Spacelog Mercury 6

Temperature is reading 95 [degrees]. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven.

This is Friendship Seven. Getting some pictures of star. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven.

Hello Friendship Seven, Woomera Cap Com. Do you read me? Over.

Roger, Woomera Cap Com. Still read you loud and clear. How me?

Weak but readable, Friendship Seven. All systems appear go at this time. Blood pressure reading 125 over 90. You have an HF check coming up in about 2 minutes and 30 seconds, and Canton acquisition approximately 7 minutes. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven. Thank you very much. All systems are still go at this time. Switching to HF. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven. This is Woomera Cap Com. Out.

Hello Woomera, Friendship Seven on HF. Do you receive me? Over.

This is Friendship Seven. This is Friendship Seven, broadcasting in the blind to the Mercury network. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. This is Mercury Friendship Seven. Out.

This is Canaveral Cap Com, testing the HF. GMT 15 52 05, MARK. I did not read the capsule. Cape, out.

Friendship Seven, this Kano. GMT 15 53 02. I did (Kano) not read your transmission. Kano, out.

Friendship Seven. This is Canton Com Tech. Do you read? Over.

Hello, Canton. Hello, Canton. This is Friendship Seven. Read you loud and clear, how me? Over.

Hello Canton. Hello Canton, Friendship Seven. Read you loud and clear. How me? Over.

Friendship Seven, Canton Com Tech. Read you loud and clear, also. Stand by for Cap Com.

Roger. This is Friendship Seven. Com Tech Canton. Fuel 90-100 [percent], oxygen 73-101 [percent].

Seven, this is Canton Cap Com. Go ahead. Over.

Roger, Canton Cap Com. My report follows: Fuel 90 100 [percent], oxygen 73-100 [percent], amps 22, cabin pressure holding steady at 5.5 Over.

Friendship Seven, this is Canton Cap Com. Would you repeat that please?

Roger, Canton. Friendship Seven repeating. First, do you have TM solid? Over.

Friendship Seven, this is Canton. Affirmative, we do have TM solid.

Roger, message follows: Control fuel 90-100 [percent], oxygen 73-100 [percent], amps 22, cabin pressure 5.5 and holding steady. Over.

Ah, Roger, Friendship Seven. What control mode are you in the present time? Over.

This is Friendship Seven. Still in automatic, automatic. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven. Canton standing by.

Roger, Friendship Seven.

Friendship Seven. This is Canton Cap Com. All systems on the ground appear go. Your 150 volt-amp inverter temperature is presently 188° repeat 188° . Your clocks are in sync. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven. Thank you.

This is Friendship Seven, preparing to eat. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven.

This is Friendship Seven. I had a big storm in sight off to the south, of course, for a little while and had lightning flashes going around on top of the clouds. I could see it very clearly. Over.

Roger.

This is Friendship Seven. Opening visor, going to eat. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven.

This is Friendship Seven. Having no trouble at all eating, very good. In the periscope, I can see the brilliant blue horizon coming up behind me; approaching sunrise. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven. You are very lucky.

You're right. Man, this is beautiful

This is Friendship Seven. Have eaten one tube of food, shutting the visor. I've had no problem at all eating. Oh, the sun is coming up behind me in the periscope, a brilliant, brilliant red. Over.

Roger.

This is Friendship Seven. It's blinding through the scope on clear. It's started up just as I gave you that mark; I'm going to the dark filter to watch it come on up.

Roger.

This is Friendship Seven. I'll try to describe what I'm in here. I am in a big mass of some very small particles, that are brilliantly lit up like they're luminescent. I never saw anything like it. They round a little; they're coming by the capsule, and they look like little stars. A whole shower of them coming by.

They swirl around the capsule and go in front of the window and they're all brilliantly lighted. They probably average maybe 7 or 8 feet apart, but I can see them all down below me, also.

Roger, Friendship Seven. Can you hear any impact with the capsule? Over.

Negative, negative. They're very slow; they're not going away from me more than maybe 3 or 4 miles per hour. They're going at the same speed I am approximately. They're only very slightly under my speed. Over.

They do, they do have a different motion, though, from me because they swirl around the capsule and then depart back the way I am looking.

This has been going on since about 1 plus 15. Over. Just after I remarked about the sunset. I looked back up and looked out the window, and all the little swirl of particles was going by. Over.

This is Friendship Seven. This is Friendship Seven, broadcasting in the blind again on HF.

This is Friendship Seven, broadcasting in the blind. Sunrise has come up behind in the periscope. It was brilliant in the scope, a brilliant red as it approached the horizon and came up; and just as the—as I looked back up out the window, I had literally thousands of small, luminous particles swirling around the capsule and going away from me at maybe 3 to 5 miles per hour. Now that I am out in the bright sun, they seem to have disappeared. It was just as the sun was coming up. I can still see just a few of them now, even though the sun is up some 20° above the horizon.

Friendship Seven, Friendship Seven. This is Guaymas Com Tech, Guaymas Com Tech, transmitting on HF-UHF. Do you read? Over.

Hello, Guaymas Com Tech, Guaymas Com Tech. This is Friendship Seven. Receive your HF loud and clear. How me? Over.

Friendship Seven, Friendship Seven. This is Guaymas Cap Com. You're little garbled right now, but understandable. What is, what is your status? Over.

This is Friendship Seven on HF. My status is excellent. Everything is going according to plan. Control fuel is 90-100 [percent], oxygen is 72-101 [percent], amps 22. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven. Would you repeat your oxygen please? Over.

This is Friendship Seven. Oxygen is 72-101 [percent]. Over.

Roger.

Friendship Seven, Guaymas Cap Com. Everything looks fine from here.

Roger. This is Friendship Seven. Understand everything looks okay.

… 110. Your main inverter temperatures are rising slightly, but everything is okay now. Over.

Roger. Friendship Seven.

This is Friendship Seven. I still have some of these very small particles coming around the capsule. Over.

Friendship Seven, Guaymas Cap Com. Say again, please. Over.

This is Friendship Seven. Just as the sun came up, there were some brilliantly-lighted particles that looked luminous, that were swirling around the capsule. I don't have any in sight right now; I did have a couple just a moment ago, when I made the transmission to you. Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven.

This is Friendship Seven. For the record, number, the number two film that I'm putting in the camera is the number four roll.

Friendship Seven. Guaymas Cap Com. We have about 3 minutes yet before we acquire telemetry. I'll give you, I'll give you your retrosequence times for Areas 2 Alpha, Golf, Hotel. Area 2 Alpha is 01 36 38.

This is Friendship Seven. Standby. I'm not ready to copy yet; I'm changing film in the camera. Over.

Roger, we're standing by.

This is Friendship Seven, going back and using the number 2 roll if I can get hold of it.

Negative, number 2 is missing; I'm using number 3.

Friendship Seven, Guaymas Cap Com. Say again, please.

This is Friendship Seven, I was making a transmission for the record here on what film I was loading. Over.

Roger.

Friendship Seven, Guaymas Cap Com. Could you go to UHF now?

Roger. This is Friendship Seven, going to UHF.

Hello, Guaymas, Friendship Seven on UHF. Do you receive? Over.

Roger, Friendship Seven, loud and clear. Over.

Hello, Roger, this is Friendship Seven. Loud and clear with you also. Are we still go from Control Center? Over.

Roger, we're still go.

Roger. Friendship Seven. All systems are go in the capsule. I still have some of these little particles coming around the capsule occasionally here. I can see them against the dark sky even on the day side. Over.

Roger, understand.

Friendship Seven, Guaymas. Do you want your contingency times now? Over.

This is Friendship Seven. Ready to copy.

Area 2 Alpha 01 36 38. Area Golf 03 00 41.

Say again Area Golf again, please.

Area Golf 03 00 41.

Roger, Area Golf is 03 plus 00 plus 41. Is that affirm?

That's affirmative. Area Hotel is 04 32 40.

Roger, 04 plus 32 plus 40 for Hotel.

Friendship Seven, Guaymas. If you have a chance, could you give us a blood pressure check? Over.

Roger. Friendship Seven. Will give blood pressure check. I still have some of these particles that I cannot identify coming around the capsule occasionally. Over.

Roger. How big are these particles?

Very small, I would indicate they are on the order of 16th of an inch or smaller. They drift by the window and I can see them against the dark sky. Just at sunrise there were literally thousands of them. It looked just like a myriad of stars. Over.

Roger. Are they moving by you or floating with you? Over.