A SUCCESSFUL FAILURE:40 YEARS AFTER APOLLO 13 PUT MOON LANDINGS BACK ON THE FRONT PAGE

It is a little hard to believe that something like a moon landing went from front page news to a small story in the back pages in less than a year. The first moon landing in July 1969 was a big event but, nine months later, Apollo 13 started out as a yawn-fest. A little space ship trouble on the way to the moon changed that program.

Most people now realize that a rocket launch is basically riding a huge bomb for the astronauts. They sit on top of a highly explosive hydrogen/ oxygen mix that would level giant chunks of real estate if the two elements were allowed to run free together with no checks and balances.

But rocket scientists have a different plan for hydrogen and oxygen that will place the highly explosive duo into a controlled bomb mix that launches people into space.

It is always a risky proposition and lives have been lost in the space program.

Apollo 13 had an early explosion shortly after launch that forced NASA into a brand new game plan to save the three men aboard the spacecraft. Apollo 13 was back on the front page because of a massive failure in the rocket system.

The plan to land on the moon was abandoned in favor of an on-the-fly plan to save the astronauts. The computer systems at NASA and onboard Apollo 13 were beyond primitive by today’s standards, so the calculations required a lot of human intervention.

Obviously things worked out for the Apollo 13 crew members, otherwise Tom Hanks would have starred in a much shorter movie when he did ‘Apollo 13’.

Now we have to look back about forty years to remember a big part of the lunar program. Entire generations have grown up with no recollection of any moment when we landed on the moon, let alone a frightening side bar moment when it looked like three men would be lost forever.

The fact that people were not interested in lunar landings nine short months after the first landing is very surprising forty years later. But that is how it went down in 1970.

Maybe Captain Kirk had already ruined the concept of space travel by 1970. A mere moon landing may have seemed a little boring by comparison to Kirk’s relentless pursuit of blue and green space babes . But science fact is a little different from science fiction, so an actual lunar mission should have been a huge event in 1970. The fact that a life and death situation was the only thing that made it newsworthy is hard to believe in hindsight.

I have to admit that I was alive and well in 1970, and Apollo 13 was barely on my radar screen. But I watched the adventure very closely when things went sideways on that mission. It was an incredible feat to get those guys back to earth, and I am glad that props have been given out to the people that made it happen.

If we ever get back to the moon in my lifetime, I promise not to squander another opportunity to watch the missions.

COMMENTS

MELISSA:"Maybe a few months before my time but I can appreciate your article :)"

ROSS:"

I appreciate the interest in the Apollo missions and I've been researching the era quite extensively. Did you see on the news about three Canadaian technichians (that just recieved an award from Nasa) who were responsible for the Lunar Module separation, just before splashdown? They had to do the math, with slide rules, to achieve the proper separation, so that the LM would fall at a presice location, in the deep ocean near New Zeland, because of the danger of the plutonium core battery attatched to it's decent stage. Also, the Command Module, with the Astronauts, had to continue in the correct angle and velocity for a safe splashdown. Sorry to be a pain, but it was on the 3rd day that the explosion occured, when they were about 200,000 miles away from Earth going the wrong way.  Today we find out if that Obama dude is going to really cancel the Constellation programme. It was to replace the Shuttle, anda take them back to the Moon, and now they'll have to hitch hike a ride with the Russians. Thanx fer listening, Orange Roadrunner guy.