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Failure on Apollo 13

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the moment during the Apollo 13 mission to the Moon when there was an explosion that badly damaged the service module of the Apollo spacecraft, forcing the crew to use its Lunar Module (LM) as a lifeboat in order to get back to Earth.

Below is CBS’s coverage of that moment.

Because this video was recorded off of an analog television, the visuals are poor, to say the least, including several moments when the television loses vertical hold (a problem typical of early televisions).

However, it is very instructive to watch it, mostly to see the differences from today. Notice how calm everyone is, both at NASA and at CBS. Notice also how positive they are. Rather than hyping the possibility of death and failure, Cronkite is focused on explaining what the engineers are trying to do to save the astronauts.

And notice the detail and accuracy of his reporting. Cronkite has not only made it a point to educate himself on what is involved, he is making a concerted effort to provide this information to his audience. No speculations and opinions, only detailed reporting.

O if only we could see one tenth of such reporting on television today. The country’s mood would instantly improve a million percent.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
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"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

11 comments

  • sippin_bourbon

    Scott Manley has a nice break down about the failure from the hardware side.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO19LTJZM6c

  • Gary

    The media and the Democrat party then were not singularly focused on seizing control of our Lives 50 years ago as they are now,

  • Roland

    God Bless Walter Cronkite.
    The most trustworthy commentator I have ever known.

    In relation to Apollo 13,
    Check out BBC’s “13 Minutes To The Moon”.
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w13xttx2

  • Roland

    To: sippin_bourbon,
    Thank you, that’s an Excellent presentation.

  • wayne

    Garry / Roland–

    Cronkite, was less than trustworthy…..

    “Walter Cronkite speech in defense of liberalism, days after ’88 election.”
    11/17/1988
    https://youtu.be/eybGwtjW3ro
    9:53

  • wayne

    Referencing the BBC and Apollo 13—-

    APOLLO 13
    BBC’s TV original reentry & splashdown footage – part 2 of 5
    https://youtu.be/Xiw38xF4fq0
    8:03
    Live April 17th 1970 / Present at studio: Geoffery Pardoe, Neil Armstrong, Patrick Moore, Cliff Michelmore, James Buke.
    (watch all 5 parts)

    –99% of all BBC video coverage of the entire Apollo program, was wiped clean in the early 1970’s and the tape re-used—

  • wayne

    Gary–
    excuse the typo of your name.

  • wayne

    “James Burke: The other side of the moon”
    BBC 1979
    https://youtu.be/puWbQ1b-ljU
    57:19

  • Jerry Greenwood

    50 years ago news organizations prided themselves on accuracy and were relatively free of the financial drivers that cloud their decision making today. News was a one hour each evening event and not a financial cornucopia.

  • wayne

    “Philo Farnsworth: the most famous man you never heard of…”
    Jessica Farnsworth (great grand-daughter of Philo)
    2013
    https://youtu.be/HHy04aN0jfI
    10:14

  • mivenho

    Here is a real-time recording of mission control during the Apollo-13 crisis. The Flight Director was tapped into all sections simultaneously, and you can as well, or you have the option of zeroing in on each individual manager. For instance, the EECOM (Electrical, Environmental and Consumables Manager) was the point man attempting to determine why the fuel cells were failing and why the LOX tank pressures were diminishing (they hadn’t yet realized that a previous “stir” command had caused a lox tank explosion). There confusion in the air and the problem-solving skills at NASA personnel became evident. This website is a treasure trove: https://apolloinrealtime.org/13/?t=055:52:58

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