Spacelog Apollo 13

And in exchange for that, the surgeon would like to have a rough number of hours each of you slept and a qualitative verb to describe whether it was good, fair, or poor.

Okay. Stand by.

Okay, Houston. We had an average of around 5 or …

Jim, Houston. Your COMM got pretty garbled there just as you started to talk.

Okay. Houston, Apollo 13.

Okay, 13. You're loud and clear again.

We averaged about 5-1/2 hours' sleep apiece, and we are estimating that the sleep was good.

Okay. Copy that. Let's see what else we have for you, Jim. Midcourse-2 looks like about 23 feet per second, approximately retrograde and on time. And it's holding real firm now. For your information, and you don't need to copy this down, because it's still pretty soft, but we have an S-IVB impact of about 8.57 south and about 33.9 west, which is a little west and a little south of the flight plan value. We have it at a GET of about 77 plus 51 which is just before AOS, and the LOI pads are a little bit late, and as I say, it's still pretty soft, and we'll be updating you with firm numbers.

That's fine, Joe. Just as long as it doesn't hit Cone Crater.

Okay. And I'll have a consumables update for you in a little while, and I have a small flight plan update for you sometime a little later on when you're ready to copy. There's no big deals in it.

Roger.

And, 13, Houston. We'd like to verify that you cycled the O₂ cryo fans. We saw the H₂, but we didn't see the O₂ get stirred up.

Yes, Joe. We did, and it kind of looked like we might have had a little stratification because right after we put them on, we had a CRYO PRESS light.

Okay. EECOM told me that might happen, and he was right.

Okay, Joe. We're ready to copy a flight plan update and your consumables.

Okay, Jack. The flight plan update has a couple of items in it, and the first one we'd like to do is to update the T_ephem values in the G&C checklist on page G/9-2. These are fairly small changes, but in case you need them, we'd like you to have the exact numbers. Over.

Okay. Just a minute. I'll get it out.

Joe, was that the G&C checklist, page 9-2?

That's affirmative. G&C, page G/9-2.

Okay. Go ahead.

Okay. On that page in line 04, column B, change the number from 03366 to 05253. Over.

— 53.

Okay. And in line 05, column B, change from 11000 to 33661. Over.

33661.

Okay. That's right. The only other thing I've got for you, Jack, is three additional questions for the booster systems debriefing, which is to take place at about 25 hours, and we thought we'd pass these questions up to you early so you can consider them. Over.

Okay. We're ready to copy.

Okay. The first extra is, and let me get the original question because this question says, “More specifically on item 2,” and item 2 says, “Were there any significant changes in the noise vibration level during the single stage of powered flight?” Specifically, describe your observations during the early S-II center engine out-off, and approximately 90 seconds prior to TLI cut-off, you reported a high vibration in the S-IVB. We'd like you to describe the buildup of this vibration and its behavior through cut-off. Over.

Okay. Essentially, what you'd like us to talk about is vibration sequence during the early S-II cut-off of the center engine and also describe the vibrations that we encountered during the S-IVB TLI burn. Is that correct?

That's it. Okay. The second extra question is for you, Jim, and it says, “Comparing this flight with your ride on Apollo 8, were there any significant differences in the powered flight environment?”

Okay. We'll describe a comparison with 8 and 13 as far as powered flight goes.

Roger. And the last additional question is what did the ORDEAL ball look like during TLI? As you know, we passed you an update to that setting, and we'd like to know whether it was riding right on zero or what during the burn. Over.

Okay. Will do. We'll describe the ORDEAL ball.

Okay. That's it, and that's the whole flight plan update. I have a consumables update now if you want to listen to that.

Okay, Joe. We're ready to copy.

Okay. At 23 hours the total RCS is 1121, quad A is 274, quad Bravo is 286, quad Charlie is 274, quad Delta is 287, and the cryos are as follows: H₂ tank 1, 83 percent; H₂ tank 2, 86 percent; O₂ tank 1, 87 percent; O₂ tank 2, 87 percent. Over.

Okay, Joe. We got all those, and how do we compare them with where we should be in the time line?

As I understand it, Jack, you're running slightly ahead of nominal in both those areas.

Okay, Houston; Apollo 13. You were cut out again; say again, please.

Roger, Jim. We are ready for the launch-vehicle-systems debriefing whenever you are. Over.

Okay. Stand by 1.

Okay, Houston; 13. In answer to Question 1, the changes in noise level occurred mainly between the first stage and the other stages—the other stages were about the same in noise level, very quiet, with the first stage, of course, making quite a bit of noise in the beginning but—which built up during the high Q, and then … went quiet just after high Q.

Okay, copy that, Jim.

I might mention that the noise level during the first stage was not sufficient to be uncomfortable at all.

Roger. And I assume COMM was okay.

That's affirm. COMM was very good all during—throughout the entire flight. Much better than I expected.

Okay.

Now, in answer to Question 2, there was, of course, a vibration transient in the second stage that—due to the number 5 engine going out—which occurred shortly before the engine went out, and slightly after that then the S-II stage was very smooth.

Okay, Jim. I guess the significant point there is that you didn't notice the vibration before you saw the engine light.

That's right. We—we noticed the vibration but it wasn't such that we thought something catastrophic was going to happen; it just started vibration and then the EN light came on, and then the vibration went away and the stage itself was smooth.

Okay, copy that.

Yes, and that—it was all pretty—pretty short in span—just a second or so before and like a second afterwards, Joe.

Oh. Roger.

And on the S-IVB, the vibration of the vehicle itself wasn't what … second … powered flight—a very-high-frequency vibration.

That was—was that during—just during TLI, or did you notice that at insertion?

Well, it was a high-frequency viola—vibration but more noticeable during the TLI burn than it was during the … flight.

Okay, I—understand.

I guess the S-IVB vibration during TLI was there all the time although it seemed to—to grow to us as the burn progressed, although that may have been just due to the boost weight decrease.

Okay, you called this about 3-1/2 minutes, but I guess the thing was slowly building up throughout the whole burn. Right?

That's right.

Okay, was it uncomfortable or did it cause your vision to degrade or anything like that?

No, it—it was not uncomfortable at all but I was recalling the ride on 8, and the S-IVB was more—much more smooth than even it was on 13.

Copy that.

Okay, now, in answer to number 3, we did not experience any unexpected transients except that all of us noticed the PU shift. We thought it was more pronounced than we had expected it to be.

Okay. Understand.

Joe, on that. I guess most of every time that PU shift occurred we all—almost all of us glanced at the engine light. We could feel definite acceleration change.

Roger. Understand, Jack.

And, during the high-Q portion of the flight, the Alfa meter, to my knowledge, nearly went above 25 percent.

Okay.

In answer to number 4, we got a pretty good look at the thermal shroud and the IU after taking the LM away, and from our viewpoint, the shroud was completely intact. I saw no loose particles or parts of it floating at all.

Okay, Jim. Understand.

And, I guess we answered number 5. I don't think at any time did we have any communication problem during powered flight.

Roger.

In answer to number 6, the answer is essentially no. We saw no venting or suspected leak on the LM or the CSM …

Okay, Jim. I guess you described to us the non-propulsive venting on the S-IVB after the APS maneuver and we copied that at the time.

Okay. Fred saw the S-IVB venting.

Yes, we had already talked about that, Joe. And that was also visible when it—of course, when it did its evasive maneuver when we were looking at it right close up.

Roger.

Okay, Joe. The last time we saw the S-IVB positively was when Fred saw it venting at about—at about 5 hours. We think we might have picked it up later on. We saw a particle or something out there that was tumbling which might have been the booster or one of the SLA panels.

And when was that, Jim?

We're—we're debating. It was somewhere between—say 7:30 and 9 hours.

Okay.