Apollo in Real Time Forum
Message Boards => Apollo 13 Moments of Interest => Topic started by: MadDogBV on November 01, 2024, 08:34:29 am
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Per the PAO transcript, courtesy of the Apollo 13 Flight Journal:
(-04:19:58 GET) This is Apollo Saturn Launch Control; we're continuing in our hold at the T minus 3 hour and 30 minute mark. This is a planned hold at this time scheduled to last for 1 hour. The close-out crew has just recently arrived at the 320-foot level. They went across the swing arm to the White Room area and have now opened the hatch of the Command Module, which has been named Odyssey. The backup pilot, Vance Brand, has entered the spacecraft at this time. The close-out crew consists of 6 men. The pad leader, the backup pilot, a NASA quality control man, two spacecraft technicians, and [...] two suit technicians.
Some interesting things to note about the checkout procedure:
- It appears that as Vance goes through the tests, his callsign changes depending on where in the center couch he is seated. His first spoken lines over the loop identify himself as the "CDR" when he attempts to begin the chlorination procedure, until Skip redirects him. Later, he identifies as "BCMP" when he's inspecting the MC&W lights, given that he's the backup backup pilot (with the backup pilot, Swigert, of course having been placed into the prime crew).
- The STONEY or capsule communicator is nominally Paul Weitz, though at this point, he was apparently running late getting to the launch site. One of the Cape technicians named Joe Battaglia was going to sit in for Weitz until he arrived, but it doesn't appear that this happened. (Little is known about Joe other than that he was an engineer at the Merritt Island facilities.)
Link: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-04:18:35&ch=7 (https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=-04:18:35&ch=7)