Apollo 13 (AS-508): Houston, we have a problem.
The Apollo 13 mission was launched at a couple of: 13 p. m. SE RÉVÈLE ÊTRE, April eleven, 1970 from
launch complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The room vehicle team consisted of
James A. Lovell, Jr. commander, John L. Swigert, Junior., command module pilot and
Fred W. Haise, Jr. lunar module pilot.
The Apollo 13 Mission was planned as being a lunar landing mission but was
aborted to the moon after about 56 hours of airline flight due to loss of
service component cryogenic air and major loss of power to generate
electrical power, to provide o2 and to create water.
Spacecraft systems performance was nominal until the followers in cryogenic
oxygen fish tank 2 had been turned on in 55: 53: 18 ground elapsed period (GET). Regarding 2
mere seconds after energizing the enthusiast circuit, a brief was mentioned in the current
by fuel cellular 3, that was supplying capacity to cryogenic oxygen tank two fans.
Inside several added seconds, two other shorted conditions occurred.
Electrical trousers in the lover circuit ignited the line insulation, causing
temperature and pressure to improve within cryogenic oxygen container 2 . The moment
pressure come to the cryogenic oxygen container 2 pain relief valve full-flow conditions
of 1008 pound-force per square inch, the pressure began decreasing for about 9sec, at which period
the comfort valve most likely reseated, leading to the pressure to rise again
momentarily. With regards to a quarter of the second later, a vibration disturbance was
noted within the command component accelerometers.
Another series of incidents occurred within a fraction of a second between
the accelerometer disturbances and the data loss. An army tank line burst, because of
high temperature, in the cleaner jacket pressurizing the annulus and, in return, causing the
blow-out connect on the cleaner jacket to rupture. A lot of mechanism in bay 4 combined
while using oxygen build up in that gulf to produce a rapid pressure rise which usually
resulted in parting of the outer panel. The panel minted one of the food of
the high-gain antenna. The -panel separation distress closed the fuel cell 1 and 3
air reactant shut-off valves and lots of propellant and helium remoteness
valves in the reaction control system. Info were lost for about 1 . 8 secs as
the high-gain antenna switched from narrow light to large beam, due to
antenna staying hit and damaged.
Because of these incidences, the CENTIMETER was power down and the LM was
configured to provide the necessary electricity and other consumables.
The CSM was power down for approximately 49: 40 ACQUIRE. The surge tank and
repressurization package were separated with around 860 psi residual
pressure (approx. 6. 5 lbs of oxygen total). The primary water glycol system was
left with radiators bypassed.
All LM devices performed satisfactorily in providing the necessary electric power
and environmental control to the spacecraft. The requirement for lithium
hydroxide to remove co2 from the spacecraft atmosphere was met by a
combination of the CM and LM carts and catomizers since the LM cartridges only would not
satisfy the total requirement. The crew, with way from Objective Control
developed an adapter for the CM carts to accept LM hoses.
The service component was jettisoned at approximately 138 hours GET, and
the crew observed and photographed the bay-4 place where the cryogenic tank
abnormality had happened. At this time, the crew said that the outer skin
covering up for bay-4 had been significantly damaged, which has a large part missing.
The LM was jettisoned about 1 hour just before entry, that has been performed
nominally using main guidance and navigation system.