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Surviving The Impossible | The Life Of Jim Lovell | Apollo 13: "Houston, we've had a problem" — Transcript

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0:01He was born in Parma, Ohio in 1928 and
0:04raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He grew
0:06up fascinated with rockets, but his
0:08family could not afford to send him to
0:10the elite colleges that taught rocketry.
0:13He went instead to the Naval Academy,
0:15settling, he thought, for aviation
0:18instead of outer space. He flew twice
0:21during Project Geminy and twice in
0:23Apollo and was on his way to the moon
0:25when an oxygen tank deep in the heart of
0:27his spacecraft exploded. He is James
0:31Levelvel and he is a legend of air
0:34power. James A. Levelvel was born
0:37outside of Cleveland in Parma, Ohio on
0:39March 25th, 1928. His family moved soon
0:43after to Milwaukee. His father died when
0:46he was only 12. Levelvel and his mother,
0:49left alone, formed a tight-knit family
0:52unit that scraped by.
0:56Levelville was fascinated by rocketry
0:58and as a student in high school, he
1:02actually built a rocket with the help of
1:04some friends and a chemistry professor.
1:07and uh he launched the rocket and it did
1:10indeed fly about 80 ft up in the air
1:12whereupon it uh exploded into what he
1:15described as a fabulous suicide.
1:18As the years passed, Levelvel's interest
1:20in rocketry did not Wayne. Entranced by
1:24the experiments of rocket pioneer Robert
1:26Goddard, he wanted to be a rocket
1:28engineer.
1:30I wrote to G. Edward Pendre who was the
1:33secretary of the American Rocket Society
1:35in 1946 when as I was graduating from
1:39high school he said fine go to MIT or
1:42Caltech well I couldn't afford any of
1:44those things
1:45turned down by the Naval Academy instead
1:48joined the ROC and entered the
1:50University of Wisconsin he studied there
1:53for two years reapplied to Annapolis and
1:56this time got in
2:00my first desire when I get out of high
2:02school was to follow rocketry and just
2:04become an engineer. Uh, aviation was my
2:07second goal and I really wanted to fly
2:10and you always should have second goals.
2:12If you can't get the first thing, always
2:14look at the second thing.
2:15The Navy in the wake of World War II was
2:17changing. The battleships no longer
2:19reign supreme. When the time came,
2:21Levelvel applied for flight training,
2:23was admitted, and earned his wing.
2:27The Navy assigned him to night fighter
2:29training in California.
2:31In 1956, flying a mission at night off
2:34the carrier Shangrila in the Sea of
2:36Japan, Levelvel homeed in a Japanese
2:39radio station instead of the ship's
2:41beacon and got lost.
2:43I had a knee- pad that I had developed
2:46on the cruise over to Japan that would
2:48light up. And when I I had it plugged to
2:51the ship's receptacle, and when I lit
2:52the knee- pad up, it blew all the lights
2:55inside the airplane, all the cockpit
2:57lights out completely dark. could
2:59believe it.
3:00Lost alone, out of radio contact with
3:03his home base and unable to read his
3:06instruments, Levelville seemed doomed.
3:09Looking around, he saw the pale glow of
3:11luminescent plankton churned up by the
3:14screws of the Shangrila.
3:16With the wife and small children back on
3:18shore, Lovevel followed the dim line,
3:21hoping it would lead to the Shangrila.
3:24It did. He drove his plane down on the
3:27deck so hard it blew two tires.
3:30The skipper of my team, very, very smart
3:33individual. Put me on the very next
3:35flight. The next night launched me off
3:38again and that was the best thing in the
3:40world that happened to me.
3:42Soon after, Levelville requested
3:43assignment to the Navy's test pilot
3:45school at NAS Puxit River in Maryland.
3:48He graduated first in his class and
3:51stayed at Pax River for 4 years. He was
3:54assigned to test aircraft electronic
3:56systems which involved a lot of flying
3:58in circles painting different things on
4:00the plane's radar.
4:01Now there are four test divisions at
4:03that time uh at Pax River. Flight test,
4:07service test, armament test, electronics
4:10test. Everybody who graduates from test
4:12pilot school wants to go to flight test.
4:15You check out all the performances of
4:16the aircraft, what it can do. Service
4:19test is not bad because you you run the
4:21airplane and run it until find out what
4:23breaks, what goes wrong. Armament test,
4:25well, it's pretty good. You find out how
4:27to drop the bombs and fire the rockets
4:29and shoot the guns. Electronics test, I
4:33mean, all you do is circle small cities
4:35around and check out the electronics and
4:38uh the radar and things like that.
4:40That's the last thing I wanted to do.
4:42That's the first thing I got. In the
4:43aviation community, the hot topic was
4:46the inevitability of space exploration.
4:49The Russians had launched Sputnik and
4:51the new American space agency NASA had
4:53announced Project Mercury. Levelvel got
4:56orders to report to Washington for what
4:58was referred to as spec ops. When he
5:01arrived, he found himself in a room with
5:04more than a 100 other pilots. Spec ops
5:07training turned out to be the first
5:09stage of astronaut recruitment. We went
5:12looking for possible candidates in a
5:15variety of areas and there were certain
5:17possibilities. Some people suggested
5:19they should be race car drivers. They
5:21would have the right kinds of skills and
5:23once again coolness under pressure and
5:24so forth. Uh they would be used to be
5:27taking a lot of risks. Uh so there was
5:30some reason for that. But when you start
5:32looking around seriously since flying in
5:35space is an adjunct of flying in the
5:37air, it makes a lot of sense to go look
5:39for pilots. And the ones who were doing
5:42high-speed uh uh performance flying were
5:45all in the Air Force. So that's where we
5:46ended up going. Or I shouldn't say just
5:48the Air Force, but the Air Force, the
5:50Navy, and the Marines. This to me was
5:52almost the epitome of what I really
5:54wanted to do. I couldn't be a rocket
5:57engineer. I got into the Navy. I got
6:00into aviation and then suddenly suddenly
6:03what I wanted to do and where I was
6:05because I had the right credentials to
6:08get in this program met. 32 pilots
6:11passed through to the next stage,
6:13medical testing. Levelvel seemed to be
6:15cruising through that until a lab test
6:18detected high levels of an obscure
6:20chemical in his blood. The elevated
6:23levels might mean something or they
6:25might not. On a tight schedule with no
6:28time to investigate, the doctors sent
6:30Levelville home.
6:32Talk about a disillusioned
6:35young man, a naval officer couldn't
6:37believe it. I was the only one the only
6:40one out of 32 people that they they they
6:43fly.
6:43He returned to Pax River and his
6:46consolation prize, the F4 Phantom. The
6:49Phantom was both the fastest and slowest
6:52fighter in the sky. A highly
6:54maneuverable and slightly unstable
6:57aircraft that arrived with what was then
6:59a pretty impressive electronics package.
7:02you know, complicated integrated
7:05electronic weapon systems. And so we
7:08were able to do quite a bit with the
7:09airplane. Uh learned all about its radar
7:12was an interceptor. Uh learned all about
7:15its performance. Uh took it aboard a
7:18carrier. Uh and so uh great time.
7:22The only electronics test pilot at PAX
7:24with substantial night fighter
7:26experience. Lovevel was made project
7:28manager of the plane's flight test. It
7:31was great work, but it wasn't outer
7:34space.
7:362 years after the first Mercury
7:38astronauts were announced, NASA put out
7:40word that it wanted more astronauts.
7:43Levelville reapplied and his odd blood
7:46chemistry, which had washed him out of
7:48the first astronaut selection process,
7:50somehow seemed not such a big deal. The
7:52second time around in 1962, NASA
7:56announced that Levelville and eight
7:58others were the second astronaut class.
8:01I don't think we were too welcomed by
8:03the first group, and there was only
8:04seven of those guys, and we were nine of
8:06us. Uh they took us aboard, but they,
8:09you know, they were looking at, well,
8:10you're going to take our our spots, and
8:12you know, of course, they were all
8:13senior. Project Geminy, the follow-up to
8:16Mercury, was a series of twoman flights
8:18designed to test systems and procedures
8:21necessary to land a man on the moon.
8:24Levelville was assigned to the backup
8:26crew on Germany 4, which included the
8:28first American spacew walk. Levelville
8:31knew that after serving as backup, he
8:33was not far from going into space
8:35himself. And soon enough, his number
8:38came up. He and Frank Borman would fly
8:41Geminy 7, a mission that if all wet as
8:44planned would set a space endurance
8:46record.
8:47He and Frank Borman were very hard
8:50charging men, but they were also fairly
8:53easygoing. Key and Frank were in a
8:56Gemini capsule, which was not exactly a
8:59spacious machine. In fact, somebody
9:01described it as being about as big as
9:03the back seat of a VW Beetle. That
9:07didn't matter to Levelville because it
9:08was the backseat of a Volkswagen in
9:10space and space was where he wanted to
9:13be. The mission took off December 4th,
9:171965.
9:19Frank and I were so close together that
9:22uh you you couldn't stretch out. You
9:24could stretch your legs but had to bend
9:26your torso. Or you could straighten your
9:28torso, but then you had to bend your
9:29legs. And uh your top of your head was
9:32right at the top of the uh the hatch. uh
9:34and uh and you know for two weeks with
9:38Frank Borman in the spacecraft was a
9:40real challenge in itself.
9:42They spent a lot of time joking with
9:44each other. Frank Borman would
9:46occasionally sing to Jim, "Put your
9:48sweet lips a little closer to the phone
9:50and we'll pretend that we're together
9:52all alone." And of course they were very
9:55much alone. A
9:56lot of the medical community didn't
9:57think that man could stay in space for
9:59two weeks. uh and that was the maximum
10:01length of time to go to the moon and
10:03come back again. We had about 23
10:05experiments. We were doing everything to
10:07to check you know the uh our blood
10:10volume and our heart rates and they had
10:12all sorts we wired up for all sorts of
10:14things.
10:15On the 11th day of the mission, Geminy 7
10:18and Geminy 6 rendevoused high above the
10:20Earth. The maneuver, slow and imprecise
10:24by modern standards, nonetheless proved
10:26that it was possible to synchronize
10:29orbits in a way that would allow a lunar
10:31landing craft to meet up with its
10:33orbiting command module.
10:35Ronu and docking with with two Gemini
10:37spacecraft in orbit. Uh those were
10:40critical components of us being able to
10:43successfully land on the moon.
10:45The mission was an overwhelming success.
10:48Levelville returned to Earth knowing
10:49that he had a good chance to be one of
10:51the astronauts chosen to go to the moon.
10:54After backing up Geminy 9, Levelvel's
10:57next flight assignment was Geminy 12.
11:00The mission flown by Levelvel and Buzz
11:02Aldrin in 1966 closed Project Geminy
11:06with another rousing success. With the
11:08exception of a few minor mechanical
11:10failures, the flight accomplished its
11:12goals and even the failures seemed
11:14encouraging. Assigned to dock with the
11:17Aena target vehicle without assistance
11:19from groundbased radar, Levelville
11:21succeeded even when his primary onboard
11:24radar failed. He switched without fuss
11:27to a backup system and docked right on
11:30schedule. Aldron went for a space walk
11:33that proved that astronauts could not
11:35only float helplessly at the end of a
11:37tether, but they could also accomplish
11:39serious challenging tasks in space.
11:4494 hours after liftoff, the Gemini 12
11:47fired its retro rockets to return to
11:49Earth and plucked safely into the ocean
11:52less than 3 mi from its target. 28
11:55minutes later, Levelville and Uldren
11:57walked out onto the deck of the USS Wasp
12:00and Project Geminy came to a close.
12:06Back at NASA, planners were getting
12:09nervous. There were rumors the Russians
12:11were planning a moonshot for 1968 and
12:14the lunar module which would ferry two
12:16astronauts from lunar orbit to the moon
12:19surface was falling behind schedule.
12:21Apollo 8 levelvel's next mission had
12:24been planned as a shakedown cruise for
12:26the lunar module in earth orbit.
12:29We had heard from intelligence that the
12:31Russians were going to put a man around
12:32the moon in 1968. And that was a
12:35decision that George Lo had thought,
12:37well, maybe we can salvage Apollo 8 and
12:40send it to the moon uh and wait till
12:43Apollo 9 to test out the two spacecraft
12:45around the Earth. And that's how that
12:47all came to pass.
12:48Apollo 8 and its mission without a
12:51lander became the first flight to orbit
12:54around the moon 10 times during December
12:57of 1968. It was really uh a very
13:00challenging and very intriguing mission
13:03to be on the backup crew uh to be any
13:06part of that because it was the first
13:08mission that was going to leave the
13:10earth and uh and reach the moon.
13:13On December 21st, 1968, Levelvel, Frank
13:16Borman, and William Anders took off from
13:18the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
13:21After making a few checks, they fired
13:23their second stage and became the first
13:25people to leave Earth orbit.
13:29As we are getting towards the end of our
13:31training for Apollo 8, already realizing
13:34that this is going to be a lunar flight
13:35because Apollo 7 was successful, uh, we
13:39thought, what can we say around the
13:42moon? Because when we looked at our
13:44trajectory, we would burn into lunar
13:46orbit on Christmas Eve.
13:49Their first thought was it was the night
13:50before Christmas. But the wife of a
13:53journalist suggested instead that they
13:55read from Genesis.
13:57In what is without question one of the
13:59most moving moments in human history,
14:02the first people to look at the moon
14:04close up pointed a tiny television
14:06camera at the lunar surface and took
14:09turns reading to the whole world from
14:12the Bible.
14:12And for all the people back on Earth,
14:16the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that
14:19we would like to send to you. In the
14:21beginning, God created the heaven and
14:24the earth. And the earth was without
14:26form and void, and darkness was upon the
14:30face of the deep. And the spirit of God
14:33moved upon the face of the waters. And
14:36God said, "Let there be light." And
14:40there was light. And God saw the light.
14:43They was good. And God divided the light
14:46from the darkness. that God called the
14:48light day. And from the crew of Apollo
14:518, we close with good night, good luck,
14:56a merry Christmas, and God bless all of
14:59you, all of you on this good Earth.
15:03With three trips into space behind him,
15:05James Levelvel showed no disappointment
15:08when he was not named to be among the
15:10first to land on the moon. His time, he
15:12knew, would come. When Neil Armstrong
15:15and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, it
15:17completed what had been a kind of
15:19national obsession.
15:21From President Kennedy's audacious
15:23proclamation that the United States
15:25would put a man on the moon by the end
15:27of the 60s to the return of Apollo 11,
15:30the socially and politically polarized
15:32United States had been able to agree on
15:34little except the fascinating
15:36achievement of man's space travel.
15:39But once Armstrong Aldrin and command
15:41module pilot Michael Collins returned to
15:43Earth, some of the public excitement
15:46about space travel seemed to dissipate.
15:48Apollo 12 seemed like a rerun. And by
15:51the time of Levelvel's next flight,
15:53Apollo 13, the public's attention had
15:55started to roam. On April 11th, 1970,
15:59Levelvel and his crew mates Jack Swagert
16:01and Fred Hayes lifted off. The mission
16:04was going well. Even mission control on
16:07the ground seemed blasé about man's
16:09third mission to the moon. The capsule
16:12seems in real good shape. Capcon Joe
16:14Kerwin said to the astronauts, "We're
16:16bored to tears down here."
16:18Take off on that flight. April 11th,
16:211970 at 13:13 Central Standard Time. We
16:25weren't superstitious, but maybe I
16:27should have been. 9 hours later, 200,000
16:30mi from Earth and outbound at a speed of
16:34nearly 25,000 mi, an oxygen tank in the
16:38spacecraft service module blew up,
16:40knocking out virtually all life support
16:42systems for the capsule.
16:45We didn't know what happened at first. I
16:46looked at Hayes and he didn't know what
16:49occurred. I looked at Jack Swager, of
16:50course, and Jack was probably saying to
16:52himself, "Why am I on this flight? I was
16:54the backup." It was essentially an also
16:56ran of Apollo 11. And um all of a sudden
17:00when it looked like none of them thought
17:02they were going to get back alive,
17:04no one had ever been in so much trouble
17:07so far from home. There were three men
17:1090 hours from Earth, utterly dependent
17:13on the lunar module, a self-sufficient
17:15pod designed to support two men for only
17:1845 hours. We tried to close the hatch
17:21between the two vehicles, thinking that
17:22at first maybe a meteor hit the vehicle.
17:25We weren't successful at closing that
17:26hatch, which of course is a requirement
17:28if you're going to make a safe landing
17:29back on Earth. But we tied the hatch
17:31down to a to a couch uh and then looking
17:35at the symptoms that were occurring
17:36because loss of all of our oxygen would
17:38mean loss of all of our electrical power
17:40and then loss of our propulsion system.
17:43To preserve power, they cut consumption
17:45by 80%. the temperature in the tiny
17:48spacecraft dropped to the point where
17:50hypothermia became a very real problem.
17:55Levelvel was the commander and it was up
17:57to him to set the tone. It was up to him
17:59to keep everybody from going nuts and uh
18:03certainly there were moments when none
18:06of them thought they were going to get
18:07back alive. So, we had to start using
18:09all those crisis management techniques
18:12and good leadership on the part of the
18:14ground people and teamwork to get
18:16together to try to determine out what
18:18was wrong and use our imagination to
18:20figure out how to uh take care of
18:22things.
18:23On the ground, engineers calculated
18:25small maneuvers that would keep Apollo
18:2713 on a course that would slingshot it
18:29around the moon and back toward Earth on
18:32what is called a free return course. The
18:35solution was an emergency manual burn, a
18:38procedure deemed so unlikely that the
18:40emergency manual documenting it had not
18:43been included on the flight in order to
18:45save weight. But Levelvel had been
18:47involved in the development of the
18:48manual. And as mission control watched
18:51in Houston, he and his crewmates powered
18:54up the command module, burned its engine
18:56for 4 and 1/2 minutes, and got their
18:58craft online for Earth.
19:00Then we thought everything was okay
19:02because we thought we were back on the
19:03free return course and we had nothing
19:05going for us except the radio and a
19:08little fan to circulate the atmosphere.
19:09All the navigational ladies, the
19:11guidance system, the computer, they were
19:13all shut down. Couldn't afford
19:14electrical power. Uh and then finally on
19:17the way home ground tracking us said we
19:20were no longer on the free return
19:21course.
19:23Uh and that we had missed the Earth's
19:25atmosphere for a safe landing if uh we
19:27kept on this course. The pilot, who had
19:29once followed algae back to his aircraft
19:31carrier, aimed his spacecraft home using
19:34a primitive sighting device in the lunar
19:37module nicknamed the exterminator. He
19:39had a margin of error for less than one
19:41degree in any direction. He nailed it.
19:44He nailed it. And that was using the
19:45Earth's Terminator, the little gun site
19:47we had in the Luna module window uh to
19:50get in the proper position to use the
19:52Luna module engine to reestablish our
19:55ourselves inside a very small twoderee
19:58pies-shaped wedge to get us into the
20:00Earth's atmosphere, which we did uh by
20:03just brute force uh no autopilot to help
20:06us stabilize the the vehicles. And both
20:10uh Fred and I work in the spacecraft
20:12together. Jack doing the timing because
20:14even the clock was shut down. Got back
20:16in of course and the story of course is
20:19well known. Uh we did make a safe
20:21landing in the Pacific Ocean just about
20:24where we would have made the landing but
20:26we arrived there several days early.
20:28It was described by NASA after the fact
20:30as a successful failure. And uh it was
20:34certainly that. Um, I would take it a
20:36step further and say it was a miracle.
20:39Um, and certainly a testament to uh the
20:45people at NASA and their ability to put
20:49their heads together,
20:51um, to work the problems and to come up
20:56with solutions to an incredible
21:00situation and series of events that uh,
21:03when you look back at it and you analyze
21:06everything that went wrong in Apollo 13,
21:09uh which started obviously with the
21:13oxygen tank bursting and taking out a
21:15healthy portion of the command module
21:18and uh went on to the problems with
21:21carbon monoxide
21:23um the issues with the electrical
21:26system. When you put all that together
21:29and you consider the fact that these are
21:31three men who are exhausted,
21:34who are frightened, albeit trained to
21:38control that fright, but are certainly
21:42probably 75% convinced that they're not
21:44going to get home alive. Um, you've got
21:48electrical failures, mechanical
21:49failures. Uh, the one thing you didn't
21:52have with Apollo 13 was human failures.
21:56I look at it like a now like a game of
21:58solitire. You know this the game starts,
22:01you pick up a card. As long as you put
22:02that card someplace, the game continues.
22:05It's only when you pick up a card and
22:06there's no place to put it that the game
22:08ends. That never occurred on Apollo 13.
22:11We always had one more card that we
22:13could put someplace to keep the game
22:15going.
22:16This little recorder has been a big
22:18benefit to us in passing through the
22:20type of way in our transit out to the
22:22moon. And it's rather odd to see it
22:24floating like this in uh in Odyssey
22:28while it's playing uh the scenes of
22:312001.
22:34April 13th, 1970. The mood could only be
22:38described as relaxed. Apollo 13, man's
22:42fifth Luna mission, the third scheduled
22:45to land on the moon, continued its
22:47tranquil coast.
22:49This is the crew of Apollo 13. wishing
22:52everybody there a nice evening and uh
22:55we're just about ready to close out our
22:57inspection of Aquarius and get back for
23:00a pleasant evening at Odyssey. Good
23:02night.
23:05Uh the sensation I had uh that I had
23:09felt a vibration accompanying the bang
23:12not a large vibration or shutter.
23:15Is there any kind of leads we can give
23:17them or we looking at instrumentation or
23:18we got a real problem or what? We're
23:20reading uh zero N2 pressure in fuel cell
23:23one and 13 PSI on fuel cell 302
23:27pressure.
23:27Okay. Ver, what do you want to do? Open
23:29circuit fuel cell one and three.
23:30That's very important.
23:32Shut down
23:34the reactance valve and I ask for
23:37reconfirmation since when you do that,
23:39it's sort of irreversible. If you shut
23:41one of these things down, they uh uh
23:44only can be restarted from ground
23:46support equipment.
23:48Yeah, that's that's good. See, and it
23:49looks to me you're looking out the hat.
23:52So, we are venting something. We are we
23:55are venting something out into the uh
23:57into the space.
23:58Okay, let's everybody think of the kind
24:00of things we'd be venting. GNC, you got
24:02anything that looks abnormal in your
24:04system?
24:04Negative flight.
24:06How about you, ECOM? You see anything
24:08that uh with the instrumentation you got
24:10that could be venting?
24:11That's a firm flight. Let me look at the
24:13system flight as far as the vang is
24:15concerned. Okay, let's start the
24:17scanning.
24:18Here is a bulletin from ABC News. The
24:20Apollo 13 spacecraft has had a serious
24:22power supply malfunction that could
24:25cause the lunar landing mission to be
24:26terminated early.
24:27I assume you've called in your backup
24:29ECOMs.
24:30Flight. Say again.
24:31Have you called in your backup ECOMs
24:32now? See if we can get some more brain
24:34power in this.
24:34We got one here.
24:35Roger.
24:36At the moment, the astronauts are
24:38continuing to try to isolate their
24:39trouble. A late report says the
24:40spacecraft now is operating on battery
24:42power alone. All unnecessary equipment
24:45is being turned off.
24:48Okay, now let's everybody keep cool. We
24:50got the limbs still attached. The limb
24:52spacecraft's good. So, if we need uh to
24:55get back home, we got a limb to do a
24:57good portion of it with. Okay. Let's
24:59make sure that we don't do anything
25:01that's going to blow our CSM electrical
25:04power with the batteries or that will
25:06cause us to lose the main or the fuel
25:09cell number two.
25:11Okay? We want to keep the O2 and that
25:13kind of stuff working. We'd like to have
25:14RCS, but we got the command module
25:17system. So, we're in good shape. If we
25:19need to get home, let's solve the
25:21problem, but let's not make it any worse
25:22by guessing.
25:24My concern was increasing all the time.
25:26It went from I wonder what this is going
25:29to do to the landing
25:31to I wonder if we can get back home
25:34again.
25:37Okay, K, I'm coming back to you. Flight.
25:40Go ahead.
25:41I think the best thing we can do right
25:42now is start a power down.
25:44Right about then, it uh it was quite
25:46apparent to me that it was just a
25:48question of time that the command module
25:50was going to be dead.
25:52You don't want to get fuel cell pumps
25:53off, do you?
25:54We can do that on fuel cell number one
25:56flight.
25:56Okay. Well, let's make sure we don't
25:58blow the whole mission.
26:01Thing that concerns me is starting is
26:03throwing equipment. We we had a problem.
26:05We don't know the cause of the problem.
26:07flight. I I've got a feeling we've lost
26:09two fuel cells. I hate to put it that
26:12way, but uh I don't know why we've lost
26:15them. It doesn't all tag up.
26:17Network from flight
26:19flight network.
26:19Bring me up another computer in the
26:21RTCC, will you?
26:23Uh we got uh one machine on the RTC and
26:26we got dual CPs downstairs.
26:27Okay. I want another machine up in the
26:28RTCC and I want a bunch of guys capable
26:30of running Dlogs down there.
26:32Roger that.
26:33What all this means is only speculation
26:35at this point. First, though there has
26:37been some tumbling or rotation of the
26:39spacecraft, the astronauts do not appear
26:41to be in any immediate danger.
26:43I'll tell you what, uh, GNC, can you get
26:47somebody in the back room to try to
26:48figure out what the equivalent delta V
26:50is we're getting so that we can see if
26:53we can backtrack to see if we can figure
26:56out what's venting. Rods, we'll give it
26:58a try. Flight.
26:58Okay. When I looked up and saw both
27:02oxygen pressures, one absolutely zero
27:04and the other one going down, uh, it it
27:07dawned on me and I'm sure Jack and Fred
27:10about the same time that we were indeed
27:12in serious trouble. The only way to
27:14survive the situation was to transfer to
27:18the limb.
27:21Flight Ecom,
27:21go ahead. EOP,
27:22the pressure in O2 tank one is all the
27:24way down to 297. You better think about
27:26getting in the limb or using the limb
27:27systems. I'd say this is as serious uh
27:31situation as we have ever had in man
27:33space flight. We've always called the
27:35limb a good lifeboat under those
27:36circumstances. If at any time in the
27:39mission, however, the limb had separated
27:42and we had gotten ourselves into a
27:44rendevous situation or uh the the
27:48command module being around the moon,
27:50then what you state is absolutely true.
27:53It would it would be a fatal situation.
27:56Tell them you from flight. Go ahead,
27:58flight. I want you to get some guys
28:00figuring out minimum power in the limb
28:02to sustain life.
28:04The accident had occurred 200,000 mi
28:07from Earth. Level Swagard and H
28:12since the command module was dead except
28:14for the oxygen and power hoarded for
28:16re-entry. The guidance platform of
28:18Aquarius designed to land on and take
28:20off from the moon would have to be used.
28:23The first milestone and I consider this
28:26after the accident I guess more or less
28:28the survival. Now the first milestone
28:32was to get alignment on the limb
28:34platform. Alignments are important you
28:37know because without knowing exactly
28:40which way the attitude of a spacecraft
28:42is in space. There's no way to tell how
28:44to burn or how to use the engines of
28:46that spacecraft to get the prop the
28:48proper trajectory to come home. the
28:51position we are now in the earth moon
28:53plane, we have to go around the
28:56uh the moon to get back if we're going
28:59to use the dips engine. You would have
29:01had enough capability with the SPS
29:04engine, but of course we don't dare use
29:05that now.
29:07So, we have to go to the back side of
29:09the moon and come back.
29:11To get into the correct orbit around the
29:13moon, the crew had burned out of a
29:15trajectory that would automatically
29:17bring them back to Earth. They would
29:18have to get back onto a safe course
29:20toward Earth.
29:22He needs to put his throttle to men
29:25also. Flight
29:26throttle to men.
29:27Yes, he's at 29% now. Roughly,
29:29this maneuver again was completed on
29:32time. And because it was a manual burn,
29:34we had a three-man operation. Jack would
29:36uh take care of the time. He'd tell us
29:38when to light off the engine, when to
29:40stop it. Fred handled the pitch
29:42maneuver. I handled the roll roll
29:44maneuver. And I pushed the buttons to
29:45start and stop the engines. Aquarius and
29:48you go for the burn.
29:5640%.
29:58Okay, Aquarius, you're looking good.
30:03Shut down.
30:06The first problem was solved. They were
30:08back on the path to Earth. But there
30:11were many other problems to be solved.
30:13From a building at Houston's man
30:15spacecraft center, systems experts
30:18coordinated the coast to coast effort to
30:20get the crew back.
30:24One of the big problems was consumables.
30:27There would be enough to heat and drink,
30:29but in space there are other factors.
30:32Oxygen to breathe, electrical power to
30:34keep the spacecraft alive, water to cool
30:37the equipment and keep it operating.
30:39It's what we'll be doing till we get
30:41them back on the water is concentrating
30:43on everything that is their lives are
30:46dependent upon at the moment rather than
30:47worrying about the accident because
30:49there's nothing we can do about that
30:50now. This it appears at present time
30:52that everything is under control and
30:55that uh we have a safe situation at the
30:58moment.
30:59Hey, I want to say you guys are doing
31:00real good work. So are you guys, Jack,
31:05we are about 70 hours from home and uh
31:09we think we have uh uh the situation in
31:13control. We've projected the uh
31:15consumables as I've described and uh we
31:18have a plan for carrying out the rest of
31:20the mission, but uh uh there is going to
31:23be no relaxation at all as far as that
31:26goes from now until splash.
31:29There was a key decision to be made
31:31before Apollo 13 went behind the moon.
31:35Where to bring them down?
31:38Their present course would take them to
31:39the Indian Ocean, where recovery would
31:41be difficult. A burn to bring them home
31:43quicker would take them to the Pacific
31:45Ocean near the recovery forces. Bringing
31:47them home even faster would place them
31:49in the South Atlantic, again, away from
31:51recovery forces. It was decided to take
31:54them to the Pacific.
31:56[Music]
31:58We've run uh these simulators both here
32:01and at the Cape and at the contractors
32:03that continuously ever since uh last
32:06night
32:08we've tried to simulate virtually
32:11everything that we've had the crew to do
32:13that uh that is non normal that they've
32:17done and uh we've proven most everything
32:19that we've uh been able uh to run on the
32:23simulator prior to passing it up to
32:24them. There may be some details we
32:25haven't done, but at least we've checked
32:27the feasibility of everything we've
32:29done, and we'll continue to do that.
32:31They passed 137 mi from the moon. For
32:35level, it was the second time that he
32:37had seen the moon so near, but there was
32:40no time for contemplation. There was
32:42another critical burn coming.
32:44Okay, look at let's get the cameras
32:46away. Let's get off the burn. We have
32:50one.
32:52And in Houston, the newsmen poured in to
32:55tell an anxious world the story.
32:58Well, that was going along with the
33:00ignition side.
33:04Shortly after Apollo 13 had separated
33:07from the Saturn third stage, the stage
33:09had been sent onto a trajectory toward
33:11the moon. Its impact would be recorded
33:14by the seismometer left by Apollo 12. By
33:18the way, uh, Aquarius, we see the
33:21results now from a 12 seismometer. Looks
33:25like your booster just hit the moon and
33:28it's uh, rocking it a little bit.
33:33Well, at least worked on this flight.
33:36I'm sure glad we didn't have a limb
33:38impact, too.
33:39Jim, you are go for the burn. Go for the
33:41burn.
33:43Roger and go for the burn.
33:46Guidance. Okay, we're good. Flight
33:48control. Okay, we're okay. Flight tell
33:50me we're go fly.
33:53Okay,
33:54we're good. Fight.
33:56Ground confirms ignition.
33:59We're burning 40%.
34:02West Houston, you're looking good.
34:06Roger.
34:10Shut down. Roger. Shut down.
34:14I say that was a good burn.
34:16Roger. Now we want to power down as soon
34:18as possible.
34:20Understand?
34:20To conserve the electric power and
34:22cooling water, the crew shut down all
34:25but the vital life sustaining systems of
34:28the LEM.
34:29I think the Lim spacecraft's in
34:31excellent shape and I think it's fully
34:33capable of uh getting the crew back. Uh
34:36I think as we have found before, every
34:38time we've put the limb spacecraft to a
34:40test, it's always done much more than it
34:42was guaranteed to do. And I think this
34:44is a good case in point.
34:46Conserve the consumables, cooling water,
34:50electric power.
34:51The limb water gun was leaking and uh we
34:55shut that off. I guess it leaked about a
34:58quart of water. I would I would
34:59estimate, but it took me about 2 days to
35:02get my feet dry. And of course, I think
35:04you were all aware that the temperatures
35:06were going down in both vehicles. And uh
35:09it's made for very chilly feet for a
35:12couple days.
35:18[Music]
35:27Hey,
35:29[Music]
35:42You're wrapping.
35:46[Music]
36:08Lord, your astronauts will come back
36:13safe. If I may be serious for one moment
36:17and ask the entire audience
36:20for a moment
36:23of prayer
36:26for the crewmen of the Apollo 13. will
36:30hold silence for a moment, please.
36:32[Music]
36:41RCSA stands at 62%
36:45and B at 62%.
36:50I feel we've gone a hell of a long time
36:52without any sleep.
36:54to start thinking about getting people
36:56back to sleep again because uh I uh I
37:00didn't get any sleep last night at all.
37:03Command module just slowly kept going
37:05down in temperature until I think uh
37:07just prior to re-entry. Uh it was down
37:09to about 38°
37:11and along with that it was sort of a
37:14chilling uh coldness. The walls were
37:17persspiring, the windows were completely
37:19wet and it uh wasn't too healthy. I
37:22recall that we went in there to get some
37:23hot dogs one day and it was like leaking
37:25with the freezer for the for the food.
37:33[Music]
37:39If you want my opinion on how they
37:41handled the situation when it happened,
37:42they handled it exactly like we'd expect
37:44them to. They were about as well on top
37:47of it as anybody could be with knowing
37:49what we knew which isn't very much I'll
37:50have to admit but I think they did
37:52everything right within the knowledge
37:55that was available to us and uh a timely
37:57fashion which is what uh all we expected
37:59of them but they did a beautiful job of
38:01it.
38:03We actually had a third little sleep
38:05restraint which Fred then put on and
38:07buttoned up and kept a little bit warm.
38:09The astronauts faced another problem,
38:12their own exhaled breath.
38:15The lithium hydroxide chemical to take
38:17carbon dioxide out of the air was not
38:20sufficient in the lunar module. They
38:22would have to adapt the canisters from
38:24the command module to fit the hoses in
38:27the limb. On the ground, an adapter was
38:30fashioned from materials the crew had
38:32available in the LM. Cardboard from a
38:35checklist, plastic bags, and tape. After
38:38checkout in an environmental chamber,
38:41the directions for construction were
38:43sent up to Aquarius.
38:46At this point in time, I think the
38:48partial pressure of carbon dioxide was
38:50reading about 15 mm. And we constructed
38:54two of these things and put them online
38:56and I think within an hour the uh
38:58partial pressure of CO2 was down to
39:002/10.
39:02So you see that survival now became one
39:05of uh of initiative and ingenuity and
39:08and it was one which the ground
39:11continually helped us uh along. We had
39:13all kinds of people on the ground trying
39:15to think of ways of of extending our
39:17lifetime.
39:19There would be still another burn, a
39:22midcourse correction to get Apollo 13
39:24into the narrow corridor through the
39:26atmosphere for a safe return to Earth.
39:29We're at burn attitude flight.
39:35Ignition.
39:38Thrust. Looks good.
39:42Shut down.
39:44Hang in there. It won't be long.
39:46There were moments when I didn't know
39:47how much consumables we had, whether we
39:50could make it back or not. But uh uh in
39:52a situation like that, there's only one
39:54thing you can do. You just keep going.
39:57And uh you just keep thinking up to
39:58where you can get more consumables.
40:01And uh so that's exactly what we did.
40:04On April 17th, they prepared for
40:07re-entry.
40:12After a small course correction burn,
40:15they jettisoned the damaged service
40:16module. SM.
40:19Copy that.
40:32Odyssey Houston standing by. Over.
40:35Okay, go over.
40:42Odyssey Houston. We show you on the
40:44mains. It really looks great.
40:55[Music]
41:05[Music]
42:01Your mission served your country. It
42:04served to remind us all of our proud
42:06heritage of a nation to remind us that
42:09in this age
42:11of technicians and scientific marvels
42:16that the individual still counts. that
42:19in a crisis the character of a man or of
42:23men will make the difference.
42:30[Music]
42:37If you enjoyed this video, please
42:39remember to like and subscribe. And as
42:42always, thank you for watching.
42:45[Music]
43:03Heat. Heat.
43:09Heat.
43:14[Music]
43:22[Music]
43:23Heat.
43:27[Music]

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