00:02This little tape recorder has been a big benefit to us in passing through the time away in our transit
00:07out to the moon.
00:08And it's rather odd to see it floating like this in Odyssey while it's playing the scene from 2001.
00:19April 13, 1970. The mood could only be described as relaxed.
00:25Apollo 13, man's fifth lunar mission.
00:30The third, scheduled to land on the moon, continued its tranquil coast.
00:35This is the crew of Apollo 13. We should have everybody there.
00:39Nice evening, and we're just about ready to close out our inspection of Aquarius and get back to a pleasant
00:47evening and Odyssey. Good night.
00:5213, we've got one more item for you when you get a chance. We'd like it to stir up your
00:56cryo tanks.
00:58In addition, I have a shaft and trunnion for a look at the Comet Bennett if you need it.
01:03Okay, stand by.
01:07Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here.
01:10This is Houston. Say again, please.
01:12Yes, sir. Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a main B bus undervolt.
01:17Roger, main B undervolt.
01:18Okay, stand by, 13. We're looking at it.
01:21And we had a pretty large bang associated with the caution and warning there.
01:26And as I recall, B-B was the one that had a M spike on it once before.
01:32In the interim here, we're starting to go ahead and button up the tunnel again.
01:39April 11, 1970. Launch day.
01:43The crew of Apollo 13.
01:46Jim Lovell, commander and veteran of three previous missions.
01:49He had orbited the moon Christmas 1968 on Apollo 8.
01:54Fred Hayes, his first time up. Lunar module pilot.
02:00Jack Swigert, command module pilot.
02:03Three days ago, he was on the backup crew.
02:06Now he replaced Ken Mattingly.
02:08Mattingly had been dropped from the mission because he had been exposed to German measles.
02:13He would watch the launch from Houston's mission control.
02:16Auto sequence initiated flight.
02:19Roger.
02:20Flight booster.
02:21Go.
02:21S-4B prepress complete.
02:23Roger.
02:24Flight booster.
02:25S-1C prepress complete. We're on internal power and we go.
02:28Roger. How's it look, Econ?
02:29Looks good, Flight.
02:31Okay.
02:32MCC record us to flight speed.
02:36Ignition, Flight.
02:37Roger.
02:41Roger.
02:42Clock start, Flight.
02:43Roger.
02:44Touch this door. I'll end it.
02:45Roger.
02:47Okay.
02:47Battle, how's it look?
02:48Looks good here, Flight. Good agreement.
02:50Okay.
02:50Booster, how do you look?
02:51That's what he looks good, Flight.
02:52Okay, Capcom. We're going on the ground.
02:56Okay, we're going on, Capcom.
02:58Cab, we're leaving, Flight.
02:59Roger.
03:05Booster, how do you look?
03:06We're looking good, Flight. We're going.
03:08Okay, Battle.
03:09We're going, Flight. Looks good here.
03:11Guys, that's a good flight.
03:12Okay, Econ, G&C.
03:14Looks good, Flight.
03:14Looks good, Flight.
03:15Okay, Sergeant.
03:16Looks fine.
03:18Through Max Q and we're going, Flight.
03:20Roger, Booster.
03:21And go for staging, Capcom.
03:24Confirm and board out, Flight.
03:25Roger.
03:29Staging, Flight.
03:30Roger.
03:32Flight 5, a trajectory confirmed staging.
03:34Roger.
03:36Flight Booster then board out was way early.
03:38Okay.
03:39Flight confirmed, number 5 engine down.
03:42Roger.
03:43Booster, you don't see any problem with that, though, do you?
03:45No, negative.
03:46Not right now, Flight.
03:47All the other engines are go.
03:49The next step in the routine of lunar flight was to burn out of Earth orbit toward the Moon.
03:54Then pull free of the third stage and dock with the lunar module, Aquarius.
04:00At the controls of the command module, Odyssey, Jack Swigert.
04:13They pulled Aquarius away from the Saturn third stage, the S-4B.
04:18Okay, I can see the S-4B now at the hatch window.
04:25Odyssey and Aquarius moved away from Earth toward the Moon.
04:38Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here.
04:41Flight guidance.
04:42Go guidance.
04:42We've had a hardware restart.
04:44I don't know what it was.
04:45Okay.
04:46Houston, we've had a problem.
04:48We've had a main B bus undervolt.
04:50You see an AC bus undervolt there, guidance?
04:52For E-com?
04:54Negative flight.
04:55I believe the crew reported it.
04:57We've got a main B undervolt.
04:58We may have had an instrumentation problem, flight.
05:01Barrage.
05:02And we had a pretty large bang associated with the caution and warning there.
05:08The sensation I had, that I had felt a vibration accompanying the bang, not a large vibration or shutter.
05:17Is there any kind of leads we can give them?
05:19Are we looking at instrumentation?
05:20Are we got a real problem or what?
05:22We're reading zero N2 pressure in fuel cell 1 and 13 psi on fuel cell 3-0-2 pressure.
05:29Okay, Barrett, what do you want to do?
05:31Open circuit fuel cell 1 and 3?
05:33That's for a flight.
05:34Shut down the reactance valve.
05:37And I ask for a reconfirmation, since when you do that, it's sort of irreversible.
05:43If you shut one of these things down, they only can be restarted from ground support equipment.
06:00Okay, let's everybody think of the kind of things we'd be venting.
06:03GNC, you got anything that looks abnormal in your system?
06:06Negative flight.
06:07How about you, EECOM?
06:09You see anything that, with the instrumentation you've got, that could be venting?
06:13That's a firm flight.
06:15Let me look at the system for you if the venting is concerned.
06:17Okay, let's start scanning.
06:19Here is a bulletin from ABC News.
06:22The Apollo 13 spacecraft has had a serious power supply malfunction that could cause the lunar landing mission to be
06:28terminated early.
06:29I assume you've called in your backup, EECOMs?
06:32Flight, say again?
06:33Have you called in your backup, EECOMs now?
06:35See if we can get some more brain power in this thing?
06:36We've got one here.
06:37Roger.
06:38At the moment, the astronauts are continuing to try to isolate their trouble.
06:42A late report says the spacecraft now is operating on battery power alone.
06:45All unnecessary equipment is being turned off.
06:49Okay, now let's everybody keep cool.
06:52We've got a limb still attached.
06:54The limb spacecraft's good.
06:55So if we need to get back home, we've got a limb to do a good portion of it with.
07:01Okay, let's make sure that we don't do anything that's going to blow our CSM electrical power
07:06with the batteries or that will cause us to lose the main or the fuel cell number two.
07:13Okay, we want to keep the O2 and that kind of stuff working.
07:16We'd like to have RCS, but we've got the command module system, so we're in good shape if we need
07:21to get home.
07:22Let's solve the problem, but let's not make it any worse by guessing.
07:25My concern was increasing all the time.
07:28It went from, I wonder what this is going to do to the landing, to I wonder if we can
07:35get back home again.
07:39Okay, come, I'm coming back to you.
07:41Flight, go ahead.
07:43I think the best thing we can do right now is start a power down.
07:46Right about then, it was quite apparent to me that there was just a question of time that the command
07:51module was going to be dead.
07:53You don't want to get fuel cell pumps off, do you?
07:56We can do that on fuel cell number one flight.
07:58Okay, well, let's make sure we don't blow the whole mission.
08:03The thing that concerns me is throwing equipment.
08:06We had a problem.
08:07We don't know the cause of the problem.
08:09Flight, I've got a feeling we've lost two fuel cells.
08:12I hate to put it that way, but I don't know why we've lost them.
08:17It doesn't all tag up.
08:19Network from Flight Network.
08:20Flight Network.
08:21Bring me up another computer in the RTCC, will you?
08:25We've got one machine on the RTCC, and we've got dual CPs downstairs.
08:29Okay, I want another machine up in the RTCC, and I want a bunch of guys capable of running D
08:33-logs down there.
08:34Roger that.
08:35What all this means is only speculation at this point.
08:38First, though there has been some tumbling or rotation of the spacecraft, the astronauts do not appear to be in
08:43any immediate danger.
08:45I'll tell you what.
08:47GNC, can you get somebody in the back room to try to figure out what the equivalent delta V is
08:52we're getting?
08:54So that we can see if we can backtrack to see if we can figure out what's vending.
08:59Roger, we'll give it a try, Flight.
09:00Okay.
09:01When I looked up and saw both oxygen pressures, one absolutely zero and the other one going down,
09:09it dawned on me, and I'm sure Jack and Fred about the same time, that we were indeed in serious
09:14trouble.
09:15The only way to survive the situation was to transfer to the LM.
09:22Flight EECOM.
09:23Go ahead, EECOM.
09:24The pressure in O2 Tank 1 is all the way down to 297.
09:27You better think about getting in the LM or using the LM systems.
09:30I'd say this is as serious a situation as we have ever had in manned space flight.
09:36We've always called the LM a good lifeboat under those circumstances.
09:39If at any time in the mission, however, the LM had separated and we had gotten ourselves
09:45into a rendezvous situation or the command module being around the moon, then what you state
09:53is absolutely true.
09:54It would be a fatal situation.
09:57Tell them you're from Flight.
09:59Go ahead, Flight.
10:00I want you to get some guys figuring out minimum power in the LM to sustain life.
10:06The accident had occurred 200,000 miles from Earth.
10:10Lovell, Swigert, and Hayes rode in the lunar module, attached to a lifeless command module.
10:16Apollo 13 had started as a mission of scientific exploration.
10:20It was now a matter of survival.
10:26Since the command module was dead except for the oxygen and power hoarded for reentry, the
10:31guidance platform of Aquarius, designed to land on and take off from the moon, would
10:36have to be used.
10:37The first milestone, and I consider this after the accident, I guess, more or less the survival
10:43now, the first milestone was to get alignment on the LM platform.
10:50Alignments are important, you know, because without knowing exactly which way the attitude
10:55of a spacecraft is in space, there's no way to tell how to burn or how to use the engines
11:01of that spacecraft to get the proper trajectory to come home.
11:05The position we are now on the Earth-Moon plane, we have to go around the moon to get back
11:13if we're going to use the DIPPS engine.
11:15You would have had enough capability with the SPS engine, but of course, we don't dare
11:19use that now.
11:21So we have to go up to the back side of the moon and come back.
11:25To get into the correct orbit around the moon, the crew had burned out of a trajectory that
11:30would automatically bring them back to Earth.
11:32They would have to get back onto a safe course toward Earth.
11:37He needs to put his throttle to men also, flight.
11:40Throttle to men?
11:41Yes, he's at 29% now, roughly.
11:44This maneuver, again, was completed on time, and because it was a manual burn, we had a
11:48three-man operation.
11:50Jack would take care of the time.
11:52He'd tell us when to light off the engine, when to stop it.
11:55Fred handled the pitch maneuver.
11:57I handled the roll maneuver, and I pushed the buttons to start and stop the engines.
12:01Aquarius, and you go for the burn.
12:12Okay, Aquarius, you're looking good.
12:17Auto shutdown.
12:19The first problem was solved.
12:22They were back on the path to Earth.
12:24But there were many other problems to be solved.
12:27From a building at Houston's Manned Spacecraft Center, systems experts coordinated the coast-to-coast
12:33effort to get the crew back.
12:37One of the big problems was consumables.
12:40There would be enough to eat and drink.
12:43But in space, there are other factors.
12:46Oxygen to breathe.
12:47Electrical power to keep the spacecraft alive.
12:50Water to cool the equipment and keep it operating.
12:53What we'll be doing until we get them back on the water is concentrating on everything that
12:59their lives are dependent upon at the moment, rather than worrying about the accident, because
13:03there's nothing we can do about that now.
13:05It appears at the present time that everything is under control, and that we have a safe situation
13:12at the moment.
13:13Hey, I want to say you guys are doing real good work.
13:15So are you guys, Jack.
13:18We are about 70 hours from home, and we think we have the situation in control.
13:28We've projected the consumables, as I've described, and we have a plan for carrying out the rest
13:34of the mission, but there's going to be no relaxation at all, as far as that goes, from
13:41now until splash.
13:43There was a key decision to be made before Apollo 13 went behind the moon, where to bring
13:50them down.
13:51Their present course would take them to the Indian Ocean, where recovery would be difficult.
13:56A burn to bring them home quicker would take them to the Pacific Ocean near the recovery
14:00forces.
14:01Bringing them home even faster would place them in the South Atlantic, again away from recovery
14:06forces.
14:06It was decided to take them to the Pacific.
14:12We've run these simulators both here and at the Cape and at the contractors continuously
14:19ever since last night.
14:22We've tried to simulate virtually everything that we've had the crew to do that is non-normal
14:30that they've done.
14:31And we've proven most everything that we've been able to run on the simulator prior to passing
14:38it up to them.
14:38There may be some details we haven't done, but at least we've checked the feasibility of
14:42everything we've done, and we'll continue to do that.
15:05And in Houston, the newsmen poured in to tell an anxious world the story.
15:18Shortly after Apollo 13 had separated from the Saturn third stage, the stage had been sent
15:24on to a trajectory toward the moon.
15:26Its impact would be recorded by the seismometer left by Apollo 12.
15:31By the way, Aquarius, we see the results now from a 12-size monitor.
15:38Looks like your booster just hit the moon, and it's rocking it a little bit.
15:45Hold it.
15:46Well, at least Trump has worked on this flight.
15:50I'm sure glad we didn't have a limb impact, too.
15:53Jim, you go for the burn.
15:55Go for the burn.
15:57Roger, I understand.
15:58Go for the burn.
15:59Guidance, okay?
16:01We're good, flight.
16:02Control, okay.
16:03We're okay, flight.
16:04Tell me.
16:05We're go, flight.
16:06Inco, okay?
16:08We're good, flight.
16:10Ground confirms ignition.
16:13World body, 40%.
16:15West Houston, you're looking good.
16:20Roger.
16:24Shutdown.
16:25Roger, shutdown.
16:27I say that was a good burn.
16:30Roger.
16:31Now we want to power down as good as possible.
16:33I understand.
16:34To conserve the electric power and cooling water, the crew shut down all but the vital, life-sustaining
16:41systems of the LEM.
16:42I think the LEM spacecraft's in excellent shape, and I think it's fully capable of getting the
16:48crew back.
16:50I think as we have found before, every time we've put the LEM spacecraft to a test, it's
16:55always done much more than it was guaranteed to do, and I think this is a good case in point.
17:00Conserve the consumables, cooling water, electric power, the LEM water gun was leaking, and we shut
17:09that off, and I guess it leaked about a quart of water, I would estimate, but it took me about
17:15two days to get my feet dry.
17:16And, of course, I think you were all aware that the temperatures were going down in both
17:21vehicles, and it's made for a very chilly feat for a couple days.
17:39I think it's a good case.
17:56Okay, I'll go.
18:22Lord, your astronauts will come back.
18:27Sir, if I may be serious for one moment and ask the entire audience for a moment of prayer for
18:39the crewmen of the Apollo 13.
18:43We'll hold silence for a moment, please.
18:55R.C.S.A. stands at 62 percent and B at 62 percent.
19:16The command module just slowly kept going down in temperature until I think just prior to reentry, it was down
19:23to about 38 degrees.
19:25And along with that, there was sort of a chilling coldness.
19:29The walls were perspiring.
19:31The windows were completely wet.
19:33And it wasn't too healthy, I recall.
19:36We went in there to get some hot dogs one day and it was like leaching into the freezer for
19:40the food.
19:52If you want my opinion on how they handled the situation when it happened, they handled it exactly like we'd
19:57expect them to.
19:59They were about as well on top of it as anybody could be who knew what we knew, which isn't
20:03very much, I'll have to admit.
20:05But I think they did everything right within the knowledge that was available to us in a timely fashion, which
20:11is all we expected of them.
20:14I think they did a beautiful job of it.
20:16We actually had a third little sleep restraint, which Fred then put on and buttoned up and kept a little
20:22bit warm.
20:23The astronauts faced another problem, their own exhaled breath.
20:28The lithium hydroxide chemical to take carbon dioxide out of the air was not sufficient in the lunar module.
20:35They would have to adapt the canisters from the command module to fit the hoses in the limb.
20:41On the ground, an adapter was fashioned from materials the crew had available in the limb.
20:47Cardboard from a checklist, plastic bags, and tape.
20:52After checkout in an environmental chamber, the directions for construction were sent up to Aquarius.
20:59At this point in time, I think the partial pressure of carbon dioxide was reading about 15 millimeters.
21:05And we constructed two of these things and put them online, and I think within an hour, the partial pressure
21:12of CO2 was down to two-tenths.
21:15So you see that survival now became one of initiative and ingenuity, and it was one which the ground continually
21:25helped us along.
21:26We had all kinds of people on the ground trying to think of ways of extending our lifetime.
21:32There would be still another burn, a mid-course correction to get Apollo 13 into the narrow corridor through the
21:39atmosphere for a safe return to Earth.
21:57There were moments when I didn't know how much consumables we had, whether we could make it back or not,
22:04but in a situation like that there's only one thing you can do.
22:08You just keep going, and you just keep thinking of where you can get more consumables.
22:14And so that's exactly what we did.
22:17On April 17th, they prepared for reentry.
22:25After a small course correction burn, they jettisoned the damaged service module.
22:30There's that map.
22:33Copy that.
22:36And there's one whole side of that big business.
22:40Is that right?
22:41The whole panel is blown out, almost from the base to the entrance.
22:46It's really a mess.
22:47Man, that's unbelievable.
22:50Next, they got back into Odyssey to jettison Aquarius prior to entry into the atmosphere.
22:57Okay, copy that.
23:01Farewell, Aquarius.
23:06Okay, LOS in a minute or a minute and a half.
23:09An entry attitude we'd like on me, Charlie.
23:13And welcome home.
23:30o crave to see.
23:54Odyssey, Houston, standing by.
23:55Over.
23:56Okay go into ome.
24:03Odyssey, Houston, we show you on the mains. It really looks great.
24:10Apollo 13, Apollo 13, this is recovery, over.
24:15They're going to bypass.
24:17Ah, roger, Apollo 13, this is recovery.
24:20And your chutes look good.
24:23Apollo 13, this is recovery. We observe your RCS burn, over.
24:29This is recovery, Apollo 13 is descending.
24:31You and your right here.
24:33Apollo, this is recovery, over.
24:37Photo, what's the price?
24:38And at this time, the free chutes are...
24:41This place, there's the water.
24:44I'm zero degrees like that in three and one-half miles.
24:47You and your right here.
24:51Apollo 11, the command module is stable one at this time.
24:55You're riding comfortably.
24:58The medical actions are approximately 15 degrees.
25:04Web 1, you're scared of the position for a three-year-old fusion.
25:08Web 1, you're right here.
25:10Big tank, Web 2, you're in line, 2-7-0.
25:16Web 2, you're in line, 3-4-8-0.
25:22Web 2, you're in line, 3-year-old fusion.
25:24Step 1, you're out.
25:28Web 2, you're in line, 3-year-old Twin, để trazer.
25:29Web 2, you're in line, 3-year-old Repeat.
26:02I recall, Captain, that when I spoke to you on the phone,
26:07you said that you regretted that you were unable to complete your mission.
26:11I hereby declare that this was a successful mission.
26:17From the start, the exploration of space has been hazardous adventure.
26:23The voyage of Apollo 13 dramatized its risks.
26:27The men of Apollo 13, by their poise and skill under the most intense kind of pressure,
26:35epitomized the character that accepts danger and surmounts it.
26:43Theirs is the spirit that built America.
26:48Your mission served your country.
26:51It served to remind us all of our proud heritage of a nation, to remind us that in this age
26:58of technicians and scientific marvels, that the individual still counts, that in a crisis,
27:07the character of a man, or of men, will make the difference.
27:16G.N.C.
27:17Go.
27:18Surgeon.
27:19Go.
27:19Procedures.
27:20Go.
27:21AFD.
27:22Go.
27:22Network.
27:23Go.
27:25Roger, that work.
27:28Give me an apper.
27:29RTC on AFD conference.
27:31RTC on AFD conference.
27:33Okay, all fly controllers.
27:34Let's play it cool
28:04Let's play it cool
28:08Let's play it cool
28:11Let's play it cool
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