Essay on Apollo 13 Case Study

Gene Kranz, the legendary flight controller for NASA during the Apollo 13 mission motivated his team and executed careful planning, extraordinary leadership skills, and also was able to

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 from launch complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The space prime crew consisted of trained experts Commander James A. Lovell Jr., Command module pilot Ken Mattingly and Lunar module pilot Fred W. Haise Jr. There was also three backup crew members named John W. Young, John L. Swigert Jr. and Charles M. Duke. This crew was ready to step in if for any reason something were to happen to any of the main

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. He didn’t have the antibodies to fight the disease, causing him to not be able to go into space. Swigert took his place. Right before the launch, one of the technicians saw that the helium tank had a higher pressure than expected. Nothing was done to fix this. During liftoff, the second-stage engine shut down, causing the other engines to run longer than planned. Apollo 13 was off to a rocky start.

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 involving the crew’s adventure to and from space quite accurately. Although creating most events successfully the creators of Apollo 13 failed in many regards when it came to the creation of the plans the crew used to survive, and the small details that were missed, involving the crew in the process of flying the space shuttle and surviving the accident.

As you grow older, you also become wiser, and the way you used to look at things also changes, and even though you regret your former actions, you will have to live with how it turned out, instead of being stuck in the past and how it could had been.

While the movie provides the dramatic fuel to entertain anyone that can understand the danger the men faced, the real story lies behind the successful failure that was Apollo 13 in the three astronauts and NASA experts. Within the storyline a multitude of examples of the leadership skills, theories, and traits that were all called upon in desperation to successfully bring the astronauts home can be found. The real success is seen within the leadership attributes of Apollo Commander Jim Lovell, Flight Director Gene Kranz, and the astronauts and NASA experts as two groups, as they each worked in separate ways to find solutions to the various problems that plagued this mission.

He involves consulting with subordinates and asking for their suggestions in the decision-making process but also understands he at times must give direct orders that are not to be questioned. An example of his co-mingled style of leadership is evident in a scene where he explains the new mission to those under his authority. The new mission is to forget past procedures and get those boys back home. He also declares, "We have never lost an American in space and they sure as hell won 't lose one on his watch." This is a leader who is confident in his ability, while simultaneously inspiring the creative process needed by his crew to accomplish the group mission. In other words, he is successful in creating the right environment that will influence creativity and innovation but also keep the element of time as the main objective. An excellent example would be when he issues the order, "I want the power procedures now!" Therefore, he is a leader who can make a decision on the spot, get results on time, and allow the creative process to flow.

On July 20, 1969, humanity did itself proud in spite of all its wars, sadism, hatred, and insanity. We set foot on another planet. Men walked on the moon. This changed our belief in what we could accomplish.

General Gates further showed leadership by providing purpose and direction to subordinate commanders. To reestablish good order and discipline, General Gates ordered that commanders conduct daily drills designed to instill confidence in the men and themselves.9 With this renewed confidence, General Gates' subordinate commanders had not the least doubt of beating or compelling the British to retreat.10 Leadership, is a commanders activity. In mission command, leadership influences all of the commander's activities.11 It is how commanders show concern for their Soldiers and provide direction to their subordinate commanders. General Gates exhibition of leadership from preparation to execution enabled his Soldiers and subordinate commanders

Earth is our own spaceship regulated not by circuits that can short but by organisms, the sun, and our atmosphere which can be threatened. Apollo 13 itself was the pre-eminent message of what can happen when in fact planet Earth runs into its own complicated “shorts.” However, if Earth become uninhabitable there nowhere to fly to and take refuge from outer space and all its lethality. Odum recognizes, “So far, all attempts to build a large bioregenerative life-support system that would support a large number of people in space without a supply “umbilical cord” to earth, have failed.” When the greenhouse gases, nuclear waste, and chemicals kill our complex life support system that we as humans do not fully understand, there will be nowhere left for humanity.

In the movie Apollo 13, Ron Howard experienced many challenges trying to recreate authenticity in the Apollo 13 space mission’s story, while still adding his own creative spin to the movie. In April 1970, National Aeronautic Space Agency (NASA) launched a spacecraft with three astronauts on board this flight. During this mission, Apollo 13 experienced multiple issues, which caused the mission to end earlier than expected. After 20 years had passed, Jim Lovell, one of the Apollo 13, and Jeffrey Kluger wrote Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, which chronicled this event in NASA’s lunar space history. Soon after its release, this book caught the eye of famous actor and soon to be famous director Ron Howard, which caused him to adapt

Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who became the sixth man on the moon when he and Alan Shepard helped Nasa recover from Apollo 13's "successful failure" and later devoted his life to exploring the mind, physics and unexplained phenomena such as psychics and aliens, has died in Florida. He was 85.

Kranz made a phone call to his previous mentor, Chris Kraft, who was the previous flight director, and current deputy director of the Manned Spacecraft Center. After Kraft arrived at the Control Center, Kranz began shooting orders left and right,

Gene Kranz, the legendary flight controller for NASA during the Apollo 13 mission motivated his team and executed careful planning, extraordinary leadership skills, and also was able to

At the beginning we had assign a group leader who was not able to organize meeting and was not on top of the simulation. We understood her because she is a full time employee and also a full time mother. She had even mention that she was going to be leader because no one else wanted to become leader but she was not going to guarantee an “A” grade. Later, Jasmin became our leader and she is a great leader. She managed to get meeting and she was very important to the success of our team.