We have the crew crossing gantry for capsule ingress.
Roger that.
Inspired by the late President Kennedy,
in only seven years, America has risen to the challenge of what he called...
"the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure...
on which man has ever embarked."
After trailing the Russians for years with our manned space program,
- We got a short! - And after that sudden, horrible fire...
on the launchpad during a routine test...
- that killed astronauts Gus Grissom... - Fire in the cockpit!
- Ed White and Roger Chaffee... - Get us outta here!
There were serious doubts that we could beat the Russians to the moon.
But tonight, a mere 18 months after the tragedy of Apollo 1...
the entire world watched in awe as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin...
landed on the moon.
The big news came just a moment ago.
Mission Control gave the spacecraft permission...
to go for the extravehicular activity...
that is, for the walk on the moon...
far earlier than anticipated, 9:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Important thing when you're penetrating the lunar module is your attitude...
and your relative speed.
Let's say this is me in the command module and this is you...
- All right. - In the LEM.
This thing sticks out. That's called a probe.
- Is that true? - Absolutely.
Tracey, when you feel that thing slide in, everything's clickin'...
it's like no other feeling in the world.
- A little liquid propulsion. - What's the big occasion?
How's it goin' at Mission Control?
It's a nervous time. They're pacin' around, smokin' like chimneys.
Gene Kranz is gonna have puppies. Jim Lovell.
- Hi. - This is Tracey.
- How do ya do, Tracey? - This is the man.
Gemini 7. Gemini 12. Apollo 8. They were the first around the moon.
This guy did ten laps.
With one hand on the wheel. Make yourselves at home.
- Hey, Marilyn. - Where have you been?
This is the last champagne in Houston.
- Very good. Very good. - Everything else all right?
- Everything's on course. - Looks OK. Hey! Cadet Lovell.
- Hey, Dad. - Put this on ice. Make sure it's cold.
- You gonna get a haircut this week? - I'm on vacation.
Get a haircut.
Well, hello there.
- I wouldn't mind bein' up there tonight. - God, who wouldn't.
Don't worry. Our day's comin'.
They're not gonna cut the program before number 14.
You know, my cousin called.
Asked who we bribed to get on Jim Lovell's crew.
Yeah.
I told him they wanted to make sure he got the best.
Well, they got that right.
- What network do we want? - Come on! Walt! Hey! Put on Walter!
- Walter! - Jules Bergman!
John, turn it up!
Has completed putting on the spacesuits and the boots.
I... I really appreciate you all coming to this dress rehearsal party...
for my Apollo 12 landing.
Sit down, Conrad.
I think we should all take a moment to recognize...
the exemplary... hell, damn near heroic...
effort displayed by Neil Armstrong's backup for this historic moon walk...
and, of course, his crew.
Let's hear it for Jim Lovell, Ken Mattingly and Fred Haise.
There he is! There he is! Everybody quiet down!
Hey! Kids!
We had a good touchdown.
We can verify the position of the opening I ought to have on the camera.
What?
- Think it's too late for him to abort? - He still has time to get out.
He just needs somebody to wave him off. Pull up, Neil!
Pull up! Pull up!
OK, Neil, we can see you coming down the ladder now.
Look at those pictures. Wow.
I'm, at the foot of the ladder.
The LEM footpads are only depressed in the surface about...
one or two inches.
- It's almost like a powder. - Armstrong is on the moon.
Neil Armstrong, 38-year-old American...
standing on the surface of the moon...
on this July 20, 1969.
That's one small step for man...
one giant leap for mankind.
His quote was...
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
Somewhere
Beyond the sea
Somewhere waitin' for me
- You're drunk, Lovell. - Yeah.
I'm not used to the champagne.
Me neither.
I can't deal with cleaning up. Let's sell the house.
All right, let's sell the house.
They're back inside now lookin' up at us.
Isn't that somethin'?
I bet Jannie Armstrong doesn't get a wink of sleep tonight.
When you were on the far side on 8, I didn't sleep at all.
I just vacuumed over and over again.
Christopher Columbus, Charles Lindbergh and Neil Armstrong.
Neil Armstrong.
From now on, we live in a world where man has walked on the moon.
It's not a miracle.
We just decided to go.
On Apollo 8, we were so close...
just 60 nautical miles down and...
It was like I could just...
step out and walk on the face of it.
I want to go back there.
Where's my mountain?
Well, it... Up there.
It's, right up by the...
It's... OK, do you see where the shadow crosses...
the white area there?
That's the Sea of Tranquility...
and your mountain's right there on the edge of that.
It's your mountain. Your mountain, Marilyn. Mount Marilyn.
I don't see it.
Well, you gotta look harder.
You... You... You look harder...
- Jim. - While I...
Jim!
Groovin'
Down a crowded avenue
The astronaut is only the most visible member...
of a very large team, and all of us down to the guy sweeping the floor...
are honored to be a part of it.
What did the man say? "Give me a lever long enough and I'll move the world"?
That's what we're doing here. This is divine inspiration.
It's the best part of each one of us, the belief that anything is possible.
Things like a computer that can fit into a single room...
and hold millions of pieces of information...
or the Saturn 5 rocket.
This is the actual launch vehicle that will be taking Alan Shepard...
and his crew on the first leg of the Apollo 13 mission.
When are you going up again, Jim?
I'm slated to be the commander of Apollo 14 sometime late next year.
If there is an Apollo 14.
Jim, people in my state have been asking why we're continuing...
to fund this program now that we've beaten the Russians to the moon.
Imagine if Christopher Columbus had come back from the new world...
and no one returned in his footsteps.
Attention, all personnel. Clear level three.
Are there any other questions?
How do you go to the bathroom in space?
Well, I tell you, it's a highly technical process...
of cranking down the window and looking for a gas station, which...
There's Deke Slayton.
Deke, you might be able to answer this lady's question.
Deke is one of the original Mercury seven astronauts, ladies and gentlemen.
Now he's our boss. He hands out the astronauts' flight assignments...
so naturally we kick back part of our salaries to Deke.
How much this month?
Can I have a minute? Something's come up.
Sure, you b... Henry?
Hey!
- Anybody home? - I'm not being a cheerleader, Mom!
You don't understand! I worked so hard on this!
Maybe I don't understand...
but you are not wearing that out in this neighborhood.
She's not even wearing a bra! You can see everything!
Shut up!
Everybody. Marilyn, trick or treat.
Jim.
You know that Easter vacation trip we had planned for Acapulco?
I was thinkin' there might be a slight change in destination.
Really?
Maybe, say... the moon.
Al Shepard's ear infection has flared up...
and we've all been bumped up to the prime crew of Apollo 13.
Straight to the head of the line and the Fra Mauro highlands.
Six months? You're moving up six months?
- Dad, can I please wear this? - Sure.
- Jim. - No! No. Absolutely not.
- Don't you want somebody to love - This stinks!
They're not rushing things, are they?
You're gonna be ready in six months?
We'll be ready. Boy, I wouldn't want to be around Al Shepard tonight.
I gotta get over there. We're gonna have to get up to speed.
Go. Go.
I'm gonna walk on the moon, Marilyn.
I know. I can't believe it.
Naturally, it's 13. Why 13?
It comes after 12, hon.
Apollo 13, you are go for docking.
All systems are nominal and on the line.
OK, S-4B is stable, slot panels are drifting free.
The drogue is clear. The docking target is clear.
OK, I'm comin' up on that now. Two... one... mark.
Seventy-five feet. We're comin' up on docking.
Let's shut down some thrusters on 'em. We'll see what he does.
Whoa. Wait a minute.
I lost something here. I can't translate up.
Houston, we are drifting down and away.
- Wanna back off and take another run? - No, I got it.
Let me just try and get it stable here.
- I'm gonna reset the high gain. - Got the target back in the reticle.
We're stable. Go ahead and recycle the valves.
- Forty feet. - They're all gray.
Twenty.
- Easy. - Ten feet.
- Capture. - That's it!
- That's it. - Sweet move, Ken. Beautiful.
- Gentlemen, that is the way we do that. - Man, that woke me up.
Apollo 13 backup crew, you're up in the simulator.
- Nice job, gentlemen. - That's three hours of boredom...
followed by seven seconds of sheer terror.
Good job, guys. You just won the Christmas turkey.
Nice try, Frank. You really outfoxed 'em, brother.
Yeah, but it wasn't perfect. Used up too much fuel.
You're above the curve.
Not by much. Listen, guys, I wanna work it again.
Hey, we gotta be up with the dawn patrol headed for Bethpage, what, 0700?
- Wheels up at 0700. - Yeah, I know...
but my rate of turn is still a little slow.
I really think we should work it again.
- Well, let's get it right. - OK, set it up again, Frank.
OK, 13 backup crew. It'll have to wait.
- Prime crew's up for another run. - Yeah, baby.
Apollo 13, we show S-4B shutdown...
and all systems are nominal.
Fred, set the S-band Omni to B...
and when you get in the LEM, two forward.
Good shape over here.
Hey, we got a problem.
- Ken, get your helmet on! - I can't get it locked!
God!
Jim!
I thought the stars would fall down on you.
That's silly. Stars can't fall on us.
You're a smarter kid than I was.
How long will it take to get to the moon?
Four days. But that's pretty fast.
See, this is the Saturn 4B booster...
and it shoots us away from the Earth...
as fast as a bullet from a gun...
until the moon's gravity actually grabs us and pulls us...
into a circle around the moon...
which is called an orbit.
All right?
Fred and I float down the tunnel into the lunar module...
this spidery-Iookin' guy.
Only holds two people, and it's just for landin' on the moon.
And I take the controls and I steer it around...
and I fly it down...
adjustin' it here, the attitude there, pitch, roll...
for a nice, soft landing on the moon.
Better than Neil Armstrong. Way better than Pete Conrad.
Dad... did you know the astronauts in the fire?
Yeah. Yeah, I did. I knew the astronauts in the fire. All of 'em.
Could that happen again?
Well, I'll tell ya somethin' about that fire.
A lot of things went wrong.
The... The door.
It's called the hatch. They couldn't get it open when they needed to get out.
That was one thing. And...
Well, a lot of things went wrong in that fire.
Did they fix it?
Yes. Absolutely. We fixed it.
It's not a problem anymore.
I can't believe they still have you doing public appearances.
Well, Henry Hurt was... all over me.
I know. But with a training schedule this tight...
Well, it's... It's the program, Marilyn. You know, it's NASA.
Hey! Hey, you're Jim Lovell, aren't ya?
Hey! Lucky 13!
Right on!
That's the second time it's done that.
I was looking at the kids' school schedule coming up.
Yeah?
- It's a very busy week. - Yeah.
I'm thinking about not going to the launch.
The kids need me at home, honey.
Marilyn, we've had these kids for awhile now.
They've never kept you from comin' to the other launches.
But now we have your mother. She's just had this stroke.
Mom's fine.
It's not like I've never been to a launch.
The other wives have not done three.
I just don't think I can go through all that.
I'll just be glad when this one's over.
Well, you're gonna miss a hell of a show.
- Jim. - Hey, guys. See ya in a few weeks.
Take care. Bring us back a moon rock.
So the number 13 doesn't bother you.
Only if it's a Friday, Phil.
Apollo 13, lifting off at 1300 hours and 13 minutes...
and entering the moon's gravity on April 13?
Ken Mattingly here has been doing some scientific experiments...
regarding that very phenomenon, haven't you?
Yes. Well, I had a black cat, walk over a broken mirror...
under the lunar module ladder.
It didn't seem to be a problem.
We're considering a letter we got from a fella...
who said we oughta take a pig with us for good luck.
Does it bother you that the public regards this flight as routine?
There's nothing routine about flying to the moon. I can vouch for that.
And, I think that an astronaut's last mission...
his final flight... that's always going to be very special.
Why is this your last, Jim?
I'm in command of the best ship...
with the best crew that anybody could ask for...
and I'll be walking in a place where there's 400 degrees difference...
between sunlight and shadow.
I can't imagine, ever topping that.
We have that scheduled for 0900 hours tomorrow.
- That's not gonna work, Walter. - Why?
Freddo and I are gonna be goin' over the lunar surface experiments tomorrow...
and Ken's gonna be back in the simulator.
We're gonna be goin' over the flight plan tonight.
Gonna pay a visit to this machine after you're hard down. Thanks.
Jim, we've got a problem.
We just got some blood work back from the lab. Charlie Duke has the measles.
So we need a new backup.
- You've all been exposed to it. - I've had the measles.
Ken Mattingly hasn't.
You wanna break up my crew two days before the launch...
when we can predict each other's moves, read the tone of each other's voices?
Ken Mattingly will be getting seriously ill...
precisely when you and Haise will be ascending from the lunar surface.
That's a lousy time for a fever.
Jack Swigert has been out of the loop for weeks.
He's fully qualified to fly this mission.
He's a fine pilot, but when was the last time he was in a simulator?
I'm sorry, Jim. I understand how you feel.
We can do one of two things.
We can either scrub Mattingly and go with Swigert...
or we can bump all three of you to a later mission.
I've trained for the Fra Mauro highlands...
and this is flight surgeon horseshit, Deke!
Jim, if you hold out for Ken, you will not be on Apollo 13.
It's your decision.
Let it ring.
Listen, I gotta take that.
- Why? - Because I'm on the backup crew...
and the backup crew has to set up the guest list and book the hotel room.
Swigert. Yeah.
I looked all around
- Yes. Yes, sir. - I understand.
- Thank you, sir. - Why don't you come with me, little girl
On a magic carpet ride
Well, you don't know what we can see
Why don't you tell your dreams to me
Well, I...
Damn.
Medical guys.
I had a feeling when they started doing all the blood tests that...
I mean, I know it's their ass if I get sick up there, but, I mean... Jesus!
Boy.
Swigert, he'll be fine. He's...
He's strong.
It'll be a hell of a mission. One for the books.
You sure about this? Why don't I talk to Deke?
I'm sure we can work this out.
This was my call.
Must've been a tough one.
Look, I don't have the measles.
I'm not gonna get the measles.
Shit. Ken, wait up.
Trajectory is holding steady. We're right on the line.
We're into program 64. We're in 05 Gs, so we're feeling that gravity now.
Houston, we are at 400,000 feet passing entry interphase.
About to lose signal.
Reentry data is nominal, and we have radio blackout.
What's the story here?
I got a corridor light. We're comin' in too shallow.
I'm goin' to manual.
- Houston, switching to SCS. - Roger, Thirteen.
OK, we're at three Gs.
Five Gs.
We're comin' in too steep.
I'm gonna stay in this roll, see if I can pull us out.
We're at eight Gs.
Nine. Ten.
- We're at 12 Gs. - Twelve Gs. We're burnin' up.
Damn it!
I gave 'em a false indicator light at entry interphase.
Even Mattingly didn't get it the first time.
How ya feelin', Freddo?
Char-broiled.
So what happened?
Came in too steep. We're dead.
- No shit. - Yeah, we were into program 67 there.
OK, we're gonna do this again, obviously...
but give us a minute to get our switches reset.
Jim, could we have a word?
Sure, Deke.
We're going to drop off line and debrief.
- So? - Well...
if I had a dollar for every time they killed me in this thing...
I wouldn't have to work for you, Deke.
Well, we have two days. We'll be ready.
Let's do it again.
Do it again.
Margaret, get them! Fred, Stephen, come here!
- Daddy! - Watch out! You'll fall!
We can't go across that road.
We don't want Daddy to get our germs and get sick in outer space.
Hey, boys. Not givin' your mom a hard time, are ya?
Princess, you look beautiful.
Jack!
Well, hey, that looks like Marilyn Lovell.
But it can't be. She's not coming to the launch.
I heard it was gonna be a hell of a show.
Who told you that?
Some guy I know.
You can't live without me.
OK, folks. Let's say good night.
- We got a big day tomorrow. - Good night!
You hear about Ken?
Yeah.
One, two.
Stand back, please.
Guenter Wendt.
I wonder where Guenter went?
Jim.
- You walk on ze moon, ja? - Ja. Ja, we walk and...
and we talk on ze moon.
How do you feel? Pretty good?
Good. Might be a little warmer in here?
- How are you today? Ready? - Good. Yeah.
Jeez!
God, no!
No.
- OK, we have the oxygen burn system? - Check.
- We have the helmet restraint ring? - Check.
Communication umbilical on.
- Fred. - What?
- Gum. - Sorry.
Thanks.
I'm gonna give these guys a beautiful ride.
Sure you will, Jack.
You need more air?
You want some apple?
- Marilyn, hey! - Mary.
I hate this already.
You're not just about to pop, are you?
No. I got 30 days 'til this blast-off.
This is for Gene.
Mrs. Kranz has pulled out the needle and thread again.
The last one looked like he bought it off a gypsy.
Well, you can't argue with tradition.
Copy that.
This is from your wife, Gene.
Thank you, Tom.
I was startin' to get worried.
There we go.
- I like it. I like that one, Gene. - Sharp, Gene.
Jim, you're all set.
Very sharp.
Hey, Gene, I guess we can go now.
Save it for splashdown, guys.
Apollo 13 flight controllers, listen up.
Give me a go, no go for launch.
- Booster. - Go. - RETRO.
- Go. - FIDO. - We're go, Flight.
- Guidance. - Guidance go. - Surgeon.
- Go, Flight. - EECOM.
- We're go, Flight. - GNC. - We're go.
- TELMU. Control. - Go. - Go, Flight.
- Procedures. - Go. - INCO.
- Go. - FAO. - We are go.
- Network. Recovery. - Go. - Go.
- CAPCOM. - We're go, Flight.
Launch Control, this is Houston. We are go for launch.
Roger that, Houston.
Pad leader, what's your status?
We are go for launch.
T minus 60 seconds and counting.
- Stand by. - Roger.
Fuel pumps.
This is it. A few bumps and we're haulin' the mail.
Control, this is Guidance. They're ready for takeoff.
We are go for launch.
- T minus... - 15... 14...
13... 12... 11...
ten... nine...
eight... seven...
six... ignition sequence starts...
three... two... one...
ignition!
The clock is running!
We have lift-off!
Houston, we have cleared the tower at 1313.
OK, guys, we got it.
Come on, baby. Come on.
Altitude is on the line.
Velocity right on the line.
Roll complete. We are pitching.
Thirteen, stand by for mode one Bravo.
FIDO, how we lookin'?
Looks good, Flight. Right down the middle.
We see your BPC is clear, Thirteen.
Roger. EDS to manual.
Inboard.
Get ready for a little jolt, fellas.
That was some little jolt.
Tower Jett.
Houston, we've got a center engine cutoff. Go on the other four.
Roger that, Thirteen. We show the same.
Booster, can you confirm that cutoff?
- Roger. Looks like we lost it. - FIDO, what's that going to do?
Stand by, Flight.
I need to know if the IU's correcting for the shutdown.
Houston, what's the story on engine five?
We're still go. We'll be all right as long as we don't lose another one.
Roger that.
Thirteen, we're not sure why the inboard was out...
but the other engines are go, so we're gonna burn those engines...
a little bit longer.
Roger that. Our gimbals are good.
Our trim is good.
Looks like we just had our glitch for this mission.
- 13, stand by for staging. - Roger that.
S-2 shutdown. S-4B ignition.
Thrust looks good, Flight.
Flight, S-4B cutoff in ten seconds.
Thirteen, this is Houston. Predicted cutoff is 12 plus 34, over.
Coming up on 12 minutes 34.
- And... - SECO!
Shutdown.
And that, gentlemen, is how we do that.
Boy. Hope I can sleep.
Mom, that was loud.
Here, hold my hand.
I can't believe you did this four times.
The worst part's over.
It is?
Listen, this doesn't stop for me until he lands on that aircraft carrier.
Well, you just look so calm about it.
If the flight surgeon had to OK me for this mission, I'd be grounded.
Mrs. Lovell! Mrs. Haise! Can we speak to you?
Can we just have a word with you?
Remember, you're proud, happy and thrilled.
Mrs. Lovell!
- How're ya feeling? - Well, very proud...
and very happy, and we're thrilled.
Flight, Booster. I show S-4B shutdown.
TLI is on the money. Looks good, Flight.
Roger, FIDO.
OK, guys. We're goin' to the moon.
Flight, we have reacquisition of signal at Hawaii.
Flight, everything looks good.
OK, Houston. CMP here.
I've exchanged couches with Jim. I'm in the pilot's seat.
I'm gonna go ahead and get set for transposition and docking.
Roger that, Jack.
Freddo, you OK?
OK, let's get turned around and pick up the lunar module.
Odyssey, you're go for pyro arm and docking,
and we recommend you secure cabin pressurization.
Roger that.
OK, we're ready for CSM separation.
OK, SMRCS Isol valves are all gray.
OK, Swigert, command module pilot...
she's all yours.
Houston, we've got a good separation.
- The S-4B is stable. - Translation looks good.
- We confirm that, Thirteen. - We're gonna start to pitch around...
to line up with the LEM.
You know, Freddo, Frank Borman...
was upchuckin' most of the way to the moon on Apollo 8.
I'm all right. I just ate too much breakfast. Let's go to work.
And pitching up.
Pitch rate, 2.5 degrees per second.
Roger, Jack. We see you pitching around.
Keep an eye on that telemetry.
Roger that. If Swigert can't dock this thing, we don't have a mission.
- How's the alignment? - GDC align.
Thrusting forward.
One hundred feet.
Watch the alignment, now.
Don't worry, guys.
I'm on top of it.
- FIDO, let me know when you're ready. - OK, let's uplink that.
- How we lookin'? - We're not there yet. Forty feet.
Twenty.
Come on, rookie, park that thing.
Ten feet.
- Capture. - That's it.
- Talk back is barber pole. - Go ahead and retract.
Houston, we have hard dock.
Roger, understand. That's a good deal, Jack.
Let's start back up with procedure 17.
OK, Houston, we have LEM extraction.
We copy that, Thirteen.
Now you're off to the Fra Mauro highlands.
- I gotta get out of this suit. - Houston, we are ready...
for the beginning of the PTC...
and I think once we're in that barbecue roll, Jack and I will eat.
- Hey, I'm hungry. - Are you sure?
I could eat the ass out of a dead rhinoceros.
- We got a smooth one? - By the numbers so far.
We just ran a minimum load test on the cooling system. Let me clean this up.
- See you tomorrow. - Take care.
It's too bad we can't demonstrate this on TV.
What a shame.
OK. Overboard dump comin' up.
Here it comes...
the constellation Urion.
Now, that's a beautiful sight.
Barbara. Barbara, we are going to your father's broadcast.
No! I'm never coming out!
I hate Paul! No one else can ever play their records again!
She's still going on about the stupid Beatles breaking up?
- They're not stupid! You're stupid! - Barbara!
I know you're in mourning.
I'm not going, Mom! Dad won't know if we're there!
The whole world is going to be watching this broadcast, and so are we.
Excuse me while I...
OK, good evening, America...
and welcome aboard Apollo 13.
I'm Jim Lovell, and we're broadcasting to you tonight...
from an altitude of almost 200,000 miles...
away from the face of the earth...
and we have a pretty good show in store for you tonight.
We are going to show you just what...
- Susan. Barbara. - Our life is like for the three of us...
- in the vast expanse of outer space. - Double!
One of the first things we'd like to do...
is provide you with the appropriate background music.
So, hit it there, Freddo.
Hello, world!
That, was supposed to be the theme to 2001...
in honor of our command module Odyssey...
but there seems to have been a change in the program.
When I go up on 19, I'm gonna take my entire collection of Johnny Cash along.
- Hey, Marilyn. - Where's their broadcast?
All the networks dumped us.
One of them said we made goin' to the moon...
as exciting as a trip to Pittsburgh.
My son's supposed to be on.
He's in outer space.
This is all the channels we get, Mrs. Lovell.
It's that damn TV Guide again.
Ruthless porters.
Savage baggage masters...
When I was just a lad of ten
My father said to me
- Come here and take... - Do they know they're not on the air?
We'll tell them when they get back.
Don't put your faith in love, my boy
My father said to me
Well, if anyone from the, IRS is watching...
I forgot to file my 1040 return.
I meant to do it today, but...
That's no joke. They'll jump on him.
Well, folks, let's head on down to the lunar excursion module.
Follow me.
Now, when we get ready to land on the moon...
Fred Haise and I will float through this access tunnel...
into the lunar module, leaving...
EECOM, that stir's gonna be...
on both H2 and both O2 tanks, is that correct?
The spacecraft will remain connected.
Well, folks, as you can probably tell...
the Aquarius isn't much bigger than a couple of telephone booths.
The skin of the LEM in some places...
is only as...
as thick as a couple of layers...
of tinfoil, and that's all that protects us from the vacuum of space.
We get away with this because the LEM is designed only for flight in outer space.
Fred Haise, Renaissance man.
OK, we'll head back up the tunnel now and back into the Odyssey.
When you and your baby have a fallin' out
All right, we've returned to the...
Stand by one, Houston.
Gotcha!
Houston, that bang you heard was Fred Haise on the cabin repress valve.
He gets our hearts goin' every time with that one.
We'll go honky tonkin' 'round this town
OK, we're, about to close out the Aquarius...
and, return to the Odyssey.
Our next broadcast will be from Fra Mauro on the surface of the moon.
So, this is the crew of the Apollo 13...
wishing everyone back on Earth a...
a pleasant evening.
All right.
Daddy was funny.
They might air a few minutes of it on the news tonight.
You'd think so.
- Bye. - Bye.
Well, between Jack's back taxes and the Fred Haise Show...
I'd say that was a pretty successful broadcast.
- That was an excellent show. - Thank you very much, Houston.
We've got a couple of housekeeping procedures.
We'd like you to roll right to 0-6-0 and null your rates.
Roger that. Rolling right, 0-6-0.
And then if you could give your oxygen tanks a stir.
Roger that.
Hey, we've got a problem here.
- What did you do? - Nothing. I stirred the tanks.
- Whoa! - Hey!
This is Houston. Say again please.
Houston, we have a problem. We have a main bus B undervolt.
We've got a lot of thruster activity here.
What's with the computer now?
It just went off line. There's another master alarm.
- I'm checking the quad. - That was no repress valve.
Maybe it's in quad C. I'm gonna reconfigure the RCS.
We've got a computer restart.
We've got a ping light.
The way these are firing doesn't make sense.
We've got multiple caution and warning, Houston. We've got to reset and restart.
I'm going to SCS.
Jesus. Flight, their heart rates are skyrocketing.
- EECOM, what's your data telling you? - O2 tank two not reading at all.
Tank one is at 725 psi and falling.
Fuel cells one and three are...
Boy, what's going on here? Flight, let me get back to you.
Flight, GNC. They're all over the place.
- They keep yawing close to gimbal lock. - I keep losing radio signal.
Flight, their antennae must be flipped around.
They're gonna have to do it manually if they do it at all.
One at a time, people.
Is this an instrumentation problem or are we looking at real power loss?
It's reading a quadruple failure. That can't happen.
It's got to be instrumentation.
Let's get the hatch buttoned. The LEM might have been hit by a meteor.
The tunnel's really torquin' with all this movement.
Houston, we had a pretty large bang there associated with a master alarm.
Shit, it's main bus A.
- Main bus A undervolt? - Main bus A undervolt down to...
It's reading 25 and a half. Main bus B is reading zip now.
We got a wicked shimmy up here.
These guys are talking about bangs and shimmies.
Doesn't sound like instrumentation.
- You are breaking up, 13. - Can't get this hatch to seal.
Just stow it. If we'd been hit by a meteor, we'd be dead by now.
I'm gonna try to get us out of this lurch.
Houston, did you say switch to Omni Bravo?
- Roger that, Thirteen. - The signal strength went way down.
It's fighting me. What's the story? We keep flirting with gimbal lock.
We need a confirmation. What systems do you have down?
- I'm having a hard time, Rick. - SMRCS helium one.
- Did you say switch to Omni Charlie? - A and C are barber pole.
Houston, I'm switching over quad C to main A.
Roger that, Thirteen.
OK, Houston, fuel cell one, fuel cell three.
We got a main bus B undervolt, cryo pressure, suit compressor.
What don't we have? A.C. Bus one, A.C. Bus two...
command module computer and O2 flow high.
I don't know. Maybe this is a caution and warning failure.
Houston, we are venting something out into space.
I can see it outside of window one right now.
It's definitely... a gas of some sort.
It's got to be the oxygen.
Roger, Odyssey. We copy your venting.
Give me an alignment.
Let's think about the kind of things we can connect.
- Let's start back at the beginning. - Anything look abnormal?
OK, listen up. Quiet down, people.
Quiet down. Quiet down. Let's stay cool, people.
Procedures, I need another computer up in the RTCC.
I want everybody to alert your support teams.
Wake up anybody you need and get them in here.
Let's work the problem, people.
Let's not make things worse by guessin'.
13, this is Houston. We are going around the room. We're gonna get you answers.
We keep venting, we're gonna keep hitting the edge of that deadband.
Take a look at the O2 on number one.
200 pounds and falling.
O2 tank two still zero.
- Tank one: 218 psi and falling. - Is that what you're gettin'? Confirm.
- We're seeing the same, 13. - Can we review our status, Sy?
Let's look at this thing from a standpoint of status.
What have we got on the spacecraft that's good?
I'll get back to you, Gene.
We're not gonna have power much longer.
The ship's bleedin' to death.
- Flight? - Yeah. Go, EECOM.
Flight, I recommend we shut down the reactant valves of the fuel cells.
What the hell good is that gonna do?
If that's where the leak is, we can isolate it.
We can isolate it there, save what's left in the tanks,
and we can run on the good cell.
You close 'em, you can't open 'em again.
You can't land on the moon with one healthy fuel cell.
Gene, the Odyssey is dying.
From my chair here, this is the last option.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, OK, Sy.
CAPCOM, let's have them close the reactant valves.
Thirteen, this is Houston.
We want you to close react valves on cells one and three. Do you copy?
Are you saying you want the whole smash?
Closing down the react valves for fuel cells shut down?
Shutting down the fuel cells? Did I hear you right?
Yeah, they heard me right.
Tell them we think that's the only way they can stop the leak.
Yeah, Jim. We think that closing the react valves may stop the leak.
- Did he copy that? - Do you copy, Jim?
Yes, Houston, we copy.
We just lost the moon.
OK, Freddo, shut those down.
Let's see what this does.
If this doesn't work...
we're not gonna have enough power left to get home.
- Shit! - Goddamn it!
Houston, O2 on one is still falling.
Freddo, how long does it take to power up the LEM?
Three hours by the checklist.
We don't have that much time.
Shit!
OK, now, Jack, before the batteries completely die on us in here...
let's power down everything so we can save as much as we can for reentry.
Fifteen minutes of oxygen and that's it. The command module will be dead.
OK. OK, guys, listen up. Here's the drill.
We're moving the astronauts over to the LEM.
We've got to get some oxygen up there.
TELMU, Control, I want emergency power procedure; essential hardware only.
GNC, EECOM, we're gonna be shutting down the command module at the same time.
We'll have to transfer the guidance system from one computer to the other...
so I want those numbers up and ready when our guys are in position.
We've gotta transfer all control data over the LEM computer...
before the command module dies.
The lunar module just became a lifeboat.
Odyssey, this is Houston. We need you to power down immediately.
You're gonna have to power up the LEM at the same time,
so you better get somebody over there.
We already have Freddo in the LEM, Houston.
We've got serious time pressure.
You've got to get the guidance program transferred,
and you've got to do it before you're out of power in the command module...
or you're not gonna be able to navigate up there.
How much time? Can you give me a number?
Well, we're looking at less than 15 minutes of life support in the Odyssey.
We've got 15 minutes, Freddo. It's worse than I thought.
Houston, be aware I've moved from the command module into the LEM.
If Jack can't get that guidance computer data transferred before they go dead...
They won't even know which way they're pointed.
That's right.
- That's a bad way to fly. - I'll be in 210 if you need me.
Houston, this is Thirteen. Are you back with me now?
Aquarius, this is Houston. You now have about 12 minutes to power up.
I can't see any stars. Man, there's a lot of debris floatin' around out there.
OK, Houston, I have completed the steps on page 15.
Now I'm ready to power down the computer.
I'm gonna need your gimbal angles, Jack...
- before you shut down the computer! - OK, Jim.
I need this back to me before they power down.
All right, all right. I got it. Hold on.
- Houston, our computer is up. - Roger. Stand by.
Jack, we need to proceed with steps 12 through 17 quickly.
You're down to about eight minutes remaining.
Fuel cell pump's off. O2 fans, tank two off.
OK, Houston, check me. I have completed these gimbal conversions...
but I need a double check of the arithmetic.
- Yeah, you can go, Jim. - The roll CAL angle is minus two.
Lunar module roll is 355.57.
Pitch: 1678... Correction. Pitch: 167.78.
- Yaw is 351.87. - Stand by. We're checking it.
We've got negative visibility in our star field,
and if this paperwork isn't right, who knows where we'll end up out here?
Looks good, Flight.
- It's all right. - Good here.
- He's good, Andy. - We'll go on those numbers.
- You're good. - Log them in, Freddo.
Jack, turn off the IMU. Switch to SCS.
Stand by to turn off the thrusters. Over.
It's a great day in New York. It's girl watchers' weather.
I like those ingenious girl watchers who put on Con Edison helmets...
and dig trenches in the street to get a better view.
But I... Hey, speaking of girl watching,
did you know that our first bachelor astronaut is on his way to the moon?
Is it Swigert? Yeah, first bachelor.
He's the kind, they say, has a girl in every port. He has that reputation.
He's sort of foolishly optimistic, taking nylons, Hershey bars to the moon.
Did you read that three million...
What do you say? Less viewers or fewer viewers?
Three million fewer viewers, watched the space shot than did the last one.
I... Colonel Borman is h...
An ABC New...
Here is ABC science editor Jules Bergman.
The Apollo 13 spacecraft has lost all electrical power,
and astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert...
are making their way through the tunnel to the lunar module,
using it as a lifeboat,
so they'll have electrical power for their radios on the command module.
Apollo 13 is apparently also losing breathing oxygen...
Slow down. An electrical failure. What exactly does that mean?
The emergency has ruled out any chance of a lunar landing...
and could endanger the lives of the astronauts themselves...
if the LEM oxygen supply, plus whatever is left of the command module's oxygen,
can't last them until they can get back to Earth.
What do you mean there's no immediate danger?
I just heard they're losing oxygen. Can they get back?
The LEM's descent rocket engine will be used in aborting the mission...
and getting the astronauts safely back to Earth.
Recapping what has happened: The Apollo 13 astronauts may be in grave danger.
No, don't give me that NASA bullshit!
I want to know what's happening with my husband!
We want to switch control to the Aquarius now.
- Roger that. - Houston, wait!
You're down to about five minutes now, Jack.
Be aware our RCS isn't up here yet. We have no attitude control on Aquarius.
They don't have control? Did we miss a step here?
- Control, what the hell happened? - What? I don't know.
We're out of whack. I'm trying to pitch down, but we're yawing to the left.
Why can't I null this out?
She wasn't designed to fly attached like this.
It's like flying with a dead elephant on our back.
Flight, Guidance. We're getting awfully close to center here.
Watch that middle gimbal. We don't want you tumbling off into space.
Freddo, inform Houston I'm well aware of the goddamn gimbals!
Roger that, Houston.
I don't need to hear the obvious.
I've got the frappin' eight-ball in front of me!
Andy, we're on VOX.
Aquarius, this is Houston. We've got you both on VOX.
You want what? You want us to go to VOX?
You have a hot mike. We are reading everything you say.
Sorry, Jim.
It's only by a very narrow margin...
that we're going to get Lovell, Haise and Swigert back alive.
Marilyn?
I'm sorry. Jeffrey's calling for you.
The terseness of Kraft and the grim lines of Jim McDivitt.
This has been a very close call. We're not out of the woods yet.
Jeffrey?
Why are so many people here?
Well, you know... your dad's flying his mission.
He said he was going to get me a moon rock.
Right.
Well...
something broke on your daddy's spaceship,
and he's gonna have to turn around before he even gets to the moon.
Was it the door?
Thirteen, Houston. We still show that venting pushing you around.
- How you doing? - Houston, Aquarius.
We've had to learn how to fly all over again, but we are doing better now.
- Roger that, Aquarius. - Have him close it out.
Jack, we can close out your procedure now.
Do we know for sure that we can power this thing back up?
It's gonna get awfully cold in here.
Copy that, Jack. We'll just have to deal with that later.
- Computer off. - We're clear.
We're going to the LEM.
We confirm shutdown, Jack. Lunar module now in control.
Roger that, Houston. This is Odyssey signing off.
Freddo, we're gonna have to execute some sort of burn.
It's just a matter of when.
- Did they shut us all down in there? - Yeah.
Didn't think we'd be back in here so soon.
Houston, how far off course do you project we are?
Over.
OK, people, listen up!
Gentlemen, I want you all to forget the flight plan.
From this moment on, we are improvising a new mission.
Sorry about that.
- We'll get somebody to look at that. - Find a bulb around here.
How do we get our people home?
They are here.
Do we turn 'em around, straight back, direct abort?
Yes!
- Gene... - I can't guarantee the burn yet.
No, sir, no, sir, no, sir!
We get them on a free-return trajectory.
It's the option with the fewest question marks for safety.
I agree with Jerry. We use the moon's gravity to slingshot them around.
The LEM will not support three guys for that amount of time.
It barely holds two.
We've got to do a direct abort. We do an about-face, bring the guys right home.
Get 'em back soon. Absolutely.
We don't even know if the Odyssey's engine's working.
If there's been serious damage to this spacecraft...
They blow up and they die!
That is not the argument! We are talking about time!
Jesus! Come on!
I'm not gonna sugarcoat this for you!
OK, hold it. Let's hold it down.
Let's hold it down. The only engine with enough power for a direct abort...
is the SPS on the service module.
From what Lovell has told us, it could have been damaged in an explosion,
so let's consider that engine dead.
We light that thing up, could blow the whole works.
It's just too risky. We're not gonna take that chance.
About the only thing the command module is good for is reentry.
That leaves us with the LEM, which means free-return trajectory.
Once we get the guys around the moon,
we'll fire up the LEM engine, make a long burn,
pick up some speed and get 'em home as quick as we can.
Gene, I'm wondering what the Grumman guys think about this.
We can't make any guarantees. We designed the LEM to land on the moon,
not fire the engine out there for course corrections.
Well, unfortunately, we're not landing on the moon, are we?
I don't care what anything was designed to do. I care about what it can do.
Let's get to work. Let's lay it out, OK?
CAPCOM. Flight, he says it will be ready in time.
After this burn, we've got to build some time in the flight plan for sleep.
- Run it by the FAO. - I've run it by the FAO.
Do we know how long we're gonna fire that burn?
He specifically wanted a quote from a flight director.
Who wanted a quote?
- The President. - The President?
Nixon. He wants odds.
We are not losing the crew.
I gotta give him odds. Five to one against?
- Three to one? - I don't think they're that good.
We are not losing those men!
How long are they gonna have to burn the engine?
Look, tell him... three to one.
Expect loss of signal in less than one minute.
When we pick you back up we will have your PC plus two burn data.
Roger that, Houston. We'll hear from you again at acquisition of signal.
You wanna look?
Look at that.
Wow.
Aquarius, that's 30 seconds until loss of signal.
Mare Tranquillitatis.
Neil and Buzz's old neighborhood.
Comin' up on Mount Marilyn.
Jim, you gotta take a look at this.
I've seen it.
Aquarius, this is Houston.
We expect loss of signal in approximately ten seconds.
So long, Earth. Catch you on the flip side.
When you go into the shadow of the moon...
and the moon is between you and the sun,
you see stars that are more brilliant than anything you've ever seen...
on the clearest nights here on Earth.
And then you pass into the lunar sunrise over the lunar surface.
It must be an awe-inspiring sight.
I can't wait to see it myself.
The problem now is not so much a question of an adequate oxygen supply,
but it is the rate of consumption of water,
which is vitally needed for the cooling operations...
to maintain the electronic systems and so forth.
Look, it's Fra Mauro.
I can see our landing site.
Wow.
Look at the Tsiolkovskii crater.
I can't believe how bright the ejecta blanket is.
It's like snow. It's beautiful.
That's Mare Imbrium to the north.
Thirteen, this is Houston.
We're reading your telemetry. It's good to see you again.
Good to see you too, Houston.
We are picking you up at a velocity of 7,062 feet per second...
at a distance from the moon of 56 nautical miles.
Stand by for your PC plus two burn data.
I had an itch to take this baby down, do some prospectin'.
Damn, we were close.
Gentlemen, what are your intentions?
I'd like to go home.
We got a burn coming up.
We're gonna need a contingency if we lose comm with Houston.
Freddo, let's get an idea where we stand on the consumables.
Jack, get into the Odyssey...
and bag up all the water you can before it freezes in there.
Let's go home.
Aquarius, we got some PC plus two burn data for you fellas.
So you're telling me you can only give our guys 45 hours?
That brings them to about there.
Gentlemen, that's not acceptable.
Gene, Gene, we've got to talk about power.
Whoa, whoa, guys! Power is everything!
- Power is everything. - What do you mean?
Without it, they don't talk to us, they don't correct their trajectory,
they don't turn the heat shield around.
We gotta turn everything off, now. They're not gonna make it to reentry.
What do you mean, "everything"?
With everything on, the LEM draws 60 amps.
At that rate, in 16 hours the batteries are dead, not 45.
And so is the crew. We gotta get them down to 12 amps.
- Twelve amps? - How many?
You can't run a vacuum cleaner on 12 amps, John.
We gotta turn off... We have to turn off the radars, cabin heater,
instrument displays, the guidance computer, the whole smash.
Whoa! Guidance computer. What if they need to do another burn?
They won't even know which way they're pointed.
The more time we talk, the more juice they waste.
- That's the deal? - That's the deal.
OK, John. The minute we finish the burn, we'll power down the LEM.
All right.
Now in the meantime, we're gonna have a frozen command module up there.
We're gonna have to power it up using nothing but the reentry batteries.
- That's never been tried. - We've never even simulated it before.
Well, we're gonna have to figure it out.
I want people in our simulators working reentry scenarios.
I want you to find every engineer who designed every switch, every circuit,
and every light bulb that's up there.
Then talk to the guy in the assembly line who actually built the thing.
Find out how to squeeze every amp out of both of these goddamn machines.
I want this mark all the way back to Earth with time to spare.
We never lost an American in space.
We're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch.
Failure is not an option.
Ken?
- What? - Good, you're not dead.
I've been trying to get in touch with you for 45 minutes.
Jesus, John, what are you doing here?
I gotta get you in the simulators. We got a ship to land.
- What? - There's been an explosion.
Oxygen tanks are gone. Two fuel cells gone. Command module shut down.
- What about the crew? - Crew's fine so far.
Trying to keep them alive in the LEM.
We're gonna have to shut that down pretty soon too.
We got a lot of people working the numbers on this one, Ken.
Nobody's too sure how much power we're gonna have when we hit reentry.
The command module's gonna be frozen up pretty good by then.
You see this ammeter rise over 20 at any point, power-up is no good.
We see it spike, that's sayonara for the guidance computer.
Our guys can't reenter. OK?
How much power do we have to play with?
Barely enough to run this coffee pot for nine hours.
- Go. - Yeah, Ken Mattingly just got here.
Copy. He's here.
They've been losing heat since the accident.
They're gonna start getting water condensation on the control panels.
Ken, glad you're here. You know what's going on?
John's brought me up to speed.
- What do we have left in the batteries? - We don't really know.
We gotta get started on some shortcuts for power-up.
You know how short?
It's all in the sequencing. If we can skip whatever we don't absolutely need,
- turn things on in the right order... - I agree.
You started on a procedure?
The engineers have tried, but it's your ship.
- We gotta get you in there. - OK.
Frank, I need the sim cold and dark.
Give me the exact same conditions they've got in there now.
I need present status of every instrument.
You got it.
I need a flashlight. That's not what they have up there.
Don't give me anything they don't have on board.
Let's get this show on the road. Put him in space, fellas.
OK, Houston, the quad heater circuit breakers are open.
Copy that.
We're using the forward Omni when the earth's in the window,
and we're switching to aft Omni when we see the moon.
We copy that, Thirteen.
Aquarius, we don't want you to make any more waste dumps.
The venting may push you off course.
- Christ. - What's up?
No more waste dumps. We're just gonna have to store it.
Jack, we're gonna need some more urine bags.
OK, Houston, that leaves us with just the computer,
which I'm shutting down now.
And that's it.
We just put Sir Isaac Newton in the driver's seat.
Is it AM or PM.?
AM. Very, very AM.
Haise is running a temperature, and none of them has slept.
I can't order these guys to go to sleep. Could you sleep up there?
It's gonna get awful cold in there for those guys.
Gene, we have a situation brewing with the carbon dioxide.
We got a CO2 filter problem on the lunar module.
- Five filters on the LEM. - Meant for 2 guys for a day and a half.
- I told the doc... - They're already up to 8 on the gauges.
Anything over 15 and you get impaired judgment, blackouts,
beginnings of brain asphyxia.
What about the scrubbers on the command module?
- They take square cartridges. - The ones on the LEM are round.
Tell me this isn't a government operation.
This just isn't a contingency we've remotely looked at.
Those CO2 levels are gonna be getting toxic.
I suggest you invent a way to put a square peg in a round hole rapidly.
OK, people, listen up.
The people upstairs have handed us this one, and we gotta come through.
We gotta find a way to make this...
fit into the hole for this...
using nothing but that.
- Let's get it organized. - OK, let's build a filter.
Better get some coffee going too, someone.
The Haise family lives in El Lago, Texas.
His wife, Mary, is from Biloxi, Mississippi.
When Fred Haise was growing up in Biloxi,
he may have looked ahead to a fine family,
but he never dreamt of flying.
I'd never flown really before I went into the service,
and I only went into the flying business as a means to getting a commission.
- Good morning. - Henry. Don't you ever sleep?
I have a request from the news people.
They want to put a transmitter up on the lawn.
Transmitter?
It's kind of a tower for a live broadcast.
They didn't care about this mission. They didn't even run Jim's show.
Well... it's more dramatic now. Suddenly people are...
Landing on the moon wasn't dramatic enough for them.
Why should not landing be?
Look, I, realize how hard this is, Marilyn,
but the whole world is caught up in it.
- It's the biggest story since... - No, Henry.
Those people don't put one piece of equipment on my lawn.
If they have a problem with that, they can take it up with my husband.
He'll be home on Friday.
When you are sad and lonely
And have no place to go
Come to see me, baby and bring along some dough
And we'll go honky tonkin' Honky tonkin'
Honky tonkin', honey baby
We'll go honky tonkin' 'round this town
Hey, Freddo.
It's too cold in there.
Yeah.
That's a nice one of Mary.
- You don't look too good, Freddo. - I'll survive.
- There's aspirin in the medical kit. - I took some.
Jim, I'm all right.
It was an accident, Mary gettin' pregnant.
You should have seen the look on my face when she told me.
Well, that has a tendency to happen.
Yeah.
I wonder if it's a boy or a girl.
You're gonna find out soon enough.
Sure.
I never dreamed I'd ever get to do something like this:
Come up here on a real mission.
Most of the guys I graduated high school with...
never even left home, and here I am.
Yeah... here you are.
It hurts when I urinate.
Well, you're not gettin' enough water.
I'm drinking my ration the same as you.
I think old Swigert gave me the clap.
He's been pissin' in my relief tube.
Well... that will be a hot one at the debriefing for the flight surgeon.
That's another first for America's space program.
Listen... I've been going... over some stuff,
and I'm a little worried about this cold affecting our battery efficiency.
We quit heatin' the glycol to save water and power, so that's not helping.
It could cost us amp hours on the back end?
- That's a possibility. - I've been goin' over the numbers again.
Have they called up with a reentry plan yet?
- We're comin' in too shallow and fast. - We're workin' on something. Hold on.
I can't remember the ratio to temperature.
We got no references on board.
Let's see if Houston can pull up the mill specs.
Listen, listen! They gave us too much Delta V. They had us burn too long.
At this rate we're gonna skip right out of the atmosphere,
and we're never gonna get back.
What are you talkin' about? How'd you figure that?
I can add.
They've got half the Ph.Ds on the planet working on this.
Houston says we're on the money.
What if they made a mistake and there was no way to reverse it?
Do you think they would tell us?
- There's no reason to tell us. - What do you mean? That's bullshit!
There's a thousand things that have to happen in order.
We are on number eight. You're talking about number 692.
In the meantime, I'm trying to tell you we're coming in too fast.
I think they know it, and that's why we don't have a goddamn reentry plan.
That's duly noted. Thank you, Jack.
- Goddamn this piece of shit! - Hey!
This piece of shit's gonna get you home.
All right.
That's because that's the only thing we got left, Jack!
- What are you saying, Fred? - I think you know what I'm saying.
Now wait a minute. All I did was stir those tanks.
What was that gauge reading before you hit the switch?
- Don't tell me how to fly the damn CM! - You don't know, do you?
They brought me in to do a job!
They asked me to stir the tanks, and I stirred the tanks!
- Stop kicking yourself in the ass. - This is not my fault!
No one is saying it is.
If I'm in the left-hand seat when the call comes up, I stir the tanks.
Yeah, well, tell him that.
I just asked you what the gauge was readin', and you don't know!
Look, we're not doing this. We are not gonna do this.
We're not gonna go bouncing off the walls for ten minutes...
because we're just gonna end up right back here with the same problems!
Try to figure out how to stay alive!
Aquarius, this is Houston.
- Are we on VOX? - No, we're not on VOX.
Yeah, Houston, this is Aquarius. Go ahead.
Yeah, Jim, could you check your CO2 gauge for us?
Yeah, Houston, we were just looking at that.
Our CO2 measurement has jumped four notches in the last hour.
That can't be right. I went over those numbers three times.
Jim, that sounds about right. We were expecting that.
That's very comforting, Houston. What do we do about it?
We're working on a procedure down here for you.
- Do you copy? - Christ.
All right, Houston, we're standing by for those procedures.
Christ, I know why my numbers are wrong.
I only figured it for two people.
Maybe I should just hold my breath.
The deadly CO2 gas is poisoning the astronauts with every breath in and out.
Heads up. Heads up.
- Go, go, go, go! - Someone get that. Damn.
Heads up, people. Look out now.
- What's this? - That's what they gotta make.
- I hope you got the procedures for me. - Right here.
That's it?
All right, Aquarius, this is Houston.
Do you have a flight plan?
Affirmative, Andy. Jack's got one right here.
OK, we have an unusual procedure for you here.
We need you to rip the cover off.
He wants you to rip the cover off the flight plan.
With pleasure.
The other materials you're gonna need here are...
- a lithium hydroxide canister... - Two, two.
Two lithium hydroxide canisters. I'm sorry.
- A roll of gray tape. - Duct tape.
Duct tape. You need an LCG bag... Two LCG bags.
The red suit hoses, and you've got the flight plan cover.
- Can you give me a timetable? - Henry! Henry!
What about their level of carbon dioxide?
It's, climbing.
You're saying that they're almost out of breathable air?
Wait a second. That's not what he said. He said we're working on it.
You want to cut the duct tape three feet long.
- Tell him to use his arm. - Just use your arm.
- It's a good arm length. - I see what you're getting at. Hold on.
Jack, tear that piece of tape down the middle lengthwise.
- All right? - Hold on, Houston.
While the astronauts appear to have enough oxygen to keep them alive,
one thing they have too much of is carbon dioxide.
With each breath, the three men expel...
more of the poisonous gas into the lunar module cockpit,
and the scrubbers intended to keep the atmosphere breathable...
are quickly becoming saturated.
Shit. I tore it.
Shit!
Houston, what do we do if we ripped the bag? Can we tape it?
- They just tore the bag. - No.
Stand by. What should I tell 'em to do?
They should have one more.
But they've still got a long way to come.
They are now working on their backup facilities, their emergency facilities.
The problem is, if anything more goes wrong, they're in real trouble.
As most of you are aware, there is no rescue possible in space flight.
A-Any rescue system the space agency has long since calculated...
Hold this a minute.
Since any rescue system the space agency calculated...
- One sock. - Once you have the sock in place,
- we're gonna want you to bungee... - Work it in.
The entire filter assembly to the bulkhead,
- right above the LEM canister. - We're getting close to 15.
So how does this flight compare to other emergency situations you've faced?
I'd have to say that this is the most serious situation...
we've ever encountered in manned space flight.
- Houston, filter's in place. - Cabin gas return to egress.
Suit circuit relief to close.
- CO2 canister select to secondary. - All right.
Here goes.
I can hear air moving.
Just breathe normal, fellas.
Aquarius, please advise on CO2 status.
Yeah, Houston, we're taking a look at those numbers now.
We're still holding close to 15, Houston.
Roger that. Standing by.
Houston, the CO2 level has dropped to nine...
and it is still falling.
- Yes! - Great. Good job, you guys.
That is good to hear, Aquarius.
And you, sir, are a steely-eyed missile man.
OK, spacecraft control to computer.
Damn!
Damn.
We overloaded.
We used way too much power.
There must be a sneak circuit between step seven and ten.
- Which one has the leak? - Don't know that yet, John.
The sequence was wrong. We just have to go back and try 'em one at a time.
You need a break, Ken?
If they don't get one, I don't get one.
Well, if it won't work, get me another one.
- My son's supposed to be on. - I know, Mrs. Lovell.
- Hi, Blanch. - They can't fix a thing in this place.
Blanch, it's Marilyn.
Hi, Grandma.
- I was gonna see Jimmy. - I know. I know.
We came to tell you something.
There's been an accident. Jimmy's OK. He's all right.
But he's not gonna get to walk on the moon.
Well, they said he was.
I know. I know.
That was before.
Now there's been an explosion, and they're all OK.
They're all right. But now they're just going to...
try to figure out a way to get them home.
And...
And it's a little bit dangerous.
Sweetie.
Are you scared?
Well, don't you worry, honey.
If they could get a washing machine to fly,
my Jimmy could land it.
You saw me standing alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
Jack, you'll be happy to hear we contacted President Nixon,
and he's gonna grant you an extension on your income taxes...
since you are most decidedly out of the country.
Roger that, Houston.
That's wonderful news.
Tell them they have to sleep.
Haise is running a fever of 104.
Thirteen, we've had another request from the flight surgeon...
that you fellas get more sleep.
He doesn't like his readings down here.
Let's see how he feels about this.
I am sick and tired of the entire western world...
knowing how my kidneys are functioning!
Flight, I just lost Lovell!
Thirteen, this is Houston.
Jim, we just had a dropout on your bio-med sensors.
I'm not wearing my bio-med sensors, Houston.
OK, Jim. Copy that.
Now I'm losing all three of 'em!
It's just a little medical mutiny, Doc.
I'm sure the guys are still with us.
Let's cut 'em some slack, OK?
It's not the velocity, it's the angle.
Maybe they're still venting something that's throwing off the trajectory,
but we are definitely shallowing again.
- We are up to a 5.9. - Damn it.
At this rate, they nick the earth's atmosphere and bounce off into space.
We need another burn to get them back in the corridor.
Definitely another burn.
- Another burn. Copy that. - Fire the engines and get 'em on course.
Aquarius, this is Houston.
Houston, Aquarius.
Jim, we've got another course correction for you.
What's up?
Something about another course correction.
We copy, Houston.
Be advised it's gonna take Freddo and I a while to power up the computer...
for the alignment platform if we have to fire the engine.
Negative on that, Jim.
We can't spare power for the computer.
We gotta do this blind?
Without the computer, what do we use for orientation?
We've got to be able to give these guys something.
Without the power, we can't give them a reading.
I'm not talking about power, I'm talking about reference.
No, there's no references. We have debris up there.
Houston, what's the story with this burn?
We're trying to hash something out down here, Aquarius.
Stand by.
Look, Houston. All we need to hold attitude is one fixed point in space.
- Is that not correct? - Yeah. Roger that, Jim.
Well, Houston, we've got one.
If we can keep the Earth in the window, flying manually,
the co-ax cross hairs right on its terminator,
all I have to know is: How long do we need to burn the engine?
- The shorter, the better. - Roger that, Jim.
Can they fly it manually and still shut it down...
on time without the computer?
I guess that's the best we can do.
We're out of time.
In order to enter the atmosphere safely,
the crew must aim for a corridor just two and a half degrees wide.
If they're too steep, they'll incinerate in the steadily thickening air.
If they're too shallow, they'll ricochet...
off the atmosphere like a rock skipping off a pond.
The reentry corridor is, in fact, so narrow...
that if this basketball were the Earth...
and this softball were the moon,
and the two were placed 14 feet apart,
the crew would have to hit a target no thicker than this piece of paper.
OK, people, on your toes. We're doing this one blind.
Gene, I want you to understand we've never tried this before:
Burn, cold soak, burn, cold soak, burn, manual control.
Look, it will ignite, will it not?
I just want you to know the engine's never been tried like this.
That's all I'm trying to tell you.
I know what you're trying to do.
I guarantee you, I won't hold you personally responsible.
If it lights, it lights. Let Lovell do the rest.
OK.
They're gonna burn the engines and steer it manually,
attempting to keep the Earth in the window.
OK, this is gonna take all three of us.
Freddo...
you handle the pitch.
Put on the translation controllers, all backwards.
So if the Earth starts drifting down,
you need to thrust aft, not forward.
I'll do the same on mine with everything else.
We're going to burn at ten percent thrust for 39 seconds.
- Jack, you time us. - Got it.
Give us a count of the last ten seconds up to 39.
Let's not miss this.
You up to this, Freddo?
I'm with you.
Standing by for corridor control burn.
OK, Jim, you can fire when ready.
You are go for the manual burn.
OK, X plus button at ten seconds. Mark.
- Come on, baby. One more burn. - Nine, eight,
seven, six, five,
- four, three, - Ullage is go.
Two, one, ignition!
- She's burnin'! - Yeah.
- Master arm off. - OK, here we go.
- Helium regulator on. - RCS is go, 10% thrust.
- Bring her around, Freddo. - I'm tryin', but it's draggin'.
- Ten seconds. - Drop it down, Freddo.
- We're driftin'! - No, hold what you got.
- I'll roll it. Back off. - I can't get it stable.
She's dancin' all over the place!
- Come to the right a little bit. - Fifteen seconds.
She's driftin'. I'm losin' attitude.
Hold it right there. That's it. No, Freddo, back!
- Shit! I'm losin' it! - Bring the Earth up.
Forward, Fred. Come on. Forward.
Shit, I lost it! Where is it? Where is it?
7:00. Helium regulator's closed.
Bring it down, Freddo. Just nose it down.
- OK, OK, I got it! - Thirty seconds.
Little farther. Ease your touch!
Damn it! Damn it, that's mine. That's me. Around.
- A little more. Come on, baby. - Come on, that's it. Hold it. Damn it!
- Back! That's it! Hold it! Steady. - seven, eight, nine!
Shutdown!
Houston, we have shutdown.
That's close enough, Jim. Good work.
I knew it! I knew it! How about that LEM?
How about it?
- Guess you can keep your job. - You betcha.
Thirteen, stand by. We're evaluating our power usage on that burn.
Well, let's hope we don't have to do that again.
Gentlemen, you've given our guys enough to survive 'til reentry.
Well done.
Now we gotta get 'em in, so tell me about the power-up procedures.
Here's the order of what I want to do.
I want to power up Guidance, ECS, Communications,
warm up the pyros for the parachutes and the command module thrusters.
The thrusters are gonna put you over budget on amps.
They've been sitting at 200 below for four days, John. They gotta be heated.
Fine. Then trade off the parachutes, something.
Well, if the chutes don't open, what's the point?
You're telling me what you need.
I'm telling you what we have to work with at this point.
I'm not making this stuff up.
They're going to need all these systems, John.
We do not have the power, Ken. We just don't have it.
OK, I'm gonna go back and reorganize the sequencing again...
and find more power.
Let's start from scratch. Clear the board.
I don't know where the hell we're gonna find it.
Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell has more time in space,
almost 24 days already, than any other man,
and I asked him recently if he ever was scared.
I've had an engine flame out a few times in an aircraft...
and was curious as to whether it was going to light up again,
but, they seem to work out.
Is there an instance in an airplane emergency...
when you can recall fear?
Well, I remember this one time,
I'm in a Banshee at night in combat conditions,
so there's no running lights on the carrier.
It was the Shangri-la, and we were in the Sea of Japan.
My radar had jammed, and my homing signal was gone...
because somebody in Japan was actually using the same frequency,
and so it was leading me away from where I was supposed to be.
I'm looking down at a big, black ocean, so I flip on my map light.
Then, suddenly, zap, everything shorts out right there in my cockpit.
All my instruments are gone.
My lights are gone and I can't even tell what my altitude is.
I know I'm running out of fuel, so I'm thinking about ditching into the ocean.
I look down there and then, in the darkness,
there's this, there's this green trail.
It's like a long carpet that's just laid out right beneath me. It was the algae.
It was that phosphorescent stuff...
that gets churned up in the wake of a big ship.
It was, it was, it was just leading me home.
If my cockpit lights hadn't shorted out,
there's no way I'd have ever been able to see that.
So, you, you never know...
what, what events are going to transpire to get you home.
Spacecraft commander Jim Lovell, no stranger to emergencies.
- How's it going, Fred? - I'm OK.
What the hell was that?
Let's hope it was just the burst disk.
- Can you confirm a burst helium disk? - We confirm that.
Houston, is that going to affect our, entry angle at all?
Negative. Your entry angle is holding at 6.24, Aquarius.
Houston...
we, we sure could use...
the reentry procedure up here.
When can we expect that?
That's coming real soon, Aquarius.
Houston, we, we...
We just can't throw this together at the last minute.
So, here's what you're gonna do.
You're gonna get the procedure up to us, whatever it is,
and we're gonna go over it step by step, so there's no foul-ups.
I don't have to tell you we're all a little tired up here.
The world's getting awfully big in the window.
- Jim, this is Deke. - It's Deke.
They don't know how to do it.
- Maybe Jack's right. - Hello there, Deke. What's the story?
We're gonna get that power-up procedure to you.
We're gonna get it as soon as we possibly can.
Ken Mattingly's in the simulator right now.
Ken's working on it?
Look...
I know this sequence works, John.
The sequence looks good. We're just over budget on the amperage.
- By how much? - Three or four amps.
Goddamn it, John! Is it three or four?
- Four. - Four!
Four more amps.
We know they have some power left in the LEM batteries, right?
Yeah.
We have an umbilical that provides power from the command module to the LEM.
- It's backup for the LEM power supply. - I'm listening.
So... reverse it.
Reverse the flow and see if we can draw these four amps...
from the LEM batteries before we cut it lose.
- Why can't we do that? - We don't have a procedure for that?
You're gonna lose a lot in the transfer, Ken.
Yeah, yeah, but all we're talking about here is four amps.
I want whatever you guys got on these power procedures.
Gene, they're already...
I don't want the whole bible, just a couple of chapters.
We've got to get something up to these guys.
They're working on it.
I'll call the simulator and get an estimate.
Goddamn it!
I don't want another estimate! I want the procedures... now!
IMU is up.
- How am I reading? - Fine, so far.
- Say again. - You're under the limit. Keep going.
OK. Floodlights to fixed.
OK, I'm bringing up the guidance.
Here we go.
CMC Attitude IMU.
CMC Source.
CMC Mode, auto, and we're on the computer.
Ken?
- Go ahead. - Is your computer on now?
Up and running. How do we look?
John?
I think we got it, buddy.
Arthur, my notes are clear on that last sequence, right?
Yeah.
- Excuse me, gentlemen. - I was getting a little blurry there.
Here's Ken. Here's John.
It's good to see you, Ken.
This is the sequence.
- Was it tried on the hardware yet? - We didn't have time.
Aquarius, Houston. Do you read?
Yeah, we read you, Ken.
Are the flowers blooming in Houston?
That's a negative, Jim. I don't have the measles.
Jim, is Jack in there with you?
Yeah, stand by one. We gotta get him on comm.
- Put those on the table. - Damn it. Thanks, Jackie.
I think it would really help if you could...
just distract her when the heavy predictions come in.
- Yeah, yeah. We'll give it a shot. - Thanks.
Blanch.
Blanch, these nice, young men are gonna watch the television with you.
This is Neil Armstrong, and this is Buzz Aldrin.
Nice to meet you.
- Hi. - Are you boys in the space program too?
OK, Jack, give me a read-back on that last procedure.
Stand by, Ken.
Ken, I'm having trouble reading my own writing.
I guess I was a little more tired than I thought.
Don't worry, Jack. I'll talk you through it.
OK, find the main bus breakers on panel 11.
Yeah, main bus breakers.
- Got it. - Close main bus B.
Ken, there's an awful lot of condensation on these panels.
What's the word on these things shorting out?
We'll just take that one at a time, Jack.
It's like tryin' to drive a toaster through a car wash.
Main bus B is closed.
OK, Thirteen, we're coming up on entry interface.
Flight, we're still shallowing up a bit in the reentry corridor.
It's almost like they're underweight.
- Now how could they be underweight? - We didn't land on the moon.
- Rocks? - That's affirm.
One more thing, Jim.
While Jack's working on the power-up, we'd like you and Freddo...
to transfer some ballast over to the command module.
Say again, Houston. Ballast?
That's affirm. We got to get the weight right.
We were expecting you to be toting a couple hundred pounds of moon rocks.
Right, Houston.
- Now, Jack. - Yeah, go ahead, Ken.
OK, now, panel five.
Circuit breaker caution and warning main B closed.
Main B closed.
Master alarm off.
OK, Jack, on panel seven, B-MAG number two, power to warm-up.
B-MAG number two, power to warm-up done.
Sequential logic one and two on.
Sequential logic... two on.
CMRCS pressure on.
CMRCS pressurization.
As her husband prepares to jettison his lunar module lifeboat,
Marilyn Lovell waits with her children, her neighbors...
and, we are told, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
Only the Lovell's eldest son, Jay, is absent...
as he holds vigil with his classmates...
at the St. Johns Military Academy in Wisconsin.
ABC News science editor Jules Bergman.
With a crippled command module, and surviving by using the LEM's systems,
there can be no easy maneuver.
Their LEM lifeboat is doing things and working longer...
than it was ever intended to.
It's a race against time until splashdown.
OK, Jack, we're ready to see if the computer will accept...
- uplink of the reentry data now. - OK, the IMU is up.
- We got our eight-balls back. - Copy that.
OK, Ken, uplink telemetry, command module to accept, right?
That's affirm. Go ahead and try it.
Come on.
Uplink completed.
- Yeah. That's more like it. - We're back in business.
- Yeah. - OK, let's go.
Look at your amps. How we doin'?
We got her back up, Ken.
Boy, I wish you were here to see it.
I'll bet you do.
Way to go, Jack.
- Flight, this is RETRO. - Go, RETRO.
Flight, we are looking at a typhoon warning...
- on the edge of the prime recovery zone. - Say again, RETRO.
We are looking at a typhoon warning on the edge of the prime recovery area.
This is just a warning. It could miss them.
Only if their luck changes.
Jim, we're ready for SM jettison!
All right, Jack, on three!
One... two...
- upward thrust. - We're loose!
Reverse thrust!
We have service module jettison.
OK, Houston, service module is free.
We're gonna take a look at what we have here.
Copy that.
There it is. I see it!
Houston, we're getting our first look at the service module now.
One whole side of the spacecraft is missing.
Right by the high gain antennae a whole panel is blown out,
right up, right up to our heat shield.
Copy that, Aquarius.
It looked like it got the engine bell too. Can you see that?
Man, that's incredible.
The heat shield.
The heat will build up to as much as 3,000 or 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
On a lunar reentry flight, the heat approaches 4,000 degrees.
So, Blanch?
Blanch? Did Jim make Eagle Scout or not?
- Yes, he did. - He did.
If the heat shield is even slightly cracked,
the extreme cold could have split it wide open.
Worst of all, if the pyrotechnics that control the parachutes...
have been damaged, the chutes may not open at all,
causing the spacecraft to hit the water not at a gentle 20 miles per hour,
but at a suicidal 300.
Perhaps never in human history...
has the entire world been united by such a global drama.
In New York City, thousands of people have gathered...
to watch updates of the mission in Times Square.
Many countries offered help, and the State Department said...
it would ask for it if it were needed.
The House and Senate passed resolutions calling on the American people...
to pray tonight for the astronauts.
In Rome, Pope Paul led 50,000 people...
in prayers for the safe return of the astronauts.
In Jerusalem, prayers at the Wailing Wall.
It's about time to bail out of this ship, Freddo.
Freddo?
You OK?
I'm... I'm freezing.
Can you hold out just a little longer?
- Long as I have to. - Come on.
It won't be long. Just a little while longer, Freddo.
Just a little while longer. We're gonna hit that water in the South Pacific.
Open up that hatch.
- It's 80 degrees out there. - Eighty degrees.
- You are a mess. - Y-Yeah.
Odyssey, Houston. How we doin', guys?
We're closing in on lunar module jettison.
As you know, that is time critical.
We should be making our move into the command module.
Let's get that hatch buttoned up,
and, when you get a chance, let us know how you're doing.
Roger that.
Let me give you a hand there, Freddo.
We're coming up on LEM jettison.
Is everyone strapped in, Ken? We're getting real close.
Copy that, Flight. 13, Houston. We're coming up on LEM jettison.
Stand by.
Have you got everybody in the Odyssey?
Yeah, Ken, I'm gonna check those pyro batteries one more time here.
OK, the pyro batts look good.
I don't think we're gonna have to tie the other batteries.
Sorry, Jack, this is an old habit.
I'm kind of used to the pilot's seat. She's yours to fly.
OK, Odyssey, I want to double check some reentry procedures...
right after we jettison the LEM, which is coming up in 30 seconds.
What is that?
I was getting a little punchy,
and I didn't want to cut the LEM loose with you guys still in it.
That's good thinking.
Stand by, Houston.
We have lunar module jettison.
She sure was a good ship.
Farewell, Aquarius, and we thank you.
Mary?
It's almost time, honey.
Flight 9-6-6-4-0-6.
Let me put it this way.
The trajectory may be off. Their thrusters may be frozen.
Their guidance system might be malfunctioning.
Their heat shield could be cracked.
And their parachutes might be three blocks of ice.
Clearly, we have some obstacles to overcome.
Yeah, OK, but now I'm asking you, when will we know?
Well, blackout lasts for three minutes.
If they're not back in four, we'll know.
Velocity now reading 34,802 feet per second.
- Range to go 2,625 nautical miles. - Copy that.
OK, Ken, we are aligned for reentry.
Jim, we're going to need that computer reentry program.
- Fred, how are the batteries looking? - OK. Batt A looks good.
Reentry interface in one minute...
- Batt B, no volts, the amps are OK. - And 30 seconds.
Batt C...
shit, no volts, only two amps.
It may die before the main chutes open.
Roger. Let's tie all the batteries onto main A and main B.
Flight, they're still shallowing a bit up there. Do you want to tell 'em?
- Is there anything we can do about it? - Not now, Flight.
- Then they don't need to know, do they? - Copy that.
RETRO says the typhoon is still a presence in the splashdown area?
- Yeah. - We got the parachute situation,
the heat shield, the angle of trajectory and the typhoon.
There's so many variables, I'm a little at a loss...
I know what the problems are.
This could be the worst disaster NASA's ever experienced.
With all due respect, sir, I believe this is going to be our finest hour.
OK.
Expect entry interface in 45 seconds.
And on my mark, your velocity...
will be 35,245 feet per second.
Mark 35 seconds to entry interface.
Gentlemen...
it's been a privilege flying with you.
Flight, we have loss of radio contact.
Roger that.
Expect to regain signal in three minutes.
It all depends on the heat shield.
Back to the Iwo Jima and our live cameras there.
The Navy recovery and rescue helicopters already airborne,
circling, waiting for first radar contact.
Coming up now on three minutes until time of drogue deployment.
Bill, what time you got?
Standing by for any reports of acquisition.
One minute and 30 seconds to end of blackout.
No reentering ship has ever taken longer...
than three minutes to emerge from blackout.
This is the critical moment. Will the heat shield hold?
Will the command module survive the intense heat of reentry?
If it doesn't, there'll only be silence.
- Mommy, you're squishing me. - Oops, sorry, sweetie.
It's OK.
OK, Flight, that's three minutes.
- We are standing by for acquisition. - Copy that.
Odyssey, Houston. Do you read me?
Odyssey, this is Houston. Do you read?
Expected time of reacquisition,
the time when the astronauts were expected to come out of blackout,
has come and gone.
About all any of us can do now is just listen and hope.
We're about to learn whether or not that heat shield,
which was damaged by the explosion three days ago,
has withstood the inferno of reentry.
Odyssey, this is Houston. Do you read me?
Odyssey, Houston. Do you read?
Three minutes, 30 seconds. Standing by.
Odyssey, Houston. Do you read?
Odyssey, this is Houston. Do you read me?
That's four minutes. Standing by.
Odyssey, Houston. Do you read?
Hello, Houston, this is Odyssey.
It's good to see you again.
Odyssey, Houston. Welcome home.
We're glad to see you.
- Good job, Ken. Good job. - Thank you.
They made it. They made it.
- Yeah! - Lunney.
Houston, we're at stable one. The ship is secure.
This is Apollo 13 signing off.
Good job.
Our mission was called a successful failure,
in that we returned safely, but never made it to the moon.
In the following months, it was determined...
that a damaged coil built inside the oxygen tank...
sparked during our cryo stir and caused the explosion that crippled the Odyssey.
It was a minor defect that occurred two years...
before I was named the flight's commander.
Fred Haise was going back to the moon on Apollo 18,
but his mission was canceled because of budget cuts.
He never flew in space again.
Nor did Jack Swigert, who left the astronaut corps...
and was elected to Congress from the state of Colorado.
But he died of cancer before he was able to take office.
Ken Mattingly orbited the moon as command module pilot of Apollo 16...
and flew the space shuttle, having never gotten the measles.
Gene Kranz retired as Director of Flight Operations just not long ago.
And many other members of Mission Control have gone on to other things,
but some are still there.
And as for me...
the seven extraordinary days of Apollo 13 were my last in space.
I watched other men walk on the moon and return safely,
all from the confines of Mission Control and our house in Houston.
I sometimes catch myself looking up at the moon,
remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage,
thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home.
I look up at the moon and wonder...
when will we be going back...
and who will that be?
Sub source used: TinyBear Adaptation: miclar1