Spacelog Mercury 7

Read you loud and clear also. We have radar track. Please remain in orbit attitude.

Roger. Understand. I, my control mode is fly-by-wire, gyros normal, maneuver off. I am picking up retroattitude and automatic control very shortly. Over.

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's very good.

Okay, if you're ready, I'll give you the emergency voice check. We will turn off UHF and HF transmitters for this so that you will not have to change volume.

Roger, standing by.

Aurora Seven. Muchea Cap Com. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 command voice. How do you read?

Roger, Deke. Read you loud and clear, loud and clear emergency voice.

Very good, Very good. Switching back to UHF.

Roger.

Aurora Seven, Muchea Cap Com on UHF. How do you read?

Roger. Muchea Cap Com. Loud and clear. Tell Jerry and Gus and Lewis and—everybody else there, that I worked with “hello.” John Whittler, if you see him, tell him to saddle Butch up. Break, break. Is your cloud cover such that I can expect [to] see light—or flares at Woomera? Over.

Roger. The cloud coverage here is 3,000 [nautical miles] overcast stratus, and we think you'll probably see them through the clouds. Woomera is clear.

Roger.

Seven from Muchea. Would you send us one more blood pressure?

Roger. Starting now.

We're going to send you a Z cal at this time.

Roger. And—go ahead and send it. I'll—you'll be interested to know that I have no moon, now. The horizon is clearly visible from my present position; that's at 00 54 44 elapsed. I believe the horizon on the dark side with no moon is very good for pitch and roll. The stars are adequate for yaw in, maybe 2 minutes of tracking. Over.

Roger, Understand. Sounds very good. Z cal off; R cal coming on. Mark.

Suggest that you back the fuel control back to your first black mark.

Roger. I'll try that. Going all the way off and back up a little bit lower than where I was.

Roger. Your suit temperature is down a bit at this point.

Say again, Deke.

Your suit temperature is down, which is good.

Well, that's a result of an increase in flow lately. I would think that—I'll try increasing rather than decreasing.

Hello, Woomera Cap Com, Aurora Seven. Do you read?

Roger. This is Woomera. This is Woomera Cap Com. Reading you loud and clear. How me?

This is Muchea Cap Com. They will not be contacting you for another 3 minutes.

Roger. Go ahead, Deke. Just trying to get the word on the flare.

Roger. Understand. I'll give you the settings, correction, the attitudes for the first flare at this time. It would be plus 80 [degrees] yaw, minus 80 [degrees] in pitch.

Roger Understand, Deke. Plus 80 [degrees] yaw, minus 80 [degrees] pitch.

Roger. Okay. The Cape now advises to keep the suit setting where it was since it's coming down.

Roger. I—for your information, I have increased it just slightly. My readings now are 7 [psia] and 7 [psia] on suit and cabin. What are my inverter temperatures and thruster line temperatures, Deke? Are they okay?

Rog. We are losing you. We are losing you on air-ground. Would you care to contact Woomera at this time?

Roger.

Aurora Seven, Aurora Seven, this is Woomera. Read you loud and clear. How me?

Roger, Woomera. Reading you loud and clear, also. I'd like readout on my inverter temperatures—and mark on your flare. Over.

Roger. We're going to have the flare in approximately 2 minutes. We'll give you a readout on your temperatures.

Roger. And for your information, Rate Command is also working in all axes. Over.

Roger. Rate—rate Command in all axes.

That—that signifies that all control systems are operating satisfactorily. Over.

Roger. Understand. All systems okay. We have your temperatures. Your 150 inverter, 152 [degrees]. Your 250 inverter, 167 [degrees]. Do you copy? Over.

Roger. Copied, thank you. Standing by.

We're going to have the flares. All four of them go at approximately 00 [plus] 58 plus 30. We do have an eight by eight coverage.

Roger. I am at—plus 80 [degrees] yaw, minus 80 [degrees] pitch now.

Roger. We'll give you a time hack when we come up to flare test.

Roger.

This is Woomera Cap Com, Seven. Surgeon reports all systems look good down here. And Systems reports everything okay on his panel.

Roger. Thank you. It looks good to me, also.

Roger. You are loud and clear. Coming up on the flare test—in approximately 25 seconds.

Roger.

Good air-to-ground.