002:27:21

GO for TLI. (0'10", 570kb)*

002:31:26

TLI burn. – Starts 0'25" before S-IVB ignition.
Comms apparently through the Mercury.(10'42", 5.6MB)*

003:35:57

We have a beautiful view of Florida now. (0'36", 780kb)*

Lunar Encounter

HSK leading up to Loss of Signal as Apollo 8 passes behind the Moon for the first time.

This is the full Track 4 of Tape 4 (recorded in the Station Director’s office) leading up to LOS as Apollo 8 passes behind the Moon at 19:48:16 AEST on Christmas Eve.

Note 1: This is a large file. (96'10", 46.7MB).

Note 2: What sounds like crosstalk at various points (e.g. at 02'31" and 03'27") is actually the onboard voice breaking through onto the downlink, as can be checked by comparison with the onboard audio and transcripts.

Note 3: If you compare the elapsed times from the start of the tape with the earlier transfer, encoded at lower quality, on this page, you’ll notice some small differences. That’s due to the tape being played back on different machines.

There are long periods of no communication on this tape.

Through Guam
00'16"Jerry Carr reads up the TEC-1 maneouver PAD.
03’30” Shifting command to Honeysuckle.

Through Honeysuckle
11'15" Carr continues to read up TEI PADs.
21'23" Carr requests switch Omni.
31'153" Carr requests down voice backup comm check
33'35" Lovell: “We have as yet to see the Moon.”
39'46" Carr: “At 68:04 you’re go for LOI.”
47'11" Borman: Cryos stirred.
51'19" 42 minutes from LOS.
56'15" Voice quality on the DSE dump is very good.
61'26" Comm check. Much more noise on downlink. Omni needs swapping?
65'30" Anders.
68'10" Carr: “We’ve got our lunar map up [on the display] and ready to go.”

72'18" Anders reports fuel pressure.
73'24" Carr calls, Lovell answers.

82'52" Carr: 9 minutes to LOS.
87'16" Carr: 5 minutes to LOS. “Roger, Frank, the custard’s in the oven at 350[°F].”

[Apparently Frank Borman’s wife Susan asked Carr to send that message: it was a message of support – he would fly the mission and she would keep things going at home.]

90'11" Carr: 2 minutes to LOS.
91'10" Carr: “Apollo 8, Houston. One minute to LOS. All systems Go… safe journey guys.”

91'56" Carr: “Apollo 8, 10 seconds to go – you’re Go all the way.”
92'07.7" Increase in noise at LOS – 068:58:05.

93'05" At Honeysuckle Creek: Bernard Scrivener announces “LOS: Rev. 1, Occultation.” onto the tape.

ONBOARD LOS at Lunar Encounter and preparation for the initial LOI burn. This is the first time humans have been completely out of contact with Earth.

Increase in noise at LOS, 10 seconds into this recording.

(1'37", 1.2MB)* Hear other Onboard audio on this page.

In Lunar Orbit

Deke Slayton sends Christmas wishes.

Borman replies, “Thank everybody on the ground for us. It's pretty clear we wouldn”t be anywhere if we didn”t have them doing it for helping us out here.” (01'13", 1.1MB)