Apolo 13

Running head: APOLLO 13

Apollo 13

St.Thomas University

Abstract

Apollo 13 was intended to be the third mission to carry humans to the surface of the Moon, but an explosion of one of the oxygen tanks and resulting damage to other systems resulted in the mission being aborted before the planned lunar landing could take place. The crew, Commander James Lovell, command module pilot John Swigert, and command lunar pilot Fred Haise were returned safely to Earth on April 17th 1970.

Apollo 13

Mission profile

Apollo 13 was launched on April 11, 1970 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

First, the missions purpose were to explore regions of the moon, to inspect, survey and sample the material of the moons surface, to further develop man’s capabilities to work in lunar environments, and take photographs of exploration sites. These goals were to be carried out. Prior to the launch of Apollo 13 there were already some imperfections with previous journeying into space. The race for superiority into space put many mission in jeopardy including this one. First, with the foremost decision of the crew when a group of doctors mistaken the health of one of the original members (Thomas Mattingly) (NASA.GOV 1970) and replaced him with John Swigert a few days before the mission. Secondly, during the launch there were a few burns of the boosters and engines to propel the spacecraft into orbit on a correct lunar impact trajectory with the Moon surface, which had some complications. After a few days in space on April 14, a television broadcast was made from Apollo 13, which was supposed to be broadcasted on live T.V. nevertheless it was not. A few minutes later Missions Control ordered Jack Swigert to turn the fans on to stir the oxygen tanks 1 and 2 in the service module. An explosion occurred. The Accident Review Board concluded that wires, which had been damaged during pre-flight testing in oxygen tank no.2, shorted and the Teflon insulation caught fire. The fire spread within the tank, raising the pressure until oxygen tank no.2 exploded, damaging oxygen tank no. 1 and the interior of the service module and blowing of the bay cover. With the oxygen stores depleted, the command module was unusable, the mission had to be aborted, and the crew transferred to the lunar module and powered down the command module. After orbiting the Moon it occurred to Missions Control that the oxygen levels would not better the full flight back