apollo 11tech crew debrief
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JULY 31, 1969
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...................................................... TECHN CA LCREW DEBRIEFING............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. . . . . . . . . ............................................................................ . . . . . . . . .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . .................................. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . ....................... . . . . . . . . ............................................ . . . . . . . . . ....................... . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . ............ . . . . . . . . . ............ . . . . . . . . . ....................... . . . . . . . . ............................................ . . . . . . . . . ....................... . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . ....................... . . . . . . . . ............. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . ............ . . . . . . . . . ............ . . . . . . . . . ............ . . . . . . . . . ................................. . . . . . . . . . ....................... . . . . . . . . .
(u)
PREPARED BY:MISSION OPERATIONS BRANCH
FLIGHT CREW SUPPORT DIVISIONVOL. I
. . . . . . . . . . . ........... Downgraded a t 3-year...................... i n t e rva l s ; dec las s i f i ed........... a f t e r 12 years
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M A N N E D S P A C E C R A F T C E N T EHOUSTON T E X A S
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CONTENTS
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Sec t ion Page1 . 0 SU I T I N G AND I N G RE SS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12.0 STATUS CHECKS AND COUNTDOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-13.0 POWEmD FL I G H T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-14.0 EARTH ORBIT AND SYSTEMS CHECKOUT . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1. . . . . . . . . . . . . ..0 TLI THROUGH s-IVBCLOSEOUT 5 - 16.0 TRANSLUNAR COAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6-1 7.0 LOI THROUGH LUNAR MODULE ACTIVATION . . . . . . . . . . 7-18.0 LUNAR MODULE CHECKOUT THROUGH SEPARATION . . . . . . . 8-1
8.1 COMMAND MODULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-18.2 LUNARMODULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8-11
9.0 DO1 THROUGH TOUCHDOWN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-19.1 COMMAND MODULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-1
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..2 LUNAR MODULE 9-510.0 LUNAR SURFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-111 . 0 CSM CIRCUMLUNAR OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-11 2 . 0 LIFT.OFF. RENDEZVOUS. AND DOCKING . . . . . . . . . . . 12-113.0 LUNAR MODULE JETTISON THROUGH TEI . . . . . . . . . . . 13-114.0 TRANSEARTH COAST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-115.0 ENTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-116.0 LANDING AND RECOVERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16-11 7 . 0 GEOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17-1
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. I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , ..... , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .-.-. .-. . . ......
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CONFIDENTIALSect ion Page18.0 COMMAND MODULE SYSTEMS OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . 18-1
18.1 GUIDANCE AND NAVIGATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-118.4 REACTION CONTROL SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-218.5 ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-318.6 ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . 18-318.7 TELECOMMUNICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-1318.8 MECHANICAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18-14
19.0 LUNAR MODULE SYSTEMS OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-119.1 GUIDANCE AND NAVIGATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-119.2 PROPULSION SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-219.3 REACTION CONTROL SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-419.4 ELECTRICAL POWER SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-419.5 ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . 19-419.6 TELECOMMUNICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-520.0 MISCELLANEOUS SYSTEMS. FLIGHT EQUIPMENT. AND GFE . . . 20-1
21.0 VISUAL SIGHTINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21-122.0 PRFMISSION PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22-123.0 MISSION CONTROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23-124.0 TRAINING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24-125.0 HUMAN FACTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25-126.0 MISCELLANEOUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26-127.0 CONCLUDING COMMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27-1
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CONFIDENTIAL 1-11 . 0 S U I T I N G AND I NGR ES S
1.1SENSOR APPLICATIONALDRIN The center l e a d d r i e d out i n f l i g h t .
area , bu t i t dr ie d out anyway.must have i n t er fe re d i n some way wi th t he s u i t , becausewhen the su i t w a s t ak e n o f f , t h e r e w a s a s m a l l l a c e r a t i o non the ou ts ide toward the r e a r of t h a t p a r t i c u l a r s e n s o r.I th in k t h a t ' s been documented i n th e medica l examination.
I w a s s ha ve d i n t h a tThe one on q y r i g h t c h e s t ,
1 . 2 SUITINGALDRIN We seemed t o have p le n ty of pad i n th e t i m e frame f o r
s u i t i n g .20 minutes be for e moving out t o th e pad.
We were s i t t i n g a round s u i t e d up a t l ea s t
ARMSTRONG We had a reasonable amount of pad t i m e t o h a nd le t h el i t t l e p roblems you might have a t t imes.on su i t ing w a s good.
The t imeline
1.3 LIFE SUPPORT EQUIPMENTCOLLINS No problem wi th l i f e support equipment or t r a n s p o r t a t i o n
o ut t o th e pad.
1 . 6 PERSONAL COMFORTCOLLINS The onl y personal -comfort problem I had was t h a t my sui t
f i t was t o o t i g h t t hr ou gh t h e c r ot c h area i n t h e r e gi ono f t h e UCD. During CDDT, I was r e a l l y very, very
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1-2 CONFIDENTIALCOLLINS( C O N T ' D ) uncomfortable for a couple o f hours w i t h t h e UCD pushingi n t o my cro tch area .
f i r s t s u i t f i t a t t h e f a c t o r y . I L C i s very concernedabout the mob i l i ty in s ide a p r e s s u r i z e d s u i t , and Ith ink they went a l i t t l e b i t overboa rd i n cu t t ing th a tt h i n g o n t h e t i g h t s i d e . I d i d n ' t r e a l l y pu t t h e UCDon; you know w h a t I mean. They've got a house UCD upt h e r e , and you s o r t of s l a p t h a t i n s i d e t h e s u i t andthen you get a f i t check.when I ac tu a l ly had the UCD secu re ly he ld and I wass t ra pped in to t he couch and my le gs were up. The onlyt h i n g I could suggest i s t h a t when anybody goes t o t h ef a c t o r y , t h e y t a k e t h e i r own UCD and put the damn thingon and, during t h a t f i t check, go through some kind ofan i m i t a t i o n of t h e w atch p o s i t i o n w i th t h e c o r r e c tleg-to-body angle which you have i n t h a t couch f o r launchp o s i t i o n .going t o be comfortable or no t . I f id d l ed and d idd ledwith it between CDDT and launch, and it w a s s t i l l f a i r l yuncomfortable f o r launch; f o r CDDT, t h a t damn t h i n galmost d i d me i n . D on't l e t them c u t t h e suit t o ot i g h t , and t r y t o g e t a good f i t check a t t h e f a c t o r y .
This problem goes back t o th a t
The only time it h u r t me w a s
Put your own UCD on and see whether th a t ' s
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CONFIDENTIAL 1-3ALDRIN
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1 . 5 ELEVATOR AND FLIGHT DECKFro mth e cen te r- couch po s i t io n , i t ' s a very p leasant t imeper iod because I ' d s i t i n th e e l ev ato r and walk around upth er e on th e f l i g h t deck and contemplate ju s t aboutevery th ing , inc lud ing th e ou t s i de world.
CDDT w a s a very p le asu rab le exper ience , looking outover the whole beach.
1.8 INGFLESSWhile we were comple ting th e countdown pro ce dur es , t h enumber 2 r o t a t i o n hand c o n t r o l l e r was r a is e d t o t h elaunch posi t ion . A t t h a t p o i nt , it somehow managed t oa t t a c h i t s e l f t o t h e shock a t t e n u a t o r r e l e a s e on t h elower l e f t s t r u t , I t r e le a s ed a f t e r a good b i t of workand coordination between Mike and Fred, the BCMP. I twas re locked. No new procedure there; i t j u s t r e q u i r e sc a r e and p r o pe r l y i n s t a l l i n g t ho se h a n dr e s ts t o a v oi da recur rence of th a t problem.
I t would be well .for the BCMP t o a s su re h im se lf t h a t h eknows how t o re lo c k any one of t h e s t r u t r e l e a s e s t h a tmight come disengaged i n t h i s t ime period .
The crewcase one
should know about t h e s t r u t s o f t e n e rs j u s t i nof t h e m g e t s p u l l e d l o o se i n a d v e r t e n t l y i n
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1- 4 CONFIDENTIALCOLLINS f l i g h t . You sho uld know how t o r e s e t them. This should
be added t o t h e i r l i s t of t h in g s t o l e a r n .( CONT I D )
ALDRIN I d o n ' t f e e l t h a t we r e a l l y n eed l i f e p r e se r v e r s on f o rl aunch . They in te r f e r e w i t h what l i t t l e mobi l i ty youhave. It appears t o me th at i n any abor t condi t io n youdon 't need t o make use of the l i f e prese rve r s and th a tit would be a f a i r l y s im p le t h i n g t o g e t them d u t of t h el i t t l e pouches that are i n th e L-shaped bag.
1.10 COMFORT I N COUCHARMSTRONG Temperature w a s good i n our spa cec ra f t du r ing bo th
CDDT and launch. I didn ' t suf fer any of the abnormal lylaw temperature cond i t ions t ha t had been r epo r t ed onsome of t h e previ ous f l igh t s .
COLLINS The reason w a s t h a t w e were flowing glycol through t h esecondary loop.t r i e d t h i s . The secondary glycol loop pump w a s on andi t w a s f lowing through the suit c i r c u i t . heat exchanger.
I b e l i e v e t h i s w a s t h e f i r s t t ime they
I don't know what Apollo 1 0 d id , b u t I remember Apollo 9descr ibed th i s de a l o f go ing bypass on t h e heat exchangerf o r 15 seconds and a l l t h a t . W d i d n ' t h av e t o messw i t h t h a t a t a l l . Our procedure worked very well. Idon ' t know who thought it up t o use the secondary loop;-
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COLLINS( CONT 'D)
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CONFIDENTIAL 1-5bu t it made th e system very com fortable, and I recommendt h a t t h e y c o nt in ue t o do it the way w e d i d i t .
1.12 VIBRATION OR NOISE SENSATIONSThey c a l l ed out eve ryth ing. Every t ime w e were g oi ng t of e e l something, they were very good about cal l ing it up.
W e di d observe some bo os ter valvin g. They ca l l e d it o u t ,an d it w a s q u it e obvious when th er e w a s v a l v i n g t a k i n gp l a c e .
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CONFIDENTIAL2.0 STATUS CHECKS AND COUNTDOWN
2. 2 COMM VEXIFICATIONARMSTRONG Our prelaunch COMM checks were a l l reasonably good.
2-1
ALDRIN I t ' s u n f o r tun a t e t h a t , b e ca us e o f t h e l o c a t i o n of t h a t c e n t e rpane l , w e do have t o s p l i t t h e COMM and take the center couchoff th e pad COMM.account of i t , bu t i t would be nice i f t h e r e were some way t om a k e th a t swi tch pos i t io n change -e i t he r f ig u re ou t someway t o loosen th e be l t and ge t back up th e r e and read jus t t heCOMM, or change po si ti on s i n some way.
I c a n ' t s a y w e re a l l y suf fer ed much on
2.4 G&C VERIFICATIONARMSTRONG G D C a l i g n w a s good.
2 .5 GROUND COMMUNICATIONS AND COUNTDOWNARMSTRONG Communications were exc el l en t throughout t he pre launch phase.
We had no problems with controls and displays that I c a n r e c a l l .
2.10 CREW STATION CONTROLS AND DISPLAYSALDR I N They had t h a t a t t e n u a t i o n s t r u t p o s i t i on e d v e r y n i c e ly so t h a t
I could see t h e al t imeter . On t h e sim ula tor i t ' s v e r y d i f -f i c u l t *om t h e ce nt er couch t o see t h e al t imeter . They hadr o t a t e d t h i s h an dl e on t h e X s t r u t on t h e l e f t of my seat sot h a t I could see j u s t a b o u t t h e e n t i r e a l t imeter , which i sgood. I t h i n k t h a t ought t o be a standard procedure.
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2-2 CONFIDENTIAL2.11 D I S T I N C T I O N OF SOUNDS I N T H E L A UN CH V E H I C L E
C O L L I N S They called a l l t h o s e o u t .job of warning us of what t o e xp ec t.makes a heck of a l o t o f d i f fe ren ce because you go t t o s i tt h e r e anyway, bu t i t ' s ni ce t o know.
I though t they d id an e x c e l l e n t.Not t h a t i t r e a l l y
A L D R I N2.12 V E H I C L E SW AY P R I O R T O I G N I T I O N , S W IN G ARM R E T R A C T
Well, i t wasn't much of a j o l t when th a t swing a r m moved outand came back i n ag ai n.
A R M S T R O N G N o . I t w a s reasonably smooth. I d i d n ' t r e a l l y n o t e anyv e h i c l e sway p r i o r t o i g n i t i o n .
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CONFIDENTIAL 3-1
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3.0 POWERED FLIGHT.3.1 S-IC I G N I T I O NThere re a l ly wasn 't much of a cue a t a l l t h a t I couldr e c a l l . I c a n ' t r e m e m b e r fe el in g much of any thing be fo reT ze ro . How abou t t h e r e s t of you?
No. You could f e e l th e engines weres t a r t i ng up because th e re w a s a l o w ampl i tude v ibrat ion .
It w a s v e r y q u i e t .
3.2 COMM AUDIBILITY AT I G N I T I O NARMSTRONG COMM a u d i b i l i t y a t i g n i t i o n was good. Noise vi br at io n
i n t e ns i t y p r i o r t o r e l ea s e w a s minor.
COLLINS
3.3 NOISE/VIBmTION I N T E N S I T Y y SHOCK ANDCREW SENSATION PRIOR TO RELEASE
There w a s low no i se , moderate v ib ra t ion . I ' d sayl i g h t t o m od era te v i b r a t i o n .much vibration u n t i l w e r e l eased . C r e w se n sa t i o np r i o r t o r el ea s e i s just about what you'd expect f romTit an o r from previous crew br i ef in gs on th e Saturn V.It w a s q u i t e m i l d p r i o r t o r e l e a s e , I thought.
I d i d n ' t r e a l l y n o t i c e
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3-2 CONFIDENTIAL3.4 H O L D D O W N RELEASE
ARMSTRONG Now, r e l e a s e i t s e l f , I t h i n k w e have a l i t t l e b i t of d i f f er -ence there . I f e l t t h a t I c o u ld d e t e c t r e l e a s e , a n d I t h i n kyour comments were t ha t pe rhaps you weren' t qu i t e so surewhat t h e moment of re lease w a s .
3 .5 LIFT-OFFA L D RIN I can ' t reca l l any sudden change tha t occurred a t t h a t p o i n t ,
bu t i t seems t o m e t h a t t h e r e w a s a gradua l sensa t ion o fupward movement.an o s c i l l a t i o n , I t h i n k , t h a n a v i b r a t i o n . I t c e r t a i n l ywasn' t j u s t l o n g i t u d i n a l ; i t w a s a f a i r amount of motion i nbo th th e Y-d irec tion and i n the Z -d i rec tion . I don't knowwhat t h e frequency w a s , b ut I ' d c a l l it a couple of cyclesper second. I t w a s a l i t t l e s u r p ri s i n g t o m e , a n d t h i ss t a r t e d r a th e r s ud de nly.
Then the v ib ra t io n - w e l l , i t w a s more of
COLLINS About t h e t i m e of l i f t - o f f , t h a t ' s what I thought. Icou ldn ' t de t ec t l i f t -o f f by the convent iona l means o f sens inga t r a n s v e r s e a c c e l e r a t i o n .w a s very apparent because t h i s vehicle, which had beenr i g i d l y h e ld , w a s now suddenly re le as ed and we were ge t t i n ga l l manner o f o sc i l l a t ions - X , Y , and Z , as near as I could
However, t h e moment of l i f t - o f f
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CONFIDENTIAL 3-3COLLINS(CO N T 'D )
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COLLINS
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t e l l . All of a sudden, t h i s th in g changed chara cte r froma s t a t i c t o a j lynamic s i tuat ion , and that w a s w h a t I wouldc a l l t h e i n s t an t of l i f t - o f f .
Concern ing th e no i s e /v ib ra t io n i n t en s i ty a t l i f t - o f f , i tw a s my impress ion th a t t he combina tion w a s r a t h e r s e v e r eu n t i l approx imate ly t he t i m e of "Tower clear," a t whicht i m e t h e r e w a s a s i g n i f i c a n t d e c r e a s e .
Yes , but would you say noi se ?I t h ou g ht t h e n o i s e l e v e l w a s much l e s s t han I hadexpected . The vi br at io n w a s more.
I would say v ib r a t i ons .
How about a rumbling? That i s p h y s i c a l l y f e l t as muchas heard .
You don't hear i t i n y o ur ears . You f e e l i t i n yourwhole body.v i b r a t i o n , I don't know.
Whether tha t ' s no i se or whether tha t s
ARMSTRONG I would agree t h a t t h e n o is e w a s l ow l eve l .
COLLINS I n terms of in te rf er en ce with communications, though, Ithink you would also have t o s a y t h a t it i s low level .
ARMSTRONG Th a t ' s t r u e .
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3-4ALDRIN
CONFIDENTIALS u b j e c t i v e l y , t h e f i r s t 1 0 t o 1 2 se co nd s u n t i l t ow er c l e a rtook longer than I t)lought it would.a l ong 1 0 or 1 2 seconds would have been over j u s t l i k e t h a t ,
? would have thought I
COLLINS It w a s a lo ng , lon g tim e be fo re anybody gave "Tower cl ea r. "
ARMSTRONG I t w a s r igh t on t ime . I w a s l ook ing a t t he even t t imer .
COLLINS Was i t 1 4 seconds - som eth in g l i k e t h a t t o t ow er c l e a r ?ARMSTRONG I ' d say 1 2 .
ARMSTRONG I t hought th a t th e COMM came through qu it e c le a r .
ARMSTRONG Instrument obse rva t ion w a s no problem during this t ime. I nf a c t , some were a l o t b e t t e r b ecau se t h e l i g h t i n g i n t h ecockp i t i s b e t t e r t h a n i n t h e s i m u la t or .
ALDRIN But we a l l a g re e t h a t t h e r e w a s a d e cr e as e i n t h e v i b r a t i o n ,o s c i l l a t i o n , or r um bl in g t h a t c o ul d p o s s i b l y b e a t t r i b u t e d t or e f l e c t i o n s o f f t h e t ow er .
ARMSTRONG I think maybe i t ' s j u s t r e f l e c t i o n s o f f t h e g r o u n d .
COLLINS Ground r e f l e c t i o n s .
ARMSTRONG I t goes away a t about th e tower-c lear t ime.ARMSTRONG I thought they were.
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CONFIDENTIAL 3-5ARMSTRONG
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3.13Well, I t h i n k I w a s su r p r i s e d a t how l i t t l e t he se werea p p a re n t t o m e , and pa rt ic u la r l y Alpha. Alpha never caneof f ze ro th roughou t th e l aunch , an d I wondered if the y wereo p e r a t i n g .
MACH 1 AND MAX g NOISE LEVELS
3.14 CONTROL RESPONSE I N H I G H g REGIONI t w a s as smooth as g la ss go ing th rough th e h igh g r eg ion .
What causes i t , we do n' t r e a l l y know, but i t cou ld be ' t h evehicle length away from the ground; c h a r a c t e r i s t i c l e n g t h ,or whatever you c a l l i t .
3 .6 L A U N C H VEHICLE LIGHTSLaunch veh ic l e l i g h t s , roll program, p i t c h program, rollcomplete were on t i m e , as w e r e t h e r a t e c ha ng es .s io n i n t h e sea t t hr ou gh o ut t h i s p h a se , as w e l l as t he subse-quent f i r s t s t a g e , w a s t h a t o f going over rough ra i l roadt r a c k s i n a t r a i n i n which v i b r a t i o n s o cc ur i n a l l t h r e eaxes.
My impres-
That was a rougher r ide than I expected.There were sharp bumps i n each o f th e th re e axes pe r iod ic a l ly .Yes, t h a t ' s r i g h t , and t h e g a in of t h e sy stem w a s p r e t t y h ig h ,a l s o .
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3-6
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CONFIDENTIAL3.11 C A B I N PRESSURE (DECREASE)
The valves worked as a d v e r t i s e d a nd s t a r t e d d e c r e a s i n g asscheduled.
You can hear thos e valves re l i ev in g, I t h ink , f rom a l l t h r e ecrew s t a t ions .
While t h e y were r e l i e v i n g , y o u
I d i d n ' t t h i n k it w a s t h a t bad
coul dn ' t hea r too much e l se .
3.15 W R G E N C Y DETECTION SYSTEMNo problems.
3.16 VEHICLE RESPONSE TO GIMBALINGThe outboard engine gimbaling w a s n o t r e a l l y n o t ic e d .
3.17 NOISE LEVEL VARIATIONWe were a n t i c i p a t i n g th a t' , b u t i t w a s j u s t a motion as Ir e ca l l . There were sev era l l i t t l e j o l t s t o your r e l a x i n g o fth e four g ' s . Tha t ' s how I r e c a l l it.
I would say th a t w e were ;e l l b r i e f e d o n t h a t .w e r e n' t r e a l l y any s u r p r i s e s .
I mean there
3.22 DISTINCTION OF SOUNDS AND SENSATIONSThere w e r e sounds and sens a t ion s dur ing the s t ag ing .
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CONFIDENTIAL 3-73.23 S-IC TWO-PLANE SEPARATION
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S k i r t SEP, as I r e c a l l , w a s heard o r f e l - o r some observablec h a r a c t e r i s t i c , i n a d d i t i on t o t h e l i g h t g oin g ou t a t t h et i m e , and I can't remember i f i t w a s a bump o r a n o i se , b u tt h e r e w a s i n a d d it i on t o t h e f a c t .
Th is would gi ve you a c l u e i f t h e l i g h t s were no t work ing, i fsomething had happened a t t h a t p o i n t .
3.24 S-I1 ENGINE I G N I T I O NS-I1 engine ig ni t i on went smooth.
3 . 2 5 GASEOUS PRODUCTSNow, t h a t s t u f f t h a t went oozing forward.
Tha t s t ag ing - w e l l , it w a s j u s t l i k e s t a gi n g on t h e T i t an .It seemed l i k e t o me t h a t a t staging the windows lit up withye l low, a lmost l i k e a f l a s h of l i g h t .
Well, l e t ' s se e - S-IC.were tos sed forward, and I cou ldn ' t l ook ou t the ha tch .the on ly one tha t had a window a t t h a t p o i n t .be r anyone saying t oo much about th a t . W e ' l l g e t t o t h a t al i t t l e l a t e r on the S-IIC.
I d i d n ' t l i k e it e i t h e r , b e c a u se w eYou're
I don't remem-
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3-8 CONFIDENTIAL3.26 POGO OSCILLATIONS DURING S-I1 BOOST
ARMSTRONG I didn't note any.
COLLINS Smooth - smooth as glass.ARMSTRONG S-I1 ride was the smoothest I've ever seen.
COLLINS It really was. It was beautiful.
3.27 INITIATION OF ITERATIVE GUIDANCE MODEARMSTRONG Guidance initiate was as expected.
COLLINS Tower went as advertised.
3.28 Q-BALL TRANSIENTS AT S-I1 IGNITIONARMSTRONG No Q-ball transients were noted at S-I1 ignition. I may
have been looking at them.
3.30 SCALE CHANGE, VEHICLE.RESPONSE,AND OBSERVATIONARMSTRONG Scale change was not utilized. There were no unusual noises
or vibration at this point in the'flight. It was all smooth.
3.32 SECOND IGM PHASE RESPONSEARMSTRONG The PM ratio shift was observable. You could feel g ' s
decrease.
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CONFIDENTIA L 3-93.33 LET AND BPC JETTISON
ARMSTRONG Tower jettison - you could watch it go.question about it.
There wasn't any
3.34 GUIDANCE - INITIATEARMSTRONG Guidance initiate was about as expected. The S-IVB staging
and engine cut-off were ...ALDRIN Anybody notice any exhaust coming back on the windows when
the BPC went? It seemed to be a pretty clear separatton.
ARMSTRONG I didn't note any. I wasn't looking out the window at thatpoint.
COLLINS I was, and I didn't notice any. Those windows, 2 and 4 wereclear. They didn't have any deposits on them.
3.37 S-II/S-IVB SEPARATIONCOLLINS The staging sequence is a long slow one. I'm sure it was
about equal to the simulated values we were used to. Itseems like a l o n g time in flight to get the S-IVB ignited.The S-IVB guidance was as expected.
ALDRIN Any comment about the gimbal motors coming on?
ARMSTRONG The motors were put on at 6 minutes and all came on.
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3-10 CONFIDENTIALCOLLINS Well, you can confirm them with the f u e l c e l l f lo w s , and
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t h a t ' s no t something th a t reaches out and grabs you, If youwatched those meters c a r e f u l l y , y ou co u ld d e f i n i t e l y s a y t h a ta l l four gimbal motors came on.
I w a s looking a t t h i s s o r t of t h i n g - l a t e r . I found tha tobserving them several times r i g h t a t t h e t i m e t h e y werecoming on, you look a t the cu r ren t and you see t h a t i t ' s af a i r l y s m a l l b u t o b s er v ab l e change i n t h e f u e l c e l l c u r r e n t ,and then jus t about a h a l f second la t e r you begin t o see t h er i s e and flow. You can ca tc h bo th of them i f you look a t t h ec u r r e n t f i r s t and then the hydrogen and oxygen flow.
COLLINS I j u s t looked a t hydrogen flow. They say t h a t you have t obe watching closely.they a l l four came on.
If you are , you c an d e f in i t e l y s a y t h a t
3.42 AUXILIARY PROPULSION SYSTEMARMSTRONG That w a s pa r t ic u l a r ly no ted du r ing powered f l i gh t .
3;43 POGO OSCILLATIONS OF S-IVBARMSTRONG No POGO osc i l l a t io ns .
ALDRIN There ' s a rougher r i d e on th e S-IVB th an on th e S-11.
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CONFIDENTIAL 3-11ARMSTRONG No doubt about it.
COLLINS I wouldn ' t ca l l i t P O G O , bu t i t j u s t w a s n ' t as smooth.ARMSTRONG I t w a s a l i t t l e r a t t l y a l l t h e t i m e .
COLLINS I t w a s a l o t smooth er t h a n S t a f f o r d d e sc ri b e d h i s r i d e . It h i n k w e had a d i ff e re n t S-IVB th an he had.
ALDRIN PU s h i f t w a s no t i ceab le .
COLLINS That w a s v e ry n o t i c e a b l e .
ALDR I N That w a s q u i t e a j o l t . Abou t as much as one engine out .
ARMSTRONG T h a t ' s pro ba bly ab ou t r i g h t .A L D R I N About th e same change i n th r us t .
3.44 SEPARATION LIGHTSARMSTRONG S ep a ra t io n l i g h t s as a d v e r t i s e d .
3.45 DISTINCTION OF SOUNDS AND VIBFATIONSARMSTRONG Sounds and v i b ra ti o n s we've commented on.
3.50 COMMUNICATIONSARMSTRONG Communications wit h th e ground f o r t h e go/no-go went witho ut
a problem.d id n ' t hea r any th ing .make sure t h a t w e s t i l l had COMM.
There was a s h o r t t i m e per iod i n there when w eI t h i n k w e gave them a c a l l j u s t t o
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CONFIDENTIAL. . .Fol lowing th e t r a j ec to ry th roughou t boos t w a s q u i t e e as y
th e card th a t we had, and I found th a t we were wi th in 20witht o
30 f e e t pe r second Vmost of the t i m e H-dot. Guess t h e a l t i t u d e w a s a l i t t l elower , wasn ' t it? We might note t h a t we d i d e l e c t t o h avet h i s t r a j e c t o r y c a rd over p a r t o f t h e DSKY, which did coverup some o f the s t a tu s l i gh t s .l i g h t s w e r e covered up.
and it seems t o me., 5 f e e t pe r secondI'
The right-hand column of st a t u sThe ones i n th e LE B were observable
i n case any of t ho se came on.Engine cut-off w a s smooth, and we were s ta nd in g by t o do amanual cut-o ff with t h e LV s tag e swi tch should cut -of f notoccur on time.
We di dn ' t seem t o e lbow each o the r qu i t e as much as we hadi n some simulato r runs . The s u i t s are big and the elbowsk i nd of s t i c k o u t , b u t I a i d n ' t n o t i c e any i n t e r f e r e n c ewi th our a c t i v i t i e s .
The on ly in t e r f e r ence I noted w a s t h a t N e i l ' s s u i t po ck eti n t e r f e r e d w i t h t h e a b o r t h a nd le .and I w a s worr ied about that .
He w a s wor r i ed abou t tha t ,
The contingency sample pocket where it w a s s t r apped on t h el e g w a s r i d i n g r i g h t a g a i n s t t h e a b o r t h an dl e.t h a t as f a r t o t h e i n t e r i o r of t h e t h i g h as we po ss ib ly
We ad jus ted
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CONFIDENTIAL 3-13ARMSTRONG co ul d t o minimize t h e i n t e r f e r e n c e , b u t w e s t i l l were con-
t i n u a l l y concerned w i t h t h e f a c t t h a t w e might in a d v e r t e n t l y( C O N T iD )
p r e s s t h a t t h i n g a g a i n s t t h e t o p o f t h e a b o r t h a nd le .
ALDRIN Be for e we go on , d i d you all note any numbers? I havew r i t te n down he re : apogee 103.9, p e r ig e e 102.1.
COLLINS They t e l l me t h a t th ey have b e t t e r sou rce s.
A L D R I N I'm j us t wondering why i n our ch ec kl is t we're n o t a b l e t owrite down t h e CSM weight and gimba l motor numbers. Wece rt ai nl y ought t o know what t ho se a re b e f o r e f l i g h t a n dj u s t conf i rm th a t those numbers have been s e t i n .
COLLINS I do n' t know why you f o o l wi th them a t a l l .you on the f i r s t PAD p r io r t o t h e f i r s t burn.
They come up t o
ALDRIN Everybody i n t h e world knows what t he y a r e , and they oughtt o be i n t h e c h ec k li s t .
COLLINS I don't even know where they l i s t them. The only ot he r th in gt h a t I had on the launch phase w a s t h e r e w a s some pecul iar i tyi n the se rv ic ing o f th e oxygen quan t i ty . Oxygen tank number 1had 90 pe rc e nt on my gag e, and oxygen ta nk number 2 had95 percen t wi th a 5 p e rc e n t d i f f e r e n t i a l , an d t h e y k e p ttalking about some mission r u l e which allowed a m a x i m u m of
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3-14
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CONFIDENTIAL4 p e r c e n t d i f f e r e n t i a l . All t h i s w a s a l i t t l e confus ing t ome . I t sounded as i f w e got shortchanged i n oxygen tanknumber 1. I ' m not sure i f t h a t ' s t r u e , and i t even occurredt o m e t ha t t he re might have been a s l i g h t - l e a k i n t ank num-ber 1. I ' m sure t h a t t h e r e w a s n ' t , or th ey wouldn' t havelaunched us. A f e w words on th a t su bj ec t would have beenn i c e .nominal, i t would be ni ce t o l e t the crew know tha t they ' rea l i t t l e off nominal. I t sounded l i k e w e l aunched i n v io la -t i o n o f t h e l a un c h m i s sio n r u l e .
I t h i n k as a genera l ru l e i f t h e l o ad i n gs are no t
Different ia l be tween oxygen tanks?
Yes. I t w a s 5 percen t , and i t sounded l i k e t h e m i s s ionru l e w a s 4 percen t MAX.w i t h t h a t i f t h a t w a s the only problem. I d i dn ' t want t o
And I w a s pe r fe c t ly happy t o l aunch
b r i n g it up on the loop and make a f e d e r a l c a s e o u t of i.t.On t h e o th er hand, it would have been n i c e t o know.
I t only took 1 hour and 1 5 minutes t o g e t t hr ou gh a p e r f e c t l ynormal launch with no problems.
We s t a r t e d l a t e .
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4-2
A L D RIN(CON" D )
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CONFIDENTIALd o n ' t b e l i e v e t h a t w e were i n p o s i t io n t o b e d oi ng t h a tu n t i l a f t e r w e passed Canar ie s . Each person i s s o r t o fop era t in g on h i s own. We know we' re going about i n t h evar io us syst ems checks , and th a t does n ' t f i t i n t o a r e a lgood t imel ine .
An example he re on page ~ 2 - 8 , item 4, EMERGENCY CABIN PRES-SURE valve t o BOTH.g oin g i n t o t h e LEB. That ' s imposs ib le t o do; obv ious ly ,you have t o be down i n th e LEB t o s e e it. The man who goesdown t o t h e LEB - i f h e go e s t h ro u gh s t e p s s e q u e n t i a l l y asw r i t t e n i n t h e c h e c k l i s t -would s t a r t jumping from onepl ac e t o anoth er back and fo rt h. Some improvement could bemade i n t h e or de r. Now, I s o r t o f go t l az y and dec ided no tt o f i g h t t h e c h e c k l i s t world. I j u s t h a d m y own o r de r i nwhich I w a s going t o do them reg ard les s of t h e o r d e r t h a ti s i n t h e p r i nt e d c h e c kl i st . But t o r e a l l y b e p r e c is e a boutit, t h e fo l lowing crews ough t t o look a t t h i s l i t t l e s e c t i o nand ge t th ings r ea r r anged t o t h e i r l i k i n g and f o r a minimumamount of moving around.
That check i s made prior t o anybody's
Yes, w e l l , fo r example, t h a t s t ep 7 on 2-9: During 20 min-u t e s of ECS po st in se r t i on con f igu rat io n , we've been doingo t h e r t h i n g s a t t h a t time. I d o n ' t b e l i e v e we were i n
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CONFIDENTIAL 4-3~ S T R O N G(CONT'D)
p o s i t i on t o be d oing t h a t u n t i l a f t e r we passed C an ari es .I t w a s approaching 30 minutes , i t seemed t o m e , y e t w e haddone se ver a l o the r th ings ahead o f th a t po in t .i s so r t of oper at in g on h i s own.about i n the va r ious syst ems checks, and it d o e sn ' t f i t i n t oa good t imel ine .
Each personWe know what w e ' r e going
COLLINS This i s a s m a l l example he re : Page L2-8 , i t e m 4, EMERGENCYCA BIN PRESSURE va lv e t o BOTH. That check i s made p r i o r t oanybody 's going i n th e LEB. Th at ' s impossib le t o do. Ob-v i o u s l y , you g o t t o b e down i n t h e LEB t o s ee it. Yet i t ' sl i s t e d p r io r t o t h e t im e t h e CMP goes t o t h e LEB for t h emain r eg u la to r check . Ju s t l i t t l e t h in g s l i k e t h a t , t h esequence here i s crazy. And, as I say , I w a s l az y andd i d n ' t g e t i t s t r a i g h t e n e d o u t i n t h e c h e c k l i s t w o r l d . Ij u s t went through i t . i n my own f a sh i o n .about i t , t h e fo l lowing c rew shou ld go th rough t h i s one timeand r ewr i t e t h i s i n a m o r e e f f i c i e n t f a sh i o n .
But t o b e p r e c is e
4 .3 I N I T I A T I O N OF TIME BASE 6 - AWARENESSARMSTRONG Okay. I n i t i a t i o n of time b a se 6 . I t h i n k w e ' l l postpone
t h a t .
4 .4 ORDEALARMSTRONG Now th e n , ORDEAL: We used a system where t h e CMP w a s a l r e a d y
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4-4 CONFIDENTIALARMSTRONG i n t h e LEB and under t h e couches , r e l eas ed t h e l a t c h on t he
ORDEAL, and l e t i t f l o a t u p t o t h e CDR who w a s s t i l ls t rap ped down i n th e couch t h a t w a s no problem.
( C O N T ' D )
COLLINS Here aga in , t ha t p robab ly shou ld be a c h e c k l i s t item i fpeople want t h e CMF' t o do t h a t , as w e d i d i t .p r ob a bl y ought t o b e w r i t t e n i n h i s l i s t of t h i n g s t o do .
Then i t
ARMSTRONG That worked w e l l for u s , I t h i n k .
COLLINS Worked f i n e .
ALDRIN Optics Cover Check.
COLLINS The only thing I can say as a g e n er a l r u l e i s i t goes backt o t h i s t h ing about becoming ill. And t h a t i s , i f y o u ' r er e a l l y worried about anybody becoming ill, the guy you ' rego ing t o worry about i s . t h e one who's r a t t l i n g a round downi n t h e LEB, I n our f l i g h t , t h a t w a s I and I w a s a l s o t h eone who would be doing th e tr a ns p os it io n and docking. SoI w a s t r y i n g t o move around w i t h minimum head movements andgo minimum distances and s o fo r t h . But on th e o the r hand,i f you ' r e convinced you ' r e no t go ing t o be s i c k , w e l l t h e n ,a l l those th ings go away. I t ' s s o r t of a nebulous area. Id o n ' t know what t o do about it.
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CONFIDENTIAL 4-5A L D RIN Well, i t ' s something you c an ' t a f fo rd t o ge t ahead of your-
s e l f and b e moving aro und t o o f a s t .a t a l l and I th in k we a l l played i t v e ry c a u t i o us l y u n t i leach of us i n our own p a r t i c u l a r w a y r e a l i z e d t ha t i t w a sj u s t no problem. A s we adap ted t o i t , w e could go aboutany kin d of movement t h a t w e wanted without any par t icu larconcern, But t h e s t a k e s a r e p r e t t y h i gh and you c a n ' t af-f o r d t o l e t t h e s e t h in g s g e t t h e b e s t of y ou.
If t h e r e t s an y q ue s t io n
4.5 OPTICS COVER JETTISON (DEBRIS)COLLINS I heard a l i t t l e no is e, b u t I s a w no debris and I could not
v e r i f y t h a t t h e y had j e t t i s o n e d . I looked through bothinstruments and I c o u ld n 't s e e t h a t t h e y had j e t t i s o n e d .
4 .6 SCS ATTITUDE REFERENCE COMPARISONCOLLINS Okay.
ARMSTRONG It went w e l l . No problems.
4.7 SM AND CM RCSARMSTRONG We d id hot RCS checks on t h e se r v i c e module RCS p r i o r t o
T L I . The in te n t he re w a s t o assure o u r s e lv e s t h a t w e d i d ,i n fa c t , have an operable cont ro l sys tem and th a t our handc o n t r o l l e r s c ou ld , i n f a c t , talk t o something be fo recommit ting our se lve s t o a l u n a r t r a j e c t o r y . We d i d t h a t i n
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4-6ARMSTRONG(C O N T 1 D 1
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CONFIDENTIALM I N I M U M IMPULSE and i t w a s e xt re me ly d i f f i c u l t t o h ea r t h et h r u s t e r s f i r i n g . It w a s i m p o ss i b le t o re a d a n e f f e c t onany i n d i c a to r i n t h e c o ck p it .
Th i s i s wi th helmet and gloves on.
Helmet and gloves on.s a i d th e y co ul d, i n f a c t , see t h e t h r u s t e r s firing. We d i dhave t o r ep ea t one which they d id n ' t see.
So w e were pleased when the ground
I d o n ' t r e c a l l why w e had t h e helmets on a t t h a t p o i n t .
We d i d n ' t t a k e them o f f ?
We too k them o ff and w e put them back on,
That should have been with a t l e a s t one man with his helmeto f f so he could hear i t .
ARMSTRONG Right .
COLLINS Well, on t h e o th er hand, i f you scheduled it over t h e S t a t esand the g round ve r i f i e s i t , you don't much ca re .
ARMSTRONG I w a s s a t i s f i e d t h a t w e d i d , i n f a c t , prove th e p o i n t t h a tw e wanted t o prove.
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CONFIDENTIAL 4-74 . 8 COAS INSTALLATION AND H O R I Z O N CHECK
ARMSTRONG Unstowage; COAS i n s t a l l a t i o n : I d o n 't r e c a l l a ny p o i n t st h e r e .
4 .9 UNSTOWAGE AND CAMERA PREPARATIONARMSTRONG We had the TV camera p repa ra t io n a l s o i n th e same t ime
period; any comments there?
COLLINS Well, aga in , t h i s camera p rep ara t i on p robab ly shou ld bew r i t t e n i n t o t h e c h e c k l i s t o n p ag e L2-9, i n a b i t mored e t a i l t h an it i s .
ALDRIN Well, on 2-13 i n de t a i l , bu t do you want i t sooner?
COLLINS W e l l , t h i s i s when you're unstowing it, b e c a u s e . r e a l l y a l li t sa y s i s cameras and th a t r e a l l y means t h e 16-DIIU l u s t h e70-mm and t h e v a ri o u s l e n se s .th e b racke t from N e i l .
You hand them up and you ge tI t ' s r e a l l y so r t o f a n a ssem bly
p r o c es s t h e r e . Th i s i s s o r t o f a d e a l e r ' s c h o i c e , b u t Isugges t th a t t h e fo l lowing c rews g ive some though t r i gh ton page 2-9 t o dec idin g what cameras th ey want t o unstowo r w h a t t hey want t o do w i t h them and how they're going t odo it. O t h e r w i s e , t h e y ' r e g oi ng t o ha ve a n o th e r t r i p backdown t o t h e LEB which r e a l l y i s n ' t n e ce s sa r y.
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4-8
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CONFIDENTIAL4.10 D O C K I N G PROBE
I t h i n k t h e y ' r e a t te m pt in g t o r e c a l l a n yt hi n g t h a t m ighthave gone abnormally.
There were no f ind ings i n tha t dock ing p robe .
4.12 COMMlTNICATIONSCommunications were more or l e s s i n and o ut i n e a r t h o r b i t .Sometimes there w a s qu it e good S-band through t h e var iou ss t a t i o n s ; o t h e r t i m e s , it w a s only medium.4.14 COMMENTS ON M T H - O R B I T A L OPERATIONS
Any comments on t h e ea rt h- or bi t op er at io ns ?
I t hi nk , i n g e ne ra l , t h a t ' s a v e r y n i c e t i m e l i n e . Wehammered away a t i t enough t o where we'r e only checkingt h o se t h i n g s th a t r e a l l y shou ld be checked and the re ' sp len ty o ff ash ion .
How about
t i m e ava i l ab le ' t o check them i n a l e i s u r e l yI t h in k t h a t ' s a n i c e t i m e l i ne .
th e alignment? On t h e S at ur n?
The platform al ignment?
Yes, t o rqu ing ang le w e g o t from t h e ground and the alignmentthey gave us -Yes, I di dn ' t know what t o sa y about th a t .probably wi th in normal to le ran ce.
I t h in k t h a t ' s
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CONFIDENTIAL 4-9A L D R I N Yes.
COLLINS The alignment a t ORB RATE i s no problem as o t h e r f l i g h t shave repor ted ,
4.18 EMS DELTA-VARMSTRONG Okay. EMS DELTA V. No problems.
4.19 SCALE CHANGEARMSTRONG S c a le chan ge , sy st em s, en gi ne al ig nm en ts , G O f o r T L I , and
t h e n - -COLLINS Glad t o g e t i t - no problems.ALDRIN Well, I t h i n k i t ' s worthy t o no te t h a t w e d i d i n t en d t o have
t h e TV camera out. I t d id no t seem t o crowd tfie t i m e l i n e ,t r y i n g t o g e t thos e p ic tu re s coming up on th e West Coast ,We s t i l l seemed t o have a very comfor table approach t o T L I .
COLLINS T h a t' s r i g h t . O f c o u r se , t h a t ' s w h e r e w e sa id we weren 'tg oin g t o f o o l w i th t h e t e l e v i s i o n i f we were rushed or be-hind t h e t i m e l i n e .
4.23 DRIFT TESTARMSTRONG Th e d r i f t t e s t h a s t o d o w i t h your al ignment , I guess .
- a nd a l so w i t h t h e GD C d r i f t , which was a c c e p t a b l e . I
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4-10 CONFIDENTIAL4.24 CREW READINESS AND COMFORT
ARMSTRONG I th in k we were read y f o r T L I .problems there.
We were unru she d and had no
4.25 SUBJECTIVE REACTION O N WEIGHTLESSNESSARMSTRONG Well, perhaps a l i t t l e b i t of f u l l n e s s i n t h e h ea d.
ALDRIN I d i d n ' t n o t i c e t h a t q u i t e as soon coming on as i n Gemini,
ARMSTRONG Yes, I d i d n ' t f e e l t h a t it was as marked .as I had remembered.
COLLINS I t ' s s o s l i g h t , t h a t i f you ha ve a n yt hi ng e l s e i n your mind,you j u s t t r y t o i gn or e i t , I mean, i t ' s n o t any b i g e f f e c t ,
ALDRIN W el l, t h e r e ' s t h e f e e l i n g that y ou r f a c e t e n d s t o l i f t up al i t t l e b i t .
COLLINS Yes, it does , Your eyes a r e puf fy .ARMSTRONG A se ns at io n of head-down po si t i on . I guess I had t K a t
se n sa t i o n and expected it and thought it o ug ht t o b e t h e r e ,because we were head-down,
ARMSTRONG Ve rti go s p a t i a l d i s o r i e n t a t i o n .
ALDRIN No problems,
COLLINS None.
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CONFIDENTIAL 4-11ALDRIN A s f a r as I w a s c o nc er ne d, t h e r e w asn 't a n y th i ng r e a l l y t o
be a l armed about i n th e l e a s t . I do t h in k t h a t t h e f a c tthat you 've been through i t makes a good b i t of d i f f e re n c e .There was a good b i t made of t h i s s o r t of th ing befo re th ef l i g h t , a n d I t h i n k someone who had not flown before wouldhave been a l i t t l e b i t o ve rl y c on cern ed.
ARMSTRONG Yes, w e were probably a l i t t l e bit over ly apprehensive aboutt h i s a rea , because t her e ' had been s o many comments on it i nr e c e n t f l i g h t s ; w e j u s t d i d n ' t r u n i n t o a ny p ro bl em s.
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CONFIDENTIAL5 .0 T L I THROUGH S-IVB CLOSEOUT
5 . 1 TLI BURN MONITOR PROCEDUREARMSTRONG The procedure went very w e l l .
COLLINS Exce pt yaw.
5-1
ARMSTRONG No, the yaw was pe r f ec t ly on , bu t t he p i t c h showed approx i-mately a l -1 /2-degree b i as f rom th e valu e th a t w e would haveexpected. That i s t o s a y , w i th t h e ORDEAL s e t i n a LUNAR/200 co nfi gu rat ion , and being a t th e proper p oin t on th e min-u t e e ac h m in ute p r i o r t o i g n i t i o n .ind ica t in g abou t 1-112 degrees h igher , t h a t i s , 1-1/2 degreest o t h e r i g ht or p l u s 1-1/2 degrees from zero . We expectedapproximately zero. I t h i n k t h i s w ould b e w ise t o l o o k a tt h a t ca r e fu l ly wi th DCPS t r a i n i ng gu ide wi th r es pec t t o theadequacy of that procedure and see where that l i t t l e b i t o fd i f f e r e n c e o c c ur s . O th er t h a n t h a t , t h e T L I monito ring wentj u s t as expected.
The p i t c h a t t i t u d e w a s
ALDRIN But that w a s an ins t rument tha t was used t o make changes i fw e were i n c o n t r o l. The c l o s i n g o f t h e l o o p w a s r e a l l y t h e
ob se rva tio n of th e H-dot which w a s s u r p r i s i n g l y c l o s e. A teach 30-second pe ri od , w e c l o se d t h e DSKY and looked a t t h eH-dot and it w a s amazingly close. O f c o ur s e, t h e r e g e t t o
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5-2 CONFIDENTIALALDRIN be some pr e t t y good H-dots a t about 4 minutes and 30 seconds
a t about 2200 H-dot; and I don ' t t h ink i t w a s off more than( CONT'D)
1 0 f t / s e c a t t h a t p o i n t , s o much cl os er tha n we've seen i nany s i m u l a t i o n s , r i g h t i n t h e groove.
ARMSTRONG Had w e gone t o manual T L I , t hen w e would have probably beena l i t t l e b i t o f f i n p i tc h . I t h i n k w e had soon seen t h a tour H-dot was b eg in ni ng t o g e t out of bounds and we made ac o r r e c t i o n , b u t w e should unders tand t h a t a l i t t l e b e t t e r .
5.2 s-IVB PERFORMANCEAND ECOARMSTRONG S-IVB performance and engine cut-off were ou t s t and ing .
ALDRIN The t i m e of t he burn.
ARMSTRONG Burn t i m e w a s no t q u i t e book va lue , t h e r e . D i d w e w r i t et h a t down i n our ch ec kl is t? Burn t i m e ? Give them a burn-s t a t u s r e p o r t ?
ALDRIN As I r e c a l l , i t w a s a l i t t l e longer than normal .
ARMSTRONG No, as I remember, it w a s l i k e a couple of seconds o f f i nburn t i m e , b u t I j u s t don ' t r e c a l l now what th e d i f f e r en cew a s ; but o t h e r t ha n t h a t , it went very w e l l .
ALDRIN L e t me just note some numbers here that w a s recorded a tfr e e z in g t h e DSKY a f t e r cut -off and you are bound t o m i s s
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CONFIDENTIAL 5-5COLLINS Then I th rus ted minus X u n t i l t he DELTA-V counter read minus
I t h in k I t h r u s t e d p l u s X u n t i l i t re ad minus 100.6.( CONT'D) 100.5.The point where the EMS w a s i n error came a f t e r t h a t . T h a t ' swhat I don ' t unders tand . When I completed the turnaroundmaneuver, the EMS should have read minus 101 .1 and i t d i d n ' t .I t read down i n t h e 9 0 ' s . A t docking, when i t should haveread 1 0 1 p l u s , i t read 99.1. So t h e r e i s a funny th ere i nt h e EMS.
5.15 HIGH GAIN ANTENNA ACTIVATIONARMSTRONG That took u s q u i t e a while.
COLLINS You d i d t h a t l a t e r .
ALDRIN Yes, w e d i d n ' t g e t t h a t done u n t i l a f t e r d oc ki ng .
5 . 1 7 TRANSPOSITIONCOLLINS Transposition and d oc king , i n g e n e r al , worked i n f l i g h t j u s t
as i t worked a couple of times i n t h e s i mu l at or . I wentMANUAL ATTITUDE PITCH t o ACCEL COMMAND, and I s t a r te d t op i t c h up. A f t e r 1 0 or 20 degrees of pitchup, when it w a sd e f i n i t e l y e s t a bl i sh e d t h a t t h e a t t i t u d e e r r o r n ee dl e i np i t c h w a s f u l l s c a l e h igh ( in d ic a t i ng th a t the DAP wishedt o cont inue t he maneuver i n t he same d ir ec t i on i n which Ih a d s t a r t e d i t ) , hen I went PROCEED and MANUAL ATTITUDE
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5-6 CONFIDENTIALCOLLINS . PITCH t o RATE COMMAND. Then, j u s t as i n t h e s i m u l a t o r , t h e( CONT'D) DAP r o l l e d i t s e l f ou t . I t ceased i t s p i t c h r a t e . I d o n ' t
u n d e r s t a n d t h a t . A t t h e t i m e , Buzz s a i d th a t I had fo rgo t t enone PROCEED. A s I r e c a l l , I went through t h i s turnaroundprocedure exac t ly as t h e c h e c k l i s t w a s w r i t t e n. I n t h esimulator , sometimes i t worked l i k e magic and ot he r timesit w o ul dn 't . I n f l i g h t , i t worked j u s t e x a c t l y l i k e a bads i m u l a t o r d i d . M IT or G & C people should check and see whati f any th ing i s wrong wi th t h i s procedure . If I w e r e goingt o f l y t h i s f l i g h t o v e r a g a i n , I would say i t d o e s n ' t matteri f you pi tc h up or down.va lue s i n th e r e , h i t PROCEED tw ic e, and l e t t h e s p a c e c r a f t
You ought t o put th os e NOUN 22
t u r n i t s e l f a r o u n d .30 or 45 seconds anyway.
You're going t o ge t around wi th inI t ' s such a n e a t , s imple , c l ean ,
easy p rocedure t o do t h a t way. The way we've go t it de-signed, t o make su re th a t we go pi tch up ins tea d of p i t ch -down, s o r t of mixes ap pl es and ora ng es : Let th e DAP do i t ,th en you ta ke c on tr o l away from t h e DAP, th en you give itback t o th e DAP; and , f o r rea so ns unknown t o m e , sometimesi t works and sometimes i t d o e sn ' t .
ARMSTRONG I ' d say th a t t he manual p rocedure i s probab ly th e be s t . Tha twould be my prefe renc e.
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CONFIDENTIAL 5-7COLLINS This i s something that I ' m sure Apollo 1 2 a n d o t h e r f l i g h t s
w i l l want t o massage. I ' m f i rmly conv inced tha t the w a y t osave gas on that maneuver i s t o l e t t h e D A P do i t . Make i ta t o t a l l y automatic DAP maneuver.i s t h a t you never know whether i t ' s g oi ng t o p i t c h up ordown. This i s no t impor tan t . In an e f fo r t t o save gas andt o a ss ur e t h a t w e always pitched up, I ended up wasting some
The pr i ce you pay fo r t h a t
gas.
5.18 STABILIZATION AND ALIGNMENT AT 50 FEETCOLLINS My procedure w a s worked out so I ' d be 66 f e e t a ray from th e
boos te r a t turnaround. Because of these delays and becauseof t h e f a c t t h a t t h e DAP k ep t t r y i n g t o s t o p i t s turnaroundr a t e , I would say that we were about 100 f e e t away from t h ebooster when I f i na l l y tu rned a round. Th is cos t ex t r a gasi n g e t t i n g back t o i t .t h e y s a id 1 2 t o 1 8 pounds over.a l l o c a t e d .maneuver probably cost 80 pounds.i t completed automated, I can probably do i t fo r 30 t o35 pounds.ab ly 80 pounds w a s ju s t was ted gas .
I don ' t know how much extra g a s ,I don't know how much they
I t h in k i t w a s 60 o r 70 pounds. That wholeIn th e s imula to r , doing
The dif fe re nc e between 30 t o 35 pounds and prob-
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5-8 CONFIDENTIAL5.19 DOCKING
COLLINS Docking, as i n t h e s i m ul a to r , w a s very easy . I did have as l i g h t roll misalignment.a l ignment , bu t every th ing e l se w a s l i n e d u p .d i d d l e w i t h i t and make a last-minute c o r r e c t i o n , I jus taccepted it. It t u r n ed o u t l a t e r t o be 2 d e gr ee s i n t h e
I knew I had a s l i g h t roll m i s -Rather than
t u n n e l .
5.20 PHOTOGRAPHY DURING TRANSPOSITION AND .DOCKINGALDRIN We used th e 16-rnm camera . We used th e se t t ing s th a t were
l i s t e d i n t h e c h e c k l i s t . W e ' ll j u s t ha ve t o l oo k a t how th ef i lm turned out befo re we can say t o o much more abo ut t h a t .I d i d u se a f a i r amount of f i l m and I t h i n k t h e p i c t u r e sshou ld come out re aso nab ly we ll.
5.21 CSM HANDLING CHARACTERISTICS DURING DOCKINGCOLLINS Absolutely normal. I docked i n CMC , AUTO , narrow deadband
with a 2-deg/sec ra te . I went t o C M C , FREE, a t c o n t a c t .Docking alignment w a s f i n e .
5.23 ADEQUACY OF SUNLIGHTCOLLINS More tha n adeq ua te . There w a s pl en ty of su nl ig ht . CSM
docking l i g h ts were not requi red . The COAS r e t i c l e br ig ht -n e s s , even w it h t h a t f i l t e r rem oved, w a s s t i l l qui te d im a t
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CONFIDENTIAL 5-9COLLINS po in t s dur ing th e dock ing.
look c l o s e l y .I t i s d i s c e r n i b l e i f y o u r e a l l y(CONT D
A t the end when you need i t , i t ' s more v i s i b l et h a n i t i s 20 t o 30 f e e t o u t . I would say th a t t he COAS i smarginable , b u t s a t i s f a c t o r y .
5.24 CABIN PURGE AND LM/CSM PRESSURE EQUALIZATIONCOLLINS I b e l i e v e a l l t h a t w ent j u s t a b ou t e x a c t l y as per the numbers.
ALDRIN W e went PRESSURE EQUALIZATION v a lv e t o OPEN. Where it saysgo t o A, we went t o 3.8.sure O2 only brought i t up t o 4.4.of nea r zero. There wasn' t any cyc lin g back and fo rt h . Therewas j u s t one cyc le open an d t h a t ' s as f a r , a s i t went.
That ' s where it s t a b i l i z e d . R e p r e s -That gave us a DELTA-P
COLLINS That cyc l ing back and f o r th on ly app l i es i f you have a problemwhen you don ' t have i n t he f u l l volume of th e LM.
5.25 CONFIGURING FOR LM'EJECTION, DOCKING PROBE, VENTINGLATCHES, UMBILICALS POWER, AND TEMPERATURE
COLLINS Okay. The only funny here w a s when I opened th e ha tch t og e t i n t o t h e t u n n e l , t h e r e w a s a p e c u l i a r o d o r i n t h e t u n n e l .This odor w a s n o t e x a c t l y t h e same as b u r n e d e l e c t r i c a li n s u l a t i o n .
ALDRIN You commented t h a t th e wir ing i n t h e c a b l e s seemed t o r e t a i nt h i s odor.
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5-10 CONFIDENTIALCOLLINS I t h in k t h a t t h i s i s j u s t normal. Fabr ic w i l l r e t a i n a n
odor where m e t a l w i l l n o t .
ALDRIN I ' v e n o ti c ed t h a t same odor as ch ar ac te r i s t i c o f some ofthese new mater ia l s w e have.g e t them r ig h t c l o s e t o y ou , have t h i s same burned- insula t ionodor.
A l o t o f t h e bags , when you
I ' m n o t s u r e i f t h a t ' s i t , bu t t ha t migh t exp la in i t .
COLLINS I d o n ' t know. My f i r s t impress ion w a s tha t something w a sburning or had been burned ins ide tha t tunnel .every inch of wir ing and a l l th e connec tors . I g o t a f l a s h -l ight and looked a t every th ing . I t a l l looked absolu te lynormal. W e ch ose n o t t o d i s c u s s it with the .g round becausew e hadn ' t popped any c i r c u i t b reak ers and everything lookednormal. I t seemed l i k e evidence of a past problem ra therthan an ex is t ing one .
I went over
ALDRIN I t h i n k it would be a good ide a fo r subsequent c rews t o sn if faround and s m e l l what t h i s probe and umbi l ica l s s m e l l l i k ebeforehand.
COLLINS They don ' t smell a n yth in g l i k e t h a t . Th i s w a s a sharp odor.I mean t h i s w a s enough t o knock you down when you opened t h etunne l . I t w a s one strong odor.
ALDRIN This s t u f f had been exposed t o a vacuum.
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CONFIDENTIAL 5-11COLLINS I t had been exposed t o t h e boost envi ronment , too . I d o n ' t
know how s t u f f would g e t under t h e r e wi th t h e BPC on.BPC d o e sn ' t leave u n t i l y o u' re d ar n near i n a vacuum. Despitet h a t , I t hough t th a t pe rhaps the re was some odor a s s o c i a t e dwi th t h e h igh temperature of b oos t t h a t had somehow go t te nt h ro u g h t h e BPC a nd t h ro u g h t h a t l i t t l e t u n n e l v e n t l i n e i n t ot h e t u n n e l a r e a . I t su re smel led , and it smel led a coupleof days l a t e r coming up on L O I . When I went i n t o a c t i v a t et h e LM, t h e o d o r w a s j u s t as s t r o n g .
The
All t hese l a t ches made .t h a t h a d a c t e d up a l i t t l e b i t down a t the Cape during t e s t s ,w a s t h e on ly one th a t needed one ac tu a t io n t o cock r a th e r thantwo. Other th an 6 , a l l t h e o t h e r s s a i d t h a t t h e y w e r e goingt o r e q u i r e two p u l l s t o cock and they d i d .worked w e l l .
Latch number 6 , which i s t h e o n e
A l l t h a t hardware
W e f o l l o w e d t h e c h e c k l i s t . We e x t ra c t ed i n C M C , F REE, an dthen went t o DAP con t ro l and f i r e d the a f t t h r u s t e r s f o r3 seconds. We went t o CMC and DAP c o n t r o l 5 seconds a f t e rs p r i n g a c t u a t i o n s . N e i l and I bo th r ead a memo pu t out byMPAD, saying th a t fo r some f a i l u r e modes you weren ' t supposedt o do th a t ; i n s t ea d use SCS con t ro l .sp e n t a l o t o f ti me t h e l a s t c ou p le o f d ay s b e f o r e t h e f l i g h t
Ken Mattingly and I
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5-12 CONFIDENTIALCOLLINS t r y i n g t o check a l l t h a t o u t . I t t ur n ed o u t t o be s o r t of( CONT'D) a witch hunt . For f 'u ture f l i g h t s , they might check in t o
which i s t h e b e s t con t ro l mode fo r ex t rac t in g th e LM.t h in k i t ' s okay the way w e d i d i t ; b u t , i f one o f the sp r ings
I
gets hung up and throws you sideways, i t may be b e t t e r . t o dot h a t maneuver under SCS con tr ol ra th er tha n CMC, FRFE.
5.28 VEHICLE DYNAMICS OF CSM/LMDURING EJECTION FROM S-IVB
COLLINS There were no abnormal dynamics. The t h i n g backed out abso-lu t e ly s ym m e tr i ca l ly as f a r as I could t e l l .
5.29 ADEQUACY OF ATTITUDE CONTROL AND STABILITYCOLLINS The S-IVB w a s alw ays v e ry s t a b l e p r i o r t o , d u r in g , and a f t e r
LM se pa ra ti on . SM RCS plumes had ab so l ut el y no e f f e c t o nv i s i b i l i t y or on S-IVB s tab i l i ty .
5.32 EVASIVE MANEUVERSCOLLINS We thought a t one t i m e w e might be somewhat rushed during
t h a t t i m e per iod . I t t u r n e d o u t t h a t w a s comfortable andw e were prepa red t o do th e evasi ve maneuver. We could havedone it 5 o r 1 0 minutes e a r l i e r than i t w a s c a l l e d f o r .Lucki ly , it i s n o t a maneuver that i s t i m e - c r i t i c a l . I t h i n kth e pres ent scheme of causi ng th e S-IVB t o overburn by
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CONFIDENTIAL 5-13COLLINS 2 meters per second, and then in t e n t io na l l y burn ing the SPS
f o r 3 seconds t o compensa te fo r t ha t overburn appears t o be( CONT' D)
a sound procedure. I recommend no changes t o i t .
ALDRIN I d i d n o t i c e t h e o x i d i z e r un ba la nc e t o s t a r t out because itw a s bouncing around, but I have a note down here on the eva-s i ve maneuver th a t i t changed from minus 1 8 0 t o 130 decrease .That's only 3 seconds of burn, but you could see t h a t t h i st h i n g w a s i n i t s decrease pos i t ion a l l t h e t i m e , which i swhat w e expected. W e j u s t l e f t it a l o n e d u ri n g t h a t s h o r tburn.I w a s a b l e t o c on fi rm i t , s o w e had t o go through a l i t t l e
We g o t t h e f i r s t gimbal motor off a l i t t l e b i t b ef or e
ra in dance of tu rni ng th a t back on and then back of f again .That took a l i t t l e e x t r a t i m e , and w e used up a l i t t l e e x t r aamp-hours ou t of th e b a t t e r i e s , but the ground d i d confirmit o r a t l e a s t t r y t o confi rm t ha t we d i d g e t t h a t g i m b a lmotor off .
5.34 S-IVB SLINGSHOT MANEWERCOLLINS Now, w e never saw t h a t . I t seems l i k e t h e a t t i t u d e th ey
gave us w a s n o t c o r r e c t .
ALDRIN I t was q u i t e a whi le be fo re w e pic ke d up t h e S-IVB, and i twas r o l l i n g w i th a l i t t l e b i t of o s c i l l a t i o n , a l i t t l e coninge f f e c t . I t d e f i n i t e l y had a good roll t o it moving away.
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5-14 CONFIDENTIALALDRIN This w a s dur ing the nonpropu ls ive pa r t of the vent and you
could see two streams coming out of e i t h e r s i d e as the ox i -( CONT'D)
d i z e r w a s ven ted ou t . Exac t ly oppos i te t o each o the r weretwo cones going out. I guess t h e cones were 30 degrees outone s id e and 30 degrees out th e o t he r , s o it w a s d e f i n i t e l yobservable .
COLLINS But something appeared t o be wrong wi th t he a t t i t u d e th eygave us.but they gave us an a t t i t u d e t o see t h e s l i n g s h o t o u t t h ehatch window. W e confirmed that w e w e r e looking through the
I don ' t know whether the y mi sca lcu lat ed or what,
co rr ec t window, and it wasn ' t the re .
5.35 S-IVB VENTING OPERATIONCOLLINS I don ' t know what t o say about th a t . I guess i t went nor-
mal ly.5.36 PROPELLANT DUMP DURING SLINGSHOT MANEUVER
ALDRIN We didn't make use o f tha t procedure of keeping - w e d i d n ' tuse i t t o any advantage of having t he o th e r s t a t e v e c to rkeep t rack of t h e S-IVB. It sounds Mickey Mouse, but itcould have been some ass i s t an ce i n te l l i n g us where t heS-IVB w a s .
ARMSTRONG Yes.
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CONFIDENTIAL 5-15ALDRIN A range r a t e and a VERB 89.
an y value; t h e o t h e r guys cons idered i t anyway.I don't know whether i t ' s of
COLLINS I th ink that th ing of watching the S- IVB i s j u s t t h e d e a l e r ' scho ice anyway. Th ere 's no need t o watch t h e S-IVB. I t ' sj u s t t h a t i f y o u ' r e g oi ng t o go t o a l l t h e t r o u b l e of g e t t i n gth e g round t o compute t hr ee angl es w ith which you should beabl e t o see t he S-IVB out a c e r ta in window, th en you oughtt o g e t t h e c o r r e c t a ng l es .
5.37 EDS DEACTIVATIONCOLLINS Nothing t o sa y about t h a t .
5.39 S-IVB CLOSEOUTCOLLINS I don 't know what t o say about th a t .
5.40 DOSIMETERCOLLINS I n g e n e r a l , w e g o t v e i y l i t t l e r a d i a t i o n .
were going through the B e l t s a b o u t t h i s t i m e .t h a t we looked a t t he r ad ia t ion- su rvey meter. Did w e do
O f cour se , w eI d o n ' t r e c a l l
t h a t ? Did anybody look a t t h a t ?c a l l e d o u t. We gave da i l y dosimeter reading s, which as far
as I ' m concerned f a l l i n a s o r t o f a gee-whiz category. I t ' sj u s t i n f or m a t io n of v e r y l i t t l e v a lu e t o anybody.o t h e r so u r c es f o r it, an d , I suppose it goes on somebody's
I d o n' t b e l i e v e t h a t w a s
They have
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5-16 CONFIDENTIALCOLLINS graph somewhere f o r p o s t e r i t y . Other th an t h a t , I don ' t( CONT'D) have anything t o say about i t .
ARMSTRONG I t wasn 't ca l l ed ou t .
COLLINS And the dosimeter we j u s t gave them a once-a-day re ad in g ontha t dos ime te r .
5 .41 WORKLOAD AND TIMELINESCOLLINS J u s t i n ge ne ra l, I thought a l l th es e workloads and t i me li ne s
were q u i t e reas onab le and had been w el l worked out by previouscrews and I ' d recommend no changes t o them. I though t tha tw h o le f i r s t 3 or 4 hours worth of a c t i v i t y w a s w e l l thoughto u t , and we were never rus hed and we were never be hind .
ALDRIN Wel l, o ur p o s i t i o n in g o f d i f f e r e n t p eo pl e i n d i f f e r e n t s e a t s
w a s a l i t t l e unique, s o i t ' s a l i t t l e d i f fe r e n t , I t h i n k , f o ro t h e r f l i g h t s .
COLLINS Yes. Well , ou r sea t pos i t i on i s a s e p ar a te s ub j e ct i n i t s e l f .A s far as being hu rr ie d, we were no t, al though the f i r s t5 h ou rs o f t h e f l i g h t I thought were qu it e reaso nabl e, andt h a t ' s a l l I have t o say .
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CONFIDENTIAL 6-16.0 TRANSLUNAR COAST
6.1 IMU R E A L I G N M E N TCOLLINS We r e a l i g n e d t h e IMU i n Ea r th pa rk ing o r b i t . The next
t i m e w e rea l igned i t, w e were, I g ue ss , i n e r t i a l l y f i x ed .
I remember now t h a t ou r X-torquing an gl e was 0.172 degreest h e f i r s t t ime, which seems excess ive t o me. We asked theground t o ve r i fy and they sa i d it seemed exc ess ive t othem and t o g o ahead and redo it. So I went through P52a second t i m e . Ins tead o f a minus 0.172 I got aminus 0 . 1 7 1 . The r e s u l t s were repea ted ; the re fo re , theground s a id go ahead and torque t h e m , and we di d . Idon ' t unders tand why tha t torquing angle w a s t h a t l a r g e .I guess it w a s an uncompensated X - d r i f t , which they la te rcompensated f o r more ac cu ra te ly , because the pl atfor m w a sw e l l w i th in i t s l imi t s dur ing th e remainder o f t he f l i gh t .Yet t h i s does seem l i k e a l a r g e t o r q u ing a n g l e.
Another general comment about the IMU w a s I c o u ld n ' t g e tc o n s i s t e n t s t a r angle difference numbers. A t var ioust i m e s i n t he f l i g h t , I g o t e i t h e r 5 b a l l s 0 . 01 or 0.02,and the re w a s no co r re la t ion . A s a matter o f f a c t , t h e r ewas negat ive co rr e l a t io n . The more t i m e I took and themore p r e c i s e I a t tempted t o be , the more o f ten I got 0.01.
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6-2 CONFIDENTIALCOLLINS(COW'D)
COLLINS
ARMSTRONG
ALDRIN
ARMSTRONG
On a couple of marks, when I got 5 b a l l s , I know t h a t Iw a s no t p rec i se ly cen te red when I took the mark. So, It h i n k t h a t t h e r e w a s some s m a l l b i a s i n t h e s e x t an t .
6 . 2 DOFF PGA'SThere were, as f a r as I c an r e c a l l , no s u r p r i s e s i ndoff ing the PGA's.
Buzz took h i s o f f f i r s t .
We were going t o s tow th a t from the back, and I w a s goingt o b e t h e l a s t one t o p u t it on. Anyway, you were goingt o p u t y o u rs on b e f o r e I d i d .
A s a r e s u l t of a d a y t h a t w e sp e n t i n t h e CMS p r a c t i c i n gt a k i n g t h e s u i t s o f f and s to wi ng them i n t h e r i g h t p l a c e ,i n t h e r i g h t o r d e r, and so on, w e d ec id e d t o p u t a l l s u i t si n th e L-shaped bags : Mike' s i n th e top , Buzz 's s u i ti n t h e b ottom s e c t i o n t o t h e r ea r towards the upwardedge o r th e head end of th e couch, and mine i n th e lowerp a r t of th e L-shaped bag i n th e lower se ct i on . Thatworked fine.
A l l t h r e e s u i t s d i d go i n t h e L-shaped bag s a t i s f a c t o r i l yand could be stowed t he re . W e l e f t them out though fo r somep e r i o d of time p r i o r t o s to win g them t o allow them t o a i r o u t
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CONFIDENTIAL 6-3ARMSTRONG(CONT'D) si nc e the y had been worn f o r a s i g n i f i c a n t p e r i o d o f t i m ep r io r t o t h i s . We wanted t o t r y t o d ry them ou t be fo re
pu t t in g them i n th e bags f or th re e days . That worked asplanned, and w e t h i n k t h a t ' s a reasonable procedure ,
A L D RIN Folding them, ta ki ng a l i t t l e b i t o f c a r e , seemed t o payof f when you go t t o t he po in t of wres t l ing wi th them t os tu f f t h e m in , i f you did it i n a somewhat methodical wayl i k e p u t t i n g one a r m r i n g i n s i d e t h e - h e l m e t r i n g , andp u t t i n g t h e o t h e r one i n t h e c h e s t . I a c t u a l l y t o ok a l lt h e z ip p e r s o f f , t h e n f o ld e d i t over the gas connectors ,and the n ra n both l e g s over and around and got it as t i g h tas p o s s ib l e b e f o r e p u t t i n g i t i n . Well, i t went i n s ide-ways. I t seems to , f i t i n t o p o s i t i o n q u i t e w el l. No doubtabout it; it w a s a b i t of a wres t l ing match t o do t h i s a n ds t u f f it i n . I t j u s t t o o k a l i t t l e b i t of ex t r a t ime ande f f o r t .
ARMSTRONG Maybe we're a l i t t l e o v e r p r o t e c t i v e , b u t I doubt tha tyou could rea l ly damage those a i r lock connectors andhelmet r ings and s o on . I t w a s our i n t e n t t o t r e a t thosew i th as much caution as w e c o u l d , s i n c e w e were rea l lycom mitted t o t h e i r s u c c e s s f u l o p e ra t i o n l a t e r .
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6-4 CONFIDENTIAL6.3 OPTICS CALIBRATION
COLLINS Op ti cs c a l i b r a t i o n worked a l l r i g h t .
6 . 4 PHOTOGRAPHY; EARTH AND MOONCOLLINS We di dn ' t photograph th e Moon a t t h i s t im e; t h e E a rt h w e
d id .
6 .5 SYSTEN ANOMALIESARMSTRONG A t t h i s t i m e , I t h i n k , w e were s t a r t i n g t o home i n on
t h e 0 f low d isc repanc ies .2ALDRIN Yes.
ARMSTRONG I ' m n o t sure w e understand i t completely. 'Th e gage w a sn o t , a p p a r e nt l y , i n d i c a t i n g t h e c o r r e c t f lo w l e v e l and w a s
ALDRIN
vary ing wi th t i m e . Th a t ' s a n i n d i c a t i o n f o r what w e t h i n kmight be a p a r t i c u l a r f low vary ing with t h e .denced by the fac t tha t the quad accumula tor cycle f lowr a t e c on ti nu ed t o d e c re as e u n t i l it go t down t o about 0.3,and then i t went back up t o 0.4.
It i s evi-
It would reg is ter a round there each t i m e . Then i t seemedt o go up a lmost t o t h e sa fe vaIue. That l e d m e t o b el ie v et h a t t h e r e w a s nothing wrong with our gage.
COLLINS Sounds l i k e t h e gage w a s o p e ra b l e b u t o u t o f c a l i b r a t i o n .
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CONFIDENTIAL 6-5ALDRIN Right .
COLLINS W spen t a l o t o f time w i th EECOM b ef o re t h e f l i g h t d i s -cuss ing w h a t i tems t o check and w h a t i t e m s no t t o check .I suppose as long as we have space f l i g h t s , we'r e goingt o have philo sop hic al dis agreements on how exhau sti vel ywe want t o check a l l th e equipment. My pers onal philosophyi s t h a t if you don ' t have some reason t o be l ie ve t h a t i t ' sbroken, leave i t alone. Don' t f o o l around with i t .FOD', of course , has a number of mission ru l es t h a t r e q u i r ev e r i f i c a t i o n of each and every component of each and everysys tem t o make su re t ha t th ey ' re no t going t o v io la te oneof th e miss ion ru le s . I can unders tand the i r v iewpo in t .Maybe t h e t r u t h l i e s somewhere i n t h e middle . We endedup a f t e r many, many di sc us si on s inclu din g th e ope rat iont o make sure t h a t t h e g l y c ol w a s f lo wi ng s a t i s f a c t o r i l ythrough th e secondary ra d i a t or s without any le ak s and t omake su re th a t t he secondary water b o i l e r w a s func t ion ingproper ly . We di d t h a t pre-TLI. Then pre-LOI, w e checkedon ly fo r gross r a d i a t o r l e aks and di d not check secondarywater b o i l e r o p e ra t on .
ALDRIN I t w a s n ' t r e a l l y a d i f f i c u l t t ime-consuming ta sk . It wentvery smoothly.
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CONFIDENTIAL-6COLLINS I t ' s a qu es t io n of whether you want t o do it. For example,
on the secondary g lyco l r ad ia to r l eak check , t he secondaryg lyc o l loop has been bypassed, th a t i s , no f lu id has beenal lowed t o go through th e ra di a t or . You put th e valve fromb yp as s t o f l o w f o r 30 secon ds, t u r n th e pump on, and al lowf l u i d t o f lo w t h ro u gh t h e r a d i a t o r . Then you c on f ir m t h a tt h e r e i s no le ak by checking t he accumulator qu an t i t y andmaking sure t h a t it does not decrease . So what happened?In t h i s case , accumulator q ua n t i ty decreased by abou t4 pe rc en t. Th is had never come up be fo re. The grounds u sp e ct e d t h a t it w a s due t o t he rm a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s i nc o n t r a c t i o n s or expansions i n th e system, and not a l e a k .It dropped and then s t ab i l i zed .t h a t equipment a lone ra th e r tha n m e s s w i t h it.
I p r e fe r re d t o l e a v e
I guess t h e r e w a s no leak.have go t t e n in to a b i g argument over a suspec ted l e a keven t o th e point $here you might have t o del ay T L I by ar e v o l u t i o n .something has malfun ctioned , and i t ' s your backup system,l e a v e it alone. Don ' t mess w i t h i t .
On th e ot he r hand, w e could
If you don ' t have concre te evidence th a t
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CONFIDENTIAL 6-76.7 CHLORINATE POTABLE WATER
ARMSTRONG We d i d t h i s o n c e a day be fo re bedtime. The l i t t l einjector assembly got more and more diff icult t o o p e r a t eas each day went by. The chlor ine tends t o s t i c k andcorrode t h e screw threads . What s t a r t e d o ut t o be af a i r l y l ow to r qu e a p p l i c a t i o n , t ow ar ds t h e e ig h th da y go tt o be a f a i r l y d i f f i c u l t t a s k t o s crew t h e c o n t a in e r downso t h a t t h e c h l o r i n e c a p s u l e i n it would get squashed.We al so g ot some leakage th e f i r s t day due t o t h e f a c tt h a t I d id no t have the th rea ds f u l l y engaged . I t f e l tt o m e as i f I di d have t h e th re ad s engaged. However,when I s ta r ted sc rewing it down, I found I d i d n ' t .Chlor ine w a s escaping, and I had t o ge t th e towe l ou t andmop it up. A f t e r t h a t , I d i d n ' t have any t r o u b l e w i t h it.
ALDRIN I found myself invar iab ly want ing a d r in k o f water a f t e rw e c h l o r i na t e d t h e water. You couldn't do that unlessyou pu t some i n ' t h e bag ahead of time. We should havedone tha t . I t j u s t d i d n ' t OCCUT t o us u n t i l a f t e r w a r d .
COLLINS I c e r t a i n l y do n 't t h i n k i t ' s worth changing the systemfo r main l ine Apol lo. For fu ture spa cec ra f t , you 'd ce r -t a i n l y l i k e some b u i l t - i n way o f a s s u r in g y ou r s e l f o f agerm-free water supply wi thou t hav ing t o go th rough th i sk ind of procedure .
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6-8 CONFIDENTIALALDRIN
6.8 C O M M U N I C A T I O N SETUP FOR REST PERIODThe way tha t the f l igh t p lan hand led i t w a s a l i t t l ein vo lv ed . We were i n a t r a n s lu n a r s w i t c h s e tu p . I twould say each time for r e s t p e r io d go t o l u n a r c o a s texcept fo r such and such . I n th e LM , w e had a f a i r l ysim ple way of hand ling it. W e j u s t l a b e l e d , s t r a i g h t o ndown th e l i n e , th e pos i t i on o f th e swi tches . We cou ldprobably come up with something s imi la r t o t h i s . I t couldi n c l u d e j u s t a c e r t a i n s e t number of s wit che s t h a t a reall S-band. You j u s t make a quick check of a l l these andhave them i n the r i gh t con f i gu ra t ion , i n s t ead o f hav ingt o r e f e r back t o t h e systems management book. Keep t h a tc h e c k l i s t o u t o f t h e f l i g h t p l a n , and ke ep i t i n t h ec h e c k l i s t .
ARMSTRONG The c h e c k l i s t i s p r e t t y l o n g , so you end up with a f a i r l ycomplex p iece i n the f l i gh t p lan and a l so a complex l i s ti n t he sys tems book.
ALDRIN But th e f l i g h t plan does have two s le ep mode opti on s:h ig h g a in or OMNI. So, you r e a l l y have more t ha n youneed i n t h e f l i g h t p l an .
ARMSTRONG We i n s i s t t h a t w e on ly go i n t he ONMI mode during sleepper iods . We dec ided tha t it would be best.
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CONFIDENTIAL 6-96.10 EASE OF OPERATIONS OF COMMUNICATIONS
COLLINS They were a l l r igh t . There were a l so times when w e hadcommunications dropo ut t h a t I don ' t th in k were expla ined.I had t h e f e e l i n g t h a t t h e r e were a l o t of ground antennasw itc hin g problems. There would be times when w e r e a l l ysho uld have had sound an d we d i d n ' t . I t was due t o somes o r t o f a ground problem. It seemed t o m e t h a t t h e rewere a l o t more o f those p roblems on th i s f l ig h t thant h e r e were on Apollo 8.
ARMSTRONG You probab ly no t i ced th a t i n the Cen te r , t oo , handoversand switching.
ALDR I N We ch ose n ot t o c o n t r o l i t on boa rd, sw itc hin g from oneO M N I t o t h e o th er . We l e t t h e ground handle t h e wholet h i n g , and they just have a choice between two O M N I ' s .They are go ing t o run in to some d ropou t s invar i a b ly .
COLLINS The PTC r a t e w e hsed w a s 0.3 deg/sec. For th e crew t oswi tch O M N I ' s manually and go around A , B , C y D 'dur ingt h e t i m e when they're awake i s re a l l y to o much of a j o b ,because you ' re having t o swi tch O M N I ' s approximatelyevery 5 minutes.
ALDRIN I t ' s 18 minutes.
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CONFIDENTIAL 6-11COLLINS But I would just s a y i n g e n e ra l t h a t t h a t c h e c k l i s t sh o u l d( C O N T ' D )
be reworked. There are many l i t t l e p i t f a l l s . For example,i f you f i n d y o u r se l f i n an i n e r t i a l a t t i t u d e , and a l l youwant t o do i s sp i n up ar ou nd t h a t a t t i t u d e , t h e c h e c k l i s timpl i es tha t you can ju s t go i n t o i t a t t h a t i n t e r m e d i a t ep o i n t , b u t t h a t i s not th e case e i th er . You must pre te ndt h a t you are i n the wrong a t t i t ud e , a sk th e compute r t omaneuver you t o th e r i gh t a t t i t u d e and then go throught h e e n t i r e c h e c k l i s t f r o m t h a t v i e w p o i n t , or i t won'twork properly. These are j u s t two p i t f a l l s t h a t I happent o know about r i g h t now.
ARMSTRONG I t seems t o m e t h a t t h e p o i n t i s t h a t t h i s i s a very goodprocedu re th a t worked extremely w e l l , and we' re going t of i n d t h a t i t ' s ext remely easy t o use bu t has no t s toodt h e t e s t of time y e t . It needs a l o t more exper ience i nuse be fo re w e could use it r e l i a b l y a n d r e p e a t e d l y e v e r yt i m e without causing a l a t e r problem t h a t we co uld n'tp r e d i c t .
COLLINS That's r igh t . Ano ther l i t t l e f a c e t o f i t i s t h a t a f t e rth e PTC i s i n i t i a t e d , t he n t h e r e are ce r t a in no-no' s i nr e g ar d t o t h e u se o f t h e DSKY's h a vi n g t o do w i t h c o l l a p s -ing deadband and oth er problems in te rn al t o th e camputer.
CONFIDENTIAL-. -. ._ . . , . , ~ . . ,.... - ... . . ... .. . .. -" .
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6-12 CONFIDENTIALCOLLINS So, I th in k some expl anati on and expansion i n those pages( C O N T ' D ) i n t h e c h e ck l is t i s i n o r d e r .
ARMSTRONG I t ' s probably wor th not ing her e , whi le we ' re th ink ingabout it , th er e seems t o be some advantage t o wr i t in g aprogram t o do t h i s job. A t l e a s t i t should be cons idered,r a t he r than th e one we ' re us ing a t t h e p resen t t ime.could obviate many kinds of minor d i f f i c u l t i e s t h a t we
I t
d id n ' t men tion u n t i l now.
6.14 EASE OF HANDLING OPTICS AND SPACECRAFT FORNAVIGATIONAL SIGHTINGS
COLLINS With P23, as I p r a c t i c e d it i n th e s imul ator and made useof the AUTO o p t i c s t o m aneuver t h e sp a c e c r a f t t o e ac hs t a r s