Astronomy - USA (2020-04)

30 ASTRONOMY • APRIL 2020

political issues, Deke Slayton, the
Director of Flight Crew Operations,
reconfigured the crew to consist of Alan
Shepard, Stuart Roosa, and Edgar
Mitchell. However, his superiors rejected
the plan, believing that Shepard needed
more time to recover from ear surgery
to be flight ready.
The story then becomes even more
complicated. Slayton swapped the crews,
placing Lovell’s crew into prime position.
At that time, it consisted of Lovell, Haise,
and Command Module Pilot Ken
Mattingly. Mattingly, age 34, was a
Chicago-born naval aviator and aeronau-
tical engineer who had joined the astro-
naut program in 1966. Three days before
launch, however, NASA removed
Mattingly from the mission because he
had been exposed to German measles.
Thus, he was replaced by Swigert. After
much tumult, the final crew, hours
before launch, consisted of Lovell,
Swigert, and Haise.
Lovell, age 42, was an experienced
NASA veteran. His naval f light back-
ground had served him well as he entered
NASA’s second astronaut group, and then
commenced a spacef light career that
included Gemini VII, Gemini XII, and
Apollo 8, the first trans-lunar f light.

With a seat on Apollo 13, Lovell would

become the first person to make four

trips into space, and the first of three

people to f ly to the Moon twice. Swigert,

age 38, was born in Denver and had

become an Air Force pilot, aeronautical

engineer, and test pilot before joining the

fifth group of NASA astronauts. He stud-

ied extensively and became an expert on

the Apollo command module, and

requested that he become a command

module pilot on some mission, which

Slayton respected. Fred Haise, age 36,

was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, and

became an Air Force and Marine Corps

fighter pilot and test pilot. Like Swigert,

Haise was selected as a member of

NASA’s fifth group of astronauts.

All good ... at first

With Apollo 13 set for a springtime

launch, preparations seemed nor-

mal and on schedule. The crafts were

named Odyssey (com ma nd modu le) a nd

Aquarius (lunar module, or LM). The

mission’s objective was to land in the

highlands of the region known as Fra

Mauro, named for the 50-mile-diameter

(80 kilometers) crater that lay within the

area. The region contained unusual geol-

ogy, and ample amounts of ejecta that had

been cast out of the impact that created

nearby Mare Imbrium. This would make

for a compelling geological area to study.

The countdown began, and the mis-

sion launched on time in the early after-

noon of April 11, lifting off high into the

sky from launchpad 39A. Shortly after

launch, the second-stage engine on the

inboard side shut down about two min-

utes early, but this was compensated for

by the outboard engines burning for lon-

ger periods. The spacecraft did rise to the

The Apollo 13 crew captured this breathtaking view of the crater Tsiolkovsky on April 14, 1970, as they swung around the lunar farside. This prominent feature,
never visible from Earth, was named after the famous Soviet engineer Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, following its identification in Luna 3 images. It is 113 miles
(180 km) across, with a central peak rising 11,050 feet (3,400 m) above the floor.

Deke Slayton (standing, at left) explains a proposed

procedure for constructing lithium hydroxide

canisters to remove excess carbon dioxide from the

lunar module cabin during the Apollo 13 emergency.

The CO 2 was the biggest threat to the astronauts’

well-being. Members of the operations team listen,

from left to right: Howard Tindall, Sigurd Sjoberg,

Chris Kraft, and Robert Gilruth.