Spacelog Mercury 7

We have a Go, with a 7-orbit capability.

Roger. Sweet words.

Roger.

Okay, turnaround has stopped. I'm pitching down. I have the moon in the center of the window, and the booster off to the right slightly.

Roger. Understand.

Fly-by-wire is good in all axes; my pitch attitude is high; coming down now.

Roger. Understand.

Roger. The control system on fly-by-wire is very good. I have the booster in the center of the window now, tumbling very slowly.

Roger, Aurora Seven. Understand. You sound real good.

It's very quiet.

A steady stream of gas, white gas, out of the sustainer engine. Going to ASCS now.

Roger. Understand.

ASCS seems to be holding very well. I have a small island just below me.

Aurora Seven, standby for retrosequence times.

Standing by.

Area 1 B is 17 17.

17 17 Roger.

Roger, standby for later times. That's all I have right now.

Roger, Sequence time for end of orbit.

Send your message.

Aurora Seven, retrosequence time for end of orbit—28 26.

01 28 26, Roger.

End of mission, 04 32 39.

04 32 39, Roger.

Negative 04 3, 04 32 39.

Roger, Understand, 04 32 39.

Roger.

Roger, I have copied.

ASCS looks good, all fly-by-wire thrusters appear to be good in all axes. Going to—beginning to unstow the equipment.

Aurora Seven.

Roger, and the SECO checklist is complete. She peaked at 6.3[g's].

Cap Com. Over.

Go ahead, Gus. Loud and clear. How me?

Aurora Seven, Cap Com.

Roger, loud and clear. How me?

Aurora Seven, Cape Cap Com. Over.

Aurora Seven, Cape Cap Com. Over.

Loud and clear, Gus. How me?

Aurora Seven, Cape Cap Com. If you read, retro delay to normal?

Retro delay normal. Roger.

. . . igee 86 [nautical miles].

Roger. Copied perigee 86 [nautical miles]. Did not get apogee.

Mark. One picture of the booster. Going to transmit and record now. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, . . . 10, 11, 12 pictures of the booster, traveling right down the center of the booster, right down the center of the window.

Going over the insertion checklist now. D-c volts is main. Retromanual fuse switch is off. Retromanual is off. All instruments are. All batteries okay. The a-c power is good. The, let's see, where's the booster? There's some beautiful cloud patterns down there. The booster is in front of a large cloud pattern. I seem to be, I seem to be much closer to the earth than I expected to be. The booster is approximately 2 miles away now.

I have some pictures of the booster, maybe 17 or 18, all together. Then going to the horizon, north sweeping south. There is the moon, just setting. Winding the camera at this time.

There are some rather large pieces floating around. The flight plan is now out. Gyros are going to free at 12 33, and I'm going to fly-by-wire to track the booster. I will—this is not a good tracking problem. Our speeds are too close to being the same. I will put it in the center of the right window, plus. I have it right in the center—I feel that—overshot there. Getting ahead of me in pitch.

The high thrusters work well, close tracking should be done on—on fly-by-wire low only. To follow the booster is a tough job with the highs. Gyros are staying within limits pretty well. Elapsed time is 13 56. I have lost sight of the booster at this time. I'll pick up a retroattitude at this time for Canary radar. Large piece of—

Going back to gyros free, or to gyros normal.

Roger. Will you verify that your retrodelay switch is in the normal position?

Retrodelay is normal. I say again, retrodelay is normal.

Roger. Will you please proceed with the short report, fuel and oxygen readings.

Roger. Fuel 103-100 [percent]. Oxygen 89-100 [percent]. All the power is good. Aurora seven status is Go in all respects. Over.

Roger. Say again fuel, please. Over.

Fuel 103-100 [percent]. Over.

Roger. Have copied.

Please send blood pressure. Over.

Roger. Blood pressure start now.

I have, west of your station, many whirls and vortices of cloud patterns. Pictures at this time—2, 3, 4, 5. Control mode is now automatic. I have the booster directly below me. I think my attitude is not in agreement with the instruments. It's probably because of that gyro free period. Outside of a minor difference in attitude indications, everything is proceeding normally.

Can you confirm orientation, ASCS and fly-by-wire . . . operating normal?

Roger. Wait one.

Roger. Canary, TS plus 5 is verified. Manual is satisfactory in all axes. Fly-by-wire and auto is satisfactory, all axes. Aux Damp is okay also. Over.

Roger. I have copied. I have new end of orbit, end of mission and 1 Bravo times for you. Are you prepared to copy?

Stand by one.

Send your message, Canary.

Roger. End of orbit time 01 28 17. End of mission, 04 32 27. 1 Bravo 16 plus 56. Did you copy? Over.

Roger. End of orbit 01 28 17, Hotel 04 32 39, 1 Bravo 16 56. Over.

Correction. Aurora Seven, correction 1 Bravo. Make that 16 plus 52. Over.

Roger. Understand. 16 52.

Roger. Apogee altitude is 143 [nautical miles]. Perigee 86 [nautical miles]. Did you copy? Over.

Roger. 143 and 86 [nautical miles].

Roger. Here are sunrise and sunset times. Sunrise orbit one: 1 plus 21 plus 00. Sunrise, orbit two: 2 plus 50 plus 00. Sunrise, orbit three: 4 plus 19 plus 00.

Roger, Canary. I'm going to have loss of signal before I get these. I want to get some pictures. Have Muchea, or, correction, have Kano send these to me in this order: Sunset, sunrise, sunset, sunrise, break, break. Did you copy?

— plus 41 plus 20. Did you copy? Over.

That is negative. I'll have to wait awhile for those.

I'll get them from Kann. Thank you.

Have a blood-pressure reading. Your first attempt was unreadable on the ground. Over.

Aurora Seven. This is Kano on UHF/HF. Do you read? Over.

Roger, Kano Cap Com. Aurora Seven reads you loud and clear. How me?

Roger, Aurora Seven. Kano Cap Com reads you loud and clear. Welcome back, Scott.

Roger.

Blood-pressure check, please. Hold your button for 4 seconds and then go through the short report.

Roger. Blood-pressure start, nob'. My status is good. The capsule status is good. Furl is 99-98 [percent]. Oxygen, 89-100 [percent]. Cabin is holding good. All d-c power is good. All a-c power is good, 22 amps. Everything is green and you should be reading blood pressure. Over.

Roger. We are reading blood pressure. Do you want to check your UHF low? Over.

Roger. Going to UHF low now, stand by 15.

Hello, Kano. Hello, Kano Cap Com. Aurora Seven UHF low. How do you read?

Aurora Seven. Kano Cap Com reads you loud and clear. Over.

Roger. Reading you the same. Going back to UHF high.

Aurora Seven, Kano Cap Com. How do you read? Over.

Loud and clear, Kano. Send your message.

Roger, Aurora Seven. Are you going to be doing your caging, uncaging procedure now? Over.

Roger. I—am a little behind in the flight plan at this moment. I have been unable at this time to install the MIT film. I finally have it. I'll go through the gyro uncaging procedure very shortly.

Roger.

Okay, the MIT film is now in.

ASCS is operating okay.

What mode are you on now?