What went wrong with Apollo 13?
by
bono29
Last updated 6 years ago
Discipline:
Science Subject:
Astronomy
Grade:
7


Luckily for Apollo 13, the damaged Odyssey had a healthy backup; Aquarius, which wasnt supposed to be turned on until the crew was close to the Moon. It did not have a heat shield to survive the trip back to Earth, but it could keep the crew alive long enough to get there. Then, the astronauts could switch to Odyssey for the rest opft he trip home. Without a source of heat, cabin temperatures quickly dropped down close to freezing. Some food was inedible. It was a long few days back home; the entire crew lost weight and Haise developed a kidney infection. In the hours before splashdown, the now exhausted crew powered up Odyssey. Lovell, Haise and Swigert returned safely to the Pacific ocean on April 17. The space craft design was reconfigured with better wires and an extra tank, and subsequent missions did not face the same problem.
By Mia Bono 7K Bibliography:17/11/14http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/#.VGmpBMngXbw
What went wrong with apollo 13
On the evening of April 14, when the crew was 300,800 kilometers from Earth and closing in on the moon, mission controller Sy Liebergot saw a low-pressure warning signal on a hydrogen tank in Odyssey. There was then an explosion in Odyssey oxygen tank no.1 which followed by a an explosion in oxygen tank no.2, the oxygen was leaking out of the space craft. A moment later, the entire space craft shuddered around the startled crew. Alarm lights lit up in Odyssey and in mission control as oxygen pressure fell and the power dissapeared. The crew notified Mission control, Swigert famously uttering "Houston we've had a problem."(over the years it has been changed to "houston we have a problem".
What happened?
How they got home
The space craft was split up into two areas; Odyssey was the main are and was meant to be used to and from the moon, Aquarius was meant to be used before landing on the moon, on the moon and leaving the moon.
(Left to right) Fred Haise, Jack Swigert, and Jim Lovell pose on the day before the launch. Swigert had just replaced Ken Mattingly as command module pilot after Mattingly was exposed to German measles.
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