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.

I'm going to be unable to complete the MIT pictures on this pass, I believe. Negative, negative, I can fix the problem. Too much film was out of the canister, that was the problem. Film is now in tight. The small back going on now.

At 00 29 43, the first time I was able to get horizon pictures with MIT film. Set at F8 and 125th. A picture to the south into the sun, directly down my flight path is number two. Number three, 15 degrees north at capsule elapse 00 30 17.

Stowing the camera at this time. Going to the gyro uncaging procedure at this time. Fly-by-wire, now. Gyros going to cage. Maneuver at this point is on.

Pitching down, yawing left.

Aurora Seven, Aurora Seven, Aurora Seven. This is I.O.S. Com Tech on HF and UHF. How do you read? Over.

Roger, Indian Com Tech. Aurora Seven reading you weak but readable. Go ahead.

Aurora Seven, Aurora Seven. This is I.O.S. Com Tech on HF and UHF. How do you read? Over.

Hello, Indian Ship Cap Com. Aurora Seven. Loud and clear. How me?

Hello, Indian Cap Com, Indian Cap Com, Aurora Seven. How do you read?

Hello, Indian Cap Com, Indian Cap Com, Aurora Seven. How do you read?

At 00 34 28, I'm increasing the cabin water valve and the suit valve to 6 [degrees]. Steam vent temperature now reads 65 and 75 [degrees].

Mark African coastal passage, about 20 seconds ago.

I'm using the airglow filter at this time. Visor is coming open for a better look at that. Hello, Indian Cap Com, Aurora Seven. Do you read?

Station calling Aurora Seven. Say again.

Okay. That took me some time to aline my attitudes properly. Three more pictures with MIT film: 2, 3, directly into the sun at an elapsed time of 00 39 42.

The big back is going on the camera at this time. There was a period there when nothing was recorded because I was in VOX power off, instead of record. The big …

At 00 43 02, I think my gyros are properly alined.

What in the world happened to the periscope?

Oh, its' dark, that's what happened. It's facing a dark earth. Sunset F16 to F, okay; we'll start with F16. Up north, coming south. Try some at 250.

It's getting darker. Let me see. Muchea contact, sometime. Oh, look at that sun.

F11.

F5.6 That was those last four, were F3.8. It's quite dark. I didn't begin to get time to dark-adapt.

Photo lights are off. Cabin lights are going to red at this time. Oh, man, a wide, a beautiful, beautiful red like in John's pictures. Going to fly-by-wire.

It is a reflection. It is a reflection in the window. That's too bad.

I see at this point; I'm not sure I am recording on VOX record. I will go to transmit. I have Venus, now approaching the horizon.

It's about 30 degrees up. It's just coming into view. Bright and unblinking. I cannot—I can see some other stars down below Venus. Going back to ASCS than at this time.

Bright, bright blue horizon band as the sun gets lower and lower—the horizon band still glows. It looks like five times the width of the—the diameter of the sun. I'm at—now at 00 47 34 elapsed.

It's now nearly dark, and I can't believe I'm where I am.

Oh, dear, I've used too much fuel.

Well, I'm going to have to increase. Let's see, going to ASCS at this time.

My fuel reads 75-100 [percent] at this time. The window—is Venus occlude. No, that—that is not correct. Venus did not occlude. I'm getting out the equipment to measure Venus occlusion.

There is too much red light in the cockpit from the time correlation. Venus at above the—horizon.

Aurora Seven. This is Muchea Cap Com. How do you read?

Hello, Muchea Cap Com, Aurora Seven. Loud and clear. How me, Deke?

Rog. Coming in very good, dad. Sound very good. How's things going?

Roger. Things axe going very well. My status is very good. The capsule status is very good. The control mode is normal. Automatic gyros normal and maneuver off. Fuel is 72-100 [percent]. Oxygen 88-100 [percent]. Everything is normal with the exception of—-the fact that I am a tad behind in the flight plan. Over.

Roger. Understand.

Blood pressure is starting now.

Okay. Blood pressure starting. We suggest that you do not exercise during the blood pressure since your temp is up.

Roger. This is the story on the suit temp. I have increased two 10-degree marks since lift-off. And now about—well, 15 degrees above launch mark. My steam vent temperatures read 69 and 80 [degrees]. I'll take one more stab at increasing or decreasing temperature by increasing flow rate. If this doesn't work, I'll turn them off and start lower. Over.

Rog, Understand. I'll give you some retrotimes while you're sending blood pressure. End of orbit is 01 28 18. End of mission is 04 32 28.

Roger. Understand. End of orbit 01 28 18 and 04 32 28 for end of orbit. Over. End of mission.

That's affirmative. We indicate your clock is 1 second slow and this is compensated for.

Roger. Thank you.

G.m.t. time hack at this time—we're coming up on 13 36 57. Mark.