Spacelog Apollo 13

Okay, Jim. We got it. The Earth went by at a minus 8 degrees. On a basis of the data —

That's right.

On the basis of the data we have so far, your entry angle is 5.99. The block data we gave you on the pad for a no-COMM midcourse-7 last night is no longer valid because we made this midcourse.

Okay. Understand, the no-COMM pad is no longer valid because of the midcourse. Entry angle based on the last 2 hours' tracking is 5.99, and I take it you're going to keep tracking for some time now to see whether we need another midcourse or not.

That's affirmative.

Are you planning any no-COMM midcourse at 134 and change anyway right now, or are you going to wait?

We're discussing that now, Jim, and it looks like we're going to wait on the tracking. For the time being, since you're in the corridor, why, there's no need to pass it up. But we're going to keep looking at the tracking, and we'll probably come up with one.

All right. I'm not too sure what the venting is going to do to us so—when this SHe tank ruptures, what it's going to do for us.

Roger. We don't presently expect the SHe tank to have any effect on your trajectory, and the pressure's up to 1921 now.

Hey, it's going a lot better than we ever expected. What a way to get a data point.

And, Jack, just think. You thought you were going to sleep through all your watches.

Say again, Jim.

I said, you thought you were going to sleep through all you watches.

Well, you keep waking me up.

Aquarius, Houston. You notice anything?

Yes, Jack. I was just about ready to call you. Underneath quad 4, I noticed a lot of sparklies going out.

Can you hear or feel anything?

No, I sure can't, but I think it changed our—it changed our PTC. Let me check and see what the drift is.

Okay. She's going down through 600 now.

I think we're probably going to have to reestablish PTC. Yes, we got pretty fast yaw drifting, Jack.

Houston, Aquarius. What are your plans?

We're thinking about them right now. Did you say it yawed some?

Yes, I was in a right yaw and now I'm in a left yaw; at a much faster rate than the one we put in PTC.

Okay, Jim. We're talking it over. Stand by.

What's the SHe tank down to now, Jack?

Okay, Jim. It's going through 125 pounds now. And we understood you to say —

Okay.

— that it reversed your yaw. Is that affirmative?

Sure did, Jack. It reversed my yaw completely and put in a little pitch, I think.

But more than anything, it reversed my yaw.

Roger. Have you effectively established PTC in the opposite direction then?

Well, you could say that. I'm not too sure just what kind of pitch or roll I've got, coupled with the yaw. I just saw the Earth go by the LMP's window here, not too long ago at a rather faster rate than we had going the other direction.

Perhaps you can tell how fast I'm having to shift OMNIs.

Yes, we can tell the COMM cycling back and forth.

Is that what they call a nonpropulsive vent?

Right. I'd hate to see a propulsive one.

You and me both.

It's going through 50 pounds now. So, are you seeing fewer sparklies?

Yes. Much fewer. Not any at all, now. I'm not sure whether that vent gave me reverse yaw and roll—left roll—that's—if that's what it gave me.

You say you think it might have given you some left roll as opposed to opposite yaw.

I'm sure it gave me the yaw, Jack, but I'm not too sure …

Okay. We'd kind of like to watch it, see what happens for a little while before we make a recommendation. However, we'll need some inputs from you on that.

Well, we're in no trouble up here as far as—as far as the yaw goes. Everything's fine. It's faster than we had set up before. We just wanted to get into proper thermal constraint, and it's going to take me 15 minutes to get the thrusters up anyway.

Okay, Skipper. We don't see any thermal problems as a result of this change. If we see some communications problems, we may have to do something different, but so far, so good. And we'd kind of like to hear from you on LPD numbers, if you get anything going by the window.

Okay. Will do.

Okay, Jack. The Earth just went through at an LPD of 26 degrees.

Okay, Jack. We've got a MASTER ALARM and we've got a battery light flickering.

Okay. Copy a battery light. What battery?

Aquarius, how about cycling the power temp monitor to find out which battery it is, please.

Yes. That's in work, Joe.

Okay. It's that same old …

Okay, Fred. I can hear you now, Say again, please.

Okay. It's the same old—same old one. The only light I'm getting is on BAT 2.

Okay, Fred. We copy your same old friend, battery 2. Could you give us high bit rate for a while, please?

Aquarius, Houston. High bit rate, please.

How you getting it now, Jack?

Okay, Aquarius. You can go low bit rate, POWER AMP, OFF and DOWN VOICE BACKUP now. Voltages and currents look normal on battery 2; so ignore the battery light.

Okay, Jack. POWER AMP, OFF, back to low bit rate, and I'll go back to sleep.

The battery light staying on?

Yes. We got a steady on BAT 2, BAT FAULT LIGHT and the battery caution light.

Okay. And the Skipper in the sack now?

Say again?

Is the Skipper in the sack now?

Aquarius, Houston,

Go ahead, Houston.

Okay, Jim. Since the antenna switch is kind of annoying, we've talked them into buying only half of the data. If it gets too troublesome for you to switch antennas, why, just leave it on one antenna and we'll listen to you half of the time.

Okay. It's not really much trouble. That's all we're doing about it. We'll try to keep up with it. And you're satisfied with this attitude so far. I guess you're going to watch the thermal and find out whether perhaps we're going to some other PTC attitude.

Roger. Thermal appears to be no problem. We're looking at what DELTA-V might have been imparted due to this, and it looks like we're not going to change the PTC attitude.

Okay. Then DELTA-V was a part of it; I hope it raised that angle a little bit.

Yes. We'll be looking at the data here, and give you a better answer in next 30 minutes or so.

Okay. Meanwhile, back to the drawing board about nonpropulsive vents.

And, with your kind of luck, it probably lowered the angle some more.

Thanks for the confidence.

And, Jim, we're going to have a handover here pretty soon, about 3 minutes, we may lose uplink for 30 seconds or a minute.

Aquarius, Houston. We're handed over. How do you read?

Read you loud and clear, Jack.

Okay. I'm hearing you now, and the noise has come up again, but it will go down.