Spacelog Apollo 13

Okay.

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.

Houston, Aquarius.

Aquarius, Houston. Go.

You want us to start on this lithium right now, Joe, or is it necessary?

It's not time-critical, Fred, but if you have the people awake now, you might go ahead and do it. Incidentally, you probably know this, but the next several hours are going to be pretty quiet from our point of view. We're working on the entry procedures and should be ready to read them up to you in about 8 hours; and between now and then there's not an awful lot going to be going on, so you guys could be catching up on your sleep schedule. Over.

Okay, Joe.

And we would like another readout on the amps and volts.

Roger.

Okay. The volts, Joe, are 38.9 and the amps are 1.9.

Okay. Copy that, Fred. Thank you very much; 38.9 and 1.9. And EECOM is simply making as smooth a plot as he can to verify the amount of amps we're putting back into the battery. That's why he wants it at half-hour intervals. If that schedule begins to interfere seriously with your rest cycle or so, give us a call. Over.

Okay.

Yes. Jim's sleeping now, and Jack and I are awake and I just finished sleeping around, I guess, about another 5 or 6 hours, so I'm not particularly inclined to go back to sleep right now.

Houston, Aquarius.

Aquarius, Houston. Go ahead.

Okay. We've got one of them ready to go, and it looks like we could do a pretty good job just using the tape strips. First combining them together and then just using a piece of paper and the bag … get a pretty good seal …

Hey; okay, Fred. We suspected that you'd gotten at least one on. We've noticed a partial pressure drop from the 1.8 to 0.8, which is real good.

Okay. You might run that by the CPCB and see if they approve our in-house …

Roger that.

Aquarius, Houston.

Aquarius, Houston.

Go ahead, Joe.

Roger. We're convening the CPCB on that change, Fred, but FLIGHT has given you an interim go-ahead. Over.

And, how do you read now?

Not too bad, Fred.

Okay. We've got both canisters completed now.

Okay. Roger that, Fred. And you're reading 0.1 again on the CO₂. Incidentally, are you guys having good luck getting water out of the command module?

We—We haven't tried that yet today.

Okay.

Yes. This is quite an apparatus hanging on to these hoses now. And that ECS design engineer … because it sure seems to work.

Roger that.

And, Aquarius, Houston. At your convenience, we'd like another volts and amps readout.

Okay.

How do you read, Joe?

Pretty good, Fred.

Okay. Volts, 39.0; amps, 1.7.

Aquarius, Houston. Go ahead. You're pretty weak.

I didn't call you, Joe.

Say again.

I didn't call.

Oh, sorry about that. Incidentally, Fred, if switching OMNIs every couple of minutes bugs you, you can skip it for now. We can always wait until you come around.

No, it doesn't. This is Jack, Joe. Fred … It doesn't bother me at all.

Okay.

Just happy to know that you're standing by.

Roger that. Except I'm sitting by.