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Home , Apollo 13, Fred Haise, Gene Cernan, Jack Swigert, Jim Lovell, USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2)

", - we've got a problem."

''Houston, we've got a problem." James A. , Jr., 13 Commander. Fred W. Haise, Jr., Lunar Module Pilot. John L. Swigert, Jr., Apollo 13 Command Module Pilot.

SPACECRAFT-Hey,we've got a problem emergency procedures that grew into an effort here. by hundreds of ground controllers and thou- Thus, calmly, Command Module Pilot sands of technicians and scientists in NASA gave the first intimation of contractor plants and on university campuses serious trouble for Apollo 13-200,000 miles to solve the most complex and urgent prob- from . lem yet encountered in space flight. CAPSULE COMMUNICATOR-Thisis Hogs- sc-We got a Main bus A undervolt, nozu. ton; say again, pledse. too. . . Main B is reading zip (zero) right sc-Houston, we've had a problem. We've now. had a Mdin B bus undervolt. CAPCOM-We'd like you to attempt to By "undervolt" Swigert meant a drop in reconnect 1 fo Mdjn A and fuel cell power in one of the Command/Service 3 to Main B. Module's two main electrical circuits. His re- SC-Okay, Housto?z . . . 1 tried to reret, port to the ground began the most gripping artd fuel cells 1 and 3 are both showing zip episode in man's venture into space. One on the flows. newspaper reporter called it the most CAPCOM-We ~Gpy. public emergency and the most dramatic sc-Houston, bre you still readi zg 13 ? rescue in the history of exploration. c~~co~--That'~affirmative. we're sfill sc-And we hdd G pretty large bang asso- reading you. We're still frying to CGlZt? up ciated with the caution dnd warning here. zuith some good ideas here JOY you. Lunar Module Pilot was now sc-let nze give you some readings . . on the voice channel from the spacecraft to Our 0, (oxygen) cryo number 2 fdnk is the Mission Control Center at the National reading zero-did you get that? Aeronautics and Space Administration's CAPCOM-0, qzlantity number 2 is ze.io. Manned Spacecraft Center in Texas. Com- After peaking briefly just before the bang, mander would shortly be heard, pressure in one of the two cryogenic (super- then again Swigert-the backup crewman cold) oxygen tanks, back in the Service who had been thrust onto the first team only Module, had dropped to zero in eight sec- two days before launch when doctors feared onds. These oxygen tanks, with the corn- that Tom Mattingly of the primary crew panion cryogenic hydrogen tanks, feed the might come down with German measles. three fuel cells that generate- the spacecraft's Equally cool, the men in Mission Control electrical current, provide breathing oxygen, acknowled~edthe reDort and beean the and ~roducewater. and flight controllers anxiously monitor consoles during the Apollo 13 mission.

sc-And ~t looks to nze looking out the minutes worth of power left in the Colnnzand until the alignment in Aquarius could be hatch, that we are venting something. Weare Module. So zue want you to start getfilzg over brought into correspondence with that in venting something ont into space. It's a gas in the LM and getting some power on that. . It had to be done fast, but it was of some sort. Three days from home, the spacecraft had accomplished. Current from the remaining fuel cell electricity for only 15 minutes under normal Lovell remarked later that the transfer of dropped slowly. procedures. alignment from Odyssey to Aquarius was the C~~coh$-We'dlike you to . . . power CAPCOM-We'd like you to start making first big turning point. Since the optical sys- down z/?ztil you get an amperage of 10 less yow way over to the LM now. tems of Aquarius are less sophisticated, and crnlps thmz what YOM'V~~OS now. sc-Fred dnd Jim are in the LM. never intended for use in deep space navi- sc-It looks like 0, tank 1 prersltre is just The tunnel into the Lunar Module cabin gation, it would have required movement of n oveY 200. from the Command Module had remained the entire spacecraft to get a sighting. Had CAPCOM-Te confirm that. open after Lovell and Haise went into the they lost Odyssey's alignment, the only .way sc-Does if look like it's still goil7g down? LM for a planned check on its instruments to get another alignment would have been CAPCOM-It's goiug slozul~to zero, and earlier in the evening, just before the incident. to use the Sun and and Earth. The zc~e're rturting to think about the LM lifeboat. SC-1 got LM power on. gaseous cloud which had formed around the sc-Yes, fhat's something we're thinking CAPCOM-I have an activation procedure. spacecraft prevented star sighting. rthol~ttoo. I'd like yozr to copy it down. These preliminaries were accomplished, Minutes earlier, and only a little more Step by step, following instructions from and it was conceded that Apollo 13 had failed than an hour after Swigert's first report of the ground, Haise and Lovell powered up as a lunar mission. Success now would be trouble, had come the laconic announcement the Lunar Module, which the crew had named measured by the outcome of the struggle, to a breathless world: Aquarius, and Swigert shut down Odyssey, world-wide, and deep in space, to get three "Here in Mission Control we are now the Command Module, apparently undam- men home alive. looking toward an alternate mission, swing- aged, to save its batteries, oxygen, and cool- ing around the Moon and using the Lunar ing water in hope they could ultimately be Module power systems, because of the situ- used for reentry and landing. ation that has developed here this evening " It was necessary also to maintain the in- The digital clock above the flight control tegrity of alignment on the inertial guidance team showed 57 hours 11 minutes since platform. It is this gyroscopic device which launch-1 1.24 p.m Eastern Standard Time, "remembers" the spacecraft's position and Monday, April 13. Apollo 13 was 207,000 velocity and thus aids in computing neces- miles from Earth and moving away at 2,100 sary course corrections to stay on the desired miles an hour trajectory. Swigert drew on battery power CAPCOM-We figz~rewe've got about 15 to keep the alignment in Odyssey alive, Dressing for launch: foreground to rear, Lovell, Apollo 13 astronauts move out from transfer van. Swigert and Haise. Launch of Apollo 13.

Even before launch, Apollo 13 provided a vers and ensuring unquestioned teamwork. sobering reminder that the problems and At 2 :13 p.m. EST,Saturday, April 11, dangers of exploring space are beyond antici- 1970, Apollo 13 and its team (James A. pation and that engineering genius is not Lovell, Commander; Fred W. Haise, Jr., without limitations. Sometimes the problems Lunw Module Pilot; and John L. Swigert, are minor in the context of Earth-bound Command Module Pilot) were launched activities but major for space flight. One such from , Florida. A pre- occurred during the launch prepara- mature cut-off of one engine of the second tions. stage of their v launch vehicle was The Apollo 13 prime crew was exposed compensated for by longer burns of the re- to rubella, or German measles, while working .maining engines and the engine of the third with Charles M. Duke, Jr., of the backup stage. Apollo 13 achieved Earth orbit' at crew, who developed rubella the weekend 2:26 p.m. EST. before the scheduled launch. Examination of Apollo 13 and its still attached the prime crew revealed that Thomas K. third stage (called the s-m) were thoroughly Mattingly II, Command Module Pilot, had checked while in orbit. At 3:48 p.m., the no immunity to rubella. A sick in space could endanger himself and the mission. As a result, doctors Wed out Mattingly for %e Apollo 13 flight. Plans call for use of the entire backup crew when a member of the prime crew is in- capacitated. However, Duke's illness ruled that out. Consequently, a decision was made to substitute backup Command Module Pilot John L. Swigert, Jr., for Mattingly. Swigert was found to be immune to rubella. The last-minute change presented diffi- culties because each trio is trained as a team. In a crisis, each man has learned to rely on his companionss reactions. To work Swigert in, the crew engaged in a vigorous and in- tensive program simulating all flight maneu-

Swigert in Odyssey during color telecast of April 12.

astronauts sent their first telecast from space, Another major event an Sunday threw a a five-minute program which included a de- usually cool and calm astronaut into a mild scription of their view of the cloud-covered panic. In the rush to substitute for Mattingly, Eastern . s-IVBwas re-ignited at Swigert forgot to S~lehis Federal Incotne Tax 4:48 p.m. EST to give Apollo 13 its final return. boost toward the Moon. A check of systems "How do I apply for an extension?" he after shutdown of the s-IVBshowed that all asked. Amid laughter from Mission Control, were operating satisfactorily. he sought to explain: "Things kinda hap- At 5 :20 p.m. EST, Odyssey separated from pened real fast down there and I need an the adapter that connected it with the S-IVB. extension. I'm reallly serious. Would you. . ." Simultaneously, the four panels that made Joe Kenvin, th~ecapsule communicator, up the sides of the adapter fell away, ex- was unsympathetic: "You're breaking up posing Aquarius, the Apollo 13 Lunar Mod- the room down here." ule. The Lunar Module is designed princi- Swigert continued: ". . . turn it in?" pally for landing two men on the Moon, Later, Flight Director said serving as a shelter and base during the short that American citizens out of the country get lunar expedition, and later returning the a 60-day extension on filing. "I assume this astronauts to the Command/, applies," he added. waiting in . On Monday evening at 9 :15 p.m. EST, After separating Odyssey from the adapter, Lovell and Haise entered the pressurized the astronauts moved out about 60 feet ahead Aquarius for the first time. Among other of S-IVB. Then they turned Odyssey around things, Mission Control wanted them to check and docked it nose-to-nose with Aquarius. an Aquarius helium tank that had shown a They backed their craft and the attached slightly high pressure on the launch pad. Aquarius away from the S-IVB.By 6: 14 p.m., Lovell found that the pressure in the tank they had freed Aquarius and turned their was showing the kind of rise expected. three-module spacecraft around to head for Haise remarked that "One of the nice the Moon. Most of the transposition and things for a novice like myself is the ease of docking maneuvers were telecast live to Earth moving around in here." in a 72-minute program that began about The two spent about an hour inside of 5 :30 p.m. Aquarius, telecasting their activities to Earth. Also shown on TV was the maneuver that The show ended, and all was well. sent the S-IVB on a separate path to crash on Haise was still in Aquarius. Love11 was in the Moon as a scientific experiment, designed the tunnel between Aquarius and Odyssey, to add to knowledge about the make-up of clutching a camera and gingerly making his the Moon. This turned out to be the only way among the TV 'wires. Swigert was in successful lunar experiment of Apollo 13. Odyssey. Suddenly, they were startled by a The path of Apollo 13 was so true that a loud bang. scheduled course adjustment was cancelled At first, Lovell and Swigert thought that as unnecessary. No major mission event was Haise had released a valve, as planned, in scheduled until 8:54 p.m., Sunday, when a Aquarius. But Haise, now back in the CM, hybrid transfer was initiated. This rerouted and scanning the instrument panel, saw that the craft to sweep within 70 miles of the one of the main electrical systems of Apollo Moon rather than the approximately 115- 13 was deteriorating. Just before 10: 10 p.m., mile altitude of the earlier course. The change Swigert radioed the words that drew mankind was designed to put Aquarius in the right together in a common concern: "Hey, we've place at the right time for the desired lunar got a problem here." landing site. The hybrid transfer also meant that Apollo 13 could return to Earth only by another course adjustment. On the earlier course, called a free return trajectory, Apollo could swing around the Moon and return to Earth without using any additional rocket power. The hybrid transfer, conducted for all the world to see on m,was so accurate that a scheduled subsequent maneuver was unnec- essary.

I Diagram of the Apollo spacecraft. Cutaway view of the Lunar Module. Mission Control at Houston during the problem- plagued Apollo 13 flight. When Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, leaving The next quickest procedure would be Jack Swigert to batten down crippled Odys- landing early Friday morning in the South sey, moved into Acluarius just before mid- Atlantic, in range of U.S. planes-but not of night Monday and began powering her up ships. as Apollo 13's lifeboat, the Moon still lay Mission Control chose a two-step abort: an 50,000 miles and 20 hours ahead. early short burn to reestablish free return, It would be risky to fire the main engine with potential Friday evening in of the Command/Service Module, possibly the , then a longer burn soon damaged by an apparent rupture of a high- after looping around the Moon to speed the pressure oxygen tank. The shortest way return by 10 hours and shift the target point home-in time-would be to coast on around back to the Mid-Pacific, where the prime re- the Moon and then be pulled automatically covery forces waited. back toward Earth. The discussion between Spacecraft and But on the hybrid trajectory to which the Houston continued : astronauts had maneuvered Sunday evening CAPSULE COMMUNICATOR-We'reat this to facilitate lunar landing in the time, water critical in the LM. We'd like to Hills, their spacecraft would actually miss the 71se us little as possible. To do this we're go- Earth by 250 miles and pass on by, beyond ing to make a free-return maneuver of 16 hope of survival. feet per second at 61 hours, which is 37 min- So a prime concern was to get back on a ~ttesfrom now. Then we're going to power free-return trajectory that would bring them down the PGNS (Primary Guidance and Nav- down in some ocean-almost any ocean- igation Section), and then at 79 hours we'll without need for further major maneuvers. go ahead and make another abort maneuver This woujd have to be accomplished by to Kick what we got. firing the LM descent engine-an emergency SPACECRAFT-Couldyou give us a little procedure that, by foresight, had been prac- more time? ticed in space by and by the present CAPCOM-Okay, Jim. We'd like to get a crew in simulations at Kennedy Space Center. suggested time from you. Swigert urged combining the free-return SC-Let's shoot for an hour if we can. maneuver with an extra push to speed the How's that? return journey, and doing it soon to cut the CAPCOM-Okay, Jim. How about 61 6oztr.s drain on the LM'S batteries and cooling water: and 30 minutes? That's an hour and five SPACECRAFT-Theadvantage of doing this from now. eddy is you can do a big barn now in the nzidcomrse and then power the LM down. Otherwise, we god to Keep /he LM powered up cledr till we get arotlnd the Moon. But Flight Director Glynn Lunney held off a decision while trajectory planners ran half a dozen alternatives through their computers. The fastest return wouldi lead to a splash- down in the Pacific about noon Thursday, west of the originally planned recovery area but within steaming distance of the recovery carrier USS Iwo Jima. But this would take a long burn and leave the descent engine little fuel for later course adjustments that might be required. Fuel could be saved and the return cut short by dropping the Service Module to reduce the dead weight that had to be maneu- vered. But a Lunar Module engine had never been used in space to maneuver just the Lunar and Command Modules. And remov- ing the protection that the Service Module gave the Command Module heat shield might expose the shield to damaging cold on the long home. The Ill-Fated Space Odyssey of Apollo 13.

\

11:43 a m. Apr. 17

Pacific. Safe aboard to Command Module. their and pho~ographs lifeboo1 Aquarius is je~isoned.l /I Shown at true ~arth-M~OO~SC~ All times I - - - '

2nd rnid.course correction

~U'U"'>"'U wuyc Apollo docks 0 5,000 10,000 25.00 50.000 m,. translunar course. I

sc-Okay, we'll do it. And we want to the spacecraft out of the hybrid trajectory and make sure we can talk back and forth now to place it in free return. The engine to be make sure we get this burn of right. used for this burn was that of the Descent Getting it off right would take not only Propulsion System (DPS)of Aquarius. The accurate timing but accurate positioning of conversation went like this: the spacecraft. ~APCOM-Aquarius,you're go for the CAPCOM-And now we want to ask you a burn. question about alignments, md so forth. We sc-Master arm's on. One minute. wanted to know if you cdn see any stars out sc-Forty percent. of the AOT (Alignment Optical Telescope). CAPCOM-A~~~~~~~,you're looking good. sc-In this attitude that we're pitching sc-All shut down. around I cannot use the AOT to see stars. The And a little later: Command Module is just radiating too much CAPCOM-Aquarius,cckd your marter light into the telescope. arm of, pleare. CAPCOM-How about using the Service sc-Okay, Houston, burn's complete. Now Module to cast a shadow on the Commander's we have to talk about powering down. window. If you do that, can you see stars? The first milestone on the journey home sc-We tried to do it, The light shines had been passed. of our quads, which makes it difficult to see Even without another burn, the spacecraft stars. We do have the Earth and Moon, if would return to Earth for a landing in the that can be of usistance. Another problem: Indian Ocean. Emergency preparations for Right now I'm looking out the right window the pickup would have to be completed, but and it's pretty dark out there, but there are that could be done. And there still remained about a thousand or so foam stars out there- in the flight plan the second critical burn left over from the debris. It's hard to discern to obtain a quicker trip and landing in the what's real and what's not. Pacific. Ultimately, Mission Control would come Haise stood watch, while his fellow astro- up with a computer solution for lining up the nauts tried for some fitful sleep in the chilly spacecraft by sighting on the Earth, Sun, and Command Module-chilly and dark because Moon through the telescope. its power supply was cut off. The mission clock now showed 61 :28:43, On the ground, possible future maneuvers which was 3:42 a.m. EST Tuesday and it was were tried out in flight simulators at Houston time for the critical burn which would take and Kennedy Space Center by their fellow Conirnond Module

Serbice h?odule Lunar Module 343 a.m Api Id Frtc rcturn

ref~nesolnr at Eortll Hybrid

Ruptured oxygen tank ------.* -.* A-- 4 5-48 imparts on Moon- ,br,d trolrctorv +-----,' --, J

10.08 p.m Apr 13 by Aquarius' englne speeds Apollo on

copyright Time Inc. 1970

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astronauts : disappointed , Bill of . He phoned Lovell's ordered to join the cargo carriers Commander A1 Shepard, LM Pilot and Haise's wives in Houston and Swigert's Academician Rykachev and Novopolotsk Ed Mitchell, CM Pilot Stu Roosa, 's parents in . He drove out to the God- col~vergingon the Pacific target area. CM Pilot Dick Gordon, of dard Space Flight Center, in , pri- Premier Aleksei N. Kosygin sent a message , Dave Scott of Apollo 9, John mary switching center for NASA'sworldwide saying: "I want to inform you (U.S. Gov- Young, Vance Brand, Ron Evans and Joe tracking and communications network. ernment) the Soviet Government has given Engle. As the men in Apollo 13 experienced what orders to all citizens and members of the Maneuvers that still remained to be ex- no men had undergone before, millions fol- armed forces to use all necessary means to ecuted were simulated in complete detail. lowed the developing drama by radio and render assistance in the rescue of the Ameri- The big burn to get the quicker return and television in public squares, private homes, can (Apollo 13) astronauts." splashdown in the Pacific was simulated: schools, offices and factories. Pope Paul, at an placing the simulated spacecraft in the correct audience in St. Peter's Basilica for 10,000 attitude, firing the Aquarius DPS engine, and Romans and tourists, said "We cannot forget checking the results by computer. Similarly, at this moment the lot of the astronauts of the astronauts went through the simulated Apollo 13. We hope that at least their lives maneuvers of dropping the Lunar Module, can be saved." Prolonged applause followed. dropping the Service Module and putting the Prayers were said at Jerusalem's Wailing Command Module into the correct attitude Wall and on the floor of 's Board of for reentry into the atmosphere for safe Trade. landing. On Tuesday, April 14, the U.S. Senate Engineers in Downey, Calif., where Odys- adopted a resolution which urged all busi- sey was built, ran emergency problems nesses and communications media to pause at through computers. A team of 30 at Massa- 9 p.m., their local time, to "permit persons chusetts Institute of Technology, where the to join in prayer for the safety of the Apollo guidance system was designed, astronauts." worked through the night. Ten phone lines Offers of assistance with ships to aid in the were kept open between Mission Control and recovery came from many nations. The Asso- a room stded with 70 LM experts at the ciated Press quoted the Russian news agency manufacturer's plant in Bethpage, Long Tass as saying that four Soviet ships were Island. steaming toward the splashdown area, one of President Nixon cancelled appointments them the Chumikan, a missile tracker and kept in touch. He was briefed by former equipped with a helicopter. Tass said the astronauts Mike Collins of and Chumikan and fishing trawler No. 8452 were

The Moon from Apollo 13. Italian press reaction was typical of world-wide concern.

Other nations offering assistance included built up to a peak in eight minutes and con- France, Britain, Holland, Italy, Spain, Ger- tinued for nearly an hour. many, Brazil and Uruguay. The seismic signals produced by the impact At 7 :2 1 p.m. Tuesday, the spacecraft of S-IVB were 20 to 30 times greater and four swung behind the Moon, lost contact with times longer than those resulting from the Earth, and passed 1(;4 miles above the lunar LM crash. Peak intensity occurred in 7 surface. I-Iaise and Swigert, who had never minutes. been so close and might never get closer, The information from these two artificial snapped photos like a couple of tourists. At moonquakes led to reconsideration of 7:49 the spacecraft emerged on the other side theories proposed about the lunar interior. and was again picked up by tracking stations. Among puzzling features are the rapid build- This conversation took place: up to the peak and the prolonged reverbera- sc-Hoztston, Aquarius tions. Nothing comparable happens when c~~co~-Aqudrjz~s,Houston, objects strike Earth. sc-The view ant there is fantastic. . . One theory is that the signal is scattered You can see where we're zooming of. and repropagated in very deep rubble. An- Apollo 13 was headed homeward. other holds that the velocities of seismic waves Moments later the 15-ton spent third stage from these impacts are comparable to meas- of the Saturn v launch vehicle crashed into urements of velocities in crystalline rock. So the Moon, as planned. the crystalline material which the astronauts It occurred at 8 :09 p.m. EST, April 14. found so abundant on the Moon's surface The s-IVBstruck the Moon with a force may extend very deep into the Moon. equivalent to 11 f/, tons of TNT. It hit Houston reported the lunar impact of the 85 miles west northwest of the site where S-IVB to the spacecraft: the Apollo 12 astronauts had set up their CAPCOM-Bythe way, Aqumius, we see seismometer. Scientists on Earth said, the results now from 12's seismometer. Looks "the Moon rang like a bell." like your booster just hit the Moon, and it's Back in November 1969, the Apollo 12 rocking a little bit. astronauts had sent their Lunar Module crash- sc-Well, at least something warked on ing into the Moon following their return this flight. . . I'm sure glad we didn't have to the command craft after the lunar landing an LM impact, too. mission. That Lunar Module struck with a Time was at hand for the burn, two hours force of one ton of TNT. The shock waves after closest approach to the Moon. The de- Aquarius points the way to distant Earth. The Flight controllers view prototype of the "do-it- visible rocket nozzle is part of the Aquarius yourself" lithium hydroxide unit that Apollo 13 . astronauts constructed following directions from the ground. The apparatus enabled Aquarius to utilize lithium hydroxide canisters from the crippled Odyssey.

scent engine would fire five seconds at 10 over from the Command Module. Oxygen percent throttle, 21 seconds at 40 percent, stores showed a margin of 95 hours. With and nearly four minutes at full blast. power kept up only on the life-support, This burn would add 585 miles per hour telemetry, and communications equipment, to the velocity of the spacecraft, bringing it except during critical maneuvers, cooling to Eatth 10 hours sooner, and would make the water would last 23 hours beyond reentry, target for splashdown a spot in the Pacific batteries 60 hours-ample to recharge the Ocean south of . The carrier Command Module's batteries before separation. Iwo Jima already was enroute to that pin- One item could be a problem: the car- pointed spot. tridges of lithium hydroxide that remove c~pco~-Threeminutes-counting down from the spacecraft atmo- . . .Mark. . . sphere. The LM'S cartridges would last only sc-We're burning 40 percent. . . 50 hours, and the CM'S wouldn't fit the LM. c~~co~-Lookinggood at two minutes. Bob Smylie and Jim Correale, of the Crew sc-Two minutes, Roger. . . Systems Division at Houston, devised a make- CAPCOM-Aquarius, you're go at three shift adapter, and Astronaut Tony England minutes. . . tested the design by putting one together SC-Sh~ltdown. from oral instructions alone. As Mission CAPCOM-I say that was a good bum. Control voiced these up to Aquarius, Swigert sc-Now we want to power down as soon and Lovell built adapters using cardboard as possible. cue cards from unneeded lunar surface proce- CAPCOM-We have a procedure ready. . . dures, plastic storage bags, and adhesive Aquarius had been designed as a two-man tape to attach cartridges from the CM to LM spacecraft and, in the original flight plan, hoses that sucked cabin air through them. would have been used less than 60 hours. CAPCOM-The next step is to cut a diag- Could her consumables--oxygen, water, bat- onal hole. . . teries-be stretched to keep three men alive sc-Okay, our do-it-yoarself lithium hy- nearly 90 hours, from the loss of CSM power droxide unit is complete. the evening before, to just before reentry two Eatth stations continued to track the space- and a half days ahead? craft. Within four hours after the big burn, After some early false alarms, the outlook just this side of the Moon, their data was by Wednesday morning was reassuring. showing that, because the automatic guidance Plenty of drinking water could be brought system had drifted out of alignment, the re- The do-it-yourself unit in Aquarius to utilize Jury-rigged urine disposal system. Swigert at right. lithium hydroxide canisters from the crippled Odyssey.

sults hadn't been as precise as first thought. By the time Apollo 13 entered Earth's 1 sphere of gravitaiional influence at 8 :38 Wednesday morning, still 2 16,277 miles from home, the data showed it would miss by 99 miles and sail on in orbit forever. A big- ger midcourse correction than ever made be- fore by a returning Apollo lunar mission was scheduled for near midnight. Again safety of the crew deeended on Aauarius' descent L I rn engine. The spacecraft was positioned by sighting on the Earth and Sun, a procedure never used previously, but one which had been de- veloped in studies and checked by computers, and which was rechecked while Apollo 13 was enroute from the Moon to the Earth. The engine was fired manually. Lovell and Haise, in their normal LM piloting positions, han- dled the attitude controls. Swigert, sitting on the ascent engine cover, watched the timer to signal when to start and stop the burn, and Love11 pushed the buttons. Mission C Control watched the results. CAPCOM-Ignition. . . Thrust looks good I . . . It shut down . . . Nice wovk. sc-Let's hope it was. Ground trackers could soon report that it was, putting Apollo 13 comfortably within the reentry corridor. Heat from repeated firing of the descent engine had caused an increased rate of pres- sure buildup in the LM'S supercold helium Haise sleeps in Aquarius. He restrained his hands Lovell sleeps in Aquarius. so that his arms would not flop about in weightless space environment. ' Lovell's "grand oasis in the vastness of space" beckons to the homebound travelers.

tank, used to pressurize the fuel tanks but no long underwear. The cabin walls were per- longer needed. Just after noon the tank's spiring, the windows wet and partly frosted burst disc-a relief valve-ruptured, as it over. All food was cold, for there was no hot was designed to do, and the helium vented water in the LM to mix with the dehydrated into space. The gas had been expected to meals. The men dozed, always leaving one spew out equally in opposite directions, hav- on watch, but real sleep was rare. Deke Slay- ing no propulsive effect on the spacecraft. ton, chief astronaut as Director of Flight CAPCOM-See anything? Crew Operations, told them they could take sc-Yeah, I was just about ready to call stay-awake pills during the final hours. you. Underneath Quad 4 1 noticed a lot of At Mission Control, 's entire sparklies going out. team of flight controllers was taken off its apco~-Can you hear or feel anything? regular shifts to work out and rehearse space- sc-Z sure did . . . I think it changed our craft separation and entry routines. Astro- PTC (Passive Thermal Control of the space- nauts in the simulators proved out every craft by slowly rotating it to distribute the maneuver and crew procedure. Thursday Sun's heat) . . . I was in right yaw and now evening Capsule Communicators began hours I'm in left yaw, at a much faster rate. . . Is of reading up check lists to Swigert, then that what they call a nonpropulsive vent? Haise. CAPCOM-Right. I'd hate to see a propul- CAPCOM-Next verify. . . sive one. sc-Z may not sound too clear, because Thermal control was soon restored by use Z1m holding a flashlight between my tekth. of bursts from the control thrusters until the Shortly before 4 o'clock Friday morning, slow rate of rotation was readjusted. Switches Eastern Standard Time, Lovell and Haise, un- were thrown to begin recharging the Com- able to sleep longer, began powering up mand Module's reentry batteries from the Aquarius three hours earlier than planned. LM'S.And the astronauts of Apollo 13 were The cabin warmed a bit. As they realigned allowed the first period of relatively relaxed the guidance system, Swigert-watching the activity since the accident. time till he could begin reviving dead, cold But their physical hardships grew by the Odyssey-wryly urged them on : hour. sc-That Earth is whistling in like a Temperatures in the darkened CM dropped freight train. to 38 degrees. Lovell and Haise pulled on A final course correction with the LM'S their lunar boots, Swigert an extra suit of small reaction-control jets at 7:53 put the

The crippled Service Module drifts away from the Separation of the never-flown-before Command Command Module after jettison. Module/Lunar Module configuration from the crippled Service Module. Service Module just after jettison shows its seriously damaged side to astronauts.

spacecraft exactly in the center of the corri- Control and Lovell, the world's most experi- dor in which it should enter the atmosphere. enced man in space and veteran of four CAPCOM-You Can jettison the Service flights: Module when you are ready. No big rush, but sc-Well, I cm't say that this week hasn't any time. been filled with excitement. As Aquarius, leading the train of linked CAPCOM-Well,James, if you can't take modules, pushed gently backward, Swigert any better care of the spacecraft than that, fired small explosive devices to sever the SM we might not give you another one. from the CM. Aquarius then pulled forward Time approached to abandon the Apollo to complete the separation. The useless Serv- 13 lifeboat. Lovell and Haise joined Swigert Module drifted away from the other two, in the Commnd Module, now fully powered still joined in a configuration never flown by its own batteries. before or practiced in the simulators before sc-We're ready to proceed with hatch the flight. clo~eup. The three crewmen watched from separate CAPCOM-Did Jim get the film out of windows and took photographs that might Aquarius? help tell what had happened at the moment SC-You mean the pm we took this morn- when near-disaster struck 82 hours and nearly ing? Yes, zue transferred that. half a million miles ago. Since the CM'S jets can control only its SC-Okay, I've got her. attitude, not push or pull, separation would CAPCOM-Beautiful,beautiful. be accomplished by firing pyrotechnics to cut sc-And there's one whole side of that LM loose and simply letting pressure in the spacecraft missing. . . Right by the high- closed tunnel between the modules push them gain antenna the whole panel is blown out, apart. almost from the bare to the engine. . . It's sc-Can I proceed on and kind of punch really a mess. off emly ? CAPCOM-Takepictures, but don't make cA~co~-~ack,when you are comfortably any unnecessary maneuvers. ready to punch off, you can go ahead and do sc-Man, that's unbelievable-looks like a it. lot of debris is just hanging out of the side At 11 :23 Swigert punched the button. near the S-band antenna. SC-LM jettison. As Haise began shutting down the LM, CAPCOM-Farewell,Aquarius, and we this exchange took lace between Mission thank you. Separation sequence of Aquarius and Odyssey prior to reentry.

"Farewell, Aquarius, and we thank you." Officials join flight controllers in monitoring Odyssey drifts down through cloudy skies. Apollo 13 flight. From left: Thomas H. McMullen, Assistant Mission Director; Dale D. Myers, Asso- ciate Administrator, Office of Manned Space Flight; Chester M. Lee, Mission Director; and Dr. Rocco Petrone, Director.

SC-She sure was a great ship. watched the charred spacecraft drift down The flimsy Aquarius, unshielded for re- through broken clouds to a splashdown in turn to Earth, would burn up in the atmos- moderate seas four miles from the ship at phere. 1:08 p.m., 142 hours 54 minutes 41' seconds Six hundred mdes southeast of Samoa the after launch. carrier USS Iwo Jirna awaited Odyssey. Res- Swimmers jumped from a helicopter, at- cue planes patrolled a bath-tub shaped ex- tached a flotation collar and rubber rafts, and panse of blue Pacific 390miles wide and stretch- opened the hatch. From the rafts the astro- ing 460 miles uprange and 115 downrange of nauts, in turn, were hoisted in a basket, the target point. The spacecraft's speed rose shaped like half a bird cage, to the recovery dramatically as it angled Earthward above the helicopter. Indian Ocean and across southern Australia: RECOVERY-Ihave Astvonmt Hake 22,085 feet per second . . . 25,693 . . . aboard, and his condition is excellent. . . 31,141 . . . 34,333 . . . 35,837-more than 24,000 miles an hour-just before the plunge into the atmosphere at 400,000 feet. CAPCOM-We've just had one last time around the room and everybody says you're looking great. sc-Thank you. For three long minutes no word was heard from the spacecraft as friction with the air raised the heat shield to a fiery glow that blacked out radio communication. Then : UPCOM-Odyssey . . . Standing by. SC-Okay . . . CAPCOM-Okay, we read you, Jack. sc-We got two drogues. Odyssey's two small parachutes pulled out its three 85-foot orange-and-white main chutes. Through color m cameras aboard the Twn Tima and in a nhntn hdirnnter +hewnrlrl Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Apollo 13 astronauts wait in life raft for pick up by helicopter. Mission Control after astronauts are safe on the recovery ship. Lovell, on screen, welcomed by the crew of primary recovery vessel, the USS Iwo Jima. President Nixon awards Presidential Medal of The astronauts and President Nixon, after cere- Predotn to light dired~rtwho hdpd bring monies inwhich thep wm dtd C Pmidcntial Apollo 13 safely home. Left to right: Flight Direc- Medal of Freedom. Left to right: Haise, Lovell, tors Glynn S. Lunney, Eugene F. Kranz, Gerald the President and Swigert. Griftin and Milton L. Windler; Director of Flight Operations Sigurd A. Sjoberg. Seated at left are Mrs. Nixon and Dr. Thomas 0.Paine, NASA Administrator.

I have Astronaut Swigert on board. He reports he feels fine. . . I have Lovell aboard. He reports he feels fine. Forty-five minutes from splashdown-the fastest recovery ever-they were safe on Iwo Jima's red-carpeted deck. Microphones had been set up. The admiral and the captain spoke. The ship's chaplain prayed. A band played. But Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise were too tired for public speeches. From the flight deck of the Iwo Jima to American Samoa, to and on to Hous- ton, the crew of Apollo 13 travelled on a wave of applause. President Nixon presented the Medal of Freedom to the three astro- nauts and to Sigurd A. Sjoberg, Director of Flight Operations, and to Flight Directors Glynn S. Lunney, Eugene F. Kranz, Gerald Gran, and Milton L. Windler. The President of the United States surn- marized the reaction of many when he said, 'The three astronauts did not reach the Moon, but they reached the hearts of millions of people in America and in the world." Fiction had turned to fact in the flight of Odyssey and Aquarius. The tension, the agony, and the relief were understated by Jim Lovell : "We do not realize what we have on Earth until we leave it." But all expressed confidence in America's program of and planned to ". . . learn from our mistakes and get on with the job." # EP-76 Produced by the OSce of Public Mairs National Aeronautics and Space Administration Washington, D.C. 20546 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office. Washington, D.C. 20402-Price 75 cents