Spacelog Apollo 13

I … Maybe … …

They have got a procedure for … the lithium hydroxide …

… on secondary. We'll let it go to 15. Why don't you get on a headset, and I'll be down … for …

Houston, Aquarius.

Aquarius, Houston. Go ahead.

Okay Jack's up with me now and you all … procedure for making these lithium hydroxide devices, and soon as he gets on his helmet, he'll be ready to copy, and then he'll get started making one.

Roger that, Jim. Understand —

On second thought -

Go ahead.

I'll give Jack the headset for a while and he'll copy down your instructions.

Okay, Jim. I didn't copy your second thought. Over.

Hello, Houston.

Go ahead, Jim.

Okay. That's two lithium hydroxide canisters, one roll of that special gray tape, two LCGs which we're going to use the bags from, one LM cue card and …

Okay. That's affirmative, Jim. If you'll just cut the cue card, which is a handy piece of stiff paper the right size, about an inch and a half from the rings. Just cut off the ring holes, in other words, and you'll have a card about 11 inches long and probably 6 inches wide, something like that.

Okay, … I'll have Jack gather up the stuff.

Okay.

… that roll of gray tape.

… Okay. … and … plastic bags.

Okay. I got the canisters.

…

…?

…

Okay, Houston; Aquarius.

Yes. Aquarius, Houston. Go ahead.

We have gathered the materials, and I can put Jack on the headset and he can copy the instructions copy it to give them to him, or do you think they're too detailed?

Why don't you put him on the headsets, Jim, and I'll read it out to him.

Okay.

Okay, Joe. …

Okay, Jack. Did anybody ever tell you that you got a 60-day extension on your income tax. Over.

Yes. I think—I think somebody said that when you are out of your country, you get a 60-day extension.

Okay; right. Okay. I'm ready to start into the procedure. When you answer me back, speak up—speak up into the microphone, because our downlink is pretty noisy. The first thing we want you to do, and we'll do this on one canister, and then let you go ahead and repeat it on the second. So take one of the LCGs and cut off the outer bag. By cutting along one the heat seals; do it carefully and close to the heat seal, because we may have to use the outer bag if we damage the inner bag. So go ahead and do that, and then we'll do the next step.

Okay. Take an LCG, cut the outer bag by the heat seal. Be careful not to damage the inner bag. Right?

Right. Just cut along one side.

Hey, Houston, Odyssey—or Aquarius. We've done that.

Okay, Jack. Now—now remove the inner bag from the outer bag, and cut the inner bag, also, along one of the heat seals down one side.

Okay. Remove the inner bag from the outer bag, cut the inner bag along the heat seal along one side.

Okay. That's correct. Do that, and report.

Okay, Joe. We've got that done.

Okay, Jack. Now you can put the LCG itself; that is, take it out of the inner bag, put it in the outer bag, and stow it some place; we recommend U-1, but you can stow it wherever it's convenient.

… outer bag … I'd stow it back in …

Okay, Joe. We've got that.

Okay. Now pick up one of the lithium hydroxide canisters, and let me describe which end is which. It's approximately square on one—one of the vented flat ends, has the strap, and that end we call the top, the end opposite we call the bottom. Is that clear? Over.

Okay, now -

Okay. Now we've got to make the belt real taut here.

How's that?

Okay, Joe.

Okay, Jack. Did you have —

— Hey, Houston, are you reading?

Jack —

— We've got the two belts around the top and the one around the bottom all done.

Okay, fine. The next step now is to anchor that tape, and the way we want you to do that is to cut about a 2-foot length off the roll and then tear it lengthwise so that you have two strips about 2 feet long and about a half an inch wide. And you'll wrap those around the canister at right angles, more or less, to the tape that you've got so that it goes across the top and across the bottom; and when it goes across the top and the bottom, put it so that it's outboard of the center hole and try to get it over one of the ridges between the screens, so that it won't block the flow. Is that clear? Over.

Yes, Joe. Very good.

Okay. Press on.

Okay. I've got a cut length right here and we'll tear it lengthwise … and I'm going to go around right here at this ridge all the way around at right angles and anchor it …

Yes.

Joe, just to clarify that, sticky end down. Right? On the tape that I am putting on now?

I didn't quite copy that, Jack. Say again.

Okay. That will be the sticky end down on the container, right?

Oh, that's correct. I forgot to say that. That's right.

… hold that one right here, if I can set it.

Okay, Joe; Aquarius. We've got that done.

Okay, Jack. The next step is to get the EVA cue card and use it to form an arch over the top of the canister; just tuck one short end under one ridge on the top the other one against the ridge on the other side so that it forms a rounded arch over the top of the canister. You see, Jack, what we're going to do is slip the bag over this whole assembly and the cue card will serve to keep the bag from being sucked down against the screen. Over.

Okay. I got the idea.

Okay. And when you've done that, to hold the arch in place, just run a strip of tape across the side of the—that is, across the top of the arch, and anchor it down to the sticky strips along each side.

Okay. I got the idea. Okay. Let me just repeat it here. Take a cue card, form an arch over the top, bringing it under the side here. When we're through, run a piece of tape from the sides across the top of that to anchor to the other side.

That's correct.

Okay. It worked.

The top. … Across the top.

Looks like you're going to have to cut the cue card slightly.

Doesn't have to be really … over that the only thing we're … we can just take the scissors and cut off the edge here. The only thing this does, Jim, is prevent this from being sucked down into the container.

Okay, Joe. We've got that arch built, and it's all taped in securely.

Okay, Jack. The next step is to stop up the bypass hole, which is the hole in the center of the bottom of the canister; we want to stop that up because we don't want to bypass the flow; and I forgot to tell you to get something to stick in that hole. We recommend that you either use a wetwipe, or cut off a piece of sock and stuff it in there, or you could probably even crumble up some tape and use that. Over.

Okay. We'll start plugging up the bypass hole.

Okay.

Plug that hole. We can either—we can put some either—Let's cut a piece of your towel there.

Okay, Houston; Aquarius. We have the bypass hole all plugged up.

Okay, Aquarius. The next step is take the inner LCG bag that you cut open, and slip it over the top of the canister, when you do that, orient it so that the ears of the bag, that is, the corners should stick out on the closed end—are oriented along the open ends of the arch, because we're going to snip one of those corners to stick the hose in. Pull it down until it fits snugly over the arch. Over.

Okay, Joe. Slip the bag over the canister so that the arch is at the bottom of the bag and that the ears are along oriented along, let's see—I guess it would be—would be at the sides of the arch.

Depends on what you mean by sides—over the—the open ends of the arch.

Right, the open ends of the arch.

Okay.

Okay, Joe. We've got that done.

Okay. Now press the bag against the sticky belts that we put on the sides of the canister. If there is any excess material, just kind of pleat it, so that it makes a fairly tight seal, and then take another 3-foot strip of sticky tape and wrap it around the outside of the bag opposite the bottom—the bottom sticky belt—to make a nice tight seal.

Okay, Joe. We've got the canister inside the bag, two strips around the sides of the bag, real tight, and both sealed.

Okay; real fine. Now there's probably a couple of inches of excess bag sticking our around the bottom of the canister. To prevent this from sucking in against the bottom screen, we'd like you to trim it off with the scissors, and when you've done that, we'd like you to cut two more strips of tape about 12 inches long or so, cut the—tear them lengthwise to get four pieces 12 inches long and 1/2-inch wide, and then use those four strips to secure the bag by passing the strips from the sides of the canister outside the bag around the bottom of the canister and back up the other side, and when you do this, just as you did on the top, make them go outboard of the hole and in between the screens. Over.

Okay. You want me to trim the excess material that's sticking off here; trim it at the edge of that canister? Or do you want any excess left over?