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54 years ago, at 10:06 PM EST, Monday, April 13, 1970, the Apollo 13 Mission Control heard these fateful words "Houston, we've had a problem here."

055:55:19 Lovell: ...Houston...
055:55:20 Swigert: ...we've had a problem here.

055:55:26 Fenner (GUIDO): FLIGHT, GUIDANCE.
055:55:27 Kranz (FLIGHT): Go GUIDANCE.

055:55:28 Lousma: This is Houston. Say again, please.

After 4 days of hardships, heroism, improvisations and ingenuity, the crew landed safely on Earth.

nasa.gov/history/afj/ap13fj/08…
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1. Swigert, Lovell and Haise the day before launch 2. Odyssey's damaged service module, as seen from the Apollo Lunar Module Aquarius, hours before reentry 3. Deke Slayton (checked jacket) shows the adapter devised to make use of square Command Module lithium hydroxide canisters to remove excess carbon dioxide from the Apollo 13 LM cabin. 4. The modified trajectory of Apollo 13 after the explosion.

Apollo 13 Flight Journal - Day 3, part 2: 'Houston, we've had a problem'

www.nasa.gov
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️

AkaSci 🛰️
AkaSci 🛰️
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The Apollo 13 mishap was caused by an explosion in oxygen tank #2 in the service module.

The O2 tanks had been redesigned to use 65V instead of 28V, but the heater thermostatic switches got overlooked.

During ground testing, the switches malfunctioned causing temp to rise and damage the teflon insulation on the wires to the fans.

On April 13, the fans were turned on for a "cryo-stir". The fan wires shorted, the teflon insulation caught fire, the O2 tank exploded.

nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/…
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1. Schematic of fuel cells and oxygen tanks on Aproll 13 2. Schematic of wiring, heaters and fans inside the O2 tank.

Apollo 13 Accident

nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov
#2
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️

AkaSci 🛰️
AkaSci 🛰️
• •

There is an interesting website that has a detailed real-time look at every moment of the Apollo 13 mission, with audio track from every mission control channel.

The malfunction sequence starts at 55:55:19.

apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=055…

Apollo 11 and 17 at apolloinrealtime.org/
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Apollo in Real Time

A real-time interactive journey through the Apollo missions. Relive every moment as it occurred.
Apollo in Real Time
This entry was edited (7 months ago)
in reply to AkaSci 🛰️

AkaSci 🛰️
AkaSci 🛰️
• •

This famous jerry-rigged "mailbox" was used to scrub the CO2 in the the Apollo 13 lunar module that was the lifeboat for the 3 astronauts.

The contraption solved the problem of fitting the lithium hydroxide cylindrical shaped scrubbers of the lunar module with the cubic shaped ones stored in the command module.

nasa.gov/history/afj/ap13fj/15…
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1 & 2. Schematic of the mailbox adapter. The second canister was taped onto the first later in the mission to provide further scrubbing capacity without having to rebuild the entire adapter. 3. Astronaut John Swigert holds the rigged arrangement used to purge carbon dioxide from the Lunar Module. Image credit: NASA

Apollo 13 Flight Journal - Day 4, part 4: Building The CO2 Adapter

www.nasa.gov
This entry was edited (7 months ago)
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