The Other Side

Apollo Control, Houston, 2 minutes 50 seconds from time of L.O.S. Now Our distance away from the Moon 460 nautical miles, velocity 7417 feet per second Here in Mission Control, we're standing by There's uh certainly a great deal of anxiety at this moment We acquire at 36 minutes So at 68 hours 55 minutes, continuing to monitor, this is Apollo Control So at this time we're gonna stand by And continue to monitor the loops here in Mission Control for our 'go'/'no-go' decision 1 minute 30 seconds away now from Loss Of Signal Our distance away from the Moon now 401 nautical miles, Velocity reading 7535, as we continue with this flight of Apollo 8 Apollo 8, Houston, 1 minute to L.O.S., all systems go Our flight control team in Mission Control here has examined the data and it looks good So we have a combined crew-ground decision, we are 'go', repeat 'go', for lunar orbit insertion 1 Apollo 8, 10 seconds to go, you're 'go' all the way Roger Thanks a lot, troops We'll see you on the other side We've had, uh, Loss Of Signal with Apollo 8, at 68 hours 58 minutes 45 seconds, We will watch with continuing interest the A.O.S. Clock here in Mission Control They're travelling over the back side of the Moon now Our velocity reading here 7777 feet per second Now we are in our period of the longest wait Continuing to monitor, this is Apollo Control, Houston Apollo Control, Houston, we've acquired signal but no voice contact yet, we're standing by We're looking at engine data and it looks good; tank pressure's looking good Apollo 8, Apollo 8, this is Houston, Houston over? Roger, Houston We read you loud and clear How do you read us? Right, we've got it, we've got it Apollo 8 now in lunar orbit; there's a cheer in this room This is Apollo Control, Houston, switching now to the voice of Jim Lovell By 60.5. Good to hear your voice The unmanned Lunar Orbiter spacecraft traversed the moon perhaps over 10,000 times, But this is the first that a man aboard reported to his compatriots here on Earth