On May 5, 1961, Navy Commander Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr.
was launched into space aboard the Freedom 7 space
capsule, becoming the first American astronaut to travel
into space.
The suborbital flight, which lasted 15 minutes and reached
a height of 116 miles into the atmosphere, was a major triumph
for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The view from Freedom 7.
With the world anxiously watching, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar spacecraft
that suffered a severe malfunction on its journey to the moon, safely returned to Earth on April 17, 1970.
From Cape Canaveral, Florida, Apollo 16, the fifth of six U.S.
lunar landing missions,was successfully launched (above)
on its 238,000-mile journey to the moon.
The prime crew of the Apollo 16 lunar landing mission. From
left to right: Thomas K. Mattingly II, Command Module pilot; John W. Young, Commander; and Charles M. Duke Jr., Lunar Module pilot.
Apollo13 – view of the crippled Service Module after
separation.
On April 13, 1970, disaster struck 200,000 miles from Earth
when oxygen tank No. 2 blew up on Apollo 13, the third
manned lunar landing mission. Astronauts James A. Lovell,
John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise had left Earth two days
before for the Fra Mauro highlands of the moon but were
forced to turn their attention to simply making it home alive.
A routine stir of an oxygen tank ignited damaged wire
insulation inside it, causing an explosion that vented the
contents of both of the SM’s oxygen tanks to space.
Without oxygen, needed for breathing and for generating
electric power, the SM’s propulsion and life support systems
could not operate. The CM’s systems had to be shut down
to conserve its remaining resources for reentry, forcing the
crew to transfer to the LM as a lifeboat. With the lunar landing
canceled, mission controllers worked to bring the crew home
alive.
At NASA Mission Control in Houston’s Manned Spacecraft Center, Donald K. "Deke" Slayton, left, director of flight
crew operations, holds lithium hydroxide canisters attached
to a hose, a makeshift repair to reduce the dangerous levels
of carbon dioxide aboard the crippled spacecraft Apollo 13.
On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13, the third lunar landing mission, was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying
astronauts James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise.
The spacecraft’s destination was the Fra Mauro highlands of the
moon, where the astronauts were to explore the Imbrium Basin
and conduct geological experiments.
After an oxygen tank exploded just over 200,000 miles from Earth
on the evening of April 13, however, the new mission objective
became to get the Apollo 13 crew home alive. The landing mission
was aborted.
The crew: Jim Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred Haise.
The Apollo 13 service module showing explosion damage. (NASA)
