Spacelog Mercury 7

Okay, Rcal off. We suggest you go to manual at this point and preserve your auto fuel. Low at this point.

Roger. Going to manual now.

Roger.

At this time I'm reading 45-70 [percent] on fuel.

Rog. Understand 45-70 [percent].

Cabin.temperature is 107 [degrees].

Cabin 107 [degrees].

I don't believe you've ever received any sunrise, sunset times.

Roger. Give me the whole lot of them, Deke, or the ones that are coming. Give me rise, set, and rise.

Roger. Will do. Your next sunrise will be 02 50 00.

Roger. Copy.

Sunset 03 41 20.

Roger.

Sunrise 04 19 00.

Roger. Copy.

Well, it sounds like you're doing real well up there, Dad.

Roger. It's a little warm.

I suspect so.

Been riding your horse the last couple of days.

Good.

For your information, Cape informs that if we don't stay on manual for quite a spell here we'll probably have to end this orbit.

I'll be sure and stay on manual.

Roger.

You've got a lot of drift left here yet too.

Say again.

You've got drift capability left yet, too.

Roger.

Did you see any lights over the Australian . . .?

I did. That is, Roger. I did see some lights. I couldn't identify them, however.

Roger. Understand.

Would you give us another readout on your suit steam temp? Has this changed any?

It may have gone down just a tad. It's about zero now; I mean about 70 [degrees] now. It was a little bit higher. The visor is closed and I'm beginning to feel a little cooler.

Very good.

We indicated 2-degree drop at suit inlet, so it sounds like you're making out a bit.

Roger. My control mode now, Deke, is manual; gyros free; and the maneuver is off.

Roger. I understand. Manual; gyro free; and maneuver off.

Roger

Aurora Seven, this is Muchea Cap Com. Are you reading?

Still reading, Muchea.

Very good.

We are just kind of leaving you alone. How is your balloon doing, incidentally?

I haven't found it since it got dark. It's—it's—it rambles quite a bit, Deke. It's not inflated fully, and it doesn't stretch out on the line tight like I expected. It bounces in and out and oscillates up and down and sideways. Have no good tensiometer readings yet.

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

Hello, Woomera. Aurora Seven. Loud and clear. How me?

Roger. You are loud and clear, also.

We copied your transmission over Muchea. Understand you still have the balloon on. Is that an affirmative?

That is affirmative. I have the balloon on. However, I haven't seen it for some time. It wanders quite a bit and I do not have it in sight at this moment. I believe that—it might be visible against the earth background at this time.

Roger. Do you see the moon at all?

I am faced the wrong way and limited in maneuverability I have left because of my fuel state. I can see the terminator between moonlit side, and unmoonlit side. Over.

Roger. Understand. Are you feeling a little more comfortable at this time?

I don't know. I'm still warm and still perspiring, but not really uncomfortable. I would like to—I would like to nail this suit temperature problem down. It—for all practical purposes, it's uncontrollable as far as I can see.

Roger. Understand. You might have to wait a few more minutes before this takes effect. You are on No. 6. Is that right?

That is right. Suit temperature is No. 6.

Roger. Systems reports that your suit temperature has dropped 2 degrees over station, if that's any encouragement to you.

Roger. Thank you. It is.

Roger.

Have you taken any food thus far?

Yes, I have. However, the food has crumbled badly; and I hate to open the package any more for fear of getting crumbs all over the capsule. I can verify that eating bite-size food as we packaged for this flight is no problem at all. Even the crumbly foods are eaten with no, with no problem.

Roger. How about water?

I had taken four swallows at approximately this time last orbit. As soon as I get the suit temperature pegged a little bit, I'll open the visor and have some more water. Over.

Roger. You are still coming in very loud and clear.

Roger.

. . . out at this time.

For the record now—

One of the labels for a fuse switch has slipped out, and sideways, and has tied the adjoining fuse switch together with it. This happened to emergency-main and reserve-deploy fuse switches.

I caged the gyros. They are too critical. I will try and navigate on the dark side without the gyros.

The fuse switch should be glued in better so that turning off one fuse does not turn off the adjoining one.

I guess I'd better try to get that xylose pill out. I hate to do this.

Oh yes. There is the xylose pill. It didn't melt. All the rest of the stuff in here did melt.

Hello, Canton Com Tech. Aurora Seven reads you loud and clear. How me?

This is Canton Cap Com. Read you loud and clear. Could you begin your short report, please?

Roger, George. My control mode is manual. The gyros are caged, maneuver is off. Fuel is 45 and 64 [percent], a little ahead of schedule. Oxygen reads 82-100 [percent]. Steam vent temperature in the suit is dropping slightly. It's a little below 70 [degrees]. Cabin is 4.6 [psia]. Suit temperature has dropped to about 71 [degrees] now. All the power is good, and here is a blood pressure. Over.

Okay, standing by for blood pressure.

We are receiving the blood-pressure check. Over.

Roger.

Do you plan on eating as called for by … Over.

I did have the visor open a short time ago for the xylose pill. All of the rest of the food that I have aboard has either crumbled or melted. It's unusable in its present state so I think the xylose pill will constitute my last zero g meal. However, the first one, before the food crumbled, was quite easy. It's no problem to eat this bite-size food—in a weightless state. I also drank some water at that time, which was no problem.

Roger. I take it, from what you said then, that you have confirmed that your faceplate is closed for the decision on the third orbit.

That is correct. My faceplate is closed. Also, what is the trend of my cabin pressure on the ground? Over.

Stand by, please.

We are checking on your request there, Scott. Could you hit that button again? We lost your EKG.

Oh, you want blood pressure or EKG?

No, we lost the EKG. Possibly you could press on those sensors. Okay, Surgeon informs me that the EKG is now returning. Your other question, cabin pressure is staying at 5.1 [psia] approximately.

Roger. No change in reading since launch. Is that correct?

Negative on that. It's gone from 5.8 [psia] at launch to approximately 5.1 [psia] in very, very gradual descending trend.

Roger. My cabin pressure indicator is reading 4.8 [psia] at this time.

Roger, I have no comment on this, just that the trend appears to be good here on the ground.

Roger.

Do you have any specific comments on your balloon experiments; for example, the best color contrast with the

Yes, I would say the day-glow orange is the best.

Roger. For your information, the second sunrise should be expected in approximately 3 to 4 minutes.