Above: April 17, 1970. Apollo 13’s successful splashdown. (NASA)Below: April 17, 1970. Astronaut James Lovell, Apollo 13 mission commander, reads
a newspaper account of the safe recovery of the problem plagued mission. Lovell
is on board the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, prime recovery ship for Apollo 13, which was on a
course headed for Pago Pago. (NASA)“In the end, they told the astronauts to do pretty well what we said,”
Etkin added.
Odyssey’s separation from Aquarius went according to plan, and the
lunar module broke up during re-entry; just to make sure populations
below were safe, NASA directed Aquarius to break up over a deep spot
in the Paciic Ocean.
Meanwhile, Odyssey splashed down safely in the Paciic, and was recov-
ered by the U.S.S. Iwo Jima. By now, the drama had gripped the planet; a
worldwide television audience rivalling the viewership for the Apollo 11
moonwalk tuned in to the successful recovery.
Years later, the Canadian team was still feeling the reverberations of
their calculations. On the 40th anniversary of the light, the Canadian
Air and Space Museum handed the U of T’s Institute for Aerospace
Studies an award for their contributions.
Apollo 13 astronaut Fred Haise saluted the team in a letter read out
at the ceremony.
“I would certainly vouch for their credentials,” he wrote. •
SKYNEWS • MAR/APR 2020