My Tribute to Apollo 13 mission
Despite the fact that Apollo 13 is my favourite mission, it is not so easy to write about it. I want that this would be very special article.
Apollo 13 was called successful failure by J. Lovell, Commander of the mission. It reflects all I like about it: an amazing response on unexpected situation in the space.
But let's start from the beginning.
Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in Apollo space program and it was supposed to be the third mission to land on the Moon. The rocket was launched on April 11, 1970, Pad 39-A, rocket Saturn V. The mission was commanded by James A. Lovell with John L. Swigert as Command Module Pilot and Fred W. Haise as Lunar Module Pilot. Originally Command Module Pilot was supposed to be Ken Mattingly, who was unfortunately grounded due to exposure to German measles.
The plan for the Apollo 13 mission was to explore Fra Mauro formation, which was accomplished by the next mission Apollo 14. The mission started according to plans, however during the second stage center inboard engine shut down two minutes earlier. But the next 4 outboard engines and third stage engine burned longer to compensate the engine failure, so they achieved to get close to planned 190 km circular parking orbit. The astronauts performed maneuvers to dock the Command Module Odyssey to the Lunar Module Aquarius and took the course to the Moon.
In a distance of 330 000 km from Earth en route to the Moon, flight controllers asked Swigert to turn on the hydrogen and oxygen tank stirring fans in the Service Module. Two minutes later astronauts heard huge bang and firing of the attitude control thrusters. After the explosion Lovell reported the problem. Oxygen tank 2 was immediately empty, and later the number 1 and 3 fuel cells failed. Lovell reported that he sees a gas coming from the craft. Command Module was left on the limited duration battery power and water. The crew was forced to use Lunar Module as their lifeboat, which was suggested already before during the simulation but that was never considered as any real scenario. Without the Lunar Module the accident could ended up wrongly. Not even to think that way.
The lead flight director decided for the mission abort. It was decided to use the gravity of the Moon to swing around and get back to Earth.
Another problem appeared due to increased carbon dioxide in the air. The Command Module had an adequate amount of LiOH canisters which didn't fit into the Lunar Module. Lunar Module was designed for two people to land on the Moon and not for 3 astronauts in the emergency case. However engineers created improvised device which was successfully performed by the crew.
Another problem to be solved was to reestablish power up from the completely shut down Command Module. With a great support from Mattingly, engineers prepared procedure with limited power supply. It was really difficult considering the fact that the temperature dropped to 4 ℃. The water began to condense on solid surfaces. Due to Apollo 1 fire sufficient electrical insulation was installed.
Another problem to be solved was to separate Lunar module from the Command Module because due to the power failure lot of system were not working. They used pressurizing of the tunnel connecting them to push the two module to distance.
Odyssey landed in the South Pacific Ocean, 6.5 km from the recovery ship USS Iwo Jima on April 17, 1970. The crew was in good condition, except Haise. He got urinary tract infection.
Apollo 13 was called successful failure by J. Lovell, Commander of the mission. It reflects all I like about it: an amazing response on unexpected situation in the space.
But let's start from the beginning.
Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in Apollo space program and it was supposed to be the third mission to land on the Moon. The rocket was launched on April 11, 1970, Pad 39-A, rocket Saturn V. The mission was commanded by James A. Lovell with John L. Swigert as Command Module Pilot and Fred W. Haise as Lunar Module Pilot. Originally Command Module Pilot was supposed to be Ken Mattingly, who was unfortunately grounded due to exposure to German measles.
The plan for the Apollo 13 mission was to explore Fra Mauro formation, which was accomplished by the next mission Apollo 14. The mission started according to plans, however during the second stage center inboard engine shut down two minutes earlier. But the next 4 outboard engines and third stage engine burned longer to compensate the engine failure, so they achieved to get close to planned 190 km circular parking orbit. The astronauts performed maneuvers to dock the Command Module Odyssey to the Lunar Module Aquarius and took the course to the Moon.
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| Apollo13 Service Module |
In a distance of 330 000 km from Earth en route to the Moon, flight controllers asked Swigert to turn on the hydrogen and oxygen tank stirring fans in the Service Module. Two minutes later astronauts heard huge bang and firing of the attitude control thrusters. After the explosion Lovell reported the problem. Oxygen tank 2 was immediately empty, and later the number 1 and 3 fuel cells failed. Lovell reported that he sees a gas coming from the craft. Command Module was left on the limited duration battery power and water. The crew was forced to use Lunar Module as their lifeboat, which was suggested already before during the simulation but that was never considered as any real scenario. Without the Lunar Module the accident could ended up wrongly. Not even to think that way.
The lead flight director decided for the mission abort. It was decided to use the gravity of the Moon to swing around and get back to Earth.
Another problem appeared due to increased carbon dioxide in the air. The Command Module had an adequate amount of LiOH canisters which didn't fit into the Lunar Module. Lunar Module was designed for two people to land on the Moon and not for 3 astronauts in the emergency case. However engineers created improvised device which was successfully performed by the crew.
Another problem to be solved was to reestablish power up from the completely shut down Command Module. With a great support from Mattingly, engineers prepared procedure with limited power supply. It was really difficult considering the fact that the temperature dropped to 4 ℃. The water began to condense on solid surfaces. Due to Apollo 1 fire sufficient electrical insulation was installed.
Another problem to be solved was to separate Lunar module from the Command Module because due to the power failure lot of system were not working. They used pressurizing of the tunnel connecting them to push the two module to distance.
Odyssey landed in the South Pacific Ocean, 6.5 km from the recovery ship USS Iwo Jima on April 17, 1970. The crew was in good condition, except Haise. He got urinary tract infection.
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