Special Sub-Topic: Apollo 13 Click Here To Play: Apollo 13

On which date was Apollo 13 launched?

April 11, 1970. Apollo 13 was launched from launchpad 39A at Cape Canaveral on April 11, 1970 at 1:13 PM Central Time (13:13).

Which astronaut was NOT on board the flight of Apollo 13?

Ken Mattingly. Ken Mattingly was scrubbed from the mission, one week prior to launch, because he had been exposed to the measles. He was replaced by Jack Swigert as Command Module Pilot.

Where was the lunar landing site chosen for Apollo 13?

Fra Mauro. Apollo 15 landed at Hadley-Rille. Apollo 12 landed at the Ocean of Storms. Apollo 17 landed at Taurus-Littrow. Apollo 14 was reassigned the Fra Mauro landing site.

On what date did the Apollo 13 malfunction (the malfunction which caused the mission to be aborted) occur?

April 13, 1970. The event occured approximately 55 hours, 54 minutes after liftoff, at 9:07 p.m., Central Time. The control center for the mission was in Houston, Texas (Central Time Zone).

What was the malfunction which caused the mission to be aborted?

An oxygen tank exploded.. Oxygen tank #2 in the service module exploded. The explosion also damaged either oxygen tank #1 or its pipes, causing that tank to slowly vent its contents into space.

The mission was aborted due to a tank explosion. What caused the tank to explode?

an electrical spark in a pure-oxygen environment. Oxygen tank #2 had a faulty tank-heater thermostat which never opened, causing the tank heater to stay on during the flight. The tank heated up to such an extreme temperature that the insulation was burned from the internal tank wiring. When the astronaut turned on the tank fan to stir its contents, an electrical spark arced on the bare wires, caught fire, and the oxygen rapidly burned. The resultant pressure caused the tank to explode.

Who was the first astronaut to call down to Mission Control to inform them of a problem after the explosion?

Jack Swigert. Jack Swigert first called down to mission control, saying "Hey, we've got a problem here!" Jim Lovell then followed with the famous line, "Houston, we've had a problem." (According to Jim Lovell's book, "Lost Moon", paperback, page 103. Also verified with NASA air-to-ground transcripts).

Until the explosion, the Apollo 13 flight had been error-free.

f. There were several small glitches prior to the explosion. The center engine of the S-II stage of the Saturn V rocket mysteriously cut out 132 seconds early, causing the remaining four engines to burn 32 seconds longer than normal. There were also various small problems with sensors in the hydrogen storage system.

After the explosion, the command module was immediately powered down.

f. The command module was not powered down until approximately 2 hours after the explosion. During those hours, the command module was running on its re-entry batteries and one barely functioning fuel cell. When oxygen tank #1 finished its slow leak into space, the last surviving fuel cell was shut down, and the crew powered down the command module to save the remaining battery power.

Which "consumable" was Mission Control most worried about running out of, after the explosion?

water. According to NASA, "Water was the main consumable concern. It was estimated that the crew would run out of water about five hours before Earth re-entry, which was calculated at around 151 hours. However, data from Apollo 11 showed that its mechanisms could survive seven or eight hours in space without water cooling. The crew conserved water. They cut down to six ounces each per day, a fifth of normal intake, and used fruit juices; they ate hot dogs and other wet-pack foods when they ate at all. The crew became dehydrated throughout the flight and set a record that stood up throughout Apollo: Lovell lost fourteen pounds, and the crew lost a total of 31.5 pounds, nearly 50 percent more than any other crew. Those stringent measures resulted in the crew finishing with 28.2 pounds of water, about 9 percent of the total." (From the NASA website, http://www.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html).

How far from earth did the explosion occur?

approximately 200,000 miles. The Apollo 13 spacecraft was approximately 200,000 miles from earth when the explosion occured; they were less than 40,000 miles from the moon.

The Apollo 13 crew designed a device to adapt the command module's CO2 scrubbers to fit the lunar module's environmental system. True or false?

f. The device was designed at NASA in Houston, primarily by Ed Smylie, the chief of the Crew Systems Division. The directions for building the device were then transmitted to the Apollo 13 crew, who built the device from the directions.

What was the name of the lunar module on the Apollo 13 flight?

Aquarius. The lunar module was the Aquarius; the command module was the Odyssey. Both names were chosen by Commander Lovell.

Apollo 13 splashed down into which ocean?

Pacific. Apollo 13 splashed down into the South Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970, at 12:07 p.m., Central Time (tiem zone for Houston, Texas), in the "Stable-1" (right-side up) position. The crew was then flown by helicopter to Hawaii for a special reception from President Nixon.

What was the name of the ship which picked up the crew of Apollo 13 after splashdown?

USS Iwo Jima. The Iwo Jima was an amphibious assault ship, commissioned on 26 August 1961. She was decommissioned 14 July 1993 after nearly 32 years of distinguished service, including a tour of duty in the Persian Gulf in 1990.