Online Encyclopedia
Apollo 13
- This article is about the Moon mission. There is also a movie by the name of Apollo 13.
| Mission Insignia | |
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| Mission Statistics | |
| Mission Name: | Apollo 13 |
| Call Sign: | Command module: Odyssey Lunar module: Aquarius |
| Number of Crew: |
3 |
| Launch: |
April 11, 1970 19:13:00 UTC Kennedy Space Center LC 39A |
| Lunar Flyby: (Pericynthion) |
April 15, 1970 00:21:00 UTC 254.3 km from moon 400,171 km from Earth |
| Landing: |
April 18, 1970 18:07:41 UTC 21° 38' 24" S - 165° 21' 42" W |
| Duration: | 5 d 22 h 54 min 41 s |
| Mass: | CSM 28,945 kg; LM 15,235 kg |
| Crew Picture | |
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| Apollo 13 Crew | |
Apollo 13 was an American space mission, part of the Apollo program. It was intended to be the third mission to land on the Moon, but instead is famous for the critical malfunction it suffered and its difficult but successful return home.
| Contents |
Crew
- James Lovell (4), commander
- John Swigert (1), command module pilot
- Fred Haise (1), lunar module pilot
Mission Parameters
- Mass: CM 28,945 kg; LM 15,235 kg
- Perigee: 181.5 km
- Apogee: 185.6 km
- Inclination: 33.5°
- Period: 88.07 min
Oxygen Tank Explosion
Closest approach to Moon
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April 15, 1970, 00:21:00 UTC
- 254.3 km above farside of moon;
- 400,171 km from Earth (still a record distance).
See also
Quote
Famous misquote: "Houston, we have a problem"
Actual quote: "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here" [1], uttered by Swigert to ground. Lovell then uttered this similar phrase: "Houston, we've had a problem."
Mission Highlights
The crew's understated radio message to Mission Control was "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here." Within 321,860 kilometers of Earth, an oxygen tank in the service module exploded. The only solution was for the crew to abort their planned landing, swing around the Moon and return on a trajectory back to Earth. Since their command module "Odyssey" was almost completely dead, however, the three astronauts had to use the lunar module "Aquarius" as a crowded lifeboat for the return home. The four-day return trip was cold, uncomfortable and tense. But Apollo 13 proved the program's ability to weather a major crisis and bring the crew back home safely.
Problem
As the spacecraft was on its way to the Moon, the number two oxygen tank in the Service Module exploded when Mission Control requested that the crew perform a "cryo stir", in which the oxygen "slush" is stirred to prevent it from stratifying. Faulty wires connecting to the stirrer motor caught fire when power was applied. The fire caused a pressure increase above the tank's nominal 1,000 lb/in² (7 MPa), and the tank exploded. The explosion damaged other parts of the service module, including the number 1 oxygen tank. At the time of the explosion, however, the true cause was not known, and was conjectured to be a meteorite impact.
The loss of both Service Module oxygen tanks and the oxygen required to create electrical power for much of the spacecraft meant that the moon-landing mission had to be aborted; a single pass around the Moon was made and the spacecraft returned to Earth. Considerable ingenuity under extreme pressure was required from both the crew and the ground controllers to figure out how to jury-rig the craft for the crew's safe return, with much of the world watching the drama on television. Central to the survival of the crew was the use of the Lunar Module (still attached to the Command Module ) as a "lifeboat". One of the major stumbling blocks in this was that the LM was equipped to sustain two people for two days, and it would now have to sustain three people for four days. The carbon dioxide filters in the LM could not handle the extra load and the CM's spare filters were the wrong shape for the LM's filter receptacle; an adapter had to be fabricated from materials in the spacecraft. The crew had to use the LM as a lifeboat because the explosion had damaged the craft's electrical systems, precluding the generation of enough power to keep the Command Module operational. The emergency batteries would only last about ten hours, and needed to be saved for reentry.
In order to accomplish a safe return to Earth, a significant course correction to place the spacecraft on a free return trajectory was required. This would normally be a simple procedure using the service module propulsion engine. However, the mission's ground controllers did not know the extent of the damage the service module had suffered and did not want to risk firing the main engine. Instead, the course correction would have to be performed by firing the lunar module's descent engine. After extensive thought and discussion, engineers on the ground found it was possible. The descent engine was fired after passage around the Moon in order to accelerate the spacecraft's return to Earth, and once again for a minor course correction. This created concern, as the LM was designed to be fired once and permanently shut down.
Reentry in Earth's atmosphere required the unusual step of undocking and jettisoning the lunar module, which had been retained for the flight back to Earth, in addition to the separation of the damaged service module. There was some fear the reduced temperatures during the return leg would cause condensation that could seriously damage the electronics of the Command Module upon activation, but the equipment worked perfectly under the circumstances.
The crew returned unharmed to Earth, although Haise had a urinary tract infection resulting from the scarcity of potable water on the damaged ship and the difficulty of disposing of urine, and had to be infirmed. When the crew saw the damaged service module, they reported that the access panel covering the O2 tanks and fuel cells was blown off.
It was noted later that while the crew was unfortunate to have this kind of major malfunction, they were still extremely lucky that it occurred on the first leg of the mission when they had a maximum of supplies, equipment and power to use in the emergency. If the explosion occurred on the return leg after the moon landing, they likely would never have survived, especially if the LEM had already been jettisoned.
After the completion of the mission, there was a full investigation of the incident and the craft was modified to prevent future occurances of the fault.
Jim Lovell and Jeffery Klunger's book about the mission, Lost Moon, was later turned into a successful movie, Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks.
Mission notes
- Swigert was a replacement for Ken Mattingly, who later flew to the Moon aboard Apollo 16. Mattingly was reportedly exposed to German measles prior to the mission, and NASA officials insisted upon removing him from the flight so as not to endanger the mission. He never contracted the sickness and played a critical role in the crisis working on the simulator to help devise a means for the crew to return home safely.
- As a result of following the free return trajectory, the altitude of Apollo 13 over the lunar far side was approximately 100 km greater than the corresponding orbital altitude on the remaining Apollo lunar missions. Though this difference is swamped by the variation in distance between Earth and the Moon owing to the eccentricity of the Moon's orbit about Earth, this fact has sometimes generated sentiment favoring the award of the world altitude record to the Apollo 13 crew.
- The splashdown point was 21 deg 38 min S, 165 deg 22 min W, SE of American Samoa and 6.5 km (4 mi) from the recovery ship USS Iwo Jima.
- There was another not quite so famous failure on this mission which could have been equally catastrophic. During second stage burn the center engine shut down. It was later discovered that this was due to dangerous POGO oscillations which might have torn the second stage apart. Luckily the oscillations caused a low pressure reading to register, and the computer shut the engine down automatically.
Insignia
The Apollo 13 logo featured three flying horses, and the motto Ex luna, scientia (from the moon, knowledge), and the name of the mission in Roman numerals.
Statistics
- Launched: April 11, 1970 from Pad 39A
- Returned: April 17, 1970
- Crew members: Jim Lovell, commander; Jack Swigert, command module pilot; Fred Haise, lunar module pilot.
- Command module: Odyssey
- Lunar module: Aquarius
- Intended lunar landing site: Fra Mauro highlands
Relics
The command module is currently displayed at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchinson, Kansas. It was formerly at the Musee de l'Air , Paris. The lunar module burned up in Earth's atmosphere 17 April, 1970.
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Preceded by: Apollo 12 |
Apollo program |
Followed by: Apollo 14 |
Dramatization
- Apollo 13 - a 1995 movie directed by Ron Howard and starring, as the astronauts, Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon, with Ed Harris, Kathleen Quinlan and Gary Sinise in supporting roles.
External link
Reference
- NASA NSSDC Master Catalog
- APOLLO BY THE NUMBERS: A Statistical Reference by Richard W. Orloff (NASA)
- The Apollo Spacecraft: A Chronology
- Apollo Program Summary Report
- Apollo 13 Characteristics - SP-4012 NASA HISTORICAL DATA BOOK