Examine the events of the Apollo 13 emergency of 1970, when the NASA spacecraft, bound for the moon, was crippled by an explosion in the ship’s Support Module oxygen tanks. The lives of three astronauts – James Lovell, John ‘Jack’ Swigert and Fred Haise Jr. – hung in the balance. The world held its breath as NASA worked with the astronauts as both the crew and mission control scrambled to improvise solutions to save the astronauts and bring them home.
- The Apollo program
- The Apollo 13 mission – a foregone conclusion?
- The crew of the Apollo 13 mission
- NASA operations room
- The early flight – all systems go
- The explosion
- Emergency response – amended flight path, evacuation to the lunar module as a ‘life raft’
- World media response
- Australia’s telecommunications support and the ‘210’ at Parkes
- Power loss and conservation
- The reentry and landing
- Dramatic representation – Apollo 13 movie
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Understand the aims of the Apollo program and the context, in 1970, of the post Apollo 11 missions
- Appreciate the challenges facing the astronauts and NASA in an unprecedented situation
- Understand Australia’s role in supporting telecommunications
- Reflect on the achievements of NASA and all who supported the rescue.
