Explosion in space: The incredible story of Apollo 13
Video from the channel Niklas Kolorz about Apollo 13, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 17:13. Language: German. Video type: Documentary.
What it's about
A German-language educational video narrating the Apollo 13 mission: the explosion of an oxygen tank on the way to the Moon in April 1970 and the improvised solutions that allowed the crew to return. It includes promotional segments unrelated to the mission.
Historical context
It places the mission within the space race, after the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969 and that of Apollo 12. Apollo 13 was to land near the Fra Mauro crater, terrain more irregular than the maria of previous missions, in order to collect geological samples. The planned crew was Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Ken Mattingly, replaced shortly before launch by Jack Swigert over suspicion that he had rubella. It describes the three-stage Saturn V launch vehicle and the command and service modules.
Key facts
About 55 hours after launch, roughly 300,000 km from Earth, oxygen tank 2 in the service module exploded. The video attributes the failure to tank components not adapted to the switch from 28 to 65 volts, a previous drop of the tank, and problems draining it. The crew took refuge in the Aquarius lunar module, whose CO2 filters were designed for two people for 45 hours, and built an adapter using suit hoses, cardboard, plastic bags, and tape. A burn of the lunar module's engine, five and a half hours after the explosion, used the Moon's gravity to begin the return trip. With systems powered down, the cabin dropped to around 0°C and water was rationed to one glass a day. After jettisoning the service and lunar modules, the capsule splashed down in the Pacific on April 17, 1970, 6 km from the recovery ship.