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Apollo 13

by Shelby Wright

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Apollo 13
Ingenuity Is Born Out Of Necessity
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The mission encountered trouble when an oxygen tank exploded. Although a failed mission, NASA’s teamwork and ingenuity returned the astronauts safely to Earth.
One of the oxygen tanks onboard Apollo 13 had been accidentally dropped during maintenance before the Apollo 10 mission in 1969, causing slight internal damage that didn’t show up in later inspections. On Earth, flight director Gene Kranz pulled his shift of controllers off regular rotation to focus on managing consumables like water and power. Other mission control teams helped the crew with its daily activities. Spacecraft manufacturers worked around the clock to support NASA and the crew.
The explosion forced the astronauts to have to use the LM as a life vessel.
Power in the LM was designed for forty-five hours, but the astronauts were ninety hours from Earth. All non-critical systems were turned off to conserve energy. Temperatures in LM dropped to 38 degrees Fahrenheit.
After the Apollo 13 mission successfully landed on Earth, Jim Lovell became known as true hero in space travel.
* The first astronaut to fly in space four times.
* He piloted Gemini 7.
* He piloted LM around the moon after having to use it as a lifeboat and landed CM sucessfully on Earth.
The astronauts aboard Apollo 13 and engineers back at home had to alter the mission after the explosion.
EVENT  DATE & TIME (EST)  MISSION TIME
April 11  02:13:00 p.m. - Launch
April 11 02:25:40 p.m. - Earth orbit insertion
April 11 04:54:47 p.m. - Translunar injection 
April 13 10:06 p.m. - LO2 tank anomaly (oxygen tank explosion)
April 14 9:40 p.m. - Trans-Earth injection
April 17  01:07:41 p.m. - Splashdown in South Pacific Ocean
Time Spent On Each Part of The Mission
Lift off from Earth - .12 hours
CM smooth flying - 55 hours
Using LM as a lifeboat - 85 hours
Earth reentry - 1 hour