Spacelog Apollo 13

Houston, you copy 13?

Hello, Houston; Apollo 13. Over.

13, Houston. Go ahead.

Hey, were you copying my P23 results?

That's affirmative, Jack. We followed you through the whole thing. You're ahead of schedule.

Okay.

And, Joe, we confirmed there is no midcourse-1. Over.

That is affirmative as far as I know. Let's get a final check on it, Jim.

Okay. Because we're standing by. We want to do a fuel cell purge and a waste water dump.

Okay, Jim. We confirm there will be no midcourse-1.

Okay. It sounds good.

And, 13, Houston. You can go ahead with the purge and dump at your discretion.

Roger, Houston. What we're going to do is, we're going to get rid of Fred's suit here. Fred's suit has been right in the commander's slot here for the last half hour. So we're going to try and get it stowed.

Okay.

Apollo 13, Houston. We'll have a handover in about 1 minute.

Hello, Houston. Apollo 13.

Roger, Jim. We'll have a handover from Hawaii to Goldstone in about 30 seconds.

Say again, Houston.

We'll be handing over from Hawaii to Goldstone in a few seconds. You may get a temporary loss of COMM.

Okay. Houston, 13.

13, Houston. Go ahead.

Hey, Joe. Do you want to dump waste water down to 25 percent. Is that right?

That's affirm.

Okay, in work.

Okay.

Do you know we're also purging fuel cells O₂ now.

Okay, Houston. The fuel cell purge and waste water dump are complete.

Roger, Apollo 13. And this is your relief CAP COMM shift on now.

Well, good evening, Vance.

Boy, you sure made it back fast.

Yes. You guys had a beautiful launch, there. Really nice.

Could you follow it all the way up, Vance?

No, I didn't see staging. It was too hazy for that, but we could see it for a few miles anyway.

I'll tell you, it's sure an interesting ride.

Houston, Apollo 13.

Roger. Go ahead, Jim.

Roger. We're at that stage now where we're going to take some Earth weather photography. If you're standing by, I have the camera aimed at the Earth right now, and I'll give you a mark when I take this first picture.

Roger. We copy, Jim. We'll be standing by for the mark.

Okay, Houston. 3, 2, 1 -

MARK.

Roger, copy.

And Apollo 13, Houston. Over.

Go ahead.

For the PTC, recommend that you disable quads A and B. Over.

Okay, Houston. We're starting PTC. We're disabling quads A and B now.

Roger, Apollo 13. Houston copies.

Apollo 13, Houston. Over.

Go ahead.

Jim, we'd like to verify that the high gain is secured, that the S-BAND antenna is on OMNI, and OMNI B should be the right antenna. Over.

Okay. You want the high gain secured and you want the OMNI on OMNI Charlie, huh? Or Baker?

That's affirm. And this'll be maintained in the PTC.

Okay.

Houston, Apollo 13.

Roger. Go ahead.

Stand by for another Earth weather picture. I'll give you a mark.

Okay. Standing by, Jim.

3, 2, 1 -

MARK.

Houston copies.

Apollo 13, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston.

Houston here. Your rates look very stable. It looks like your rates are damped out completely here. As far as we can see, it would be alright to start the PTC.

Hello, Houston. This is 13. How do you read?

Hello, 13; Houston. Loud and clear. 13, Houston is reading loud and clear. How do you read?

Okay. And do you have any estimate, Vance, on how long we'll be charging battery B?

Stand by 1, Fred.

Apollo 13, Houston.

Go ahead.

We'll be charging for 4-1/2 to 5 hours yet, Jim.

Apollo 13, Houston.

Go ahead.

Fred, recommend that, when your window comes around facing the Earth again, that you catch another one of those pictures, and at the same time, you should probably start PTC again. We might have sent a confusing bit of info up to you. The “disable two quads” only applies to an early step in the procedure. We didn't mean that for the latter part of the procedure where we have the statement “enable all jets.” Over.

Houston, Apollo 13.

Apollo 13, Houston. Go ahead.

Vance, Fred said that you had some more information about PTC and a different way of establishing it or something, huh?

Roger. Referring to the procedure on G/8-2, if you have that open, I'll tell you what we had to give you.

Okay. Stand by and I'll get it out.

Okay.

Okay. Go ahead, Van.

Okay. On checklist G/8-2 under step 5, there's a statement, “disable all jets on two adjacent quads,” and that's what we were referring to when we called up saying “disable quads A and B.” So that's all fine; however, going down now to step 7 where it says “enable all jets,” we hoped that you didn't think we meant leave A and B disabled there. In that case, it's as written. All jets should be enabled. Over.

Okay. Our checklist has “all jets” scratched out, and it says “enable couples on all axes.” So what we'll do is—we'll reestablish this thing and come down to that step 7, and we'll enable all jets. That means enable quads A and B. Is that right?

That's affirm. You'll have A, B, C, and D enabled for step 7.

Okay, real fine. I'll start on it now.

Okay. Understand you're going to reestablish it.

And Vance, on that picture, I was all set to shoot it just a little before you called, and the Earth hasn't showed up in the window yet. I don't know if we got too far off the bellyband or what.

Roger. Copy, Fred.

Apollo 13, Houston.

Go ahead, Vance.

Roger. On the photo, you'll probably have to reestablish the attitude for PTC and then whenever it comes into the window again, why we'll just be standing by for the photo.