Among Jim Lovell’s claims to fame, is that he was the commander of the Apollo 13 mission.
“Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
After a catastrophic explosion, whilst routinely stirring the cryogenic tanks, the world watched as Jim Lovell, with Jack Swigert and Fred Haines took their stricken spacecraft around the moon and back to Earth for a safe splash down.
There was a movie and Tom Hanks played Jim Lovell. Probably the most memorable part of this excellent movie is when the astronauts and the engineers back on Earth have to solve the age old mystery of fitting a square peg into a round hole. The lunar lander was pushed into use as a lifeboat, whilst the command module was closed down, this had never been planned and was a response to a rapidly deteriorating situation. The lander was a short term use craft for two people and the filters needed to clean the carbon dioxide from the air were not designed for long term use by three people – especially three stressed people. Unfortunately the filters in the command module were a different shape and size. The Earth based engineering team created a life saving solution using only those items available on the two space craft.
Jim Lovell passed away last week on August 7.
Here is the NASA article on Apollo 13 to expand on Jim Lovell’s story:
Here is the tribute page from The Space Centre Houston:
Have a good weekend.
Clive
Clive Catton MSc (Cyber Security) – by-line and other articles
Further Reading
The unrecognised decision that saved Apollo 13
Image credit: NASA
