sure you're at the right spot, the line 11 old data is 00115. Do you copy that? Do you see that?
024:42:05 Schmitt: I'm with you.
024:42:06 Overmyer: Okay. Change that line to 00377. [Pause.]
024:42:18 Schmitt: Go ahead.
024:42:19 Overmyer: Change line 12 to 00050. [Pause.]
024:42:32 Schmitt: Go ahead.
024:42:33 Overmyer: And line 13, 00523. Over. [Pause.]
024:42:45 Schmitt: Okay, I got that and [laughter] as you might imagine, when I said erase, I did. And do you have the 04 and the 05 again, please? [Pause.] That is, if they're pertinent.
024:43:04 Overmyer: Stand by, Jack. I'm lost myself here a second.
024:43:10 Schmitt: He gave me an update on 30704 and 31005, and I just erased it.
024:43:19 Overmyer: Okay, The 04 under column B is 34761, and the 05 line under column B is 15403. Over. [Pause.]
024:43:41 Schmitt: Okay. Here we go. In line Alpha; 31411, 00377; 31512, 00050; 31613, 00523. In line Bravo, 30704 is 34761; 31005 is 15403. Over.
024:44:12 Overmyer: Roger. We copy, Jack. Just a reminder to be sure and configure the comm for the presleep checklist. And, just for your information, Jack, I - I hold you at 100,116 miles. I was going to give you a call at 100,000 even, and then I got talking to you. So you've crossed the 100,000 mark right now. Tomorrow, you're probably not going to be giving us our weather report, You'll be too far out, but we'll probably be starting to hear from the Moon, huh?
024:44:44 Schmitt: We're not going to see much of the Moon, you know. It's going to be pretty dark, so I'll have to keep looking at the Earth.
024:44:50 Overmyer: Roger.
024:44:50 Schmitt: Pretty good - pretty interesting place. Very interesting place.
024:44:56 Overmyer: I'm real sure.
024:44:58 Schmitt: And I guess - I guess, maybe, I - 100,000 miles. My goodness gracious. That's impressive.
024:45:08 Overmyer: Yes, sir. You're slowing down all the way, Jack. [Pause.]
024:45:19 Schmitt: Well, it's sure downhill all - all the way back, isn't it?
024:45:22 Overmyer: That's for sure. [Long pause.]
024:45:37 Overmyer: Jack, did the CMP get off the line, and is he sacked out now, too?
024:45:44 Schmitt: Yeah, I lost both those guys. They - they decided they wanted to sleep, and I may be rumbling around here for a while but I took - we all three took Seconal, so I think we'll get to sleep before long.
024:45:57 Overmyer: Roger. Just give us a call if you need anything, and we'll be watching everything there, and pleasant dreams. [Pause.]
024:46:11 Schmitt: Now, you don't really mean that, do you?
024:46:16 Overmyer: Well, I can't come up and tuck you in so - hope you have a good sleep. You need lots of rest up there, gang. [Long pause.]
024:46:37 Schmitt: I'll tell you, Bob, about halfway though this day, I think I acclimated. And I really feel good. I've been eating a lot better, and I'm not - the only thing I ever really felt was a slight headache. It really - not the fullness of the head that people described, I guess, but just a little headache. I could have been looking at the Earth too much. I don't know.
024:47:02 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. You've been sounding good.
024:47:06 Schmitt: Oh, actually, I feel - I've been feeling fine. Just - none of us have felt like eating. And that's probably normal, and everybody's eating more now, and we'll start getting to sleep, I think.
024:47:18 Overmyer: Roger. [Long pause.] Jack, just a reminder on that comm for the presleep checklist. It's important to us because we can get the - we can get high-bit-rate data more. [Pause.]
024:47:48 Schmitt: Bob, you cut out, but I'm in the comm sleep configuration now. I'm working that way.
024:47:58 Overmyer: Okay. Ed Fendell was shaking his head for a minute. Now he says as long as you're working that way. [Long pause.]
024:48:38 Schmitt: Bob, you still cut out. Let's try it again.
024:48:42 Overmyer: No - no problem, Jack, Just a reminder on the comm; that's all. We're watching you go through the checklist here.
024:48:49 Schmitt: Okay. [Long pause.]
024:49:14 Schmitt: Okay, I'm on High Gain now, and Omni Bravo selected. [Long Pause.]
024:49:37 Schmitt: How do you read, Bob, on the High Gain?
024:49:39 Overmyer: Read you loud and clear, Jack.
024:49:44 Schmitt: Okay. And it's in Reacq and Narrow.
024:49:47 Overmyer: Stand by. Stand by on that, Jack. [Long pause.]
024:50:30 Overmyer: Say, Jack, can we refer you to the checklist on S/1-27, a sleep configuration there, where you S-Band Squelch, Enable, et cetera? [Pause.]
024:50:44 Schmitt: Roger. I'm Enabled. [Pause.]
024:50:55 Schmitt: Oh, et cetera. Yes.
024:51:00 Overmyer: Roger.
024:51:05 Schmitt: Okay. I'll get to that in a minute, Bob. Who knows, I might have something else to say.
024:51:08 Overmyer: Okay. [Long pause.]
024:51:32 Schmitt: Bob, I just probably ought to qualify all those remarks about the Earth's weather. It's purely a novice talking about something he is very unfamiliar with, except for having a longstanding interest in it. And I think the one philosophical point, if any, that comes out of it is that somebody, probably 3½ billion years ago or so, could have looked at the Earth and described patterns not too dissimilar. And it was within those patterns that life developed, and now you see, I think, and obvious to everybody, what that life has progressed to doing. And I certainly think all of us feel that it has not stopped doing that progression, and we'll probably see it do things that even you and I can't imagine them doing I certainly hope so.
024:52:38 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. We concur.
Comm break.
024:54:06 Schmitt: Bob, you always wished that you had a poet onboard one of these missions, so he could describe things that we're seeing and looking at and feeling in terms that might - might transmit at least a part of that feeling to everybody in the world. Unfortunately, that's not the case. But he certainly couldn't look at that fragile blue globe and not think about the ancient sails of life that are crossing its paths and wonder ahead to the - up to the present, to the modern sails of life that are represented by the men that developed out of that life that are sitting there next to you and that are the country in all sorts of different guises and working towards the same end, and that is to put that life farther into the universe. I certainly hope that someday, in the not-too-distant future, the guy can fly who can express these things.
024:55:24 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. You're doing a pretty good job expressing them.
024:58:31 Overmyer: Roger, Jack. We'd like to go to select Omni Bravo, and stow the High Gain in the the normal stowage. It's customary we do not use the High Gain for PTC going TLC. [Long pause.]
024:58:55 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. I'm sorry, but the checklist indicated that you do. I'll go back to Omni Bravo.
024:59:04 Overmyer: Rog. It's probably ambiguous. If you end up going up on the checklist, up to the top of 1-28, it shows you where you want Omni Bravo. [Long pause.]
024:59:25 Schmitt: Ambiguous is the best word I can think of for it.
024:59:30 Overmyer: Say again, Jack.
024:59:34 Schmitt: Ambiguous is the best word I can think of for it.
024:59:37 Overmyer: Rog. We - I concur. I should have probably called you earlier and just pointed out on the Flight Plan where it says presleep checklist. And then there's the word "comm," and it says "Omni," and that leads you into the checklist and makes sure you use the Omni setup for - for the sleep configuration.
025:00:06 Overmyer: Yeah, it's something we don't - we don't - sim PTCs, TLCs, and TECs very often. That's for sure. [Pause.]
025:00:21 Schmitt: Well, that's because we have a whole day to learn out here.
025:00:24 Overmyer: That's affirmative. [Pause.]
025:00:31 Schmitt: Omni Bravo.
025:00:33 Overmyer: Roger.
Very long comm break.
025:01:16 - This is Apollo Control at 25 hours, 1 minute into the mission. Apollo 17 is 100,953 nautical miles [186,965 km] from Earth. Velocity, 5,062 feet per second [1,543 m/s].
About now, Jack takes two photographs of Earth which is believed to be these two.
AS17-148-22741 - Earth at a distance of approximately 186,000 km (based on photo analysis). Australia, Antarctica - JSC scan
AS17-148-22742 - Earth at a distance of approximately 186,000 km (based on photo analysis). Australia, Antarctica - JSC scan
025:22:40 - This is Apollo Control at 25 hours, 22 minutes. We haven't heard from Jack Schmitt recently, however, the Flight Surgeon reports that his data indicates he's not yet asleep. Apollo 17 now at 102,000 [nautical] miles [188,900 km] from Earth. Velocity, 5,018 feet per second [1,529 m/s]. We'll continue to leave this line up until we get an indication that the Lunar Module Pilot is asleep. The other 2 crewmen are asleep at this time. At 25 hours, 23 minutes; this is Mission Control, Houston.
025:25:37 Schmitt: Okay, Bob. I think I'll hit the hay. How does everything look to you? [Pause.]
025:25:50 Overmyer: Looking pretty good, Jack. We'd like the S-Band Normal Voice to Off, and S-Band Squelch Enable, please.
025:25:59 Schmitt: Yeah, I'll get that. I just want to make sure that PTC and everything looks good.
025:26:04 Overmyer: That is real fine, Jack.
025:26:10 Schmitt: Okay, talk to you in the morning - or to somebody anyway.
025:26:13 Overmyer: Roger. Parker will wake you up - I think. Have a good sleep.
025:26:17 Schmitt: Oh god.
Very long comm break.
025:26:52 - This is Apollo Control at 25 hours, 27 minutes. Jack Schmitt has said 'goodnight'. We'll take the line down now and come back up with Mission Control reports hourly. Apollo 17 now 102,202 nautical miles [189,278 km] from Earth. Velocity, 5,010 feet per second [1,527 m/s].
