Sincerely,
Richard Nixon.”
For a brief moment Apollo 13 put the hassles of money and budgets and politics aside as people followed the progress of a mission where sheer guts and determination, teamwork and comradeship, ingenuity and skill brought the crew safely home. No doubt luck was a large factor in the equation. A triskaidekaphobic person would freak out at this list of thirteens � it was the 13th Apollo mission, launched at 1313 hours spacecraft time, the explosion occurred on April 13, 13:08 hours Honeysuckle Creek time, with 13 nations offering to provide rescue ships or aircraft. And stretching credibility a bit the astronauts first names of James, Fred, and Jack add up to 13 letters, the launch date of 4/11/70 add up to 13 from pad 39 which is 3 x 13. Even German Measles has 13 letters. Not surprisingly the Horoscope for Aquarius from the Houston Post of April 13 1970 said �Do surprises turn you on? Then this is the day for the unexpected.�
Was Apollo 13 good luck or bad luck? Probably good luck because it brings up a lot of �What ifs...?� For instance, what if the explosion had happened while Lovell and Haise were on the lunar surface..........!!?
Lovell said,
�To get Apollo 13 home required a lot of innovation. Most of the material written about our mission described the ground-based activities, however I would be remiss not to state that it really was the teamwork between the ground and the flight crew that resulted in a successful return. Some people would call the Apollo 13 mission a $375 million failure. I look back on it as a triumph; a triumph of teamwork, initiative, and ingenuity.
Nobody believes me, but during this six day odyssey we had no idea what an impression Apollo 13 made on the people of Earth. We never dreamed a billion people were following us on television and radio, and reading about us in banner headlines of every newspaper published. We still missed the point on board the carrier Iwo Jima which picked us up because the sailors had been as remote from the media as we were. Only when we reached Honolulu did we comprehend our impact.�
For fun, Grumman, the builders of the Lunar Module, sent a bill for $US400,000 to North American Rockwell for towing the Command and Service Module 482,800 kilometres back home!
Jack Swigert said after the mission,
�I knew that no matter how dark the situation looked, we had a lot of help from the ground. I didn�t come back from this mission with less confidence in the goals of the space program. I came back with more.�
Chris Kraft:
�I think Apollo 13 was a classic example of what the ground flight operations was all about. It proved that the ground was worthwhile. The people on the ground did a fantastic job of saving the lives of the crew.� That ground crew included the tracking stations, connecting Mission Control with the spacecraft.
President Nixon summed up this dramatic odyssey with:
�The three astronauts did not reach the moon, but they reached the hearts of millions of people in America and in the world.�
References:
Tracking Apollo to the Moon | – Hamish Lindsay |
Apollo 13 | – Jim Lovell & Jeffrey Kluger |
Flight | – Chris Kraft |
Failure is not an Option | – Gene Kranz |
– Sy Liebergot |
Interviews with:
Chris Kraft | Bill Peters | Nevil Eyre |
Gene Kranz | Joe Kerwin | John Mitchell |
Glynn Lunney | Bill Wood | Bruce Window |
Fred Haise | Don Gray | Kevyn Westbrook |
Jerry Bostick | Tom Reid | Trevor Gray |
John Aaron | Mike Dinn | Wilfred Laing |
Sy Liebergot | John Saxon |
The text has been checked by Chris Kraft and Jim Lovell. -----------------------------------
Illustrations sourced by Hamish Lindsay and Colin Mackellar.
Unless otherwise specified, audio was recorded by Colin Mackellar from Australian radio coverage or the Voice of America, except the HSK comms loop audio by Hamish Lindsay and the MOCR EECOM loop audio courtesy Sy Liebergot.
Audio selected and edited by CM.
Frames from Apollo 13 film and video selected and processed by CM with thanks to Mark Gray at Spacecraft Films .
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Aside from its tense and compelling nature as a cinematic account of NASA’s aborted 1970 mission, Ron Howard ’s Apollo 13 is a visual marvel. Nabbing an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects, the 1995 drama used all available techniques to recreate three astronauts’ brush with disaster, from the latest in CGI to models and miniatures and good old-fashioned in-camera trickery. In particular, Howard and his crew of effects wizards took a decidedly daring approach to simulating the zero-gravity environment of outer space.
Convinced that traditional wire techniques wouldn't be sophisticated enough to sell the illusion that stars Tom Hanks , Bill Paxton , and Kevin Bacon were indeed weightless on the Apollo 13 spacecraft, Howard turned his attention elsewhere . At a fellow filmmaker's suggestion, Howard began investigating the rather far-fetched notion of placing his actors and crew in a relatively dangerous and physically unpleasant setting for the sake of authenticity . In other words, it's not every day that an anti-nausea cocktail of Scopolamine and Dexedrine is on the call list for a film set.
NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.
Aptly dubbed "the vomit comet," the KC-135 is an airplane that, according to Ron Howard , has been used to train astronauts how to operate in zero-gravity conditions. By flying in a parabolic pattern, ascending to an altitude of 36,000 feet, and then pivoting into a diving motion, the KC-135 can create roughly 25 seconds of weightlessness at a time . " Steven Spielberg was the one that told me about it," Howard said. Intrigued by the idea of building the Apollo 13 spacecraft's interior sets inside the plane and shooting in a real zero-gravity setting, Howard began investigating the possibility of such a seemingly wild idea.
"Everybody thought we were crazy," he later admitted. "NASA wasn't so interested in cooperating with us at first. There was some retired Russian plane that would do it. That seemed a little sketchy to us." But thanks to a helping hand from real-life Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell , the production finally secured permission from NASA under the condition that the film's actors and crew undergo several days of training, take a written exam, spend time in hyperbaric chambers, and take a test flight to prove they could "cut it." With NASA's blessing , Howard and his colleagues prepared for the experience of a lifetime, but shooting on the KC-135 would be anything but a cakewalk.
To combat motion sickness that would accompany flying in a parabolic pattern, Apollo 13 's cast and crew took a cocktail prior to each flight that, per Howard, was a combination of Scopolamine and Dexedrine . "The Scopolamine evens out your stomach but wants to put you to sleep, and the Dexedrine keeps you working," he said. On one occasion, a flight on the KC-135 was canceled due to a mechanical issue, but not before Howard took his cocktail. With Dexedrine-an amphetamine-coursing through his system, but without the adrenaline associated with flying in a chaotic pattern and being weightless, the filmmaker suddenly found himself high as a kite.
"Hollywood, do we have a problem?"
Given the minimal periods of weightlessness the KC-135 enabled, the cast and crew had to carefully choreograph and rehearse their planned shots on a mock-up set constructed on the ground. Despite their meticulous rehearsing, however, they rarely captured all the footage they needed on a single mission. "We would do about 40 parabolas in the morning, come down and have lunch, and do about 40 parabolas in the afternoon," said Kevin Bacon . According to the actor, lunch often consisted of Mexican food, which inevitably reared its ugly head on one of the flights. "What's interesting about being thrown up on when it's zero-G is that it hovers there for a while," he told Entertainment Weekly. "It's floating, and there's nothing you can really do, except go, 'Here it comes,' and when they hit the G forces, it's coming down on you."
Per The AV Club, the cast and crew of Apollo 13 ultimately flew a whopping total of 612 parabolas, which amounted to roughly four hours of footage , which greatly complemented the film's overall approach to visual effects. In addition to the unprecedented nature of shooting in a zero-gravity environment, Ron Howard employed other practical techniques to simulate weightlessness. Using what he dubbed "belly pans" for certain shots, which essentially functioned as a seesaw device that moved Hanks, Paxton, and Bacon up and down, the actors were able to convincingly mimic the weightless movement they'd become accustomed to on the KC-135. Through clever editing , for which Apollo 13 would win an Academy Award, the back-and-forth integration of real and simulated images of zero-gravity made for an illusory viewing experience that effectively blurred the line for audiences.
Under the auspices of visual effects supervisor Robert Legato , Apollo 13 was, according to Ron Howard, "one of the last big model jobs" that was overseen by Digital Domain, then an up-and-coming effects company. Alongside ingenious artists, Legato oversaw a slew of practical effects that would shortly-and sadly-see a significant decline with the increasing efficiency of computer-generated imagery . "We had an amazing miniature department , and they were cranking stuff out like crazy," effects supervisor Kelly Port said in 2020 . Perhaps the biggest compliment heaped upon Digital Domain's team came courtesy of an iconic real-life astronaut. "Buzz Aldrin had asked what NASA archive was used to get some of the launch footage of the Saturn V, because he had never seen it before," artist Matthew Butler revealed.
While Apollo 13 would ultimately lose 1995's Academy Award for Best Visual Effects to Babe , the historical drama has nonetheless retained its wow factor for decades thanks to Digital Domain's stellar work. By relying less on CGI and more on a diverse array of moviemaking techniques and practical effects, Ron Howard's film has aged like a fine wine with regard to visual trickery , thanks in no small part to the director's approach to capturing as much as he could in-camera, and his bold decision to shoot footage in an extreme environment like that of the KC-135 undoubtedly raised the stakes in crafting effects and thrills with an eye toward authenticity. Perhaps unsurprisingly, when Steven Spielberg learned of Howard's methods for capturing honest-to-God zero-gravity, he said, "You're crazy. I never thought you'd really do that."
Apollo 13 is available to rent on Amazon in the U.S.
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Airlines to banks to retailers were affected in many countries. Businesses are struggling to recover.
By Eshe Nelson and Danielle Kaye
Eshe Nelson reported from London and Danielle Kaye from New York.
Across the world, critical businesses and services including airlines, hospitals, train networks and TV stations, were disrupted on Friday by a global tech outage affecting Microsoft users.
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Share of canceled flights at 25 airports on Friday
50% of flights
Ai r po r t
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Stuttga r t
Melbou r ne
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1:20 a.m. ET
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IMAGES
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Apollo 13 was launched from Cape Kennedy, Florida, by a giant Saturn V launch vehicle and only minutes later was inserted into orbit around Earth.About 2.5 hours after launch, the still-attached S IVB third stage was reignited to provide the final boost toward the Moon.The transposition maneuver (removing the lunar module, code-named Aquarius, from the S IVB adapter) was carried out ...
Apollo 13: The Successful Failure. On April 11, 1970, the powerful Saturn V rocket carrying the Apollo 13 mission launched from Kennedy Space Center propelling astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert on what was intended to be humanity's third lunar landing. Unfortunately, the mission to explore the Fra Mauro region of the Moon ...
The Farthest Distance From Earth Reached by Humans. On April 15, 1970, Apollo 13 was 254 km (158 miles) from the lunar surface on the far side of the moon—and 400,171 km (248,655 miles) above ...
The crewmembers of the Apollo 13 mission step aboard the USS Iwo Jima, after splashdown and recovery operations in the South Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970. Exiting the helicopter from left to ...
NASA redesigned the spacecraft with better wiring and an extra tank, and subsequent missions avoided similar problems. Decades later, Apollo 13 stands as one of the most famous space missions in ...
Apollo 13 (April 11-17, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module (SM) ruptured two days into the mission, disabling its electrical and life-support system.
This essay aims to provide an informative overview of the Apollo 13 mission, highlighting the technical challenges faced, the collaborative efforts that ensured the astronauts' safe return, and the long-term impact of the mission on space exploration.
So Apollo 13, which lifted off fifty years ago this week, on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 PM military time, went off as planned—until on April 13 it all went to hell, when an explosion in an oxygen ...
Apollo 13: The Successful Failure. On April 11, 1970, the powerful Saturn V rocket carrying the Apollo 13 mission launched from Kennedy Space Center propelling astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert on what was intended to be humanity's third lunar landing. Unfortunately, the mission to explore the Fra Mauro region of the Moon ...
The mission's spent upper stage successfully impacted the moon. During the first two days, the crew ran into a couple of minor surprises, but generally Apollo 13 was looking like the smoothest flight of the program. At 46 hours, 43 minutes Joe Kerwin, the capsule communicator, or Capcom, on duty, said, "The spacecraft is in real good shape ...
Using those procedures, Swigert and Lovell powered up the command module, and Apollo 13 splashed down safely in the Pacific on April 17, 1970. The mission was almost immediately dubbed a ...
The third mission planned by the United States to land astronauts on the Moon was Apollo 13, which launched on April 11, 1970. The mission nearly ended in tragedy. An explosion and power failure partially disabled the spacecraft's command module, Odyssey, as it neared the Moon. The astronauts were able to employ their lunar module, Aquarius ...
Decent Essays. 1397 Words. 6 Pages. Open Document. Apollo 13 The Apollo 13 mission was a significant historical event, because of the dangerous repercussions that followed the explosion of the oxygen tank on Apollo 13. The story in which the astronauts Lovell, Swigert, and Haise surviving these errors during the flight is truly incredible.
Get a custom case study on Apollo 13: Strategic Decision Making. 191 writers online. Learn More. The decisions have to take place within a context of limited time and other resources. Soon after the launch of NASA's Apollo 13, part of the spacecraft explodes leaving the astronauts with limited decisions. Their major aim is to ensure that ...
Apollo 13 Essay example. Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crewmembers aboard the ship were James A. Lovell Jr., John L. Swigert Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr. Before the launch, there had been a few problems. Thomas K. Mattingly was supposed to fly on the Apollo 13 but he was exposed to the measles.
Though focused primarily on NASA's third manned lunar-landing mission, "Apollo 13" captures history and the mood of the nation in 1970 as the space agency worked for the safe return of the astronauts following an onboard explosion. The film was adapted from the book, "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13," by former astronaut Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger.
Working Out the Problems of Apollo 13. 50 years later, two Georgia Tech engineering alumni reflect on their experience in Apollo 13's mission control. "Houston we've had a problem" - we all know those infamous words that were transmitted from the crew of Apollo 13 back to mission control at 02:07:55:35 into the flight that took off on ...
Those qualities were never demonstrated more dramatically than in the flight of the 13th Apollo mission in April 1970, when an oxygen tank exploded en route to the moon. The three astronauts on board - Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert - were faced with the possibility of becoming marooned in space. Their oxygen could run out, they could ...
Apollo 13 was to be the third mission sent from the Apollo Project to land on the Moon. An explosion in one of the oxygen tanks caused the spacecraft to become crippled during the flight and the crew were forced to orbit the Moon and return to the Earth without landing. The Apollo 13 mission was launched on Saturday afternoon, April 11, 1970 ...
The film Apollo 13 (1995) depicts one of the most remarkable NASA missions. This mission is often referred to as a "successful failure" (Loftus). The flight to the Moon was called a failure as the astronauts never landed on it. However, it was also a success, as, despite major damage to the spaceship, all astronauts returned to the Earth in ...
Lines, M. S. (1996). Learning the Lessons of Apollo 13. PM Network, 10 (5), 25-27. Ron Howard's epic movie Apollo 13 recounts the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission to the moon, a mission that came close to causing the first loss of life in space for a U.S. astronaut. They were only a third of the way into the mission when one of the oxygen tanks in ...
The Mission Insignia for Apollo 13 showed the god Apollo, representing the Sun, riding his chariot across the surface of the Moon to symbolise the Apollo Project bringing back new knowledge from the Moon.. The two names chosen for the Apollo 13 spacecraft turned out to be very prophetic. The Command Module was called Odyssey from Homer and Arthur C. Clarke's fictitious works.
The Apollo 13 mission was a significant historical event, because of the dangerous repercussions that followed the explosion of the oxygen tank on Apollo 13. The story in which the astronauts Lovell, Swigert, and Haise surviving these errors during the flight is truly incredible. In the movie Apollo 13, the creators depicted most of the events ...
Aside from its tense and compelling nature as a cinematic account of NASA's aborted 1970 mission, Ron Howard's Apollo 13 is a visual marvel. Nabbing an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual ...
Across the world, critical businesses and services including airlines, hospitals, train networks and TV stations, were disrupted on Friday by a global tech outage affecting Microsoft users.