Apollo 13 The Real Story

Summary

「今夜、真の人々」は、Apollo 13号の物語を描いたドキュメンタリー。1970年の月に向かうミッションで起こった故障とその後の脱出劇を、冷静さと絶望的な状況下での挑戦精神を通して描く。地上のミッションコントロールと宇宙船内のクルーの緊張と協力が、人類が最も遠くまで到達し、かつ生きて戻ったこと最多的の物語を織り成す。

Takeaways

• 🚀 1970年4月、アポロ13号のミッションが開始されました。
• 🧑‍🚀 クルーはジム・ラベル、ジャック・スワイガート、フレッド・ヘイズの3人。
• 🪐 アポロ13号の目的は月の岩石と土壌サンプルを持ち帰ることでした。
• 💥 ミッション中、液体酸素タンクが爆発し、重大な問題が発生。
• 🆘 クルーは月面着陸を諦め、地球への帰還を目指すことに。
• 🔧 ミッションコントロールは迅速に対応し、クルーの安全を確保するために全力を尽くしました。
• 🌌 月の裏側を回って地球に帰還するという困難な決断が下されました。
• ❄️ クルーは寒さと飢えに耐えながら、慎重にリソースを管理しました。
• 🏠 最終的に、アポロ13号は無事に地球に帰還し、全員が生還しました。
• 🌟 アポロ13号のミッションは、困難を乗り越えた英雄的な物語として語り継がれています。

Q & A

ア波罗13号のミッションはなぜ「忘れられた月探査任務」と呼ばれることがありますか？

ア波罗13号のミッションは、その時期にはベトナム戦争やビートルズの解散など多くの大きなニュースがあったため、メディアや大衆の注目を集めることができませんでした。

ア波罗13号の乗組員たちはどのようにして緊急事態に対処しましたか？

乗組員たちは冷静に行動し、地上のミッションコントロールと協力して、問題を解決する方法を見つけました。彼らは月探査モジュールを救生艇として使用し、必要な空気と電力を確保しました。

ア波罗13号の事故はどのように起きたのですか？

ア波罗13号の事故は、2号の液体酸素タンク内の不良な配線が原因で火災を起こし、タンクが爆発してしまったことが原因で起こりました。

ア波罗13号の乗組員たちはどのようにして地球に安全に帰還しましたか？

乗組員たちは、地上のエンジニアリングチームと協力し、様々な問題を克服しながら、正確なコースを計算し、手動でエンジンを点火して軌道を修正しました。

ア波罗13号の乗組員たちはどのようにして睡眠をとりましたか？

彼らは非常に限られた睡眠時間を有効活用し、3分間の短い休憩をとり、目を閉じて指を組んで短時間の睡眠をとることでリフレッシュすることができました。

ア波罗13号のミッションはどのようにして計画されたのですか？

ア波罗13号は月から岩石と土壤のサンプルを取り戻すために計画され、前回のミッションよりも難易度が高い着陸地点を目指していました。

ア波罗13号の乗組員たちはどのようにして食料と水分を管理しましたか？

彼らは食料を控えめに食べ、水分の凍結に対処するために水をできるだけ飲まないことで管理しました。また、体調が悪い乗組員のためにも、できるだけ水分を節約する必要がありました。

ア波罗13号の事故が起こった時、地上のミッションコントロールはどのように対応しましたか？

地上のミッションコントロールは、事故が起こった瞬間にデータが乱れ始めたため、一時間以内に迅速に状況を分析し、対応策を立てました。

ア波罗13号の乗組員たちはどのようにして二酸化炭素の問題を解決しましたか？

地上のエンジニアと協力して、四角いフィルターを丸い穴に合うようにアダプターを作り、テーピングで固定することで、二酸化炭素の問題を解決しました。

ア波罗13号の乗組員たちが地球に戻った瞬間、彼らの感情はどのようにでしたか？

彼らは静かであり、互いに手を握り合い、「やったぜ、戻った」と言いました。彼らはまだ冷たい状態であり、煙がキャプセルから出ていました。

ア波罗13号の事故がどのようにして公衆に知られるようになったのですか？

事故が起こった後、メディアはすぐにこの出来事を広く報道し、世界中が注目し始めました。そして、彼らの安全な帰還は、人々の心を打ちました。

Outlines

00:00

🚀 アポロ13号の挑戦とその背後

1970年4月にアメリカはベトナム戦争に悩まされており、アポロ13号の打ち上げはその影に隠れていました。ジョージ・ローウェルズ率いるクルーは、月面から岩石と土壌のサンプルを取り戻す任務を果たそうとしました。しかし、打ち上げ前に不吉な予感が漂い、マリーリン・ラヴルの指輪が排水溝に落ちる不吉な出来事が起こりました。打ち上げは問題なく進行し、しかし2段目のエンジンの故障が発生しましたが、ミッションコントロールは月への道を進むことを決定しました。

05:01

🌌 宇宙船のトラブルと緊急事態への対応

アポロ13号のクルーは、月への道中、液状酸素タンクの扇動を求められ、そのスイッチを切りました。しかし、その瞬間、大きな爆発が起こり、船内は緊急事態に陥りました。クルーは宇宙空間の外に酸素が漏れ出しているのを目撃し、ミッションコントロールは混乱しました。しかし、冷静に問題を分析し、解決策を探し始めました。

10:03

🛰️ 宇宙船の修復と無念の月への旅

アポロ13号は月に向かって進む途中、サービスモジュールの酸素タンクの故障により、主要な空気と電力の供給源を失いました。クルーは月着陸モジュールを救生艇として使用する必要があり、それを利用して地球に向かって帰還を試みました。しかし、彼らは酸素や電力が不足する恐れもありました。

15:04

🌑 月の裏側を越えて

アポロ13号は月の裏側を越え、地球に向かって帰路をたどりました。クルーは極端な環境下で、眠りと飢え、寒さに耐えながら、地球に安全に帰還する任務に取り組みました。彼らは、食料と水が凍り、尿を排出しないよう指示されたことで、さらに困難を経験しました。

20:06

🔧 緊急の修復と帰還の準備

地球に向かって帰還する途中で、クルーはコマンドモジュールの再起動に成功しました。これは、彼らが地球の大気圏に再入する前に必要なステップで、非常に重要な意味を持ちました。彼らは、長時間の緊張と努力の末、地球の大気圏に再入する準備を整えました。

25:09

🎉 安全な着陸と感動の帰還

アポロ13号は、クルーの勇敢な努力とミッションコントロールのサポートのもと、無事に地球に帰還しました。彼らは南太平洋にSplashdownし、安全に救出されました。この出来事は、人類の宇宙飛行の歴史上で、最も勇敢で感動的な物語の1つとなりました。

Keywords

💡アポロ13号

アポロ13号は、1970年に月に向かって打ち上げられたアメリカの宇宙船で、月に着陸する途中で大きなトラブルに遭遇しました。このキーワードはビデオの中心となる出来事であり、脚本全体を通してその危機と解決に関連する重要な出来事が繰り広げられています。

💡宇宙船

宇宙船は、宇宙を飛行するための乗り物で、アポロ13号の物語において、主要な舞台となるオブジェクトです。特に、コマンドモジュールとルナモジュールの両方の役割と問題が脚本で詳細に説明されています。

💡トラブル

アポロ13号が経験したトラブルは、ビデオの核心的な問題です。特に、酸素タンクの故障とそれに起因する一連の問題が、クルーの生存に直接的な脅威をもたらしました。

💡サバイバル

サバイバルは、アポロ13号のクルーが直面した状況を象徴するキーワードです。彼らは、宇宙船の故障に対処し、地球に安全に帰還するために、困難な状況を克服しなければなりませんでした。

💡指令舱

指令舱は、アポロ13号のコマンドモジュールのことで、クルーの生活を維持するためのシステムと装置を含んでいます。ビデオでは、故障した指令舱を再起動することで、クルーが地球に安全に帰還する鍵を握っていました。

💡ルナモジュール

ルナモジュールは、月に着陸するために設計された宇宙船の部分であり、ビデオでは、不時な困難のために生命維持装置として使用されました。クルーは、このモジュールで酸素や電力を共有し、生存のために利用しました。

💡地球帰還

地球帰還は、アポロ13号のクルーが経験した長い旅の最終目標を指します。ビデオでは、彼らがどのようにして困難を克服し、地球に安全に戻ることができたかについて詳しく説明されています。

💡宇宙飛行士

宇宙飛行士は、アポロ13号のクルーを指し、彼らの専門知識と勇気は、ビデオの重要なテーマです。彼らは、宇宙船のトラブルに対処し、困難な状況を乗り越えるために不可欠でした。

💡ミッションコントロール

ミッションコントロールは、地面でアポロ13号のクルーをサポートするチームを指し、ビデオでは、彼らが問題を解決し、クルーを安全に導くために協力して取り組む様子が描かれています。

💡家族

家族は、ビデオの人間的な側面を提供するキーワードで、クルーの家族が地球で待ち、彼らの安全な帰還を願っていることが詳しく描かれています。彼らの感情と支持は、クルーの精神を支えるものでした。

Highlights

Apollo 13 mission experienced a catastrophic failure with an explosion in the oxygen tank.

The crew faced the challenge of survival in space with limited resources.

Mission Control and the crew worked together to use the lunar module as a lifeboat.

Astronauts had to power down the Command Module to conserve resources.

The crew had to manually correct the spacecraft's trajectory to ensure re-entry.

Innovative solutions were needed to adapt square CO2 filters to fit round openings.

The crew endured extreme conditions, including cold, dehydration, and limited food.

Apollo 13 was the farthest humans have ventured from Earth to date.

The mission showcased the importance of teamwork and trust between astronauts and Mission Control.

Astronauts had to perform a precise burn to correct the spacecraft's course for re-entry.

The crew successfully restarted the Command Module after being shut down for days.

The world watched with bated breath as Apollo 13 re-entered Earth's atmosphere.

The crew's safe return was met with immense relief and celebration.

Apollo 13's story is a testament to human resilience and problem-solving under extreme pressure.

The mission's challenges led to significant advancements in space travel safety and procedures.

Transcripts

tonight the real people we had a pretty

large Bank associated with

the the real pictures and there one

whole of that the real story of Apollo

13 it's a story of icy calm in the face

of death the odds were very small that

we're going to get out of this alive of

absolute refusal to admit defeat Will

Never Surrender we will never give up

crew of Hope against all ODS I just knew

he'd come

back and ordeal that lasted less than 6

days but still Echoes decades later

every time a spacecraft splits the

heavens and lift

[Music]

off April 1970 America was convulsed

over the Vietnam War

airport was the big hit in theaters and

the news on April 10th that the Beatles

were breaking up far overshadowed the

moon mission scheduled the next day as a

matter of fact before we took off I

think the only mention of Apollo 13 on

the New York Times was on the weather

page about 97 pages in Mission Commander

Jim lble was one of NASA's most

experienced astronauts he'd been a

backup pilot for the first moon landing

in July of 69 that's one small step for

man Apollo 11 had transfixed the world

but then came Apollo 12 and now 13

moonshots had come to seem routine so

you weren't front page news did that

bother you at all no because this is

what I wanted to do Apollo 13 would

bring back Rock and soil samples from a

hilly region of the Moon a much trickier

Landing site than those of previous

missions lovel's fellow astronauts Jack

Swagger and Fred Hayes were both on

their first space flight just a thought

of going to the Moon was just so

incredible that uh I couldn't pass up

the chance as Hayes and the others tell

it today none of them gave a moment's

thought to the one thing about the

mission that did catch the average

person's attention a lot of people just

don't even deal with the number 13 they

don't want to talk about it did it

register with you at all it didn't I

didn't even think about the number being

superstitious that is not true with my

wife my wife Marilyn said why 13 it did

bother me yes and I said what happened

to 14 but unlike an elevator NASA didn't

skip 13 Superstition uh can't have any

place as if to drive home the point lead

flight director Jean CR recalls that

NASA scheduled Apollo 13's launch for

1:13 p.m. or in military time 1313 you

were kind of flaunting the fact that you

didn't care about Superstition I think

uh every person that was in this room uh

lived to to flaunt the odds we were

working on the Ragged edge of all

knowledge all technology and all

experience in this room this room was

cr's domain Mission Control in Houston

it had a the smell of the the cigarette

smoke I mean we all smoked very heavily

pipes cigars cigarettes coffee pot that

had been boiled over and had burned out

CR oversaw a 247 team of young Engineers

who controlled every aspect of space

flight the astronauts lives in their

hands you guys had to look around at

each other and think we we're kind of a

group of badasses in here I mean you had

to feel pretty good about yourselves

well the culture of this room was

literally miraculous it seemed that

whatever happened we were better as a

total team than the sum of the parts the

same of course could be said for the

three men riding the rocket all of them

former test pilots for whom mortal

danger was just part of the job when you

became an astronaut did you feel special

did did you feel Invincible at all I

didn't feel Invincible I mean the re

Wars involved overcame the risk that was

involved for families at home a

different equation did you ever get used

to the risk involved

Marilyn no we put it out of your mind

but I can't say that um it was easy at

times so on the day before launch you're

out at a beach house M and getting ready

to see your husband for the last time

before he heads into space and something

strange happened with your wedding ring

what happened well I was taking a shower

and I it just slipped right off my hand

and it went into the drain and I just

was terrified because to me it was like

an omen that something really was going

to happen it shook you up well it did

shake me up did you ever tell Jim about

it before the flight uh no oh no you

would never let that thought enter his

mind before he's about to jump on that

rocket no for some reason or other the

astronaut wives just never discussed

anything that would uh work their

husbands um before they went on a

flight I mean we kept everything to

ourselves several hours before launch

and you guys get in that elevator that

takes you for the ride alongside of and

then eventually to the top of the Saturn

rocket that that's a long elevator ride

up it's 337 ft uh just the crew three of

us and a couple nervous check out people

are getting us into the spacecraft

because it's basically a huge bomb that

you're you're riding up alongside 5 half

million pounds of high explosives in the

form of oxygen hydrogen and everything

else any

Jitters no it's too late for Jitters at

that time suddenly they say you know 5 4

3 2 1 zero and those engines go and

you're on your way we have Commit and we

have liftoff at

2133 well a liftoff most people think it

would be a big kick in the pants starts

off very slowly because the vehicle

weighs so much even though it has a five

engines running patter 5 building up to

7.6 million PB of trust and it is

cleared the tower that's when you have

your head close to the abort switch in

case anything really goes wrong and

something did go wrong one of the

engines in the second stage of the

rocket shut down prematurely forcing

Mission Control to make a series of

quick calculations are the remaining

engines all go do we have enough

propellant to get the crew up into orb

but within seconds Mission controllers

determined that despite the malfunction

Apollo 13 was good to go for the moon I

looked at my companions and I said you

know every flight has a crisis something

always goes wrong this happened early on

the flight and we're now free and clear

of any other things going

wrong and he was right for about 55

hours

[Music]

on April 11th 1970 2 hours and 35

minutes after liftoff Apollo 13 fired

its Rockets accelerated to 24,000 mph

and left Earth's orbit Bound for the

moon and people always say Jim they say

into the calm and the Peace of outer

space outer space is a pretty hostile

environment isn't it

well it is uh you had to be prepared for

it outside was a complete vacuum if the

ship's hole failed the crew would die in

seconds if the power failed they'd

freeze to death in hours everything they

needed to survive air water food and

fuel had to be carefully managed even

when things are going smoothly it's a

high stress environment isn't it oh

definitely I think the whole Program in

those days is sort of a high stress

environment it certainly was on the

ground in the pressure cooker that was

mission control watching and listening

to your crew die is something that will

impress that event upon your mind

forever Jean CR had been a flight

director when just 3 years earlier

Apollo 1 caught fire on the Launchpad

incinerating astronauts Gus Grom Ed

White and Roger chaffy soon after cran

helped write a document called

foundations of Mission Control I'm going

to read you a passage from it it says

quote suddenly and unexpectedly we may

find ourselves in a role where our

performance has ultimate consequences

the work in this room is final the

decisions are final the team in this

room must be prepared not only to make

those decisions but to live with the

results that occur but the first two

days of Apollo 13's Mission hardly

seemed like life or death spacecraft's

in real good shape as far as we're

concerned Jim we're bored to tears down

here the spacecraft had three parts The

cone-shaped Command Module was where all

three men would ride for most of the

trip to the moon and then back to Earth

the spidery lunar module or LM would

carry two astronauts to the lunar

surface then be left behind the last

critical piece was the service module

which contained the main engine and

oxygen tanks 13 Houston we got a groovy

TV picture 55 hours and 11 minutes into

the mission Apollo 13's crew made time

for an important duty public relations

they beamed back a live TV show to Earth

something NASA liked to do so taxpayers

could see what they were up to Fred

Hayes was the actor in this whole thing

went in the lunar module and he opened

up the bed that he was going to sleep on

sort of a hammock and he tried to show

people how he was going to sleep on this

bed of course he zero gravity so he kept

bouncing up and down it's kind of

difficult here Jack getting into a

hammock and

a lighthearted look at life in space it

doesn't work too space can't call ha up

here great show except no one was

watching it explain why that was one

network had did c a live show I think a

second Network had a rerun of luy and

the third network at least in the city

of Houston Texas the baseball game was

going on and everybody was watching that

including the people at the control

center here we had been to the Moon

twice and in some ways H hum had set in

complacency Jim's wife Marilyn and

daughters Barbara and Susan did watch

the show in a private viewing room at

Mission Control and when you found out

that not one of the networks carried

that broadcast how did it make you feel

pretty bad did that upset me yes but

they got to see something the rest of

the world didn't an example of Fred

Hayes's unusual sense of humor you

pulled something during that event that

kind of got everyone's attention and Jim

level comment on talk to me about it

there is a valve in the limb the repress

valve that when cycled does make a

fairly pronounced bang Hayes turned the

valve on live TV and the bang startled

Commander Jim

level every time he does that our heart

our heart jump in our mouth he throws it

and it gives a big bang you know and

then inside the spacecraft so every we

look and say oh that's Haze again no

harm done this is the clue of APO 13

wish everybody

there nice Eventing it was after the

broadcast Jim that that mission control

radios up and they and they asked you to

do something as the crew that was fairly

routine involving one of the liquid

oxygen tanks two tanks of super cooled

liquid oxygen were the ship's most

precious resource providing both air and

fuel to get accurate readings from the

tanks Mission controllers had to make

sure the liquid didn't settle at the

bottom what they ask you to do it's sort

of like a mush this liquid oxygen and so

there's a fan down at the bottom of

inside the tank and a little heater

system and so the question was would you

turn on the the the fan and the heater

system and stir up the oxygen and to

accomplish that inside the spacecraft

what did you have to do actually just

flip a switch barely flipped the switch

they were about 200,000 mi from Earth

when Jack Swagger flipped the switch the

date by the way was April 13th you would

like it to uh stir up your cryo

tanks seconds later the men of Apollo 13

were fighting for their

[Music]

lives at precisely 55 hours 53 minutes

and 18 seconds into the flight of Apollo

13 astronaut Jack Swagger followed

Mission control's instruction to flip

the switch that stirred the liquid

oxygen tanks everything seemed normal

and

then it just had a big bang at one time

and so we all looked around what

happened what's that I looked up at Fred

Hayes to see if he knew what was going

on remember Hayes liked to play tricks

with a pressure valve immediately Jim

level looks over to see has Fred Hayes

pulled another fast one on me I'm sure

he saw it in my eyes and he saw I wasn't

smiling and I could tell from his exper

impression he had no idea so this wasn't

one of his practical jokes with the

pressure he had no idea Haze was in the

tunnel between the Command Module and

the lunar module I heard the loud bang

and uh metallic sounds because the way

the uh the vehicle contorted it actually

Twisted enough in the tunnel area that

it crinkle a metal it could hear that

metal crinkling did your heart jump up

into your throat I mean that's that's

that's not a sound you want to hear

200,000 mi from home a absolutely and I

knew it right away was not not a normal

circumstance Jack swager radioed Mission

Control problem say again please 15

seconds later Lovel repeated the

message I listen to that radio

transmission that is probably as famous

as the flight itself those five words

Houston we've had a problem and I listen

to the calm in your voice were you as

calm as you s

I kind of think so I mean I was faced

with a problem and so if I did nothing

but you know you know bounce off the

walls for 10 minutes I'd be right back

to where that problem was things were

not so calm in mission control as soon

as we received this call it seemed our

data just went wild it was screwy and

for about 60 seconds it was literally

chaos in this room in those 60 seconds

it seemed that every controller at every

console saw a problem with Apollo 13 He

flight we've had a computer restart now

controller says main bus underfall third

one says antenna switch it did not seem

possible for so many things to go wrong

at the same

time they thought it had to be A Fault

In Their Communications or their

monitoring systems not the spacecraft

itself we may have had an

instrumentation problem plan I

immediately thought okay it's a minor

electrical problem we'll work this when

the shifts over the astronauts knew it

was much worse than that they thought

they'd been hit by a meteor Fred Hayes

called Mission Control 50 seconds into

the crisis we had a pretty large bang

associated with the warning now in the

first few

minutes there was a absolute disbelief

the controllers had never come face to

face with a real problem that we didn't

have any immediate an for crucial

minutes ticked by Jim level stared at

his instrument paddle one oxygen tank

gauge the quantity gauge read zero and

the other one I could see the Needle

start to go down ever so slightly and

that's when I drifted over and looked

out the side window and I saw escaping

at a high rate of speed a gaseous

substance from the rear end of my

spacecraft the crisis was now in minute

14 i l looking out the hat that we are

bending something we are we are vending

something out into the uh space Roger we

copy your vending Jim this isn't like

getting a blowout of your tire on a

highway you are 200,000 miles into outer

space drifting further and further away

from Earth what's your emotion at that

moment well I'll tell you the very first

thing that I thought of why didn't this

happen on Apollo 12 or Why didn't it

wait for Apollo 14 got

okay can you tell us anything about the

vending uh where it's coming from coming

out of window one right now do the

astrona seem abnormally calm cran says

there's a reason this is why we flew

experimental test pilots in the

spacecraft their demeanor was such when

you listen to these reports and get the

reporting that's coming in they're just

reporting a uh situation on board the

spacecraft but everyone who heard

level's report instantly knew what it

meant we had an explosion with an

enormous amount of corollary damage in

fact they came to learn Apollo 13 had

suffered a catastrophic failure there

was faulty wiring inside liquid oxygen

tank 2 when Jack Swagger stirred the

tank a spark started a fire fueled by

pure oxygen the tank blew up taking out

the ship's main supplies of air and

power and I realized the gas escaping

and the needle on my second and last

best tank the quantity gauge was one of

the same and surely we'd be completely

out of oxygen completely out of oxygen

speeding away from Earth at 2,000 mph I

think every controller at that time

recognized we're not going to the moon

but also it's going to be tough damn

tough to get the crew of Apollo 13 home

the odds were very small at that time

among ourselves that we're going to get

out of this

alive

[Music]

the night of April 13th Marilyn Lille

and her daughters returned home from

Mission Control where just minutes

earlier they'd watched Jim and his crew

on TV from outer space friends dropped

in astronaut Pete Conrad and his wife

and the phone rang it was another friend

who worked for NASA and he said Marilyn

I just want you to know that uh all

these different countries have offered

to help you know in the recovery and

whatever I couldn't understand what he

was talking about and I said Jerry I

said have you been drinking she no

sooner hung up than another phone a

direct line to NASA started ringing and

immediately Pete came out and I can

still see him standing across the room

from me with eyes as large as saucers

and he said bar we have to talk he

filled her in they turned on the TV

Apollo 13 once the Forgotten Moonlight

suddenly the biggest story on Earth

Apollo 13 it's sources badly damaged its

Mission To The Moon ended its astronauts

under a strain more severe than any

others have yet endured the ship was

crippled leaking oxygen the mission to

the Moon Over the three astronauts one

of them her husband were probably doomed

I just couldn't believe what I was

hearing and at that moment the house was

just filling with people people didn't

know what to say to me best friends they

couldn't say anything and says Jim

loville he and Mission Control were not

sure what to say to each other either

well from an emotional point of view

Matt first of all they didn't want to

say to us you have a real problem here

and we didn't want to say to them I

think we got a real problem I mean we

knew that but is that just the bravado

of a test pilot and Astronaut no it's I

I think it's the case hey we're beyond

that now we have a we have a problem how

do we get out of this problem what what

do we do we don't know yet just what the

steps are to do that but jean CR knew

they all had to start making some

decisions and fast I was a fighter pilot

fighter pilots my time used the words

looking into the eye of a tiger and this

was the feeling I had when I recognized

we were in survival mode and we had to

kick in and get going as a team to help

this crew out the first problem oxygen

The Command Module was going to run out

in a matter of minutes they had to

figure out a way to save level Hayes and

swager fast the only option was one they

played out in simulations but never

expected to

[Music]

do now they start looking at the lunar

module did you ever think you'd have to

use that module as a Lifeboat never

thought I'd have to use it as a Lifeboat

the lunar module the spidery looking

craft they planned to land on the moon

and then leave behind it had its own

supply of air water and battery power

the Luna module was so fragile you could

punch a hole through the skin in it but

we had live off of it because it had

oxygen what the lunar module could not

do was re-enter the Earth's atmosphere

it could not get them home so even

though the Command Module was crippled

they had to save whatever Air and Power

it had left the only thing in the

Command Module was a little battery and

a little oxygen tank for the final

plunge through the Earth's atmosphere

Jack schwier was the Command Module

pilot I said Jack you power down this

Command Module save what you can we're

going into the lunar module power power

it up and so basically you're you're

you're buying time you're you're

stalling for time in that lunar module

so you can get back to that Command

Module for that precise moment you need

it to get back into the Earth's

atmosphere that's right the Command

Module was the only thing that had a

heat shield 1 hour now into the crisis

It Was a Race power down the Command

Module before its batteries ran out

power up the lunar module before oxygen

ran out they'd all trained for years but

never for this and I knew the Command

Module had only so much life left and we

we very quickly had to get to a point in

the startup of the lunar module before

the Command Module completely died the

command module's computers contain

critical data the crew had to transfer

to the lm's computers fast and they had

to do it the oldfashioned way so when

people look at their Blackberry today or

their iPhone they're holding something

in their hand that has far more

Computing capability ities than the

spacecraft you were flying in outer

space with oh yes Jack swager called me

all the numbers and I wrote them down

and then we had a a conversion table for

the lunar module and I did the

arithmetic to get the new numbers and

then I called michig control I said

would you check my my arithmetic for me

please to make sure I'm not making

you're afraid to make a mistake here a

mistake will cost you your life that's

right I'm using all the assets I have

and that included the control center

they got into the lunar module with

moments to spare but now another

decision loomed how to get back to Earth

I had a very fundamental decision I had

to make uh we could execute what we call

a direct abort and come around the front

side of the moon and be home in a day

and a half it was the quickest way home

but it would mean using the main engine

the one nearest the explosion what if

that engine failed or blew up as well if

this maneuver isn't executed

perfectly you're going to impact the

moon if the spacecraft would actually go

right into the surface of the Moon Yeah

Yeah CR didn't want to take the risk the

other option I'd have to go completely

around the Moon take between four and 5

days to get back home the problem with

that was obvious to the astronauts

themselves when we started going the

Luna module I realized it was designed

for two guys for two days and I counted

the crew one two three guys for four

days simple arithmetic that meant they

could run out of air power and water

long before reaching Earth in the end it

was the flight director's decision and

it was purely in a gut feeling that says

go around the Moon take your chances

trust your team to find the answers in

other words take the long way home and

risk losing their crew in

space here in Mission Control we're now

looking towards an alternate Mission 5

and 1/2 hours after an explosion

crippled their spaceship the crew of

Apollo 13 was riding in a Lifeboat three

men in a lunar module meant for two the

LM was designed to carry them just 60 mi

from lunar orbit to the surface now they

had to use the lm's rocket in a way its

designers never intended to steer them

around the moon and set their course for

Earth A4 Million Miles Away did you ever

have any doubts about whether you could

accomplish it well naturally I think

everybody does uh in a situation like

this they had a tiny margin for error

and no second chances it's not just

dying Jim it's the kind of death it it's

and I've thought about this it's running

out of oxygen and drifting in space

perhaps forever how did you deal with

those thoughts oh we didn't think about

what the final results would be if we

weren't successful what would finally

get to us running out of uh all kinds of

electrical

getting onto an orbit that we couldn't

correct and be in a orbit around the

Earth for hundreds of years you left one

out you could come in too steep into the

Earth's atmosphere and burn up I would

have rather have done that we now show a

velocity of 3200 10 ft per

second did you allow yourselves to have

those emotional discussions did anybody

start talking about family and what if

what if we don't make it

back to ourselves we thought about

family not to each other you didn't

bring that up we no uh we did not bring

that up uh and we we did not because we

did not want to get emotionally uh

Disturbed or challenged from the job

that we had to

do but for the families there was no

other job you wanted life to go on as

normal but in your heart it couldn't

have been anything close to normal no

friends of mine told me that I was in a

days

really the house was packed and I just

had to be by myself and I I just left

everyone and I got into the bathroom and

I kneeled on the tile floor and prayed

it was much worse for the level kids at

school and everybody came up to me and

said I'm so sorry your dad's going to

Die April 14th 21 hours after the

explosion the crippled ship rounded did

The Far Side of the Moon in the midst of

this incredibly tense and stressful

flight where in in many ways this crew

was fighting for their lives you got to

see something you'd never seen before

what was that experience

like uh well it it was obviously uh to

me great to have the opportunity to even

just loop around the Moon Jack uh and I

did a lot of sightseing as we went

around the backside loville who had

already circled the moon in Apollo 8 got

a little impatient with all the photos

his Shipmates were taking and I told him

if they you know if we don't get back

you're not going to get them developed

you are basically running a barebones

operation at that time you are shutting

down everything you can because

everything aboard that module drains

power and you need all the power you can

you can save exactly right and we had a

turn off all the electrical systems and

that's when the temperature kept

dropping

we'd like you to uh go down that power

down procedure we knew it was going to

get as cold as a meat locker inside that

spacecraft so in other words you're

saying look guys you're going to be cold

and thirsty and hungry for 4 days but

you're going to go through that because

if we do anything else that you're not

getting home that's

[Music]

correct so how cold did you get it was

about the temperature of your

refrigerator it got pretty Mis but we

had uh got out of storage all our spare

underwear so we had three sets of

underwear on what about food how much

food did you have we didn't eat much

food uh we and the water was freezing

and the food was getting Frozen

too too cold to eat too cold to sleep I

found out that I could be in front of

the instrument panel put my fingers

together close my eyes and for about 3

minutes be asleep wake up refreshed and

so that's essentially the actually the

sleep that we got on the way home April

15th 30 hours after the explosion

something else threatened to kill them

something they couldn't even see in

layman's terms your own

exhalation the fact that the three of

you breathing out were creating so much

carbon dioxide that it was going to kill

you that's that's absolutely correct

remember the lunar module was only

designed to support two men for 2 days

it's air purifiers were maxed out the

dead Command Module was still attached

they could get more filters there but

they were the wrong shape square and

wouldn't fit the round openings in the

limb and of course it's a big

engineering goof that we didn't have the

same canister for both sides we got to

come up with the solution here Engineers

had to design an adapter literally make

a square peg fit in a round hole they

had to do it quickly and they could only

use what was on the spacecraft part of a

flight manual plastic bags duct tape

they did a mockup of it down on the

ground in Houston and then they told you

basically how to do it and you must have

thought they were crazy yeah they said

now take three feet of duct tape and and

we said what 3 ft they said yeah an arms

length of duct

[Music]

tape the Strang looking Contraption

worked it saved their lives and for two

more days cold hungry Sleepless the

three astronauts hunker down and wield

their way home at some point Mission

Control instructed you to stop sending

your urine out of the spacecraft and

some people might think that's the

ultimate indignity these guys are in a

tough enough straight as it is what was

the reason for that well what they said

was we don't want any unbalanced force

on the vehicles because we want to get

you back in that free return course for

a safe approach through the atmosphere

and the landing on the earth so when you

expel urine it would change the course a

little bit it's like a little rocket

engine so now you've got bags of urine

floating around in in the spacecraft as

well yeah TR try to figure out where to

put that they all but stopped drinking

water dehydration set in Fred Hayes soon

developed an infection and fever that

was all bad but now even as Earth loomed

in the window there was yet another

crisis they call up and said we've

extrapolated your course all the way

back to the Earth and you're going to

miss the atmosphere you were drifting

Yeah by 60 or 80 nautical miles which

meant although they didn't say it is

that hey you're

[Music]

gone nearly 4 days after the crippling

explosion as Apollo 13 Against All Odds

seemed about to make it home Mission

Control discovered something potentially

devastating the spacecraft was drifting

off the trajectory was drifting off and

we didn't understand what was happening

Apollo 13 was going to come in too

shallow bounce off the Earth's

atmosphere and be lost forever we have

to perform another emergency

maneuver the engineers calculated the

precise Direction and amount of Rocket

thrust needed to correct the course then

the crew had to make it happen firing

the Rockets manually steering by by

sighting the Earth and Moon Through the

Windows nobody had ever done that before

this was a team effort right I mean

you're you're handling one aspect trying

to keep the Earth from moving up and

down and Fred Hayes was going you know

to keep it from going sideways and

course he's sick at this time and Jack

is timing it uh because our clock had

stopped of

course were you worried at all Jean that

after all they had been through over

those 3 or 4 days the the cold the Sleep

day deprivation the tension and the

stress that they may just make a simple

mistake that they simply weren't up to

the task of getting home no no this is

the kind of relationship that we must

have with our crew the crew totally

depends upon us to come up the right

answers we depend upon them to provide

the information to execute so so this

Rel relationship is absolute absolute

trust is really the key go for the burn

bur 40% and the crew made the tricky

maneuver like they done it a thousand

times I say that was a good burn Friday

April 17th just hours from Earth now the

astronauts needed to get back into the

Command Module it had been shut down

Frozen for days Engineers on the ground

were working feverishly on a way to

start it up again okay systems

test we went through four different

versions of this checklist we have a

procedure for getting power from the

lamb not a very long procedure and I got

a little testing and I said look at give

us the proper information no more no

less it was a critical time normally The

Command Module was powered up before

launch when electricity was unlimited

never had a Command Module been shut

down in flight then restarted with just

battery power if the batteries died so

would the crew and you talk about this

procedure over 500 steps and they had to

then radio those steps and they had to

be written down one after the other we

had no blank paper so we had to rip

covers and backs off of

checklist and use that uh to write this

checklist which was very lengthy now

checklist in hand three cold hungry

Sleepless men had to execute it

perfectly okay uh you're go to start

Ping up the Command Module right now the

Command Module did come fully up uh you

know fully fully powered up S relief

there I mean that's your that's your

ride home it it was a ride home ready or

not back in the Command Module now less

than 5 hours from Earth the crew

jettisoned the part of the spacecraft

that exploded and nearly killed the mall

copy that service module separation at

138 hours 2 minutes 8

[Music]

seconds for the very first time they

could see just how bad the damage was as

it floated away finally just in front of

us we saw that the entire panel had been

blown

out and there's one whole side of that

stre right by the high gate antenna the

whole panel is blown out almost from the

uh base to the engine and that had to

set off some fears in this room that

that explosion also damaged the heat

shield on the Command Module cuz they

sit right next to each other and would

they be able to survive re-entry in our

line of business you only worry about

those things that you can do something

about so all the things you had done for

the 4 days prior all the heroic efforts

of everyone would have been for not had

there been a major flaw in that heat

shield it just wouldn't have matter

that's right there's nothing we could do

about it never could go outside to

repair it or anything like that so we

just we just took it for granted that

the heat shield was going to be intact

next they jettison the limb their

Lifeboat which they nicknamed Aquarius

fwell Aquarius thank you it was time

Marilyn you you seem like a a tough gal

um however there had to be times when

you went over in your mind how you would

tell the kids if it didn't turn out well

actually I really don't believe I really

thought about it because I really didn't

give up I just knew he would come

back it had been in the moon mission

people ignored and now the whole world

was watching couldn't breathe and we all

just sat there and we just held our

breath and we held it with the

world Apollo 13 plunged into the Earth's

atmosphere on Friday April 17th after

nearly 6 days in space during re-entry

the 5,000 de Fireball surrounding the

ship blacked out all radio Transmissions

the crew is now on their own there are

no more give backs the black out was

expected to last 4 minutes standing by

for any reports of acquisition and

there's no

response and we call again it's now one

minute since we should have heard from

this crew Apollo 13 should be uh out of

blackout at this time every controller

in this room is standing staring at

those clocks in the

wall 1 minute and 27 seconds after we

should have heard from the crew we get R

Hope Houston standing by

over okay we read you Jack and the

emotional release in this room is so

intense that literally every controller

is standing

crying Apollo 13 is practically on the

time when that spacecraft splashed down

and water came over the over the

windows I said hey we're

[Music]

home

were there handshakes in the capsule

were there tears what was going on in

there it was just quiet that we we we

shook each other's hand and we said hey

we made it again capsule was still cold

even after entry um Smoky air crossed

the air poured out of the hatch when the

the diver opened the hatch and the crew

that had been living in a meat

locker is finally out in the warm air of

the South Pacific and they are home and

they are alive what was the first thing

you said to Marilyn when you got back to

Earth I said you can't live without

me you can't get rid of me that easy

that's

right but here are the facts of Apollo

13 to this day 40 years later no human

beings have ever ventured farther from

home and to this day no astronauts have

overcome so many disasters large and

small to make it back

[Music]

alive