Apollo 13 Research Paper

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.

Thirteen: The Apollo 13 Flight That Failed, by Henry Cooper. On the evening of April 13, 1970 the three astronauts were just hours from the third lunar landing in history, but as they soared through space two hundred thousand miles from earth an explosion, badly damaged their space craft with compromised engines an failing life support systems the crew was incomparably grave danger faced with below freezing

At this point, there was enough oxygen in the second system to get the astronauts home safely, but Lovell, one of the astronauts, noticed that the psi (pounds per square inch) level on the pressure gauge for the second system was falling as well. It should normally register at 860, now it was only a 300, only 53 minutes after the initial explosion. At this pace, the spacecraft would expend all of its oxygen and electricity between midnight and 3 AM. This was not giving the Control Center a lot of time.

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

The movie, Apollo 13, is a true life story about NASA’s third mission to the moon in1970 that almost left three astronauts stranded in space. On the third day of the mission, an oxygen tank exploded during routine maintenance of the oxygen supply which resulted in three significant problems for the crew: a dissipating oxygen supply, reduced power on board and a damaged air filtering system, leaving the men susceptible to carbon dioxide poisoning. The combined efforts of the crew of the space craft and Mission Control, thousands of miles away in Houston Texas, was harnessed and directed on returning the stranded astronauts home safely. In the process, the crew and Mission Control staff encountered a series of dangers, each one requiring

Apollo 11 was a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961. Apollo 11 is the goal to perform a crewed lunar landing and return to Earth. Apollo 11 launched from Cape Kennedy on July 16, 1969 at 9:32 am. Apollo 11 took off with astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. The commander of the mission was, 38-year-old civilian research pilot, Neil Armstrong.

Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission, and the third mission intended on going to the moon. Apollo 13 was launched on April 11, 1970 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Dunbar, Brian) Previous to the launch, ground tests indicated poorly insulated helium tanks. After two days in flight, the crew began to worry. “Okay, Houston. We’ve had a problem here.” (Space Quotes) The Apollo 13 movie changed Swigert’s famous “Houston, we’ve had a problem here” to “Houston we have a problem here” coming from James Lovell instead of John Swigert. 200,000 miles from Earth, on April 13, a low pressure warning on the hydrogen tank appeared. Knowing there was danger to be, the crew did the “cryo stir” procedure. The procedure was to stop the gas from settling into layers. Slowly running out of power and water big concerns began to worry the crew. With no source of heat, cabin temperatures became freezing for the crew. Also with the freezing temperatures, some food became inedible for the crew. The astronauts left the command module section of the spacecraft and used the lunar module as a lifeboat. With the descending spacecraft, Apollo 13 was unable to land on the moon, it was forced to circle it due to an explosion on board. Even though it did not get to land, Apollo 13 reached 248, 655 miles from Earth, marking the farthest humans have traveled from Earth at that time. (BBC News) The Fra Mauro Area was the original landing

On the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” This event was a significant point in history for space exploration since he was the first person to walk on the moon. From the success of the Apollo 11 mission, future astronauts will explore Mars and I want to take part in the excursion to the Red Planet. The very moment I became enthralled by outer space was when I received a large hardback book about the solar system when I was four years old. From that point on I have obtained knowledge about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the exploration to Mars. One of the several occurrences in my life that formulated my fondness of space was spending time at night

First, the engineering problems required the most work and knowledge to find a workable solution. Every engineering problem that happened to the astronauts on board the ship took tremendous amounts of work to find a fix that would actually work to help the astronauts survive. When one of the oxygen tanks ruptured, the entire mission had to be aborted, and the astronauts barely survived. Oxygen fed the fuel tanks reducing power in the entire ship. The three men needed enough power to survive, so they were forced to shut down all of the different systems on board to reduce consumption. This turned off the

It was Saturday, April 11, 1970 10:13 am 3 hours before the launch. NASA found out that Russia is also going to take off for the moon. NASA warned R.L. Grime and his crew but they still wanted to go.

Apollo 13 mission to the moon was suddenly derailed, when one of the three oxygen tanks exploded, and another failing simply as collateral damage from the explosion, therefore leaving one oxygen tank for the three astronauts aboard Apollo 13. The astronauts included mission commander Jim Lovell, lunar module pilot Fred Haise and command module pilot Jack Swigert (the back-up pilot for Ken Mattingly) found themselves rotating the moon in a small confined space that was designed for only two

On July 20th, 1969, the United States made History for not only America but the World with the first men ever to step foot on the moon's surface. The United States had been on a racetrack with the Soviet Union to achieve new records of space travel. The objective that was set by John F. Kenedy almost a decade before had come true. John F. Kennedy's official words were as follow, “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” The simple words were the force that drove the first men to step foot on the moon to be remembered forever ("Apollo 11.").

A few days later Lovell and his crew take off on the Apollo 13 mission. At first all is well until the second oxygen tank explodes, causing many problems for the crew; the most potent problem being that the crew was losing oxygen fast. Luckily, due to much ingenuity by the crew and mission control, the crew is able to arrive safely to earth without the deaths of any astronauts.

Three main consumables were of major concern: power, water, and removal of carbon dioxide in order to breathe oxygen. As far as power was concerned, The Aquarius had to not only bring back Lovell, Haise, and Swigert, but also charge the command module so they could detach the capsule and land back on earth. By the time Aquarius was detached, it was left with only 20 percent of power left.

NASA launched the Apollo 13 spacecraft on April 11, 1970. It never landed on the moon because an oxygen tank exploded two days into the trip, affecting the crews' oxygen supply. The crew had to transfer into the Lunar Module (LM) to stay alive. Unfortunately, the LM was never designed to house more than 2 astronauts, and was designed to land on the moon. The astronauts encountered a build-up of carbon dioxide in the Lunar Module. Personnel on the ground were given the task of making an air purifier using only what was