Apollo 13 Accomplishments

Apollo 13 was a mission that some may grow to learn was a failure; It was in fact the complete opposite. Space entry was improved immensely, with the efforts and struggles gained from previous missions. In addition, one of the victims of this mission, Jim Lovell, “believed it was a success. Everyone was tested on their ability to work together and that is how Apollo 13 succeeded” (Anastasio 90). Future space entry missions would not have been as successful as they are without previous missions bettering the space program.

Up to now, space entry has been one of America’s greatest accomplishments. As Neil Armstrong once said, it was “one small step for man, one giant step for mankind” (Anastasio 2). Space entry has made man capable of almost

One of the backup astronauts had gotten a case of measles two days before launch, exposing the rest of the crew to the disease (Anastasio). Ken Mattingly will be replaced with Jack Swigert concerning the fact that he may develop measles on the mission (Anastasio). “Ken did get another chance to fly to the moon, as the command module pilot for Apollo 16. He later became a member of the space shuttle team” (Anastasio 90). Being this was Jack Swigert’s first mission, he had trained for space entry in an extreme case he would have to replace Ken. Which indeed, he would have to, days before the mission had

They video-called the Mission Control to allow everyone on earth to see what exactly they were doing and to clarify their well-being. Moments later, the call had ended and the Odyssey began drifting into the midst of an unfamiliar environment. After being in space for only a few short hours, irregular things started occurring. Small noises, slight shakiness of the ship due to a malfunction, abrupt terror had swept over the three men. The Odyssey shook, and it did not stop. The astronauts phoned the Mission Control Center; everything seemed to be falling apart. Jim had tried to remain calm, with sweaty palms and a dry mouth, he explained the uncontrollable shakiness and loud bursts to the Control Center. “As he spoke, the ship wobbled like a knuckleball. The Command Module shimmied from side to side, as the LEM gyrated in a circular motion. White crystals and metallic debris oozed from the side of the ship like ink from an octopus. Outside, the growing cloud of icy gas quickly filled the sky” (Anastasio 37). The astronauts knew that something was wrong, but did not know what exactly was going to happen, no one