Apollo 16
Day One Part Two: First Earth Orbit
Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 2004 David Woods and Tim Brandt. All rights reserved.
Last Updated 2006-04-17
[The Apollo 16 spacecraft, together with the S-IVB third-stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle, is now in orbit around the Earth. Over the next two and a half hours, John Young, Charlie Duke and Ken Mattingly will check out the spacecraft systems and arrange their equipment in the Command Module (CM) which is to be their home for the next two weeks (except while John Young and Charlie Duke are in the Lunar Module and on the lunar surface). Their work is guided by the Launch Checklist, but they have plenty of time to discuss their work. To help readers find the more significant parts, the following is a short index of the main events.
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Discussion of Stowage Locations. |
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Environmental Control System Checks. |
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Optical System Checkout and Inertial System Alignment. |
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ORDEAL System Set-up |
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Discussion of Reaction to Weightlessness. |
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Main Oxygen Regulator Check. |
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Camera Set-up. |
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S-IVB APS Over Pressure Notification. |
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S-IVB APS Over Pressure Discussion . |
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SCS Attitude Reference Comparison Check. |
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More S-IVB APS Over Pressure Discussion . |
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Discussion of Launch Vibration: |
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Over California |
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| Acquisition of Signal with Texas | 01:31 |
[The crew are just coming into darkness over Africa on their first orbit. They are in contact with Mission Control in Houston through the tracking station in the Canary Islands. The parking orbit around Earth does not permit continuous communication with Mission Control. Indeed, the orbit is so low that when the spacecraft does come within range of a station, it is only above the horizon for a few minutes, even if it passes directly overhead. If it passes to one side or the other, the period of contact is further constrained; for this pass over the Canary Islands tracking station, communication lasts only four minutes. (A15FJ amended)]
[At this stage, John Young, Charlie Duke and Ken Mattingly are working their way through the (Orbit) Insertion and Systems Checks on the CSM Launch Checklist. They are on Page L2-12. The Capsule Communicator (CapCom) in Mission Control is Gordon Fullerton.]
000 22 56 Young: All right. We're just starting to come into darkness now, and the sunset is...
000 22 59 Duke (onboard): Look - look at that. Look out there...
000 23 00 Young: ... Just as beautiful as always in this space business.
000 23 01 Duke (onboard): [Laughter]
000 23 02 Fullerton: Roger.
000 23 05 Young (onboard): Oh, would you look at all that. We could use some helmet stowage bags.
[The crew has been wearing their spacesuits, including their helmets and gloves, since several hours before launch. Now that they are in orbit, the mission rules permit them to remove the helmets and gloves. They will not remove the rest of the suits until after the separation of the Lunar Module from the S-IVB during Translunar Coast.]
000 23 09 Duke (onboard): Well, I'm getting them now.
000 23 10 Mattingly (onboard): I'll get them. I'll get you the Tool E down if you kind of watch your feet for a second.
[The crew has a small tool set to help with a number of task on the spacecraft, stowed in a fabric pouch. These include an emergency wrench, an adjustable wrench (spanner), a ratchet wrench, and a selection of sockets, screw driver and torque bits to fit various fasteners. Most are modified off-the-shelf tools. Tool E is a adapter handle that, as well as fitting most of the specialist bits, can also be used by itself. As it is the most commonly used of the tools in the spacecraft, two are carried.
]
000 23 14 Young (onboard): I don't even know - I know - What am I kicking?
000 23 17 Mattingly (onboard): Well, in just a minute, it'll be me.
000 23 20 Young (onboard): Okay.
000 23 22 Duke (onboard): U-1.
[Numerous items of personal and spacecraft equipment are stowed in compartments, lockers and bags throughout the Command Module (CM). Stowage compartments are part of the cabin structure and most of the equipment stowed in them is in cushioned bags. The lockers are pre-packed before the mission and are attached to the aft bulkhead and equipment bays a short time before launch. This allows groundcrew to gain access to the aft bulkhead during the pre-flight preparation of the spacecraft. Both compartment and locker doors have squeeze-type latches that can be operated with one hand. The compartments and lockers are labelled on the doors for identification and to aid location. They are numbered consecutively from fore to aft and are prefixed with a letter to indicate which equipment bay they are in.Lower equipment bay compartments are B1 to B8, the right hand equipment bay ones are R1 to R13 and the left hand equipment bay ones L2 and L3. The aft bulkhead has lockers A1 to A8 while the upperequipment bay as lockers and bags U1 to U4. There are two expandable temporary stowage containers under the left and right-hand forward equipment bays, designated F1 and F2.]
[The various stowage locations have to prevent the items
they contain from coming adrift in zero g, and 
during
in-flight manoeuvres.
They must also retain the items during the forces imposed during launch
and
landing. The contents of each bay are supposed to be detailed in
planning documents. However, there are almost always changes just
before each flight and the crew may
not always remember what is where. Stowage location U1 is
immediately behind and below
Charlie Duke's head on the right hand side of the cabin.]
000 23 24 Young (onboard): No, they're over here, Charlie.
000 23 26 Duke (onboard): No, they're over here. The helmet stowage bags?
000 23 28 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah.
000 23 29 Young (onboard): You're dreaming.
000 23 30 Duke (onboard): No. They're in U-1.
[There is some confusion over the correct location. Serial 8 of the checklist on Page L2-12 states that helmet bags are in U-1. The three helmet stowage bags are actually in U-2, next to John Young's head and in accordance with the Stowage List. See also Charlie Duke's comments at 000:30:20)]
000 23 33 Young (onboard): Yeah, but here's the...
000 23 34 Mattingly (onboard): You got - you've got both TSBs [Temporary Stowage Bags] and helmet stowage bags to get out, guys.
[The Temporary Stowage Bags are used for temporary stowage of small items, and for the disposal of dry refuse. There are three bags, one for each of the crew. The bags are stowed in U-1 for launch and entry. In flight, the Commander's bag attaches to the left shelf, the LMP's to the right shelf and the CMP's to the lower equipment bay. (AOH 2.12.5.4.1). The helmet stowage bags prevent scratches and damage to the crews' plastic "bubble" helmets while not being worn.]
000 23 36 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000 23 37 Mattingly (onboard): That's all I need.
000 23 38 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 23 39 Mattingly (onboard): John, could you move this foot?
000 23 20 Young (onboard): Yeah. I don't know where I'm moving it to. [Laughter] I must - Somehow it's ... Holy smokes, it's as bad as I thought it would be.
000 23 49 Mattingly (onboard): If you put your feet down, I'll get it out of your way somehow. Hang on a second - let me get this flashlight here and see what the heck that is. [Laughter].
000 24 08 Mattingly (onboard): In here somewhere is a Tool E.
000 24 12 Young (onboard): In L-2.
[For launch and entry, the tool set pouch is stowed in a stowage locker on the aft bulkhead beneath the centre seat location. In flight, it can be attached to the CM structure by velcro pads.]
000 24 13 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah.
000 24 14 Duke (onboard): There it is.
000 24 15 Young (onboard): Yeah. Is all the rest of that stuff coming out? We don't [garble] it.
000 24 18 Mattingly: Huh?
000 24 19 Young (onboard): Take out one thing. [Laughter]
000 24 20 Duke (onboard): Oh, [garble].
000 24 22 Young (onboard): I'd have sworn he was gonna unpack the whole spacecraft. [Laughter]
000 24 25 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'm going to lower my seat.
[The CM seats are intricate mechanisms in their own right, with nine separate major adjustments that can be made, and a host of smaller ones. The three seats also differ in detail. The seat functions are summarised in this link. Now at Serial 8 on Page L2-12 of the Launch Checklist, Charlie Duke is intending to lower the seatpan from its 85 launch degree to 170 degrees (effectively flat with the main seat back), to help him move to the Lower Equipment Bay to check the Main Regulator.]
000 24 26 Mattingly (onboard):
000 24 27 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000 24 28 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000 24 29 Duke (onboard): [Laughter]
000 24 32 Young (onboard): Hey, listen, you gonna have to just take it easy; we ain't really in no hurry.
000 24 35 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
Public Affairs Officer: This Apollo Control, Houston, at 24 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. We've had Loss Of Signal over Canary with the Apollo 16 spacecraft. They will be reacquired at 52 minutes, 39 seconds Ground Elapsed Time. We'll pass along at this time peak heart rates during the launch phase of flight. Peak heart rate for Command Module Pilot, Ken Mattingly, during the powered flight phase of flight read 115, for spacecraft commander John Young, 108, and for Lunar Module Pilot, Charles Duke, 130. At 24 minutes Ground Elapsed Time; this is Apollo Control, Houston.
[This was John Young's fourth spaceflight, after Gemini III and X, and Apollo 10 but even so a pulse rate of only 108 during launch is fairly exceptional.]
000 24 36Young (onboard):Yeah, I don't - I think this is absolutely the greatest, but if you [garble] you torque your platform.
000 24 42 Mattingly (onboard): I'm gonna keep my plat - platform way over standard.
[Throughout the mission, one of Ken Mattingly's jobs is to ensure that the inertial guidance platform is kept aligned. He is actually a bit early, since there are quite a few more checklist items before he gets to the stage where he can carry out the first of many such alignments during the flight. He will get to this later, at around 000 29 39.]
000 25 02 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Tell you what, gang. Could you tell me that our oxygen flow looks good?
[Ken Mattingly has moved onto Serial 9 of the Launch Checklist Page 2-12. This serial consists of a number of checks of the Environmental Control System before the crew can remove their gloves and helmets.]
000 25 07 Young (onboard): I couldn't tell you nothing.
000 25 08 Duke (onboard): Yeah, it does.
000 25 09 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. The [oxygen] flow is less than 0.2 [pounds per hour] or something like that?
000 25 15 Duke (onboard): No, it's about 0.3.
[The Apollo spacecraft uses a relatively simple system to maintain the cabin oxygen supply to the crew. Oxygen is stored in liquid form in three tanks in the Service Module. The Environmental Control System (ECS) draws off oxygen gas, heats it, and feeds it to the Command Module cabin through a pressure regulating system. As the crew converts oxygen to carbon-dioxide, the latter is absorbed by lithium dioxide scrubbers. This, and the inevitable leakage, reduces the pressure in the cabin, which is then topped up from the oxygen supply. Normal flow rate is about 0.43 lb/hour but this will depend on many factors, not least crew activity]
000 25 16 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, and how's the cabin pressure?
000 25 17 Duke (onboard): Cabin pressure's holding at 5 - about 5 1/2 (psi, 34 -38 kPa)]. Okay, let me get that. We have the Canaries LOS. Let me do what I'm supposed to do here at Canaries. Getting ready to flow.
000 25 29 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, the emergency regs I'm going to put on. They is on Both.
000 25 37 Duke (onboard): Shift [garble].
000 25 38 Young (onboard): Simplex B is off.
000 25 43 Mattingly (onboard): John, can you get the Suit Circuit Return Valve Open?
000 25 46 Young (onboard): Yeah, I can if I can get back to it.
000 25 48 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Okay - oh, no hurry!
000 25 49 Young (onboard): Suit Circuit Return Valve is coming Open. Nyuh-nuh-nuh-nuh.
[An interesting transcription - possibly representing the sound of the valve opening?]
000 26 00 Mattingly (onboard): You got her, huh?
000 26 01 Young (onboard): No.
000 26 02 Mattingly (onboard): I think you all...
000 26 03 Young (onboard): What was that?
000 26 04 Duke (onboard): RC...
000 26 05 Mattingly (onboard): Felt like it took a little Delta-P.
[Delta-P would be a change in pressure, which might have occurred due to the suit valve opening. However, it is possible that there has been a transcription error and that Ken Mattingly really said "Delta-V" - to indicate that he had felt an acceleration. This would also fit with Charlie Duke's comment immediately before, which looks like "RCS. See the comment at 000:26:23.]
000 26 07 Duke (onboard): Yeah. (Cough)
000 26 09 Young(onboard): Here we fly in comfort though. My - is my hand controller [garble] ...
000 26 16 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, [garble] the RCS Command is Off, too.
[With John, Ken and Charlie moving around the cabin, there is a risk of nudging the hand controllers and associated RCS controls. Hence, the CM RCS Logic switch was selected Off earlier as one of the items in Serial 1 of the Insertion and Systems Checks.]
000 26 18 Young (onboard): Let me do that one more time. The aft is fine, that's for sure.
000 26 23 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, there's some - there's some Delta-V in here.
[Ken Mattingly is suggesting that there is some acceleration (change in velocity is termed Delta-V), This is probably due to the S-IVB APS operating to maintain the attitude of the spacecraft and stage.]
Young (onboard): Well, I'm looking out the window at the flashes.
[It is not clear if John Young is referring to the thunderstorms the crew saw over Africa a few minutes below, or to flashes from APS motors firing.]
000 26 27 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, how about...
000 26 30 Young (onboard): You want your old hat back?
000 26 32 Mattingly (onboard): That's all right. Have you got the Suit Circuit Return Valve Open?
000 26 34 Young (onboard): Yeah, the Suit Circuit Return Valve is Open.
000 26 36 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, and don't want to forget our Window shadem Number 5 there.
[Each of the CM windows could be covered by an opaque aluminium window shield, to reduce glare into the CM. The window numbers are (from the crew's perspective):
Left hand side window: 1.
Left hand rendezvous window: 2.
Hatch window: 3.
Right hand rendezvous window: 4.
Right hand side window: 5.
A picture of the cover for window 2 is shown.]
000 26 43 Young (onboard): Oh, yeah. Charlie...
000 26 44 Duke (onboard): Oh, yeah. Am I supposed to put that in right now?
000 26 45 Young (onboard):... Window shade Number 5.
000 26 46 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, and I'm gonna...
000 26 47 Young (onboard): Okay...
000 26 48 Mattingly (onboard): ...I'm gonna turn the flows off if you want to come out of the helmets and gloves.
[The crew still have their spacesuits helmets and gloves on, and are getting their oxygen flow directly from the ECS. Before Ken Mattingly turns off the flow to the suits, the crew must take off their helmets.]
000 26 51 Young (onboard): Okay, could you put my seat [garble].
000 26 53 Duke (onboard): Have you done the main reg [regulators] check?
[See 000 40 25 for a description of the main regulators check.]
000 26 54 Mattingly (onboard): Let me see. No, we do the main regs afterwards, don't we?
000 26 55 Duke (onboard): Oh, okay. Oh, I don't know...
000 26 57 Mattingly (onboard): Just following my checklist here.
000 26 58 Duke (onboard): Okay. What could make my feet want to climb up to the...
000 27 02 Young (onboard): Isn't that neat?
000 27 03 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Oh, heck.
000 27 07 Young (onboard): You want me to get it for you, Charlie?
000 27 08 Mattingly (onboard): Five on the [garble].
000 27 09 Duke (onboard): No, I got it, babe.
000 27 10 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. You want this thing down, John, or like this?
000 27 13 Young (onboard): Just out of the way.
000 27 14 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000 27 17 Duke (onboard): [Laughter] I just had a...
000 27 18 Mattingly (onboard): I do the main regs next, Charlie. We can go ahead and take helmets and gloves off.
000 27 21 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'm gonna get this...
000 27 22 Mattingly (onboard): And...
000 27 23 Duke (onboard): ...Window 5 so...
000 27 24 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, if you'll tell me when you want to - when you want your flow off, I'll turn it off for you.
000 27 29 Duke (onboard): Okay. And the Window 5 cover's the one in the bag?
000 27 32 Young (onboard): Yeah. UV [garble].
000 27 33 Mattingly (onboard): Yes, sir.
000 27 34 Young (onboard): [Garble].
000 27 36 Duke (onboard): You just st - stuff the bag back in there?
000 27 37 Mattingly: [Laughter]
000 27 40 Young (onboard): Huh? Stuff what bag back in there?
000 27 43 Duke (onboard): This UV camera [garble]...
[See this link for details of the cameras carried by Apollo 16.]
000 27 45 Young (onboard): Oh, for gosh sakes.
000 27 46 Duke (onboard): What?
000 27 47 Young (onboard): I didn't know they had a bag with it.
000 27 49 Duke (onboard): Yeah. It's so it won't get scratched [garble].
000 27 50 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] Hey, if you pull your helmet off, it's gonna go.
[As Ken has unlocked his helmet at the securing neck ring, the residual pressure differential ("Delta-P") has pushed the helmet off his head. Under normal conditions, the ECS will keep the suit at 35kPa (5.1 psi), compared to a cabin pressure of 34.5 kPa (5 psi). The oxygen flow rate through the suit is approximately 0.2 to 0.3 cubic metres (7 to 11 cubic feet) per minute, and is used to cool the wearer, as well as removing CO2, odours and water. While on EVA, additional cooling is provided by passing water through a Liquid Cooling Garment that can be worn under the space suit, but this is not needed for normal use.]
000 27 54 Young (onboard): Where does it go?
000 27 56 Mattingly (onboard): Straight up [Laughter].
000 27 57 Young (onboard): Did you shut your air off?
000 27 58 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, but there's still just as much Delta-P in [garble] [laughter] it [garble] my nose, I couldn't even see it.
000 28 05 Young (onboard): Well, pull your glove off first.
000 28 07 Duke (onboard): Can you - can you shut my flow off [garble], Ken?
000 28 09 Mattingly (onboard): Yes, sir. Here comes your flow off, now.
000 28 12 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 28 24 Duke (onboard): All these snaps.
000 28 30 Young (onboard): Man, that do make a difference. Okay, turn it back on, Ken.
[Probably referring to the oxygen flow]
000 28 33 Mattingly (onboard): All right, Just a second [laughter].
000 28 37 Duke (onboard): I don't know what I'm kicking down there.
000 28 38 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter]
000 28 40 Duke (onboard): Achh!
000 28 41 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter]
000 28 42 Duke (onboard): Ah-ha!
000 28 43 Young (onboard): Look at that.
000 28 44 Duke (onboard): I can't believe it but I got her.
000 28 46 Young (onboard): Now, I know [garble].
000 28 47 Duke (onboard): Here I come.
000 28 48 Young (onboard): ...these things.
000 28 49 Duke (onboard): Here I come, everybody [laughter].
000 28 51 Young (onboard): Now - Well - well, be careful you don't hit the thrust switch, Charlie.
[John Young is probably referring to the may be referring to the two SPS Delta V thrust switches on Panel 1, which were the subject of a short-circuit on Apollo 15. While trying to move around in the cramped confined of the CM cabin, wearing his spacesuit, there is a considerable risk that he will hit something. Even though the switches are guarded to protect against inadvertent operation, there is still some risk of knocking into them. Alternatively, John Young may be referring to either the Rotation Controller mounted on his right-hand armrest, or to the Translation Controller mounted on Ken Mattingly's left-hand armrest. Charlie Duke's seat has no armrests and, as CMP, he has no need for the CM flight controls.]
000 28 53 Duke (onboard): Yeah, I know it. I'm trying to avoid that, John.
000 28 56 Young (onboard): Course it's guarded.
000 29 00 Mattingly (onboard): I keep forgetting you have to hold things.
000 29 04 Duke (onboard): Well, for some reason, I want to float right up against the instrument panel. Maybe my - maybe it's my helium in my suit.
[Charlie Duke is joking - in weightless conditions, there is no tendency to float in any particular direction - and there is no helium in his suit to make him act like a balloon! It is more likely that the basic tendency of the suit to adopt a straight position is helping force him from his seat.]
000 29 12 Young (onboard): You want your old dinner bag there, Ken?
000 29 14 Mattingly (onboard): Yes, sir; thank you now.
000 29 16 Young (onboard): Isn't that neat?
000 29 17 Unidentified (onboard): [Laughter]
000 29 18 Young (onboard): Isn't that neat, the way stuff just floats around?
000 29 19 Unidentified: [Laughter] Ahhh.
000 29 20 Young (onboard): That's got to be the world's greatest thing.
000 29 23 Unidentified (onboard): [Laughter]
000 29 28 Young (onboard): I hate to tell you this, you guys. John's got to go potty.
000 29 31 Duke (onboard): No, this thing won't fit [Laughter].
000 29 34 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, you're kidding me - I hope.
000 29 37 Duke (onboard): I can't get out of...
000 29 39 Mattingly (onboard): I guess I'd better get on with that P52.
[P52 is another of the Command Module Computer (CMC) programmes. This one is used to align the Inertial Measurement Unit in the Guidance and Nav System. Throughout the mission, one of Ken Mattingly's jobs is to ensure that the inertial guidance platform is kept aligned. He has just completed the first of numerous such realignments, a task usually known by the name of the program used, Program Number 52, or simply "P52".]
[Guidance and navigation are crucial to any journey and even more so in the ballistic dance of getting to the Moon and back. The crew must be able point the spacecraft in precise, well known directions, so that their engines will send them where they want to go. The spacecraft carries a gyroscopically stabilised platform within the IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) which remains fixed in attitude while the spacecraft rotates around it, connected to it by three orthogonal gimbals. The only way to ensure that the platform is properly aligned is to compare it to a fixed attitude reference - the stars are almost always used. Initially, the CSM (Command/Service Module)'s platform was aligned before launch. Realignment is achieved by using P52 on the CMC (Command Module Computer). With the spacecraft held in a steady attitude the sextant is pointed at a specified star, marked, then to a second star, where another mark is taken. The computer, knowing the attitude of the spacecraft (relative to its own idea of where the stars are), now has new values of where the stars are located. The amount of drift the platform has experienced since the previous realignment is calculated, and displayed as the amount of correction needed to move, or "torque" the gimbals to bring the platform back into accurate alignment. Known as "gyro torquing angles", they are displayed on the DSKY as "Noun 93". These angles are usually very small, and are expressed in thousandths of a degree.]
[Before the platform realignment can begin, the optics dust cover, on the opposite side of the CM from the hatch, must be jettisoned to enable the spacecraft's optical instruments to be used. The cover protects the external surfaces of the sextant and scanning telescope during spacecraft preparation and launch. Ken is supposed to observe the jettison through the unity power SCT (Scanning Telescope). (A15FJ amended)]
000 29 43 Young (onboard): Yeah, I guess - Have you jettisoned the covers, Ken?
000 29 45 Mattingly (onboard): No. I - I was trying to move too slow, I think.
000 29 47 Young (onboard): Okay.
000 29 48 Mattingly (onboard): I'm gonna do that next, and then I'll get this stuff. I'll do it.
000 29 51 Young (onboard): It's 29 minutes, so we got plenty of time.
000 29 53 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, it won't take long.
000 29 54 Young (onboard): What - what all is in the checklist to do between now and tonight? Anything?
000 29 58 Duke (onboard): No. No, wait a minute. Let me get this thing. There you go [garble] it back, naturally.
000 30 04 Young (onboard): Oh, come on. My goodness sakes.
000 30 07 Duke (onboard): [Laughter]
000 30 08 Young (onboard): [Garble] the optics coming around?
000 30 10 Mattingly (onboard): I figured I was gonna - I stuck Tool E in here where I've been keeping it. And it floats out. I thought I'd just started off the mission by losing Tool E.
000 30 18 Young (onboard): Oh, well. There's still [garble]...
[While the crew are making themselves and the spacecraft ready, the Public Affairs Officer is giving a press briefing.]
Public Affairs Officer: This is Apollo Saturn
Launch Control in the Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center.
The successful launch of Apollo 16 took place at 12:54.00569 seconds,
that is, 569 milliseconds past
Dr Fletcher: It is the best liftoff we've ever had and I think before I say anymore I'd like to introduce the Vice President Spiro Agnew.
Spiro Agnew, Vice President of the USA: Thank you, Dr. Fletcher. Ladies and Gentlemen you make the superb common place. This is my seventh occasion to visit the Cape at the time of an Apollo launch and this was one of the finest because as Dr. Fletcher said, he thought it was so good. I have noticed one change since I've been here and that is that there is so much coolness in the room. I think you are getting a little bit bored with this thing, aren't you? I know you're not, and I assure that the people of this country aren't bored and if you went out in the vicinity of the Cape and looked around today you'd probably find the biggest crowd with more people enthusiastic about the space program than we've ever seen before. And, I want you to know that the administration's interest has not diminished and as Chairman of the Space Council mine continues to accelerate as I look forward to [Apollo] 17 and through the Skylab launchings to follow. What's going to come after that will depend to a great extent on the continuation of your expertise and the great way you discharge your responsibilities. But you know that the people of this country still have that explorer spirit. They still have that tremendous sense of urgency for the United States to be the leader of the world in this kind of technological advance. So, congratulations again to - for a superb job, and I never fail to marvel at the way you bring these things off. We're all with you and we appreciate what you've done .
Public Affairs Officer: That was the Vice President of the United States speaking to the launch team in the firing room - Firing Room 1 at the Kennedy Space Center. Now Dr. Debus has a few words.
Dr Fletcher: Of course, you here in the firing room deserve all the credit plus all the thousands that are supporting you, wherever they are. But I think that as the leader of the team here at Kennedy Space Center, Kurt Debus deserves a little bit of congratulations and I'd like to turn the mike over to him.
Dr Debus: Thank you. Mr. Vice President, I'm speaking for the launch team of the NASA Kennedy Space Center and would like to thank you very much for the support you have given us by being here so many times in crucial moments. But what you see as coolness here is merely external. I assure you internally we are still quite excited. We will continue to give our best to make Apollo 17 and the Skylab a success. We are also grateful that you have decided to select this Center for the Shuttle, and since you are almost one of the launch team, we hope that you will be one of the first present here as soon as they get ready for the first flight. Thank you Mr. Vice President.
Public Affairs Officer: That was Dr. Kurt H. Debus director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.]
[The crew have gone back to the check list. Charlie Duke is at Serial 9 on Page L2-12. Meanwhile, at Serial 8, Ken Mattingly is supposed to move to the Lower Equipment Bay in preparation for carrying out Serial 10, the Main Regulator Check.]
000 30 20 Duke (onboard): Okay, let me get us back on the checklist here. Okay, you've done this main - no, we haven't done the main reg check. Okay, install command module - Okay, suit circuit return. And remove helmets and stow. And mount TSBs. I don't have that done yet. But this thing has helmet bags in U-l, but that's not really true. They're over on your side, John, aren't they?
000 30 42 Young (onboard): Yeah, here's yours, Charlie.
000 30 44 Mattingly (onboard): I - I think it's looking for TSBs out of yours, Charlie, and-
000 30 48 Duke (onboard): Okay, wait a minute, John.
000 30 49 Young (onboard): Okay, just leave it.
000 30 51 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000 30 52 Young (onboard): It won't go nowhere.
000 30 53 Duke (onboard): I know it.
000 30 54 Young (onboard): That's nice.
000 30 56 Duke (onboard): Okay, Ken. You can cut my flow off.
000 30 59 Mattingly (onboard): All right; stand by. Hey, John, if you want to put your hoses on, I'll cut this baby off again for you.
000 31 06 Young (onboard): No, that's all right. I'll leave them where they're at.
000 31 07 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000 31 08 Duke (onboard): Okay, cut it back on, Ken. I've got a glove popped [?] yet.
000 31 11 Mattingly (onboard): All right, sir; you're on.
000 31 13 Duke (onboard): Okay. I'm sorry, but the evil winds are blowing again, you guys. [Laughter]
000 31 16 Young (onboard): [Garble.]
000 31 17 Mattingly (onboard): Ain't nothing you can do that's evil right now, babe.
000 31 21 Duke (onboard): You just got to [garble] ...
000 31 22 Young (onboard): You know something, I never did like this, and I like it even less in zero gravity. I don't know why anybody ain't squawking.
000 31 34 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, [garble] this baby. G[uidance]/N[av] Power Optics going On. And [Optics] Zero Off. Then Zero. Oh, that light [garble].
[Ken Mattingly has skipped Serial 10, and has moved onto Serial 23 on Page L2-16, to jettison the Optics Dust Covers in preparation to align the inertial platform. First, he selects power On, using switch S4 on Panel 100, then he moves to Panel 122 and continues with the checklist.]
[There are two separate optical instruments in the Guidance and Navigation System, and these are used by the crew to take navigational sightings of the stars or landmarks on the Earth and Moon. Together with their associated machinery, they are large heavy systems. They also represent an important design philosophy dating back to the earliest days of Apollo. By providing the crew with the means to navigate independently of ground control, they provide an important safety measure in case communication is lost. As well as allowing for breakdown of the communications system, there is another more sinister consideration here. Apollo was designed at the height of the Cold War, and there was a real fear that its communications could be jammed by the USSR. In the event, spaceflight proved to be co-operative, and the competitive nature of the "Space Race" never spilled over into aggression.]
The first of the
optical instruments is the Scanning Telescope, which is like the
theodolite used by a surveyor to measure the azimuth and elevation of a
target. It provides
relatively coarse sightings of the stars or landmarks, and can be
steered in two axes. It has a field of view of about 60 degrees
at a magnification of just one times. The second instrument is
the Sextant which, like its predeccesors used to navigate ships at sea,
is used to measure the angle between two targets. It has a
magnification of 28 times (similar to that provided by a powerful set
of binoculars) and, as a result, has a very narrow field of view.
It can sight on two targets at once. One line of sight is along a
shaft fixed at right angles to the spacecraft skin, the other line of
sight can scan through plus or minus 270 degrees about the shaft, or up
to 57 degrees away from it. The movement of the line of sight is
provided by a moveable mirror. Rotational movement about the
shaft is referred to as the "shaft" angle, movement away from it as the
"trunnion" angle - a trunnion was originally the projection on the side
of a cannon allowing
the barrel to be moved in elevation and depression relative to the
carriage. The Sextant is used for more accurate measurement, to
within 10 arc seconds (or one 360th of a degree). Both
instruments use separate eyepieces, stowed behind Panel 120, located in the Lower
Equipment Bay. The Sextant and Scanning Telescope are made by the
Kollman Instrument Company in New York State.]
[The optics point out through the heatshield of the Command Module. During launch, they are covered first by the by the Boost Protective Cover, and after its jettison, by two separate covers which are jettisoned by the crew. Ken Mattingly is supposed to observe the jettisoning of the covers through the Scanning Telescope.]
[The Navigation station in the Command
Module is located in the Lower Equipment Bay.]
000 31 52 Duke (onboard): What's that?
000 31 54 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, I got a - a caution and warning on the PGNS. I don't know what that was. Must have been taking it out of the - [Optics] Mode is Manual. Optics Coupling is Direct, Speed [is], Hi[gh]. Now if [garble] up there. The [Optics] Zero's Off. Go Max speed to the right. The first one [ie cover] that comes off is the sextant at 40 degrees [shaft angle].
000 32 32 Young (onboard): I don't believe those [garble].
000 32 35 Mattingly (onboard): Ha-ha.
000 32 42Young (onboard): Ha-ha-ha-ha.
000 32 45 Duke (onboard): What's that, John?
000 32 48 Young (onboard): Looky here. Well, why don't you get your - well -
000 32 50 Mattingly (onboard): Well, darn it. I didn't hear anything come off of the telescope.
000 32 54 Duke (onboard): Did you see out of it?
000 32 55 Mattingly (onboard): No.
000 32 57 Duke (onboard): Well, keep going.
000 32 59 Mattingly (onboard): I was going all the way to the Sun. Shoot. Oh, well...
000 33 07 Duke (onboard): Maybe you can run it back again.
000 33 08 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah.
000 33 09 Young (onboard): Maybe you ought to go the other way.
000 33 11 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I don't know. If I could ...
000 33 14 Young (onboard): Are you seeing anything out of the telescope?
000 33 17 Mattingly (onboard): No, sir.
000 33 18 Young (onboard): Well, but that's going to take awhile. You want to turn down the lights, Ken?
000 33 20 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah. I got my lights down here. I'm going to go ahead and do a P52.
[Ken is now proceeding with Serial 24 on Page L2-17.]
000 33 23 Young (onboard): Okay, but - okay, but...
000 33 26 Mattingly (onboard): You think there is anything wrong with turning the other way if they didn't - if the cover didn't come off?
[The optics covers were supposed to jettison when Ken moved the Optical Hand Controller to the right to drive the Sextant and Scanning Telescope shafts. He is not sure if the covers have indeed jettisoned, and is wondering whether to try again, driving the shafts the other way.]
000 33 30 Young (onboard): Well, I think you ought to wait and ask them.
000 33 32 Mattingly (onboard): I hate to mess up 52. Let's see - let me - let me get myself good and light adapted.
[The IMU alignment with P52 is supposed to be carried out while the spacecraft is over the night side of the Earth. Waiting for the spacecraft to regain contact with Mission Control, when Apollo 16 is over Australia, will preclude this.]
[Contrary to popular belief, it is as hard to see the stars from a brightly lit spacecraft in orbit, as it is from inside a brightly lit house on Earth. To be able to see the stars through the telescope or the sextant, Ken Mattingly has to let his eyes adjust to the dark. The lighting controls at the Navigation Station are able to be dimmed independently of the rest of the cabin to aid this.]
000 33 38 Young (onboard): Yeah, that's the problem.
[John Young has experience of Ken Mattingly’s tasks, having taken Apollo 10 to the Moon as the CMP on that flight.]
000 33 39 Duke (onboard): You want me to turn the lights down?
000 33 40 Young (onboard): You want to turn down some of the lights?
000 33 41 Mattingly (onboard): I got my eye closed and...
000 33 43 Young (onboard): I forgot, the flood's turned all the way up in here. Stars are out there, Ken, I can see them.
000 33 50 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I don't see a thing. I heard the sextant go.
000 33 55 Duke (onboard): Can't you go back to Zero and try it again?
000 33 58 Mattingly (onboard): I'm going to. I'm going to Zero and [garble].
000 34 19 Young (onboard): We're 90 by 95, you guys.
[John Young is reading off the orbital parameters from the DSKY. To obtain these, he will have called up P[rogram] 11 then entered Verb 82. The spacecraft is in an orbit with Apogee 95 nautical miles (176km), Perigee 90 nautical miles (167km).]
000 34 21 Duke (onboard): That's neat.
000 34 23 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, you don't see anything wrong with trying to - to do a - Oh, hey, I think I do see some stars now.
000 34 29 Duke (onboard): There you go.
000 34 31 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, thank God. [Laughter]
[Ken Mattingly from 1972 Technical debrief: "Once again, I heard the sextant cover go off, but I did not hear the telescope cover go. Like everyone else that has looked through there, I looked and didn't see a thing in the telescope and I was concerned about what to do next. In fact, we talked about it. What was the best thing to do? I didn't think the cover had gone. While we were playing around, we came across a star pattern that was bright enough to see and it was an excellent telescope. There was no debris that you would see from it."]
000 34 33 Young (onboard): It takes awhile.
000 34 34 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, boy, you do have to be light adapted, I tell you.
000 34 36 Young (onboard): Yeah, yeah.
000 34 37 Duke (onboard): Where? I don't see them. Oh, yeah. There's some, I think...
000 34 39 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, I can - They're off because I saw our thruster fire.
000 34 43 Duke (onboard): I did, too [laughter]. Hey, that's a thunderstorm down there.
000 34 47 Mattingly (onboard): Was it?
000 34 48 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Must be that.
000 34 49 Young (onboard): Yeah, those are down [garble].
000 34 50 Mattingly (onboard): I'm looking in the other direction though.
000 34 51 Duke (onboard): Well, I'm looking on the ground...
000 34 52 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000 34 53 Duke (onboard): ...and that's - that's a thunderstorm.
000 34 54 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I'm going to do a [P] 52 if that's all right.
000 34 56 Young (onboard): [Garble] have to do a 52. That's a [garble].
000 34 58 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. I'm gonna ...
000 34 59 Young (onboard): I haven't got ORDEAL set up, but I got it laying here.
[See 000:39:07 for a description of the Orbital Rate Display - Earth And Lunar.]
000 35 01 Mattingly (onboard): Can I get rid of your thing for a minute?
000 35 03Young (onboard): Sure.
000 35 04 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, there's your flow. The Optics Zero is Off...
000 35 06 Young (onboard): What's the - what's the - what should we be doing?
000 35 08 Mattingly (onboard): ...[Optics Speed Controller] Speed should be Lo[w]; [Optics Zero?] Off.
000 35 10 Duke (onboard): I'm gonna turn the page here, and...
000 35 11 Mattingly (onboard): I tell you one thing you can do is - I'm going to stay in the dark here, so I can see.
000 35 15 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 35 16 Mattingly (onboard): Would you copy these numbers for me?
000 35 17 Duke (onboard): Yeah, I'll get them for you. John, we're up to speed, as far as I know.
000 35 23 Mattingly (onboard): I haven't started unstowing stuff.
000 35 25 Young (onboard): Okay, at 35 minutes.
000 35 27 Duke (onboard): Oh, we got to do the - we got to do the Main Reg Check, and the secondary Accumulator Quantity.
[Charlie Duke is providing a gentle reminder that they
have skipped several checklist serials.]
000 35 36 Mattingly (onboard): Man, I tell you what, I - There's another thruster fire.
000 35 39 Duke (onboard): Okay. John, you want to go to Secondary Glycol?
000 35 41 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, would you record star 23?
[The star reference numbers were given by their octal (base 8) number. The first star used by Ken Mattingly is Denebola, (number 23) which is also called Beta Leonis (the second brightest star in the constellation Leo).]
[The full list of stars, along with their reference numbers is as follows:-
Star Reference List
| Number | Star name |
Alternative Name |
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
00 |
Planet |
|
|
|
01 |
Alpheratz |
Alpha Andromeda |
|
|
02 |
Diphda |
Beta Ceti |
|
|
03 |
Navi |
Epsilon Cassiopeiae |
The name Navi was a result of a prank by Virgil "Gus" Grissom who "renamed" three stars after the crew of Apollo 1. "Navi" is "Ivan", Grissom's middle name, spelt backwards. |
|
04 |
Achernar |
Alpha Eridani |
|
|
05 |
Polaris |
Alpha Ursa Minor |
|
|
06 |
Acamar |
Theta Eridani |
|
|
07 |
Menkar |
Alpha Ceti |
|
|
10 |
Mirfak |
Alpha Persei |
|
|
11 |
Aldebaran |
Alpha Tauri |
|
|
12 |
Rigel |
Beta Orionis |
|
|
13 |
Capella |
Alpha Aurigae |
|
|
14 |
Canopus |
Alpha Carinae |
|
|
15 |
Sirius |
Alpha Canis Majoris |
|
|
16 |
Procyon |
Alpha Canis Minoris |
|
|
17 |
Regor |
Gamma Velorum |
Another of Grissom's jokes, this time named after Roger Chaffee. |
|
20 |
Dnoces |
Iota Ursae Majoris |
The third of Grissom's jokes, Dnoces is "Second" backwards, after Edward White II, who was also the second man to walk in space. |
|
21 |
Alphard |
Alpha Hydrae |
|
|
22 |
Regulus |
Alpha Leonis |
|
|
23 |
Denebola |
Beta Leonis |
|
|
24 |
Gienah |
Gamma Corvi |
|
|
25 |
Acrux |
Alpha Cruxis |
|
|
26 |
Spica |
Alpha Virginis |
|
|
27 |
Alkaid |
Eta Ursa Major |
|
|
30 |
Menkent |
Theta Centauri |
|
|
31 |
Arcturus |
Alpha Bootes |
|
|
32 |
Alphecca |
Alpha Corona Borealis |
|
|
33 |
Antares |
Alpha Scorpii |
|
|
34 |
Atria |
Alpha Triangulum Australis |
|
|
35 |
Rasalhague |
Alpha Ophiuchii |
|
|
36 |
Vega |
Alpha Lyrae |
|
|
37 |
Nunki |
Sigma Sagitarius |
|
|
40 |
Altair |
Alpha Aquilae |
|
|
41 |
Dabih |
Beta Capricornus |
|
|
42 |
Peacock |
Alpha Pavonis |
|
|
43 |
Deneb |
Alpha Cygni |
|
|
44 |
Enif |
Epsilon Pegasi |
|
|
45 |
Fomalhaut |
Alpha Piscis Austrini |
|
|
46 |
Sun |
|
|
|
47 |
Earth |
|
|
|
50 |
Moon |
|
|
[Note that four of these are not really stars but allow the crew member to enter other celestial objects into the computer. For a more full description of the origins of the names, see Apollo 15 Commander Dave Scott's commentary at 105:11:33 in the Apollo 15 Lunar Surface Journal.]
000 35 43 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 35 44 Mattingly (onboard): Denebola.
000 35 53 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 35 59 Mattingly (onboard): I don't - I flat don't think I can see a star pattern at all.
000 36 03 Duke (onboard): Well, I can out the front here, out the rendezvous window.
000 36 06 Mattingly (onboard): But I got a star in the sextant.
000 36 08 Young (onboard): What's the name of it?
000 36 10 Duke (onboard): You didn't see Denebola out the big [garble].
000 36 12 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I did not see a star pattern.
000 36 14 Young (onboard): Shoot.
000 36 16 Mattingly (onboard): And I'm - I'm well adapted enough in that - but I - I'm sure that the cover's off because...
000 36 25 Young (onboard): You can see some stars?
000 36 26 Mattingly (onboard): Because I see flashes, and - and occasionally I can see a star, but it's just - you know, you can't miss Denebola.
000 36 35 Young (onboard): Well, let me look whenever we get a chance here. [Garble].
000 36 37 Mattingly (onboard): All right. You got any question about whether it's okay to proceed with them?
000 36 40 Duke (onboard): Heck, no. Go, man.
000 36 42 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Yeah.
000 36 44 Duke (onboard): Hey, John?
000 36 45 Young (onboard): Yes, sir.
000 36 46 Duke (onboard): We want - we can do a secondary glycol accumulator or loop check - leak check, if you want to.
000 36 51 Young (onboard): Yeah. [Garble] Ken [garble] numbers [garble] ...
000 36 53 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, hang on a second and I will. Load it [garble] procedure.
000 37 01 Duke (onboard): This is so great.
000 37 07 Mattingly (onboard): Those optics [garble] are superb.
[Ken Mattingly is evidently making progress with the P52.]
000 37 16 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, the second star is Number 30.
000 37 19 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 37 20 Mattingly (onboard): Wouldn't you know. Just what I always wanted.
000 37 22 Duke (onboard): What's the number?
000 37 23 Mattingly (onboard): There it is. Menkent. That may not be in the sextant.
[Menkent, Star No 30, is also known as Theta Centauri.]
000 37 24 Young (onboard): [Garble] what it is.
000 37 29 Mattingly (onboard): - By golly, there are some stars out there. One just went by [garble] went by. But I'm sure - and I see some of those - Gosh, it looks like the center of the sextant - or the telescope is where I'm seeing [garble]. But this thing is - auto optics is just neat as I thought it was.
000 37 48 Duke (onboard): Man, I can't believe that. I just can't believe our view [laughter].
000 37 52 Young (onboard): Golly, you're here.
000 37 54 Duke (onboard): I mean [laughter].
000 37 55 Young (onboard): Twelve days from now, you won't believe it.
000 37 58 Duke (onboard): This is fan - You know, I just can't believe how much a thrill this is.
000 38 01 Young (onboard): It's really swinging, isn't it?
000 38 02 Duke (onboard): Oh, man, I've waited...
000 38 03 Mattingly (onboard): I mean to tell you.
000 38 05 Duke (onboard): ...so long for this.
000 38 06 Young (onboard): Just - just look! Look at that! Just hold your cotton picking hand out there in a 70-pound pressure suit, and you ain't got nothing on.
000 38 17 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, there's...
000 38 18 Young (onboard): That was a good start.
[Ken is getting some good readings from his star sightings. See comments at 000 38 38 for more details.]
000 38 19 Mattingly (onboard): That's a good start.
000 38 20 Young (onboard): There you go there, Ken, babe. Look at those torquing angles! [Laughter].
000 38 23 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter]
000 38 24 Young (onboard): Whoo, hoo, hoo!
000 38 25 Mattingly (onboard): You got those copied?
000 38 27 Duke (onboard): Wait, 040...
000 38 28 Young (onboard): Yeah.
000 38 29 Duke (onboard): ...plus ...
000 38 30 Young (onboard): 031.
000 38 31 Duke (onboard): Plus 031.
000 38 32 Young (onboard): Plus 045.
000 38 34 Duke (onboard): Plus 045. I got them. Give me the DET [Digital Event Timer] and I'm ready.
000 38 38 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. I'll torque them at 40.
[Ken Mattingly plans to apply the correction torques at 38:40]
[After the star sightings, the computer calculated that the measured angle between the stars, as given by Noun 05, exactly matched the angle the computer knows is between them. This is a powerful check of the precision with which Ken Mattingly has made the measurements. The difference between the intended platform orientation and its actual state was 0.040° in x, 0.031° in y, and 0.045° in z. These values were displayed through the Noun 93 display on the DSKY and will be used to bring the platform back into correct alignment at 38 minutes, 40 seconds into the flight.]
000 38 39 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 38 40 Young (onboard): Might as well [garble]...
000 38 41 Mattingly (onboard): Just for kicks, I'm going to do that over again.
[Ken is slightly pleased at the accuracy of his sighting.]
000 38 45 Duke (onboard): Okay...
000 38 46 Young (onboard): No, you don't, Ken...
000 38 47 Duke (onboard): No. Come on.
000 38 48 Young (onboard): ...you don't need to do it again, honest.
000 38 49 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000 38 50 Young (onboard): You're gonna get a blue million of them.
000 38 51 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, that - that really feels good.
000 38 52 Duke (onboard): Yeah. [Garble] of those [garble] EMP.
[It is not clear what Charlie Duke is referring to.]
000 38 55 Young (onboard): Because we're liable to have our torquing angles doubled the next time we did it.
000 38 58 Mattingly (onboard): That's right. I don't want to know it if it is.
000 39 00 Duke (onboard): Okay, John, get...
000 39 01 Mattingly (onboard): ... [garble] torture.
000 39 02 Duke (onboard): Give him a...
000 39 03 Young (onboard): [Garble] Tool E?
000 39 04 Duke (onboard): Give him a Tool E.
000 39 05 Young (onboard): Okay.
000 39 06 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah. I was going to float myself along underneath there, if you...
000 39 07 Young (onboard): I got the ORDEAL up.
[The ORDEAL (Orbital Rate Display - Earth And Lunar) drives the FDAI (Flight Director Attitude Indicator, or "8-ball") to make it display the spacecraft's attitude relative to the ground below.
If a spacecraft is in orbit with a fixed attitude relative to the celestial sphere (i.e. the spacecraft keeps pointing to the same stars no matter where it is in its orbit), then its attitude relative to the body it's orbiting (Earth, Moon or whatever) is constantly changing. For example, if at one point in its orbit the front of a spacecraft is pointing directly at the planet below, then half an orbit later it will be pointing directly away. This is known as "stellar inertial."]
[Conversely, if the spacecraft is to be flown in 'orb-rate,' keeping the same face towards the surface (to point cameras for example), it must rotate around one of its axes at a rate which matches the orbital period. Normally, the FDAI displays the spacecraft's attitude relative to the celestial sphere (i.e. it normally shows the inertial attitude) but the function of the ORDEAL is to provide the correct drive signal to rotate the FDAI at a rate which also matches the orbital period. With the ORDEAL, the FDAI will display attitudes relative to the surface below.]
[The ORDEAL is a separate box of electronics that must be connected by the crew during use. When not in use it is kept in stowage U3 in the Upper Equipment Bay. The ORDEAL has several controls:
The Two FDAI switches set the relevant FDAI to display pitch attitude with respect to the local horizontal, or the inertial attitude (ie with the ORDEAL bypassed)
The 3-way Earth/Power Off/Lunar switch enables the ORDEAL to work in Earth or Lunar Orbit.
The Altitude Set dial allows the crew to dial in the orbital altitude, which determines the rotation rate at which the FDAI will be driven.
The 3-way Lighting switch controls the ORDEAL's electroluminescent panel.
The 2-way Mode and 3-way Slew switches allow the FDAI to be set to the correct initial attitude slowly (0.55 degrees/sec) or fast (10 degrees/sec). Once set using the Slew switch, the ORDEAL is set to Opr for normal operation. Hold would be used to maintain a constant ORDEAL output.]
000 39 08 Mattingly (onboard): You have? Oh, you.
000 39 10 Young (onboard): [Laughter]
000 39 11 Mattingly (onboard): That's [garble] I - in my job. It's so easy to do. Too late. [Laughter] Oh, [garble].
000 39 20 Duke (onboard): You know, I do feel like I'm standing on my head.
000 39 22 Mattingly (onboard): I don't. I feel like I've been here all my life.
000 39 25 Young (onboard): Yeah, that what comes with 2000 hours under your belt.
[John Young is suggesting that the adaptation to weightlessness is due to the experience gained as an aircraft pilot. All three of the crew are ex-fighter pilots, and two thousand flying hours is a lot in that job. However, by 2003, John Young had logged more than 14,750 hours flying time in props, jets, helicopters, rocket jets, and spacecraft, including 835 hours in six space flights]
[During the technical debrief in 1972, the crew discussed their reaction to weightlessness.
John Young: "It's really neat. Beats work."
Charlie Duke: "For the first rest period I had that fullness in the head that a lot of people have experienced. More of a pulsing in the temples, really, than a fullness in the head".
John Young: "I tried to outguess it by standing on my head for five minutes a night a couple of weeks before launch. Standing on your head is a heck of a lot harder. That's an overkill, but this is nice."
Ken Mattingly: "I really think going out and flying those airplanes helped us."
John Young: "Oh yes, I highly recommend that."
Ken Mattingly: "And I flew every day except one. I don't know if that helped, but I bet it didn't hurt."
John Young: "Yes, rate of roll in particular, it's got to help. It tightens up your eardrums."
Ken Mattingly: "I think that was a good thing to do."
John Young: "You ought to approach it with the idea that you are going in there and make yourself as uncomfortable as you can stand. Do rate of roll until you can't stand it anymore."
[The astronauts fly NASA's fleet of T-38 two-seat trainer aircraft. With very small wings, these aircraft are renowned for their ability to roll rapidly, a manoeuvre that is particularly likely to induce motion sickness due to inner ear movements.]
000 39 28 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000 39 30 Young (onboard): Okay, now I need a flashlight to see what the angle is. Okay, when do you want to do this, Charlie?
[John Young and Charlie Duke now go back to checklist Serial 11 on page L2-13, the Secondary Radiator Leak Check. This provides a rapid pressure integrity check of the secondary radiator circuit, to confirm that no leaks have occurred during launch. The primary radiator circuit has already been selected on during the boost phase, but the secondary circuit is only used when additional cooling is needed. The radiators work by circulating a water-glycol mixture through the large panels at the bottom of the Service Module. With both systems operating, the radiators can remove excess heat at a rate of 4415 British Thermal Units per hour (approximately 1.3 kilowatts).]
000 39 36 Duke (onboard): Okay, let me see. Secondary Accumulator Quantity is at 40. Go ahead, any time for 30 seconds. I'll give you a mark. Give me a mark when you open it.
[Charlie Duke is monitoring the pressure in the
accumulator over 30 seconds, looking for any change that would indicate
a leak. The pressure gauge is on the right hand side of the twin
Environmental Control System gauges on the middle portion of the Main
Control Panel.]
000 39 43 Young (onboard): Okay, going - going to Normal Right?
000 39 47 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Go to Normal.
000 39 48 Young (onboard): Okay; 3, 2, 1...
000 39 50 Young (onboard): Normal.
000 39 51 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 39 52 Young (onboard): It's Normal.
000 39 56 Mattingly (onboard): You guys are screwing with my union card.
[Ken Mattingly is ribbing John Young and Charlie Duke that they are doing the tasks the CMP is supposed to be doing]
000 39 58 Young (onboard): Let me get out of your way there, ...
000 40 01 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. I'm gonna go play with the regulators. Okay?
000 40 04 Young (onboard): Let's have a sandwich.
[John Young may be making a reference to his prank on Gemini 3 (the first manned Gemini mission) when he offered his commander, Gus Grissom, a corned-beef sandwich that he had smuggled past the authorities. John Young was officially rebuked for the incident.]
000 40 05 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, let's get this all cleaned up [garble].
000 40 06 Duke (onboard): Yeah, let's get it cleaned up.
000 40 08 Young (onboard): It's clean as a whistle.
000 40 09 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, I want to get these regulators checked and all that stuff that I haven't done. Okay.
000 40 13 Young (onboard): Say when you want to shut it off, Charlie.
000 40 14 Duke (onboard): They're fine [laughter]. Okay...
000 40 21 Duke (onboard): Mark.
000 40 22 Young (onboard): Okay, going to Bypass.
000 40 23 Duke (onboard): Okay, it's good.
000 40 24 Young (onboard): Bypass.
000 40 25 Duke (onboard): Loop's good. Okay, we should [garble] ECS, and then the Fill valve [garble] On.
[Having completed Serial 11, the crew now start on Serial 10 on Page L2-13, the Main Oxygen Regulator Check. This checks both halves of the main regulator which governs the flow of oxygen into the cabin and the spacesuits (when the latter have their hoses connected to the oxygen supply system). The controls are on Panel 351 in the Lower Equipment Bay. As with many Apollo systems there are two parallel control valves (A and B) for redundancy. Ken Mattingly selects each Off in turn, then operates the Emergency Cabin Pressure Regulator which would provide a rapid dump of oxygen into the cabin in case of a leak. During the flight, the crew will be in a shirt-sleeve environment; and the Emergency Cabin Pressure Regulator would give them time to don their spacesuits again if necessary.]
000 40 29 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. I'm turning Main Reg B to Off.
000 40 35 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 40 40 Mattingly (onboard): Emergency Cabin selector is going to One. All right. How's the flow look [garble]?
000 40 46 Duke (onboard): It's 0.2 [pounds of oxygen/hour].
000 40 47 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. gonna hit the Press To Test.
000 40 48 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 40 52 Mattingly (onboard): Did you get some flow there?
000 40 54 Duke (onboard): A little bit, yeah.
000 40 55 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I may have [garble] in [garble] a little long...
000 40 57 Duke (onboard): I think you did. I - Okay, that's it [garble] out.
000 41 02 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Go back to Normal?
000 41 04 Duke (onboard): Not yet. Here it comes.
000 41 08 Mattingly (onboard): All right, Regulator B is coming on.
000 41 10 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 41 11 Mattingly (onboard): And [Regulator] A is coming off.
000 41 14 Duke (onboard): Okay.
000 41 15 Mattingly (onboard): Going to number 2. [Garble] Valve A Close, Number 2 [Emergency Cabin Pressure Selector]. Away we go.
000 41 26 Duke (onboard): Okay, it came up a little bit, Ken.
000 41 27 Mattingly (onboard): You want me to hold it longer?
000 41 28 Duke (onboard): That - no, that's fine with me.
000 41 29 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Go back to Normal?
000 41 30 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000 41 32 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I'm working mine. There's Both.
000 41 35 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'm going to do - We've been up here long enough. I'm gonna do the fuel cell purge...
000 41 39 Young (onboard): There's - Reg A.
[The Main Regulator Check is now complete.]
000 41 40 Duke (onboard): ...And check them out.
000 41 42 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, John, do you - did you do that Secondary Leak [check]?
[With the crew carrying out the checklist in a non-standard order, it has become unclear what has been checked. Ken is asking if the Secondary Radiator Leak Check has been done. John Young and Charlie Duke actually carried it out two minutes earlier. Meanwhile, Charlie Duke has moved to Serial 14 on Page L2-14, the Fuel Cell Purge Check.]
[In a normal chemical batteries, like those in a
flashlight, electricity is produced by reacting chemicals that are
sealed in when the battery is manufactured. A Fuel Cell is
effectively a battery that the reacting chemicals can be fed into
continuously as needed, and the reaction products removed. On
Apollo, the reactants are hydrogen and oxygen, and they react together
to provide electrical power and water. However, the electrodes
can become contaminated because of impurities. A fuel cell purge
involves pumping extra hydrogen or oxygen through the cells, to flush
out the impurities. Each of the three fuel cells in the Service
Module has a purge switch on the right hand side of the Main Display
Panel. Each switch has three positions: "Off", "H2"
to purge the hydrogen side of the fuel cell and "O2" to
purge
the oxygen side of the fuel cell. To carry out a full purge, the
switch is first set to "O2" for two minutes, then to "H2"
for 80 seconds. However, for this check, Charlie Duke is just
looking for an increase in the flow rate on the Fuel Cell Flow
indicator as he operates the purge switch in turn. The increase
in flow rate during purging is fairly small - 0.6 pounds (0.27 kg) per
hour for oxygen, and 0.67 pounds (0.30 kg) per hour for hydrogen.
000
41 44 Young (onboard): What's that?
[As a normal part of the purge operation initiated by Charlie Duke, the Master Alarm went off.]
000 41 45 Duke (onboard): Fuel cell - Don't panic. I'm just testing them a little bit.
000 41 47 Young (onboard): Yeah, but still - you know.
000 41 48 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000 41 49 Young (onboard): I don't [garble]...
000 41 50 Duke (onboard): What the heck? I said I was going to do the fuel cell...
000 41 52 Young (onboard): Yeah, I know. I knew it. I'm sorry. I don't want anything to spoil this guy now.
000 42 01 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble]. Did you do the secondary leak check?
000 42 02 Duke (onboard): Yeah. It passed.
000 42 08 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, so I can get number 6.
000 42 06 Young(onboard): Well, we just floated down
there,
Ken. It's so easy. [Laughter] Oh, gosh. This has really ruined me for
this. [Laughter]
000 42 17 Duke (onboard): Okay, Purge Line Heater is Off.
[Charlie Duke has now finished the Fuel Cell Purge Check.]
000 42 20 Young (onboard): What do I do with this Tool E? Just let it sit there.
000 42 23 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'm going to check the cryos.
[Charlie Duke is now moving on to Serial 15 on Page 2-14, the Electrical Power System Monitoring Check. This first involves checking the pressure in the cryogenic tanks in the SM that contain Liquid Hydrogen and Liquid Oxygen. It then checks the operation of the three Fuel Cells in which the hydrogen and oxygen react to form water and electricity. Finally, the electrical distribution busbar voltages are then checked. While Charlie is doing this, John Young and Ken Mattingly continue to unpack storage canisters and prepare the cabin.]
000 42 27 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, John. I'm going to pass you up some stuff from down in A-8, if that's okay.
[The contents list for Stowage A-8 is given on Page A-147 of the Flight Plan.]
000 42 31 Duke (onboard): Oh, wait - could you wait just...
000 42 33 Young (onboard): Sure, man...
000 42 34 Mattingly(onboard): Sure.
000 42 35 Young (onboard): ...what is it?
000 42 36 Duke (onboard): Go ahead.
000 42 37 Young (onboard): Throw it to me.
000 42 38 Mattingly (onboard): I'll wait.
000 42 39 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'll - I know some of that stuff has got to be coming over to me, and I'm...
000 42 40 Young (onboard): You ain't ready for it?
000 42 41 Duke (onboard): I ain't r - quite ready for it yet.
000 42 42 Young (onboard): I - I - I've got the bracket down there for the camera. Ha, ha, ha.
000 42 47 Duke (onboard): Okay, check your surge tank pres - Okay, I got that. Cryo fans, Off; on as required. Okay.
000 42 53 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, here's the nicest part of all in zero-g...
000 42 54 Duke (onboard): Fuel cell heaters. Okay, that's [garble]...
000 42 57 Mattingly (onboard): The container comes out of B-1 [laughter].
000 42 59 Duke (onboard): Okay, that [garble].
000 43 00 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, [laughter] that would be the part [laughter].
000 43 02 Young (onboard): [Garble] can, too, and go back in just like downtown.
000 43 08 Mattingly (onboard): John?
000 43 09 Young (onboard): Yes, sir.
000 43 10 Mattingly (onboard): May I present you with a 70-millimeter Hasselblad
[As on previous lunar missions, a number of cameras are carried on Apollo 16; a detailed list can be found at this link. The three main still cameras are made by Hasselblad and take 70-mm film. Two of these are stowed in the LM, and one in the CM.]
000 43 15 Crew (onboard): [Laughter]
000 43 22 Young (onboard): Oh, this is as nice as it's always been. That's all I've got to say. Just can't beat all this floating around.
000 43 27 Mattingly (onboard): But, in Gemini, you couldn't move around to enjoy it. This has got to be better than that kind of [garble]. Phew! Can you imagine what those guys are going to do when they get in Skylab?
[The habitable cabin volume of the Apollo CM is only large in comparison to Mercury and Gemini. Mercury's cabin was 1.4 m3 (50 ft3), while Gemini's was 2.3 m3 (80 ft3). Apollo was a roomy 5.9 m3 (210 ft 3), but Skylab (based on a converted S-IVB stage) was to be in a whole new league at 319 m3 (11,303 ft3.]
000 43 44 Duke (onboard): Well, I ain't gonna trade with them, I'll tell you that right now.
000 43 47 Mattingly (onboard): No, but they are gonna have a ball. When they get that great big volume down there.
000 43 53 Young (onboard): How are we going to drink water? That's been worrying me ever since we took off. You got to keep a count of it someway or another?
000 44 01 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I don't know. I'll check and see if [garble].
000 44 04 Young (onboard): Well, we're supposed to.
000 44 06 Mattingly (onboard): If so, it's not going to be any big deal, I can guarantee you.
000 44 10 Duke (onboard): Hey, how's the systems test look, 5B?
000 44 13 Mattingly (onboard): Looks good; okay.
[The reference to Systems Test 5B indicates that Charlie Duke has reached the end of the Electrical Power System Monitoring Check.]
000 44 15 Young (onboard): I'm going to hang Tool E around the handle up here. Is that a good place?
000 44 17 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, just be sure...
000 44 19 Young (onboard): Do you have a place it [garble].?
000 44 20 Mattingly (onboard): No, that'd be fine. Just be sure it's snapped wherever you put it. You know, it won't - I already made that hanging mistake once [laughter].
000 44 27 Young (onboard): Yeah, well, the thing is, it's - the thing around it is really tight, this snap around it.
000 44 38 Young (onboard): There must be something I have to do but I don't know what it is.
000 44 41 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] I think it's the [garble].
000 44 44 Young (onboard): Golly, I mean to tell you. If this isn't gonna be the neatest thing that ever was.
000 44 52 Duke (onboard): [Laughter] Oh, my helmet.
000 44 53 Young (onboard): Can't wait to get into that LM.
000 44 55 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
000 44 58 Young (onboard): The thing just [garble] for another five minutes and 44 seconds. The pressure's all right - 48 - 38 and 18, Just exactly what they were at that other thing.
[John Young is probably referring to the S-IVB propellant pressures. Liquid Oxygen pressures were predicted to be in the range 36 to 41 psi, and Liquid Hydrogen in the range 19 to 21 psi.]
000 45 17 Mattingly (onboard): For you, my friend, if you'll pull out a - out of that little U compartment down there, the camera bracket.
[Checklist Serial 19 requires the Sequence Camera Bracket to be unstowed, along with the ORDEAL. However, this has already been done, and John Young and Ken Mattingly proceed directly to Serial 22 on Page L2-16.]
000 45 24 Young (onboard): I already did.
000 45 26 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, you - Oh.
000 45 28 Young (onboard): Ha, ha, ha, ha. Well, I've got all these cameras, and I don't know what to do with them. It's really neat.
000 45 34 Mattingly (onboard): Here, I'll tell you what we'll do with one is raise your foot, right here, to start with. I guess we - I tell you what. You don't really need that guy right now. I can stow it back here in the...
000 45 44 Young (onboard): What, the Hasselblad?
000 45 45 Mattingly (onboard): ...In - no, the DAC.
[The Data Acquisition Camera is a 16 mm movie camera, used to obtain short film records of events. Because of its ability to record the sequence of events, it is sometimes referred to as the Sequence Camera (which was also the name of the equivalent camera during the Gemini missions).]
000 45 47 Duke (onboard): Okay, John. You're supposed to do a - a GDC align.
000 45 51 Young (onboard): Okay.
[The GDC Align is Serial 18 in the Checklist. However, it will be delayed until 000:49:12.]
000 45 52 Mattingly (onboard): Here, let me stow that DAC.
000 45 53 Young (onboard): No, let me just stick it on the thing. It's as good a place for it as any.
000 45 56 Mattingly (onboard): It won't be in your way [garble]?
000 45 57 Young (onboard): No.
000 45 58 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Why don't we - you want to set it while we're about it, then?
000 46 04 Young (onboard): Yeah. The T - the...
000 46 06 Mattingly (onboard): I hadn't - I didn't set it at all yet.
[Serial 22 of the Checklist on Page L2-16 requires the DAC, Hasellblad and TV cameras to be unstowed and set up ready for use. The first camera is the 16 mm DAC, which is fitted with the 18 mm lens, and mounted in the left-hand rendezvous window. The camera settings are T8 with a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second, focussed at 10 feet, at 12 frames per second and using Magazine AA.]
000 46 09 Young (onboard): T - T-8...
000 46 10 Duke (onboard): Is that - is that APS mod - is that the APS module that's causing all those [garble] flashes?
000 46 14 Mattingly (onboard): ... want a T-8, John?
000 46 17 Young (onboard): T-8 at l0 feet, right?
000 46 18 Mattingly (onboard): Ten feet, 1/250...
000 46 19 Young (onboard): 1/250, at 12 frames a second.
000 46 21 Duke (onboard): I just started the secondary coolant loop pump.
[Charlie Duke is carrying on with the Secondary Glycol Loop Check at Serial 21 on Page L2-16 while John Young and Ken Mattingly carry on unstowing the cameras.]
000 46 22 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000 46 24 Young (onboard): Good, Charlie.
000 46 25 Mattingly (onboard): That's magazine AA.
[Magazine AA contains DAC film].
000 46 28 Young (onboard): Magazine AA is what's on there. How about that? Another new [garble]...
000 46 33 Mattingly (onboard): You're kidding me.
000 46 35 Duke (onboard): It's really there?
000 46 36 Young (onboard): Yep.
000 46 37 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] Okay.
000 46 42 Duke (onboard): Can't believe it.
[They now set up the Hasselblad EL and the Spotmeter (lightmeter), and stow it in Charlie Duke's Temporary Stowage Bag, ready for use. The Hasselblad is set at f/8 aperture, 1/250th of a second, and has Magazine NN loaded. NN contains colour film, with a capacity of 160 pictures (referred to as "frames"). It's first intended use will be to photograph the Lunar Module in the S-IVB after the Transposition Manoeuvre.]
000 46 44 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] Okay, you got the [Hasselblad] EL, John?
000 46 45 Young (onboard): The what?
000 46 47 Mattingly (onboard): You got the Hasselblad?
000 46 48 Young (onboard): Yeah.
000 46 49 Mattingly: How about an f/8.
000 46 52 Young (onboard): Okay, f/8.
000 46 53 Mattingly (onboard): 1/250.
000 46 55 Young (onboard): Reads 250th.
000 46 57 Mattingly (onboard): And...
000 46 58 Young (onboard): And infinity?
000 46 59 Mattingly (onboard): Well, why don't you take it about ten feet and go - well, put it on infinity for the time being. We might...
[The checklist does not indicate what distance to set the Hasselblad focus to. John Young can either set it to ten foot, for general use in the cabin or to infinity for photography of the Earth.]
000 47 03 Young (onboard): Okay, because as we come across the [garble], we might see something. Yeah.
000 47 06 Duke (onboard): Okay, and that thing just gets stowed out here. Here, I - I put up my little...
000 47 12 Young (onboard): I can't do it; they put velcro right here.
000 47 13 Mattingly (onboard): ...[garble] my goody bag.
000 47 14 Young (onboard): You don't want to do that.
000 47 15 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, okay.
000 47 17 Young (onboard): It can't get loose unless somebody bumps it.
000 47 19 Mattingly (onboard): Well, where did you put it?
000 47 20 Young (onboard): Right there. See?
000 47 22 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
000 47 23 Young (onboard): Isn't that neat?
000 47 24 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. I've got to...
000 47 25 Young (onboard): I could have nailed it right up here to this Velcro, but I don't think [garble]...
000 47 27 Mattingly (onboard): Well, here, I've been using this little goody bag and getting my stuff emptied out of it.
000 47 31 Duke (onboard): Okay, here come the TSBs you guys.
[Charlie Duke has finally unstowed the Temporary Stowage Bags.]
000 47 35 Young (onboard): Old TSB Charlie.
000 47 36 Duke (onboard): It is so white and pretty.
000 47 39 Young (onboard): Kind of like our suits.
[The TSBs are probably made of Beta Cloth which is actually teflon-covered glass fibre. This is the same fireproof material which the outer space suit garments are made of.]
000 47 40 Duke (onboard): Who wants one? Ken, there's one for you.
000 47 43 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I'll be with it in a second, as soon as I get my things put in here.
000 47 51 Young (onboard): (Singing) I'll be dancing [garble]...
000 47 53 Duke (onboard): [Garble] be right in front of us on these, are there? They're all the same.
000 47 54 Young (onboard): ...before I leave.
000 47 56 Mattingly (onboard): I don't think there's any difference. I think it's like - like ... Okay. Oh, [garble] I was gonna put this thing back once you get the CMC up.
000 48 17 Duke (onboard): Okay, John, here's one for you.
000 48 19 Young (onboard): Oh, that's sure nice, Charlie. I'm sure glad you gave me that TSB.
000 48 22 Duke (onboard): I thought you'd like that.
000 48 24 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, how about the...
000 48 25 Duke (onboard): Aren't - aren't I supposed to put some cameras and mags back in here? In U-l?
000 48 30 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, I think that's [garble] yet, Charlie.
000 48 31 Duke (onboard): Okay. I'll leave it [garble]...
000 48 32 Mattingly (onboard): I'm taking one last look at my sextant - my telescope here...
000 48 34 Duke (onboard): Leave it at [garble]...
000 48 36 Mattingly (onboard): ...before I screw up on it.
000 48 37 Young (onboard): Oh, ho.
000 48 39 Mattingly (onboard): I got a star in it now.
000 48 40 Young (onboard): Hee, hee. Hee, hee, hee. It got away from me. Come back here, you [garble] [laughter].
000 48 49 Mattingly (onboard): Gosh, this is mag - Oh, look at those pretty stars. Look at that. Oh.
000 49 08 Duke (onboard): Okay, GDC align is all we got left.
[And back to Serial 19 on Page L2-15 GDC Align.]
000 49 12 Young (onboard): Okay, Charlie. I'll align the old GDC. That'll be roll 180...
000 49 17 Mattingly (onboard): I know, I couldn't be looking at Denebola again, but...
000 49 21 Young (onboard): Can you see a pattern?
000 49 23 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, I don't recognize it. It's brighter than heck. It looked like Denebola, but...
000 49 26 Young (onboard): [Garble] constellation is [garble].
000 49 27 Mattingly (onboard): I bet it is.
000 49 34 Duke (onboard): See, the horizon is beginning to light up.
000 49 46 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, and I just won me a beer.
[See 000 52 00.]
000 49 49 Young (onboard): What's that?
000 49 50 Mattingly (onboard): Well, maybe I didn't here. What's going on?
000 50 01 Duke (onboard): I'm turning up S-band volume for the...
Charlie Duke is now onto Serial 25 on Page L2-17 of the Checklist, ready for Acquisition of Signal from Carnarvon, Australia at 000:52:21.]
000 50 03 Mattingly (onboard): Oh-oh...
000 50 04 Duke (onboard): ...Canaries [sic - means Carnarvon] check.
000 50 05 Mattingly (onboard): ...I wonder.
000 50 06 Young (onboard): Okay, Charlie. We got a little roll drift in the GDC and a little yaw drift, but we don't have a heck of a lot of other, and it's - Goldang, it's been running for 50 minutes, and it's off 5 degrees in yaw - 5 degrees in yaw - and we're on Rate 2, so you don't really know. And two degrees in pitch - Heck, I'll take that. And - and 8 degrees in roll for 50 minutes. That's with the BMAGs [garble]. That ain't really all that bad.
[The Attitude Reference sub-system takes its reference from the Body Mounted Attitude Gyros (BMAGs). These are "strapped down" gyros, in that they are fixed to the spacecraft structure and allowed to move only in one axis (one "degree-of- freedom"). BMAG 1 normally provides attitude error information, BMAG 2 normally provides attitude rate information. The gyros in the BMAGs are intended to provide relatively short-term attitude information, and will tend to drift a little with time. In this case, John Young is quite content with this, especially as he has been using BMAG 2 (Rate 2) to provide the input signals to the FDAIs through the Gyro Display Coupler (GDC).
The BMAGs differ considerably from the gyros on the Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) of the Guidance and Navigation System. In the latter, the gyros are mounted on a gimballed (three "degree of freedom") stabilised platform. Typical gyro drift on the IMU was of the order of 0.03 degrees per hour or less.]
000 50 44 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, I can even see stars now with the reticule turned on. Is it - guess what I got? Antares!
000 50 55 Young (onboard): Beautiful.
000 50 57 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] It even looked like Scorpio [laughter]. Oh.
[Antares is Star 33, in the constellation Scorpio]
000 51 05 Young (onboard): Okay, the GDC's aligned behind - to behind you at 51:05.
000 51 09 Duke (onboard): Mark that down.
000 51 10 Young (onboard): So I get a - then I have that we're on Rate 2, BMAGs.
000 51 15 Duke (onboard): 51:05.
000 51 16 Young (onboard): Yeah, I'm gonna do some scientific research on this thing with my little pen - unless some dingaling give me a [garble] pen [garble].
000 51 31 Duke (onboard): Okay, I - do you want to do this reference comparison - SCS attitude reference comparison check, John?
[The SCS Attitude Reference Comparison Check is Checklist Serial 26 on Page L2-17. It is not due until around 000:60, so the crew are slightly ahead of schedule.]
000 51 37 Young (onboard): Yeah, but I - can we do it until after we've had some...
000 51 40 Mattingly (onboard): You've got to compile them.
000 51 42 Duke (onboard): Oh, okay. That's right. [Garble] be sure.
000 51 47 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, you beautiful [garble]. You little beauty. Hoo, hoo.
000 51 57 Duke (onboard): Okay, there's the comm coming up.
000 52 00 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I won me a six-pack.
000 52 03 Young (onboard): What's that?
000 52 04 Mattingly (onboard): I said that if I went from Manual, that the optics would drift.
PublicAffairs Officer: This is Apollo Control Houston at 51 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. We're standing by. We have begun to acquire data over the Carnarvon pass. We presently show Apollo 16 with an orbit of 97 nautical miles by 91 nautical miles. We'll stand by now for conversations that we'll transcribe between the CAPCOM Gordon Fullerton and the crew of Apollo 16. That data being received was Instrument Unit data. We now have Acquisition Of Signal with the Command Module.
000 52 07 Fullerton: Apollo 16, Houston through Ca - Carnarvon. Over.
000 52 13 Young: Hello there, Houston. Hear you loud and clear.
000 52 15 Mattingly (onboard): Tell them where we are.
000 52 15 Fullerton: You're loud and clear also.
000 52 17 Duke: Okay. Okay, Gordy. We're down through - on page 2-17, Ken's done the P52, and everything is copacetic on all the steps up to that point, and I'll let Ken - Well, I've got the numbers here. He marked on stars 23 and 30. It was Noun 05 with all balls. Torquing angles were plus 040, plus 031, plus 045, and we torqued
[These are the P52 figures from 000:38:38. The "all balls" refers to zero error in the measured angle between the stars (all zeros).]
[Break in CM Tape until 000:57:30]
000 52 51 Fullerton: Okay, Charlie. We got that.
000 52 56 Young: And that torquing angle was just super. And you can even see stars.
000 53 07 Fullerton: Very good.
000 53 14 Duke: Man, this is really something, Gordy.
000 54 19 Young: Hey, Gordon. Let me tell you a little bit about the ride.
000 54 25 Fullerton: Okay, stand by one, John. We're discussing the booster data here.
000 54 32 Young: Okay. Pressures look good up here.
000 54 37 Fullerton: Roger.
000 56 15 Fullerton: John, this is Houston. If - if there is nothing startling to report about the ride, we'd rather hold off. We're watching - we're evaluating a need for a possible IU Nav update, and also we're seeing some pressure - overpressure in APS Module Number 2. We'll give you a full story on that over Honeysuckle.
000 56 4l Young: Okay, I - No, there's nothing really spectacularly different to report on the ride. We'll hold off on that.
000 56 51 Fullerton: Okay.
Public Affairs Officer: This is Apollo Control Houston. The rate pressure referred to there was on one of the attitude control engines. Readings here on the ground indicated it's about 100 psi [pounds per square inch, (690 kPa)] above the normal. We're at 57 minutes Ground Elapsed Time, continuing to monitor on this pass. This is Apollo Control Houston.
[CM Tape On Again]
[Ken is unstowing the UV film magazine, bracket and lens, at Serial 20 on Page L2-15.]
000 57 30 Young (onboard): Can you handle this, Charlie?
000 57 32 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Yeah, I can handle one of them.
000 57 34 Young (onboard): Want me to unstow your panel here?
000 57 39 Duke (onboard): No, no. Huh-uh. I don't [garble]...
000 57 40 Young (onboard): [Garble] do that.
000 57 48 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble] as crummy in zero g as they are on the ground ....
000 58 00 Mattingly (onboard): John?
000 58 01 Young (onboard): Yeah.
000 58 02 Mattingly (onboard): Got a [garble] that's coming up by your sh - [garble] that's your shoulder. Your [garble] right? No, [garble] going the wrong way. That'll get it. Okay, and here's the UV magazine. It goes over by Charlie.
000 58 22 Young (onboard): Okay. What was that? I just keep handing them to Charlie. I don't know what he's [garble]...
000 58 29 Duke (onboard): Well, wait a minute, now. I'm getting my hands full here.
000 58 31 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Well, the UV thing is the one that goes in - goes in that [garble]...
000 58 35 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Okay, John. You hold the camera and pass me the UV thing.
000 58 47 Mattingly (onboard): John, you got your hands full?
000 58 48 Young (onboard): Yeah. I'll take it.
000 58 49 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I'll wait.
000 58 50 Young (onboard): What do you need?
000 58 51 Mattingly (onboard): I got two TV cables here.
000 58 52 Young (onboard): Oh, heck. I can take the...
000 58 54 Mattingly(onboard): All right. The rest of this stuff I'm going to just go ahead and put up in the - in - my little stowage place up here, I think - while I'm here. Don't see any reason why not. Why not? Oh, you're gonna earn your pay today. I know you do good work ...
000 59 38 Mattingly (onboard): (Singing) De-de-dum-dum. Do-bee-do-dah-do-beedo - bee-do. (whistling) You're right. That camera did very well without practice.
000 59 58 Duke (onboard): [Laughter]
001 00 26 Young (onboard): [Garble] could have gone all day without telling about that.
001 00 28 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
001 00 29 Young (onboard): That ain't no problem, but [garble] those dingalings.
[John Young is irritated at Mission Control...]
001 00 33 Mattingly (onboard): Oh? Why do you say that, John?
001 00 35 Young (onboard): Well, I mean, I don't want to know there's a APS overpressure rate. What the heck can I do about it?
001 00 40 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, I guess...
001 00 41 Young (onboard): But I - I don't have no gages to be alert for it, or what? Well, if they want me to take some positive action, like putting on my helmet and gloves, why - they ought to say so, don't you reckon?
00l 00 52 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, but I think we - at least, I have badgered them so much about - you know - just [garble] looking at something, that maybe...
Public Affairs Officer: This is Apollo Control Houston. One hour ground elapsed time continuing with the pass over Carnarvon and Honeysuckle.
[Break in CM Tape until 001:03:33]
001 02 03 Fullerton: Apollo 16, Houston through Honeysuckle. Over.
001 02 07 Duke: Go ahead, Gordon.
001 02 09 Fullerton: Okay. I'll give you all the story on the APS module problem. Evidently APS module number 2, which is our one on top of the vehicle, the one that would cause you to pitch away from the Earth; the primary helium regulator there has failed to the backup, and the backup isn't regulating properly. Normally, it should hold around 190 psi (1310 kPa). This pressurizes both fuel and oxidizer. And it has gradually increased now up around the 320 [psi] (2200 kPa) range. And there's a relief valve which will relieve helium pressure at 325 [psi] (2240 kPa) and reseat when the pressure gets down to 225 [psi] (1550 kPa). There should be a gradual loss of helium. We'll have a better hack at the States pass as to when you could expect a deplete. But should you lose control in orbit, go to the procedure on [Page] L2-10 for Service Module RCS control of the S-IVB. Over.
[At its base, the S-IVB stage has two thruster units, one on either side. Known as the APS (Auxiliary Propulsion System), each one has two thrusters facing to either side of the unit which can rotate the stage in yaw or roll. Each also has one facing away from the stage which allows control of pitch, and one facing the same direction as the main J-2 engine. This last is used as a ullage motor to help push the propellants to the bottom of their tanks and give a head of pressure in the propellant lines. (A8FJ)]
001 03 11 Duke: Roger.
[CM Tape on again]
001 03 33 Duke (onboard): Well, Ken, you might have your work cut out for you.
001 03 36 Mattingly: (onboard): It sure sounds that way.
001 03 40 Young (onboard): Well, shoot. Now I've got to set up ORDEAL. Can I call Verb 83?
[Verb 83 calls up a Rendezvous Parameter Display routine on the DSKY. In this case, John Young wants to read the angle to the local horizontal (theta) display so that he can set the FDAI to the current pitch attitude as he initialises the ORDEAL.]
001 03 46 Mattingly (onboard): Yes, sir. Go ahead.
001 03 48 Duke (onboard): Look at that sunrise coming up, you guys.
001 03 51 Young (onboard): Oh, yeah?
001 03 52 Duke (onboard): [Laughter]
001 03 52 Fullerton: [Apollo] 16, we're just about to LOS. The pressure shows right - in fact, a little bit above the release pressure. We'll have to wait until the States to get a real good handle on how it's gonna deplete. Over.
001 04 06 Young: Roger. [quoted as Duke in Tech transcript.]
Public Affairs Officer: This is Apollo Control, Houston at 1 hour, 4 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. We've just had Loss Of signal with Honeysuckle. The problem discussed between CapCom Gordon Fullerton and the crew of Apollo 16 was one relating to the APS, the attitude propulsion system aboard the S-IVB and it deals with the regulator pressures on one of the APS, APS number 2. The normal reading is around 190 psi. We've shown an increase in the range of 320 psi. This system relieves at 325 psi and reseats once the number backs off to 225 psi. These are helium pressures that are being read. We're now at 1 hour, 5 minutes Ground Elapsed Time, and we will switch to Kennedy Space Center for the News Conference which will shortly be in progress.
001 04 07 Mattingly (onboard): Sunrise out there?
001 04 08 Duke (onboard): Yeah, it's coming up. See it. On the horizon.
001 04 12 Mattingly (onboard): Oh! Oh, look at that! Isn't that - Holy smokes. Have you ever seen anything like that?
001 04 25 Young (onboard): [Garble] beautiful?
001 04 27 Mattingly (onboard): Oh.
001 04 28 Duke (onboard): That is really bright.
001 04 30 Mattingly (onboard): Man, that is - Gosh!
001 04 34 Duke (onboard): Hey, what does that mean to us now, is this - on this APS module.
001 04 37 Mattingly (onboard): Data [garble]. Get a hold of the - [laughter] It doesn't need APS for - it needs its attitude control.
001 04 45 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah. It doesn't have anything to do with TLI. How do we get our LM? You got your UV shade in the window, have you, Charlie?
[Ken Mattingly is suggesting that if the APS module fails, the S-IVB's J2 engine will be able to steer the spacecraft correctly. However, if the S-IVB cannot hold its orientation, then the crew could not carry out the docking manoeuvre to allow them to extract the LM from the booster.]
001 04 53 Duke (onboard): Yes.
001 04 54 Mattingly (onboard): Did you have any trouble getting it in?
001 04 55 Duke (onboard): Nope.
001 04 56 Mattingly (onboard): You said something about getting it in.
001 04 57 Duke (onboard): I had it in backwards.
001 04 58 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Because that UV is - is a-coming at us. Okay, I'm gonna start unstowing some Flight Data File stuff - PAD updates.
001 05 11 Duke (onboard): Man, I think we've had sunrise.
001 05 15 Mattingly (onboard): You're right. Look how pretty it is. Now, how do we [garble]...
001 05 22 Duke (onboard): Hey, Ken, where can we put this - the cover for the TV lens? It doesn't have a piece of velcro.
001 05 26 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, okay. I'll - I'll put it down here with my optics cover - where I keep my optics in this little [garble] pouch.
001 05 36 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001 05 37 Mattingly (onboard): Right down here.
001 05 38 Duke (onboard): Right.
001 05 51 Mattingly (onboard): All the time we saved with that, I thought we would [garble].
001 06 17 Young (onboard): Well, I got an idea. We could get - we could do Verb 46, pitch it out of attitude, so it'd have to fire that APS module, and get back in.
[John Young is thinking about how they might reduce the helium pressure in the APS. One option is deliberately to pitch the spacecraft away from the correct attitude using the Verb 46 procedure for direct control of the booster, then let it fire the APS to correct the resulting pitch error.]
001 06 25 Mattingly (onboard): Well...
001 06 26 Duke (onboard): Then it wouldn't [garble].
001 06 27 Mattingly (onboard): Trouble is, there's too much backing up [garble] determine [garble].
001 06 32 Young (onboard): Well, the pressurization looks good. We got to get it down. What - what he's saying really is, we got to empty some of that fuel out of there. Right?
001 06 40 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah. What do you think?
001 06 47 Duke (onboard): Well, like he says - it seems to me what he means is that - is that the thing's just going to deplete the helium in there.
001 07 00 Mattingly (onboard): That's [garble]. It do seem like helium did that.
001 07 11 Young (onboard): Okay, get to those procedures on that page, and tell me what they are.
001 07 19 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, that - that would be where? In what?
001 07 43 Young (onboard): Flight Data File plus Dr. Spock's baby book.
[Dr. Spock's 1946 book Baby and Child Care, was the most influential child-rearing book of the 1950s and 1960s, and a massive best-seller. It claimed to cover most eventualities that parents would meet with in rearing a child. The Flight Data File is the main set of reference documents carried on the spacecraft. It contains the checklists, manuals, charts, and more. It weighs about 9 kg (20lb).]
001 07 49 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] You're kidding.
001 07 50 Duke (onboard): [Laughter] Oh.
001 07 58 Mattingly (onboard): Would I be allowed to take a picture out here? (Laughter )
001 08 02 Young (onboard): [Garble].
001 08 05 Mattingly (onboard): You want the spotmeter?
001 08 07 Young (onboard): No, I'll Just use it 250 , f - f/8 and [garble]...
001 08 18 Mattingly (onboard): Flight Plan, Volume l, [garble] Data Book. Data we essentially won't need for a while.
001 08 33 Young (onboard): Oh, [garble]. That's nice.
001 08 38 Duke (onboard): What, John?
001 08 40 Young (onboard): I got the dark slide in.
[To allow the Hasselblad film to be changed, a light-proof slide has to be inserted between the film and the camera body. Leaving this slide in place while trying to take a picture is a very basic mistake that is made by most Hasselblad users at some time or other.]
001 08 41 Duke and Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter]
001 08 42 Young (onboard): Dang it.
001 08 44 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] Oh, you're off to a good start, leader.
001 08 50 Mattingly (onboard): Lunar orbit chart.
001 08 53 Young (onboard): I got an Earth orbit chart here, but I don't think anybody really cares. Do you?
001 08 56 Duke (onboard): No.
001 08 59 Mattingly (onboard): There's one over there that's supposed to be [garble].
001 09 11 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, Charlie. I'm going to give you R12.
[R12 is the Flight Data File container.]
001 09 15 Duke (onboard): Yeah, wait a minute. I got to get this...
001 09 16 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. You want me to get that? The last three times, I've been able to just walk up there and put it in.
001 09 22 Duke (onboard): Yeah, naturally, the flight one doesn't have a color code on it. {Garble].
001 09 31 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, that's a - we're not - are we up on the States yet?
001 09 34 Duke (onboard): No, huh -uh.
001 09 37 Young(onboard): No. We're at 01:09. Where does that put us, Charlie?
001 09 41 Duke (onboard): Hey, your docking probe thing is out over here, your docking light.
[Charlie Duke has noticed that the docking light has been deployed. This is a light mounted on a door in the SM just behind the CM. When initially selected On, the door is opened by a spring and the spotlight comes on to provide a 10-degree wide light beam pointing along the spacecraft X-axis.]
001 09 45 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah.
001 09 46 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001 09 47 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, come on [garble]...
001 09 48 Young (onboard): Yeah. It stays out.
001 09 50 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001 09 51 Mattingly (onboard): We couldn't be in the States, could we?
001 09 52 Duke (onboard): Come on [garble].
001 09 53 Young (onboard): We're at an hour and 9 minutes.
001 09 54 Mattingly (onboard): Where's that? That's darn close.
001 09 56 Young (onboard): No, it ain't .
001 09 57 Mattingly (onboard): Isn't it? Well - didn't I see some land go underneath us?
001 09 59 Young (onboard): No, you didn't.
001 10 02 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] Okay, Charlie. [Garble] go in there.
001 10 06 Duke (onboard): Okay, I'll get that out of my pocket in a little bit.
001 10 09 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
001 10 10 Young (onboard): Where are we at, though, Charlie? Does it say?
001 10 13 Mattingly (onboard): He talked to us from Carnarvon a few minutes ago.
001 10 15 Duke > (onboard): Yeah...
001 10 17 Young (onboard): We're about halfway across the Pacific.
001 10 20 Mattingly (onboard): I thought I saw - maybe that was Hawaii. Huh? I thought I saw some land down there.
001 10 24 Duke (onboard): What the heck? My checklist floated to the wrong page. U.S. AOS (Acquisition of Signal) 01:28.
001 10 33 Young (onboard): Yeah, we're a long way from [garble]. Is there any ship or anything that we'd be talking to between now and then?
001 10 39 Duke (onboard): Nope. You want to do this SCS attitude reference comparison check test?
001 10 45 Young (onboard): Yeah.
[This is Serial 26 on the Launch Checklist on Page L2-17.]
001 10 46 Duke (onboard): Okay. Verb 16 Noun 20.
001 10 49 Young (onboard): Okay,
001 10 51 Duke (onboard): FDAI Select, 1.
001 10 56 Young (onboard): FDAI Select to 1.
001 10 59 Duke (onboard): Um-mm. FDAI Source, Att Set.
001 11 01 Young (onboard): Att Set. Go.
001 11 04 Duke (onboard): Att Set to GDC.
001 11 05 Young (onboard): Att Set to GDC.
001 11 06 Duke (onboard): Att Set dials, null FDAI 1 error needle.
001 11 09 Young (onboard): Okay.
001 11 23 Young (onboard): Okay. Okay, and...
001 11 28 Duke (onboard): Okay, key V - Null the needles. Key Verb when nulled. Freeze display. And then...
001 11 36 Young (onboard): Okay, key - key Verb when nulled. Freeze display. Okay -
001 11 46 Young (onboard): Mark it.
001 11 47 Duke (onboard): Okay, give me from the DSKY roll, pitch, and yaw.
001 11 53 Young (onboard): Well, I key released it. Let me [garble]...
001 11 55 Mattingly (onboard): A LM chart? Oh, it's a Duke book.
[Ken is going through the Flight Data File.]
001 11 58 Duke (onboard): Yeah, there's a lot of LM stuff in there.
001 11 59 Young (onboard): [Laughter]
001 12 02 Mattingly (onboard): Man, I don't understand why I got an AOT [Alignment Optical Telescope] tag. It's not the [garble]...
001 12 13 Young (onboard): Okay, Verb. Go.
001 12 14 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001 12 15 Young (onboard): 179.79. [Roll]
001 12 19 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001 12 20 Young (onboard): Plus 086.86. [Pitch] That's on the DSKY. Plus 000.78 [Yaw].
001 12 28 Duke (onboard): 000.78. Okay.
001 12 29 Young (onboard): Yeah.
001 12 30 Duke (onboard): What are the thumbwheels?
001 12 31 Young (onboard): Thumbwheels say 178.4.
001 12 36 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001 12 37 Young (onboard): Pitch is 088.2.
001 12 41 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001 12 42 Young (onboard): Yaw is 356.2.
001 12 44 Duke (onboard): What's your time?
001 12 47 Young (onboard): Time is - 1 hour, 12 minutes and 45 seconds.
001 12 52 Duke (onboard): : Okay, that's nine at 21-minute check, and we got one degree on roll, got two degrees on - 1½ degrees pitch, and about 4 degrees yaw. FDAI Select 1/2, John.
001 13 14 Young (onboard): Okay. Well, tell me what that thing on Page 2- whatchacall it says, Charlie.
001 13 24 Duke (onboard): Dash 10.
[John Young and Charlie Duke are now looking at Page 2-10 of the Launch Checklist, which provides a procedure for controlling the S-IVB attitude using the Service Module Reaction Control System in the event of an APS module failure. This is precisely the failure that they are concerned may occur due to the excessive APS helium pressure. They now start rehearsing the procedure that they might have to follow.]
001 13 33 Duke (onboard): Okay. Spacecr - Service Module RCS control of S-IVB. Launch Vehic - If APS module failed, Launch Vehicle Guidance, CMC; Manual Attitude Roll, Minimum Impulse.
001 13 45 Young (onboard): Okay.
001 13 46 Duke (onboard): CB [circuit breaker] SECS Arm, two [of], close. Auto RCS Select, Pitch and Yaw, Off.
001 13 53 Young (onboard): CB SECS Arm, two, closed?
[See explanation of the SECS Pyros at 002:13:46.]
001 13 55 Duke > (onboard): Yeah.
001 13 56 Young (onboard): Yeah? Okay [garble] get the [garble] on this here.
001 14 01 Duke (onboard): Okay, then we got turn off - turn on - put A/C Roll to Main B, and B/D Roll to Main A. Then RCS Command to On.
001 14 10 Young (onboard): A/C Roll to Main B, B/D Roll to Main A.
001 14 21 Mattingly (onboard): Want to give me your boost cards?
001 14 22 Young (onboard): Why do we do that? [Garble].
001 14 23 Mattingly (onboard): I'm sorry.
001 14 24 Duke (onboard): To get - to get commands - to get roll commands. Here - here's one, Ken.
001 14 30 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, are you through with that?
001 14 32 Duke (onboard): Yeah, I'll just leave the landing card up here. Okay?
[The landing card will only be needed if the crew have to abort the mission and return to Earth...]
001 14 34 Mattingly (onboard): All righty.
001 14 35 Young (onboard): Oh, shoot.
001 14 36 Duke (onboard): Okay, you want to take it down? I don't care.
001 14 38 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] I'd like a more positive approach, Charlie. John, you want to give me some of your...
001 14 44 Duke (onboard): Wait a minute. Let me have the - L - the Boost cards back. It's got the TLI no-go's on it.
[The crew still need the Boost reference cards for Trans Lunar Injection.]
001 14 50 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Well, that's - this one?
001 14 54 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
001 14 55 Mattingly (onboard): There you go.
[Charlie Duke is continuing to go through the contingency procedures.]
001 14 56 Duke (onboard): Okay. Okay, then after that, the booster - guy he confir - he commands the burn mode.
001 15 06 Mattingly (onboard): These two over there? …
001 15 21 Duke (onboard): Says if that's successful and we get control, the Launch Vehicle Guidance back to IU; we control pitch and yaw with THC, roll with RHC. Allow S-IVB to drift in pitch, gravity gradient. Control yaw within platform limits. Perform normal procedures except Time Base 6 minus 15 minutes, manoeuvre to TLI attitude and set up ORDEAL. Hold TLI attitude until ignition. Null ullage deviations with service module RCS. After ignition, RCS Command, Off. Auto RCS Select, 16, Main A, Main B. Manual Attitude, three, to Rate Command. After cut-off, go back to CMC. Manual Attitude, three, Accel Command. RCS Command, On.
[Charlie Duke is providing a very short summary of the contingency procedure. Roughly translated, the crew first select the launch vehicle to be controlled by the Command Module Computer, then select the Reaction Control System to the appropriate mode. Mission control then set up the correct Launch Vehicle mode for the impending TLI burn. Launch Vehicle guidance is then returned to the Instrument Unit systems, so that the correct steering commands will be generated.
The crew can then control spacecraft pitch and yaw attitude with the Translational Hand Controller and its roll attitude with the Rotational Hand Controller].
The S-IVB is initially allowed to drift in pitch, allowing it to adopt the "gravity gradient" orientation, under which gravity will pull it gradually into vertical alignment with respect to the Earth. This minimises the use of RCS fuel, although it puts the S-IVB and CSM in an orientation that will cause more drag than its normal alignment pointing along the orbital track. It must be remembered that the spacecraft is still subject to the Earth's gravity field while in orbit, and that it is still low enough to feel the effects of Earth's atmosphere.
The crew meantime control the S-IVB's yawalignment within the spacecraft inertial platform limits.
The crew otherwise follow normal procedures until 15 minutes before Time Base 6, then they manoeuvre to the correct attitude for TLI, and set up the ORDEAL. They then hold the correct TLI attitude until ignition.
When the S-IVB APS fires in the ullage manoeuvre, the crew correct any deviations with the Service Module RCS.
After S-IVB ignition for TLI, the crew select RCS Command Off, Auto RCS Select, 16, Main A, Main B. Manual Attitude, three, to Rate Command.
After the S-IVB cut-off, the crew go back to CMC. Manual Attitude, three, Accel Command. RCS Command, On. This sets the SM RCS back to the state needed for Transposition and Docking.]
001 16 15 Young (onboard): Okay. Well, that's a good thing. I'm sure glad you told me that, Charlie. That - there's the Moon.
001 16 20 Duke (onboard): Where?
001 16 21 Young (onboard): Out the front window.
001 16 23 Mattingly (onboard): Hey, John. Would you put my DAC [garble] for me, please?
001 16 26 Young (onboard): Yeah, [garble].
001 16 27 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
001 16 33 Young (onboard): It's awful stiff velcro.
001 16 34 Mattingly (onboard): It goes right over the DSKY. Doesn't it fit there?
001 16 36 Young (onboard): Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! It goes right over the DSKY [laughter].
001 16 41 Mattingly (onboard): It - I mean, it probably really does.
001 16 45 Young (onboard): [Garble]....
001 16 46 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble] on top of that little DSKY. It doesn't fit there?
001 16 48 Young (onboard): Yeah, it does. And that's [garble] coming up.
001 16 57 Duke (onboard): I can't get my head down far enough. Oh, yeah, look at that. That - Ken, you ought to [garble] up here and look at that...
001 17 01 Mattingly (onboard): I don't have the time. I'm getting my - last little chore done here. I got - I think I overdid it.
001 17 09 Young (onboard): Laughter)
001 17 14 Mattingly (onboard): [Laughter] Things are getting out of hand.
001 17 18 Young (onboard): Well, let's take it f/11, at 250...
001 17 20 Duke (onboard): Are getting kind of what?
001 17 21 Young (onboard): You think in the middle of the day, we should go to f/11, Ken, or f/8 is still good enough?
001 17 26 Mattingly (onboard): Well, I'm just thinking. I've got a little bit of [garble] in that.
001 17 29 Young (onboard): Well, I think f/11 for this time of day is probably the best you can do.
001 17 34 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, we got all the cards we're gonna need now? For TD&E [Transposition, Docking and Ejection of the LM from the S-IVB] and all that stuff, straight through.
001 17 38 Duke (onboard): Gosh.
001 17 39 Mattingly (onboard): I got the Flight Plan out; I got the G&C Checklist; I got the Surface Checklist available; I got the star charts, I got the TLI cards, got the TD&E card in my pocket. Anything else we'd be likely to need?
001 17 54 Duke (onboard): Nope.
001 17 57 Mattingly (onboard): Here's your antenna card. Why don't you just stick that up? [Laughter]
001 18 00 Duke (onboard): Okay, thank you [garble] my copy.
001 18 02 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble].
001 18 05 Duke (onboard): Thank you.
001 18 08 Mattingly (onboard): I think I'm gonna sit down and think some more about that TD&E.
001 18 14 Young (onboard): Okay, there ain't nothing we can do about it if that module ain't holding attitude.
001 18 19 Mattingly (onboard): If it won't hold in attitude, we'll go get it out of attitude.
001 18 21 Young (onboard): That's right.
001 18 22 Duke (onboard): Looks like it's in attitude now.
001 18 24 Mattingly (onboard): Well, it is. I just don't want that little bugger to blow up back there, and get a leak...
001 18 29 Young (onboard): That's exactly what I've been thinking all this time. You know, they ain't never said nothing about that.
001 18 34 Duke (onboard): Well, they got this...
001 18 35 Mattingly (onboard): They said they got that relief valve.
001 18 36 Duke (onboard): They got the relief valve.
001 18 38 Young (onboard): Yeah. God willing, when the relief valve comes through, Charlie.
001 18 44 Mattingly (onboard): But he said it was over the relief pressure, didn't - already, didn't he?
001 18 47 Young (onboard): Something like that...
001 18 48 Duke (onboard): He said that it was - as far as they could tell, it was right at the relief pressure. How can...
001 18 52 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble] you talking about? We don't have double gage [?]. We didn't start -
001 19 02 Duke (onboard): I'm gonna take this thing - little dealy off here. The official ASPO [Apollo Spacecraft Program Office] circuit breaker putter-inner. Coming off.
[It is not clear what this is but there is a fair likelihood that Charlie Duke means his finger!]
001 19 16 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I've got a stowage place for it, but it's kind of hard to get to right now.
001 19 19 Young (onboard): Oh, yeah.
001 19 20 Duke (onboard): You just want me to leave it on, then?
001 19 21 Mattingly (onboard): If it's not in your way.
001 19 23 Duke (onboard): No, it's not. I [garble]...
001 19 24 Mattingly (onboard): Why don't we just leave it there until I get a chance to take it down and play with it, because I have a place for it [garble] in.
001 19 30 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001 19 34 Young (onboard): It's right on [garble] should start.
[And back to discussing the S-IVB APS]
001 19 37 Mattingly (onboard): Apparently, it's just the regulator. But the helium supply [garble]...
001 19 41 Duke (onboard): Well, they're afraid...
001 19 42 Young (onboard): [Garble] off.
001 19 43 Duke (onboard): ...I think they're gonna give - afraid they're gonna give out of gas.
001 19 47 Mattingly (onboard): Well, that's what I'm afraid of, too.
001 19 50 Young (onboard): It won't start up.
001 19 53 Mattingly (onboard): [Garble]. Get it in?
001 20 14 Mattingly (onboard): What time?
001 20 15 Duke (onboard): [Garble] 01:20.
001 20 29 Young (onboard): A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. I said, "The pressure looks good up here." They said, "Well, it ain't your pressure; it's the APS."
001 20 36 Duke (onboard): Oh.
001 20 56 Mattingly (onboard): How's everything up in this old panel look?
001 20 59 Duke (onboard): Fine, Ken.
001 21 00 Young (onboard): This just looks downtown, Charlie and Ken.
001 21 02 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah.
001 21 03 Duke (onboard): Well...
001 21 04 Mattingly (onboard): Well.
001 21 05 Young (onboard): Well.
001 21 07 Mattingly (onboard): Is it ever beautiful.
001 21 08 Duke (onboard): It is ever beautiful.
001 21 18 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, man.
001 21 19 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
001 21 42 Mattingly (onboard): I thought it [garble]...
001 21 43 Young (onboard): You got it wrapped around [garble].
001 21 44 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
001 21 45 Mattingly (onboard): Hot dang.
001 21 46 Duke (onboard): Okay. Twist the other one, Ken, because all the [garble] going around your back.
001 21 49 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, I see what's happened. Yeah.The old [garble] put it on one way, and [garble].
001 22 10 Duke (onboard): What makes the helium pressure - would make it go up?
001 22 14 Young (onboard): The regulator failed to open.
001 22 21 Mattingly (onboard): Did - did you get a picture of all that good stuff, John? I'm sure we got...
001 22 28 Young (onboard): That's 10,000 pictures of horizons and sunrises. I got a picture of the Moon out there [garble] coming up.
001 22 33 Duke (onboard): It's gone.
001 22 34 Mattingly (onboard): Going [garble]...
001 22 35 Young (onboard): ... [Garble] coming up.
001 22 36 Duke (onboard): Supposed to be up.
001 22 48 Young (onboard): Okay, here's [garble] that's gonna get [garble] as about [garble].
001 22 54 Mattingly (onboard): Two [garble].
001 22 55 Duke (onboard): What?
001 22 56 Mattingly (onboard): 220, [garble] you think?
001 22 57 Duke (onboard): 210.
001 22 59 Young (onboard): All that [garble] right after insertion [garble].
001 23 07 Duke (onboard): You can extend the docking probe if you want to.
001 23 10 Young (onboard): We gonna do that over the States?
001 23 12 Duke (onboard): Well, they can't tell.
[The docking probe is the complex mechanism at the front of the CM, used to dock to the LM. Although the checklist Serial 27 is termed "Extend Docking Probe", the Serial actually requires an extension and retraction, to check the correct operation of the probe. Without a functional probe, there is no point the crew going ahead with TLI, as they would be unable to dock with the LM. There is no downlink-report of the docking probe, so there is no reason to delay its release until the spacecraft is over the USA in accordance with the Flight Plan's timeline. The crew now proceed to release the probe, following Checklist Serial 27 on Page L2-18.]
001 23 14 Mattingly (onboard): Look under...
001 23 15 Young (onboard): Want to hear it go "clunk?" Circuit breakers are in.
001 23 24 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
001 23 25 Young (onboard): Take that and put it somewheres else.
001 23 26 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, shall we? Extend/Release. Cover.
001 23 36 Duke (onboard): There it goes.
001 23 37 Young (onboard): [Garble] what it does.
001 23 38 Mattingly (onboard): And the cabin pressure didn't go up?
001 23 40 Young (onboard): [Garble].
001 23 41 Mattingly (onboard): Oxygen flow [garble] go up. That's also very nice.
001 23 44 Duke (onboard): Did you get the [garble] through?
001 23 45 Mattingly (onboard): No, I just want to make sure it doesn't. Every time I do something mechanical on the spacecraft, I [garble].
001 23 53 Duke (onboard): Okay. Did you go to...
001 23 54 Young (onboard): Just about...
001 23 55 Duke (onboard): Did you go to Retract?
001 23 56 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Garble] two gray, Just like they told me. Back to...
[The probe has reached the fully extended configuration, with two gray talkback indicators. The next stage is to set it to back to Retract.]
001 24 10 Young (onboard): [Garble] supposed to leave it there.
001 24 12 Mattingly (onboard): Looks like we leave it in Retract, all right. Talkback gray at full extension. Did all those things. That's all did [sic]. (Sigh) [starts talking to himself about the emergency procedures in case of APS failure.] Got all that stuff unstowed. And hold us on a hold attitude. That means I got to [garble], damp the rate. If we do it, we'll do it with a - I'll make the turnaround in G&N; then we'll go to SCS - Yes, because with the - the proportional control, I can set up a rate that's equivalent to the [garble] one. Okay.
001 24 59 Young (onboard): Lift that [garble] up [garble].
001 25 01 Duke (onboard): Well, yeah. Well [laughter].
001 25 04 Young (onboard): Have to do it [garble].
001 25 07 Mattingly (onboard): The thing I don't want to do is that I don't want to be talking about what we're gonna do and - when they're saying, hurry up and get over here before you lose attitude.
001 25 16 Duke (onboard): Yeah. Did you put the Flight Plans in R-12, Ken?
001 25 18 Mattingly (onboard): You should have Volume One in here.
001 25 20 Duke (onboard): Okay.
001 25 21 Young (onboard): [Garble].
001 25 22 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Why don't you pull that out? Well, you remember we talked about it?
001 25 26 Young (onboard): Yeah, I remember that.
001 25 27 Mattingly (onboard): We went over the procedures on how to dock the thing in [garble]...
001 25 28 Young (onboard): Yeah.
001 25 29 Mattingly (onboard): ...because you get there faster...
001 25 30 Duke (onboard): Well, I hate to tell you, but I forgot to hook up R-12, and [garble]...
001 25 32 Mattingly (onboard): I'll go get it.
001 25 33 Young (onboard): It's just floating. Just reach around there, and it will just float right up.
001 25 35 Mattingly (onboard): Okay. Sometime here, before we hit the States or something, I sure would like for us to recap the checklist to make sure we haven't left something out.
001 25 42 Duke (onboard): I've gone over it three times.
001 25 44 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, you have?
001 25 45 Duke (onboard): Yeah.
001 25 46 Mattingly (onboard): Okay.
001 25 47 Duke (onboard): Based on the - our...
001 25 49 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, I just wanted to make sure that I - you know, there's some - some of my things that I didn't do because you did, and I don't have all of my stuff checked off, I'm sure.
001 25 58 Duke (onboard): Okay, you want me to get the Flight Plan out?
001 26 00 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, I wrote some things in there. I think I got some camera settings [garble].
001 26 06 Young (onboard): 01:28, we come up [garble] States.
001 26 08 Mattingly (onboard): 01:18?
001 26 10 Duke (onboard): 01:28. Here you go, Ken.
001 26 12 Mattingly (onboard): All right. Thank you.
001 26 19 Young (onboard): (Singing) Dum-do-da-dum-da-dee-do-dee-do-do.
001 26 31 Duke (onboard): 01:26. Sure is quiet up here.
001 26 42 Mattingly (onboard): It sure is. Okay, [garble] one coming at [garble].
001 27 05 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, at 01:30 - Just couldn't believe that these [garble], and I'm already so baffled by these things that I wanted to remember about that I need to do. I was trying so hard to remember times and things; and there just wasn't any way.
001 27 25 Duke (onboard): Well, I'll tell you, all I was doing was holding on to that ascent [garble].
001 27 28 Mattingly (onboard): Man, when that thing started to shake [laughter]...
001 27 31 Young (onboard): Oh, [garble] at staging?
001 27 33 Duke (onboard): No.
001 27 34 Mattingly (onboard): No. The...
001 27 35 Mattingly:/Duke (onboard): Lift-off.
001 27 36 Mattingly (onboard): Just in general.
001 27 37 Young (onboard): Oh, I mean, that's for sure.
001 27 40 Mattingly (onboard): Well, it's just like everybody said. They said it's like being on a freight train on a rough track. [Laughter] That's really weird. And when the...
001 27 51 Young (onboard): The only thing that I didn't recognize was - there was a little ripple of pogo that kind of built up and died out to - to - to about 09:07 in the S-II burn, and then it quit at - and then after - after the engine shut down, I felt a little pogo.
001 28 07 Mattingly (onboard): After the engine shut down, you felt pogo?
001 28 08 Young (onboard): After center engine shutdown.
001 28 10 Mattingly (onboard): Oh, in the S-II?
001 28 11 Young (onboard): Yeah.
001 28 12 Mattingly (onboard): Yeah, it quit at 09:05. I remember that number.
001 28 14 Young (onboard): Yeah, 09:07.
001 28 15 Mattingly (onboard): And it was - Yeah. And it was - the thing that bugged me was that the pogo or the buzz that we got in the S-IV was the same frequency; makes me think maybe that was coming from, not from the booster, but from the understage or something like that. Because it was a - I would have expected to, you know, to get a frequency change, wouldn't you?
001 28 40 Young (onboard): [Garble] I wouldn't even think about it anymore. Okay, there's the coast of - of Baja.
001 28 48 Duke (onboard): Yes, sir.
001 28 52 Mattingly (onboard): Look at him out there ahead.
001 28 54 Duke (onboard): Look. Yeah, way ahead.
001 28 58 Young (onboard): You know that center window isn't too good for that. Charlie, do you want to see if you get to take a pic - picture, or do you think it's worthwhile?
001 29 06 Duke (onboard): Well, I don't know.
001 29 09 Young (onboard): Huh? I got so much junk in the window, I can't do it.
001 29 13 Mattingly (onboard): Like my [garble].
001 29 14 Young (onboard): Yeah. Very good.
001 29 15 Duke (onboard): Yeah, give me - give me the camera.
001 29 17 Young (onboard): Yeah, well, I got it set up at f/11, infinity...
001 29 21 Mattingly (onboard): Okay, how about let's record the - what you take pictures of and things like this and all that [garble] and how to do it.
001 29 25 Duke (onboard): Yeah, well, here comes...
001 29 27 Mattingly (onboard): You took - did you just take one, John?
001 29 29 Young (onboard): No, I took two, one of which was the - No, that was the - it was the thunderstorm that really attracted me down there...
001 29 38 Duke (onboard): Okay, that's Baja down
there.
001 29 40 Young (onboard): Yeah.
Public Affairs Officer: This is Apollo Control, Houston at 1 hour, 29 minutes Ground Elapsed Time. We presently show Apollo 16 at an orbit of 96 nautical miles (177 km) by 94 nautical miles (174 km). When we pick up over our State-side pass, we expect to have seen a release cycle with the regulator on the attitude control system Module Number 2 before we lost data over Australia. We have been noting an increase in the pressures on APS number 2. The one other point to bear in mind is that one module can control the spacecraft during the TLI burn since the only movement during that burn would be in roll. We're at 1 hour, 30 minutes. We're standing by now for acquisition. This is Apollo Control, Houston.
001 29 43 Mattingly (onboard): Why don't you read off and tell me what you got there, Charlie?
001 29 45 Duke (onboard): Okay, frame count number [garble]...
001 29 47 Young (onboard): You got signal strength yet?
001 29 48 Duke (onboard): Not yet.
001 29 49 Mattingly (onboard): You on the right antenna?
[At
this stage in the mission, the crew are using four small S-band
antennae on the CM to communicate with the Earth. These are
flush-mounted, 90 degrees apart. Each antenna broadcasts and
receives in a roughly hemispherical pattern, so the crew must select
the one facing the Earth
to ensure reception.]
001 29 51 Young (onboard): [Garble] now.
001 29 52 Duke (onboard): Yeah, well, I don't know.
001 29 54 Mattingly (onboard): Well, let's do that the first [garble].
001 29 55 Duke (onboard): Well, we have it - orb rate. We ought to be...
001 29 59 Mattingly (onboard): We ought to be on the top one, or we ought to be on B or D.
001 30 05 Duke (onboard): We're on B [garble].
001 30 10 Mattingly (onboard): All right [garble] we get it. We get a signal right now.
001 30 19 Duke (onboard): It's about a minute late.
001 30 31 Young (onboard): You got our VHFs [Very High Frequency radios] going?
001 30 33 Duke (onboard): [Garble].
001 30 42 Young (onboard): No signal strength, huh?
001 30 44 Duke (onboard): Not a thing.
001 30 54 Duke (onboard): Look at that. That [garble].
[From the context, it seems that the crew have seen the contrail of a high-flying aircraft.]
001 30 57 Young (onboard): I don't worry about any jet. Let's worry about a little comm here. [Garble].
001 31 02 Duke (onboard):There it comes. There it comes.
001 31 05 Young: Hello, Houston. Are you there?
[This is a good example of the difficulty in determining what the real conversation was at some times in the mission. The three transcripts all give different versions. That given is the Command Module transcript, but in the Technical transcript, it is quoted as "Duke: OK, Houston. How are you doing" while in the Public Affair Office transcript it is "CapCom: How are you doing". Although the Public Affairs Officer transcript is normally the least authoritative (since it was the least critical and hence least reviewed), it seems likely that Gordon Fullerton did reply to John Young's "Are you there?" with "How are you doing", but that this was not received by the crew.]
001 31 07 Duke (onboard): Be - Let them get locked up, John.
001 31 11 Young (onboard): Now you got signal strength; they ain't locked up yet.
001 31 13 Duke (onboard): Well, it's coming up Max now. Okay, you should have them.