Spacelog Mercury 7

Roger. My G.m.t.—my backup G.m.t. are right in synch, with G.m.t. 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.

Roger. Flare test coming up. Stand by. Mark 00 [plus] 58 plus 30. All four flares away.

Aurora Seven, Aurora Seven, this is Woomera. How do you read? Over.

Roger. Reading you loud and clear. Searching for your flares. Stand by.

Roger. We still have approximately 60 seconds left.

You're up to minus 50 [degrees] on roll.

Roger. Backing off. Thank you, thank you. Backing off.

I do not have your flares. I'm sorry, Woomera.

Say again, Seven.

No joy on your flares. I do not have your flares visible.

Have copied. Evidently the cloud coverage is too tight.

At this time I have extensive cloud coverage—wait.

Did you try Aux Damp when you're in fly-by-wire to see if you are holding attitudes?

Negative. I have verified that Aux Damp is operating satisfactorily. Over.

Roger. Understand.

I have some lights on the ground underneath me. Stand by, I'll try to identify them.

Roger. Wilco.

Aurora Seven, Aurora Seven, this is Woomera Cap Com. Do you read? Over.

Loud and clear, Woomera. Go ahead.

Roger. Could you give us a short report at this time?

Roger. My control mode is fly-by-wire, gyros are free, and the maneuver switch is off. Fuel reads 75-85 [percent], oxygen 88 and 100 [percent]. Wait till I pick a washer out of the air. And everything is very good. Over.

Roger. You're intermittent. What is your suit temperature? Over.

Roger. Suit temperature is now 70 [degrees]. Suit temperature is 70 [degrees]. Steam exhaust is 70 [degrees]. The cabin exhaust is 80 [degrees].

Roger. Do you confirm—do you have your—back down to the black scribe mark?

That is negative. I have then both set on seven at this time and—an increase in setting resulted in a decrease—in suit temperature. I think I'd like to try—try them at this setting a little while longer. Over.

Roger. Understand. I believe at this time you're supposed to have your midnight snack.

Roger. I'll get to that shortly.

Roger. You're starting to drift or fade slightly.

Roger.

Are you prepared to go into drifting flight before too long?

Roger. I can do that at this time. At night yawed—

. . . is that affirmative?

I am going to drifting flight at this time. Over.

Roger.

Gyros are caged. I have about a 2-degree-per-second yaw rate. All gyros are zero. I have Corvus directly above me. I'm yawing over the top. I feel that my attitude is—the line of sight is nearly—nearly vertical.

I am in VOX record only now. The time is 01 04 00 elapsed. I'm searching the star charts.

The finish on the star chart is so shiny that—it's impossible to read because of reflection.

I've got to turn white lights on, that's all.

At 01 05 00.

Attitudes are of no concern to me whatsoever. I know I'm drifting freely. The moon crossed the window not too long ago.

Let's see, now what can—I am at this moment rocking my arms back and forth and I can make this show up in the roll, yaw, and pitch needle. By moving my torso, I can make the pitch rate needle move up to 1 degree per second. Roll is, needle, rate needle is very sensitive to this. Yaw is also. Let's see, am going to open the visor at this time. Have a few crumbs of food floating around in the capsule.

At 01 06 106—-at 1 minute, 1 hour and 7 minutes elapsed, I'm going above the scale to approximately 8 on cabin and suit.

Hello, hello, Canton Com Tech, Canton Com Tech, Aurora Seven. Weak but readable. Go ahead.

Aurora Seven, Aurora Seven. This is Canton Com Tech, Canton Com Tech. Do you read? Over.

Hello, Canton Com Tech, Aurora Seven. Loud and clear. How me?

The food—hello, Canton Com Tech, Aurora Seven. How do you read?

Hello, Canton Com Tech, Aurora Seven. How do you read?

This food has crumbled badly.