preview

Apollo 13 Successful Failure

Better Essays

Apollo 13 the “Successful Failure”

How did the failure of Apollo 13 actually help NASA in some ways? Well by the end of this paper it will show how and why the failure led to later success for NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Apollo 13 was an interesting exploration for many reasons, and today this paper will be showing how and why it was. First, the paper will teach about all of astronauts in space, and the people back on Earth communicating with the crew, and all of the different responsibilities this mission involved. It will also include what experiences they had previous to their Apollo 13 journey, and how much time they have spent in space previous to Apollo 13. Secondly, this paper will tell about all of the Apollo …show more content…

The crew spent most of their free time and slept in the Odyssey. The three module parts that made up the Apollo spacecraft were the command module, service module, and the lunar module. The first part of the spacecraft was the command module and it was the main control section and was where the crew stayed most of the time aboard. John Swigert was the pilot and the man in charge of the command module. The second part was the service module and was used for the driving and support system. The third and final part of the Apollo spacecraft was the lunar module, it was the landing part of the craft, and it took two members of the crew to run. Fred Haise was the pilot of the lunar module, James Lovell spent most of his time in the lunar module alongside Fred Haise. (Grinter Kay) In 1962, the flight mode, and the lunar orbit rendezvous was selected for the Apollo spacecraft. After the failure of Apollo 13, the spacecraft was worked on, and had some changes happen to the spacecraft. The few changes added to the spacecraft were better wiring and an extra tank added on for future success of the …show more content…

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

Get Access