Apollo 13

Launch, orbit & landing data: Designation  04371 / 70029A Launch date - time  11 Apr 1970 - 19:13:03 UT (13:13 CST) Launch site  KSC, LC39A Launch vehicle  Saturn V (SA-508) Payload  Apollo CSM 109 / Lunar module 7 Size (m)  11.15 long - 3.91 dia Mass (kg)  44022 (CM/SM/LM) Flight Crew  Lovell, James (CDR) Swigert, John (CMP) Haise, Fred (LMP) Call Sign  Odyssye/Aquarius Backup crew  Duke, Mattingly, Young Earth orbit on Apr 11:    - Perigee / Apogee  186 / 186 km    - Inclination  32.56°    - Period  88.07 min Orbital parameters on 12 Apr (0.00 UT):    - Perigee / Apogee  200 / 572080 km    - Inclination  33.2°    - Period  26320 min Landing date - time  17 Apr 1970 - 18:07:41 UT Landing location  51.5° S, 165.5° W South Pacific between New Zeeland and Samoa Flight Duration (d:hr:min)  5:22:55 Nbr Earth orbits  1,5 Nbr lunar orbits

Crew:

Flight:

Interior of the Apollo Command Service Module on display at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

• On April 11, the third manned lunar landing mission was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise. The mission was headed for a landing on the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon. However, two days into the mission, disaster struck 200,000 miles from Earth when oxygen tank No. 2 blew up in the spacecraft. Swigert reported to mission control on Earth, “Houston, we′ve had a problem here,” and it was discovered that the normal supply of oxygen, electricity, light, and water had been disrupted. The landing mission was aborted, and the astronauts and controllers on Earth scrambled to come up with emergency procedures. The crippled spacecraft continued to the moon, circled it, and began a long, cold journey back to Earth.
• The astronauts and mission control were faced with enormous logistical problems in stabilizing the spacecraft and its air supply, as well as providing enough energy to the damaged fuel cells to allow successful reentry into Earth′s atmosphere. Navigation was another problem, and Apollo 13′s course was repeatedly corrected with dramatic and untested maneuvers. On April 17, tragedy turned to triumph as the Apollo 13 astronauts touched down safely in the Pacific Ocean.

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 oxygen tank exploded. Credit: NASA

Apollo 13 on parachutes. Credit: NASA

The recovery of the Apollo 13 Command Module. Credit: NASA

The crew of Apollo 13, Fred Haise, Jack Swigert and Jim Lovell, after they splashed down safely. Credit: NASA

External links:

• AmericaSpace: 200418-Remembering Apollo 13′s Lost Moonwalks, 50 Years On (part 1)
• AmericaSpace: 200420-Apollo 13′s Lost Moonwalks, 50 Years On (part 2)
• AmericaSpace: 200407-Remembering Apollo 13 Mission (part 1)
• AmericaSpace: 200411-Remembering Apollo 13 Mission (part 2)
• AmericaSpace: 200412-Remembering Apollo 13 Mission (part 3)
• AmericaSpace: 200417-Remembering Apollo 13 Mission (part 4)