What caught my attention at the time resulting in it’s inclusion was Apollo 13 launch time happened to to be 13:13 CST (mission control time). The clerical error that would cause the oxygen tank to explode on April 13th had already been made. The probability was they would be dead before they reached the edge of our atmosphere but not because of the clerical error. What they didn’t know is that they were doomed to die at the very start. With the additional weight of the real module the Pogo Stick effect was going to be much greater than anticipated. As luck would have it though a mysterious failure would save their lives altering the probability of the destruction of the launch vehicle. The first of two lucky big fails and one small one that combined with a lot of ingenuity and the perfect timing of the explosion led to a safe return. Had the explosion occurred later or earlier in the mission the rescue would have been impossible. Something had fooled the engines thrust chamber sensor that the pressure was low. Did I mention the 13 ft. panel that blew off rather than severing the command module from the service module? There is so much more "Luck" or "Intelligence" and perfect timing.
It so happened that in 1970 was also is when the Astronauts visited my 3rd grade classroom and gave our class a lecture on our mission in life which I found to be quite inspiring at the time. Not unlikely in that Neil Armstrong the first man to walk on the moon lived about 30 minutes away from Miami Elementary. Later right before my father abandoned his consciousness vehicular unit he told me he had worked with the astronauts. Gee dad thanks for waiting decades to tell me this. But let’s get on with the story and you be the judge, perhaps you are one of the few that can add to it.
It's all about the timing and significant number patterns and sometimes things go wrong for a good reason. Was beyond some intelligence beyond our comprehension or understanding influencing events and even that an intangible had a subtle but tangible connection leaping across the gap?
Oxygen Tank two in the Apollo 13 Service Module exploded at Mission Elapsed Time (MET) 55 hours and 55 minutes, (199,990 miles) away from Earth.
Hatch would not close. Had they succeeded in closing the Hatch it would have killed them. But it would not close and they could not explain why. But later when they needed it to close I did so flawlessly.
72 hours before the scheduled launch of Apollo 13, Ken Mattingly was removed from the mission and replaced by Jack Swigert from the back-up crew as Command Module Pilot. Charlie Duke, also from the back-up crew caught the measles from one of his children, and exposed Mattingly.“Among the nearly thirty Apollo astronauts, Jack Swigert had the best knowledge of Command Module malfunction procedures,”
Unexplained Shutdown of the Saturn V Center Engine stopped “A catastrophic failure should have ensued,” said Apollo engineer Jerry Woodfill, “and would have, except for the unexplained behavior of the engine’s shutoff system. What happened was the Saturn V rocket experienced dangerous so-called “pogo” thrust oscillations, a problem NASA knew about. But things to the mysterious failure it stopped.
Navigating by Earth’s Terminator
The Apollo 1 Fire
The Command Module Wasn’t Severed
Position of the Tanks
Duct Tape
A Hollywood Movie
Lunar Orbit Rendezvous
The Mission Operations Team
to be completed later
