DOCUMENT RESUME ED 059 040 SE 013 150 TITLE Apollo 13, Houston, We've Got a Problem. INSTITUTION National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, D.C. REPORT NO NASA-EP-76 PUB DATE 70 NOTE 28p. AVAILABLE FROMSuperintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402 ($0.75 1970-384-459) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 DESCRIPTORS *Aerospace Education; *Aerospace Technology; Instructional Materials; Lunar Research; Photographs; Resource Materials IDENTIFIERS NASA; *Space Sciences ABSTRACT The dramatic events of Apollo 13 are summarized in this collection of photographs, descriptions, and portions of dialog between the astronauts and Mission Control. What was planned as the third manned lunar landing resulted in a perilous rescue with the lunar module serving as a lifeboat to supply necessary power after an explosion disabled the command module over 200,000 miles out from Earth. (PR) 41111 - 7. a t. 1' .1)-: I , I r.... Mate- ri - . '' .44.4 44A \ ' , Iti. I I 4/".4* ..11 Tr, .i14..4e- t, 11:11Tii_ititj 1 robcm."pil :1 got wc\fc kmston, 3 1 lo Apol / a. a %. oHody `UOISTIOR aA63Ari 66.ulaigoid John L. Swigert, Jr., Apollo 13 Command James A. Lov:..1i, Jr., Apollo 13 Commander. Fred W. Haise, Jr., Apollo 13 Lunar Module Pilot. Module Pilot. A. SPACECRAFTHey, 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 Jack Swigert 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 Earth. lem yet encountered in space flight. CAP:Ur E COMMUNICATORThis ir Hous- sc gnidMain bus A undervoli, now, ton; say again, please. too, ..MainBis reading zip (zero) right scHousion, we've had a problem, We've .)1011'. had a Main B bUS undervolt. CAPCOMlreV like you to attempt to By "undervolt" Swigert meant a drop in reconnect inel cell 1 ,o Main A and fuel cell power in one of the Command/Service 3 to Main B. Module's two main electrical circuits, His re- SCOkay. Houston . I tried to reset, port to the ground 1:,,gan the most gripping and fuel cells 1 and 3 are both showing zip episode in man's venture into space. One on the flows. newspaper ,.eporter called it the most CAPCOMIre ropy. public emergency and the most dramatic sCHonston, are you still reading 13? rescue in the history of exploration. CAPCOMThair affirmative. We're still scAnd we had a pretty large bang asso- reading yogi. We're still trying to come up ciated with the caution aud warning here. u4th some good ideas here for you. Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise was now scLet me give you some readings .. on the voice channel from thespacecraft to Our 0, (oxygen) cryo number 2 tank is the Mission Control Center at the National reading zerodid you get that? Aeronautics and Space Administration's CAP,DM-04 quantity number 2 is zero. Manned Spacecraft Center in Texa7,. Com- After peaking briefly just before the bang, mander Jim Lovell would shortly be heard, pressure in one of the two cryogenic (super- then again Swigertthe 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 doctorsfeared onds. These oxygen ti.nks, with the com- that Tom Mattingly of die primary crew panion cryogenic hydrogen tanks, feed the might come down with German measles, thrc,fuel cells that generate the spacecraft's Equally cool, the men in Mission Control electrical current, provklc breathing oxygen, acknowledged the report and began the and produce water. 4 71 Astronauts and flight controllers anxiously monitor consoles during the Apollo 13 mission, folP,61447 A '16 41019, Ago-ipir; 10. NZ\ ..11. 71101sr 111/"V"-.. S. .or,_Arrol--1 scAnd 1, le(4., to me, looking out the minutes worth of power le f t in the Command until the alignment in Aquarius could be hatch, that we are venting .comething. We are Module. So we want you to start gelling over brought into correspondence with that in venting sonnuhhig ont into spa-e. It's a gas in the I.1\1 and getting some power 0 17 that, Odyssey. 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. prxedures. alignnmit from Odyssey to Aquarius was the first big turning point. Since the optical sys- CAPCOM re'd like you to . power CAPCOM-117e'd like you to start making down until you get an awperage of 10 less your way over to the LM now. tems of Aquarius are less sophisticated,and ainps than what you've got now. scFred awl Jim are in the LM. never intended for use in deep spacenavi- sc---It looks like 0, tan/ I presswe is The tunnel into the Lunar Module :abin ;ation, it would have required movement of a hair over 200, from the Command Module had remained the entire spacecraft to get a sighting. Had CAPCON1----Wie confirm that, open after Lovell and Haise went intothe they lost Odyssey's alignment, the only .way sc-----Does it look like it's st11 going doWn ? LM for a planned check on its instruments to get another alignment would have been cf1 going sloulv to zero, and earlier in the evening, just before the incident, to use the Sun and Moon and Earth. The we're start;ng to think about the Lm lifeboat, scI got LM power on. gaseous cloud which hid formedaround the scY es, that's something u,u're thinking CAPCOMI have an activation procedure. spacecraft prevented star sightings. about too, I'd like you to copy it down. These preliminaries were accomplished, Mint,tes earlier, and only a little more Step by step, following instructions from and it was conceded that Apollo 1 3 had failed than an hour after Swigert's first report of the ground, Haise and Lovell powered up as a lunar mission. Success nowwould 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 Modul, apparently undam- men home alive. !Joking toward an alternate mission, swing- aged, to save its batteries, oxygen, and cool- ing around the Moon and usingthe Lunar ing water in hope thcy could ultimately be Module power systems, because of the situ- used for reentry and landing. ation that has developed here this evening." It was lecessary also to maintain the in- The digital clock above the flight control tegrity of alignment on the inertial guirl.mce team showed 97 hours1 1 minutes since platform. It is this gyroscopic device which launch- 1:24 p.m. Fastern Standard Time, "remembers" the spacecraft's positior and Monday, April 13. Apollo 1 3 207.000 velocity and thus aids in computing neces- miles from Earth and moving co-ay at 2.1:,0 sary course corrections to stay on thedesired miles an hour. trajectory. Swigert drew on battery power (-Arc:cmre figare we'te got about 15 to keep the alignment in Odyssey alive, 5 t 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 Lunar Module Pi!ot; 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 Kennedy Space Center, Florida, A pre- problem occurred during the launch prepara- mature cut-off of one engine of the second tions. stage of their Saturn 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 engitrs 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 Saturn V the prime crew revealed that Thomas K. third stage (called the s-IvB) were thoroughly Mattingly II, Command Module Pilot, had checked while in orbit. At 3:48 p.m., the no immunity to rubella. A sick astronaut in space could endanger himself and the mission. As a result, doctors 'ruled out Mattingly for the 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. Conseguently, 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-mir ute change presented diffi- culties because each trio is trained as a team.