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Explosion in Space
Man must rise above the Earth, to the top of the clouds and beyond, for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.
—Socrates, 399 BCE
On the evening of April 13, 1970, three astronauts floated around the Apollo 13 spacecraft in zero gravity. Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert were on their way to the moon.
The Crew
Flight commander Lovell knew from an early age that he would make rocket science his life’s work. As a boy, he read every book about rocketry he could find. In high school, with the help of his chemistry teacher and two friends, he built a rocket. The teens took it to an empty field, packed it with homemade gunpowder, and lit the fuse. The rocket blasted 80 feet (24 m) in the air, zigzagged a bit, wobbled, and exploded. Lovell was hooked.
After high school, Lovell studied engineering at the University of Wisconsin. Then he transferred to the US Naval Academy at Annapolis where he wrote his senior thesis on liquid-fuel rocketry. After graduation, he entered the naval flight-training program and became a test pilot for military jets. When the manned spaceflight program began looking for pilots to ride rockets into space, Lovell jumped at the chance to apply. The astronaut-training program accepted him.
By the time of the Apollo 13 launch, Lovell had flown three space missions and logged more hours in space than any other astronaut. He had circled the moon and seen its pale gray pits and craters outside the spacecraft window. On the Apollo 13 mission, he was getting ready to fulfill a lifelong dream—to walk on the surface of the moon.
Apollo 13 was the first spaceflight for the other members of the crew. Haise, a native of Biloxi, Mississippi, earned a degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Oklahoma. He served with the air force as a tactical fighter pilot and test pilot and flew for the marine corps, the navy, and the Oklahoma Air National Guard.
Exploration and the science of space travel fascinated Haise. He spent many hours learning how to identify different types of rocks. He practiced operating the geological equipment the crew would use to extract rock and soil samples on the moon. Haise looked forward to the discoveries their exploration of the moon would reveal.
Swigert was a last-minute replacement for astronaut Ken Mattingly. One week before the launch, a member of the backup crew came down with German measles. Before his symptoms appeared, he unknowingly exposed the primary crew to the disease. Blood tests revealed that Lovell and Haise were immune to German measles. Mattingly’s blood test was inconclusive. Possibly, he could become sick during the spaceflight. Officials at the Kennedy Space Center felt it was too risky, so backup astronaut Swigert replaced Mattingly.
As a backup astronaut for the Apollo 13 mission, Swigert had trained alongside the primary crew for more than a year. Mere days before liftoff, he drilled rigorously with his new crew to prepare for the flight. The highly skilled pilot got his private pilot license at the age of sixteen. His degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering provided Swigert with the knowledge and confidence to step into his new role on short notice. His service in the air force as a fighter pilot and test pilot proved he had the steely nerves required for a trip to outer space.
Teams of engineers, scientists, and mathematicians worked at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas. They monitored every second of the spaceflight, solving problems, adjusting equipment, and helping the astronauts keep the complicated spacecraft running smoothly.
James (Jim) A. Lovell Jr., Apollo 13 Commander
Fred W. Haise Jr., Apollo 13 Lunar Module Pilot
John “Jack” L. Swigert Jr., Apollo 13 Command Module Pilot
The Mission
The astronauts were well on their way to the moon. They planned to land Apollo 13 in a rugged, hilly area of the moon called Fra Mauro. Made up of ridges, hills, and valleys, the region interested scientists because of the variety in the landscape. Scientists hoped to gain insight into the moon’s geological history from the rock samples the astronauts planned to bring back to Earth.
With two days left until the lunar landing, the pale glow of the moon loomed large outside the spacecraft windows. Mission control in Houston reported that all systems were running smoothly. “The spacecraft is in real good shape as far as we’re concerned,” they said. “We’re bored to tears down here.”
The crew filmed a television program for space fans on Earth. Lovell held a movie camera and recorded Haise as he floated around the spacecraft and pointed out different equipment that would be used on the moon. He showed the audience the backpacks they would wear on the moon. Containing oxygen and water, the backpacks kept the men comfortable as they ran scientific experiments and explored. Lovell ended the telecast with, “This is the crew of Apollo 13 wishing everybody there a nice evening.”
A Big Bang
After filming the television show, mission control passed along a few routine tasks for the crew to complete before they turned in for the night. One of those chores was to stir the oxygen and hydrogen tanks. This turned on fans in the tanks and resettled the supercold gases so they would not stratify, or form into layers. Stirring the gases from time to time made sure the quantity readings in the tanks were accurate.
Swigert flipped four switches on the instrument panel, two for oxygen and two for hydrogen.
Seconds later, the astronauts heard a loud bang. The spacecraft shook with a violent whump-shudder.
Amber warning lights flashed, and alarms sounded.
“Okay, Houston,” Swigert said. “I believe we’ve had a problem here.”
“This is Houston,” replied mission control. “Say again, please.”
“Houston, we’ve had a problem,” answered Lovell.
The astronauts scanned the instrument panel, and the readings looked ominous. The spacecraft was losing oxygen and electrical power quickly.
Outside Apollo 13’s metal shell was the vacuum of space, where temperatures ranged from 248°F (120°C) in sunlight to −148°F (–100°C) in shadow. There was almost no air pressure. A hole in the spacecraft could cause the astronauts’ lungs to explode and their blood to boil.
This was not the first problem on a space mission. Many glitches had occurred over the years. But this was more than a glitch. The astronauts were in serious trouble.
And their dying spacecraft was 200,000 miles (321,870 km) from Earth.