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Apollo 11

Day 1, part 3: Transposition, Docking and Extraction

Corrected Transcript and Commentary Copyright © 2008 by W. David Woods, Kenneth D. MacTaggart and Frank O'Brien. All rights reserved.

[The Saturn V third stage has boosted the stack into a very long, extended ellipse around Earth, the apogee of which is beyond the Moon's orbit. This trajectory has been arranged in such a way that the Moon will gravitationally intervene and cause the spacecraft to loop around its far side. Having left the vicinity of Earth, the Apollo 11 CSM (Command Service Module) now separates from the third stage. The conical shroud that protected the LM (Lunar Module) during launch splits into four panels which are jettisoned. The CSM turns around to dock with the LM, then extracts it from its launch position on top of the S-IVB stage. The two docked spacecraft then prepare for an engine firing to move a safe distance away from the now-abandoned stage.]

[The S-IVB stage with the Apollo spacecraft attached is going to turn so that the Sun shines across the top of the LM. This will provide the correct illumination for the docking maneuver to follow, after the CSM has turned around 180 degrees.]

002:54:46 McCandless: Roger. That separation should be 3 plus 15:03. My error in reading up.

002:54:55 Aldrin: Roger.

PAO: This is Apollo Control. The velocity falling off now immediately after shutdown. We're showing 34,000 feet per second now, but the altitude building; 512 nautical miles.

002:55:18 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. All the booster functions are proceeding normally. The sequencing is in good shape, and it doesn't look like they're having any problems at all. Over.

002:55:28 Armstrong: Roger.

PAO: This is Apollo Control and we're showing orbital weight now 138,892.9 pounds.

PAO: This is Apollo Control at 3 hours into the mission. Velocity now 31,214 feet per second. Apollo 11's distance from Earth; 1,245 nautical miles.

003:05:28 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Our preliminary data indicates a good cut-off on the S-IVB. We'll have some more trajectory data for you in about half an hour. Over.

PAO: This is Apollo Control. The S-IVB has started its maneuvering to the separation attitude.

PAO: At 3 hours, 7 minutes, the velocity is 27,945 feet per second. Distance from Earth 2,384 nautical miles.

003:09:01 McCandless: Apollo 11, Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

003:09:16 McCandless: Apollo 11, Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

003:09:31 Armstrong: Hello, Houston. Hello, Houston. This is Apollo 11. I'm reading you loud and clear. Go ahead. Over.

003:09:37 McCandless: Roger, 11. This is Houston. We had to shift stations. We weren't reading you through Goldstone. We show Pyro Bus A armed and Pyro Bus B not armed at the present time. Over.

003:09:50 Collins: That's affirmative, Houston. That's affirmative.

003:09:54 McCandless: Roger.

PAO: The S-IVB has completed its maneuver to separation attitude.

PAO: 4 minutes away from separation, 4 minutes.

PAO: At 3 hours, 11 minutes into the mission, velocity 26,314 feet per second. Distance from Earth 3,140 nautical miles.

PAO: The S-IVB is reported in a stable attitude for the separation.

PAO: Rates are less than 1/10th of a foot per second in all axes.

PAO: One minute to separation.

003:14:08 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. You're Go for separation. Our systems recommendation is arm both Pyro Buses. Over.

003:14:19 Armstrong: Okay. Pyro B coming armed. My intent is to use bottle Primary 1, as per the checklist; therefore, I just turned A on.

003:14:26 McCandless: Roger. We concur with the logic.

PAO We're awaiting confirmation of separation.

003:16:27 Aldrin (onboard):... two, Armed.

003:16:28 Collins (onboard): Two, Armed.

[Mike has now taken over the left-hand seat from Neil in order to fly the CSM in the TD&E maneuver.]

003:16:37 Collins (onboard): Yes.

[The Digital Event Timer will allow Mike to coordinate his actions. When the spacecraft comes off the S-IVB, he immediately wants it to start moving away. Therefore, he will begin thrusting forward just before separation.]

003:16:47 Aldrin (onboard): And you're going to go to 100.8?

[Mike is monitoring his speed with the EMS (Entry Monitor System). This unit includes an independent accelerometer and a velocity display. Procedures dictate that the display be set to read 100 feet per second, based on experience on Apollo 8 when it was found to not work well around the zero mark.]

003:16:58 Collins (onboard): Thrusting...

[Mike thrusts forward in the plus-X direction with the small Reaction Control System engines, so that when Buzz pushes the Sep (Separation) button on Panel 2, the CSM immediately starts to move away from the S-IVB stage and the jettisoned panels.]

003:16:59 McCandless: This is Houston. We copy.

003:17:00 Armstrong (onboard): Sep!

003:17:02 McCandless: This is Houston. We copy.

003:17:03 Aldrin (onboard): Look at that trash.

003:17:05 Armstrong (onboard): Sep complete.

003:17:07 Aldrin (onboard): Got Delta-V?

003:17:08 Collins (onboard): Okay, got 0.7; I'm going to stop there and - -

003:17:09 Armstrong: SEP is complete.

003:17:11 Aldrin (onboard): ... go to Release; Delta-V indicator minus 100.8 - -

[Buzz is reading this off the Entry Monitoring System gauge.]

PAO We confirm the separation here on the ground.

003:17:14 Collins (onboard): Okay.

003:17:15 Aldrin (onboard):... Service Module RCS propellant, verify eight of them grey.

003:17:18 Collins (onboard): Okay, you got problems there. Get the... - there you go.

003:17:22 Armstrong (onboard): I'll get them.

003:17:23 Aldrin (onboard): Okay, okay.

003:17:26 Collins (onboard): What else? Did - -

003:17:27 Aldrin (onboard): CM - -

003:17:32 Armstrong (Very weak): Primary and secondary Propellant B went barber pole at Sep.

003:17:40 McCandless: That was secondary propellant on quad Bravo?

[There are a set of valves that allow the crew to isolate the propellant tanks that feed the RCS thrusters. It was common for the shock of separation to cause a number of these valves to close. It was simply a matter of throwing the appropriate switches to open them again.]

003:17:45 Collins (onboard):..., three, Open.

003:17:47 Aldrin (onboard): Okay, your - -

003:17:50 McCandless: Roger, we copy.

003:17:51 Aldrin (onboard): - -... this is the one that... 0.5, right? Is it - Mike, you key a Verb 62?

003:17:57 Collins (onboard): Yes.

003:17:58 Aldrin (onboard): Proceed and you're pitching?

['Proceed' is one of the buttons on the DSKY (Display and Keyboard), the crew's interface with the computer.]

003:18:19 Armstrong (onboard): It went to Rate - Okay, I see an SLA panel going out.

[This is one of the four Spacecraft Launch-vehicle Adaptor panels which contained the Lunar Module during launch. They were jettisoned by partial hinges once they had rotated 45° away from the LM.]

003:19:54 Collins (onboard): Yes, I know; those numbers don't mean anything. They were 99-something when we turned around; don't ask me why. I thrusted toward him quite a bit, and I don't know why those numbers were screwed up, but they were.

[Again, these numbers refer to the Entry Monitoring System Delta-V display. The accelerometer that provides the measurement for this display operates along a single axis only. Crews generally found that the rotation of the spacecraft during the turnaround maneuver caused the accelerometer to give erroneous readings.]

003:20:15 Collins (onboard): ... get the BMAG?

[The BMAGs are a set of Body-Mounted Attitude Gyros. These gyros are attached directly to the body of the spacecraft rather than being mounted on a stabilised platform. The force they exert on their mountings provides information on the rate-of-change of the spacecraft's attitude. A box of electronics, the GDC (Gyro Display Couplers), convert this information into a measurement of absolute attitude, though with a substantial tendency to drift.]

003:21:32 Aldrin (onboard): The thing is, with this sitting there, I can't get much with the Hasselblad. That window's no good, I'm afraid.

[As the CSM approaches the LM, Buzz uses the Hasselblad camera to take seven shots. AS11-36-5310, 5311 and 5312 are relatively distant shots. A constellation of particles surround the spent stage. Frame 5313 is a well-framed shot of the top of the LM. 5314, 5315 and 5316 were taken at the final stages of the approach. On the last frame, the external orifice of the LMs optical system is visible top-right, while the overhead docking window is visible top-left.]

003:21:46 Armstrong (onboard): Can I hold something for you?

003:21:49 Aldrin (onboard): Take a couple of...

003:21:54 Collins (onboard): Yes, you might look - if you're looking for something to do, you might just look over my panel 1 and 8 and all that and make sure all the switches are - to your liking.

003:22:05 Armstrong (onboard): I'll do it.

003:22:06 Aldrin (onboard): ...

003:22:07 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Radio check. Over.

PAO: The Goldstone station reports a very weak signal. We believe that Mike Collins is now maneuvering the spacecraft in the transposition and docking maneuver, and the antenna patterns aren't too good at the moment, so we have a weak signal strength.

003:22:15 Armstrong (onboard): Be sure that your RCS is working anyway.

003:22:23 Aldrin (onboard): How far out are you, Mike?

003:22:25 Collins (onboard): I'm still quite a ways. That's definitely an SLA panel - there's no doubt about that. Sure looks like... panel. That stuff's hitting from the S-IVB from us. Geeze, look it - that one thing just hit the - gyro package on the S-band antenna.

003:22:46 Aldrin (onboard): Yes, things occasionally come scooting out.

003:22:52 Collins (onboard): ...

003:22:53 Aldrin (onboard): And, occasionally, you know, a little piece of something hits the - what do you call that - covering? The whole LM quivers every so often. All - all the surface of it, Neil, you know, just kind of shakes like that.

003:23:12 Armstrong (onboard): Yes?

003:23:13 Aldrin (onboard): Just in one spot; it's not being hit. I hope it doesn't come in... - -

003:23:17 Collins (onboard): Stand by; we're getting pretty close.

003:23:20 Armstrong (onboard): Just from the APS firing, you think?

[The S-IVB has its own attitude control thrusters packed into two units mounted onto the outside of the stage near the bottom. These are the APS units (Auxiliary Propulsion System, not to be confused with the Ascent Propulsion System on the LM).]

003:23:56 McCandless: Apollo 11, Apollo 11, this is Houston broadcasting in the blind. Request Omni Bravo if you read us. Request Omni Bravo. Out.

003:24:13 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. How do you read?

PAO: Goldstone still showing weak signal strength.

[Three latches at the tip of the probe have engaged with the hole at the centre of the LM's drogue, achieving what is termed a 'soft-dock'. It is possible that there is a little sway of one craft with respect to the other so Mike allows the damping mechanism of the probe's tip to minimise it before he retracts the probe to bring the two ships to a 'hard-dock' condition.]

003:24:50 Aldrin (onboard): And we're - translated plus X. That Capture Probe, Extend/Release, you've done that; CMC Mode, Free?

[The CMC (Command Module Computer) has various modes of controlling the spacecraft's attitude, one of which is 'Free' where it makes no attempt to hold attitude. As it is now mechanically joined to the much larger S-IVB, it makes no sense for the CSM thrusters to fire as they will only fight those on the third stage.]

003:25:47 Aldrin (onboard): Okay, PCM Bit Rate is Low. Post-docking: it says Rate, High; Att Deadband, Max.

003:25:49 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. How do you read? Over.

[Given the various gyrations of the CSM, and Collins' concentration on the docking maneuver, they haven't established a good communications link with mission control. it will be another four minutes before CapCom gets through to them.]

003:26:46 Aldrin (onboard): No, C and D are... B, anyway.

003:26:47 McCandless: Apollo 11, Apollo 11, this is Houston. Do you read? Over.

003:26:52 Armstrong (onboard): Okay -

003:26:55 Collins (onboard): Well, I got to go in there and dick - -

003:26:57 Aldrin (onboard): I'm not sure that we're getting - -

003:27:00 Armstrong (onboard): Well, Buzz is getting comm right now.

003:27:02 Collins (onboard): Yes, let Buzz do his High-Gain thing, and I'll get ready to go dick with the tunnel.

003:27:18 Aldrin (onboard): Sure is squiggly, isn't it? It really wanders all over, doesn't it?

003:27:33 Collins (onboard): Neil, where do you put this guy - usually?

003:27:35 Armstrong (onboard): I - clip it to that - clip up there beside the COAS - you see - -

003:27:38 Collins (onboard): Okay.

003:27:39 Armstrong (onboard): - - see those clips up there, one of those. It's got a snap right here that's pretty good.

003:27:48 Collins (onboard): I think I can get it now -...

003:27:54 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Radio check. Over.

003:28:10 Collins (onboard): Okay, Buzz, how am I doing on the checklist?

003:28:11 McCandless: Apollo 11, Apollo 11, this is Houston. Radio check. Over.

003:28:18 Aldrin (onboard): Well, I'm trying to - -

003:28:19 Armstrong (onboard): You're at the High Gain - -

003:28:20 Aldrin (onboard): - - you're at post-docking. I'm trying to get the High Gain going - and I'm having a little trouble -... trouble.

003:28:29 Armstrong (onboard): That's Manual -

003:28:33 Collins (onboard): Whatever you do, take some pictures.

003:28:35 Armstrong (onboard): That should be on wide beam or...?

003:28:38 Aldrin (onboard): Wide.

003:28:40 Armstrong (onboard): Okay.

003:28:42 Aldrin (onboard): Hey, if you're through there, give me that Verb 64.

003:28:47 Collins (onboard): What? Okay.

003:28:48 Armstrong (onboard): I'm amazed how it just wanders around for a given setting; you notice that?

003:28:55 Collins (onboard): There - it sounds like we got it now. There's your Verb 64.

003:28:58 Armstrong (onboard): We got signal strength.

003:29:00 Collins (onboard): Okay. You have to really be on Manual for those things to be indicating correctly.

003:29:05 Armstrong (onboard): He was but - -

003:29:06 Collins (onboard): Okay.

003:29:07 Armstrong (onboard): - - this one was just kind of wandering around there - with no - -

003:29:13 Aldrin (onboard): As soon as I went down to High Gain, was when the signal strength came up.

003:29:16 Collins (onboard): Okay,... man.

003:29:20 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Radio check. Over.

003:29:24 Armstrong: Roger....

003:29:26 McCandless: Roger. We're copying you about five-by-two, very weak. Can you give us a status report, please?

003:29:35 Armstrong: Roger. We are docked. We do have acquisition with the High Gain at this time, I think.

003:29:44 McCandless: Understand you are using the High Gain. Over.

003:29:48 Aldrin: That's affirmative.

003:29:51 McCandless: Roger. I read - I read you very loud and clear, Buzz. Mike's pretty weak.

003:30:00 Aldrin: Roger. We've got the High Gain locked on, now, I believe; Auto tracking now.

003:30:05 McCandless: Okay. You're coming in loud and clear, but Mike is just barely readable.

003:30:12 Collins: That was Neil. How are you reading Mike?

003:30:15 McCandless: Loud and clear now, Mike, and we understand that you are docked.

003:30:19 Collins: That's affirmative.

003:30:24 Armstrong: Houston, CDR. How do you read (garble)?

003:30:28 McCandless: 11, CDR, loud and clear, Neil.

003:30:30 Armstrong: Okay.

PAO: This is Apollo Control. Apollo 11's velocity now 21,096 feet per second. Distance from Earth 6,649 nautical miles.

003:32:40 McCandless: 11, this is Houston. Over.

003:32:44 Armstrong: Houston, Apollo 11. Go ahead.

003:32:46 McCandless: Roger. When you commented on quad Bravo problem at separation, you were a little weak. Could you go through what you did after you noticed the talkback's barber pole again, please?

003:33:20 McCandless: We copied the - the primary and secondary propellant talkbacks on SM RCS quad Bravo 1 to barber pole on separation.

003:33:30 Aldrin: Roger. Roger. That is affirmative, and we moved that switch to the Open position and they went back to gray. Over.

003:33:39 McCandless: Roger.

PAO: This is Apollo Control. We're 34 minutes away from extraction of the Lunar Module from its adapter in the third stage of the Saturn.

PAO: The crew has started pressurizing the LM.

003:37:51 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

003:37:56 Aldrin: Roger, Houston. Apollo 11. Go ahead.

003:37:58 McCandless: Roger. Could you give us some comments on how the transposition and docking went? Over.

003:38:07 Collins: I thought it went pretty well, Houston, although I expect I used more gas than I've been using in the simulator. The turnaround maneuver - I went Pitch, Accel Command and started to pitch up, and then when I put Manual Attitude, Pitch back to Rate Command, for some reason it - it stopped its pitch rate, and I had to go back to Accel Command and hit what I thought was an extra Proceed on the DSKY. Then, during the course of that, we drifted slightly further away from the S-IVB than I expected. I expected to be out about 66 feet. My guess would be I was around 100 or so; and therefore, I expect I used a bit more coming back in. But, except for using a little more gas - and I'd be interested in your numbers on that - everything went nominally.

003:38:53 McCandless: This is Houston. Roger. We copy.

PAO: That was Mike Collins giving the description on the transposition and docking.

003:43:45 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. Over.

003:43:47 McCandless: Go ahead, 11.

003:43:50 Collins: Rog. We're working on the pressurization of the LM now, and working off the decal with CSM-LM pressure equalization. And we're down to step 13, where we're waiting for the cabin pressure to be 5, or it should be roughly 5, before we turn the Repress package O₂ valve to Fill. Instead of 5, we're running about 4.4. Over.

003:44:16 McCandless: Roger. Stand by a second.

[The LM cabin is currently a vacuum. Prior to launch, a valve in the LM's overhead hatch was deliberately left open so that its atmosphere would evacuate during the ascent to space. To save using its consumables, the LM cabin will be repressurised using air from the Command Module cabin. However, if the pressure in the CM must be kept within an acceptable range, so before they open the valve that will let their air into the tunnel between the two spacecraft, and hence into the LM, the crew need to ensure there is plenty of air in the CM. A pressure of 4.4 psi (30.3 kPa) is on the low side.]

003:45:17 Collins: We have about 450 psi now in the - in the three 1-pound bottles.

003:45:23 McCandless: Roger. Stand by a second, please.

003:45:25 Collins: Roger. Standing by. And the Repress package valve is now in the Off position. What's the cabin pressure now, Buzz? Cabin pressure's now 4.5.

PAO: At 3 hours, 46 minutes, velocity is 18,917 feet per second. Distance from Earth 9,002 nautical miles.

003:47:49 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. We think these readings are within normal tolerances. We just wanted to get your concurrence before we press down any further with these decals.

003:48:01 MCC Speaker: Okay, CapCom.

003:48:28 Aldrin: Houston, Apollo 11. How do you read?

003:48:32 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Go ahead.

003:48:35 Aldrin: Rog. LM looks to be in pretty fine shape. About all we can see from here.

003:48:43 McCandless: Okay. In reference to your question on this step 13 on the decal, I understand that you have used up the contents of the Repress O₂ package and at that time, instead of being up to 5 psi, you were reading 4.4. Is that correct?

003:49:07 Collins: Okay. 4.4. Yes sir.

003:49:11 McCandless: Okay. And you want to know if you can go ahead and use additional oxygen to bring the Command Module up to 5.0 and continue the equalization? Over.

003:49:20 Collins: Yes. We think it's within normal tolerances, Bruce. We just wanted to get your concurrence before we press on with this procedure.

003:49:33 McCandless: Roger, Apollo 11. Go ahead.

003:49:37 Collins: Okay. We're pressing on with the procedure.

003:49:40 McCandless: And 11, Houston. We have a request for you. On the Service Module secondary propellant fuel pressurization valve: as a precautionary measure, we'd like you to momentarily cycle the four switches to the Close position and then release. As you know, we have no TM or talkback on these valve positions, and it's conceivable that one of them might also have been moved into a different position by the shock of separation. Over.

003:50:11 Collins: Okay. Good idea. That's being done.

003:50:14 McCandless: Houston. Roger. Out.

003:50:29 McCandless: Apollo 11, Houston. We're doing a non-propulsive vent on the booster at the present time. You may see some sort of a cloud coming out of it. When you're ready, I have your evasive maneuver PAD.

003:50:44 Armstrong: Rog, And it's coming out.

003:50:48 McCandless: Roger. Out,

003:50:50 Aldrin: It's a haze. It's going by toward our minus-X direction, and several small particles are moving along with it. The actual velocity is fairly high - at least it appears to be high. And we've got an O₂ high [alarm] - a little high right now.

003:51:13 McCandless: Houston. Roger. Out.

[If they are pressurising the LM from CM air, then perhaps the flow of oxygen from the supply tanks into the cabin is higher than normal leading to an alarm being triggered.]

003:53:27 McCandless: Roger, we copy.

PAO: That was Neil Armstrong with that report.

003:57:12 Aldrin: Houston, Apollo 11. All 12 latches are locked.

003:57:16 McCandless: Roger. 11, this is Houston. Understand 12 latches locked.

PAO: That was Buzz Aldrin reporting that all 12 of the latches in the docking mechanism had locked.

003:59:03 McCandless: 11, Houston. Whenever you're possessed of a free moment there, we've got this Evasive Maneuver PAD.

003:59:12 Aldrin: Okay.

003:59:20 Aldrin: Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 11 is ready to copy.

003:59:24 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Evasive Maneuver SPS G&N: 63481, plus 0.95, minus 0.20; GETI 004:40:01.00; plus 0005.1, plus all balls, plus 0019.0; roll is your option; pitch, 213, 357; Noun 44 is NA; Delta-V_T is 0019.7, 0:03, 0015.2. The rest of the PAD is NA. No ullage. LM weight 33290. Readback. Over.

004:01:23 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Standing by for your readback. Over.

004:02:06 McCandless: 11, Houston. Do you read? Over.

004:02:25 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Do you read? Over.

004:02:31 Aldrin: All of a sudden there, we heard a little click, and the signal strength began to start dropping off. Your transmissions were cut off very abruptly. How do you read now?

004:02:42 McCandless: Roger. Loud and clear. We had a handover to Madrid about the time I was - I guess halfway through the PAD. If you could give me the last value you read, I'll pick up there. Over.

004:02:52 Aldrin: Okay. Start with Delta-V_Z. Over.

004:02:56 McCandless: Roger. Delta-V_Z is plus 0019.0; roll, your option; pitch, 213, 357; and Noun 44 is NA. Delta-V_T 0019.7, 0:03, 0015.2. The rest of the PAD is NA, and no ullage. LM weight 33290. Read back. Over.

004:03:41 Aldrin: Roger, Houston. Evasive Maneuver, SPS G&N; 63481, plus 0.95, minus 0.20; 004:40:01.00; plus 0005.1, plus all zeros, plus 0019.0; roll, crew option, 213, 357; NA; 0019.7, 0:03, 0015.2; no ullage, LM weight 33290. Over.

004:04:27 McCandless: 11, this is Houston. Readback correct. Out.

PAO: This is Apollo Control at 4 hours, 4 minutes. Apollo 11's velocity now is 17,014 feet per second. Its distance from Earth: 11,753 nautical miles. We're about 5 minutes away from ejection of the Lunar Module and about 35 minutes away from this evasive maneuver. The ignition time on the evasive maneuver: an elapsed time of 4 hours, 40 minutes, 1 second. It will be a Service Propulsion System burn of 3 seconds duration, Delta-V 19.7 feet per second.

[The PAD is interpreted as follows:

Purpose: The PAD is for a short burn that takes the Apollo stack away from the S-IVB.

Systems: The burn would be made using the SPS engine under the control of the Guidance and Navigation system.

CSM Weight (Noun 47): 63,481 pounds (28,794 kg).

Note that this really represents the mass of the CSM, weight being a poor term to use in these "weightless" circumstances.

Pitch and yaw trim (Noun 48): +0.95° and -0.2°.

Time of ignition (Noun 33): 4 hours, 40 minutes, 1.00 second.

Change in velocity (Noun 81), fps (m/s): x, +5.1 (+1.5); y, 0; z, +19.0 (+5.8). These are with respect to the Local Vertical/Local Horizontal.

Spacecraft attitude: Since the SPS is producing a short impulse along the spacecraft's X-axis, the roll angle is undefined and it is left to the crew which way their windows face; Pitch, 213°; Yaw, 357°. This attitude is with respect to the launch pad REFSMMAT.

H_A, expected apogee of resulting orbit (Noun 44): Not applicable.

H_P, expected perigee of resulting orbit (Noun 44): Not applicable.

Delta-V_T, the total velocity change resulting from the burn: 19.7 fps (6 m/s).

Burn duration or burn time: 3 seconds.

Delta-V_C: 15.2 fps (4.6 m/s). This figure, when entered into the EMS velocity display, can be used as a backup method of shutting down the engine.

Other items in the PAD form are not applicable, given the short duration of this burn. These mostly relate to attitude checks and re-entry. Two other notes are included with the PAD. Firstly, the SPS propellant tanks are full, so there is no need to perform an ullage burn to settle their contents. Also, the weight of the LM is given as 33,290 pounds (15,100 kg).]

004:13:36 McCandless: Go ahead, 11.

004:13:37 Collins: We'd like to arm our logic switches.

004:13:42 McCandless: Go ahead with the logic.

004:13:45 Collins: Okay. Mark logic 1 and 2 armed.

004:13:59 McCandless: Roger. We show the logic arm, and you're Go for Pyro arm.

004:16:38 Armstrong: Houston, we're ready for LM ejection.

004:16:45 McCandless: Roger. You're Go for LM ejection.

004:16:48 Armstrong: Thank you.

004:17:13 Armstrong: Houston, we are Sep. We have a Cryo Press light.

004:17:18 McCandless: Roger. Copy. Cryo Press light.

004:17:46 McCandless: Roger, 11. We recommend you turn the O₂ fans on manually and ensure that the O₂ heaters are in the Automatic position.

004:17:57 Armstrong: Roger. O₂ heaters are On, and we're going to cycle the O₂ fans now.

004:18:02 McCandless: Roger. O₂ heaters to Auto, or you can watch them in the On position, and O₂ fans manual On.

004:28:16 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

004:28:21 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11.

004:28:23 McCandless: Roger. In reference to your question on RCS usage; it looks like you are about 18, maybe 20 pounds below nominal at the present time. No problem at all. Over.

004:28:35 Collins: Right.

004:28:45 Collins: I wanted to be 18 or 20 pounds above nominal, babe.

004:28:49 McCandless: Sorry about that.

PAO: This is Apollo Control at 4 hours, 34 minutes. Apollo 11's velocity is 14,972 feet per second. Its distance from Earth is 15,895 nautical miles. Spacecraft weight: 96,760.9 pounds. We're about 5 minutes away from the evasive maneuver that will ensure there will be no problems of re-contact between the spacecraft and the S-IVB stage of the launch vehicle.

004:37:40 McCandless: 11, Houston. Your systems are looking good. We're standing by for the burn.

PAO: The duration of this burn will be 3 seconds. Delta-V 19.7 feet per second.

PAO: Ignition, shutdown.

004:40:42 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. Could you confirm that pitch gimbal motor number 1 turned off? We just shut all four off, and we got a questionable indication on the ECS on pitch 1.

004:41:01 McCandless: Roger. Stand by a second.

004:41:22 Collins: Houston, did you copy our residuals?

004:41:24 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Stand by, please.

004:41:33 Collins: Go ahead, Houston. You copy our residuals?

004:41:37 McCandless: Roger. We got 0.0 and 0.2, it looks like.

004:41:42 Armstrong: We had 0.1 while ago. It's - just went to 0.2.

004:41:46 McCandless: (Laughing) Okay.

004:41:47 Collins: That EMS Delta-V counter is minus 4.0.

004:41:51 McCandless: Minus 4.0. Roger.

004:41:54 Collins: And how about pitch gimbal 1? Can you confirm that Off?

004:41:57 McCandless: Can you stand by just a second on that? At the present time we cannot confirm it Off. We saw a current drop indicating that several gimbal motors had gone off. We'll be back with you in just a second on it. Over.

004:42:10 Collins: Okay. If necessary, we can recycle it.

004:43:47 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. If you go ahead and cycle pitch gimbal motor number 1 On and then Off and give us a Mark, and we'll tell you what we see. Over.

004:43:54 Collins: Okay, fine. It's coming back on. Ready.

004:44:01 Collins: Mark.

004:44:04 Collins: And it's going back off. Ready.

004:44:06 Collins: Mark.

004:44:07 Collins: And that time we got an onboard indication, Houston. Thank you a lot.

004:44:12 McCandless: Roger. We confirm that it is Off.

004:44:16 Collins: Yeah. We do likewise.

PAO: This is Apollo Control at 4 hours, 44 minutes. A news conference at Kennedy Space Center is about to begin. We will take down the live circuits and tape air to ground during this news conference, play it back after the conference. This is Mission Control, Houston.

004:45:33 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. We're starting our maneuver to observe the S-IVB slingshot.

004:45:39 McCandless: Roger, 11. We've got an updated attitude for you on the slingshot observation.

004:45:45 Collins: Okay. Say the angles please.

004:45:48 McCandless: Roger. Roll 002.5, pitch 289.3, yaw 357.5, and there's also an update, minor correction, to your attitude for the P52. Over.

004:46:15 Collins: Roger. I have roll 002.5, pitch 289.3, and yaw 357.5. Over.

004:46:23 McCandless: Roger. And for your P52 and optics calibration, it'll be roll 346.5, pitch 345.0, yaw 007.8. Over.

004:46:44 Collins: Roger. 346.5, 345.0, and 7.8. Thank you.

004:46:49 McCandless: Houston. Roger. Out.

004:49:33 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

004:49:36 Aldrin: Roger. Go ahead, Houston. Apollo 11.

004:49:38 McCandless: Roger. We're going to go ahead and enable the S-IVB for the slingshot maneuver. The LOX dump will start about 12 minutes from now. Over.

004:49:49 Aldrin: Okay, LOX dump about - I guess that'll make it about [GET 5 hours and] 01, huh?

004:49:57 McCandless: Right. I'll try to give you a little closer update as we approach it.

004:50:01 Collins: Alrighty.

004:50:53 McCandless: And, 11, for you information, the magnitude of Midcourse Correction number 1, if we burn, looks like about 17 feet per second. We're presently considering not burning it. This would make midcourse correction 2 tomorrow about 21.3. Over.

004:51:18 Armstrong: That sounds good to us.

004:51:19 McCandless: Roger. You're looking good down here.

004:52:19 Armstrong: Well, we didn't have much time, Houston, to talk to you about our views out the window when we were preparing for LM ejection; but up to that time, we had the entire northern part of the lighted hemisphere visible including North America, the North Atlantic and Europe and Northern Africa. We could see that the weather was good all - just about everywhere. There was one cyclonic depression in Northern Canada, in the Athabaska - probably east of Athabaska area. Greenland was clear, and it appeared to be we were seeing just the icecap in Greenland. All North Atlantic was pretty good; and Europe and Northern Africa seemed to be clear. Most of the United States was clear. There was a low - looked like a front stretching from the center of the country up across north of the Great Lakes and into Newfoundland.

004:53:24 McCandless: Uh, roger. We copy.

004:53:28 Collins: I didn't know what I was looking at, but I sure did like it.

004:53:31 McCandless: Okay. I guess the view must be pretty good from up there. We show you just roughly somewhere around 19,000 miles out now.

004:53:43 Aldrin: I didn't have much outside my window.

004:53:49 McCandless: We'll get you into the PTC one of these days, and you take turns looking.

004:57:35 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. We've completed our maneuver to observe the slingshot attitude, but we don't see anything - no Earth and no S-IVB.

004:57:48 McCandless: Roger. Stand by. In GET, I have a LOX dump start time for you. It's supposed to start at 5 plus 03 plus 07, and stop at 5 plus 04 plus 55. Ullage burn starts at 5 plus 37 plus 47, stops at 5 plus 42 plus 27. Over.

004:58:26 Collins: Roger, thank you.

005:00:48 McCandless: 11, Houston.

005:00:51 Armstrong: Go ahead, Houston.

005:00:53 McCandless: Roger. We now recommend the following attitude: roll 307.0, pitch 354.0, yaw 019.5. And the LOX dump has already been enabled, so we can't hold it off any longer.

005:01:14 Collins: That's okay. Go ahead. We'll maneuver around to 307, 354, and 19 and a half. Thank you sir.

005:01:21 Collins: Roger.

005:01:42 McCandless: 11, Houston. It doesn't look to us like you'll be able to make it around to this observation attitude in 2 minutes. We recommend that you save the fuel. Over.

005:01:54 Collins: Okay, Houston. We've...you got to us just a little late. Our maneuver's already begun, so it's going to cost us about the same amount of fuel to stop it, no matter where we stop it, and we may as well keep going.

005:02:04 McCandless: Roger. Go ahead.

005:03:19 McCandless: 11, Houston. LOX dump initiated.

005:05:06 McCandless: 11, Houston. LOX dump has been terminated. Over.

005:05:10 Collins: Roger.

005:05:13 Aldrin: Roger. We still don't have (garbled)

005:05:18 McCandless: Roger. Out.

PAO: This is Apollo Control at 5 hours, 11 minutes into the mission. The S-IVB slingshot maneuver was completed about 5 minutes ago. Designed to put the third stage of the launch vehicle into a trajectory that will take it behind the trailing edge of the Moon and then into a solar orbit. The crew did not witness this maneuver. The Command Module was not in the proper attitude where they could see the S-IVB at the time. We've advised the crew that we do not believe that we'll do the first midcourse correction. That we'll wait for midcourse correction 2 tomorrow and expect a Delta-V to be performed in that maneuver of about 21.3 feet per second. We've also had some other brief transmissions including, eh, comments from Neil Armstrong on the view out the window, and a weather report on the part of the world he can see. We have the tape of these transmissions that have occurred during the news conference at the Cape. We'll play that for you now and catch up live.

005:12:58 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Over.

005:13:03 Armstrong: Go ahead.

005:13:05 McCandless: Roger. If you'll give us Accept and stay in P00, we'll set your trunnion bias to zero. And, I have a plan for balancing your oxygen cryos. Over.

005:13:19 Armstrong: You got it.

005:13:21 McCandless: Roger.

005:13:26 Aldrin: Houston, Apollo 11. We've got the, uh, what appears to be the S-IVB in sight, at, oh, I'd estimate a couple of miles away. It's at our number 5 window and the dump appears to be coming out of two radially opposite directions from the S-IVB.

005:13:51 McCandless: Roger. They're continuing with the non-propulsive vent from the liquid oxygen tank. It would be radially opposite, there. And Booster tells me it's the continuous vent system. They're also dumping a small amount of fuel at this time. We've got about 23½ minutes or so until the APS burn. Over.

005:14:25 Aldrin: Roger.

005:14:46 McCandless: 11, Houston. We have a recommended configuration for your Cryo switches to even up the load between oxygen tanks 1 and 2. Over.

005:14:55 SC: [ faint ]

005:14:59 McCandless: Okay. You're coming in very weakly there. We're recommending O₂ tank 1 heater OFF, O₂ tank 2 heater to Auto, O₂ tanks 1 and 2 fans both Off, H1 - H₂ tank 1 heaters to Auto, and H₂ tank 2 heaters to Off. Over.

005:15:33 Aldrin: Roger. We have that except the last one was H₂ fans to Off. Is that affirm?

005:15:46 McCandless: H₂...

005:15:49 Armstrong: We have - the configuration we have now is, Hydrogen heaters: we got 1 Auto, 2 Off. Oxygen heaters; 1 Off, 2 Auto. And we have all the fans Off.

005:16:02 McCandless: This is Houston. Roger. We concur. Out.

005:16:13 McCandless: Eleven, this is Houston. We've completed the trunnion zero bias setting. You can retrieve the computer and go to Block.

005:16:23 Collins: Roger that. Thank you.

005:19:21 McCandless: Eleven, this is Houston. With this maneuvering to observe the slingshot, I guess we missed copying your LM/CM Delta-P reading. Over.

005:19:33 Collins: Stand by. We'll give you a reading.

005:19:35 McCandless: Roger.

005:19:47 Collins: Right now, reading 0.2, Bruce.

005:19:49 McCandless: Roger. 0.2.

005:20:00 McCandless: Okay, Mike. And could you verify that your waste compartment valve is in Vent, there?

005:20:12 Collins: Roger. Waste compartment valve has been in Vent for, oh, I guess, 45 minutes or so.

005:20:17 McCandless: Roger. We copy.

005:20:31 Collins: If we're late in answering you, it's because we're munching sandwiches.

005:20:36 McCandless: Roger. I wish I could do the same here.

005:20:40 Collins: Ah, don't leave the console!

005:20:42 McCandless: Don't worry, I won't.

005:20:47 Collins: Flight doesn't like it.

005:20:54 Collins: How is Flight today?

005:20:58 McCandless: Oh, he's doing quite well.

PAO: This is Apollo Control at 5 hours, 22 minutes. We're back live now. The Delta-P you heard discussed is the difference in pressure between the LM and the Command Module cabin pressure. Apollo 11 coming up on 22,000 miles distance from the Earth now. Velocity 12,914 feet per second.

005:23:41 Armstrong: Houston, 11.

005:23:44 McCandless: Go ahead, 11.

005:23:48 Armstrong: Down in the Control Center you might want to join us in wishing Dr. George Mueller a happy birthday.

005:23:55 McCandless: Roger. We're standing by for your birthday greeting.

005:24:05 Armstrong: I think today is also the birthday of California, and I believe they are 200 years old, and we send them a happy birthday. And I think it's Dr. Mueller's birthday also, and don't think he's that old.

005:24:25 McCandless: Roger. We copy. I'm looking back in the viewing room right now. I don't see him back there.

005:24:33 Armstrong: He may not be back from the Cape yet.

005:24:43 McCandless: Roger. I believe Dr. Mueller is on his way back from the Cape. We'll relay his greetings for you.

005:24:49 Armstrong: Thank you.

005:28:18 McCandless: Eleven, this is Houston. Over.

005:28:22 Aldrin: Go ahead, Houston.

005:28:24 McCandless: Roger. At your convenience, we'd like to get a waste-water dump to 5 percent remaining. After completion of this one, the next waste-water dump will be at about GET equal to 25 hours. Over.

005:28:42 Collins: Coming on right now.

005:28:44 McCandless: Roger.

PAO: This is Apollo Control at 5 hours, 31 minutes into the mission. Apollo 11's velocity now 12,637 feet per second. Distance from Earth 22,971 miles. The spacecraft weight, 96,573 pounds.

005:35:27 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. You copy our torquing angles?

005:35:31 McCandless: Roger. Leave them on there for another second, please.

005:35:34 Collins: Will do.

005:36:22 McCandless: 11, this is Houston. We copy the angles, but stand by before you go ahead and use them. Over.

005:36:29 Collins: Standing by.

005:36:33 McCandless: 11, Houston. We request that you re-do P52, and if the angles come out the same magnitude, go ahead and incorporate them. Over.

005:36:42 Collins: Okay. We'll do it.

005:36:44 McCandless: They look a little large right now.

005:36:47 Collins: Yes. Roll - roll locks a little large, especially, there.

005:36:50 McCandless: Roger.

005:37:31 McCandless: We're showing a waste-water quantity of about 13 percent on TM now, 11. Over.

005:37:43 Collins: Roger. It's off, now.

005:37:45 McCandless: Roger. We copy.

005:39:32 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11. Torquing angles essentially the same, and we're going to go ahead and torque them now.

005:39:41 McCandless: Roger. We concur.

005:39:43 Collins: Okay.

005:41:35 McCandless: Apollo 11, this is Houston. Could you give us a - an Auto optics check to a third star or a different star from the one you've been using?

005:41:45 Collins: Sure, be glad to. I can go back and do the whole thing and pick different stars.

005:41:52 McCandless: I don't think there any - any need to do that. We'd just like to confirm it with a different star, since that roll angle was a little larger than we expected.

005:42:03 Collins: Okay.

005:43:25 McCandless: Apollo 11, Houston. I have a TLI-plus-11-hour PAD when you're ready to copy.

005:43:33 Aldrin: Wait one.

005:44:17 Collins: Old star number 30 looks like it's right dab smack in the middle of the sextant.

005:44:24 McCandless: Houston. Roger. Out.

005:45:27 Aldrin: Apollo 11, ready to copy.

005:45:33 McCandless: Roger, 11. This is a TLI plus 11 hour P37 format: 01344 4793, minus 165 04923. Read back. Over.

005:45:57 Aldrin: Roger. 1344 4793, minus 165 04923. Over.

005:46:07 McCandless: This is Houston. Readback correct. Out.

PAO: This is Apollo Control at 5 hours, 55 minutes. Apollo 11's velocity, 11,970 feet per second. Distance from Earth 25,671 nautical miles.

005:58:35 Collins: Houston, Apollo 11.

005:58:38 McCandless: Go ahead, 11.

005:58:40 Collins: Roger. Do you have any update for the roll, pitch and yaw angles on the top of page 37 in the flight plan, or are they still good?

005:58:48 McCandless: That's for the optics calibration?

005:58:51 Collins: Yes, sir.

005:58:53 McCandless: Yes, indeed. I'll give them to you in just a second here.

005:59:18 McCandless: Roger, 11. For the optics calibration I've got 346.5 for roll, 345.0 for pitch, and 007.8 for yaw. The pen-and-ink attitude corrections in your book for P23 are good. Over.

005:59:50 Armstrong: Okay. Thank you.

005:59:55 McCandless: And we're going to hand over to Hawaii in about 5 or 6 seconds, here. We'll have a momentary Comm dropout.

006:00:02 Armstrong: Roger.

[Having successfully removed the Lunar Module from the Saturn S-IVB, Apollo 11 moves away from the spent rocket stage. The stage's APS engines have been fired one final time to put it safely out of the way, on a trajectory towards solar orbit. The White Team, overseen by Flight Director Eugene Kranz, is about to take over the flight control role at Houston from the Green Team, headed by Flight Director Clifford Charlesworth, who have handled the mission to this point.]

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