→
agony of their blood boiling in their
veins. Problems with their oxygen
supply could lead to the crew rapidly
asphyxiating or being gradually
poisoned by the carbon dioxide in
their own breath. The astronauts
would feel drowsy before dizziness
and confusion set in. Sweating and
trembling with ragged breath, their
vision would dim as they suc-
cumbed to unconsciousness.
All too aware that an addled
astronaut – affected by deviations
in temperature – might make a
fatal error, Nasa set the command
module cabin temperature of its
Apollo spacecraft at the goldilocks
temperature of 70oF (21oC).
Most frightening of all was the
prospect of a fire. In the oxy-
gen-rich atmosphere of a Nasa spacecraft, a
small spark would blossom into an inferno.
On 27 January 1967, Apollo 1 astronauts Gus
Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Ed White were
killed when an electrical spark ignited their
command module during a pre-launch test.
Nasa’s investigation ruled that, perhaps
mercifully, they were asphyxiated by fumes
before the flames could claim them.Mid-course correction
Now, 55 hours and 55 minutes into the
Apollo 13 mission, Nasa found itself con-
fronted with a nightmare scenario once
again. Apollo 13’s oxygen tank had ignited
during what was supposed to be a compara-
tively uneventful stretch of space travel. After
lift-off on the 11th, the command and service
module Odyssey (the mission’s mother ship)
had already retrieved its lunar excursion
module Aquarius, the lunar lander and its
ascent apparatus, from the discarded third
stage of the Saturn rocket. The following day,
the Aquarius-Odyssey assemblage had
performed a mid-course correction burst of
its engines to leave the so-called ‘free return’
trajectory that would have eventually seen
the craft drift back to Earth. But then,
on the 13th, disaster struck. Watching oxygen
vent from the stricken spacecraft and readingKeeping three
fragile human
bodies alive in
the pitiless void
of outer space
was an absurdly
complicated task
Glued to the screen
Astronauts and flight
controllers monitor console
activity during the operation
to return the Apollo 13 crew
home safely. As the drama
unfolded, some were driven to
chain-smoking and prayerCalm before the storm
Flight Director Gene Kranz
(centre) watches astronaut Fred
Haise during a TV transmission
from Apollo 13. “Flight
Control will never lose
an American in space,”
Kranz declared during
the crisisSickness strikes
Astronauts (from l to r)
Fred Haise, James Lovell and
Ken Mattingly on 6 April 1970.
Exposure to Rubella forced
Mattingly to withdraw from the
Apollo 13 mission but he was to
play a role in its rescue→
agony of their blood boiling in their
veins. Problems with their oxygen
supply could lead to the crew rapidly
asphyxiating or being gradually
poisoned by the carbon dioxide in
their own breath. The astronauts
would feel drowsy before dizziness
and confusion set in. Sweating and
trembling with ragged breath, their
vision would dim as they suc-
cumbed to unconsciousness.
All too aware that an addled
astronaut – affected by deviations
in temperature – might make a
fatal error, Nasa set the command
module cabin temperature of its
Apollo spacecraft at the goldilocks
temperature of 70oF (21oC).
Most frightening of all was the
prospect of a fire. In the oxy-
gen-rich atmosphere of a Nasa spacecraft, a
small spark would blossom into an inferno.
On 27 January 1967, Apollo 1 astronauts Gus
Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Ed White were
killed when an electrical spark ignited their
command module during a pre-launch test.
Nasa’s investigation ruled that, perhaps
mercifully, they were asphyxiated by fumes
before the flames could claim them.Mid-course correction
Now, 55 hours and 55 minutes into the
Apollo 13 mission, Nasa found itself con-
fronted with a nightmare scenario once
again. Apollo 13’s oxygen tank had ignited
during what was supposed to be a compara-
tively uneventful stretch of space travel. After
lift-off on the 11th, the command and service
module Odyssey (the mission’s mother ship)
had already retrieved its lunar excursion
module Aquarius, the lunar lander and its
ascent apparatus, from the discarded third
stage of the Saturn rocket. The following day,
the Aquarius-Odyssey assemblage had
performed a mid-course correction burst of
its engines to leave the so-called ‘free return’
trajectory that would have eventually seen
the craft drift back to Earth. But then,
on the 13th, disaster struck. Watching oxygen
vent from the stricken spacecraft and readingKeeping three
fragile human
bodies alive in
the pitiless void
of outer space
was an absurdly
complicated task
Glued to the screen
Astronauts and flight
controllers monitor console
activity during the operation
to return the Apollo 13 crew
home safely. As the drama
unfolded, some were driven to
chain-smoking and prayerCalm before the storm
Flight Director Gene Kranz
(centre) watches astronaut Fred
Haise during a TV transmission
from Apollo 13. “Flight
Control will never lose
an American in space,”
Kranz declared during
the crisis
Sickness strikes
Astronauts (from l to r)
Fred Haise, James Lovell and
Ken Mattingly on 6 April 1970.
Exposure to Rubella forced
Mattingly to withdraw from the
Apollo 13 mission but he was to
play a role in its rescue