The lunar modules’ ascending stages were also employed for seismology. The now useless spacecraft was discarded and ordered by Mission Control to crash the Moon’s surface at a precise spot near an ALSE after the lunar landing crew had transferred everything coming back to Earth from the lunar module and closed it out. One of these carefully orchestrated wrecks yielded some startlingly bizarre effects. The shock wave from Apollo 12’s lunar module Intrepid slamming with the lunar surface vibrated through the Moon for more than 55 minutes. The continuous propagation of the wave was subsequently attributed to the Moon’s dryness, as dry rocks did not damper the waves as effectively as they do on Earth.
Apollo 9, Apollo 10, and Apollo 13 were the three outliers. The lunar module of Apollo 9 burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere because it was an Earth orbital mission. Snoopy, the lunar module of Apollo 10, was launched into solar orbit and remains there today. On the way back to Earth, Apollo 13 used their lunar module Aquarius as a lifeboat, allowing it to burn up in the atmosphere during reentry.
In This Article...
What happened to the service module of Apollo 13?
An explosion and rupture of oxygen tank no. 2 in the service module caused the Apollo 13 malfunction. The explosion damaged or punctured a line in the no. 1 oxygen tank, causing it to rapidly lose oxygen.
Why was Apollo 13 given the name Aquarius?
The Lunar Module named Aquarius was the one Jim Lovell and Fred Haise planned to employ on their Moon mission.
Instead, the Apollo 13 crew used the small spacecraft as a “life boat.”
Fortunately, protocols had been created prior to the incident on Apollo 13 and were put in place to preserve the men’s lives.
Aquarius after it was disconnected from the command module, as seen in this photo.
During re-entry, it eventually burned up.
What happened to the astronauts on Apollo 13?
The Apollo 13 moon landing mission was NASA’s third, but the crew never made it to the lunar surface. An oxygen tank explosion nearly 56 hours into the trip caused the crew to abandon all hopes of reaching the moon during the mission’s dramatic series of events.
Is Eagle still in lunar orbit?
The Eagle was abandoned in lunar orbit when the crew re-boarded Columbia. Although its eventual destiny is unclear, physicist James Meador’s simulations released in 2021 suggested that Eagle may conceivably still be in lunar orbit.
Who was to blame for the failure of Apollo 13?
WASHINGTON, D.C., 15 JUNE
An official review faulted the space agency and two aerospace companies for errors that led to an oxygen tank explosion that put the Apollo 13 crew in peril.
Beech Aircraft Corporation and North American Rockwell Corporation are the two companies.
According to space agency experts, many “fixes” may be required in Apollo 14 as a result of the Apollo 13 investigation, which could compel a postponement of the next manned lunar trip from December to 1971. Apollo 14’s launch had already been delayed by two months.
“The Apollo 14 decision will be decided in the next month,” said Dr. Thomas 0. Paine, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, adding that there would be “no hesitancy on our part” if the trip was delayed any longer.
Was the Apollo 13 service module destroyed by fire?
The oxygen tank on the service module of NASA’s iconic Apollo 13 flight exploded on April 14, 50 years ago. The mission’s Moon landing was canceled following the explosion, throwing the three men into a frenzied dash to save their lives with Mission Control. In 1995, the award-winning film Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks as commander Jim Lovell was released.
Is Jim Lovell the only person who has ever walked on the Moon?
Apollo 13 was the second mission to investigate the western lunar areas without using a free-return trajectory. Lovell and his crew re-established the free return trajectory that they had left, and swung around the Moon to return home, using the Apollo Lunar Module as a “life boat” that provided battery power, oxygen, and propulsion. Lovell had to manually operate the Lunar Module’s thrusters and engine twice to change the course based on the flight controllers’ estimations on Earth.
On April 17, Apollo 13 safely returned to Earth. “I’m afraid this will be the final lunar expedition for a long time,” Lovell stated. NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine quickly rebutted his remark, assuring the public that NASA would continue to send missions to the Moon. Apollo 14 would make the journey to Fra Mauro nine months later, with improved fuel tanks and an extra battery for emergencies.
The flight path of Apollo 13 provides Lovell, Haise, and Swigert the record for the farthest distance traveled by humans from Earth. Lovell is one of only three men to have visited the Moon twice, although he never walked on it, unlike the other two, John Young and Gene Cernan. On his Gemini and Apollo missions, he logged 715 hours and 5 minutes in space, a personal best that stood until the 1973 Skylab 3 mission.