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APOLLO 13 - Full Post Flight Press Conference (1970/04/21) Lovell, Swigert, Haise — Transcript

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  1. 0:10ladies and gentlemen this is Apollo 13
  2. 0:13mission press conference and we use same
  3. 0:16format tonight to leave use for previous
  4. 0:18post mission press conferences the crew
  5. 0:22will go through a narrative of the
  6. 0:25mission
  7. 0:25then we'll have question answers they'll
  8. 0:27be only one slide tonight and if when we
  9. 0:31get to the question answers if you wait
  10. 0:33for the microphone we'd appreciate it
  11. 0:34like at this time to introduce the
  12. 0:37Apollo 13 crew captain James Lovell mr.
  13. 0:41John swaiket mr. Fred Hayes Jim thank
  14. 0:45you
  15. 0:45Thank You Julian I'd like to start out
  16. 0:48the briefing by saying that I'm not a
  17. 0:51superstitious person and therefore when
  18. 0:55we were assigned to Apollo 13 I thought
  19. 0:59nothing of it as a matter of fact some
  20. 1:00of my friends of Italian descent had
  21. 1:03said that 13 was a very lucky number and
  22. 1:06they were happy that I got that number
  23. 1:07it all sort of started to actually just
  24. 1:10before the flight as was well documented
  25. 1:14as we are approaching the final phase of
  26. 1:17our training the last couple days are
  27. 1:20usually ones of which are taking very
  28. 1:22leisurely you try to keep a couple days
  29. 1:25free just to let ourselves unwind from
  30. 1:27the long train cycle you get plenty of
  31. 1:29rest so that when we launch that we're
  32. 1:32in good shape and and we can go with a
  33. 1:35sort of an easy mind as you well know a
  34. 1:38turn of events occurred and Ken
  35. 1:42Mattingly who was our command module
  36. 1:44pilot was exposed to the measles and at
  37. 1:48that time we had to make a big decision
  38. 1:50to bring Jack along or to delay the
  39. 1:53flight it was one which was not easy for
  40. 1:56me to help decide and when they asked me
  41. 1:59what I wanted to do because we had
  42. 2:01worked as a team for a long time but I
  43. 2:04also realized that the
  44. 2:05the space program had matured to that
  45. 2:07degree whereby we had quite a few people
  46. 2:11who were well knowledgeable about the
  47. 2:13space craft and who were well qualified
  48. 2:15to fly as a consequence on Friday we
  49. 2:20decided to take Jack along and I like to
  50. 2:24say right now that I've never regretted
  51. 2:25that that decision we as a team I think
  52. 2:29and Jack would take it or help us out
  53. 2:31during our ensuing Odyssey tremendously
  54. 2:38at this time I think I would like to
  55. 2:41just break off just a second and
  56. 2:43introduce a couple other people of our
  57. 2:47team that that also served although
  58. 2:52we're not as in the same position we
  59. 2:55were Marilyn would you take the stand
  60. 2:57please
  61. 2:57this is my wife Marilyn
  62. 3:05dang Guzman and right next is my wife
  63. 3:10remarried
  64. 3:11[Applause]
  65. 3:17now I think the entire crew the
  66. 3:20Continental stewardesses are here
  67. 3:21tonight for Jack
  68. 3:24[Music]
  69. 3:29Jack had a lot of help on this one the
  70. 3:36launch Saturday morning was not unusual
  71. 3:39there was a very nominal launch the suit
  72. 3:42up the ingress to the spacecraft was
  73. 3:45very smooth we did practice it before it
  74. 3:48seemed even a lot easier than I've
  75. 3:49experienced on Apollo 8
  76. 3:50liftoff came just as I had known it
  77. 3:53before communications were excellent and
  78. 3:56the entire boost phase was as compared
  79. 3:59was compared very favorably with what I
  80. 4:02had experienced before except during the
  81. 4:04s2 burn at which case I noticed the
  82. 4:08inboard light come on indicating the
  83. 4:11nest on the second stage indicating that
  84. 4:13an engine had shut down I called in
  85. 4:16board as was the normal procedure
  86. 4:20and realized then that it had come about
  87. 4:252 minutes early and the ground confirmed
  88. 4:28this and as a consequence we had an
  89. 4:30early engine out in the s2 stage and our
  90. 4:34total boost time was about a minute
  91. 4:36longer
  92. 4:36this did not impair our our flight
  93. 4:40however we had enough fuel to relight
  94. 4:42the third stage and go on into a
  95. 4:44translunar injection and a trajectory
  96. 4:48towards the moon the flight up until
  97. 4:53about 56 hours was I guess what you'd
  98. 4:57call an Italian nominal we had followed
  99. 4:59the flight plan we were ahead of the
  100. 5:03game it took us a little bit longer to
  101. 5:05get rid of our preciouses than we
  102. 5:07thought and we had asked the ground
  103. 5:09about 55 hours if we could indeed get
  104. 5:13into the lunar module about 3 hours
  105. 5:14early the flight plan called to go into
  106. 5:17the spacecraft at around 58 hours
  107. 5:20other ground said fine why don't you
  108. 5:23open up the LEM and go on down and do
  109. 5:25your housekeeping chores
  110. 5:26there was one of the little engineering
  111. 5:29tasks which we had to before
  112. 5:32also in with that was a television
  113. 5:35program which we were supposed to put on
  114. 5:37so we decided to open up the Lunar
  115. 5:40Module Fred got into the spacecraft went
  116. 5:43out looked at the super helium the
  117. 5:47critical pressure on the super helium
  118. 5:48tank to make sure it was nominal we were
  119. 5:50having some problems with that before
  120. 5:52the flight it was and then we put on the
  121. 5:56little TV show which is called for in
  122. 5:59the flight plan I guess the show lasted
  123. 6:03for about a half an hour and just after
  124. 6:08we had turned off the camera fed was
  125. 6:11still in the lunar module Jack was back
  126. 6:13in the command module on the left hand
  127. 6:15seat and I was halfway in between and
  128. 6:18the lower equipment Bay wrestling with
  129. 6:19TV wires and a camera and watching Fred
  130. 6:22coming on down when all three of us
  131. 6:25heard a rather large bang just just one
  132. 6:29bang now before that Fred being in the
  133. 6:33lunar module had actuated a valve which
  134. 6:35normally gives us that same sound and
  135. 6:38since he didn't tell us about it we all
  136. 6:41rather jumped up and we're sort of
  137. 6:43worried about it but it was his joke and
  138. 6:45we all thought it was a lot of fun of
  139. 6:47the time since something happened so
  140. 6:49when this bang came we really didn't get
  141. 6:53concerned right away but the I looked up
  142. 6:56with Fred and if Fred had that
  143. 6:57expression like it wasn't his fault
  144. 7:00and we suddenly realize that something
  145. 7:06else occurred but exactly what we didn't
  146. 7:08know I'd like to go on now and let Fred
  147. 7:11and Jack explain just what their
  148. 7:15impressions were at this very same
  149. 7:17instance that I heard the explosion in
  150. 7:20the law recoupment base Jack okay excuse
  151. 7:25the sensation I had that I had felt a
  152. 7:29vibration coming to bang not a large
  153. 7:32vibration or shudder I proceeded to look
  154. 7:39at Jim and in about the same time which
  155. 7:42is I guess about two seconds had elapsed
  156. 7:44when I had a master alarm and a main
  157. 7:47Busby undervolt light i transmitted to
  158. 7:51houston that we had a problem and
  159. 7:53proceeded to over on the right-hand side
  160. 7:56of the spacecraft to look at the voltage
  161. 7:58the bullies at that time was completely
  162. 8:01normal
  163. 8:02the current was not high and the fuel
  164. 8:05cell flows were normal which indicated
  165. 8:07to me that whatever was it was some sort
  166. 8:09of a transient that that didn't exist at
  167. 8:12that time it me being a command module
  168. 8:18pilot and the source of the the the bang
  169. 8:24not immediately determinable it was my
  170. 8:28thought that of course I had a little
  171. 8:30more confidence in the command module so
  172. 8:32I thought it occurred in a limb and I
  173. 8:33said let's get the hatch in here and and
  174. 8:37so we can sit back and think about it
  175. 8:39because we had the tunnel open at this
  176. 8:42time and I was afraid that we might be
  177. 8:43vulnerable to losing pressure so I
  178. 8:45proceeded to get the hatch in to begin
  179. 8:49installing the hatch and at that time
  180. 8:51Fred went back over to the lunar module
  181. 8:55pilot scow and I'll let him tell what
  182. 8:58his observations were as far as the
  183. 9:01instruments and the other caution
  184. 9:03warning alarms now ah
  185. 9:06first of all due to my position being a
  186. 9:10lot more familiar with the
  187. 9:12side of the house my natural a first
  188. 9:16impulse on feeling this shudder and
  189. 9:20explosion was to make sure the LEM hatch
  190. 9:25was latched fully open because I was
  191. 9:30just as equally sure that the problem
  192. 9:31was upstairs and not that down in the
  193. 9:34lamp and I proceeded as best as I could
  194. 9:39from there to my a normal position to
  195. 9:41start looking at the the one caution of
  196. 9:45warning that Jack had mentioned the
  197. 9:49situation had changed by the time I I
  198. 9:51got there when I looked at this bus I
  199. 9:53was indicating as far as my gauge read
  200. 9:56the lowest rail and I looked at the fuel
  201. 10:00cell which happened to be still showing
  202. 10:03it was connected to that bus the fuel
  203. 10:05cell three it was not out putting any
  204. 10:09amps so my first thinking spell was
  205. 10:15mainly due to considering the fact that
  206. 10:17this the deed it really meant that we
  207. 10:21lost that field bill also meant by a
  208. 10:24mission rule that we wouldn't be burnin
  209. 10:26LOI and with that one problem we had are
  210. 10:30the loss to any subsequently
  211. 10:34I also had two other lights 82 and 1/8
  212. 10:39the overload and indeed we had lost the
  213. 10:43inverter that was being powered off that
  214. 10:46bus so I proceeded to switch some of the
  215. 10:49loads from AC to the other inverter that
  216. 10:52was on the other main bus and this
  217. 10:56induced an under voltage on the other
  218. 10:58main bus and
  219. 11:02that's when I got a little smarter and
  220. 11:04thought maybe I'd look at the other fuel
  221. 11:06cells which I hadn't even considered
  222. 11:08this heaven had a problem and I found
  223. 11:11the fuel cell one also not outputting
  224. 11:15the amps from this from this point on we
  225. 11:21were kind of under the under the hands
  226. 11:24of keaston and further troubleshooting
  227. 11:27and looking at a few more dials down on
  228. 11:31a another meter and the lab2 look at the
  229. 11:33regulated pressures and eventually we
  230. 11:36got to the point where houston called up
  231. 11:41and asked us to shut down the fuel cell
  232. 11:433
  233. 11:44shut down the reactance valve and I
  234. 11:49asked for reconfirmation since when you
  235. 11:52do that it's sort of irreversible if you
  236. 11:54shut when these things down they only
  237. 11:57can be restarted from ground support
  238. 11:59equipment and they assured me they
  239. 12:04really meant it so I went through with
  240. 12:06it and subsequently the same command was
  241. 12:09given for fuel cell one about this point
  242. 12:13in time the cryo pressure the oxygen
  243. 12:16pressure had gone in the bile tank - and
  244. 12:20the pressure in tank number one was
  245. 12:23rather steadily slowly but steadily
  246. 12:26decreasing that was obvious that wasn't
  247. 12:28hold on its own and right about then at
  248. 12:31it was quite apparent to me that there
  249. 12:34was just a question of time that the
  250. 12:36command module was going to be dead we
  251. 12:38were going to lose that fuel cell also
  252. 12:40so I kind of lost interest in that
  253. 12:42position and headed for the limb
  254. 12:46I think one of the things that's that we
  255. 12:50neglected to mention that I've been in
  256. 12:52my efforts to put in the hatch when Jim
  257. 12:54noticed we had considerable venting out
  258. 12:57the side of the command module so they
  259. 12:59indicated we were losing some sort of
  260. 13:01liquid or material from the area of the
  261. 13:04service module so it indicated to us
  262. 13:06that we truly had a problem in the
  263. 13:08service module I guess it's kind of
  264. 13:11interesting to to know what the feelings
  265. 13:13our crew when something like this
  266. 13:15happens when you first hear this
  267. 13:18explosion or pang you don't know what it
  268. 13:21is we've had similar sounds and the
  269. 13:23spacecraft before that were for nothing
  270. 13:26and then to me my impression was as we
  271. 13:29came back that we had an electrical
  272. 13:32problem that caused this bang because we
  273. 13:35in previous testing we had some problems
  274. 13:38while these lines that quickly went away
  275. 13:41then I looked out the window and saw
  276. 13:43this venting and my my concern was
  277. 13:46increasing all the time it went from I
  278. 13:48wonder what this is going to do to the
  279. 13:51landing to I wonder if we can get back
  280. 13:55home again and it sort of went into that
  281. 13:57type of seriousness and when I looked up
  282. 14:00and saw both oxygen pressures one
  283. 14:03absolute is zero another one going down
  284. 14:05it it dawned on me and I'm sure jacket
  285. 14:09and Fred about the same time that we
  286. 14:10were indeed in serious trouble it was
  287. 14:15apparent and the ground told us so and
  288. 14:17they're right on the on the ball all the
  289. 14:20time that the only way to survive this
  290. 14:22situation was to transfer to the LEM and
  291. 14:28so at that time Fred first of all went
  292. 14:32into the lab cut out our activation
  293. 14:35checklist a checklist which normally is
  294. 14:38not used until prior to powering up the
  295. 14:42LEM to detach from the command module
  296. 14:44and prepare to go down to the lunar
  297. 14:46surface and we started going through
  298. 14:48procedures to get blunt power on and to
  299. 14:52align the platform
  300. 14:54the first milestone and I consider this
  301. 14:58after the accident I guess more or less
  302. 14:59the survival ánow the first milestone
  303. 15:03was to get alignment on the lemon
  304. 15:06platform alignments are important you
  305. 15:09know because without knowing exactly
  306. 15:12which way the attitude of the spacecraft
  307. 15:14is in space there's no way to tell how
  308. 15:16to burn or how to use the engines of
  309. 15:19that spacecraft to get the performance
  310. 15:20the proper trajectory to come home so we
  311. 15:23had to have an alignment onboard the
  312. 15:26spacecraft we do that the command module
  313. 15:29was going to lose it pretty soon because
  314. 15:30we're gonna lose power
  315. 15:32so as we worked Fred and I went into the
  316. 15:35Glitter module we got the power on we
  317. 15:37started to line the platform we used a
  318. 15:40procedure that was in the activation
  319. 15:42checklist Jack gave us the angles there
  320. 15:45was a little bit of arithmetic involved
  321. 15:47in all these procedures and and I had on
  322. 15:50occasion during practice to fail my
  323. 15:53arithmetic test and I was so concerned
  324. 15:56about being sure that this arithmetic
  325. 15:57was correct that I had actually called
  326. 15:59down the ground let them do the math
  327. 16:00came back in put it in but we did get a
  328. 16:03platform alignment and that was our
  329. 16:05first milestone from then on it was an
  330. 16:09entirely different situation and this
  331. 16:11tomorrow might tell you exactly how how
  332. 16:13we work up until the incident the normal
  333. 16:18command is in the command module control
  334. 16:21was by the service module engines as RCS
  335. 16:24engines as far as attitude control goes
  336. 16:27but we transferred our command to the
  337. 16:30lunar module and we are using the lunar
  338. 16:33module engines for control we had done
  339. 16:38some practice in this before but really
  340. 16:42had never thought that would ever have
  341. 16:44to use this particular control situation
  342. 16:46and to get control of this vehicle in
  343. 16:52pitch you have to use one translation
  344. 16:54controller
  345. 16:56in one way and enroll another way and in
  346. 16:59all you can use the ACA so what we did
  347. 17:03Fred would handle one part of the
  348. 17:07control now to handle the other in
  349. 17:08controlling the maneuverability of the
  350. 17:10spacecraft we also had back here a
  351. 17:13service module that was completely
  352. 17:16filled with main engine fuel we had used
  353. 17:20very little of it just at one small bit
  354. 17:22coarse burn and also we had RCS engines
  355. 17:26that were almost completely filled with
  356. 17:28fuel an important point to remember at
  357. 17:31this time too was the fact that we had
  358. 17:33gotten off what we call the free return
  359. 17:35trajectory we had done our mid-course
  360. 17:37maneuver some time before and this meant
  361. 17:40that we are no longer on a path that
  362. 17:42would allow us to be swung around the
  363. 17:45moon and come back towards the landing
  364. 17:47spot on the earth we had gotten off this
  365. 17:49trajectory because we wanted to go to a
  366. 17:52landing site so the first thing the
  367. 17:54ground told us to do was to farm the
  368. 17:57tips engine the descent propulsion
  369. 18:00engine to get us back on that free
  370. 18:03return trajectory which ever remember
  371. 18:05correctly was going to get us into what
  372. 18:07the Indian Ocean win it I think I lost
  373. 18:09track of oceans after 155 hours the
  374. 18:19controllability of the spacecraft was ok
  375. 18:23as long as we had our our indicators up
  376. 18:26because we had practiced that as I had
  377. 18:27said but suddenly to save par we shut
  378. 18:30that down for a while and we had it
  379. 18:32controlled by pointed looking at our
  380. 18:34computer display and I had never tried
  381. 18:38that before I really don't know who had
  382. 18:40and it's a very difficult task and we
  383. 18:42spent a lot of our first part of our
  384. 18:45briggsie or survival time just learning
  385. 18:46how to control the spacecraft in this
  386. 18:48mode our second milestone was what was
  387. 18:53known as the synth Ian Plus to burn our
  388. 18:57first maneuver was to get his back on
  389. 18:59free return the second one was to get us
  390. 19:01home early the nominal flight time back
  391. 19:05home was 155 hours if we had done
  392. 19:07nothing else but because consumables
  393. 19:10were critical and the ground was
  394. 19:12calculating consumables and Fred was
  395. 19:14also doing the back of the envelope
  396. 19:16calculation which he figured if we were
  397. 19:19lucky we had about one hour spare
  398. 19:21consumables left before we had landed we
  399. 19:24had decided of the ground had decided to
  400. 19:27burn at about two hours past the moon at
  401. 19:32about seventy nine hours of maneuvers to
  402. 19:34shorten the time to get home again this
  403. 19:37was also going to be an automatic burn
  404. 19:38using a decent propulsion engine and
  405. 19:42this burn was also very successful after
  406. 19:46that the ground was very much concerned
  407. 19:48with power and we were too and we
  408. 19:51decided to go into a power download we
  409. 19:54we turned off just about everything and
  410. 19:56I'd like to have Jack and Fred to tell
  411. 19:59about our power down situation in some
  412. 20:00of our survival and environmental calls
  413. 20:04Fred Cohan attack well when the LEM sat
  414. 20:07at a house we actually had two already
  415. 20:10can the pretty good procedure and a book
  416. 20:12called a contingency checklist just was
  417. 20:15pretty appropriate and I guess well
  418. 20:20first of all the backup to the consumer
  419. 20:21business the one our reserve I computed
  420. 20:24was on water and that was for the longer
  421. 20:27return so as soon as we got the second
  422. 20:29burn in we we had a little more fat even
  423. 20:32but at any rate I guess everybody myself
  424. 20:36included got a little bit fooled about
  425. 20:40how how low the limb actually could get
  426. 20:45down to and after completing this power
  427. 20:47down it settled down on consuming about
  428. 20:4911 amps an hour and that combined with
  429. 20:54the command module being completely
  430. 20:56inert led us to another environmental
  431. 21:00problem which
  432. 21:01jelmo discuss again very shortly ok on
  433. 21:07command module side of the house as soon
  434. 21:10as I found the
  435. 21:12I had the batteries on the line also to
  436. 21:15help out fuel cell - and as soon as I
  437. 21:18had ascertained that gem and and Fred
  438. 21:21had powered up - LEM we shut down and
  439. 21:25fuel cell - gave out on us we powered
  440. 21:29down the command module completely just
  441. 21:33prior or subsequent to person T and plus
  442. 21:36- we set all the switches in the command
  443. 21:39module in a basic switched configuration
  444. 21:41this configuration so that the ground
  445. 21:44and us could work from a standard switch
  446. 21:46configuration and then we began a series
  447. 21:50of procedures we were interested in did
  448. 21:55we indeed have a main bus B or had we
  449. 21:58lost it and the ground passed up a
  450. 22:02procedure for determining that and I
  451. 22:05read up read out that we had adequate
  452. 22:07voltage on main bus B we did have a good
  453. 22:09main bus B the second situation was the
  454. 22:15fact that we were very short on LEM
  455. 22:17water so we were not given any LEM water
  456. 22:22to drink because we needed that for the
  457. 22:23LEM cooling system so I had to go back
  458. 22:25into the command module and repressurize
  459. 22:28part of the environmental control system
  460. 22:30in order to obtain drinking water and
  461. 22:33there was a number of other procedures
  462. 22:34which during the transit Coast phase
  463. 22:39which developed and that was a procedure
  464. 22:41for powering the command module from the
  465. 22:44LEM which was exactly opposite from the
  466. 22:47normal the usual procedure where the
  467. 22:50command module normally powers phlegm we
  468. 22:53did power up the command module we did
  469. 22:56charge battery B to fully charge and
  470. 22:59over a period of 15 hours we did top off
  471. 23:02battery or battery a for 15 hours we did
  472. 23:06top off the charge on battery B so we
  473. 23:08had three fully charged batteries for
  474. 23:10re-entry and then four just prior to the
  475. 23:14entry phase we powered up some of the
  476. 23:16subsystems of the command module from
  477. 23:18the lamp
  478. 23:20I think that's one just one couple of
  479. 23:26anomalies that we had we did find that
  480. 23:28we had one water lake in the LEM which I
  481. 23:34discovered when my feet got wet the LEM
  482. 23:37water gun was leaking and we shut that
  483. 23:40off I guess it leaked about a quarter of
  484. 23:43wah a quart of water I was I would
  485. 23:45estimate but it took me about two days
  486. 23:48to get my feet dry and of course it is I
  487. 23:50think you were all aware that the
  488. 23:52temperatures were going down in both
  489. 23:54vehicles and it's made for very chewy
  490. 23:57feet for a couple days might be a little
  491. 24:01impression of just just what the
  492. 24:03environment was like when the incident
  493. 24:05occurred everything was nice and
  494. 24:07comfortable and we of course had powered
  495. 24:11down the command module and we used that
  496. 24:13as the bedroom when felling was off
  497. 24:15washed they'd go back into the command
  498. 24:16module and it was quiet nice and
  499. 24:20comfortable and I'd try to get some
  500. 24:21sleep of course in the early periods of
  501. 24:23this particular flight now we didn't
  502. 24:27want to sleep too much we were sort of
  503. 24:28worried of what was going to go on I
  504. 24:29went in there one time to go to sleep
  505. 24:32and Jack was on top of the couch and
  506. 24:34said Jack put up all the window shades
  507. 24:36let's get the place nice and dark well
  508. 24:38we'll just relax and have it nice and
  509. 24:41dark in here we can really get some
  510. 24:42sleep and I woke up a couple hours later
  511. 24:45and I was freezing as normally happens
  512. 24:48putting up window shades in space cuts
  513. 24:50out the sunlight and normally cools down
  514. 24:52the spacecraft but in most flights the
  515. 24:55heat from the systems will quickly
  516. 24:56rewarm it and as since we get the window
  517. 24:59shades up to be in normal position again
  518. 25:01but we got the window shades off after
  519. 25:03that and the spacecraft never did warm
  520. 25:05up again command module just slowly kept
  521. 25:08going down in temperature until I think
  522. 25:09just prior to reentry it was down to
  523. 25:12about 38 degrees and along with that it
  524. 25:16was a sort of a chilling coldness the
  525. 25:18walls were perspiring the windows were
  526. 25:21completely wet and it it wasn't too
  527. 25:24healthy I recall that we went in there
  528. 25:26to get some hot dogs one day and it was
  529. 25:27like reaching into the freezer for the
  530. 25:29for the food
  531. 25:33Jack why don't you tell them about some
  532. 25:34of the innovations that that the ground
  533. 25:36gave us in in for instance the lithium
  534. 25:39hydroxide canisters which I thought was
  535. 25:40quite interesting well we we did have a
  536. 25:43shortage of lithium hydroxide and the
  537. 25:47ground red us up a procedure in order to
  538. 25:49adapt some of the command module lithium
  539. 25:51hydroxide canisters for use in the LEM
  540. 25:54and as they read this thing up Jim and I
  541. 25:57constructed one of these things at this
  542. 26:00point in time I think the partial
  543. 26:02pressure of carbon dioxide was reading
  544. 26:04about fifteen millimeters and we
  545. 26:06constructed two of these things and put
  546. 26:08them online and I think within an hour
  547. 26:10the partial pressure of co2 was down to
  548. 26:13two tenths so these were very effective
  549. 26:16devices and we used four of these of the
  550. 26:20command module canisters and never did
  551. 26:21they use the secondary the main canister
  552. 26:26that we had in reserve that was for the
  553. 26:28lunar module of course as the as a
  554. 26:33temperature went down we became
  555. 26:36concerned about keeping warm and Fred
  556. 26:39and I broke out our lunar boots which we
  557. 26:41had stood away in the lunar module and
  558. 26:44Jack looked at his wet feet a couple of
  559. 26:46times but he had an extra set of
  560. 26:49underwear so he put that on we actually
  561. 26:53had a third little sleep restraint which
  562. 26:55Fred does then put on and buttoned up
  563. 26:57and kept a little bit warm one of the
  564. 27:00biggest problems we had was one which
  565. 27:04might have hurt our trajectory and that
  566. 27:08was that we didn't want to dump things
  567. 27:10overboard as it turned out later on it
  568. 27:12was more of an imaginary problem than
  569. 27:14then we thought at the time however we
  570. 27:18were we thought we were told anyway that
  571. 27:20don't put any waste water dumps over the
  572. 27:22side because it might disturb the
  573. 27:23trajectory and we're tracking you and we
  574. 27:25want to make sure that you could come
  575. 27:26back and hit the proper angle to reenter
  576. 27:30and Fred why don't you tell them what we
  577. 27:32did with all that stuff
  578. 27:34[Music]
  579. 27:38well we the things we've had on board
  580. 27:41that were built for that sort of purpose
  581. 27:44were three bags on board the command
  582. 27:48module about about that size square that
  583. 27:52were really a backup provided for a
  584. 27:56backup mode of operation in case the
  585. 27:59normal Myrtle system failed and the
  586. 28:01command module still for overboard um
  587. 28:03but they did have a reservoir on board
  588. 28:06the LEM for the draining out of the seat
  589. 28:09on the lunar surface we had six bags
  590. 28:13about this size in the limb beyond that
  591. 28:18we had the three II CDs which are a
  592. 28:20bladder pieces of apparatus that we each
  593. 28:24wear normally under the seat and that
  594. 28:27was about only the only natural sort of
  595. 28:31gear we had for this sort of storage so
  596. 28:35we looked around and in the limb we have
  597. 28:39a tank that's mounted in back of where
  598. 28:43the flight data file is located on the
  599. 28:47left side it's called a press conference
  600. 28:50a tank and its purposes when you're
  601. 28:53refilling the pluses on a lunar surface
  602. 28:56some of the water that's outside the the
  603. 28:58water vessel as allowed is allowed to
  604. 29:02escape and it's supposed to drain into
  605. 29:05this tank so we had enough for
  606. 29:09fortunately enough for combinations of
  607. 29:12hoses and a quick disconnects between
  608. 29:15the two vehicles used in both limb and
  609. 29:18command module gear that we found a
  610. 29:21combination that we could hook up our
  611. 29:24UCD's to the fitting that went to this
  612. 29:27tank so that that savers for a little
  613. 29:31while then after that one got full we
  614. 29:36looked around some more and we'd come
  615. 29:38across two bags fairly large banks or
  616. 29:41about that long
  617. 29:43and their purpose was after the first
  618. 29:46deviate in fact there was one of them I
  619. 29:49showed on the TV show we were to use
  620. 29:53these bags to drain the remaining water
  621. 29:55out of the buses and determine actually
  622. 29:58how much water we had left so again this
  623. 30:01turned out to be a rather weird the page
  624. 30:05to get to drain into that bag I think
  625. 30:07with later on you may may get to see
  626. 30:10that that piece of gear but didn't
  627. 30:12involve the use of a six-foot-long hose
  628. 30:15with the T in the middle hooked up to
  629. 30:17this bag and so we succeeded in using
  630. 30:22both of those large bags for storage
  631. 30:28short the end so you see that survival
  632. 30:35now became one of initiative and
  633. 30:39ingenuity and and it was one which the
  634. 30:42ground continually helped us along we
  635. 30:44had all kinds of people on the ground
  636. 30:46trying to think of ways of extending our
  637. 30:49lifetime we are also thinking of ways of
  638. 30:52using perhaps the police system to use
  639. 30:54it for oxygen or the or our burden sea
  640. 30:57oxygen supply in case we ran out but as
  641. 31:00the flight progressed the ground
  642. 31:02calculating are consumables saw that we
  643. 31:06are actually using less power less water
  644. 31:08less oxygen and our lithium hydroxide
  645. 31:11canisters were holding up quite well so
  646. 31:13it was it was getting better all the
  647. 31:16time fortunately we did power down
  648. 31:19everything though and about 105 hours
  649. 31:21the ground after some tracking realized
  650. 31:23that we were not on a trajectory that
  651. 31:25would get us safely back home and that
  652. 31:28we'd have to make another maneuver by
  653. 31:32this time the the crew stations became a
  654. 31:36lot different there are three people in
  655. 31:38the lunar module now usually built for
  656. 31:40two because the cold had driven jack
  657. 31:42away from the command module and Jack's
  658. 31:45normal position was on top the asset
  659. 31:47engine can overseeing what Fred and I
  660. 31:49were doing this last maneuver was
  661. 31:52unique because we did not have the
  662. 31:55platform powered up so we didn't have a
  663. 31:57normal method of determining the
  664. 31:58attitude of the spacecraft in order to
  665. 32:00perform the burn on Apollo 8 some time
  666. 32:05ago we were concerned with perhaps
  667. 32:07losing a platform on the return voyage
  668. 32:09home and since no one had ever made a
  669. 32:11lunar trip before we were looking at
  670. 32:14sort of way out ways of determining how
  671. 32:16we could make these Corrections home and
  672. 32:18some of our people here at MSC had come
  673. 32:20up with an idea about using the
  674. 32:22Terminator of the earth to orient the
  675. 32:25spacecraft and then the Sun position to
  676. 32:28get orientation and pitch and with that
  677. 32:30knowledge we could then make corrections
  678. 32:33to do correct our angle of entry into
  679. 32:36the atmosphere and as as you know I
  680. 32:39think that the end the angle of entry
  681. 32:41into the atmosphere is a very small
  682. 32:43angle only about two degrees and so it
  683. 32:45has to be controlled very closely and
  684. 32:47that's what the main tracking is for so
  685. 32:50105 hours they gave us instructions to
  686. 32:52rewrite the decent engine to orient the
  687. 32:57spacecraft in this manner and give this
  688. 32:59particular procedure a try and when they
  689. 33:02read up the procedure to us I just
  690. 33:03couldn't believe it because even on
  691. 33:05Apollo 8 I thought I'd never in all the
  692. 33:07world have to use something way out as
  693. 33:09this and here I was on Apollo 13 using
  694. 33:12this very same procedure that was
  695. 33:13developed some time ago this maneuver
  696. 33:18again was completed on time and because
  697. 33:20it was a manual burn we had a three-man
  698. 33:22operation jack would take care of the
  699. 33:25time he'd tell us when to light off the
  700. 33:26engine when to stop it Fred handled
  701. 33:29pitch maneuver I handled the roll roll
  702. 33:31maneuver and I pushed the buttons to
  703. 33:32start and stop the engine so maybe we
  704. 33:34ought to recommend a three-man lemon
  705. 33:36after this I don't know again after this
  706. 33:41maneuver we were again powered down and
  707. 33:44it became one of just merely hanging on
  708. 33:45are our maneuvers from that I were
  709. 33:49merely drifting and they were done to
  710. 33:51keep the the thermal control on the
  711. 33:54spacecraft as even as possible so that
  712. 33:56once I wouldn't cool off too much of
  713. 33:58this I wouldn't heat up and our flight
  714. 34:01progressed that way down to
  715. 34:03about five hours prior to entry whereby
  716. 34:08throughout the night and throughout
  717. 34:09throughout the days as prior to this
  718. 34:11saying that ground of course was working
  719. 34:12feverishly with crews and the simulators
  720. 34:15and with the engineers looking at the
  721. 34:18systems to read up to us a set of
  722. 34:20procedures which we would be able to
  723. 34:23follow to make a successful entry and I
  724. 34:29I kind of think one of the most
  725. 34:30important points that can be made of
  726. 34:31this flight is the cooperation and the
  727. 34:33coordination and the the initiative that
  728. 34:38people have when suddenly faced with an
  729. 34:40unusual situation that can respond to
  730. 34:44come up with the answers and they did
  731. 34:48they read us up procedures Fred Jack and
  732. 34:51I practice these procedures by reading
  733. 34:55them and then completed them I think
  734. 34:57it's a it's amazing the way that people
  735. 34:59can respond so fast to get this job done
  736. 35:01we were in a different situation now
  737. 35:03because probably when you'd come home
  738. 35:05you have only the command and service
  739. 35:07module so the only thing we have to get
  740. 35:09rid of is this service module just prior
  741. 35:11to entry of the atmosphere coming home
  742. 35:14now though we had a dead service module
  743. 35:16we had a command module that had no
  744. 35:18power to it we had a lunar module that
  745. 35:21was a wonderful vehicle to travel home
  746. 35:25with but didn't have a heat shield on
  747. 35:26full unfortunately and and surely we'd
  748. 35:29have to abandon it
  749. 35:31our procedure basically was at about
  750. 35:34five hours to make another short
  751. 35:36mid-course Corrections rule again change
  752. 35:39the angle to make sure we had a good
  753. 35:40angle of entry and then at about four
  754. 35:44and a half hours to maneuver to a
  755. 35:48position to get rid of the service
  756. 35:50module and Jack wants to discuss a
  757. 35:52little bit gain the ground and read up a
  758. 35:54very very nice timeline for the whole
  759. 35:58procedures for as far as the command
  760. 36:00module went from six and a half hours
  761. 36:01through splashdown and the
  762. 36:05the part about four and a half hours was
  763. 36:09where we jettison the service module the
  764. 36:12the only I guess nervous moment that we
  765. 36:17had at that point of time as the normal
  766. 36:19procedures require we have an extensive
  767. 36:22auto Technic system in this spacecraft
  768. 36:27and the normal procedures require arming
  769. 36:30the logic buses first and letting
  770. 36:32Houston look at all the relays to make
  771. 36:35sure that all relays indeed have latched
  772. 36:37up properly so that we don't jettison or
  773. 36:41fire a protective pyrotechnic device
  774. 36:43that we don't which we don't want to at
  775. 36:46this point in time we didn't have any
  776. 36:49any telemetry with Houston and Fred came
  777. 36:53up and I said well Fred I'm already
  778. 36:55ready to jettison the service module
  779. 36:57just gonna better get ready to arm the
  780. 36:59Pyro's and he said I'll get a goal from
  781. 37:01misfit I says Fred we don't have any
  782. 37:03telemetry with miss Finn so you're just
  783. 37:05gonna have to put your fingers in your
  784. 37:07ears and stand by so I arm the a system
  785. 37:10and I could hear the relays and nothing
  786. 37:13happened and i armed the B system and
  787. 37:15nothing happened so I kind of felt we
  788. 37:17were home free meanwhile I'm back in the
  789. 37:19lab with an open tunnel hoping that
  790. 37:20nothing happens
  791. 37:22and the procedure went well we used a
  792. 37:27push-pull method and Jim and Fred were
  793. 37:30in the LEM and using the translation
  794. 37:34controller to give us some velocity and
  795. 37:36when Jim yelled fire I'd jettison the
  796. 37:38service muzzle and and it went off we've
  797. 37:41missed a lot of debris which is usual
  798. 37:43and Jim began to pitch around to try and
  799. 37:46photograph it you might read you might
  800. 37:49tell him but then the truck you got the
  801. 37:52first look - yeah well the ground had
  802. 37:56told us that the best view of the
  803. 37:57service module as soon as we jettisoned
  804. 37:59it was through the number-5 window this
  805. 38:00was in the command module it's one of
  806. 38:02these side windows so as soon as Jack
  807. 38:05had jettisoned the service module he
  808. 38:08went over the number-5 window well the
  809. 38:10force of the jettison had pitched the
  810. 38:13rest of it you might see what we have
  811. 38:15now we got rid of all this and so now we
  812. 38:17have the command module and the lunar
  813. 38:18module together which is an unusual
  814. 38:20combination we've never flown this
  815. 38:22before it forced the lunar module to
  816. 38:24pitch down rather than go straight and
  817. 38:27instead of pitching up right away I
  818. 38:29couldn't see it so and Jack couldn't see
  819. 38:31it so then I finally started pitching up
  820. 38:33and through this overhead window this
  821. 38:35this jockey window up here I finally
  822. 38:38caught sight of the the lunar lodge of
  823. 38:41the service module as it tumbles around
  824. 38:43in view and it was - may sort of an
  825. 38:47amazing sight I didn't realize that this
  826. 38:50whole panel why the high gain antenna
  827. 38:53was blown clean off right along the area
  828. 38:58where the panel normally swings open I
  829. 39:00could see the interior I couldn't see
  830. 39:04exactly what was damaged I could see but
  831. 39:06Jill hanging out from the interior and
  832. 39:09about that time because my description
  833. 39:12wouldn't be half as good as a good
  834. 39:14photograph I reached for my camera we
  835. 39:16had three cameras and I started taking
  836. 39:18pictures through this little banking
  837. 39:20window Jack then knowing that he didn't
  838. 39:23see anything from his window started to
  839. 39:26come down through the tunnel to the lab
  840. 39:28and Fred meanwhile had got his cameras
  841. 39:31ready and the spacecraft ever
  842. 39:33to a point where the service module was
  843. 39:35then visible in the front window and
  844. 39:39fred was taking pictures and jack was
  845. 39:41taking pictures of the service module
  846. 39:43trying to capture some of the damage
  847. 39:45that that we could see the remainder of
  848. 39:53the flight went just as the ground had
  849. 39:55told us to do it we had kept in that
  850. 40:00position I had gotten an alignment which
  851. 40:02from the earth and the from the moon and
  852. 40:05the Sun which was good enough to
  853. 40:07transfer back to Jack an alignment a
  854. 40:11rough alignment so that he could get a
  855. 40:13very fine alignment in the in the
  856. 40:15command module and at two-and-a-half
  857. 40:17hours he started powering up and getting
  858. 40:19this alignment and my only thought that
  859. 40:22was as I was sitting by myself inside
  860. 40:24the lunar module I could see the earth
  861. 40:26because it was a nice big triangular
  862. 40:28window well Fred and Jack were powering
  863. 40:30up the command module and even though
  864. 40:32maybe wasn't those Apple to me it looked
  865. 40:33like he was getting bigger and bigger
  866. 40:34and bigger and I kept yelling back to
  867. 40:37Jack how are you coming are you doing
  868. 40:38fine
  869. 40:39you know when can I leave Aquarius he
  870. 40:45was a little bit nervous he when he say
  871. 40:47was kept asking he kept saying Jack how
  872. 40:49you comin the earth is getting bigger
  873. 40:51[Music]
  874. 40:53I think he was trying to hurry me but I
  875. 40:56don't know but Jack did a fine job he
  876. 40:58got a very good alignment which was I
  877. 41:00think accountable for some of our good
  878. 41:03automatic guidance into a landings and
  879. 41:06finally when he got the alignment and
  880. 41:09all powered up I by that time the lunar
  881. 41:12module looked like they just like a
  882. 41:14packed garbage can we had the big bug in
  883. 41:17the probe big bags full of debris that
  884. 41:21we had accumulated during the six days
  885. 41:22and I then went from the lunar module
  886. 41:26close the hatch came on down and we
  887. 41:29jettisoned the lunar module and that
  888. 41:31came on in with a recovery which I think
  889. 41:35that you people saw better on TV than we
  890. 41:37felt in the spacecraft it's like oh yes
  891. 41:43well we have one picture which we
  892. 41:46thought that fed my showing their
  893. 41:57lithium hydroxide cannister there the
  894. 42:00whole building removers to see is still
  895. 42:02a couple of red lights on them upstairs
  896. 42:11the point in the foreground which you
  897. 42:13can see is the hose hose arrangement I
  898. 42:17discussed earlier draining into the
  899. 42:20suppress bag this is the long object
  900. 42:23yeah what a collection bag the other
  901. 42:27point I hope to show yet now maybe some
  902. 42:29trip it up right in the background here
  903. 42:32is the the modification we made to the
  904. 42:36ECF system whereby we used the lithium
  905. 42:39hydroxide canisters out of the a command
  906. 42:42module and with the use of plastic and
  907. 42:45some of our onboard data that slipped
  908. 42:48cardboard from some of the procedures we
  909. 42:51didn't need and gray tape we have on
  910. 42:55board we jury read that this thing with
  911. 42:58the plenum to dilemma EPS intake hose
  912. 43:04and this shows only a one enough one the
  913. 43:09cube on later on we further martyred and
  914. 43:12ended up with a stack of got two on that
  915. 43:15one it's hose and I assume we sort of
  916. 43:19except for the geometry has continued to
  917. 43:21do so up indefinitely pages described
  918. 43:26the home-built carbon dioxide removal
  919. 43:29system which was put together on the
  920. 43:32lunar module just start right here
  921. 43:40questions from reporters know here at
  922. 43:43the manned spacecraft Center lining up
  923. 43:48on the earth and the Sun when you were
  924. 43:51coming down at manual business of a line
  925. 43:54of platform and particularly again about
  926. 43:56when the when a supercritical helium
  927. 43:59tank burst I understand when he did non
  928. 44:02propulsive maneuver you were suddenly
  929. 44:03rocking in the right way well we there
  930. 44:09was a lot of unfortunate incidents in 13
  931. 44:12that would make it a completely unlucky
  932. 44:15flight we at the time it happened I
  933. 44:18thought was the worst possible time
  934. 44:20obviously it was not the worst possible
  935. 44:21time for this particular incident to
  936. 44:23happen we were lucky in the fact that we
  937. 44:27that we had a base support that was well
  938. 44:32receptive to immediate organization and
  939. 44:36gave us the the problems and the
  940. 44:39procedures to continue that we were
  941. 44:41extremely lucky in we found out that we
  942. 44:46could operate the spacecraft and do
  943. 44:49procedures with a lot less systems than
  944. 44:52we anticipated I was very reluctant to
  945. 44:55turn off the guidance system the
  946. 44:57platform because I knew that once I did
  947. 45:00that and we could not see stars outside
  948. 45:02the windows especially because of the
  949. 45:04debris that was lying out there and
  950. 45:05venting from the service module that I
  951. 45:09would be very difficult to get an
  952. 45:10alignment on my own these are areas I
  953. 45:13think that that we were lucky in captain
  954. 45:17level what did you have in mind when you
  955. 45:20made a remark I think this is gonna be
  956. 45:23the last moon flight for a long time
  957. 45:26that's a good question we were of course
  958. 45:29you must realize our positions we were
  959. 45:31going around the moon we didn't know
  960. 45:32what happened and we looked at the moon
  961. 45:35I I had been there and Fred and Jack
  962. 45:38we're taking pictures because regardless
  963. 45:40of anything they were upon to take
  964. 45:41pictures and I said come on we have a
  965. 45:42burn to go in two minutes or two hours
  966. 45:45at that time not knowing what we're
  967. 45:48gonna do and they were getting as many
  968. 45:50pictures as possible I had perhaps
  969. 45:52thought that maybe this was going to be
  970. 45:53the last moon flight for a long time but
  971. 45:56looking back on our now and looking back
  972. 45:58on the way that that NASA has responded
  973. 46:01in helping us get home and analyzing the
  974. 46:03thing I don't believe that anymore I
  975. 46:08think it's gonna be one where we can
  976. 46:10analyze our problems and I foresee that
  977. 46:13we can get this incident over with and
  978. 46:16can charge ahead I wouldn't be scared to
  979. 46:20fly with the fix Jim speaking that
  980. 46:24subject flying again you told us this
  981. 46:26was going to be your last flight but
  982. 46:28that you did
  983. 46:29a walk on the moon before giving up
  984. 46:32flying how do you feel now would you
  985. 46:34want to go back and take a crack at
  986. 46:35Apollo 14 15 16 or is Maryland
  987. 46:38[Music]
  988. 46:41well I'm very much disappointed just as
  989. 46:44fred is and the jack that we couldn't
  990. 46:46complete the mission we we certainly
  991. 46:48wanted to to make a lunar landing farmer
  992. 46:52has so much to offer we thought we spent
  993. 46:55a lawful lot of time on it but this was
  994. 46:57my fourth spaceflight and there are many
  995. 47:00people in our organization who have not
  996. 47:02flown and who deserve to fly and who are
  997. 47:04talented enough to fly and on my own
  998. 47:09they deserve the mission if they if they
  999. 47:14feel that that this team should go back
  1000. 47:16there I'm certainly willing to go back
  1001. 47:19but otherwise that I think other people
  1002. 47:23ought to do it you are ready to go back
  1003. 47:26you don't feel cheated if you don't go
  1004. 47:28back no I would like to have landed on
  1005. 47:31the moon but I feel that perhaps what we
  1006. 47:34got out of this flight was also well
  1007. 47:36worth it
  1008. 47:36I've been level in that connection we
  1009. 47:39were told at all the briefings before
  1010. 47:40this flight that Apollo 13s flight plan
  1011. 47:43was a very important one not only for
  1012. 47:45the science you would get off the moon
  1013. 47:47but also because of the Pathfinder
  1014. 47:49photography that you would do subsequent
  1015. 47:52to the landing now I'm wondering if in
  1016. 47:54your mind you think that it will be
  1017. 47:56necessary to reflow profile and if so
  1018. 48:01what crew would be better qualified for
  1019. 48:03it than the one which has trained for it
  1020. 48:05for three years let me answer that
  1021. 48:09question sort of backwards as I said the
  1022. 48:11beginning of the conference that two
  1023. 48:13days noticed that Jack's like at replace
  1024. 48:15Ken manually Ken I think was pressed
  1025. 48:19when the most conscientious pilots that
  1026. 48:21we have in our space program he really
  1027. 48:24knew that command modulae he knew the
  1028. 48:25flight plan of Apollo 13 better than
  1029. 48:27anybody the jack could replace him and
  1030. 48:31could do a good job I think that it's
  1031. 48:33not so much an individual crew anymore
  1032. 48:35and that's I think any crew that was put
  1033. 48:38together can do any job and if the
  1034. 48:42scientists feel that fra mauro is is
  1035. 48:44necessary to revisit then i think that
  1036. 48:46any crew that happened to be assigned to
  1037. 48:48that particular mission can take what we
  1038. 48:51have already done and we have done a lot
  1039. 48:53of groundwork on fran tomorrow and
  1040. 48:55improve upon it perhaps and do a good
  1041. 48:58job just to follow up are you saying
  1042. 49:01then that Young Mattingly and Duke would
  1043. 49:05be a good crew to fly Apollo 13 and do
  1044. 49:10you think Apollo 13 should be rieflin
  1045. 49:12which was reading my basic question well
  1046. 49:15you're basically asking the wrong person
  1047. 49:17first of all I'm not in the selection of
  1048. 49:20people who fly spacecraft and second of
  1049. 49:22all I'm not in the scientific area to
  1050. 49:24find out we're just what areas should be
  1051. 49:26revisited so obviously we have lost one
  1052. 49:28lunar landing we didn't make it
  1053. 49:30if Franois was worth it an hour an hour
  1054. 49:34training from all had a lot to offer
  1055. 49:36then we should go back there bootstrap
  1056. 49:38photography is very important we should
  1057. 49:40do that but this is up for larger
  1058. 49:46decisions and longer leade decisions I
  1059. 49:49wonder if the two newcomers to the moon
  1060. 49:52could just tell us whether they had any
  1061. 49:55impressions of it as they went whizzing
  1062. 49:56by well we've we've already been told by
  1063. 50:03Jim what color it is
  1064. 50:04[Music]
  1065. 50:12but no I think my impression of it as we
  1066. 50:17passed the closest we guy was 137 miles
  1067. 50:20and I think I haven't bought the same
  1068. 50:23impressions as the men who visited
  1069. 50:26previously that it's very stark it's
  1070. 50:30desolate it's it's almost awesome and
  1071. 50:34it's desolation and we didn't get the
  1072. 50:40chance because we were gonna be doing a
  1073. 50:42burn to really do any real detailed
  1074. 50:46looking at it but I guess that would be
  1075. 50:49my summation of my feelings that it was
  1076. 50:52almost awesome in its desolation many
  1077. 50:56implications if any could this accident
  1078. 51:00of Apollo 13 have on future Apollo
  1079. 51:03missions and deep space missions SATA
  1080. 51:05Mars or Venus
  1081. 51:16well I'm not sure there is any sort of
  1082. 51:20direct correlation and I can think of
  1083. 51:24with the exception of maybe bringing
  1084. 51:28home rather early some of the problems
  1085. 51:31and concerned with power down modes of
  1086. 51:34operation and making sure an
  1087. 51:38environmental control system can work
  1088. 51:40equally well to keep their occupants
  1089. 51:43comfortable what both for a normal
  1090. 51:46operating power levels as well as
  1091. 51:48emergency sort of power levels Jim you
  1092. 51:57said you people on TV you thought better
  1093. 52:00recovery than we felt in the spacecraft
  1094. 52:02can each other three of you comment on
  1095. 52:04what your feelings were during her time
  1096. 52:07love splice down well of course when we
  1097. 52:12hit the water we were we were very happy
  1098. 52:14to be back home and we commented on that
  1099. 52:16fact the recovery of thirteen was almost
  1100. 52:23textbook recovery it was calm day the
  1101. 52:26the actual splashdown itself was very
  1102. 52:29mild and the Navy did a grand job and
  1103. 52:36I'm not prejudiced of course but we were
  1104. 52:41of course disappointed that we did not
  1105. 52:43complete the mission
  1106. 52:48how about
  1107. 52:51how about the other two of you telling
  1108. 52:56us how you feel about flying again what
  1109. 52:58this experiences meant in terms of your
  1110. 53:01professional careers I I think that what
  1111. 53:06this has done for me if anything has
  1112. 53:10increased my confidence in the ability
  1113. 53:12of this nation space program to take an
  1114. 53:17unusual situation and react to it and
  1115. 53:21come out with a successful conclusion I
  1116. 53:24consider recovery of this crew
  1117. 53:27successful conclusion but I have I have
  1118. 53:31nothing but the utmost admiration for
  1119. 53:34the people on the ground who work
  1120. 53:36tirelessly get us back I guess I might
  1121. 53:43answer that by saying sometime this year
  1122. 53:48I'll have had 15 years with NASA and I
  1123. 53:51don't figure it all we're tired for
  1124. 53:53another 30 maybe so I'll just do
  1125. 53:57whatever whatever job the agency decides
  1126. 54:01it's the best place I can be and to
  1127. 54:04contribute the most getting Louisville
  1128. 54:07was there ever a moment when you were
  1129. 54:09any other member of your crew thought
  1130. 54:11you did not have enough consumables to
  1131. 54:13make it back in those first hours and if
  1132. 54:15so what were your feelings well as I
  1133. 54:19said they're our feelings very during
  1134. 54:21out during the emergency there were
  1135. 54:25moments when I didn't know how much
  1136. 54:26consumables we had whether we could make
  1137. 54:28it back or not but in a situation like
  1138. 54:32that there's only one thing you can do
  1139. 54:33you just keep going and you just keep
  1140. 54:36thinking up where you get were
  1141. 54:37consumables and so that's exactly what
  1142. 54:41we did you made any recommendations thus
  1143. 54:46far on changes and procedures or
  1144. 54:49redesign of equipment based on your
  1145. 54:53no we haven't I all this will be taking
  1146. 54:56place in the ensuing weeks while looking
  1147. 55:03at the service module after you jettison
  1148. 55:06that one of you said an hour quotient I
  1149. 55:09think the explosion from what I could
  1150. 55:11see Joe had stages what made you think
  1151. 55:15so and do you still think so
  1152. 55:22stages the explosion stages I don't
  1153. 55:26recall that incident I I was the first
  1154. 55:29one to see it I said it looked like a
  1155. 55:30mess and that I can see the panel
  1156. 55:32missing but I don't recall any other
  1157. 55:35comments my mates
  1158. 55:45thank you gentlemen all the time that
  1159. 55:49you were in trouble coming back you were
  1160. 55:51obviously extremely grateful and you've
  1161. 55:54told it again and again for the
  1162. 55:56cooperation of the ground crew and
  1163. 55:58rightly so naturally where was there an
  1164. 56:01awareness are the same sort of an
  1165. 56:04awareness of the infinite power watching
  1166. 56:07over you and caring where to get down
  1167. 56:09were you aware of that you're asking me
  1168. 56:13whether I prayed I certainly did and I
  1169. 56:17have no doubt that perhaps my prayers
  1170. 56:20and the prayers of the rest of the
  1171. 56:21people did an awful lot contributed an
  1172. 56:23awful lot for us getting back John
  1173. 56:28Lennon at one point just prior to the
  1174. 56:32two jettisoning the limb it there was a
  1175. 56:36comment about the flight plan being read
  1176. 56:38up to you and it was akin to reading war
  1177. 56:41and peace over the air I'm wondering
  1178. 56:43what it must have been like to take it
  1179. 56:44down in a spacecraft where at one point
  1180. 56:46someone also said they were running out
  1181. 56:48of flight plan pads this this was the I
  1182. 56:53assume the procedure in the command
  1183. 56:55module which was quite lengthy because
  1184. 56:57one of the things I think that did this
  1185. 56:59evident from this thing is we really
  1186. 57:01threw away the book we had never powered
  1187. 57:02down a command module in space and we
  1188. 57:05had never reactivated one and we wanted
  1189. 57:09to get it right and so I read back every
  1190. 57:11switch and every circuit breaker and it
  1191. 57:15was a lengthy procedure it was one that
  1192. 57:17was worked out and verified by the
  1193. 57:19ground and its success I think is well
  1194. 57:22documented Jim did you notice any
  1195. 57:26unusual vibration with a s2 or the j2
  1196. 57:29shut down and if so could it have any
  1197. 57:31effect at all on the service module
  1198. 57:33trouble well we did notice an unusual
  1199. 57:36vibration just prior to or just during
  1200. 57:39the number-5 engine on the s2 shutting
  1201. 57:42down during the boost phase I doubt
  1202. 57:45seriously if it had any trouble with the
  1203. 57:47certain and
  1204. 57:48you know gave me trouble the service
  1205. 57:50module but I have no evidence to to say
  1206. 57:52yes or no event a question for whoever
  1207. 57:56wants to answer it would you tell us
  1208. 57:58twice during the mission you made you
  1209. 58:00ask the ground if the flowers were
  1210. 58:01blooming in Houston yet apparently this
  1211. 58:03was a code would someone explain that
  1212. 58:06and then the second question is for
  1213. 58:08captain level there's a movement in
  1214. 58:10Wisconsin apparently growing now to
  1215. 58:13nominate you to run against Senator
  1216. 58:15William Proxmire and we're wondering if
  1217. 58:17you would comment on that yeah the the
  1218. 58:25first question
  1219. 58:27it was a again a sort of a code you're
  1220. 58:30right that we had worked out with our
  1221. 58:33Capcom's really in ants asking a
  1222. 58:38question about cannons condition as to
  1223. 58:41whether did come down with the measles
  1224. 58:43yet or not
  1225. 58:46and we're still waiting for Ken to come
  1226. 58:48down with the music Jim what about your
  1227. 58:55political jack would you answer that
  1228. 59:01question no I don't have any political
  1229. 59:04affiliations in the state of Wisconsin
  1230. 59:06at this moment when you saw the damage
  1231. 59:10that was done the service module were
  1232. 59:12there any fears that the heat shield
  1233. 59:13might have been damaged by that I had no
  1234. 59:19qualms about at the time I guess I
  1235. 59:22really wasn't thinking along those lines
  1236. 59:24because I knew that we were reentering
  1237. 59:27very shortly and that regardless of the
  1238. 59:29damage to the heat shield that mean it
  1239. 59:30was gonna have you had to take it or not
  1240. 59:32take it I had no qualms at all heat
  1241. 59:35Childers is I don't know whether you're
  1242. 59:37aware how thick it is but it takes an
  1243. 59:39awful lot to damage that and I I had no
  1244. 59:41qualms at all Jim you had were faced
  1245. 59:45with a perhaps as precise flying job as
  1246. 59:50you ever will face yet you say you had
  1247. 59:52to fly the limb a completely new method
  1248. 59:55what do you elaborate a little bit on
  1249. 59:56how you and Fred worked this out well
  1250. 59:59the methods of flying the stock as you
  1251. 1:00:01see it here have been worked out before
  1252. 1:00:03a bike bike crews in a procedure which
  1253. 1:00:05we normally practice for and that is in
  1254. 1:00:09runer orbit as we were slowing down to
  1255. 1:00:11go into lunar orbit with this complete
  1256. 1:00:12stack if something happened to the
  1257. 1:00:14propulsion system on the main engine we
  1258. 1:00:17might have to use the descent propulsion
  1259. 1:00:20system engine to get us back home again
  1260. 1:00:22this is called a dips burn and to
  1261. 1:00:25control this system if the automatic
  1262. 1:00:29control is not working requires this
  1263. 1:00:31translation controller fred and i had
  1264. 1:00:33practice that like previous crews and
  1265. 1:00:35that's the way we flew this particular
  1266. 1:00:37device but in part of our power down
  1267. 1:00:41sequence we had to we had to power down
  1268. 1:00:44the attitude balls the
  1269. 1:00:46the FDA is as we call them and because
  1270. 1:00:50our platforms an Apollo r3 gimbal type
  1271. 1:00:53platforms that could go into what we
  1272. 1:00:54call a gimbal lock and we can lose our
  1273. 1:00:56alignment that way we had to make sure
  1274. 1:00:58the spacecraft didn't in this gyrations
  1275. 1:01:00get near that area we had a look at the
  1276. 1:01:02computer which readout this these
  1277. 1:01:04various angles and it wasn't obvious how
  1278. 1:01:07to fly it by looking at this computer as
  1279. 1:01:08it was by looking at the FDA I yet
  1280. 1:01:13willing to fly just the command module
  1281. 1:01:16and the lab we found out that they had a
  1282. 1:01:18two controller itself was adequate to
  1283. 1:01:20control the vehicle and the response
  1284. 1:01:21that you want it to do this was a new
  1285. 1:01:24mode of operation I don't recall of
  1286. 1:01:27having practice in the simulator before
  1287. 1:01:29and I certainly know when it's ever
  1288. 1:01:30flown it in flight before but it the
  1289. 1:01:32attitude control itself worked quite
  1290. 1:01:34well that in the light of the experience
  1291. 1:01:39you had on this flight it would be
  1292. 1:01:41advisable in the future to always remain
  1293. 1:01:43on a free return trajectory or do you
  1294. 1:01:46think that would limit future flights
  1295. 1:01:47too much to a particular time or place
  1296. 1:01:51well I think it probably limit our our
  1297. 1:01:53flight operations somewhat on free
  1298. 1:01:55return trajectory and I think the fact
  1299. 1:01:57that we were not on one when the
  1300. 1:01:59incident occurred and the fact that we
  1301. 1:02:01could get back on one indicates that
  1302. 1:02:03it's not required to stay on wondering
  1303. 1:02:05what of our lunar missions I'd like to
  1304. 1:02:11ask Jack Swigert as the last-minute
  1305. 1:02:15substitution did you at any time have
  1306. 1:02:17any doubt of your ability to step in 24
  1307. 1:02:22hours before and fly the aircraft or
  1308. 1:02:26spacecraft no not really my only
  1309. 1:02:30apprehension that I have of course as
  1310. 1:02:33Jim says is that you you work together
  1311. 1:02:35as a crew and I had had I haven't had
  1312. 1:02:40much experience I just worked with Jim
  1313. 1:02:42once or twice Jim and Fred once or twice
  1314. 1:02:45previous we did find that the two days
  1315. 1:02:49we had working together that we did
  1316. 1:02:52almost everything the same and once this
  1317. 1:02:55was determined I had
  1318. 1:02:56apprehension at all I felt that it was
  1319. 1:02:58my job to get Jim and Fred there
  1320. 1:03:00arrested I felt I could do that I felt I
  1321. 1:03:02could accomplish the majority of the
  1322. 1:03:05orbital science objectives of the flight
  1323. 1:03:08and I felt that we had a good mission
  1324. 1:03:11and we could do it all Captain novel did
  1325. 1:03:15you consider at the time and do you
  1326. 1:03:17consider now that this could have been a
  1327. 1:03:19meteorite strike or something internal
  1328. 1:03:22this thought crossed our minds that it
  1329. 1:03:25could have been a meteorite and I really
  1330. 1:03:28don't have a complete answer whether it
  1331. 1:03:30was or not except for the fact that the
  1332. 1:03:32panel was completely missing which
  1333. 1:03:33indicated that whatever went in must
  1334. 1:03:35have caused a larger bang to blow the
  1335. 1:03:38panel completely out and that's that's
  1336. 1:03:40all I know about so far a gem after two
  1337. 1:03:44days of debriefing could you give us
  1338. 1:03:46your estimate of the best probable cause
  1339. 1:03:48of the wire of blue your oxygen tank and
  1340. 1:03:52ended your mission of the moon I don't
  1341. 1:03:56think I can I don't think to because our
  1342. 1:04:00debriefing so far have been from the
  1343. 1:04:02crews point of view it's unique but we
  1344. 1:04:05were only a few feet away from the
  1345. 1:04:07accident but the people on the ground
  1346. 1:04:09had a lot more information by telemetry
  1347. 1:04:13than we had concerning pressures and
  1348. 1:04:16temperatures and possible causes of the
  1349. 1:04:18accident and have perhaps a better
  1350. 1:04:21indication right now than we do of
  1351. 1:04:23exactly what caused it refer to whether
  1352. 1:04:28the Apollo 13 crew might fly again to
  1353. 1:04:31get to Fra Mauro
  1354. 1:04:32we're informed today that that such
  1355. 1:04:36discussion did take place at debriefing
  1356. 1:04:38and I wonder if you could confirm this
  1357. 1:04:40and tell us under what circumstances it
  1358. 1:04:42did no discussion of that nature had
  1359. 1:04:46taken place at any debriefing as I said
  1360. 1:04:49if the agency wants this crew to go back
  1361. 1:04:52to from Morrow we'll be glad to go if
  1362. 1:04:55they decide to send another crew or not
  1363. 1:04:57to go too far mile that's their decision
  1364. 1:05:00we'll go to all three astronauts
  1365. 1:05:03physically speaking what hardship did
  1366. 1:05:06you suffer most from was it the cold or
  1367. 1:05:08was it lack of sleep or was it cramped
  1368. 1:05:11conditions in the name physical
  1369. 1:05:22hardships for you was it too cold or was
  1370. 1:05:25it the lack of sleep or uncomfortable
  1371. 1:05:28position in the name well it certainly
  1372. 1:05:32was a combination of although the
  1373. 1:05:33overpowering one was the slow chill down
  1374. 1:05:36until about the last you know 15 16
  1375. 1:05:41hours it was just well we were just
  1376. 1:05:44chill down to the bone from there on in
  1377. 1:05:46and we really didn't get warmed up until
  1378. 1:05:50we went through the power up and started
  1379. 1:05:52getting a limb back up and and that
  1380. 1:05:56started getting uncomfortable again
  1381. 1:05:59along with this hardship of lack of
  1382. 1:06:04sleep at at least two occasions it was
  1383. 1:06:07recommended that you might want to take
  1384. 1:06:09a stimulant at dexedrine tablet did you
  1385. 1:06:12do anything to get yourself up with the
  1386. 1:06:15reentry we took dexedrine just prior to
  1387. 1:06:21reentry we didn't want to take it too
  1388. 1:06:24early because I was afraid that with the
  1389. 1:06:26whiteness from my condition was the lack
  1390. 1:06:28of sleep that if the effects wore off
  1391. 1:06:31I'd be in worse condition than I was
  1392. 1:06:32right there then and I am and I didn't
  1393. 1:06:36feel too tired you work a lot of nervous
  1394. 1:06:38energy in this particular situation I
  1395. 1:06:41didn't want to suddenly get exhausted
  1396. 1:06:43whereby I
  1397. 1:06:44wasn't in good shape I'd like to address
  1398. 1:06:48this question dis Jack Swaggart this is
  1399. 1:06:53a lighter question
  1400. 1:06:55has anyone nominated you as Bachelor of
  1401. 1:06:58the Year being the first bachelor to go
  1402. 1:07:00in space no ma'am they have it I think
  1403. 1:07:06on that profound question we'll knock it
  1404. 1:07:09off now thank you very much
  1405. 1:07:25do not blow it
  1406. 1:07:29[Music]
  1407. 1:07:48[Music]
  1408. 1:07:51I don't know how the network
  1409. 1:07:55yeah
  1410. 1:08:04you

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