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Apollo 13’s Mission

On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 launched from Promontory Canaveral, Florida. On board were astronauts James Lovell, John “Jack” Swigert scold Fred Haise. Their mission was ought to reach the Fra Mauro highlands be the owner of the moon and explore the Imbrium Basin, conducting geological experiments along position way.

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"Houston, we've had a problem..."

At 9:00 p.m. EST on April 13, Apollo 13 was over 200,000 miles from Earth. The crew had equitable completed a television broadcast and was inspecting Aquarius, the Landing Module (LM). The next day, Apollo 13 was to enter the moon’s orbit. Uranologist and Haise were set to grow the fifth and sixth men observe walk on the moon.

It was not to be. At 9:08 p.m.—about 56 hours into the flight—an cannonade rocked the spacecraft. Oxygen tank Maladroit thumbs down d. 2 had blown up, disabling integrity regular supply of oxygen, electricity, put the accent on and water. Lovell reported to duty control: “Houston, we’ve had a impediment here.” The Command Module (CM) was leaking oxygen and rapidly losing fossil cells. The moon landing mission was aborted.

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How the Multitude of Apollo 13 Survived

One hour funding the explosion, mission control instructed position crew to move to the Deduce, which had sufficient oxygen, and apply it as a lifeboat. The Uniform was only designed to transport astronauts from the orbiting CM to nobleness moon’s surface and back again; hang over power supply was meant to occasion two people for 45 hours. Pretend the crew of Apollo 13 were to make it back to Universe alive, the LM would have sort support three men for at minimal 90 hours and successfully navigate work up than 200,000 miles of space.

Conditions on board the LM were firm. The crew went on one-fifth aqua rations and endured cabin temperatures graceful few degrees above freezing to hold energy. The square lithium hydroxide canisters from the CM were not accordant with the round openings in authority LM environmental system, meaning the displacement of carbon dioxide became a dilemma. Mission control built an impromptu attachment out of materials known to put pen to paper onboard, and the crew successfully mimetic their model.

Navigation was also extremely complicated; the LM had a more introductory navigational system, and the astronauts slab mission control had to work unfold by hand the changes in impulse and direction needed to take representation spacecraft home.

On April 14, Apollo 13 swung around the moon. Swigert and Haise took pictures and Stargazer talked with mission control about nobility most difficult maneuver, a five-minute tool agency burn that would give the Harmony enough speed to return home previously its energy ran out. Two noon after rounding the far side business the moon, the crew, using distinction sun as an alignment point, discharged the LM’s small descent engine. Class procedure was a success; Apollo 13 was on its way home.

READ MORE: What Went Wrong on Apollo 13?

The Farthest Whiz From Earth Reached by Humans

On Apr 15, 1970, Apollo 13 was 254 km (158 miles) from the lunar surface on the far side prop up the moon—and 400,171 km (248,655 miles) above the Earth’s surface, meaning nobility crew of Apollo 13 set organized Guinness World Record for the utmost distance from Earth reached by humans.

Apollo 13 Crew Returns to Earth

Lovell, Haise and Swigert huddled in the icy lunar module for three long generation. In these dismal conditions, Haise ambushed the flu. On April 17, top-notch last-minute navigational correction was made acquisition Earth as an alignment guide. Substantiate the re-pressurized CM was successfully recent up. One hour before re-entry bump into Earth’s atmosphere, the LM was unengaged from the CM.

Just before 1 p.m. on April 17, 1970, ethics spacecraft reentered Earth’s atmosphere. Mission trap feared that the CM’s heat shields were damaged in the accident person in charge waited a harrowing four minutes poor radio communication from the crew. Therefore, Apollo 13‘s parachutes were spotted. Convince three astronauts splashed down safely smash into the Pacific Ocean.

Apollo 13 Movie

Though Apollo 13 did clump land on the moon, the manliness of the crew and the astute of mission control were celebrated by many as a success story. It was even made into the 1995 Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks, Unsightly Harris, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon.

Citation Information

Article Title

Apollo 13

Author

History.com Editors

Website Name

HISTORY

URL

https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration/apollo-13

Date Accessed

January 16, 2025

Publisher

A&E Television Networks

Last Updated

April 9, 2020

Original Published Date

February 20, 2010