It was forty years ago when the Apollo 13 moon mission became what history calls “NASA’s most successful failure.”
The newspapers hardly mentioned the Apollo 13 flight, as NASA missions had become routine as far as the media was concerned. The headlines in April 1970 were more about the Vietnam war and the breakup of The Beatles.
The three man Apollo 13 crew had to abandon their moon mission on April 13th when an explosion ruptured the Service Module, when one of their three liquid oxygen tanks exploded. The moon mission immediately turned into a rescue mission.
Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot John L. “Jack” Swigert and Lunar Module Pilot Fred W. Haise had to shut down the Command Module, and use the Lunar Module (LEM) as a lifeboat to return to earth.
The safest flight plan to return to earth took four days, with the crew crammed into the lunar module which was only designed for two men for two days. Low on power, oxygen and water, the astronauts also had to survive frigid temperatures; there wasn’t enough power for heat.
Halfway home another problem emerged. The carbon dioxide wasn’t getting removed from their oxygen supply; NASA command had to come up with an emergency fix for the air scrubbers, to provide enough breathable air for the three astronauts to return home to earth. The Apollo 13 crew literally had to “fit a square peg into a round hole,” and a working solution was rigged up for the remainder of the flight.
Another emergency maneuver was required upon approach to the earth, as the space craft was off course by about 80 miles. Again, the crew rose to the occasion and guided their ship back on course.
The crew had to power the command module back up, which had never been done before during a space flight. Power came up and the astronauts transferred back to the command module as they prepared to burn through the atmosphere back to earth.
Once the service module was jettisoned, they could see the damage; an entire panel had been blown out. One more concern remained; would the heat shield hold up during reentry? Had it been damaged during the explosion? That concern grew during the blackout phase of reentry, when the crew didn’t answer NASA command.
Affirmative response was a full thirty seconds late from the crew, and once the capsule’s parachutes depoyed, the return of Apollo 13 was confirmed. Despite these incredible hardships, the crew returned safely to Earth on Friday, April 17th, 1970. It was NASA’s finest hour, as Houston’s Command Center worked through the many failures and challenges with the Apollo 13 astronauts. “Gentlemen, failure is not an option.”
Imagine, the computer power in your handheld computer today is more powerful than the onboard computers aboard the Apollo spacecraft. Makes the accomplishment seem that much more fantastic, doesn’t it?
Dateline NBC just broadcast a special program about Apollo 13. James Lovell wrote a book about his experience; Apollo 13 the movie was based on it.
More info at nasa.gov