Spacelog Apollo 13

Okay. And, Houston, stand by for a mark on another picture.

Roger. Standing by.

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MARK it.

Roger. We copy, Fred.

Okay, Vance; we've completed that procedure, and let me know if everything was okay.

Okay, thank you. We'll let you know if anything isn't okay. I'm sure it's good now.

Tell GNC and GUIDO thanks a lot for keeping good track of me, there.

Roger. They're right on the ball.

And, 13, Houston. If you would like, we can let you know about every 2 minutes before the Earth should be coming into your window. We think we've got it pegged down pretty well now, and you won't have to look for it so much. You want that?

Yes. That would be fine, Vance.

Okay.

And, 13, Houston. GUIDO says the bits are reset—rather, are set.

Apollo 13, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston.

It's time for Fred to start looking for the Earth, should be coming by in about a couple of minutes.

Okay. He's got his head out there right now.

Yes. You've got that pretty well pegged, man. There it be.

Doesn't that give you confidence?

Yes. I guess so. In a minute, you're going to hear my kitchen timer ding, and that also says the Earth is there.

Okay.

Okay. Stand … countdown.

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MARK.

Apollo 13, Houston. Over.

Go ahead, Houston.

Roger. We're enjoying Fred's music there.

Yes, … up here.

Yes, I kind of like it too, Vance.

Houston, Apollo 13.

13, Houston. Go ahead.

Okay, Vance, we did another EMS null bias test and the—it went from 100.0 to 101.8 in 100 seconds.

13, Houston.

Go ahead, Vance.

Jack, like to verify, was that 100 to 100.8 or 101.8?

101.8.

Roger.

It was plus 100 to plus 101.8.

Roger.

Apollo 13, Houston.

Go ahead.

The Earth's coming up in the window again in 1 to 2 minutes.

He's got it. You're right again.

Okay.

Hey, you still there, Van?

Roger. Go ahead.

I guess the world really does turn. I can see some of my landmasses now. It must be Australia down near the bottom and I guess we haven't really figured out what's over the—to the left. It must be some part of Asia. China, probably.

Hey, maybe the fact that you verified that the Earth really turns, we can call this Haise's theory, huh?

Very good, Vance. Very good.

…

No, seriously. Very interestingly, we can see on the map now that you're between Guam and Hawaii and a little bit north, and you're almost out 60 000 miles.

Yes. I just did a P21 and we had 55 900.

Okay. That's pretty good.

I'll let you look at it again here.

Incidentally, we're looking at a replay of your TD&E stuff here and the TV looks pretty good. First chance some of us had had to see it.

Okay, Vance. In R₁, there's our altitude in tens of miles, 55 290.

Okay.

Apollo 13, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston.

Okay. Looking at our computations back here, we show you about 55 450 and going out rapidly now.

Well, Hal might be a little bit off.

Okay.

We have a sign underneath our LEB DSKY that “my name is Hal.”

I can't imagine how that got there. Just remember, you have to be nice to Hal.

We will.

I think this PTC's going to work out good. I been watching it here for the last hour here.

Good. It's looking good here.

(Music—Aquarius)

Houston, 13.

13, Houston. You're very weak. Please repeat.

Vance, to my calculations, we have taken about 10 Earth window photography pictures. I see nothing coming up here except to close the waste stowage vent here in a little while. I was thinking about getting squared away to bed down for the evening pretty soon.

Okay. That sounds good, Jim. FAO here would like to request just one more picture before you bed down, if you don't mind.

Okay. We'll come through with one more picture.

Apollo 13, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston.

A couple of items, Jim. The first is, the time for closing the waste stowage vent is 12:24. If you turn in before that time, why it's okay as far as we're concerned down here to close it before that time just before you go to bed. The second point, we have some results on the P23s, and, if Jack's interested, we could give him the corrected altitudes we're getting, and so forth.

Yes. I sure am, Vance.

Okay. This is preliminary results, but it will give you some indication. Corrected altitude is turning out to be 17 plus or minus 4 kilometers, and the fact that it's plus or minus 4 kilometers indicates that you're being very consistent in judging the altitude. The effective altitude is turning out to be 10 plus or minus 12 kilometers. Comments are that, as I said before, you're being consistent on the horizon selection. The substellar point error is averaging 15 arc-minutes and if you could hold the rates to a minimum, you might shoot for 5 arc-minutes. That's the only comment there. Over.

Okay. We'll try doing it better next time.

But, they're real satisfactory.

Okay. Thanks, Vance.

Apollo 13, Houston.

Go ahead.

Okay, Jack, this is the last time for the Earth coming into view in about 1 or 2 minutes.

Okay. I got my photographer looking out there.

Okay.

13, Houston. I just corrected. Actually, the Earth will come into view more times. It's just that we're … to the photography. Over.

Okay.

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