K2Pete Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 Yesterday, Monday April 13th, was the 50th anniversary, to the day, of the explosion which crippled the 3rd mission to land on the Moon. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/apollo-13-at-50-years-looking-back-at-the-missions-lost-lunar-science/ And Jim Lovell, at 92 years of age, is still with us ... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Cartwright Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 5 years ago, I was able to attend a 45th anniversary event for it, and they had some of the key players there - a great opportunity to see some of the heroes of the space program. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 I listened to the "real time" replay on https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/ last night for about three hours. Listened to all the mission control troubleshooting chatter it was amazing. You can listen to the "current" transcript or jump to flight milestones. The tank explosion is at 55:55 GET which was at ~10:07 pm central time. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K2Pete Posted April 14, 2020 Author Share Posted April 14, 2020 Ken ... I envy you. IIRC the names in the back row are Glynn Lunney and Sy Leibergot, however the guy on the right escapes me. Front row is Gene Kranz, Jim Lovell and Fred Haise. Last year I had the opportunity to meet Charlie Duke from Apollo 16 and it was a real thrill ... thanx for sharing your pix Ken! habu2, I've only listened to snippets of that event ... thanx for the link ... I have a little more on my hands and shall give it a listen! I just enlarged your image Ken and see the guy on the right is Astronaut Jack Lousma ... Pete Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Whiskey Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 True heroes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ken Cartwright Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 Yes, it was exciting and an honor to meet those men. I had the distinction of annoying Jim Lovell, I think. He was sitting down to dinner at that event and a friend wanted a photo with him, and it seemed he grudgingly agreed to it, and was a little annoyed that we caught him at that time. They had been in a different area earlier for photos, but not surprisingly, he had a crowd around him so that was the first opportunity we had. After I took a photo of my friend with him, I decided not to push my luck and get a photo with him my self. Here's a shot of me with Gene Cernan from that event: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 3 hours ago, K2Pete said: Ken ... I envy you. IIRC the names in the back row are Glynn Lunney and Sy Leibergot, however the guy on the right escapes me. That’s Jack Lousma, CAPCOM at the time of the tank explosion, and future Skylab and STS-3 astronaut. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Underdog Posted April 14, 2020 Share Posted April 14, 2020 "I've always believed mankind's greatest achievement was landing men on the moon, and safely bringing them back home to the Earth." If that is true... then Apollo 13 and what transpired during that mission, and more so what everyone involved was able to accomplish in bringing them back home, has to be right-up there with all the successes NASA has been able to celebrate. Apollo 13 was called a, "successful failure" by Lovell. The public response to this accident has been repeatedly called, "NASA's finest hour" - and to this day, its still viewed that way. William R. Compton, in his book about the Apollo Program, said of Apollo 13... "Only a heroic effort of real-time improvisation by mission operations teams had save the crew." I say, kudos to 'FLIGHT' (Gene Kranz) and his fabulous team for embracing the attitude, "failure is not an option" on our watch and saving their lives! The Underdog Apollo 13 Command Module in Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center - Hutchinson, Kansas Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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