Essay The Making of Apollo 13

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly in space or work on the crew at NASA that helps the astronauts get home safely? These two jobs both use many of the laws of physics. In fact, almost everything they do involves physics. Apollo 13 is a movie that epitomizes what those jobs are like and how much physics is required. The three main laws of physics in the movie were Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation, Newton’s First Law, and Newton’s Third Law.

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 has experience a major malfunction which changes the mission from landing on the moon to a spacecraft that is now is in a desperate struggle to return to earth with the crew alive. The team work needed to achieve this is substantial and many of the staff at mission control center will in some degree be a leader.

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.

Shortly after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked successfully on the Moon for the first time in history, another lunar mission almost ended in disaster without the valor and strong leadership it took to get three men back to Earth. Jim Lovell (played by Tom Hanks), Jack Swiggert (played by Kevin Bacon), and Fred Haise (played by Bill Paxton) blasted off on the Apollo 13 mission on April 11, 1970, in trying to collect samples from the surface of the Moon and survey it. Swiggert took the place of the more experienced Ken Mattingly (played by Gary Sinese) since Mattingly was the only one not immune to the measles after one of the other astronauts had contracted it. The flight surgeon

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” are words that astronaut, Neil Armstrong declared as people around the world attentively watched him take the first steps on the moon. That moment would be documented in history and talked about for years to come. The Apollo 11 mission had left many doubts to those watching the spectacle. Would Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin successfully set foot on the moon? Or was this launch a disaster waiting to happen? The following texts, In Event of Moon Disaster by President Nixon’s speechwriter, William Safire, and The July 16, 1969, Launch: A Symbol of Man’s Greatness by novelist, Ayn Rand, both express the possibility of a disaster as well as the relief and contentment for the men on

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.

Today, when flying spacecraft no pilot desires to be interrupted unless of an absolute emergency, however on Apollo 8, the pilots was disturbed for a plethora of silly reasons besides emergencies. Myriad astronauts from America have died going into space, thus, Boardman, who would pilot Apollo 8 into space was slightly nervous. Moreover, Apollo 8 would be launched from its plant in Downey California, where the newer versions of the ship type were being crafted. Boardman was offered to get launched on December 2st before a major holiday, Christmas. Furthermore, Boardman declined and answered “no thanks.” Since going to space seemed similar to going to war or being deployed overseas, it was hard for Boardman to tell his wife that he was going to space, since it was a completely different course of action that not several civilians perform. Last, although results of Boardman telling his family about going to space went better than expected, there is more info that some citizens wanted to share with the public as for a few citizens a trip to the moon seems exciting despite the dangers associated with the trip.

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

On April 13, 1970, NASA's Mission Control heard the five words that no control center ever wants to hear: "We've got a problem here." Jack Swigert, an astronaut aboard the Apollo 13 aircraft, reported the problem of broken down oxygen tanks to the Houston Control Center, less than two days after its takeoff on April 11th. Those at the Control Center in Houston were unsure what had happened to the spacecraft, but knew that some sort of explosion had occurred. This so-called explosion sent Apollo 13 spinning away from the Earth at 2,000 miles per hour, 75 percent of the way to the moon. In order to get the astronauts back to the

The Apollo 11 mission of 1969 marks the biggest leap in technological advancements for humanity. Neil Armstrong is seen taking the first steps on the moon forever making his mark in humanity. However, theories surrounding the moon landing have come to light. Conspiracy theorists say NASA, the National Aeronautics Space Administration, have faked the Apollo 11 moon landing. Yet, present evidence can support the authenticity of the moon landing. Evidence such as photos, rock samples, technology, and computer monitoring support the moon landing. The moon landing of 1969 did happen.

I chose the topic of the Space Exploration: Apollo missions. This has always interested me and I found that it was a lot more than just space exploration. This was a political race that was between the United States and Soviet Union “Russia”. I was shocked to find out that this was a controversial topic, because many people believe that we never made it in space and others think that the moon landing was a hoax.

    Apollo 11 was a very important event in history and it changed the world forever. This event opened many new doors and it changed the relationship between nations for just a few minutes. This launch gave the world hope and through four articles about this event one will see the impact it had on the world. Through viewing four articles about this event it opens the reader’s eyes to see how different authors viewed the event, how they conveyed their ideas, and the purpose of this mission.