Spacelog Mercury 7

Roger. Going to fly-by-wire. It doesn't cost so much.

Roger. Fly-by-wire, Manual on. Is that affirmative?

Manual is—no, I'm, my control mode is pure fly-by-wire now.

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.

Roger, Canton Com Tech. Loud and clear. How me?

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

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

This is Canton. Loud and clear, Aurora Seven. Can you begin with the short report?

Roger. I've been reading you for some time. I've tried to contact you on HF with no success. My status is good; the capsule status is good; control mode is fly-by-wire; gyros caged; maneuver is off. The fuel reads 74-85 [percent]. Oxygen is 87-100 [percent]. The cabin temperature is a bit high at 104 [degrees]. The suit—steam vent temperature is 70 [degrees], and cabin is 80 [degrees], but I believe they're coming down. Over.

Roger. Did you wish to check your attitude readings with our telemetry? Over.

Roger. My—my gyros are caged at this time. Stand by one.

Standing by.

I am beginning to pick up what I believe is a—yeah, it's very definitely a cloud pattern equally low.

Roger.

I am—let's see, Canton, do you have the exact sunrise time for the first orbit? Over.

Say again, Aurora Seven.

Sunrise time for first orbit. Over.

I have a sunrise time of 1 plus 21 plus 00.

1 plus 21 00. Roger. Thank you.

Did you—could you comment on whether you are comfortable or not—would you . . . a 102 [degrees] on body temperature.

No, I don't believe that's correct. My visor was open; it is now closed. I can't imagine I'm that hot. I'm quite comfortable, but sweating some.

Roger. Can you confirm then that the faceplate is closed, and will be closed for the pass over Guaymas.

That is correct, George. I'll leave the faceplate closed. I have had one piece of the inflight food. It's crumbling badly and I hate to get it all over, and I have had about four swallows of water at that time.

Roger, four swallows of water.

You wish to start your comment now on the haze layer—there was the . . . pitch, and at the same time confirm that the flight plan is on schedule.

Roger. I cannot confirm that the flight plan is completely on schedule. At sunset I was unable to see a separate haze layer—the same—height above the horizon that John reported. I'll watch closely at sunrise and see if I can pick it up. Over.

Roger.

All readings appear to be normal down here. The capsule looks good from down here.

Roger, the—

. . . queries, you can continue on with your observations. Over.

Roger. Thanks, George, see you next time around.

Okay, Scott. Good luck.

Aurora Seven, Hawaii Com Tech. How do you read me? Over.

I am in VOX record now. I heard Hawaii calling, ha ha, Hawaii calling. I will go to transmit directly, and see if we can pick up Hawaii.

Hello, Hawaii Com Tech, Aurora Seven on HF. Loud and clear. How me?

Hello, Hawaii Com Tech, Hawaii Com Tech, Aurora Seven. Loud and clear. How do you read HF? Over.

Going now to record only while I switch back to UHF.

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

Aurora Seven, Aurora Seven, . . . on HF, UHF. How do you read? Over.

Roger. Hawaii Com Tech. Aurora Seven reading you loud and clear. How me?

Aurora Seven. Hawaii Com Tech. How do you read?

All right. My—I am at 01 19 02. Have been several times completely disoriented. There, I have Cassiopeia directly in the window and am yawing around for the sunrise—photographs. The sky is quite light in the east.

Excess cabin-water light came on at that time. I'll have to go back all the way down and off. Suit is—still high. The cabin-water gage is reading—plus 9, which is hard to believe.

My temperature, my body temperature doesn't feel . . . feel bad at all. My suit—yes, my suit temperature is down now, also.

But the steam vent temperature is—still about—70 [degrees].

I have the fireflies. Hello, Guaymas.

I have the particles. I was facing away from the sun at sunrise and I did not see the particles—just—just yawing about—180 degrees, I was able to pick up—at this.—Stand by, I think I see more.

Yes, there was one, random motions—some even appeared to be going ahead. There's one outside. Almost like a light snowflake particle caught in an eddy. They are not glowing with their own light at this time.

It could be frost from a thruster.