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Transcipt of key moments in the Apollo-XIII flight (NOT the movie). Contains actual CapCom Air-to-Ground and Flight Director (FD) Loop conversations that took place in the Mission Operations Control Room (MOCR) on April 11-17, 1970. More than 30 years ago three brave American explorers started on a journey that would become know as a "successful failure" their story is told by first-hand accounts in the following books: (click on the title for additional information)
...and the Ron Howard film Apollo 13...
(PLEASE NOTE that this is a work in progress.) |
Additional APOLLO-13 images can be found on-line at The Project Apollo Image Gallery. The World-Wide Web's most extensive collection of high-quality Apollo images. Many photographs on this website are courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, specifically the NASA History Office, Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center.
This FAQ is maintained by Anthony W. Haukap The current version of this FAQ document can always be found on my website at: While every attempt is made to present accurate data it should be noted that the author makes no guarantee as to the accuracy of any information provided in this document, and is not responsible for any consequences of its use.
John Kennedy speeches leading up to the Apollo program. For additional information see the JFK Library website. |
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[Typical Prelaunch Sequence, 170KB GIF] [During the week prior to launch, backup Lunar Module Pilot Charles M. Duke, Jr., contracted rubella. Blood tests were performed to determine prime crew immunity, since Duke had been in close contact with the prime crew. These tests determined that prime Commander James A. Lovell and prime Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise were immune to rubella, but that prime Command Module Pilot Thomas K. Mattingly II did not have immunity. Consequently, following 2 days of intensive simulator training at the Kennedy Space Center, backup Command Module Pilot John L. Swigert, Jr., was substituted in the prime crew to replace Mattingly. Swigert had trained for several months with the backup crew, and this additional work in the simulators was aimed toward integrating him into the prime crew so that the new combination of crewmen could function as a team during the mission. Ken Mattingly later flew on Apollo 16.]HH:MM:SS - Ground Elapsed Time (GET) T-28:00:00 Official countdown starts LM stowage and cabin closeout. (T-31:30:00 to T-18:00:00)
T-22:30:00 Topoff of LM super critical helium. (to T-20:30:00) T-19:00:00 CSM crew storage. (to T-12:30:00) T-19:30:00 LM The thermal shield installation. (to T-15:30:00) T-16:00:00 LV range safety checks. (to T-15:00:00) T-15:00:00 Installation of ALSEP FCA. (to T-14:45:00) T-11:30:00 Connect LV safe and arm devices. (to 10:05:00) CSM pre-ingress operations. (to T-08:45:00) T-10:15:00 Start MSS move to parksite. T-09:00:00 Built-in hold for 9 hours and 13 minutes. At end of hold, pad is cleared for LV propellant loading.
T-03:32:00 Breakfast.
T-03:07:00 Depart Manned Spacecraft Operations Building for LC-39 via crew transfer van.
T-02:49:00 - MCC PAO: "All three men breathing on what we call portable oxygen ventilators at this time. They have been on these since they were put into their suits in the suit room and they will remain on the portable oxygen ventilators until they actually enter the spacecraft and hookup into the spacecraft system. Now at two-hours, forty-eight minutes, twenty-nine seconds, this is Kennedy launch control."
T-00:53:00 - MCC PAO: "Just a few minutes ago, Ken Mattingly, who until a few days ago was the prime command module pilot for Apollo 13, arrived in Mission Control and Ken will be assisting at the CapCom console and he's joined astronaut John Young and astronaut Joe Kerwin on the capcom console. As he arrived in Mission Control, Flight Director Milton Windler greeted him and said, 'Sorry to see you here, Ken.'" T-00:43:00 Retract Apollo access arm to stand-by position (12 degrees).
T-00:40:00 Final launch vehicle range safety checks. (to 00:35:00) T-00:30:00 Launch vehicle power transfer test LM switch over to internal power. T-00:20:00 Shutdown LM operational instrumentation. (to T-00:10:00) T-00:15:00 Spacecraft to internal power. T-00:06:00 Space vehicle final status checks. T-00:05:30 Arm destruct system.
T-00:05:00 Apollo access arm fully retracted. (180 degree position) T-00:05:00 - KSC PAO: "Swing arm number nine, now is retracting to the full retract position, swing arm number nine coming back to the full retract position. And the director of launch operations (Walter J.) Walt Kapryan (Kennedy Space Center) has given Apollo 13 a go for launch. We're now approaching the four minute mark. At the T minus four minute mark we'll be standing by for Jack Baltar the launch vehicle test conductor to say that his launch vehicle team is ready to carry out the final phase here of the countdown. At the T minus three minute, seven second mark we will get the ignition sequence start, this will put us on an automatic sequencer and the remainder of the count from that time will be on automatic. The astronauts checkout literally hundreds of items in the space vehicle, at the same time the team here in launch control will be monitoring red line values these are such things as temperatures and pressures which we do not want to either go above or below. A final communication check now, the astronauts on the astro-comm circuit and launch operations manager Paul (C.) Donnelly during his final check said 'Good luck. Head for the hills.' He was refering to the Fra Mauro, hilly Fra Mauro region of the moon. As we come up on the T minus three minute mark. At three minutes the capsule communicator (CapCom) Paul J. Weitz will begin reading out the minus time to the crew. Looking up at our status board now we can see that the spacecraft, or the first stage preparations are now complete. The firing command has not been initialized, this is the automatic sequencer and we have confirmation on our status board that the launch sequence has started. We're now in our final three minutes of the countdown."
Flight: "Okay. All flight controllers coming up on auto sequence, Booster, how you?." [For a detailed description of the events a few minutes before launch and during the first few minutes of powered flight refer to the book 'APOLLO – The Race to the Moon' by Charles Murray and Catherine Bly Cox (Commonly referred to as the "Murray and Cox Book"), Chapter 17: 'And then on launch day it worked' - Pages 244-250.]T-00:03:07 Firing command (automatic sequence). (loop) Booster: "Auto sequence initiated, Flight."T-00:02:56 - KSC PAO: "Two minutes fifty-six seconds and Apollo 13 continues to be go. The astronauts still reporting back from the spacecraft Odyssey. Spacecraft Commander Jim Lovell says Odyssey is go, he will be the last one to preform a function here during the countdown at the T minus forty-five second mark. The commander Jim Lovell will set the final alignment of the spacecraft guidance, that's the last crew action before the liftoff of Apollo 13. We continue to aim for a liftoff at two-thirteen PM Eastern Standard Time. Now T minus two minutes, eighteen seconds and counting. And our count continues to look good. Our weather is no constraint to launch today, earlier fears about the weather seems to have dissipated. A stationary front over the Florida-Georgia border has not sent down the predicted bad weather that we had feared. We just passed the two minute mark, just pass the two minute mark in the countdown and the pressurization now of the vehicle tanks is beginning. The third stage liquid oxygen has now been pressurized and the second stage liquid oxygen tank has been pressurized. We'll be making our final transfer from external power source, that is from the external power source at the pad to the launch vehicle battery at the T minus fifty second mark. We'll be keeping an eye on that power transfer at T minus fifty seconds. The S-IVB propellants now all pressurized, S-IVB propellant, that's the third stage of the Saturn-V, pressurized. One minute fifteen seconds and counting. The spacecraft equipment, now is on its own internal cooling it's been sharing it's cooling, from it, getting it's cooling from an external power source up to this time. We're now approaching the T minus one minute mark. T minus one minute. T minus one minute and counting. Now in the final minute of our countdown. At the thirty second mark swing arm number one will retract." T-00:00:50 Launch vehicle transfer to internal power. T-00:00:50 - KSC PAO: "T minus fifty seconds. As we pass the T minus fifty second mark the power transfer takes place. First stage, seconds stage, third stage, and the instrument unit going to internal power."(loop) Booster: "Flight, Booster. S1C pre-press complete, and we're on internal power, and we're go."T-00:00:37 - KSC PAO: "T minus thirty-seven seconds and our count continues to go well. We'll be looking for an ignition of those five first stage engines at the T minus eight point nine second mark. We pass T minus thirty, T minus twenty-five seconds and counting. And Apollo 13 is go. T minus twenty seconds. T minus twenty seconds and counting, seventeen, guidance release..."
T-00:00:08.9 Ignition sequence start. T-00:00:08 - KSC PAO: "...eight, ignition sequence has started, six, five, four, three..." (loop) Booster: "Ignition, Flight."T-00:00:02 All engines running. T-00:00:02 - KSC PAO: " ...two, one..."
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T-00:00:00 Liftoff.
Booster: "Roger, go all engines."00:00:06 - KSC PAO: "The Saturn-V building up to seven point six million pounds of thrust, and it has cleared the tower."
Flight: "Okay, Fido how's it look?"00:00:25 - JSC PAO: "Flight Dynamics Officer (FIDO) says the trajectory looks good. We show one-half mile in altitude at this time." 00:00:30 - CapCom: "13, Houston. Go at thirty seconds." 00:00:34 - Lovell: "Roll complete and we're pitching."
00:00:42 - Lovell: "One-bravo."
(loop) Flight: "Okay, we're go at one (minute) CapCom."00:01:03 - CapCom: "13, Houston. Go at one. We show the cabin relieving." 00:01:07 - Lovell: "13, roger."
Flight: "Booster, how do you look?"00:01:26 - JSC PAO: "All sources continue to report we're go. The trajectory on our plot board is right on the preplaned line." (loop) Booster: "Through max Q, and we're go, Flight."00:01:37 - JSC PAO: "And the booster engineer reports we're now through the region of maximum dynamic pressure. We're go."
00:01:58 - Lovell: "One-charlie."
Flight: "Go for staging, CapCom."00:02:00 - CapCom: "And 13 you're go for staging." 00:02:03 - Lovell: "Go for staging, roger. We're EDS MANUAL." 00:02:06 - JSC PAO: "Altitude now seventeen miles coming up on staging." 00:02:08 - CapCom: "Copy that." 00:02:15 - Lovell: "Inboard." 00:02:19 - JSC PAO: "Jim Lovell reports the inboard engine has shutdown as scheduled." 00:02:27 - CapCom: "We confirm inboard out, 13. You're looking good."
00:02:36 - JSC PAO: "Coming up on thirty miles altitude." 00:02:44 First stage cutoff.
00:02:50 Second stage ignition. 00:02:50 - Lovell: "S-II ignition." 00:02:51 - CapCom: "Roger."
00:03:04 - Lovell: "Roger." 00:03:06 - JSC PAO: "CapCom Joe Kerwin confirming to the crew that the second stage looks good at this point. We're now forty-six miles high, seventy miles, (correcting himself) seventy-eight miles downrange." 00:03:18 - Lovell: "Skirt sep, tower jett."
00:03:22 - Lovell: "Mode two."
00:03:40 - JSC PAO: "And Lovell reports that the guidance system is correcting the small errors." 00:03:44 - CapCom: "13, Houston. The guidance is good and the CMC (Command Module Computer) is go." 00:03:46 - Swigert: "Okay, Thank you, Joe." 00:03:47 - Lovell: "13, roger." 00:03:56 - JSC PAO: "Coming up on four minutes we're now at an altitude of sixty-three miles." 00:04:15 - JSC PAO: "At four minutes, fifteen seconds the trajectory...(interrupted by CapCom)" 00:04:18 - CapCom: "13, Houston. You're go at four minutes. The little red lines are right on the little white lines down here." 00:04:23 - Lovell: "Sounds good." 00:04:33 - JSC PAO: "They're currently about up to eleven-thousand feet per second. That's about thirty-six percent of the amount needed for a minimum orbit. We're now seventy-five miles in altitude, (pause) two-hundred twenty-two miles downrange now. The EECOM reports... (interrupted by CapCom)." 00:04:55 - CapCom: "13, Houston. Coming up on five minutes. You're looking perfect. Over." 00:04:59 - Lovell: "13, roger." 00:05:03 - JSC PAO: "And the EECOM reports that the cabin pressure is sealed at six point one pounds, which is normal. We're now two-hundred fifty miles downrange, altitude eighty-one nautical miles." 00:05:27 Center engine cutoff (occurred about 2 minutes, 12 seconds early, planned for S-II ignition +4min. 47sec.)
00:05:32 - Lovell: "Inboard." 00:05:37 - CapCom: "Roger. We confirm inboard out." (loop) Booster: "Comfirm inboard out, Flight."00:05:45 - CapCom: "13, Houston. Standby for S-IVB to C.O.I. (Contingency Orbit Insertion) capability."
00:05:54 - CapCom: "Roger. You got it now, Jim." 00:05:56 - Lovell: "We've got S-IVB to C.O.I." (loop) Booster: "Flight, Booster. That inboard out was way early."00:06:01 - JSC PAO: "Booster reports that the inboard engine shutdown was a bit early, and we're continuing to burn on the four outboard engines."
00:06:08 - Lovell: "Go at six." 00:06:13 - Lovell: "And Houston what's the story on engine five?" 00:06:16 - CapCom: "Jim, Houston. we don't have a story on why the inboard out was early, but the other engines are go, and you're go." 00:06:24 - Lovell: "Roger."
00:06:43 - CapCom: "(Lost under the Public Affairs Commentator)...you're still looking good, your gimbals are good, trim is good." 00:06:46 - Lovell: "Roger." 00:06:57 - CapCom: "13, Houston. Level sense arm time eight plus three, eight, nominal, S-II cutoff time ninerer, plus four, eight, over." 00:07:04 - Lovell: "Roger, nominal on the sense arm, ninerer, four, eight on the S-II cutoff"
00:07:13 - Lovell: "Roger. We have S-IVB to orbit."
00:07:45 - JSC PAO: "At seven minutes, forty-five seconds, Booster reports we are go. All four engines remaining looking good." 00:07:59 - JSC PAO: "The early shutdown of the center engine will cause no problem, we will burn a little longer than normally schedule... (interrupted by CapCom)" 00:08:05 - CapCom: "13, Houston. Looking good at eight minutes." 00:08:10 - Lovell: "13, roger." 00:08:18 - JSC PAO: "And at eight minutes seventeen seconds we show a velocity of eighteen-thousand feet per second that's about seventy-one percent of the amount needed for a minimal orbit." 00:08:38 - JSC PAO: "At eight minutes thirty-five seconds continuing to burn on the second stage all four remaining engines looking good at this point." 00:08:49 - CapCom: "Apollo 13, Houston. Mark. Level sense arm." 00:08:52 - Lovell: "Mark. Level sense arm. Roger." 00:09:01 - CapCom: "Apollo 13, Houston. At nine minutes you're go, the CMC is go." 00:09:06 - Swigert: "Okay, Joe." 00:09:07 - Lovell: "13, roger." (loop) Flight: "Booster, Flight. How you?"00:09:15 - JSC PAO: "Our predicted shutdown time on the second stage is 9 minutes, 48 seconds, Flight Director Milton (L.) Windler (Maroon Team) getting a staging status now from his flight controllers." 00:09:22 - CapCom: "13, Houston. You are go for staging." 00:09:26 - Lovell: "13, roger. Go for staging." 00:09:44 - CapCom: "Apollo 13, Houston. Standby for mode four capability. (pause) Mark. You have mode four, Jim." 00:09:47 - Lovell: "Mode four, roger."
00:09:49 - Lovell: "Staging." 00:09:50 - CapCom: "Roger. Staging." 00:09:50 - JSC PAO: "And Lovell reports staging." 00:09:51 Third stage ignition. (S-II separation +03sec.) 00:09:51 - Lovell: "And S-IV ignition." 00:10:10 - CapCom: "Roger that Jim. Thrust looks good." 00:10:11 - Lovell: "Roger."
00:10:26 - Lovell: "Thank you, Joe." 00:10:32 - JSC PAO: "At ten minutes thirty seconds we are now one-hundred two in altitude, one-thousand eighty miles downrange." 00:11:13 - CapCom: "13, Houston. At eleven minutes you are go. Predicted cutoff on the S-IVB is twelve plus three, four. Over."(no response) 00:11:39 - CapCom: "Apollo 13, Houston. You are go at eleven and a half and predicted cutoff time is twelve plus three, four. Over." 00:11:47 - Lovell: "Understand twelve plus three, four predicted cutoff time." 00:11:51 - CapCom: "That's affirm." 00:11:55 Earth orbit insertion. 00:11:59 - JSC PAO: "Coming up on twelve minutes still looking good." 00:12:25 - JSC PAO: "We're standing by for crew report of third stage shutdown." 00:12:34 Third stage cutoff. 00:12:32 - Lovell: "SECO" 00:12:33 - CapCom: "Confirm SECO, Jim. We're looking at the DSKY." 00:12:37 - Lovell: "Roger."
00:13:08 - CapCom: "Apollo thirteen, Houston. You have a go orbit, all sources and the booster is safe. Over." 00:13:12 - Lovell: "Go orbit and the booster is safe. Thank you, Joe." 00:12:16 - CapCom: "Don't mention it." 00:13:35 - CapCom: "13, Houston. We copy your noun 44." 00:13:40 - Lovell: "Okay, Joe." 00:14:00 - JSC PAO: "And the Booster Engineer reports at this time that the S-IVB third stage looks good, and being configured now for orbital operations. We're standing by for confirmation from the Flight Dynamics Officer (FIDO) of our preliminary orbit." 00:15:05 - CapCom: "Apollo 13, Houston. You're preliminary orbit down here is one-hundred two point five times one-hundred point three and everything is looking good." 00:15:14 - Lovell: "Roger, Houston. And it looks good to be up here again." 00:15:17 - CapCom: "Roger." 00:15:43 - CapCom: "Apollo 13, Houston. I have your Z torque angle when you're ready to copy." 00:15:51 - Lovell: "Roger that. We're ready to copy, Joe." 00:15:53 - CapCom: "Okay. It's plus decimal two, six. Over." 00:15:55 - Lovell: "Okay, Joe. Plus point two, six." 00:16:03 - CapCom: "That's roger." 00:17:00 - JSC PAO: "This is Mission Control at seventeen minutes. We have had loss of signal with the spacecraft. We’ll be reacquiring shortly through the Canary Island tracking station. The total burn duration on the third stage was about 45 seconds longer than planned, we would not expect at this point that this would have any serious effect on the translunar injection. The fact that we did consume a bit more propellant out of the third stage than was originally planned. We are standing by now for acquisition of signal through the Canary Island station. We should be reacquiring radio contact with the spacecraft shortly." JSC PAO: "This is Apollo Control, we are still standing by for any conversation with the spacecraft over Canary Islands. The booster systems engineer reports that at this point he has no explanation for the early shutdown of the S2; Saturn second stage, center engine."
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[Typical TLI Sequence, 165KB GIF]
02:25:49 - CapCom: "Okay. We're just starting to get data and everything still looks good to us." 02:25:53 - Swigert: "Hey, Joe. At two hours and twelve minutes, the O2 flow high light came on, and it's been pegged high ever since, so it's been on about fourteen minutes now." 02:26:04 - CapCom: "Roger, 13. We're looking at it." 02:26:09 - Lovell: "Time base six." 02:26:12 - CapCom: "Copy. Time base six." 02:26:52 - CapCom: "Okay. Apollo 13, Houston. You have a go for all systems and the O2 flow high check is nominal with the waste tank vent open at this time, and it's no sweat." 02:27:05 - Swigert: "Okay. just wanted you all to check it for me." 02:31:22 - CapCom: "Apollo 13, Houston. We will be losing data from Carnarvon in about 1 minute. We'll probably have voice through ARIA. Everything is honkey-dory and we will be listening for you to tell us how the burn goes."
02:35:47 - CapCom: "Copy that Jim. Good deal." 02:35:56 - JSC PAO: "Jim Lovell reports we have ignition. (long pause) Lovell’s report would indicate that we had a very close to on-time ignition. The total burn duration should be about five minutes, forty-seven seconds." 02:36:30 - Lovell: "Everything’s okay so far." 02:36:34 - CapCom: "Houston, roger." 02:36:40 - JSC PAO: "Jim Lovell just reported that everything looks good with that burn. We’re still about 7 minutes away from reacquiring the spacecraft through the station in Hawaii at which time we’ll get our first good look at the trajectory as a result of this burn." 02:38:27 - Lovell: "They’re off at 38." (unintentional transmission) 02:39:15 - JSC PAO: "We’re now three and a half minutes into the translunar injection burn. Some 2 minutes, 17 seconds remaining in the maneuver which will start Apollo 13 in route to the moon." 02:40:26 - Lovell: "We’re getting a little vibration during this time." 02:40:28 - CapCom: "Houston, roger." 02:41:20 - JSC PAO: "Now about 20 seconds away from the scheduled shut down time. Jim Lovell reported few seconds ago that they’re experiencing a bit of vibration on the S-IVB. Previous crews reported similar experience toward the end of the burn." 02:41:40 - Lovell: "It's off. Engine off." 02:41:42 - CapCom: "Houston, copy. Engine off." 02:42:00 - JSC PAO: "Lovell’s report of engine off came about five or six seconds after the pre-planned time."
02:42:30 - Lovell: "Roger. Through Hawaii on three minutes." 02:42:30 - JSC PAO: "Our communications continuing to come to us as relayed through the ARIA aircraft."
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03:19:18 - Haise: "We're hard dock, Houston." 03:19:21 - CapCom: "Roger, understand hard dock. Good deal. Fred one more thing on the TV, if you could come down to F:22 again." 03:19:32 - Haise: "Okay. You got F:22 again."
03:20:26 - CapCom: "Okay, Jim. Real good." 03:20:30 - JSC PAO: "A view of the Saturn third stage and the lunar module is coming to us from about 5,000 miles beyond earth. The spacecraft and S-VIB traveling at a speed of about 22,900 feet per second at this time." 03:21:38 - Haise: "Okay, Joe I'm pointing over towards Jack and it's pretty bright with the Earth out that window is that sort of washing out the picture here?" 03:21:49 - CapCom: "No Fred it's not, we've got a bright spot where the window is, but the rest of you are semi-silhouetted. It's a pretty impressive picture."
03:xx:xx - Haise: "And we're just about there... about 10 more feet now." 03:xx:xx - JSC PAO: "Rog." 03:xx:xx - Haise: "Everything looks pretty good down in the S-VIb too. The shroud still looks intact down there." 03:xx:xx - JSC PAO: "Good deal. There's really quite a bit of detail in this picture." 03:xx:xx - Swigert: "Okay. We've got 2-barber poles." 03:57:58 - CapCom: "Okay 13, Houston. You're go for LM sep whenever you're ready." 03:58:06 - Swigert: "Roger." 03:58:18 - CapCom: "Okay 13, Houston. Correction on that. You're go for LM sep at the nominal time and, or later. We don't want it early." 04:00:54 - Swigert: "Okay, we're about ready to pull the LM out, Joe." 04:00:59 - CapCom: "Okay, 13." 04:01:03 - Swigert: "Here she comes. (pause) Okay, it looks like we're clear, Joe." 04:01:19 - CapCom: "Okay, looks good. It's weird, cause we get the TV about 10 seconds after you call it."
04:08:26 - Swigert: "Okay, Houston. We have the S-IVB in sight. You're go to maneuver the S-IVB." 04:08:31 - CapCom: "Houston, roger that." 04:09:04 - Swigert: "Try to give you a - Houston, we're going to try to give you a shot of the S-IVB with the TV out window number three." 04:10:05 - Swigert: "Okay, I can see the S-IVB now out the hatch window." 04:17:41 - CapCom: "And 13, Houston. We'll be commanding the evasive maneuver in about seventeen seconds." 04:18:40 - Swigert: "Okay, Joe. We can see it start to move, however there doesn't seem to be a lot of debris or vapor coming out of it." 04:18:48 - CapCom: "Roger that Jack. Booster says that great, he says the booster is doing its thing normally. Concur, we don't see much on the television at all."
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[At 13+11 Flight Director Gene Kranz and his White Team of Flight Controllers come on duty, with the crew currently asleep. FIDO pointed out that the MCC-2 burn was presently scheduled for 30+41 GET and would be approximately 23 fps.] [At 20+01 RECOVERY reported a tropical storm in the South pacific, and then worked with RETRO to make the necessary adjustments to the 25 and 35 hour abort landing areas.] [Shortly after the coast period begins, the spacecraft is oriented for navigation sightings of stars and earth landmarks. The spacecraft is then put into a slow roll (PTC) to provide uniform solar heating (about 2 revolutions an hour). This thermal control rolling is stopped for inertial measurement unit alignment and for course corrections.] [A change of shift takes place in the MOCR at 22+00. Flight Director Glynn Lunney and his Black Team of Flight Controllers come on duty with the crew asleep, taking over from Gene Krantz's team. Astronaut Joe Kerwin takes over Capsule Communicators duties from Jack Lousma. During Glynn's stint at the console they will oversee the following crew activities:23:28:07 - CapCom: "I have a little news and plan of the day for you, if you feel like listening to that a little later on." 24:16:12 - Lovell: "Gosh, we had forgotten, but we'd like to hear what the news is." 24:16:15 - CapCom (Joe Kerwin): "Okay. There's not a whole lot to it... The Beatles have announced they will no longer perform as a group. The quartet is reported to have made in excess of a half billion dollars during their short musical career. However, rumors that they will use this money to start their own space program are false." 24:17:24 - Lovell: "Maybe we could borrow some?" 24:17:30 - CapCom (Joe Kerwin): "(laughter) Okay... Many air traffic controllers are still out, but reports indicate that they are slowly returning to work, and you'll be happy to know the controllers here in the MOCR are still on the job." 24:18:03 - Lovell: "(garbled)" 24:18:05 - CapCom (Joe Kerwin): "Go ahead." 24:18:09 - Lovell: "I said thank goodness for that." 24:18:10 - CapCom (Joe Kerwin): "Okay. Some truck lines are being struck in the Midwest and some school teachers have walked off the job in Minneapolis. Today's favorite pastime across the US, (dramatic pause and with mock urgency in his voice) oh, oh, have you guys completed your income tax?" 24:18:28 - Lovell: "How do I apply for an (income tax) extension?" 24:18:31 - CapCom (Joe Kerwin): "(laughter)" 24:18:32 - Swigert: "Yea, Joe. I got to - hey, listen; it ain't too funny. Things kinda happened real fast down there and I, I do need an extension." 32:18:43 - CapCom (Joe Kerwin): "(laughing)" 24:18:44 - Swigert: "I didn't get mine filed, I'm really serious, would you..." 24:18:47 - CapCom (Joe Kerwin): "You're breaking up the room down here." 24:18:52 - Swigert: "I may be spending time in a...I may be spending time in another quarantine besides the one they were planning for me." 24:18:59 - CapCom: "We'll see what we can do, Jack. We'll get with recovery and see if we can get the agent out there in the Pacific when you come back. By golly, let's see... In professional basketball, the Nicks beat the Milwaukee Bucks 110 to 109, and Billy Casper is leading the Masters after 54 holes with a 208, and spring football practice is in full swing. And that's about all the news we got. The updated plan of the day for you guys; the uniform will be service dress inflight coverall garments with swords and medals; and tonight's movie, shown in the lower equipment bay, will be John Wayne, Lou Costello, and Shirley Temple in 'The Flight of Apollo 13'. Over." 24:19:50 - Lovell: "Outstanding! (pause) Houston, this is 13. Is it true that Jack's income tax return was going to be used to buy the ascent fuel for the LM?" 24:20:50 - CapCom: "And Jim McDivitt says, 'yes, now that you mentioned it, he forget to fill the ascent stage.' (pause) Should give you very good performance on descent." 24:21:00 - Lovell: "Suspicions confirmed." 24:21:11 - Haise: "We should have a lot more hover time, huh?" 24:21:13 - CapCom: "That's right! (pause) Okay, crew. About the only other thing I've got for you right now is an update to your P37 pad for lift-off plus 35. This is a change to the pad we gave you yesterday. The reason for the update is for weather avoidance in the mid-Pacific landing area at 70-hours, which is the return time for this pad, and in case the question arises in your mind, we don't expect any problem there for the end of the mission. The weather area is 20 degrees south of your end-of-mission landing point, and it appears to be moving to the south." 25:26:50 - CapCom: "I'd like to read to you the booster people's preliminary analysis on the S-II cutoff. Over." 25:26:58 - Lovell: "That would be very interesting. Go ahead." 25:27:00 - CapCom: "Okay, preliminary analysis of the data indicates that the center S-II engine vibrated at a somewhat higher amplitude than we've seen on previous flight, and it started at about 160 seconds into the S-II burn. As a result of these vibrations, the engine chamber pressure decreased to the level where the two low-level thrust sensors, the thrust... okay, sensors, initiated center engine cutoff. Early evaluation of the data indicates that no damage occured to the engine, and the cause of the increased vibration amplitude is still under investigation."
29:30:54 - Swigert: "That's good news. I guess I qualify." 29:31:00 - CapCom: "Yes, we were just looking at the map, and you're south of Flordia so you're not in the country now." --:--:-- - CapCom (FD Glynn Lunney): "American citizens out of the country get a 60 day extension on filing, I assume this applies to you."
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30:46:05 - Lovell: "We did notice one thing, Vance. You know that new fad with long hair? It won't work too well up here in space." 30:46:15 - CapCom: "What was that one again?." 30:46:18 - Lovell: "I say you know that new... the new fad with long hair." 30:46:21 - CapCom: "Right." 30:46:22 - Lovell: "It doesn't work too well up in space, you can't comb your hair up here." 30:46:27 - CapCom: "Well, I guess you have to give up something. (pause) At least it, it helps to try, we can see you trying to comb your hair there, Jim. It looks like your beards haven't come along to the point where you have to use the razor though." 30:46:51 - Lovell: "Well we've been debating that, we thought we'd take care of our beards tomorrow and make that one of our duties. (pause) And Vance, I thought we'd get a picture of Jack just so that all the girls know that he's still here. (pause) Say hello Jack." 30:47:34 - CapCom: "Yea, we, we appreciate that. There he is, big Jack."
46:43:38 - CapCom (Joe Kerwin): "Ah, roger. Spacecraft is in real good shape as far as we're concerned, Jim. We're bored to tears down here. We do have a few little items for you like a P37 update and a couple of flight plan updates, but there's no rush about them. Over." 46:44:36 - Lovell: "It might be interesting that just after we went to sleep last night we had a MASTER ALARM and it really scared us... and we were all over the cockpit like a wet noodle." 46:44:45 - CapCom: "Sorry it wasn't something more significant. I've also got a procedure for you on that H2 tank, simple thing after you get done stirring up the cryos."
47:40:29 - Lovell: "Okay. Standy by. (pause) Joe, we confirm. Our gage reading is, on the number 2 O2 tank is reading off-scale high now, but Jack just tells me that it was okay when we first looked at it this morning." 47:41:00 - CapCom: "We verifiy that. At 46:45 we had 82 percent and apparently when he stirred the, the cryos, the sensor broke." 47:41:17 - Lovell: "Okay." 47:45:20 - CapCom: "... and since we're not going to do a midcourse 3, we'd like LM entry at 55 hours. Is that okay with you?"
51:07:44 - Lovell: "Okay. We'll start it (pause) now." 51:07:46 - CapCom: "Thank you. (pause) and 13, Houston. For your information, a normal 1-minute or so stir will be fine."
52:07:48 - Lovell: "Go ahead, Houston." 52:07:50 - CapCom: "Jim, just an advisory; expect a CAUTION AND WARNING on H2 tank 1 pretty quick. No problems; just warning you about it." 52:08:05 - Lovell: "Okay. A zero pressure light on H2 tank 1 coming on shortly, hun?"
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55:14:56 - CapCom: "Okay, 13. We've got Freddo on TV." 55:15:04 - Lovell: (doing the camera work) "Roger, Houston. What we plan to do for you today is start out in the spaceship Odyssey, and take you on through Odyssey into the tunnel and into Aquarius, and show you a little bit of the landing vehicle, and your TV operator is now resting on the center couch looking at Fred Haise whose head is now just about at the tunnel, and his back is against the lower equipment bay optical area, and Fred will now transport himself into the tunnel and into the spaceship Aquarius." 55:15:48 - Haise: "Yea one thing I noted, Jack when we first came across here that starting upright in the command module and heading down into Aquarius there's a little bit of an orientation change that I been through it once in the water tank is still pretty unusual. I find myself now standing with my head on the floor when I get down inside the LM." 55:16:25 - CapCom: "That's a great picture, Jim. You got the light just right." 55:16:40 - Haise: "One of the nice things, Jack, particularly for a novice like myself is the ease of moving around in here, of course as you know from working in the command module simulator it's really quite a boon to have zero-gravity as an aide, you're confined really at one-g to move around very much in there and it's really quite easy. The LM as you can see looks pretty clean I found a couple of loose washers that's about it and the little plastic cap of the sequence camera had come loose and I found it lodge over by the ED (Explosive Devices) panel. Okay. Right under Jim now, he's actually standing on what looks to be a can here, and for the sake of all the people back there, housed inside this can is the LM accent engine, hopefully you can see my hand resting on top of right now. The engine that we use to get off of the Moon. Immediately adjacent to the engine cover here I have my hand on a white box now, which has been shown before, this happens to be Jim's PLSS or the backpack which will supply oxygen and water for cooling while on the Lunar surface. This device we hope to make use of for a planned 4 hours possibly up to as much as 5 hours." 55:22:37 - Lovell: "I might tell you that we're looking at right now, that round bag that's just behind Fred holds our vacuum hose that when we get back inside the LM, we'll hook our vacuum hose to our suits and it's resting, or it's attached to the hatch which we will open to go onto the lunar surface, and of course to come back in." 55:35:04 - Lovell: "And now Fred's engaged in his favorite past time, I found out on this flight so far." 55:35:47 - CapCom: "He's not in the food locker is he?" 55:35:52 - Lovell: "That's his second favorite past time, he's, he's rigging his hammock for sleep on the lunar surface now to try it out to see what it's going to be like." 55:36:03 - CapCom: "Roger, sleeping then eating." 55:36:29 - Haise: "It's kind of difficult here, Jack; getting into a hammock in zero g. I'm not sure if I keep floating away from it or if it keeps moving away from me." 55:38:56 - Lovell: "Okay, Houston. For the benefit of the television viewers, we've just about complete our little inspection of Aquarius and now we're proceeding throught the hatch again and through the tunnel and going back on the Odyssey." (loop) EECom: "Flight, EECom."55:43:37 - Lovell: "Though we might give you a quick shot of our entertainment onboard the spacecraft, which has been keeping us company for some time. (Also Sprach Zarathustra plays on tape recorder) This little tape recorder has been a big benefit, it has been a big benefit to us in passing some of the time away on our transit out to the Moon, and it's rather odd to see it floating like this in, in Odyssey, while it's playing the theme from 2001. And of course the tape wouldn't be complete without Aquarius." 55:45:08 - CapCom: "Okay, Jim. We're seeing the tape recorder now, and just by the way, just how long do you expect to keep the TV on this evening?" 55:45:18 - Lovell: "Well when ever you ...."
55:45:25 - Haise: "Yea, I got them with the cabin repress valve again there, Jack." 55:45:29 - Lovell: "Every time he does that our hearts jump in our mouths. And Jack, anytime you want to terminate TV we're all set to go." 55:46:01 - CapCom: "Okay, Jim. it's been a real good TV show, we think we ought to conclude it, from here now, what do you think?" (loop) EECom: "Flight, EECom."55:46:11 - Lovell: "Roger, sounds good. And this is the crew of Apollo 13, wishing everyone there a nice evening and we're just about ready to closeout our inspection of Aquarius, and get back to a pleasant evening in Odyssey. Goodnight." 55:46:30 - CapCom: "Thank you 13." 55:48:40 - CapCom: "Apollo 13, Houston. The next thing we'd like you to do is to..." 55:48:45 - Swigert: "Go ahead." 55:48:46 - CapCom: "...we'd like you to roll right to 060 and null your rates for photography of the Comet Bennett. To do that, we would like you to enable quads C and D. For the maneuver, use all your quads. And in precisely 1 minute, we'd like to to terminate the battery charge on battery B. (pause) One other request, we'd like to have you verify..." 55:49:12 - Swigert: "Okay, we'll do it." (over CapCom) 55:49:14 - CapCom: "One other request, we'd like you to verify your high gain configuration. We'd like to know what track mode, what SERVO, and what beam width." 55:49:25 - Swigert "Okay, Jack. During the TV, we were AUTO TRACK, NARROW BEAM WIDTH, and the PRIMARY ELECTRONICS. And we had a good lockup. Just after we started the maneuver, I was able to lock you up and get real good signal strength, and it just seemed that right there at about 239 degrees in yaw, that the signal strength would just drop off and yaw would go to zero and pitch would go to 90." 55:50:05 - CapCom: "Roger. We copy, and the TV show was great." 55:50:12 - Swigert "Okay, real fine. Okay, I'm going to maneuver to 060, 090, and 0." 55:50:31 - CapCom: "And 13, we'd like you to check your C4 thrusters." 55:51:33 - Swigert "Okay, Jack. The battery charge has been terminated on the battery B." 55:51:38 - CapCom: "Roger. we see it, Jack. And we got a reading of minus 2 degrees on the docking index. We'd like to know it that's 2.0 precise or if it's 2.1 or 1.9." 55:51:54 - Swigert "No. It's a minus 2.0 precisely." 55:51:56 - CapCom: "Thank you." 55:52:58 - CapCom: "13, we've got one more item for you, when you get a chance. We'd like you to stir up your cryo tanks. In addition, I have shaft and trunnion..."
55:53:07 - CapCom: "...for looking at comet (J. C.) Bennett (19691), if you need it." 55:53:12 - Swigert: "Okay. Stand by." (loop) Flight: "Now we haven't stabilized that attitude yet, but I don't think they're going to have any problems."55:55:20 (9:07 PM CT) - Swigert: "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here."
Flight: "Go, Telmu."55:55:28 - CapCom: "This is Houston. Say again please." (loop) Guido: "Flight, Guidance."55:55:35 - Lovell: "Ah, Houston, we've had a problem. (pause) We've had a main B bus undervolt."
[Summary of events leading to the failure of O2 tank 2.] (loop)Flight: "You see a AC bus undervolt there Guidance, (correcting himself) er, EECom?"55:55:42 - CapCom (Jack Lousma): "Roger. Main B undervolt. Okay stand by 13, we're looking at it." (loop) Inco: "Flight, Inco." [Telemetry showed the pressure in O2 tank 2 shot up to 1,008 psi for two seconds before dropping to zero within the next two seconds - this pressure change went unnoticed by the flight controllers on duty.]55:56:10 - Haise: "Okay. Right now, Houston, the voltage is a... is looking good. And we had a pretty large bang associated with the caution and warning there. And as I recall, main B was the one that had an amp spike on it once before." 55:56:30 - CapCom: "Roger, Fred."
55:56:57 - CapCom: "Roger."
55:57:22 - CapCom: "Roger." 55:57:30 - Lovell: "And Houston, we had a restart on our computer. We had a PNGS ("pings") light and restart, reset." 55:57:37 - CapCom: "Roger, restart and a PNGS light... (correcting himself) restart on the PNGS, and reset on the computer." 55:57:44 - Lovell: "Okay. And we're looking at our service module RCS helium 1. We have, B is barber poled and D is barber poled, helium 2, D is barber pole, and secondary propellants, I have A and C barber pole."
55:58:13 - CapCom: "Roger." 55:58:25 - Haise: "Yes, we got a main bus A undervolt now too showing." 55:58:29 - CapCom: "Main A undervolt." 55:58:29 - Haise: "It's reading about 25 and a half. Main B is reading zip right now." (loop) Flight: "Well lets get some recommendation here, Sy, if you got any better ideas."55:59:33 - Lovell: "Ah, Houston, Odyssey." 55:59:38 - CapCom: "Standby one, Jim. (pause) 13, Houston. We'd like you to attempt to reconnect fuel cell 1 to Main A and fuel cell 3 to Main B. Verify that quad delta is open."
(loop) EECom: "I copy, Flight."56:01:08 - CapCom: "Roger." (loop) EECom: "We got Main A volts, no Main B volts. " [When fuel cells 1 and 3 electrical output readings went to zero, the ground controllers could not be certain that the cells had not somehow been disconnected from their respective busses and were otherwise all right. Attention continued to be focused on electrical problems.]56:03:17 - Hasie: "Okay, Houston, are you still reading Apollo 13?" 56:03:20 - CapCom: "That's affirmative, We're reading you. We're trying to come up with some good ideas here for you." (loop) CapCom: "Is there any kind of leads we can give them? are we looking at instrumentation, or we got a real problem, or what?"56:03:29 - Haise: "Okay. Let me give you some reads here. In the interim to help Main A voltage, Jack, I've got Bus tie AC on." 56:03:37 - CapCom: "Say again, Fred." 56:03:42 - Haise: "In the interim, to help out MAIN A voltage, I've got MAIN BUS TIE BAT AC on. Or would you rather accept the 25 volts we are seeing on MAIN A?" 56:03:52 - Capcom: "Okay. BUS TIE AC on." 56:04:09 - Capcom: "13, Houston. We need OMNI Charlie, please." 56:04:19 - Haise: "You got it."
56:05:46 - Haise: "Okay. Nitrogen on 1 and oxygen on 2 - is that correct?" 56:05:50 - CapCom: "Negative. Oxygen on 3." 56:05:54 - Haise: "Okay. (pause) Okay. Systems test 1-A says zip, and 2 baker which is 3 oxygen says point 6."
56:06:57 - Haise: "Fuel cell 1 nitrogen reads zero." 56:07:01 - CapCom: "Roger, zero." (loop) Flight: "You don't want to get fuel cell pumps off do you?"56:08:47 - CapCom: "13, Houston. We'd like you to open circuit fuel cell 1. Leave 2 and 3 as is." Haise: "Okay. I’ll get to work on that." Lovell: "And ah, Jack our O2 quanity number 2 tank is reading zero, did you get that?" (loop) EECom: "That's roger, Flight. That's the AC problem."CapCom: "O2 quantity number 2 is zero." 56:09:07 - Lovell: "That's AC? Okay. Yea, that appears to be what we're seeing. Okay. (pause) And it looks to me, looking out the hatch that we are venting something." 56:09:10 - CapCom: (over Lovell) "Roger." (loop) Flight: "Crew thinks they're venting."Lovell: "We are, we are venting something out into the, into space." (loop) EECom: "Fido, EECom."CapCom: "Roger. We copy you're venting." (loop) Flight: "Okay let's everybody think of the kind of things we'd be venting. G.N.C., you got anything that looks abnormal in your system?"Lovell: "It's a gas of some sort."
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