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Apollo 13 was the third planned crewed lunar landing mission in NASA's Apollo program. Launched on April 11, 1970, an oxygen tank explosion damaged the service module two days into the mission, requiring the lunar landing to be aborted. The crew was forced to use the lunar module as a lifeboat to return safely to Earth. Mission controllers worked tirelessly to improvise procedures to support the three astronauts for the extended duration of four days in the lunar module. Despite great hardship faced by the crew with limited power and resources, they were successfully brought back to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970. An investigation found issues with pre-flight testing of the oxygen tank that caused the explosion.

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41 views

Apollo 13: Jump To Navigationjump To Search Apollo 13 (Film)

Apollo 13 was the third planned crewed lunar landing mission in NASA's Apollo program. Launched on April 11, 1970, an oxygen tank explosion damaged the service module two days into the mission, requiring the lunar landing to be aborted. The crew was forced to use the lunar module as a lifeboat to return safely to Earth. Mission controllers worked tirelessly to improvise procedures to support the three astronauts for the extended duration of four days in the lunar module. Despite great hardship faced by the crew with limited power and resources, they were successfully brought back to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970. An investigation found issues with pre-flight testing of the oxygen tank that caused the explosion.

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ley5680
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Apollo 13

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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This article is about the 1970 spaceflight. For the film based upon it, see Apollo
13 (film). For other uses, see Apollo 13 (disambiguation).

Apollo 13

Odyssey's damaged service module, as seen from the Apollo Lunar

Module Aquarius, hours before reentry

Mission type Crewed lunar landing attempt (H)

Operator NASA

• CSM: 1970-029A
COSPAR ID
• LM: 1970-029C

SATCAT no. 4371[1]

Mission duration 5 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes, 41 seconds[2]


Spacecraft properties

Spacecraft • Apollo CSM-109 Odyssey

• Apollo LM-7 Aquarius

Manufacturer • CSM: North American Rockwell

• LM: Grumman

Launch mass 45,931 kilograms (101,261 lb)[3]

Landing mass 5,050 kilograms (11,133 lb)[4]

Crew

Crew size 3

Members • James A. Lovell Jr.

• John L. Swigert Jr.

• Fred W. Haise Jr.

Start of mission

Launch date April 11, 1970, 19:13:00 UTC

Rocket Saturn V SA-508

Launch site Kennedy LC-39A

End of mission

Recovered by USS Iwo Jima

Landing date April 17, 1970, 18:07:41 UTC

Landing site South Pacific Ocean

21°38′24″S 165°21′42″W

Flyby of Moon (orbit and landing aborted)

Closest approach April 15, 1970, 00:21:00 UTC

Distance 254 kilometers (137 nmi)

Docking with LM

Docking date April 11, 1970, 22:32:08 UTC

Undocking date April 17, 1970, 16:43:00 UTC


Lovell, Swigert, Haise

Apollo program

← Apollo 12

Apollo 14 →

Apollo 13 (April 11 – 17, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space
program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched
from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted
after an oxygen tank in the service module (SM) failed two days into the mission.
The crew instead looped around the Moon and returned safely to Earth on April 17.
The mission was commanded by Jim Lovell, with Jack Swigert as command
module (CM) pilot and Fred Haise as Lunar Module (LM) pilot. Swigert was a late
replacement for Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella.
A routine stir of an oxygen tank ignited damaged wire insulation inside it, causing an
explosion that vented the contents of both of the SM's oxygen tanks to space.
Without oxygen, needed for breathing and for generating electric power, the SM's
propulsion and life support systems could not operate. The CM's systems had to be
shut down to conserve its remaining resources for reentry, forcing the crew to
transfer to the LM as a lifeboat. With the lunar landing canceled, mission controllers
worked to bring the crew home alive.
Although the LM was designed to support two men on the lunar surface for two
days, Mission Control in Houston improvised new procedures so it could support
three men for four days. The crew experienced great hardship, caused by limited
power, a chilly and wet cabin and a shortage of potable water. There was a critical
need to adapt the CM's cartridges for the carbon dioxide scrubber system to work in
the LM; the crew and mission controllers were successful in improvising a solution.
The astronauts' peril briefly renewed public interest in the Apollo program; tens of
millions watched the splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean on television.
An investigative review board found fault with preflight testing of the oxygen tank
and Teflon being placed inside it. The board recommended changes, including
minimizing the use of potentially combustible items inside the tank; this was done
for Apollo 14. The story of Apollo 13 has been dramatized several times, most
notably in the 1995 film Apollo 13 – based on Lost Moon, the 1994 memoir co-
authored by Lovell – and an episode of the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the
Moon

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