NASA - Apollo 13 Mission patch.
April 7, 2020
Image above: S70-35614 (17 April 1970) The crewmembers of the Apollo 13 mission, step aboard the USS Iwo Jima, prime recovery ship for the mission, following splashdown and recovery operations in the South Pacific Ocean. Exiting the helicopter which made the pick-up some four miles from the Iwo Jima are (from left) astronauts Fred W. Haise Jr., lunar module pilot; James A. Lovell Jr., commander; and John L. Swigert Jr., command module pilot. The crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft splashed down at 12:07:44 p.m. (CST), April 17, 1970. Image Credit: NASA.
As NASA marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission – which has become known as “a successful failure” that saw the safe return of its crew in spite of a catastrophic explosion – the agency is sharing a variety of resources, recognizing the triumph of the mission control team and the astronauts, and looking at how those lessons learned can be applied to its lunar Artemis program.
APOLLO 13
“Our goal 50 years ago was to save our valiant crew after sending them around the Moon and return them safely to Earth,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “Our goal now is to return to the Moon to stay, in a sustainable way. We are working hard to ensure that we don’t need to respond to this kind of emergency in Artemis, but to be ready to respond to any problems we don’t anticipate.”
The crew of Apollo 13 consisted of Commander James (Jim) Lovell Jr., Command Module Pilot John Swigert Jr. and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise Jr. Their Saturn V rocket launched at 2:13 p.m. EST on April 11,1970, from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The command module was named Odyssey, and the lunar module was named Aquarius.
APOLLO 13 - Part 2
While en route to the Moon on April 13, an oxygen tank in the Apollo service module ruptured. The lunar landing and moonwalks, which would have been executed by Lovell and Haise, were aborted as a dedicated team of flight controllers and engineering experts in the Apollo Mission Control Center devoted their efforts to developing a plan to shelter the crew in the lunar module as a “lifeboat” and retain sufficient resources to bring the spacecraft and its crew back home safely. Splashdown occurred in the Pacific Ocean at 1:07 p.m. April 17, after a flight that lasted five days, 22 hours and 54 minutes.
Image above: A group of flight controllers gathers around the console of Glynn S. Lunney (seated, nearest camera), Shift 4 flight director, in the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR) of Mission Control Center (MCC), located in Building 30 at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC). Their attention is drawn to a weather map of the proposed landing site in the South Pacific Ocean. Among those looking on is Dr. Christopher C. Kraft, deputy director, MSC, standing in black suit, on right. When this photograph was taken, the Apollo 13 lunar landing mission had been canceled, and the problem-plagued Apollo 13 crew members were in trans-Earth trajectory attempting to bring their crippled spacecraft back home. Image Credit: NASA.
Apollo 13 on NASA TV
NASA TV is commemorating the anniversary with multiple videos and interviews, anchored by an original special program, “Apollo 13: Home Safe,” premiering at 8 p.m. EDT Friday, April 10, on NASA Television and all of the agency’s streaming and social media platforms. The 30-minute program features an interview with Lovell, a conversation with Haise and Flight Directors Gene Kranz and Glynn Lunney, and engineer Hank Rotter, in the restored Apollo mission control room mixed with archival footage from the mission. In addition, NASA TV will air replays of historic mission footage and “pop-up” mission factoids at the exact times the events happened 50 years ago.
https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html
Houston, We Have A Podcast
Listen as Lovell and Haise remember the fateful mission from their perspective 50 years later and reflect on the highlights of their expansive careers and share wisdom gained from their famous mission on its 50th anniversary. Houston, We Have A Podcast is the official podcast of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, in Houston. https://www.nasa.gov/johnson/HWHAP
Apollo 13 In-Flight Video Recordings
These TV transmissions are film recordings of television transmissions, or kinescopes, transferred onto broadcast videotape, then converted to digital files and posted to Johnson’s Internet Archive collection.
https://go.nasa.gov/2PxOS08
Apollo 13 Imagery Collections
NASA makes imagery available in many formats and resolutions, and NASA’s Image and Video Library contains many items related to Apollo 13. Apollo 13 images also are available on the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, a volunteer-created site managed by NASA’s History Office.
https://images.nasa.gov/
https://history.nasa.gov/alsj/a13/images13.html
Additional Apollo Resources
Additional Apollo audio and video resources are available for download in the highest resolutions available in this publicly curated collection on the Internet Archive. Additional resources related to all the Apollo missions are available at NASA’s Apollo 50th Anniversary website.
https://archive.org/search.php?query=Apollo%2011%20Resource%20Reel,%20NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/
As NASA marks the anniversary of Apollo 13, the agency is progressing with its Artemis program, which will send the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024, and establish sustainable exploration with its commercial and international partners by 2028. What we learn on during sustained operations on the Moon will prepare us for the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.
Learn more about Artemis and NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach at: https://www.nasa.gov/moontomars
Related article:
The Hard-won Triumph of the Apollo 13 Mission - 45 Years Later
https://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-hard-won-triumph-of-apollo-13.html
Related links:
Apollo Mission Control Center: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/apollo-mission-control-reopens-in-all-its-historic-glory
Apollo 13: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo-13
Images, Text, Credits: NASA/Sean Potter/JSC/Kelly Humphries/Videos Credits: Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Videos was made using Orbiter Space Flight Simulator 2010 and many add-ons made by the Orbiter Community. Scenario inspired by 1995 movie "Apollo 13". Musics: Original Apollo 13 Movie Soundtracks (courtesy) by James Horner. Production: Orbiter.ch Aerospace Studio/Roland Berga.
Best regards, Orbiter.ch
