Spacelog Mercury 7

Roger. C.e.t. on my mark will be 4 hours 1 minute, 35 seconds, stand by. MARK, 4 01 35.

Roger. Still one second off; that's fine.

The flight plan calls for you to have a drink of water over here. Do you feel like you need one—

Roger. I just, I have had three long drinks of water. The last one was, I think, about 10 minutes ago, Deke.

You're probably loaded for bear, then.

Roger.

—?

Roger. Deke, the haze layer is very bright. I would say 8 to 10 degrees above the real horizon. And I would say that the haze layer is about twice as high above the horizon as the—the bright blue band at sunset is; it's twice as thick. A star, stars are occluded as we pass through this haze layer. I have a good set of stars to watch going through at this time. I'll try and get some photometer readings.

Roger. Understand. It's twice as—sunset.

It is not twice as thick. It's thinner, but it is located at a distance about twice as far away as the top of the—the band at sunset.

Understand.

It's very narrow, and as bright as the horizon of the earth itself.

Rog.

This is a reading on Phecda in—in the Big Dipper prior to entry in the, the, into the haze layer. It occludes—it is extinct at roughly 2.5. The reticle extincts at 5.5. TM mark for the time in the middle of the haze layer. Spica—stand by.

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

Roger. Stand by, Woomera.

Roger. Standing by.

In the middle of the haze layer, Phecda will not—I can't even get a reading on it through the photometer. Phecda is now below the horizon, or below and mark about 5 seconds ago, now it emerged from the brightest part of the haze layer. It is now clearly visible. Woomera, my status is very good, fuel is 45 and 42 [percent]. Standby, I'll give you a full report very shortly.

Roger. Standing by.

Visor coming open.

Roger. Visor open.

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

Roger, Woomera, loud and clear.

You say visor is open?

That's negative. I did not open it. I won't open it until I get through with these readings. Phecda now extincts at 1.7 in the mid, in mid position between the haze layer and the earth. Okay, Woomera, my—my status is very good. The suit temperature is coming down substantially. Steam vent temperature is not down much, but the suit environment temperature is 60 [degrees]. I'm quite comfortable. Cabin temperature is 101 [degrees]; cabin is holding an indicated 4.8; oxygen is 75-100 [percent], all d-c power continues to be good, 20 Amps; both a-c busses are good; fuel reads 46 and 40 [percent]. I am in drifting flight. I have had plenty of water to drink. The visor is coming open now. And blood pressure is coming your way at this time.

Hello, Woomera, Woomera Cap Com, this is Aurora Seven. Did you copy my last? Over.

Cabin temperature, cabin water flow is all the way off and reducing back to about 7.5 now, a little bit less. At this time cabin steam vent going to record only.

Cabin steam vent is 10; suit steam vent is 62. I would like to have a little bit more pad on the temperature, but I can't seem to get it. The suit temperature is 60 [degrees]; the cabin temperature continues at 102 [degrees]. I have 22 minutes and 20 seconds left for retrofire. I think that I will try to get some of this equipment stowed at this time.

There is the moon.

Looks no different—here than it does on the ground.

Visor is open and the visor is coming closed now at this time.

I have put the moon—in the center of the window and it just drifts very, very little.

There seems to be a stagnant place in the, my helmet. The suit is cool, but along my face it's warm.

And there is Scorpio.

All right, let's see.

All right for the record. Interesting, I believe. This haze layer is very bright through the airglow filter. Very bright. The time now is 4 17 44.

Now, let me see, I'll get an accurate band width.

That's very handy, because the band width—there is the sun … The horizon band width is exactly equal to the X. I can't explain it; I'll have to, to—

Sunrise. Ahhhhh! Beautiful lighted fireflies that time. It was luminous that time. But it's only, okay, they—all right, I have—if anybody reads, I have the fireflies. They are very bright. They are capsule emanating. I can rap the hatch and stir off hundreds of them. Rap the side of the capsule; huge streams come out. They—some appear to glow. Let me yaw around the other way.

Some appear to glow but I don't believe they really do; it's just the light of the sun. I'll try to get a picture of it. They're brilliant. I think they would really shine through 9 on the photometer. I'll rap. Let's see.

Taking some pictures at F 2.8 and bulb. The pictures now, here, one of the balloon. The sun is too bright now. That's where they come from. They are little tiny white pieces of frost. I judge from this that the whole side of the capsule must have frost on it.

Aurora Seven, this is Hawaii Com Tech, how do you read?

Hello, Hawaii, loud and clear. How me?

Hawaii Com Tech.

Seven, Hawaii Com Tech, I read you momentarily on UHF. How do you read? Over.

The maneuver switch is off.

Roger. Are you ready to start your pre-retrosequence checklist?

Roger. One moment.

I'm alining my attitudes. Everything is fine. I have part of the stowage checklist taken care of at this time.

Roger.

Aurora Seven, do you wish me to read out any of the checklist to you?

Roger. Let me get the stowage and then you can help me with the pre-retrograde.

Roger. Standing by.

Aurora Seven, can we get on with the checklist? We have approximately 3 minutes left of contact.

Roger. Go ahead with the checklist. I'm coming to retroattitude now and my control mode is automatic and my attitudes-standby. Wait a minute, I have a problem in.

I have an ASCS problem here. I think ASCS is not operating properly. Let me— Emergency retrosequence is armed and retro manual is armed. I've got to evaluate this retro—this ASCS problem, Jim, before we go any further.

Roger. Standing by. Make sure your emergency drogue deploy and emergency main fuses are off.

Roger. They are. Okay, I'm going now to fly-by-wire, to Aux Damp, and now—attitudes do not agree. Five minutes to retrograde; light is on. I have a rate of descent, too, of about 10, 12 feet per second.

Say again, say again.

I have a rate of descent of about 12 feet per second.

What light was on?

Yes, I am back on fly-by-wire, trying to orient.

Scott, let's try and get some of this retrosequence list checked off before you get to California.

Okay. Go through it, Jim.

Roger. Jim, go through the checklist for me.

Roger. Squib switch armed; auto retrojettison switch off; gyros normal; manual handle out; roll, yaw and pitch handles in.

Roll, yaw, and pitch are in.

Retroattitude auto; retract scope auto; maneuver switch off; periscope lever up; UHF-Hi power; transmit on UHF; beacon continuous; VOX power on transmit and record; all batteries checked. Do you copy?

Roger. It's complete.

Transmitting in the blind. We have LOS. Ground elapsed time is on my mark, 4 hours 29 minutes and 30 seconds. Transmitting in the blind to Aurora Seven. Make sure all your tone switches are on; your warning lights are bright; the retro manual fuse switch is on; the retrojettison fuse switch is off. Check your faceplate and make sure that it is closed.

Aurora Seven. Did you copy?

Roger. Copied all; I think we're in good shape. I'm not sure just what the status of the ASCS is at this time.

Aurora Seven, Aurora Seven, this is California Com Tech, California Com Tech. Do you hear? Over.

Hello, California Com Tech. Loud and clear. How me?

I'm reading you loud and clear also. Stand by for Cap Com.

Seven, this is Cap Com. Are you in retroattitude?

Yes, I don't have agreement with ASCS in the window, Al. I think I'm going to have to go to fly-by-wire and use the window and the scope. ASCS is bad. I'm on fly-by-wire and manual.

Roger. We concur. About 30 seconds to go.

About 10 seconds on my mark.

Roger.

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Retrosequence is green.

Roger. Check ASCS quickly to see if orientation mode will hold.

If your gyros are off, you'll have to use attitude bypass.

Gyros are off.

But you'll have to use attitude bypass and manual override.

Roger.

4, 3, 2, 1, 0.

Okay. Fire 1, fire 2, and fire 3. I had to punch off manually. I have a little bit of smoke in the capsule.

Attitudes hold, Scotty.