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Forty-five years have passed [autoplay video] since the flight launched:
After losing oxygen and power in its unsuccessful trip to the moon, Apollo 13 still managed to do one thing well: land back on Earth.
April 11 marks the 45th anniversary of the mission's launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center with the goal of landing on the moon. Watch the video above to learn about what's frequently called NASA's "successful failure."
Related: See a 1970 explanation of What Happened to Apollo 13.
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Why Apollo 13 was Called NASA's Most "Successful Failure."
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YOW!! Up ahead! It's a DONUT HUT!!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Snotnose on Monday April 13 2015, @02:07PM
My first memory is JFK getting shot. I was 5, watching TV when they broke in. I went to the kitchen, told mom, she started crying.
I remember the fire that killed Chaffee, White, and Grissom.
I remember landing on the moon. Hell, I put a tape recorder in front of the TV and recorded the audio.
I think the first I heard of Apollo 13 was when the movie came out.
Memories are funny things.
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: 4, Funny) by nitehawk214 on Monday April 13 2015, @02:56PM
"Memory Is Like a Watchamacallit", Stephen Brust
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by frojack on Tuesday April 14 2015, @01:19AM
I think the first I heard of Apollo 13 was when the movie came out.
Seriously?
The whole world was watching that and holding its breath. It was in every paper every day and wall to wall on TV.
I suppose an extended camping trip (or some other kind of long running trip) could have kept you away from the news. What about Kent State? Ever heard about that?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday April 14 2015, @02:25PM
Yeah, seriously. I've wondered why I didn't notice at the time for years. No extended camping trip in April, I was home doing normal 14 y/o kid stuff.
Kent State? Had nothing to do with space so I wouldn't have cared at the time. Think I learned about that from the CSN&Y song.
I came. I saw. I forgot why I came.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Tuesday April 14 2015, @08:32AM
Well, most news outlets now seem to start with: "These are the five worse things people have done to each other today, somewhere on the planet. Enjoy."
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @03:45PM
For anyone interested, the full transcript of the Apollo 13 mission can be read here [spacelog.org]. It's really quite a fascinating read.
(Score: 2) by hamsterdan on Monday April 13 2015, @05:24PM
What's amazing is *how* they managed to bring the pilots home even if the craft was crippled beyond hope.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Monday April 13 2015, @07:22PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 13 2015, @08:48PM
The interesting part of the story starts many years earlier.
The workers at the North American Aviation[1] plant in Downey, California were a bunch of screwups.
The sad saga started when NASA specified a 65 volt system for the oxygen tanks' heaters and the engineers and/or purchasing agents at this NASA contractor specified/bought/used 28 volt thermostats.
It didn't help that the line workers were a bunch of clumsy oafs.
The short version. [google.com] The big picture. [space.com]
[1] North American was famous for the P-51. Rockwell later bought them out.
The Rockwell plant, stretching between Lakewood Blvd and Woodruff Ave, was the biggest employer in that city when I lived in Downey in the 1980s.
.
My Google-fu is failing me now but I remember a political cartoon (by Paul Conrad, IIRC) after the 1967 Apollo 1 fire.
It showed the lower body of a burly man holding a big wrench dangling by his side, labeled American workmanship.
The wrench was dripping blood.
The 100 percent oxygen atmosphere of the original Apollo capsule was incredibly stupid.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday April 13 2015, @09:36PM
I was five years old when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
Nobody talked about Apollo 1 then, when three brave astronauts burned to death. They knew they likely would, as they had themselves photographed praying over a model of their capsule, whose door opened inwards, and that was tested with overpressurized pure oxygen.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]