Episode 272: Apollo 13 [2]
how to assemble a cupboard, but the difference being that here you don't have
the right parts, you are calling on a very bad telephone line from 300,000
kilometres away in Space and it is literally a matter of life and death.
Thankfully it worked and the CO2 levels started to drop as
soon as they installed the completed improvised canister.
With most of the module's systems switched off,
temperatures had plummeted to just 3 degrees celsius.
The crew were uncomfortable, cold and cramped, but they were alive and
headed home, or at least they were now headed in the direction of Earth.
But actually getting to Earth, getting home safely, would be no mean feat.
At 133 hours into the spaceflight, Houston asked the crew to fully power up
the Lunar Module in preparation for bringing the Command Module back online.
The team wanted to make sure that they had enough time
to work through rebooting, restarting, the system.
An Apollo Command Module had never been shut down and restarted in Space before.
Plus the power was limited and the team on the ground would
need to figure out the best way for the quickest restart.
Thankfully the crew were able to implement the new procedures and
restart the Command Module's systems without too much difficulty.
Not only did this raise the cabin temperature making it more hospitable for
the crew, but it also meant that the guidance computer was back up and running.
As Apollo neared the Earth two more minor adjustments were needed to correct its course.
Around 200 hours into the mission the crew jettisoned, they cast off, the Service Module.
They could have done this earlier in theory, but the Service Module covered the Command
Module's heat shield and NASA was uncertain of the consequences of leaving it exposed in Space.
And remember, it was in this part of the spacecraft, in
the Service Module, that the oxygen tank had exploded.
As the crew jettisoned the Service Module, they got their first chance to look at the damage.
They discovered that an entire panel of the module's exterior had been blown off.
If it hadn't been sufficiently clear before, the crew had been, and still were, in
extreme danger and surviving even this far they had already beaten all of the odds.
Approaching re-entry, as the crew moved back to the Command Module, the last
major problem that needed a quick solution was how to get rid of the Lunar Module.
On normal missions, the Lunar Module would be jettisoned over the Moon
when the Command and Service Module was in lunar orbit and the astronauts
had safely returned to the Command Module spacecraft after their Moonwalk.
But this was no “normal” mission, and the crew had been using this
Lunar Module as a temporary storage, it was their lifeboat home.
Once the ground teams had figured out how to best release the Lunar Module,
the crew jettisoned it to land deep in a trench in the Pacific Ocean.
Re-entry had begun and the crew hurtled down through the Earth's
atmosphere for the final nail-biting moments of their mission.
As Apollo 13 entered the final minutes of its spaceflight, millions
of people around the World were following it live on TV and radio.
The entire United States was gripped by the astronauts' ordeal, with
men, women and children hoping and praying that they would survive the
re-entry process after having made it so far in such impossible conditions.
As with all re-entry procedures, contact was lost with the crew as they began their descent.
Unknown to the crew, Apollo 13's trajectory, its direction, had been slightly
adjusted by the Lunar Module's cooling system on the way back from the Moon.
This meant that when Apollo 13 re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, its angle of descent caused it
to spend more time than expected at higher atmospheric levels where slowing down takes longer.
Instead of the usual four minutes of radio blackout,
there was no contact with the crew for six whole minutes.
This was an extremely tense moment on the ground - some people
even thought that the Command Module's heat shield had failed.
The crew eventually splashed down in the Pacific Ocean, near
American Samoa, where they were recovered by American military ships.
All three crew members were alive and well, although Haise was suffering
from a urinary tract infection, probably due to the lack of water.
After a night on the recovery ship, they then flew to Hawaii where they were awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour, by President Richard Nixon.
Little known to the Apollo 13 crew, the entire country, and really much of the
world, had been following their progress and praying for their safe return.
In America alone, over 40 million people watched the Apollo 13 splashdown on TV.
The crew and their perilous journey made headlines around the world.
Lovell went on to call the Apollo 13 mission a “successful failure”.
While there were evident failures, the crew were saved by the
unprecedented cooperation between the ground team and the astronauts.
Not to mention the crew's nerves of steel and professional training
that allowed them to continuously focus and work even under the extreme
pressure of being in a protracted, an extended, life-or-death situation.
The Apollo 13 rescue mission highlighted the risks of manned space travel
and combined with decreasing public interest in the space programme and
huge budget cuts, the Apollo Program was cut short, ending with Apollo 17 in
December 1972, when Eugene Cernan became the last human to walk on the Moon.
The story of Apollo 13 might be a lesson to us all about the dangers of putting
humans in space, but it is also one of hope and inspiration, of perseverance, of
resourcefulness, of teamwork, of the importance of staying calm under pressure,
and it's no surprise that it is often referred to as NASA's “finest hour”.
OK then, that is it for today's episode on Apollo 13.
I hope it's been an interesting one, and you've learned a bit about what actually happened
during the ill-fated space flight and the story behind the crew's miraculous survival.
As always, I would love to know what you thought about this episode.
Do you think we will see humans on the Moon again in your lifetime?
What about colonising Mars, is this just a dream, or will you live to see humans on Mars?
And if you could take a trip to space, if money was no object, would you do it?
I would love to know, so let's get this discussion started.
You can head right into our community forum, which is at
community.leonardoenglish.com and get chatting away to other curious minds.
You've been listening to English Learning for Curious Minds, by Leonardo English.
I'm Alastair Budge, you stay safe, and I'll catch you in the next episode.