11 April 1970 19:13 GMT. Landing Date: 1970-04-17 18:07:41. Flight Time: 5.95 days. Flight Up: Apollo 13. Flight Back: Apollo 13. Call Sign: Odyssye/Aquarius. Crew: Haise, Lovell, Swigert. Backup Crew: Duke, Mattingly, Young. Support Crew: Brand, Lousma, Kerwin. Location of Capsule: Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Hutchinson, KS. Program: Apollo. Of note: Altitude (401,056 km) record. On the lighter side: Haise found he could scare the dickens out of the other crew members by actuating a lunar module relief valve, which made a loud bang. When the fuel cell tank exploded, taking out the whole side of the service module, the two first looked accusingly at him, thinking it was another of his jokes... the Apollo 13 accident happened on April 13 and lift-off had occurred two days earlier at 13:13 Houston time - so when Lovell began the post-flight press conference, his first words: "I am not a superstitious person"... What went wrong: Fuel cell tank exploded en route to the moon, resulting in loss of all power and oxygen. Only through use of the still-attached LM as a lifeboat could the crew survive to return to earth. Apollo 13 (AS-508) was launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, KSC, at 2:13 p.m. EST April 11, with astronauts James A. Lovell, Jr., John L. Swigert, Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr., aboard. The spacecraft and S-IVB stage entered a parking orbit with a 185.5-kilometer apogee and a 181.5-kilometer perigee. At 3:48 p.m., onboard TV was begun for five and one-half minutes. At 4:54 p.m., an S-IVB burn placed the spacecraft on a translunar trajectory, after which the CSM separated from the S-IVB and LM Aquarius. (The crew had named lunar module 7 Aquarius and CSM 109 Odyssey.) The CSM then hard-docked with the LM. The S-IVB auxiliary propulsion system made an evasive maneuver after CSM/LM ejection from the S-IVB at 6:14 p.m. The docking and ejection maneuvers were televised during a 72-minute period in which interior and exterior views of the spacecraft were also shown. At 8:13 p.m. EST a 217-second S-IVB auxiliary propulsion system burn aimed the S-IVB for a lunar target point so accurately that another burn was not required. The S-IVB/IU impacted the lunar surface at 8:10 p.m. EST on April 14 at a speed of 259 meters per second. Impact was 137.1 kilometers from the Apollo 12 seismometer. The seismic signal generated by the impact lasted 3 hours 20 minutes and was so strong that a ground command was necessary to reduce seismometer gain and keep the recording on the scale. The suprathermal ion detector experiment, also deployed by the Apollo 12 crew, recorded a jump in the number of ions from zero at the time of impact up to 2,500 shortly thereafter and then back to a zero count. Scientists theorized that ionization had been produced by 6,300 K to 10,300 K (6,000 degrees C to 10,000 degrees C) temperature generated by the impact or that particles had reached an altitude of 60 kilometers from the lunar surface and had been ionized by sunlight. Meanwhile back in the CSM/LM, the crew had been performing the routine housekeeping duties associated with the period of the translunar coast. At 30:40 ground elapsed time a midcourse correction maneuver took the spacecraft off a free-return trajectory in order to control the arrival time at the moon. Ensuring proper lighting conditions at the landing site. The maneuver placed the spacecraft on the desired trajectory, on which the closest approach to the moon would be 114.9 kilometers. At 10:08 p.m. EST April 13, the crew reported an undervoltage alarm on the CSM main bus B, rapid loss of pressure in SM oxygen tank No. 2, and dropping current in fuel cells 1 and 3 to a zero reading. The loss of oxygen and primary power in the service module required an immediate abort of the mission. The astronauts powered up the LM, powered down the CSM, and used the LM systems for power and life support. The first maneuver following the abort decision was made with the descent propulsion system to place the spacecraft back in a free-return trajectory around the moon. After the spacecraft swung around the moon, another maneuver reduced the coast time back to earth and moved the landing point from the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific. About four hours before reentry on April 17, the service module was jettisoned and the crew took photographs and made visual observations of the damaged area. About one hour before splashdown the command module was powered up and the lunar module was jettisoned. Parachutes were deployed as planned, and the Odyssey landed in the mid-Pacific 6.4 kilometers from the recovery ship U.S.S. Iwo Jima at 1:07 p.m. EST April 17. The astronauts were picked up by helicopter and transported to the recovery ship less than an hour after splashdown. Official NASA Account of the Mission from Where No Man Has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions, by W. David Compton, published as NASA SP-4214 in the NASA History Series, 1989.
Preparations for the launch proceeded without major problems through February and March 1970. Three days before launch, Jack Swigert took Ken Mattingly's place as command module pilot, after the prime crew had been exposed to German measles and Mattingly was found to have no immunity. Apollo 13 lifted off on schedule at 2:13 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on April 11, and for two days operations were routine; Capcom remarked at one point that flight controllers were bored to tears. A few hours later, however, an oxygen tank in the service module ruptured, depriving the spacecraft of most of its electrical power and oxygen, and the mission had to be aborted. Only a heroic effort of real-time improvisation by mission operations teams saved the crew.
Almost lost in the drama of the mission was the one piece of scientific information that Apollo 13 was able to provide. Shortly after command module pilot Jack Swigert had extracted the lunar module from atop the S-IVB stage, ground controllers fired the auxiliary propulsion system on the big rocket, putting it on a course to crash into the moon. Three days later the 30,700-pound (13,925 kilogram) hulk struck the lunar surface at 5,600 miles per hour (2.5 kilometers per second) some 74 miles (119 kilometers) west-northwest of the Apollo 12 landing site, releasing energy estimated as equivalent to the explosion of 7.7 tons (7,000 kilograms) of TNT. Half a minute later the passive seismometer left by Apollo 12 recorded the onset of vibrations that persisted for more than four hours. Another instrument, the lunar ionosphere detector, sensed a gas cloud that arrived a few seconds before the seismic signal and lasted for more than a minute. Seismologists were baffled by the moon's response to shock, but welcomed the new means of generating data.
In the year that it took to discover and correct the cause of the Apollo 13 failure, the scope of the remaining missions was altered. Apollo 14 would visit the site intended for exploration by Apollo 13, but it would go there as the last of the intermediate exploration missions.
Apollo 13 Chronology - 1968 Oct 23 - Two failures of Apollo LM propellant tanks fail during testing Spacecraft: Apollo LM.
LeRoy E. Day, Apollo Test Director, NASA Hq., informed Apollo Program Director Samuel C. Phillips of two failures of LM propellant tanks during testing, a problem that might have significant program impact on LMs 6 and 7 and subsequent vehicles. The particular tanks in question were those manufactured by Allison Division of ...more...
- 1968 Dec 24 - Plans for television cameras aboard remaining Apollo missions Spacecraft: Apollo LM.
ASPO Manager George M. Low apprised Program Director Samuel C. Phillips of MSC's plans for television cameras aboard remaining Apollo missions. With the exception of spacecraft 104 (scheduled for flight as Apollo 9), television cameras were to be flown in all CMs. Also, cameras would be included in all manned LMs (LM-3 through LM-14).
- 1970 Jan 14 - Scientific debriefing of the Apollo 12 astronauts
The scientific debriefing of the Apollo 12 astronauts indicated there were areas of strong interest for which there was no data and that the data could have been provided by an Apollo lunar surface closeup stereo camera. These included three distinct kinds of soil noticed by the astronauts, strangely ...more...
- - 1970 April 6-10 - Swigert, Apollo 13 backup pilot, began intensive training to replace Mattingly Spacecraft: Apollo CSM.
Astronaut John L. Swigert, Jr., Apollo 13 backup command module pilot, began intensive training as a replacement for Thomas K. Mattingly II. The Apollo 13 prime crew had undergone a comprehensive medical examination after German measles had been contracted by Charles M. Duke, Jr., a member of the Apollo 13 backup crew. Mattingly had not shown immunity to the rubella virus and it was feared that he might become ill during the Apollo 13 flight.
- 1970 Apr 11 - Apollo 13 Crew: Haise, Lovell, Swigert. Spacecraft: Apollo CSM. Payload: Apollo CSM 109 / Apollo LM 7 / ALSEP / S-IVB-508. Mass: 28,790 kg (63,470 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Saturn V. Duration: 5.95 days. Perigee: 184 km (114 mi). Apogee: 186 km (115 mi). Inclination: 32.50 deg. Period: 88.31 min.
Apollo 13 (AS-508) was launched from Pad A, Launch Complex 39, KSC, at 2:13 p.m. EST April 11, with astronauts James A. Lovell, Jr., John L. Swigert, Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr., aboard. The spacecraft and S-IVB stage entered a parking orbit with a 185.5-kilometer apogee and a 181.5-kilometer perigee. At 3:48 p.m., onboard TV was begun for five and one-half minutes. At 4:54 p.m., an S-IVB burn placed the spacecraft on a translunar trajectory, after which the CSM separated from the S-IVB and LM Aquarius. (The crew had named lunar module 7 Aquarius and CSM 109 Odyssey.) The CSM then hard-docked with the LM. The S-IVB auxiliary propulsion system made an evasive maneuver after CSM/LM ejection from the S-IVB at 6:14 p.m. The docking and ejection maneuvers were televised during a 72-minute period in which interior and exterior views of the spacecraft were also shown. At 8:13 p.m. EST a 217-second S-IVB auxiliary propulsion system burn aimed the S-IVB for a lunar target point so accurately that another burn was not required. The S-IVB/IU impacted the lunar surface at 8:10 p.m. EST on April 14 at a speed of 259 meters per second. Impact was 137.1 kilometers from the Apollo 12 seismometer. The seismic signal generated by the impact lasted 3 hours 20 minutes and was so strong that a ground command was necessary to reduce seismometer gain and keep the recording on the scale. The suprathermal ion detector experiment, also deployed by the Apollo 12 crew, recorded a jump in the number of ions from zero at the time of impact up to 2,500 shortly thereafter and then back to a zero count. Scientists theorized that ionization had been produced by 6,300 K to 10,300 K (6,000 degrees C to 10,000 degrees C) temperature generated by the impact or that particles had reached an altitude of 60 kilometers from the lunar surface and had been ionized by sunlight. Meanwhile back in the CSM/LM, the crew had been performing the routine housekeeping duties associated with the period of the translunar coast. At 30:40 ground elapsed time a midcourse correction maneuver took the spacecraft off a free-return trajectory in order to control the arrival time at the moon. Ensuring proper lighting conditions at the landing site. The maneuver placed the spacecraft on the desired trajectory, on which the closest approach to the moon would be 114.9 kilometers. At 10:08 p.m. EST April 13, the crew reported an undervoltage alarm on the CSM main bus B, rapid loss of pressure in SM oxygen tank No. 2, and dropping current in fuel cells 1 and 3 to a zero reading. The loss of oxygen and primary power in the service module required an immediate abort of the mission. The astronauts powered up the LM, powered down the CSM, and used the LM systems for power and life support. The first maneuver following the abort decision was made with the descent propulsion system to place the spacecraft back in a free-return trajectory around the moon. After the spacecraft swung around the moon, another maneuver reduced the coast time back to earth and moved the landing point from the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific.
- 1970 Apr 11 - Apollo 13 LM Spacecraft: Apollo LM. Payload: Apollo LM 7. Mass: 15,192 kg (33,492 lb). Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Saturn V. Duration: 5.95 days. Perigee: 184 km (114 mi). Apogee: 186 km (115 mi). Inclination: 32.50 deg. Period: 88.31 min.
- - 1970 April 13-June 15 - Apollo 13 - "Hey - we've got a problem here" Spacecraft: Apollo CSM.
"Hey, we've got a problem here." The message from the Apollo 13 spacecraft to Houston ground controllers at 10:08 p.m. EDT on April 13, initiated an investigation to determine the cause of an oxygen tank failure that aborted the Apollo 13 mission. The investigation terminated on June 15, when the Review Board accident report was ...more...
- 1970 Apr 15 - Apollo 13 swings behind the moon
At 00:21:35 GMT Apollo 13 passed behind the moon, out of radio contact with earth. Flying high above the lunar surface, the crew reached a distance of 401,056 km from the center of the earth, an all-time altitude record. At 02:40:39 GMT the cold, exhausted, and ailing crew conducted a completely manual 4 minute 23 second burn of the LM descent engine to reduce the coast time back to earth and moved the landing point from the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific. Meanwhile the S-IVB/IU stage had impacted the lunar surface at 01:10 GMT at a speed ...more...
- 1970 Apr 17 - Landing of Apollo 13
About four hours before reentry on April 17, the service module was jettisoned and the crew took photographs and made visual observations of the damaged area. About one hour before splashdown the command module was powered up and the lunar module was jettisoned. Parachutes were deployed as planned, and the Odyssey landed in the mid-Pacific 6.4 kilometers from the recovery ship U.S.S. Iwo Jima at 1:07 p.m. EST (18:07 GMT). The astronauts were picked up by helicopter and transported to the recovery ship less than an hour after splashdown.
- 1970 Apr 17 - Safe splashdown of Apollo 13
About four hours before reentry, the service module was jettisoned and the crew took photographs and made visual observations of the damaged area. About one hour before splashdown the command module was powered up and the lunar module was jettisoned. Parachutes were deployed as planned, and the Odyssey landed in the mid-Pacific 6.4 kilometers from the recovery ship U.S.S. Iwo Jima at 18:07 GMT April 17. The astronauts were picked up by helicopter and transported to the recovery ship less than an hour after splashdown.
- 1970 Apr 18 - Kamanin considers the Apollo 13 mission. Launch Vehicle: N1, Saturn V.
He believes it was a 'true test' of American technical capability in space. The saving of the American astronauts demonstrated the robust redundancy in the American Saturn V - Apollo design, as compared with the Soviet N1-L3. The latter, Kamanin remarks, is a bad launch vehicle, boosting a bad spacecraft. Kamanin sees the Soviet science fiction film Solaris - and finds it too fantastic for his taste.
- 1970 Apr 19 - Apollo 13 Review Board panels established Spacecraft: Apollo CSM.
To support the Apollo 13 Review Board, an MSC Apollo 13 Investigation Team, headed by Scott H. Simpkinson, was established with the several panels. Spacecraft incident investigation, flight crew observations, flight operations and ...more...
- 1970 Jun 13 - Apollo 13 Review Board publishes result of investigation.
The explosion was found to have been caused by a bare-wire heating element within the fuel cell liquid oxygen tank. The element itself had burnt off its insulation through a combination of unimplemented specification changes early in the programme coupled with unauthorised procedures during ground testing. The investigation terminated on June 15, when the Review Board accident report was ...more...
- 1971 Mar 1 - N1-L3 loses remaining priority Spacecraft: LK, Soyuz 7K-LOK. Launch Vehicle: N1.
The Soviet leadership regained some interest in the N1-L3, after the near-tragedy of Apollo 13. It was felt that the Americans might cancel the remainder of the Apollo programme, leaving the road to the moon clear for the Soviet Union. However the successful flight of Apollo 14 redeemed the project, and the Central Committee lost all interest in the N1-L3. A completely modernised KORD engine control system had been developed for the booster, ...more...
- - 1974 January - Television version of Apollo 13 mission
Universal Studios filmed a program for the ABC TV Network entitled, "Houston, We've Got a Problem." Although fictitious, the show revolved around mission control and the flight controllers during the Apollo 13 mission. The production was televised March 2, 1974.
- 1995 Jun 30 - Apollo 13 motion picture is released.
Ron Howard's cinematic version of the Apollo 13 mission is released. Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon portray the crew with Gary Sinise as the grounded Mattingly and Ed Harris as flight controller Gene Kranz. The film grosses $ 334.1 million worldwide and reawakens popular awareness and interest in the space race of the 1960's.
- 1998 Apr 5 - From the Earth to the Moon is released.
Based on the success of the film Apollo 13, Tom Hanks was able to raise $ 68 million to film a television mini-series covering the entire Apollo program. The Apollo 13 episode marked the third fictionalised telling of the tale, this time concentrating on the media handling of the flight and the changing nature of television news. The twelve episodes covered different aspects of the Apollo program:
...more...
Bibliography and Further Reading
- Baker, David, The History of Manned Spaceflight, Crown, New York, 1981. The best overview of America's manned space programs up to Skylab. Information and details not available anywhere else. Unfortunately out of print and difficult to locate.
- Furniss, Tim, Manned Spaceflight Log, Jane's, London, 1986. ISBN: 0710604025. Summary of all manned spaceflights up to 1986. Pre-Glasnost, so many 'war stories' of Soviet manned spaceflight are not included. More at amazon.com...
- Turnill, Reginald,, The Observer's Spaceflight Directory, Frederick Warne, London, 1978. ISBN: 0723220514. Good miniature encyclopaedia of space programs just before the shuttle started flying. More at amazon.com...
- Kamanin, N P, Skritiy kosmos, Infortext, Moscow, 1995. The diary of the Commander of the Soviet Cosmonaut Team in the 1960's - a source of great insights into the space program. Four volumes issued to date.
- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
|
