apollo 13
mission to the moon
Mission Objective
The mission objective of Apollo 13 was to land in the Fra Mauro area of the moon. On April 11,1970 at 1:13 pm, Apollo 13 launched from Kennedy Space Center. The main crew of Apollo 13 was James A. Lovell Jr. ,Fred W. Haise Jr. , and John L. Swigert Jr. Apollo 13 was the third lunar landing attempt. However, fifty-six minutes after liftoff the crew felt a small vibration and an explosion on board forced the spaceship to circle the moon without landing. The mission was aborted due to a rupture of the service module oxygen tank. Still, the mission was classified as a "successful failure" because of the experience earned in rescuing the crew. |
Astronauts complete extensive training before being considered for space travel. Anything an astronaut may do in space is practiced dozens of times on the ground. They need to understand every task they will do in space but also need to understand how to work, maintain and fix the equipment and systems that they will be working.
The flight crew for Apollo 13 consisted of James A Lovell, John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise. James Lovell, 42, was the Mission Commander. He had three previous missions and 572 spaceflight hours of experience. Fred Haise, 36, had been a backup crew member for Apollo 8 and 11 and was Apollo 13’s Command Module Pilot. John Swigert, 38, was a first-time flyer and Lunar Module Pilot. He joined the crew after prime crew member Ken Mattingly was exposed to German measles.
The flight crew for Apollo 13 consisted of James A Lovell, John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise. James Lovell, 42, was the Mission Commander. He had three previous missions and 572 spaceflight hours of experience. Fred Haise, 36, had been a backup crew member for Apollo 8 and 11 and was Apollo 13’s Command Module Pilot. John Swigert, 38, was a first-time flyer and Lunar Module Pilot. He joined the crew after prime crew member Ken Mattingly was exposed to German measles.
On April 11, 1970 at 1:13 pm, Apollo 13 launched from Kennedy Space Center. During the first two days of the mission the crew experienced a couple minor problems but basically Apollo13 was looking like the smoothest flight so far. Fifty six hours after its launch and 205,000 miles from earth, Swigert was directed to turn on the oxygen and hydrogen tank stirring fans. This is a procedure where the fans in the Command and Service Module's activate so that the oxygen tanks stratifying and avert an accurate reading. A few minutes after that the crew heard a loud bang and alarms started going off. The bang came from the number-2 oxygen tank exploding. The explosion blew out the side of the service module and damaged the other oxygen tank and fuel cells. After that Lovell noticed that gas was leaking outside the window. The remaining fuel cell was shut down which left the module with limited battery power. To save power the crew shut down the command module and they moved into the lunar module. The flight director order Apollo 13 mission to be aborted and the new goal was to bring the crew home alive. During the flight back the CO2 levels became dangerous for the crew. The ground crew was able to adapt filters using only equipment found on the space ship. The design was successful and the astronauts were able to reproduce the design on board.
References
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo13.html#.VqeiqvkrLIV
http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/space-flight-history/spaceflight-heritage-successful-failure-45-years-ago/
http://www.space.com/17250-apollo-13-facts.html
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/support/training/
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/apollo/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13_
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo13.html#.VqeiqvkrLIV
http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/space-flight-history/spaceflight-heritage-successful-failure-45-years-ago/
http://www.space.com/17250-apollo-13-facts.html
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/support/training/
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/apollo/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13_
Photo used under Creative Commons from How I See Life