Apollo 13 Essay Research Paper Apollo 13

Apollo 13 Essay, Research Paper

Apollo 13 ( AS-508 )

Houston, we have a job.

The Apollo 13 mission was launched at 2:13 p.m. EST, April 11, 1970 from launch

complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The infinite vehicle crew consisted of James A. Lovell, Jr.

commanding officer, John L. Swigert, Jr. , bid faculty pilot and Fred W.

Haise, Jr. lunar faculty pilot.

The Apollo 13 Mission was planned as a lunar set downing mission but

was aborted en path to the Moon after about 56 hours of flight due to loss

of service faculty cryogenic O and attendant loss of capableness to

bring forth electrical power, to supply O and to bring forth H2O.

Spacecraft systems public presentation was nominal until the fans in cryogenic O armored combat vehicle 2 were

turned on at 55:53:18 land elapsed clip ( GET ) . About 2 seconds after stimulating the fan circuit,

a short was indicated in the current from fuel cell 3, which was providing power to cryogenic

O armored combat vehicle 2 fans. Within several extra seconds, two other shorted conditions occurred.

Electrical trunkss in the fan circuit ignited the wire insularity, doing temperature and

force per unit area to increase within cryogenic O armored combat vehicle 2. When force per unit area reached the cryogenic

O armored combat vehicle 2 alleviation valve full-flow conditions of 1008 pounds per square inch, the force per unit area began diminishing

for approximately 9 seconds, at which clip the alleviation valve likely reseated, doing the force per unit area

to lift once more momently. About a one-fourth of a 2nd subsequently, a quiver perturbation was

noted on the bid faculty accelerometers.

The following series of events occurred within a fraction of a 2nd between the

accelerometer perturbations and the information loss. A armored combat vehicle line explosion, because of heat, in the

vacuity jacket supercharging the ring and, in bend, doing the blow-out stopper on the

vacuity jacket

to tear. Some mechanism in bay 4 combined with the O buildup in

that bay to do a rapid force per unit area rise which resulted in separation of the outer panel. The

panel struck one of the dishes of the high-gain aerial. The panel separation daze closed

the fuel cell 1 and 3 O reactant shut-off valves and several propellent and He

isolation valves in the reaction control system. Datas were lost for approximately 1.8 seconds as the

high-gain aerial switched from narrow beam to broad beam, because of the aerial being hit and

damaged.

As a consequence of these happenings, the CM was powered down and the LM was configured

to provide the necessary power and other consumables.

The CSM was powered down at about 58:40 GET. The rush armored combat vehicle and

repressurization bundle were isolated with about 860 pounds per square inchs residuary force per unit area ( approx. 6.5

pound of O sum ) . The primary H2O ethanediol system was left with radiators bypassed.

All LM systems performed satisfactorily in supplying the necessary power and

environmental control to the ballistic capsule. The demand for Li hydrated oxide to take C

dioxide from the ballistic capsule ambiance was met by a combination of the CM and LM cartridges

since the LM cartridges entirely would non fulfill the entire demand. The crew, with way

from Mission Control, built an arranger for the CM cartridges to accept LM hosieries.

The service faculty was jettisoned at about 138 hours

GET, and the crew observed and photographed the bay-4 country where the

cryogenic armored combat vehicle anomalousness had occurred. At this clip, the crew remarked

that the outer tegument covering for bay-4 had been badly damaged, with a

big part losing. The LM was jettisoned about 1 hr before entry,

which was performed nominally utilizing primary counsel and pilotage system.