Apollo: The Race To The Moon

by Catherine Bly Cox

As the spacecraft disappeared behind the moon on its last revolution, the one when it would fire the S.P.S. to free itself of lunar gravity, the MOCR once again filled with off-shift controllers. Once again the room fell silent. Chris Kraft later reported that waiting to reacquire the signal was his most apprehensive moment since he had joined the space program, worse even than Glenn’s entry after the heat shield problem. FlDO Jay Greene reported the news: “Flight, we have U.S.B. [upper side band] data. Initial residuals look good.” Then came the first words from the crew. “Please be informed,” astronaut Jim Lovell intoned across the 240,000 miles, “there is a Santa Claus.” In the FIDO flight log, Greene wrote in small, neat writing, “Burn status: Burn time 3 + 23. Ignition on time. Attitude nominal. Vx –.5. Vy+.4. Vz 0.” And below that, in big, sloppy, joyous script, “WE IS COMING HOME.”