Apollo 13
"Odyssey "
NSSDC ID: 70-029A
Description:
Apollo 13 was launched on April 11, 1970, on a scheduled 10-day lunar landing mission.
The purposes of the mission were (1) to explore the hilly upland Fra Mauro region
of the moon, (2) to perform selenological inspection, survey, and sampling of material
in the Fra Mauro formation, (3) to deploy and activate an Apollo lunar surface experiments
package (ALSEP), (4) to further develop man's capability to work in the lunar environment,
and (5) to obtain photographs of candidate lunar exploration sites. These goals were
to be carried out from a near-circular lunar orbit and on the lunar surface at 3
deg S latitude, 17 deg W longitude. Because of a malfunction in the command service
module, which made the command module (CM) unusable for the mission, the mission
had to be aborted. A faulty thermostatic switch resulted in the overheating of one
of the oxygen tanks, which ruptured and exploded, damaging the CSM power and life-support
systems. The crew (Commander James A. Lovell, Jr., CM pilot John L. Swigert, Jr.,
LM pilot Fred W. Haise Jr.) transferred to the lunar module "Aquarius"
and performed a free-return trajectory, coasting around the Moon and back to Earth
and returning to the CM only prior to entering the earth's atmosphere. A successful
splashdown occured in the south Pacific Ocean on 17 April 1970 at 18:08 UT (1:08
PM EST). The total mission time was 5 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes, 41 seconds. Although
the planned mission objectives were not realized, a limited amount of photographic
data was obtained. Further information on the Lunar Module "Aquarius" is
contained in record 70-029C.
The Apollo 13 Command Module "Odyssey" is now at the Kansas Cosmosphere
and Space Center, Hutchinson, Kansas. It was originally on display at the Musee de
l'Air, Paris, France. |
Crew:
James A. Lovell,
commander
John L. Swigert,
Jr., command module pilot
Fred W. Haise, Jr.,
lunar module pilot |
Launch Information:
Launch Date/Time: 1970-04-11 at 19:13:00 UTC
Returned to Earth: 17 April 1970 UT 18:07:41
(01:07:41 PM EST)
Launch Site/Country: Cape Canaveral, United States
On-orbit dry mass: 9979.00 kg
Launch Vehicle: Saturn 5 |
Orbital Information:
Orbit: Orbiter
Central Body: Earth
Epoch start date/time: 1970.101:19:13:00 (11
Apr.)
Orbital Period: 88.07 m
Inclination: 33.50 degrees
Periapsis: 156.00 km
Apoapsis: 156.00 km |
Project Manager
Dr. Rocco A. Petrone
Address Unknown |
Project Scientist
Dr. Martin W. Molloy
Address Unknown |
Discipline(s)
Human Crew
Planetary Science |
Sponsoring Agencies/Countries
NASA-Office of Manned Space Flight/United States |
|
