The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13

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This was a mission that was designed to make a third lunar landing and was dubbed as project Apollo under the National Aeronautics and space administration (NASA). This is the United States of America’s agency entrusted with the responsibility of all its space programs. The project Apollo 13 was undertaken by three crew members. Namely James Lovell, the commander, the command module pilot was freed by John Swigert, while the lunar module pilot was Fred Haise. The project was officially launched on 11^th April 1970 but unfortunately; two days later it developed a mechanical problem in the oxygen tanks. This explosion made this project to be a total failure but the good thing was that it returned to the ground and landed safely. In this essay, I am going to discuss the history of the Apoll13 project in depth.

Though this explosion marred the mission, its Command Module was not affected and was still operational which was very much needed for landing. Though this explosion made this mission flop, it somehow acted as a wake-up call to the engineers. The members of the crew suffered greatly from the intense heat that developed due to power constraints and the cabin heat was too much to bear. Even though it exploded, it was able to come back to earth with the three members who were in charge of this project and landed safely. That is why it was called a ‘successful failure.’ (Lattimer, D. 1995)

The mission for this project was to tour and explore the Fra Mauro formations or the highlands on the moon surface and was named after the eighty kilometers diameter of the Fra Mauro crater. These highlands cover a large area of the lunar zone that is was believed to have been formed as a result of the impact that thereafter forms the mare. This was the destination for the Apollo 13 though due to some mechanical problems it was not possible to land there for this region is a hilly place. This mission was not postponed forever because later the Apollo 14 completed it.

The problem begum immediately the spaceship went up but to a lesser degree such that it was impossible to be detected immediately. During its launching stage and especially the second burn, its center engine stopped functioning earlier than it was expected with two minutes. Due to this mishap, the outer four engines had to run for a longer period than was planned to compensate for the time that could have been spent by the second burn stage. (Lovell, J. and Kluger J. 1994)

Later after engineers did thorough investigations, it was established that the problem could have been developed by dangerous pogo oscillations that were most likely to turn apart from the second stage. The four outer engines run longer than they were supposed to by 34 seconds while the S-IVB third stage burned longer than it should with 9 seconds to keep the spaceship in its orbit. This made the Apollo 13 experience some serious vibrations that in turn made the thrust frame flex by three inches. This caused the sensor to register an extremely low pressure below what was required and in response; the computer put the engine off immediately.

Similar problems have been detected in other spacecraft but they have never resulted in anything serious like that of the Apollo 13 that resulted in an accident. The Apollo 13 was blown out of proportion by the interaction that resulted inside the turbo-pumps. To prevent the same mistake from occurring, some modifications were made on Apollo 13 such as putting an additional helium gas cylinder in the center engine to damper the pressure oscillations. Also, some modifications were made on the propellant valves and particularly on the 2^nd stage 3^rd engines. The third modification that was made was to establish the cut-off center engine that would turn off in case there was a mechanical problem.

The spaceship had only covered 321,860 kilometers when its two tanks exploded. One contained oxygen while the other one had Service Module.

The mission control though their computer was able to note the problem with the oxygen tank had nothing else to do except urging the crew members to stir the tanks that contained oxygen so as oxygen ‘slash’ would be prevented from stratifying. Because of this problem the Teflon wires that supplied the stirrer motor with power were destroyed and could not allow power to pass through therefore, wherever power reached there it caused a fire to break out. This fire gradually heated the oxygen that was around thereby causing the pressure in the tank to increase and hence the explosion. All this time this was happening the problem was already established in the control room, they tried to communicate with the members of the crew but the crew assumed that the spacecraft was struck by a meteoroid which is small boulder-sized or a particle that occur in the solar system and is commonly known as the shooting star. (Cooper, H.S. 1995)

This explosion transferred this problem from the oxygen tank to other areas of the Service Module and especially the first oxygen tank. It should not be forgotten that this spacecraft used oxygen to produce electricity so; the destruction of the number one tank that contained oxygen meant low production of electric power hence power shortage.

To save the crew, the mission to explore the Fra Mauro highland was to be canceled. To return the spaceship to earth was a very big challenge that both the crew and the mission controllers had to overcome. What complicated the problem was that the lifeboat was designed to only save two crewmembers but on this occasion, they were three and yet they were supposed to stay for four days, and yet it was capable of supporting two libels for two days.

The crew depended on the lifeboat or LM for four days that were contained in the central module though they could not fit in the LM’s receptacle and the only viable alternative that was left was to the fabrication of an adopter from what was available in the spacecraft.

The crew narrowly escaped death and the only thing that saved them was the fact that they had carried more power, water, and oxygen. But this remained because they switched off some of the electronic gadgets that were not of much importance to them to save power, which they badly needed. This helped the LM engine as well as the CM batteries to last for more time they would have stayed in normal circumstances. They had also to ration their water intake to conserve some. They took only one liter of water to keep the sublimation cool to protect the critical equipment that could have been destroyed by the intense heat that was being generated by the fire- they managed to survive on the least possible necessities be it water, power or oxygen and were able to save at least twenty percent of LM and ten percent of water by the time they came back to earth.

What made this landing to be a success was the fact that there was effective communication between the crewmembers and the controllers. Due to the water rationing, had reduced his weight by 14 pounds and all the three crew members were very tired wet, cold, hungry, and dehydrated. “Because of the dehydration and other factors, Haise developed a prostrate infection, a fever of 103 degrees, and was seriously ill for two or three weeks after getting home.” (Jones E.M. 2006)

What made these three lives to be saved was the success that was made in finding a solution to the carbon problem thus making it reliable, if LM got damaged that would have been the end of their lives. This was made a success by the engineers who never slept to ensure that everything was okay. They ensured that the lunar module (LM) and the command service module (CMS) were in good condition. (Cooper H.S. 1995)

For the spacecraft to be returned home, the astronauts had to make two crucial burns to put the craft on what is called “the free return trajectory.” this was because even after the explosion, the spacecraft was still headed to the moon’s surface though it would not have made it there. The first burn was made and it burned it was intended. It made the spacecraft swing back such that instead of the lunar gravity sending them into the craters of space, they would be sent homeland. This was not all as the second had to be burned as failure to this, they would have run short of their supplies. The return trip was estimated to take about ninety hours but the second successful burn was cut the hours. Due to the explosion that marred their plan of going up, their return journey encountered some navigation problems, as they had to pass through the smoke that heavily hung around their spacecraft. It was because this place had no moving air; it was a vacuum. As one of the crew put it, there was no single cause for the explosion but it was a result of the accumulation of small human errors.

The Apollo 13 Project, in short, was a space mission designed to explore the Fra Mauro highland though this never came to be due to some mechanical problem that developed while on their trip. The problem was not detected early enough so that it could be rectified and this culminated in the explosion of the oxygen tanks and the mission had to cancel. The spaceship was forced to return home with the three crew members who reached home safety though they had some simple complications due to rationed heat, water, and oxygen. This mission failure acted as a challenge and led to the establishment of Apollo 14, which completed the Apollo 13 mission.

Work cited.

Cooper, H.S. Thirteen: The Apollo Flight that Failed. Baltimore, John Hopkins Press. 1995: 25-27.

Jones, E.M. and Glover K. The Frustrations of Fra Mauro. Part 1.

Apollo 13. Lunar Surface Journal. 2006: 56-65.

Lattimer, D. All We Did Was Fly The Moon. Whispering Eagle Press. 1985: 32.

Lovell, J. and Kluger J. Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. Houghton Muffin. 1994: 78-98.

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The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13

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