"Houston, we've had a problem" (Armchair Astronaut, Apr. 2011)

Apollo 13 prime crew:
L-R, Lovell, Swigert, and Haise

"Houston, we've had a problem."

Commander of Apollo 13 and astronaut Jim Lovell repeated his junior crewmate's message for Houston. Jack Swigert had told the Mission Control Center that there was a problem with the command module, but Houston requested a say again.

"Houston, we've had a problem."

And with those words the American public, and indeed the entire world, were once again, if only temporary, interested in the space program again. Everyone had been excited, thrilled, and riveted to their TVs when Lovell's colleague Neil Armstrong had taken his "one small step" onto the Moon, but since then the general public's interest had diminished greatly. Especially when Apollo 12's Alan Bean had fried his video camera by accidentally pointing it into the Sun! But now, just nine months after Apollo 11, people were once again riveted to their television sets, closely following an Apollo mission. And why? Because of just five words...

"Houston, we've had a problem."



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As you have probably guessed by now, this month for this 6th edition of Armchair Astronaut I'm featuring a book on Apollo 13. It's called Lost Moon, and written by Jim Lovell himself! I've read this book before, but when I read it again recently I have realized again just how marvelous this rescue story is. Considering that this month celebrates the 41st anniversary of this flight, I thought I would feature it in Armchair Astronaut!    

Of course in Lost Moon the main story is about Apollo 13, but the book will flashback to previous events in Lovell's life, such as Navy experiences (landing a plane on an aircraft carrier), selection as an astronaut (very humorous--I promise!!), Lovell's previous spaceflights (Gemini 7, Gemini 12, and Apollo 8), and more.

Apollo 13 launch

Now for a little review of Lovell's last flight, Apollo 13. Jim Lovell's original command module pilot, Ken Mattingly, was taken off the flight three days before launch because the German measles had been spread around and possibly was going to affect Mattingly when in lunar orbit. The back up command module pilot, Jack Swigert, was bumped up to prime and rocketed into space with Lovell and lunar module pilot Fred Haise on April 11,1970. Suspicious people feared that with the launch time of 1:13pm (or 13:13 military time) meant that something bad was sure to occur, but NASA didn't give it another thought. They had pulled off two successful lunar landing missions, what was going to go wrong with a third?

Three days later, Apollo 13 was en route to the Moon and the crew had just wrapped up a good television broadcast of their spacecraft. A flight controller requested a few normal tasks be performed on the spacecraft, including a very normal cryo tank stir. As the crew was executing their tasks, BANG! WHUMP! SHUDDER! went throughout Apollo 13's command module Odyssey. Lovell looked at his two junior crewmates, expecting the noise to be the product of a joke they had pulled off. Instead, he saw true fright in the eyes of Haise and Swigert. Swigert reported the problem to Houston, and that's when Lovell spoke those now-remembered-forever words:

"Houston, we've had a problem."


But one of the things that I like a lot about Lost Moon is how it will jump between different settings and people during  the story. Apollo 13 certainly wasn't just about three men in a spacecraft! In Mission Control, Legendary Flight Director Gene Kranz and his "Tiger Team" of John Aaron, Arnie Aldrich, and others invented some amazing procedures for the mission. They created and executed the all-important "PC+2" burn that would get Apollo 13 home. Additionally, John Aaron was priceless in helping to figure out how to make Apollo 13's consumables--water, oxygen, electricity--last long enough to get back to home.

Mission Control during Apollo 13.

There's the little known people, such as Ed Smylie, Tom Kelly, and once-a-part-of-Apollo 13-but-now-grounded astronaut Ken Mattingly. Smylie was in charge lithium hydroxide adapter. I think this was the time when the whole multi-million dollar Apollo program came down to fitting a square peg in a round hole...with cardboard and duck tape! Amazingly, the contraption worked, and saved Lovell, Haise, and Swigert from the poisonous carbon dioxide gases. Tom Kelly was from Grumman, the company that built the lunar lander Aquarius  that now was being used as a lifeboat for three men, not a lunar home base for two. He helped some up with some life-saving ideas. Grounded Ken Mattingly, and other astronauts, were invaluable with their knowledge, ideas, and trying out new Mission Control procedures in the Houston simulators to see how feasible they were.

And then there's Mrs. Lovell and her children, relatives, and guests on the home front, anxiously watching, hoping, and praying about the success of the mission.

One of the amazing things that struck me as I read Lost Moon was how all of NASA came together when the crises happened. It wasn't Mission Control against management; astronauts against flight controllers, etc: it was one marvelous, dedicated team determined to bring three guys home.

I just love the story of Apollo 13. It reads like fiction, but in reality it's a thrilling, exciting true story. I've heard or watched the story many times, but every time I read or watch it again I get another chill down my spine and realize again how close Apollo 13 came to not making it. Since I don't want to give away the plot of this totally awesome story, I won't give too many more details. But suffice it to say, if you want to read a top-notch book on the thrilling mission of Apollo 13, read Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13!