Spacelog Apollo 13

And after you turn BAT 6 on the line, you might as well take a look at the BATs 1 through 4 and so forth, and make sure that it's okay to turn them off.

Roger. Are you ready, gang?

Yes, we're ready for the POWER AMPLIFIER and the HIGH BIT RATE, and NORMAL VOICE, on the FUNCTION switch, please.

Okay.

Okay, gang; we've got the HIGH BIT RATE, now.

Roger.

Okay, we see BAT 6, ON, and it looks good, Fred-o.

Okay. Am I cleared to proceed with the next step, getting 1, 2, 3, and 4, OFF/RESET?

Affirmative. You're cleared for BATs 1 through 4, OFF/RESET.

Okay.

Okay. Still looks good.

Okay, Houston. We need a call from you when to have Jack to proceed up into the Odyssey and start up there.

Okay, Aquarius; and Jack can get with it right now.

Okay, Houston; Aquarius. We've completed the powerup and things look good upstairs. Are we GO for proceeding with battery charge?

Okay, Aquarius; you're GO on the battery charge.

Roger.

Boy, this is really a switch, isn't it, Jack?

That's an understatement. You're not known for that.

Yes. I think if you add up the—Yes—if you add up the operating time, I think the LM beats the CSM by a considerable margin on this flight.

Grumman just hired you.

Yes.

You're out there at 134000, coming in at about 4900 feet a second.

Very good.

The SUPERCRIT tank went off at about 1937, just about like expected.

Yes. It—it also must of not did very much, except the rates. I was asleep then and I didn't hear a thing.

Is the command—service module still venting?

Jack said it was just before he went up. Right now, the Sun's over there, and I can't really tell —

And —

We asked him a long time ago if he was able to see any stars out the optics. I don't think we ever got an answer.

Okay.

That's a pretty good sleep station I had rigged up, Jack. I took one of the sleep restraints out of the command module, zipped up in it, and then hooked the tie, right at the top of the zipper, onto the LM upper hatch handle. So it kind of held me there, and then just drifted up in the tunnel upside down with my face toward the hatch, so the sunlight didn't get in my eyes and that worked pretty good.

Did you sleep pretty well that way?

Yes, no problem at all.

Is Jim sleeping that way now, or is he standing next to you?

He's standing next to me.

About time for him to go to bed.

Okay. The voltage upstairs is 34.3 and the charger is reading 2.5 amps.

Okay 34.3 and 2.5. And … says … —

— pretty cold. Good.

Say again your last.

They came—both came down here rubbing their hands, shivering. It's pretty cool upstairs.

Are you keeping warm in the LM?

Yes. It's pretty reasonable down here.

Okay. And right now, it looks like … right now, it looks like the command module isn't venting, Jack, so I'm going to try to take a look at the optics.

Okay. You say it is not venting?

Yes. That's the word. We've just looked through the AOT and you can't see anything back there.

Okay. And everything's fine in El Lago.

Very good.

Houston, Aquarius; how do you read?

I'm hearing you with a lot of background noise, Fred-o.

Aquarius, could you get a—amps and volts readout from Odyssey, please?

Okay. Stand by.

The CMP is dotting across there. You'd be amazed at how proficient you get at transfering to the tunnel after the first 1000 times.

I didn't get your last there, Fred-o. We'd like you to verify that your POWER AMPLIFIER circuit breaker is open.

Okay. That's verified. POWER AMPL breaker is open.

Roger.

Okay, Jack; that's 34.6 volts and just a little bit under 2.5 amps.

Okay, Fred. I copied 2.5 amps. Say again the volts, please.

34.3 and that was just a little bit below 2.5.

34.3; thank you.

Okay. … point …

Fred-o, I didn't copy the last. Say again the voltage, please.

Okay, and the voltage is 34.6—34.6, amps, slightly less than 2.5.

34.6 and a little below 2.5. Thank you.

Houston, Aquarius.

Go ahead, Hous- Aquarius.

Okay. Jack reports from upstairs that he can see stars and constellations out of the optics but the Sun angle is such that it is reflecting off the LM—portion of the LM quad and other thruster … right now. … really moving around …

Okay. The part I got was that he can see stars and constellations and there is some sunlight reflected off the quads. That's all I got.

Yes. The point being that, at least in the present orientation, you have to kind of wait until Sun isn't reflected off the LM to see them.

Okay. What you're saying is you kind of have to wait until the—there is no Sun reflection on the LM to see the stars. Is that right?

Yes. That's for the present orientation, of course.

But later on, if you can stop it moving around and … …

Okay —

…

Okay, Fred-o. And we need a volts and amps reading.

Okay. And bring it back upstairs.

Okay. The volts, 35.0; amps, 2.4.

The weather prediction for your landing area is still good; 2000 scattered, high scattered; 4-foot seas, 15-knots wind. There's a hurricane 500 miles to the west, which doesn't pose a problem.

Aquarius, Houston. We need another readout amps and volts, and that will be our last one for a half hour. Over.

Okay. The reading is 37.8 volts, 2.3 amps.

Say again, Fred.

37.8 volts, 2.3 amps.

37.8 and 2.3. And that will be our last one for a half hour. Thank you. And I'm about to exercise my fifth general order here, and pass it along to Joe.

Aquarius, Houston. Over.

…

Okay. This is your friendly do-it-yourself-kit COMM with a suggested procedure in the lithium hydroxide situation. You're looking good. We read 1.8 millimeters, and you do have sufficient LM … to last you the rest of the flight. However, being on the conservative side, we would like to use one more set of command module canisters to guard against some possible problems with the LM, primary canister. And I have a simplified procedure for doing that, if you want to listen to it now. Over.

Okay. I think I read that you were ready. I forgot … earphones. This simply consists of getting a second pair of cartridges out of the command module, putting one band of sticky tape, that is the gray tape, with the sticky side out, around the sides of each new canister near the top, taking a piece of EVA cue card and cutting it into four squares about 2 or 3 inches on a side, bending those at a right angle to form corner support, attaching them to the sticky tape, so that they'll stick up and overlap the old canister, and then simply putting the old canister next to the new canister and taping it up real good so it sticks together. The only other procedure is to remove the towel plug from the old cartridges and put it in the bottom of the new cartridge. And that's it. Over.

Okay. As I read you we get the gray tape and fold it so that we get—the back sticks around the outside of the canisters, then we mount to that four sides of our … cards like our EVA … cards; then we overlap those cards down around the base of the canister. Then we—then we … over the … at the top. … Then we take the towel from the old ones and put them in the bottom of the new ones. … …

Okay, Fred. I think you got it. I didn't completely copy your readback, but it's just that simple. We're just putting the new cartridge—the top of the new cartridge against the bottom of the old one, moving that towel plug, using the cue cards as little corner stiffeners, and taping her up.

Okay. The top of the new against the bottom of the old.