APOLLO 13 - Full Post Flight Press Conference (1970/04/21) Lovell, Swigert, Haise — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:10ladies and gentlemen this is Apollo 13
- 0:13mission press conference and we use same
- 0:16format tonight to leave use for previous
- 0:18post mission press conferences the crew
- 0:22will go through a narrative of the
- 0:25mission
- 0:25then we'll have question answers they'll
- 0:27be only one slide tonight and if when we
- 0:31get to the question answers if you wait
- 0:33for the microphone we'd appreciate it
- 0:34like at this time to introduce the
- 0:37Apollo 13 crew captain James Lovell mr.
- 0:41John swaiket mr. Fred Hayes Jim thank
- 0:45you
- 0:45Thank You Julian I'd like to start out
- 0:48the briefing by saying that I'm not a
- 0:51superstitious person and therefore when
- 0:55we were assigned to Apollo 13 I thought
- 0:59nothing of it as a matter of fact some
- 1:00of my friends of Italian descent had
- 1:03said that 13 was a very lucky number and
- 1:06they were happy that I got that number
- 1:07it all sort of started to actually just
- 1:10before the flight as was well documented
- 1:14as we are approaching the final phase of
- 1:17our training the last couple days are
- 1:20usually ones of which are taking very
- 1:22leisurely you try to keep a couple days
- 1:25free just to let ourselves unwind from
- 1:27the long train cycle you get plenty of
- 1:29rest so that when we launch that we're
- 1:32in good shape and and we can go with a
- 1:35sort of an easy mind as you well know a
- 1:38turn of events occurred and Ken
- 1:42Mattingly who was our command module
- 1:44pilot was exposed to the measles and at
- 1:48that time we had to make a big decision
- 1:50to bring Jack along or to delay the
- 1:53flight it was one which was not easy for
- 1:56me to help decide and when they asked me
- 1:59what I wanted to do because we had
- 2:01worked as a team for a long time but I
- 2:04also realized that the
- 2:05the space program had matured to that
- 2:07degree whereby we had quite a few people
- 2:11who were well knowledgeable about the
- 2:13space craft and who were well qualified
- 2:15to fly as a consequence on Friday we
- 2:20decided to take Jack along and I like to
- 2:24say right now that I've never regretted
- 2:25that that decision we as a team I think
- 2:29and Jack would take it or help us out
- 2:31during our ensuing Odyssey tremendously
- 2:38at this time I think I would like to
- 2:41just break off just a second and
- 2:43introduce a couple other people of our
- 2:47team that that also served although
- 2:52we're not as in the same position we
- 2:55were Marilyn would you take the stand
- 2:57please
- 2:57this is my wife Marilyn
- 3:05dang Guzman and right next is my wife
- 3:10remarried
- 3:11[Applause]
- 3:17now I think the entire crew the
- 3:20Continental stewardesses are here
- 3:21tonight for Jack
- 3:24[Music]
- 3:29Jack had a lot of help on this one the
- 3:36launch Saturday morning was not unusual
- 3:39there was a very nominal launch the suit
- 3:42up the ingress to the spacecraft was
- 3:45very smooth we did practice it before it
- 3:48seemed even a lot easier than I've
- 3:49experienced on Apollo 8
- 3:50liftoff came just as I had known it
- 3:53before communications were excellent and
- 3:56the entire boost phase was as compared
- 3:59was compared very favorably with what I
- 4:02had experienced before except during the
- 4:04s2 burn at which case I noticed the
- 4:08inboard light come on indicating the
- 4:11nest on the second stage indicating that
- 4:13an engine had shut down I called in
- 4:16board as was the normal procedure
- 4:20and realized then that it had come about
- 4:252 minutes early and the ground confirmed
- 4:28this and as a consequence we had an
- 4:30early engine out in the s2 stage and our
- 4:34total boost time was about a minute
- 4:36longer
- 4:36this did not impair our our flight
- 4:40however we had enough fuel to relight
- 4:42the third stage and go on into a
- 4:44translunar injection and a trajectory
- 4:48towards the moon the flight up until
- 4:53about 56 hours was I guess what you'd
- 4:57call an Italian nominal we had followed
- 4:59the flight plan we were ahead of the
- 5:03game it took us a little bit longer to
- 5:05get rid of our preciouses than we
- 5:07thought and we had asked the ground
- 5:09about 55 hours if we could indeed get
- 5:13into the lunar module about 3 hours
- 5:14early the flight plan called to go into
- 5:17the spacecraft at around 58 hours
- 5:20other ground said fine why don't you
- 5:23open up the LEM and go on down and do
- 5:25your housekeeping chores
- 5:26there was one of the little engineering
- 5:29tasks which we had to before
- 5:32also in with that was a television
- 5:35program which we were supposed to put on
- 5:37so we decided to open up the Lunar
- 5:40Module Fred got into the spacecraft went
- 5:43out looked at the super helium the
- 5:47critical pressure on the super helium
- 5:48tank to make sure it was nominal we were
- 5:50having some problems with that before
- 5:52the flight it was and then we put on the
- 5:56little TV show which is called for in
- 5:59the flight plan I guess the show lasted
- 6:03for about a half an hour and just after
- 6:08we had turned off the camera fed was
- 6:11still in the lunar module Jack was back
- 6:13in the command module on the left hand
- 6:15seat and I was halfway in between and
- 6:18the lower equipment Bay wrestling with
- 6:19TV wires and a camera and watching Fred
- 6:22coming on down when all three of us
- 6:25heard a rather large bang just just one
- 6:29bang now before that Fred being in the
- 6:33lunar module had actuated a valve which
- 6:35normally gives us that same sound and
- 6:38since he didn't tell us about it we all
- 6:41rather jumped up and we're sort of
- 6:43worried about it but it was his joke and
- 6:45we all thought it was a lot of fun of
- 6:47the time since something happened so
- 6:49when this bang came we really didn't get
- 6:53concerned right away but the I looked up
- 6:56with Fred and if Fred had that
- 6:57expression like it wasn't his fault
- 7:00and we suddenly realize that something
- 7:06else occurred but exactly what we didn't
- 7:08know I'd like to go on now and let Fred
- 7:11and Jack explain just what their
- 7:15impressions were at this very same
- 7:17instance that I heard the explosion in
- 7:20the law recoupment base Jack okay excuse
- 7:25the sensation I had that I had felt a
- 7:29vibration coming to bang not a large
- 7:32vibration or shudder I proceeded to look
- 7:39at Jim and in about the same time which
- 7:42is I guess about two seconds had elapsed
- 7:44when I had a master alarm and a main
- 7:47Busby undervolt light i transmitted to
- 7:51houston that we had a problem and
- 7:53proceeded to over on the right-hand side
- 7:56of the spacecraft to look at the voltage
- 7:58the bullies at that time was completely
- 8:01normal
- 8:02the current was not high and the fuel
- 8:05cell flows were normal which indicated
- 8:07to me that whatever was it was some sort
- 8:09of a transient that that didn't exist at
- 8:12that time it me being a command module
- 8:18pilot and the source of the the the bang
- 8:24not immediately determinable it was my
- 8:28thought that of course I had a little
- 8:30more confidence in the command module so
- 8:32I thought it occurred in a limb and I
- 8:33said let's get the hatch in here and and
- 8:37so we can sit back and think about it
- 8:39because we had the tunnel open at this
- 8:42time and I was afraid that we might be
- 8:43vulnerable to losing pressure so I
- 8:45proceeded to get the hatch in to begin
- 8:49installing the hatch and at that time
- 8:51Fred went back over to the lunar module
- 8:55pilot scow and I'll let him tell what
- 8:58his observations were as far as the
- 9:01instruments and the other caution
- 9:03warning alarms now ah
- 9:06first of all due to my position being a
- 9:10lot more familiar with the
- 9:12side of the house my natural a first
- 9:16impulse on feeling this shudder and
- 9:20explosion was to make sure the LEM hatch
- 9:25was latched fully open because I was
- 9:30just as equally sure that the problem
- 9:31was upstairs and not that down in the
- 9:34lamp and I proceeded as best as I could
- 9:39from there to my a normal position to
- 9:41start looking at the the one caution of
- 9:45warning that Jack had mentioned the
- 9:49situation had changed by the time I I
- 9:51got there when I looked at this bus I
- 9:53was indicating as far as my gauge read
- 9:56the lowest rail and I looked at the fuel
- 10:00cell which happened to be still showing
- 10:03it was connected to that bus the fuel
- 10:05cell three it was not out putting any
- 10:09amps so my first thinking spell was
- 10:15mainly due to considering the fact that
- 10:17this the deed it really meant that we
- 10:21lost that field bill also meant by a
- 10:24mission rule that we wouldn't be burnin
- 10:26LOI and with that one problem we had are
- 10:30the loss to any subsequently
- 10:34I also had two other lights 82 and 1/8
- 10:39the overload and indeed we had lost the
- 10:43inverter that was being powered off that
- 10:46bus so I proceeded to switch some of the
- 10:49loads from AC to the other inverter that
- 10:52was on the other main bus and this
- 10:56induced an under voltage on the other
- 10:58main bus and
- 11:02that's when I got a little smarter and
- 11:04thought maybe I'd look at the other fuel
- 11:06cells which I hadn't even considered
- 11:08this heaven had a problem and I found
- 11:11the fuel cell one also not outputting
- 11:15the amps from this from this point on we
- 11:21were kind of under the under the hands
- 11:24of keaston and further troubleshooting
- 11:27and looking at a few more dials down on
- 11:31a another meter and the lab2 look at the
- 11:33regulated pressures and eventually we
- 11:36got to the point where houston called up
- 11:41and asked us to shut down the fuel cell
- 11:433
- 11:44shut down the reactance valve and I
- 11:49asked for reconfirmation since when you
- 11:52do that it's sort of irreversible if you
- 11:54shut when these things down they only
- 11:57can be restarted from ground support
- 11:59equipment and they assured me they
- 12:04really meant it so I went through with
- 12:06it and subsequently the same command was
- 12:09given for fuel cell one about this point
- 12:13in time the cryo pressure the oxygen
- 12:16pressure had gone in the bile tank - and
- 12:20the pressure in tank number one was
- 12:23rather steadily slowly but steadily
- 12:26decreasing that was obvious that wasn't
- 12:28hold on its own and right about then at
- 12:31it was quite apparent to me that there
- 12:34was just a question of time that the
- 12:36command module was going to be dead we
- 12:38were going to lose that fuel cell also
- 12:40so I kind of lost interest in that
- 12:42position and headed for the limb
- 12:46I think one of the things that's that we
- 12:50neglected to mention that I've been in
- 12:52my efforts to put in the hatch when Jim
- 12:54noticed we had considerable venting out
- 12:57the side of the command module so they
- 12:59indicated we were losing some sort of
- 13:01liquid or material from the area of the
- 13:04service module so it indicated to us
- 13:06that we truly had a problem in the
- 13:08service module I guess it's kind of
- 13:11interesting to to know what the feelings
- 13:13our crew when something like this
- 13:15happens when you first hear this
- 13:18explosion or pang you don't know what it
- 13:21is we've had similar sounds and the
- 13:23spacecraft before that were for nothing
- 13:26and then to me my impression was as we
- 13:29came back that we had an electrical
- 13:32problem that caused this bang because we
- 13:35in previous testing we had some problems
- 13:38while these lines that quickly went away
- 13:41then I looked out the window and saw
- 13:43this venting and my my concern was
- 13:46increasing all the time it went from I
- 13:48wonder what this is going to do to the
- 13:51landing to I wonder if we can get back
- 13:55home again and it sort of went into that
- 13:57type of seriousness and when I looked up
- 14:00and saw both oxygen pressures one
- 14:03absolute is zero another one going down
- 14:05it it dawned on me and I'm sure jacket
- 14:09and Fred about the same time that we
- 14:10were indeed in serious trouble it was
- 14:15apparent and the ground told us so and
- 14:17they're right on the on the ball all the
- 14:20time that the only way to survive this
- 14:22situation was to transfer to the LEM and
- 14:28so at that time Fred first of all went
- 14:32into the lab cut out our activation
- 14:35checklist a checklist which normally is
- 14:38not used until prior to powering up the
- 14:42LEM to detach from the command module
- 14:44and prepare to go down to the lunar
- 14:46surface and we started going through
- 14:48procedures to get blunt power on and to
- 14:52align the platform
- 14:54the first milestone and I consider this
- 14:58after the accident I guess more or less
- 14:59the survival ánow the first milestone
- 15:03was to get alignment on the lemon
- 15:06platform alignments are important you
- 15:09know because without knowing exactly
- 15:12which way the attitude of the spacecraft
- 15:14is in space there's no way to tell how
- 15:16to burn or how to use the engines of
- 15:19that spacecraft to get the performance
- 15:20the proper trajectory to come home so we
- 15:23had to have an alignment onboard the
- 15:26spacecraft we do that the command module
- 15:29was going to lose it pretty soon because
- 15:30we're gonna lose power
- 15:32so as we worked Fred and I went into the
- 15:35Glitter module we got the power on we
- 15:37started to line the platform we used a
- 15:40procedure that was in the activation
- 15:42checklist Jack gave us the angles there
- 15:45was a little bit of arithmetic involved
- 15:47in all these procedures and and I had on
- 15:50occasion during practice to fail my
- 15:53arithmetic test and I was so concerned
- 15:56about being sure that this arithmetic
- 15:57was correct that I had actually called
- 15:59down the ground let them do the math
- 16:00came back in put it in but we did get a
- 16:03platform alignment and that was our
- 16:05first milestone from then on it was an
- 16:09entirely different situation and this
- 16:11tomorrow might tell you exactly how how
- 16:13we work up until the incident the normal
- 16:18command is in the command module control
- 16:21was by the service module engines as RCS
- 16:24engines as far as attitude control goes
- 16:27but we transferred our command to the
- 16:30lunar module and we are using the lunar
- 16:33module engines for control we had done
- 16:38some practice in this before but really
- 16:42had never thought that would ever have
- 16:44to use this particular control situation
- 16:46and to get control of this vehicle in
- 16:52pitch you have to use one translation
- 16:54controller
- 16:56in one way and enroll another way and in
- 16:59all you can use the ACA so what we did
- 17:03Fred would handle one part of the
- 17:07control now to handle the other in
- 17:08controlling the maneuverability of the
- 17:10spacecraft we also had back here a
- 17:13service module that was completely
- 17:16filled with main engine fuel we had used
- 17:20very little of it just at one small bit
- 17:22coarse burn and also we had RCS engines
- 17:26that were almost completely filled with
- 17:28fuel an important point to remember at
- 17:31this time too was the fact that we had
- 17:33gotten off what we call the free return
- 17:35trajectory we had done our mid-course
- 17:37maneuver some time before and this meant
- 17:40that we are no longer on a path that
- 17:42would allow us to be swung around the
- 17:45moon and come back towards the landing
- 17:47spot on the earth we had gotten off this
- 17:49trajectory because we wanted to go to a
- 17:52landing site so the first thing the
- 17:54ground told us to do was to farm the
- 17:57tips engine the descent propulsion
- 18:00engine to get us back on that free
- 18:03return trajectory which ever remember
- 18:05correctly was going to get us into what
- 18:07the Indian Ocean win it I think I lost
- 18:09track of oceans after 155 hours the
- 18:19controllability of the spacecraft was ok
- 18:23as long as we had our our indicators up
- 18:26because we had practiced that as I had
- 18:27said but suddenly to save par we shut
- 18:30that down for a while and we had it
- 18:32controlled by pointed looking at our
- 18:34computer display and I had never tried
- 18:38that before I really don't know who had
- 18:40and it's a very difficult task and we
- 18:42spent a lot of our first part of our
- 18:45briggsie or survival time just learning
- 18:46how to control the spacecraft in this
- 18:48mode our second milestone was what was
- 18:53known as the synth Ian Plus to burn our
- 18:57first maneuver was to get his back on
- 18:59free return the second one was to get us
- 19:01home early the nominal flight time back
- 19:05home was 155 hours if we had done
- 19:07nothing else but because consumables
- 19:10were critical and the ground was
- 19:12calculating consumables and Fred was
- 19:14also doing the back of the envelope
- 19:16calculation which he figured if we were
- 19:19lucky we had about one hour spare
- 19:21consumables left before we had landed we
- 19:24had decided of the ground had decided to
- 19:27burn at about two hours past the moon at
- 19:32about seventy nine hours of maneuvers to
- 19:34shorten the time to get home again this
- 19:37was also going to be an automatic burn
- 19:38using a decent propulsion engine and
- 19:42this burn was also very successful after
- 19:46that the ground was very much concerned
- 19:48with power and we were too and we
- 19:51decided to go into a power download we
- 19:54we turned off just about everything and
- 19:56I'd like to have Jack and Fred to tell
- 19:59about our power down situation in some
- 20:00of our survival and environmental calls
- 20:04Fred Cohan attack well when the LEM sat
- 20:07at a house we actually had two already
- 20:10can the pretty good procedure and a book
- 20:12called a contingency checklist just was
- 20:15pretty appropriate and I guess well
- 20:20first of all the backup to the consumer
- 20:21business the one our reserve I computed
- 20:24was on water and that was for the longer
- 20:27return so as soon as we got the second
- 20:29burn in we we had a little more fat even
- 20:32but at any rate I guess everybody myself
- 20:36included got a little bit fooled about
- 20:40how how low the limb actually could get
- 20:45down to and after completing this power
- 20:47down it settled down on consuming about
- 20:4911 amps an hour and that combined with
- 20:54the command module being completely
- 20:56inert led us to another environmental
- 21:00problem which
- 21:01jelmo discuss again very shortly ok on
- 21:07command module side of the house as soon
- 21:10as I found the
- 21:12I had the batteries on the line also to
- 21:15help out fuel cell - and as soon as I
- 21:18had ascertained that gem and and Fred
- 21:21had powered up - LEM we shut down and
- 21:25fuel cell - gave out on us we powered
- 21:29down the command module completely just
- 21:33prior or subsequent to person T and plus
- 21:36- we set all the switches in the command
- 21:39module in a basic switched configuration
- 21:41this configuration so that the ground
- 21:44and us could work from a standard switch
- 21:46configuration and then we began a series
- 21:50of procedures we were interested in did
- 21:55we indeed have a main bus B or had we
- 21:58lost it and the ground passed up a
- 22:02procedure for determining that and I
- 22:05read up read out that we had adequate
- 22:07voltage on main bus B we did have a good
- 22:09main bus B the second situation was the
- 22:15fact that we were very short on LEM
- 22:17water so we were not given any LEM water
- 22:22to drink because we needed that for the
- 22:23LEM cooling system so I had to go back
- 22:25into the command module and repressurize
- 22:28part of the environmental control system
- 22:30in order to obtain drinking water and
- 22:33there was a number of other procedures
- 22:34which during the transit Coast phase
- 22:39which developed and that was a procedure
- 22:41for powering the command module from the
- 22:44LEM which was exactly opposite from the
- 22:47normal the usual procedure where the
- 22:50command module normally powers phlegm we
- 22:53did power up the command module we did
- 22:56charge battery B to fully charge and
- 22:59over a period of 15 hours we did top off
- 23:02battery or battery a for 15 hours we did
- 23:06top off the charge on battery B so we
- 23:08had three fully charged batteries for
- 23:10re-entry and then four just prior to the
- 23:14entry phase we powered up some of the
- 23:16subsystems of the command module from
- 23:18the lamp
- 23:20I think that's one just one couple of
- 23:26anomalies that we had we did find that
- 23:28we had one water lake in the LEM which I
- 23:34discovered when my feet got wet the LEM
- 23:37water gun was leaking and we shut that
- 23:40off I guess it leaked about a quarter of
- 23:43wah a quart of water I was I would
- 23:45estimate but it took me about two days
- 23:48to get my feet dry and of course it is I
- 23:50think you were all aware that the
- 23:52temperatures were going down in both
- 23:54vehicles and it's made for very chewy
- 23:57feet for a couple days might be a little
- 24:01impression of just just what the
- 24:03environment was like when the incident
- 24:05occurred everything was nice and
- 24:07comfortable and we of course had powered
- 24:11down the command module and we used that
- 24:13as the bedroom when felling was off
- 24:15washed they'd go back into the command
- 24:16module and it was quiet nice and
- 24:20comfortable and I'd try to get some
- 24:21sleep of course in the early periods of
- 24:23this particular flight now we didn't
- 24:27want to sleep too much we were sort of
- 24:28worried of what was going to go on I
- 24:29went in there one time to go to sleep
- 24:32and Jack was on top of the couch and
- 24:34said Jack put up all the window shades
- 24:36let's get the place nice and dark well
- 24:38we'll just relax and have it nice and
- 24:41dark in here we can really get some
- 24:42sleep and I woke up a couple hours later
- 24:45and I was freezing as normally happens
- 24:48putting up window shades in space cuts
- 24:50out the sunlight and normally cools down
- 24:52the spacecraft but in most flights the
- 24:55heat from the systems will quickly
- 24:56rewarm it and as since we get the window
- 24:59shades up to be in normal position again
- 25:01but we got the window shades off after
- 25:03that and the spacecraft never did warm
- 25:05up again command module just slowly kept
- 25:08going down in temperature until I think
- 25:09just prior to reentry it was down to
- 25:12about 38 degrees and along with that it
- 25:16was a sort of a chilling coldness the
- 25:18walls were perspiring the windows were
- 25:21completely wet and it it wasn't too
- 25:24healthy I recall that we went in there
- 25:26to get some hot dogs one day and it was
- 25:27like reaching into the freezer for the
- 25:29for the food
- 25:33Jack why don't you tell them about some
- 25:34of the innovations that that the ground
- 25:36gave us in in for instance the lithium
- 25:39hydroxide canisters which I thought was
- 25:40quite interesting well we we did have a
- 25:43shortage of lithium hydroxide and the
- 25:47ground red us up a procedure in order to
- 25:49adapt some of the command module lithium
- 25:51hydroxide canisters for use in the LEM
- 25:54and as they read this thing up Jim and I
- 25:57constructed one of these things at this
- 26:00point in time I think the partial
- 26:02pressure of carbon dioxide was reading
- 26:04about fifteen millimeters and we
- 26:06constructed two of these things and put
- 26:08them online and I think within an hour
- 26:10the partial pressure of co2 was down to
- 26:13two tenths so these were very effective
- 26:16devices and we used four of these of the
- 26:20command module canisters and never did
- 26:21they use the secondary the main canister
- 26:26that we had in reserve that was for the
- 26:28lunar module of course as the as a
- 26:33temperature went down we became
- 26:36concerned about keeping warm and Fred
- 26:39and I broke out our lunar boots which we
- 26:41had stood away in the lunar module and
- 26:44Jack looked at his wet feet a couple of
- 26:46times but he had an extra set of
- 26:49underwear so he put that on we actually
- 26:53had a third little sleep restraint which
- 26:55Fred does then put on and buttoned up
- 26:57and kept a little bit warm one of the
- 27:00biggest problems we had was one which
- 27:04might have hurt our trajectory and that
- 27:08was that we didn't want to dump things
- 27:10overboard as it turned out later on it
- 27:12was more of an imaginary problem than
- 27:14then we thought at the time however we
- 27:18were we thought we were told anyway that
- 27:20don't put any waste water dumps over the
- 27:22side because it might disturb the
- 27:23trajectory and we're tracking you and we
- 27:25want to make sure that you could come
- 27:26back and hit the proper angle to reenter
- 27:30and Fred why don't you tell them what we
- 27:32did with all that stuff
- 27:34[Music]
- 27:38well we the things we've had on board
- 27:41that were built for that sort of purpose
- 27:44were three bags on board the command
- 27:48module about about that size square that
- 27:52were really a backup provided for a
- 27:56backup mode of operation in case the
- 27:59normal Myrtle system failed and the
- 28:01command module still for overboard um
- 28:03but they did have a reservoir on board
- 28:06the LEM for the draining out of the seat
- 28:09on the lunar surface we had six bags
- 28:13about this size in the limb beyond that
- 28:18we had the three II CDs which are a
- 28:20bladder pieces of apparatus that we each
- 28:24wear normally under the seat and that
- 28:27was about only the only natural sort of
- 28:31gear we had for this sort of storage so
- 28:35we looked around and in the limb we have
- 28:39a tank that's mounted in back of where
- 28:43the flight data file is located on the
- 28:47left side it's called a press conference
- 28:50a tank and its purposes when you're
- 28:53refilling the pluses on a lunar surface
- 28:56some of the water that's outside the the
- 28:58water vessel as allowed is allowed to
- 29:02escape and it's supposed to drain into
- 29:05this tank so we had enough for
- 29:09fortunately enough for combinations of
- 29:12hoses and a quick disconnects between
- 29:15the two vehicles used in both limb and
- 29:18command module gear that we found a
- 29:21combination that we could hook up our
- 29:24UCD's to the fitting that went to this
- 29:27tank so that that savers for a little
- 29:31while then after that one got full we
- 29:36looked around some more and we'd come
- 29:38across two bags fairly large banks or
- 29:41about that long
- 29:43and their purpose was after the first
- 29:46deviate in fact there was one of them I
- 29:49showed on the TV show we were to use
- 29:53these bags to drain the remaining water
- 29:55out of the buses and determine actually
- 29:58how much water we had left so again this
- 30:01turned out to be a rather weird the page
- 30:05to get to drain into that bag I think
- 30:07with later on you may may get to see
- 30:10that that piece of gear but didn't
- 30:12involve the use of a six-foot-long hose
- 30:15with the T in the middle hooked up to
- 30:17this bag and so we succeeded in using
- 30:22both of those large bags for storage
- 30:28short the end so you see that survival
- 30:35now became one of initiative and
- 30:39ingenuity and and it was one which the
- 30:42ground continually helped us along we
- 30:44had all kinds of people on the ground
- 30:46trying to think of ways of extending our
- 30:49lifetime we are also thinking of ways of
- 30:52using perhaps the police system to use
- 30:54it for oxygen or the or our burden sea
- 30:57oxygen supply in case we ran out but as
- 31:00the flight progressed the ground
- 31:02calculating are consumables saw that we
- 31:06are actually using less power less water
- 31:08less oxygen and our lithium hydroxide
- 31:11canisters were holding up quite well so
- 31:13it was it was getting better all the
- 31:16time fortunately we did power down
- 31:19everything though and about 105 hours
- 31:21the ground after some tracking realized
- 31:23that we were not on a trajectory that
- 31:25would get us safely back home and that
- 31:28we'd have to make another maneuver by
- 31:32this time the the crew stations became a
- 31:36lot different there are three people in
- 31:38the lunar module now usually built for
- 31:40two because the cold had driven jack
- 31:42away from the command module and Jack's
- 31:45normal position was on top the asset
- 31:47engine can overseeing what Fred and I
- 31:49were doing this last maneuver was
- 31:52unique because we did not have the
- 31:55platform powered up so we didn't have a
- 31:57normal method of determining the
- 31:58attitude of the spacecraft in order to
- 32:00perform the burn on Apollo 8 some time
- 32:05ago we were concerned with perhaps
- 32:07losing a platform on the return voyage
- 32:09home and since no one had ever made a
- 32:11lunar trip before we were looking at
- 32:14sort of way out ways of determining how
- 32:16we could make these Corrections home and
- 32:18some of our people here at MSC had come
- 32:20up with an idea about using the
- 32:22Terminator of the earth to orient the
- 32:25spacecraft and then the Sun position to
- 32:28get orientation and pitch and with that
- 32:30knowledge we could then make corrections
- 32:33to do correct our angle of entry into
- 32:36the atmosphere and as as you know I
- 32:39think that the end the angle of entry
- 32:41into the atmosphere is a very small
- 32:43angle only about two degrees and so it
- 32:45has to be controlled very closely and
- 32:47that's what the main tracking is for so
- 32:50105 hours they gave us instructions to
- 32:52rewrite the decent engine to orient the
- 32:57spacecraft in this manner and give this
- 32:59particular procedure a try and when they
- 33:02read up the procedure to us I just
- 33:03couldn't believe it because even on
- 33:05Apollo 8 I thought I'd never in all the
- 33:07world have to use something way out as
- 33:09this and here I was on Apollo 13 using
- 33:12this very same procedure that was
- 33:13developed some time ago this maneuver
- 33:18again was completed on time and because
- 33:20it was a manual burn we had a three-man
- 33:22operation jack would take care of the
- 33:25time he'd tell us when to light off the
- 33:26engine when to stop it Fred handled
- 33:29pitch maneuver I handled the roll roll
- 33:31maneuver and I pushed the buttons to
- 33:32start and stop the engine so maybe we
- 33:34ought to recommend a three-man lemon
- 33:36after this I don't know again after this
- 33:41maneuver we were again powered down and
- 33:44it became one of just merely hanging on
- 33:45are our maneuvers from that I were
- 33:49merely drifting and they were done to
- 33:51keep the the thermal control on the
- 33:54spacecraft as even as possible so that
- 33:56once I wouldn't cool off too much of
- 33:58this I wouldn't heat up and our flight
- 34:01progressed that way down to
- 34:03about five hours prior to entry whereby
- 34:08throughout the night and throughout
- 34:09throughout the days as prior to this
- 34:11saying that ground of course was working
- 34:12feverishly with crews and the simulators
- 34:15and with the engineers looking at the
- 34:18systems to read up to us a set of
- 34:20procedures which we would be able to
- 34:23follow to make a successful entry and I
- 34:29I kind of think one of the most
- 34:30important points that can be made of
- 34:31this flight is the cooperation and the
- 34:33coordination and the the initiative that
- 34:38people have when suddenly faced with an
- 34:40unusual situation that can respond to
- 34:44come up with the answers and they did
- 34:48they read us up procedures Fred Jack and
- 34:51I practice these procedures by reading
- 34:55them and then completed them I think
- 34:57it's a it's amazing the way that people
- 34:59can respond so fast to get this job done
- 35:01we were in a different situation now
- 35:03because probably when you'd come home
- 35:05you have only the command and service
- 35:07module so the only thing we have to get
- 35:09rid of is this service module just prior
- 35:11to entry of the atmosphere coming home
- 35:14now though we had a dead service module
- 35:16we had a command module that had no
- 35:18power to it we had a lunar module that
- 35:21was a wonderful vehicle to travel home
- 35:25with but didn't have a heat shield on
- 35:26full unfortunately and and surely we'd
- 35:29have to abandon it
- 35:31our procedure basically was at about
- 35:34five hours to make another short
- 35:36mid-course Corrections rule again change
- 35:39the angle to make sure we had a good
- 35:40angle of entry and then at about four
- 35:44and a half hours to maneuver to a
- 35:48position to get rid of the service
- 35:50module and Jack wants to discuss a
- 35:52little bit gain the ground and read up a
- 35:54very very nice timeline for the whole
- 35:58procedures for as far as the command
- 36:00module went from six and a half hours
- 36:01through splashdown and the
- 36:05the part about four and a half hours was
- 36:09where we jettison the service module the
- 36:12the only I guess nervous moment that we
- 36:17had at that point of time as the normal
- 36:19procedures require we have an extensive
- 36:22auto Technic system in this spacecraft
- 36:27and the normal procedures require arming
- 36:30the logic buses first and letting
- 36:32Houston look at all the relays to make
- 36:35sure that all relays indeed have latched
- 36:37up properly so that we don't jettison or
- 36:41fire a protective pyrotechnic device
- 36:43that we don't which we don't want to at
- 36:46this point in time we didn't have any
- 36:49any telemetry with Houston and Fred came
- 36:53up and I said well Fred I'm already
- 36:55ready to jettison the service module
- 36:57just gonna better get ready to arm the
- 36:59Pyro's and he said I'll get a goal from
- 37:01misfit I says Fred we don't have any
- 37:03telemetry with miss Finn so you're just
- 37:05gonna have to put your fingers in your
- 37:07ears and stand by so I arm the a system
- 37:10and I could hear the relays and nothing
- 37:13happened and i armed the B system and
- 37:15nothing happened so I kind of felt we
- 37:17were home free meanwhile I'm back in the
- 37:19lab with an open tunnel hoping that
- 37:20nothing happens
- 37:22and the procedure went well we used a
- 37:27push-pull method and Jim and Fred were
- 37:30in the LEM and using the translation
- 37:34controller to give us some velocity and
- 37:36when Jim yelled fire I'd jettison the
- 37:38service muzzle and and it went off we've
- 37:41missed a lot of debris which is usual
- 37:43and Jim began to pitch around to try and
- 37:46photograph it you might read you might
- 37:49tell him but then the truck you got the
- 37:52first look - yeah well the ground had
- 37:56told us that the best view of the
- 37:57service module as soon as we jettisoned
- 37:59it was through the number-5 window this
- 38:00was in the command module it's one of
- 38:02these side windows so as soon as Jack
- 38:05had jettisoned the service module he
- 38:08went over the number-5 window well the
- 38:10force of the jettison had pitched the
- 38:13rest of it you might see what we have
- 38:15now we got rid of all this and so now we
- 38:17have the command module and the lunar
- 38:18module together which is an unusual
- 38:20combination we've never flown this
- 38:22before it forced the lunar module to
- 38:24pitch down rather than go straight and
- 38:27instead of pitching up right away I
- 38:29couldn't see it so and Jack couldn't see
- 38:31it so then I finally started pitching up
- 38:33and through this overhead window this
- 38:35this jockey window up here I finally
- 38:38caught sight of the the lunar lodge of
- 38:41the service module as it tumbles around
- 38:43in view and it was - may sort of an
- 38:47amazing sight I didn't realize that this
- 38:50whole panel why the high gain antenna
- 38:53was blown clean off right along the area
- 38:58where the panel normally swings open I
- 39:00could see the interior I couldn't see
- 39:04exactly what was damaged I could see but
- 39:06Jill hanging out from the interior and
- 39:09about that time because my description
- 39:12wouldn't be half as good as a good
- 39:14photograph I reached for my camera we
- 39:16had three cameras and I started taking
- 39:18pictures through this little banking
- 39:20window Jack then knowing that he didn't
- 39:23see anything from his window started to
- 39:26come down through the tunnel to the lab
- 39:28and Fred meanwhile had got his cameras
- 39:31ready and the spacecraft ever
- 39:33to a point where the service module was
- 39:35then visible in the front window and
- 39:39fred was taking pictures and jack was
- 39:41taking pictures of the service module
- 39:43trying to capture some of the damage
- 39:45that that we could see the remainder of
- 39:53the flight went just as the ground had
- 39:55told us to do it we had kept in that
- 40:00position I had gotten an alignment which
- 40:02from the earth and the from the moon and
- 40:05the Sun which was good enough to
- 40:07transfer back to Jack an alignment a
- 40:11rough alignment so that he could get a
- 40:13very fine alignment in the in the
- 40:15command module and at two-and-a-half
- 40:17hours he started powering up and getting
- 40:19this alignment and my only thought that
- 40:22was as I was sitting by myself inside
- 40:24the lunar module I could see the earth
- 40:26because it was a nice big triangular
- 40:28window well Fred and Jack were powering
- 40:30up the command module and even though
- 40:32maybe wasn't those Apple to me it looked
- 40:33like he was getting bigger and bigger
- 40:34and bigger and I kept yelling back to
- 40:37Jack how are you coming are you doing
- 40:38fine
- 40:39you know when can I leave Aquarius he
- 40:45was a little bit nervous he when he say
- 40:47was kept asking he kept saying Jack how
- 40:49you comin the earth is getting bigger
- 40:51[Music]
- 40:53I think he was trying to hurry me but I
- 40:56don't know but Jack did a fine job he
- 40:58got a very good alignment which was I
- 41:00think accountable for some of our good
- 41:03automatic guidance into a landings and
- 41:06finally when he got the alignment and
- 41:09all powered up I by that time the lunar
- 41:12module looked like they just like a
- 41:14packed garbage can we had the big bug in
- 41:17the probe big bags full of debris that
- 41:21we had accumulated during the six days
- 41:22and I then went from the lunar module
- 41:26close the hatch came on down and we
- 41:29jettisoned the lunar module and that
- 41:31came on in with a recovery which I think
- 41:35that you people saw better on TV than we
- 41:37felt in the spacecraft it's like oh yes
- 41:43well we have one picture which we
- 41:46thought that fed my showing their
- 41:57lithium hydroxide cannister there the
- 42:00whole building removers to see is still
- 42:02a couple of red lights on them upstairs
- 42:11the point in the foreground which you
- 42:13can see is the hose hose arrangement I
- 42:17discussed earlier draining into the
- 42:20suppress bag this is the long object
- 42:23yeah what a collection bag the other
- 42:27point I hope to show yet now maybe some
- 42:29trip it up right in the background here
- 42:32is the the modification we made to the
- 42:36ECF system whereby we used the lithium
- 42:39hydroxide canisters out of the a command
- 42:42module and with the use of plastic and
- 42:45some of our onboard data that slipped
- 42:48cardboard from some of the procedures we
- 42:51didn't need and gray tape we have on
- 42:55board we jury read that this thing with
- 42:58the plenum to dilemma EPS intake hose
- 43:04and this shows only a one enough one the
- 43:09cube on later on we further martyred and
- 43:12ended up with a stack of got two on that
- 43:15one it's hose and I assume we sort of
- 43:19except for the geometry has continued to
- 43:21do so up indefinitely pages described
- 43:26the home-built carbon dioxide removal
- 43:29system which was put together on the
- 43:32lunar module just start right here
- 43:40questions from reporters know here at
- 43:43the manned spacecraft Center lining up
- 43:48on the earth and the Sun when you were
- 43:51coming down at manual business of a line
- 43:54of platform and particularly again about
- 43:56when the when a supercritical helium
- 43:59tank burst I understand when he did non
- 44:02propulsive maneuver you were suddenly
- 44:03rocking in the right way well we there
- 44:09was a lot of unfortunate incidents in 13
- 44:12that would make it a completely unlucky
- 44:15flight we at the time it happened I
- 44:18thought was the worst possible time
- 44:20obviously it was not the worst possible
- 44:21time for this particular incident to
- 44:23happen we were lucky in the fact that we
- 44:27that we had a base support that was well
- 44:32receptive to immediate organization and
- 44:36gave us the the problems and the
- 44:39procedures to continue that we were
- 44:41extremely lucky in we found out that we
- 44:46could operate the spacecraft and do
- 44:49procedures with a lot less systems than
- 44:52we anticipated I was very reluctant to
- 44:55turn off the guidance system the
- 44:57platform because I knew that once I did
- 45:00that and we could not see stars outside
- 45:02the windows especially because of the
- 45:04debris that was lying out there and
- 45:05venting from the service module that I
- 45:09would be very difficult to get an
- 45:10alignment on my own these are areas I
- 45:13think that that we were lucky in captain
- 45:17level what did you have in mind when you
- 45:20made a remark I think this is gonna be
- 45:23the last moon flight for a long time
- 45:26that's a good question we were of course
- 45:29you must realize our positions we were
- 45:31going around the moon we didn't know
- 45:32what happened and we looked at the moon
- 45:35I I had been there and Fred and Jack
- 45:38we're taking pictures because regardless
- 45:40of anything they were upon to take
- 45:41pictures and I said come on we have a
- 45:42burn to go in two minutes or two hours
- 45:45at that time not knowing what we're
- 45:48gonna do and they were getting as many
- 45:50pictures as possible I had perhaps
- 45:52thought that maybe this was going to be
- 45:53the last moon flight for a long time but
- 45:56looking back on our now and looking back
- 45:58on the way that that NASA has responded
- 46:01in helping us get home and analyzing the
- 46:03thing I don't believe that anymore I
- 46:08think it's gonna be one where we can
- 46:10analyze our problems and I foresee that
- 46:13we can get this incident over with and
- 46:16can charge ahead I wouldn't be scared to
- 46:20fly with the fix Jim speaking that
- 46:24subject flying again you told us this
- 46:26was going to be your last flight but
- 46:28that you did
- 46:29a walk on the moon before giving up
- 46:32flying how do you feel now would you
- 46:34want to go back and take a crack at
- 46:35Apollo 14 15 16 or is Maryland
- 46:38[Music]
- 46:41well I'm very much disappointed just as
- 46:44fred is and the jack that we couldn't
- 46:46complete the mission we we certainly
- 46:48wanted to to make a lunar landing farmer
- 46:52has so much to offer we thought we spent
- 46:55a lawful lot of time on it but this was
- 46:57my fourth spaceflight and there are many
- 47:00people in our organization who have not
- 47:02flown and who deserve to fly and who are
- 47:04talented enough to fly and on my own
- 47:09they deserve the mission if they if they
- 47:14feel that that this team should go back
- 47:16there I'm certainly willing to go back
- 47:19but otherwise that I think other people
- 47:23ought to do it you are ready to go back
- 47:26you don't feel cheated if you don't go
- 47:28back no I would like to have landed on
- 47:31the moon but I feel that perhaps what we
- 47:34got out of this flight was also well
- 47:36worth it
- 47:36I've been level in that connection we
- 47:39were told at all the briefings before
- 47:40this flight that Apollo 13s flight plan
- 47:43was a very important one not only for
- 47:45the science you would get off the moon
- 47:47but also because of the Pathfinder
- 47:49photography that you would do subsequent
- 47:52to the landing now I'm wondering if in
- 47:54your mind you think that it will be
- 47:56necessary to reflow profile and if so
- 48:01what crew would be better qualified for
- 48:03it than the one which has trained for it
- 48:05for three years let me answer that
- 48:09question sort of backwards as I said the
- 48:11beginning of the conference that two
- 48:13days noticed that Jack's like at replace
- 48:15Ken manually Ken I think was pressed
- 48:19when the most conscientious pilots that
- 48:21we have in our space program he really
- 48:24knew that command modulae he knew the
- 48:25flight plan of Apollo 13 better than
- 48:27anybody the jack could replace him and
- 48:31could do a good job I think that it's
- 48:33not so much an individual crew anymore
- 48:35and that's I think any crew that was put
- 48:38together can do any job and if the
- 48:42scientists feel that fra mauro is is
- 48:44necessary to revisit then i think that
- 48:46any crew that happened to be assigned to
- 48:48that particular mission can take what we
- 48:51have already done and we have done a lot
- 48:53of groundwork on fran tomorrow and
- 48:55improve upon it perhaps and do a good
- 48:58job just to follow up are you saying
- 49:01then that Young Mattingly and Duke would
- 49:05be a good crew to fly Apollo 13 and do
- 49:10you think Apollo 13 should be rieflin
- 49:12which was reading my basic question well
- 49:15you're basically asking the wrong person
- 49:17first of all I'm not in the selection of
- 49:20people who fly spacecraft and second of
- 49:22all I'm not in the scientific area to
- 49:24find out we're just what areas should be
- 49:26revisited so obviously we have lost one
- 49:28lunar landing we didn't make it
- 49:30if Franois was worth it an hour an hour
- 49:34training from all had a lot to offer
- 49:36then we should go back there bootstrap
- 49:38photography is very important we should
- 49:40do that but this is up for larger
- 49:46decisions and longer leade decisions I
- 49:49wonder if the two newcomers to the moon
- 49:52could just tell us whether they had any
- 49:55impressions of it as they went whizzing
- 49:56by well we've we've already been told by
- 50:03Jim what color it is
- 50:04[Music]
- 50:12but no I think my impression of it as we
- 50:17passed the closest we guy was 137 miles
- 50:20and I think I haven't bought the same
- 50:23impressions as the men who visited
- 50:26previously that it's very stark it's
- 50:30desolate it's it's almost awesome and
- 50:34it's desolation and we didn't get the
- 50:40chance because we were gonna be doing a
- 50:42burn to really do any real detailed
- 50:46looking at it but I guess that would be
- 50:49my summation of my feelings that it was
- 50:52almost awesome in its desolation many
- 50:56implications if any could this accident
- 51:00of Apollo 13 have on future Apollo
- 51:03missions and deep space missions SATA
- 51:05Mars or Venus
- 51:16well I'm not sure there is any sort of
- 51:20direct correlation and I can think of
- 51:24with the exception of maybe bringing
- 51:28home rather early some of the problems
- 51:31and concerned with power down modes of
- 51:34operation and making sure an
- 51:38environmental control system can work
- 51:40equally well to keep their occupants
- 51:43comfortable what both for a normal
- 51:46operating power levels as well as
- 51:48emergency sort of power levels Jim you
- 51:57said you people on TV you thought better
- 52:00recovery than we felt in the spacecraft
- 52:02can each other three of you comment on
- 52:04what your feelings were during her time
- 52:07love splice down well of course when we
- 52:12hit the water we were we were very happy
- 52:14to be back home and we commented on that
- 52:16fact the recovery of thirteen was almost
- 52:23textbook recovery it was calm day the
- 52:26the actual splashdown itself was very
- 52:29mild and the Navy did a grand job and
- 52:36I'm not prejudiced of course but we were
- 52:41of course disappointed that we did not
- 52:43complete the mission
- 52:48how about
- 52:51how about the other two of you telling
- 52:56us how you feel about flying again what
- 52:58this experiences meant in terms of your
- 53:01professional careers I I think that what
- 53:06this has done for me if anything has
- 53:10increased my confidence in the ability
- 53:12of this nation space program to take an
- 53:17unusual situation and react to it and
- 53:21come out with a successful conclusion I
- 53:24consider recovery of this crew
- 53:27successful conclusion but I have I have
- 53:31nothing but the utmost admiration for
- 53:34the people on the ground who work
- 53:36tirelessly get us back I guess I might
- 53:43answer that by saying sometime this year
- 53:48I'll have had 15 years with NASA and I
- 53:51don't figure it all we're tired for
- 53:53another 30 maybe so I'll just do
- 53:57whatever whatever job the agency decides
- 54:01it's the best place I can be and to
- 54:04contribute the most getting Louisville
- 54:07was there ever a moment when you were
- 54:09any other member of your crew thought
- 54:11you did not have enough consumables to
- 54:13make it back in those first hours and if
- 54:15so what were your feelings well as I
- 54:19said they're our feelings very during
- 54:21out during the emergency there were
- 54:25moments when I didn't know how much
- 54:26consumables we had whether we could make
- 54:28it back or not but in a situation like
- 54:32that there's only one thing you can do
- 54:33you just keep going and you just keep
- 54:36thinking up where you get were
- 54:37consumables and so that's exactly what
- 54:41we did you made any recommendations thus
- 54:46far on changes and procedures or
- 54:49redesign of equipment based on your
- 54:53no we haven't I all this will be taking
- 54:56place in the ensuing weeks while looking
- 55:03at the service module after you jettison
- 55:06that one of you said an hour quotient I
- 55:09think the explosion from what I could
- 55:11see Joe had stages what made you think
- 55:15so and do you still think so
- 55:22stages the explosion stages I don't
- 55:26recall that incident I I was the first
- 55:29one to see it I said it looked like a
- 55:30mess and that I can see the panel
- 55:32missing but I don't recall any other
- 55:35comments my mates
- 55:45thank you gentlemen all the time that
- 55:49you were in trouble coming back you were
- 55:51obviously extremely grateful and you've
- 55:54told it again and again for the
- 55:56cooperation of the ground crew and
- 55:58rightly so naturally where was there an
- 56:01awareness are the same sort of an
- 56:04awareness of the infinite power watching
- 56:07over you and caring where to get down
- 56:09were you aware of that you're asking me
- 56:13whether I prayed I certainly did and I
- 56:17have no doubt that perhaps my prayers
- 56:20and the prayers of the rest of the
- 56:21people did an awful lot contributed an
- 56:23awful lot for us getting back John
- 56:28Lennon at one point just prior to the
- 56:32two jettisoning the limb it there was a
- 56:36comment about the flight plan being read
- 56:38up to you and it was akin to reading war
- 56:41and peace over the air I'm wondering
- 56:43what it must have been like to take it
- 56:44down in a spacecraft where at one point
- 56:46someone also said they were running out
- 56:48of flight plan pads this this was the I
- 56:53assume the procedure in the command
- 56:55module which was quite lengthy because
- 56:57one of the things I think that did this
- 56:59evident from this thing is we really
- 57:01threw away the book we had never powered
- 57:02down a command module in space and we
- 57:05had never reactivated one and we wanted
- 57:09to get it right and so I read back every
- 57:11switch and every circuit breaker and it
- 57:15was a lengthy procedure it was one that
- 57:17was worked out and verified by the
- 57:19ground and its success I think is well
- 57:22documented Jim did you notice any
- 57:26unusual vibration with a s2 or the j2
- 57:29shut down and if so could it have any
- 57:31effect at all on the service module
- 57:33trouble well we did notice an unusual
- 57:36vibration just prior to or just during
- 57:39the number-5 engine on the s2 shutting
- 57:42down during the boost phase I doubt
- 57:45seriously if it had any trouble with the
- 57:47certain and
- 57:48you know gave me trouble the service
- 57:50module but I have no evidence to to say
- 57:52yes or no event a question for whoever
- 57:56wants to answer it would you tell us
- 57:58twice during the mission you made you
- 58:00ask the ground if the flowers were
- 58:01blooming in Houston yet apparently this
- 58:03was a code would someone explain that
- 58:06and then the second question is for
- 58:08captain level there's a movement in
- 58:10Wisconsin apparently growing now to
- 58:13nominate you to run against Senator
- 58:15William Proxmire and we're wondering if
- 58:17you would comment on that yeah the the
- 58:25first question
- 58:27it was a again a sort of a code you're
- 58:30right that we had worked out with our
- 58:33Capcom's really in ants asking a
- 58:38question about cannons condition as to
- 58:41whether did come down with the measles
- 58:43yet or not
- 58:46and we're still waiting for Ken to come
- 58:48down with the music Jim what about your
- 58:55political jack would you answer that
- 59:01question no I don't have any political
- 59:04affiliations in the state of Wisconsin
- 59:06at this moment when you saw the damage
- 59:10that was done the service module were
- 59:12there any fears that the heat shield
- 59:13might have been damaged by that I had no
- 59:19qualms about at the time I guess I
- 59:22really wasn't thinking along those lines
- 59:24because I knew that we were reentering
- 59:27very shortly and that regardless of the
- 59:29damage to the heat shield that mean it
- 59:30was gonna have you had to take it or not
- 59:32take it I had no qualms at all heat
- 59:35Childers is I don't know whether you're
- 59:37aware how thick it is but it takes an
- 59:39awful lot to damage that and I I had no
- 59:41qualms at all Jim you had were faced
- 59:45with a perhaps as precise flying job as
- 59:50you ever will face yet you say you had
- 59:52to fly the limb a completely new method
- 59:55what do you elaborate a little bit on
- 59:56how you and Fred worked this out well
- 59:59the methods of flying the stock as you
- 1:00:01see it here have been worked out before
- 1:00:03a bike bike crews in a procedure which
- 1:00:05we normally practice for and that is in
- 1:00:09runer orbit as we were slowing down to
- 1:00:11go into lunar orbit with this complete
- 1:00:12stack if something happened to the
- 1:00:14propulsion system on the main engine we
- 1:00:17might have to use the descent propulsion
- 1:00:20system engine to get us back home again
- 1:00:22this is called a dips burn and to
- 1:00:25control this system if the automatic
- 1:00:29control is not working requires this
- 1:00:31translation controller fred and i had
- 1:00:33practice that like previous crews and
- 1:00:35that's the way we flew this particular
- 1:00:37device but in part of our power down
- 1:00:41sequence we had to we had to power down
- 1:00:44the attitude balls the
- 1:00:46the FDA is as we call them and because
- 1:00:50our platforms an Apollo r3 gimbal type
- 1:00:53platforms that could go into what we
- 1:00:54call a gimbal lock and we can lose our
- 1:00:56alignment that way we had to make sure
- 1:00:58the spacecraft didn't in this gyrations
- 1:01:00get near that area we had a look at the
- 1:01:02computer which readout this these
- 1:01:04various angles and it wasn't obvious how
- 1:01:07to fly it by looking at this computer as
- 1:01:08it was by looking at the FDA I yet
- 1:01:13willing to fly just the command module
- 1:01:16and the lab we found out that they had a
- 1:01:18two controller itself was adequate to
- 1:01:20control the vehicle and the response
- 1:01:21that you want it to do this was a new
- 1:01:24mode of operation I don't recall of
- 1:01:27having practice in the simulator before
- 1:01:29and I certainly know when it's ever
- 1:01:30flown it in flight before but it the
- 1:01:32attitude control itself worked quite
- 1:01:34well that in the light of the experience
- 1:01:39you had on this flight it would be
- 1:01:41advisable in the future to always remain
- 1:01:43on a free return trajectory or do you
- 1:01:46think that would limit future flights
- 1:01:47too much to a particular time or place
- 1:01:51well I think it probably limit our our
- 1:01:53flight operations somewhat on free
- 1:01:55return trajectory and I think the fact
- 1:01:57that we were not on one when the
- 1:01:59incident occurred and the fact that we
- 1:02:01could get back on one indicates that
- 1:02:03it's not required to stay on wondering
- 1:02:05what of our lunar missions I'd like to
- 1:02:11ask Jack Swigert as the last-minute
- 1:02:15substitution did you at any time have
- 1:02:17any doubt of your ability to step in 24
- 1:02:22hours before and fly the aircraft or
- 1:02:26spacecraft no not really my only
- 1:02:30apprehension that I have of course as
- 1:02:33Jim says is that you you work together
- 1:02:35as a crew and I had had I haven't had
- 1:02:40much experience I just worked with Jim
- 1:02:42once or twice Jim and Fred once or twice
- 1:02:45previous we did find that the two days
- 1:02:49we had working together that we did
- 1:02:52almost everything the same and once this
- 1:02:55was determined I had
- 1:02:56apprehension at all I felt that it was
- 1:02:58my job to get Jim and Fred there
- 1:03:00arrested I felt I could do that I felt I
- 1:03:02could accomplish the majority of the
- 1:03:05orbital science objectives of the flight
- 1:03:08and I felt that we had a good mission
- 1:03:11and we could do it all Captain novel did
- 1:03:15you consider at the time and do you
- 1:03:17consider now that this could have been a
- 1:03:19meteorite strike or something internal
- 1:03:22this thought crossed our minds that it
- 1:03:25could have been a meteorite and I really
- 1:03:28don't have a complete answer whether it
- 1:03:30was or not except for the fact that the
- 1:03:32panel was completely missing which
- 1:03:33indicated that whatever went in must
- 1:03:35have caused a larger bang to blow the
- 1:03:38panel completely out and that's that's
- 1:03:40all I know about so far a gem after two
- 1:03:44days of debriefing could you give us
- 1:03:46your estimate of the best probable cause
- 1:03:48of the wire of blue your oxygen tank and
- 1:03:52ended your mission of the moon I don't
- 1:03:56think I can I don't think to because our
- 1:04:00debriefing so far have been from the
- 1:04:02crews point of view it's unique but we
- 1:04:05were only a few feet away from the
- 1:04:07accident but the people on the ground
- 1:04:09had a lot more information by telemetry
- 1:04:13than we had concerning pressures and
- 1:04:16temperatures and possible causes of the
- 1:04:18accident and have perhaps a better
- 1:04:21indication right now than we do of
- 1:04:23exactly what caused it refer to whether
- 1:04:28the Apollo 13 crew might fly again to
- 1:04:31get to Fra Mauro
- 1:04:32we're informed today that that such
- 1:04:36discussion did take place at debriefing
- 1:04:38and I wonder if you could confirm this
- 1:04:40and tell us under what circumstances it
- 1:04:42did no discussion of that nature had
- 1:04:46taken place at any debriefing as I said
- 1:04:49if the agency wants this crew to go back
- 1:04:52to from Morrow we'll be glad to go if
- 1:04:55they decide to send another crew or not
- 1:04:57to go too far mile that's their decision
- 1:05:00we'll go to all three astronauts
- 1:05:03physically speaking what hardship did
- 1:05:06you suffer most from was it the cold or
- 1:05:08was it lack of sleep or was it cramped
- 1:05:11conditions in the name physical
- 1:05:22hardships for you was it too cold or was
- 1:05:25it the lack of sleep or uncomfortable
- 1:05:28position in the name well it certainly
- 1:05:32was a combination of although the
- 1:05:33overpowering one was the slow chill down
- 1:05:36until about the last you know 15 16
- 1:05:41hours it was just well we were just
- 1:05:44chill down to the bone from there on in
- 1:05:46and we really didn't get warmed up until
- 1:05:50we went through the power up and started
- 1:05:52getting a limb back up and and that
- 1:05:56started getting uncomfortable again
- 1:05:59along with this hardship of lack of
- 1:06:04sleep at at least two occasions it was
- 1:06:07recommended that you might want to take
- 1:06:09a stimulant at dexedrine tablet did you
- 1:06:12do anything to get yourself up with the
- 1:06:15reentry we took dexedrine just prior to
- 1:06:21reentry we didn't want to take it too
- 1:06:24early because I was afraid that with the
- 1:06:26whiteness from my condition was the lack
- 1:06:28of sleep that if the effects wore off
- 1:06:31I'd be in worse condition than I was
- 1:06:32right there then and I am and I didn't
- 1:06:36feel too tired you work a lot of nervous
- 1:06:38energy in this particular situation I
- 1:06:41didn't want to suddenly get exhausted
- 1:06:43whereby I
- 1:06:44wasn't in good shape I'd like to address
- 1:06:48this question dis Jack Swaggart this is
- 1:06:53a lighter question
- 1:06:55has anyone nominated you as Bachelor of
- 1:06:58the Year being the first bachelor to go
- 1:07:00in space no ma'am they have it I think
- 1:07:06on that profound question we'll knock it
- 1:07:09off now thank you very much
- 1:07:25do not blow it
- 1:07:29[Music]
- 1:07:48[Music]
- 1:07:51I don't know how the network
- 1:07:55yeah
- 1:08:04you
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