Spacelog Apollo 13

Okay. It looks like the PTC is deteriorated enough that … the docking window of the LM, and …

Aquarius, Houston. We got part of your transmission. Understand the PTC has deteriorated quite a bit and you'd like to know what to do about it. Is that affirm?

Negative. How do you read now, Vance?

Okay. A little better.

Okay. The only comment was that it has deteriorated to where the Moon is now coming through the overhead docking window now, in a portion of each pass, and about that time I just lose COMM on either antenna, so there's going to be a short period of time on each revolution where we're not going to have COMM.

Okay, Fred. We understand that and one more item for clarification on the water. We don't really know what your usage of potable is. That was purely an estimate assuming a fairly healthy usage.

Hey, Houston; Aquarius.

Aquarius, Houston. Go ahead.

Okay. Jack just took a look through the optics—through one REV, and he said they look good, loud and clear. He doesn't have any current condensate on either the sextant or telescope.

How do you read, Vance?

Okay. I'm reading you weakly, Fred. Go ahead.

With all this other procedures you've been working on there, I thought I was going to have a new one for you. How to get four gingerbread cubes apart; I think they were stuck together with epoxy.

This is in the food bag?

Yes.

That's to stand loads of launch and boost.

Roger. Tool B did the trick.

Yes.

Hey, Fred. John says you can use the dikes on it to get them apart.

No. No one's asleep now.

It has? …, was it? … you get forward to it and a pretty good view of the venting.

And, Houston, Aquarius. It looks like service module venting has ceased, at least momentarily.

Roger. Understand service module venting has ceased momentarily. How about the descent stage? Does Fred report venting down there? Do you still see that?

Stand by.

What is your report on descent stage venting—Was it venting? Anything else going on? Any more venting?

No.

No. Fred hasn't seen anything else from the descent stage. And I understand that we can expect the—the SHe—tank pressure to build up to relief here about 105 hours.

Roger. A little later than that—like 106—107.

Okay.

Did you get some interior photos?

Yes.

Okay. I'd like to show them the arrangement of these hydroxide canisters. Do you have?

Aquarius, Houston.

Did they give Jack any more procedures on command module powerup?

…

Did they give Jack any more procedures on command module powerup?

Well, they think it might be up here.

Okay.

The main thing we got to think about, and when we have to get to them, is the procedures for LM jettison, the transfer of the LM to CSM mode (cough), LM jettison.

…

Yes.

… the LM mode?

All we have to do is turn the BIOMED … on, and we'll be in there.

Houston, Aquarius.

Roger. Go ahead, Aquarius.

We would like permission to turn the BIOMED on to get off the hot mike mode. I don't think that we have to be on it now if you have the big dish on, do you?

Yes. Yaw's coming—or roll's coming up for it, and we were going to burn.

Roger, Jim. We concur. Go ahead and turn it on.

Okay. Fine; thank you.

One other point. The philosophy of timing this midcourse is based a little bit on doing it just before the SHe tank is supposed to vent. That way, we hope that we would have — be powered up and you would have control when the venting occurs, in case you were tossed around a little bit. Over.

Okay. Understand. Philosophy on the midcourse is doing it prior to venting of the SHe tank, which means we'll be doing this around 105 hours, I suppose, or 105:30 and so I'll have control of the spacecraft if it should give us some perturbation.

Roger. Then, after that, we would establish PTC again.