Mystery of Apollo 13 Missiom
On 11th April 1970, A rocket launched for the Apollo 13 mission from Kennedy space center in America. Three astronauts were on it, going to the moon. But the interesting thing was that not even a year had passed since a day when Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon for the first time. This was already the third NASA mission to send humans to the moon. Seeing the success of the last two missions. The astronauts in this rocket were very confident about their mission and their dream. Their dream was to set foot on the moon.
13th April ,1970 when their spacecraft 🚀 was about 330,000 km away from the Earth 🌍. They heard a loud bang suddenly. A huge bang that shook the entire spacecraft. Within a few seconds, the warning lights and alarms start going on. It was found that one of the oxygen tanks had burst and the other oxygen tank was leaking rapidly. The mission control on the ground couldn’t believe it. They believed that the instruments were malfunctioning. But the astronauts in the spacecraft 🚀 could see through the window that the air was leaking.
On the other hand, they see that because of the blast spacecraft had shifted from its path so much that it was going kilometers away from the Earth every second. Within a few hours, the astronauts in Apollo 13 were so far away from the Earth that it became a new record. To date, no human has gone so far from the Earth as these three astronauts did during the Apollo 13 mission.
1.
in 1961,
American President John F. Kennedy promised the world that before the end of
the decade he would have humans on the moon. This promise should be seen in the
context of the Cold War. At that time America and the Soviet Union were engaged in a race.
In 1969,
both Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions were successful. Astronauts did not only
step on the moon but also safely returned to Earth. American President John F.
Kennedy promise was fulfilled.
2. Why people not interested mission Apollo 13?
In 1969, both Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 missions were successful. Right after it, the people’s and government interest in spending money on space decreased drastically. It’s obvious that that people were excited to see a man step on the moon for the first time. But people cannot be so excited for the second, third and fourth time.
For this reason, the American government cut NASA budget. And many future missions that were planned for the new few years. Like Apollo 20 were cancelled. That why the Apollo 13 mission came at a crucial time in the history of space travel. NASA had to prove to the American government that it was still worth spending money on space. That is why the primary mission objective of Apollo 13 was not only to inspect and survey the moon’s soil but to also develop the human capability to work in the moon’s environment.
3.Apollo 13 spacecraft design and parts
The design
of Apollo 13 spacecraft was similar to that previous space missions. Mainly, there
were four main components command module, service module, lunar module and launch
escape system. The spacecraft was launched on a Saturn V rocket.
#1. Command Module
All three
astronauts were seated in the command module which was the main part of the
spacecraft. But it was a very small part. The command module is just cone shape
which is only 11 feet long and has a diameter of 13 feet. All the instrument
panels, navigation gear, radios, life-support systems and small engines were
all in this command module.
# 2. Service Module
The second most
important part was the service module which had most of the oxygen for the
astronauts. All instrument like fuel cell, oxygen tanks, hydrogen tanks,
high-gain antenna and water cells.
*Command and service module (CSM)
The command
and service module are often collectively called the command and service module
or CSM in short form. They are connected during the entire mission until the astronauts
return to Earth. And only during the re-entry to Earth. They are separated from
each other.
# 3. Lunar Module
The third
part was the lunar module, which was actually supposed to land on the moon. And
once the work on moon was over. It was supposed to get attached to the CSM
module once again.
# 4. The Launch Escape Systema (LES)
The fourth part, Launch Escape System was not so important for the mission. It only task was to protect the astronauts from an accident during the launch. It works like this. It there’s an accident during the rocket launch and the rocket catches fire. It safely ejects the astronauts and takes them away from the accident. But if everything goes well in the launch, then the LES is not needed, and it is ejected and thrown away.
4. Mission apollo 13
11th April 1970, since Apollo 13 launched safely and successfully the LES was not needed. Three astronauts were on the spacecraft. Commander Jim Lovell the pilot of the Lunar Module, Fred Haise and the third pilot of the command module Jack Swigert. Coincidentally, according to the original plan none of these were chosen for this mission.
Originally,
three different astronauts were chosen for this mission. But they all had different
problems because of which they were not able to participate in this mission. For
this reason, the crew of these three astronauts takes off from the Earth. To see
this rocket launch there were around 200,000 spectators on the ground. This is a small number compared to the Apollo
11 lift-off the previous year. That had 7 million spectators of the rocket
launch.
# First Day
NASA again realized how quickly people lost their interest in space exploration. But if we talk about the mission this spacecraft took off smoothly towards its destination. It was supposed to take 3 days for them to reach the Fra Mauro of the moon. This is a big hole on the moon’s surface. A carter, which is believed to contain a lot of information not only about the moon but also about the Earth.
# Second Day
The biggest problem during the first 2 days of the flight was when astronaut Jack Swigert realized that he had forgotten to file his income tax return. He asked the mission control on Earth whether he could get an extension. He got a good-humored reply that he could get a 60-day extension. During the first two days, there were no problems in the mission. At 46 hours 43 minutes of the mission, the capsule communicator on duty at that time said that the spacecraft was in a good shape and that they were bored sitting there.
# Mission 3third day
The third day of the mission, 13th April 1970, the crew is told that they have to do some tests on the lunar module. And apart from this, they have to do a broadcast for the television. Where they will use the cameras to show the interiors of the command module and service module to the world. Now the audience’s interest in this was so low that no television network showed this broadcast at that time.
Commander Lovell’s wife went to the VIP section of the mission control to watch this broadcast. About 6 and a half minutes after the end of the TV broadcast. The flight controllers on the ground asked astronaut Swigert to check the oxygen level. There was nothing unusual in this. It was just a routine check of the oxygen tanks in the service module. And while this check was being done.
5.Huge Explosion
suddenly a huge explosion occurred. Many warning lights and alarms went off. The astronauts in the spacecraft were largely in shock. Commander Lovell contacted Mission control and said “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” It turned out that one that one tank of oxygen was completely empty and the oxygen level in the other tank was going down rapidly.
Mission control on the ground first thought that the instrument must be showing the wrong data. But that was the truth. Everyone needed to take action urgently, if they wanted to save the lives of these astronauts. The TV channels that had called this mission boring and were not showing it on the news made this the news headlines suddenly.
6. Spacecraft damage and crew member mistake
The oxygen tanks in the spacecraft were sphere-shaped. In these, oxygen was stored in liquid form. There was a heater at the center which converted the liquid oxygen into gas. On Apollo 13, there were two such tanks in the service module. The tank number 2 was originally installed in Apollo 10. The tube inside it was damaged but no one saw it during the inspection. While testing it, people noticed that the tank would not be completely empty. To get rid of the remaining oxygen, heaters were used to boil it completely.
Later, it was found that the thermometer inside it could show a maximum temperature of 30-degree C. but when the heater was used to heat the oxygen in the tank, the temperature would reach as high as 538-degree C. No one noticed this extreme heating because it did not register in the thermometer. Due to this extreme heating, the insulation of the electrical wires in the tank were damaged. Before the mission, NASA’s managers and engineers had approved the tank after a thorough investigation but they were unable to see the internal damage. And because of this reason, during the Apollo 13 mission during the routine check of the tank on the third day due to those electric wires, there was a spark, and the tank explodes.
7. Apollo 13 recuse mission
# First way
The fastest way to return to Earth was to rotate the spacecraft. But to do this, the main engine of the service module had to be started. The main engine was located near the blast in the CSM module.
# Second way
The second way to return to Earth was to go towards the moon and circle around the moon to return to the Earth. For this, the engine of the service module would not be required. But the risk was that it would take 4-5 days to Earth. NASA’s flight director chose the second option. To take the long way back.
The astronauts were told to shut down the CSM module immediately. And while returning they were told to use the lunar module as a lifeboat. Though this decision was a safe option, it did have several problems.
8. spacecrafts problem and solution
# 1.First problem
The engines of the lunar module were not designed in a way that they could be fired repeatedly. To a large extent, this was a also risky maneuvers. To conserve supplies and energy, the astronaut's were told to shut down all non-essential systems in the spacecraft, including the heaters that were installed.
# 2.Second Problem
9. Lunar Module Burn
# First Burn
#Second Burn
The second burn is done, the flight time of 153 hours was reduced to 143 hours. Finally after 4 days, when Apollo 13's spacecraft reaches Earth. Astronaut's realize that they need to burn once more.
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