Apollo 13 Minute Podcast

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Minute 055: Let’s Work the Problem, People Dec 21, 2018

Show notes

“Roger, Odyssey – – we copy you’re venting,” says CAPCOM.

All the flight controllers start talking over each other. It rapidly becomes a cacophony of voices.

“Okay, listen up!” says Kranz. “Quiet down. Quiet down! Let’s stay cool, people. Procedures, I need another computer up in the RTCC. I want everybody to alert your support teams! Wake up anybody you need, get them in here! Let’s work the problem, people. Let’s not make things worse by guessing.”

“Thirteen, this is Houston,” says CAPCOM. “We are going around the room, now. We’re going to get you some answers.” The space craft tumble toward the Moon, spewing a silver mist.

“I tell you, we keep venting like this, ” says Swigert, “We’re going to keep hitting the edge of that dead band!”

“Hey,” says Haise, “Take a look at the Oh- Two on Number One. ”

Lovell leans over in his couch, and looks at the dials. The Number One tank pressure is dropping.

IN THIS MINUTE:

Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon
Fred Haise: Bill Paxton
Gene Kranz: Ed Harris
EECOM White Team: Clint Howard
TELMU White Team: Jim Meskimen
CAPCOM: Brett Cullen
Flight Surgeon: Christian Clemenson

Minute 054: We are Venting Something Dec 20, 2018

Show notes

“C – Charlie!” says Haise, reading off information to Houston.

“-and B are barber-poled,” adds Swigert.

“Houston,” says Lovell, “I’m switching over Quad C to Main A.” He throws a switch.

“Roger that, Thirteen, “says CAPCOM.

“Okay,” says Swigert, “Fuel Cell One, Fuel Cell Three, we got a Main Bus B undervolt, Cryo pressure Two Compressor, … what don’t we have? AC Bus One, AC Bus Two, Command Module Computer, and Oh Two Flow High … I dunno – maybe this is a caution and warning thing. ”

Glancing at a mirror, Lovell notices venting steam outside the ship.

“Houston,” says Lovell, looking out Window One. “We are venting something out into space. I can see it outside Window One, right now. It’s definitely a gas of some sort… ”

The CSM and LM yaw crazily toward a crescent Moon.

“It’s gotta be the oxygen,” says Lovell. Swigert and Haise look at the Cryogenic Tank gauges. O2 Tank Two is close to empty, both in pressure and quantity.

Everyone at Mission Control pauses to absorb this information.

Kranz looks at CAPCOM.

IN THIS MINUTE:

Minute 053: A Quadruple Failure Dec 19, 2018

Show notes

EECOM is looking at his monitor and can’t believe the readings.

“– reading a quadruple failure? That can’t happen!” says EECOM. “It’s gotta be instrumentation.”

“Let’s get that hatch buttoned,” says Lovell to Swigert as they diagnose the problem in the Command Module. “Maybe the LM got hit by a meteor.”

“That tunnel’s really torquing with all this movement,” says Haise. “Uh, Houston, we had a pretty large bang there, associated with the Master Alarm?”

Swigert puts the hatch in the tunnel.

“S–t, it’s Main Bus A,” says Haise. Another set of alarm lights, above the MET indicator showing “0565513,” begin to light up.

“Houston,” says Haise, “We have a Main Bus A undervolt, now two – -it’s reading twenty five and a half. Main Bus B is reading zip right now. ” The CM shakes. “We’ve got a wicked shimmy up here!”

Back in Houston, Kranz looks at his flight controllers.

“EECOM, GNC,” says Kranz, “These guys are talking about bangs and shimmy up there. That doesn’t sound like instrumentation to me.”

“You are breaking up, Thirteen,” says CAPCOM as Swigert continues to try and secure the hatch to the LM tunnel.

Lovell is having difficulty riding the flight controls.

“Can’t get this hatch to seal!” says Swigert.

“Yeah, just – just stow it,” says Lovell. “If we’d been hit by a meteor, we’d be dead by now. Gonna try to get us out of this lurch.”

“Houston, you’re still in the mud,” says Haise, “did you say switch to Omni Bravo?”

“Roger that,” says CAPCOM. Swigert tumbles into the tunnel.

“Roger,” says Haise, “And the signal strength on the high-gain is-”

“It’s fighting me here, Jack!” says Lovell. “We keep flirting with gimbal lock!”

“Odyssey,” says CAPCOM, “We need a confirmation — what systems do you have down?”

“Okay, Jim,” says Swigert, “SM RCS, Helium One, A and -”

IN THIS MINUTE:

Minute 052: Main Bus B Undervolt Dec 18, 2018

Show notes

The MAIN BUS B UNDERVOLT warning light turns on, followed by the CMC (Command Module Computer) alarm light.

“We have a Main Bus B undervolt,” says Lovell, throwing a switch on the battery selector indicators. “We’ve got a lot of thruster activity here, Houston.”

“What’s the story with the computer now?” asks Swigert.

“It just went offline,” replies Lovell.

Haise hurries through the LM tunnel.

“There’s another Master Alarm, Houston,” says Lovell.

“I’m checking the quads,” says Swigert.

“Christ, that was no repress valve!” says Haise.

“Maybe it’s in Quad C,” says Swigert.

“We’ve got a computer restart,” reports Lovell.

“I’m going to reconfigure the RCS,” says Swigert.

“We’ve got a PNGS light ( Apollo Primary Guidance, Navigation and Control System),” says Lovell.

“The way these things are firing doesn’t make any sense!” says Swigert.

“We’ve got multiple cautions and warnings, Houston,” says Lovell. “We’ve got a reset – restart.”

“Alright,” says Swigert, “I’m going SCS.” Swigert throws a switch that activates the Apollo Stabilization and Control System, taking over control from the Command Module Computer.

A shudder rolls through the ship.

In Mission Control, the Flight Surgeon watches a monitor.

“Jesus,” says the Flight Surgeon, “Flight, their heart rates are skyrocketing.”

“EECOM, what’s your data telling you?” asks Kranz.

“Uh, Oh-Two tank Two not reading at all,” says EECOM, “Tank One is at seven hundred and twenty one PSI and falling. Fuel cells One and Three are – – oh boy, what’s going on here? Flight, let me get back to you?”

“Flight, GNC , ” says GNC, “Flight, they’re all over the place – – they keep going close to gimbal lock.”

“I keep losing radio signal, ” says COMMS, “their antenna must be flipping around.”

“-P22, they’re going to have to do it manually, if not at all – -” continues GNC.

“One at a time, people!” replies Kranz. “One at a time, one at a time. EECOM, is this an instrumentation problem, or are we looking at real power loss here?”

“It’s reading – ” begins EECOM.

IN THIS MINUTE:

Minute 051: Houston, We Have a Problem Dec 17, 2018

Show notes

Jack Swigert is completing several housekeeping tasks on Odyssey.

“And then,” says CAPCOM, “if you could give your oxygen tanks a stir…”

“Roger that,” says Swigert.

EECOM puffs his pipe and looks at his console.

Swigert toggles the O2 switches 1 and 2 to ON.

Deep inside the Service Module, a wire burns and splits.

There is a rumble, and suddenly alarm buzzers are sounding.

Swigert looks at his console.

Lovell looks down the LM tunnel.

Haise looks at the wall of the LM.

On the Service Module, rivets pops. A panel explodes and blows off the side of the ship.

Haise is hammered against the docking latch.

A MASTER ALARM warning flashes on the CM console.

“Hey, we’ve got a problem here,” says Swigert.

Lovell climbs up out of the tunnel into Odyssey, and looks at Swigert. “What did you do?” asks Lovell.

“Nothing!” says Swigert, “I stirred the tanks.”

In Houston, the consoles blank momentarily , and are filled with gibberish on their screens.

“Whoa!” says TELMU.

Kranz looks at the nonsense display, and glances at CAPCOM.

“This is Houston,” says CAPCOM, “Say again, please?”

“Houston,” says Lovell, “We have a problem.”

IN THIS MINUTE:

Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon
Fred Haise: Bill Paxton
Gene Kranz: Ed Harris
EECOM White Team: Clint Howard
TELMU White Team: Jim Meskimen
CAPCOM: Brett Cullen

Minute 050: A Pleasant Evening Sep 21, 2018

Show notes

GUEST: ACTOR BRETT CULLEN

Jim Lovell is completing the narration of the Apollo XIII TV broadcast.

“-Aquarius, and return to the Odyssey,” says Lovell, ” our next broadcast will be from Fra Mauro, on the surface of the Moon. So, this is the crew of the Apollo Thirteen, wishing everyone back on Earth a – – a pleasant evening.”

The screen goes dark.

“Alright,” says Marilyn Lovell, standing up and motioning to her children to leave.

“Daddy was funny!” says Fred Haise, Jr.

NASA PAO Henry Hurt stops Marilyn Lovell. “You know,” he says, “they might air a few minutes on the news tonight.”

“You’d think so,” says Marilyn. She and the children walk toward the exit, Henry saying “Bye,” to Barbara Lovell.

“Well,” says Lovell, stowing an oxygen hose in the Lower Equipment Bay of Odyssey, “Between Jack’s back taxes and the Fred Haise Show, I’d say that was a pretty successful broadcast!”

“That was an excellent show, Odyssey,” says CAPCOM.

“Thank you very much, Houston,” says Jack Swigert.

“Uh, we got a couple of housekeeping procedures for you,” says CAPCOM, “We’d like you to roll right to zero-six-zero and null your rates.”

“Roger that,” says Swigert, “Rolling right, zero-six-zero.” Swigert punches numbers into Odyssey’s DSKY computer interface.

IN THIS MINUTE:

Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon
Fred Haise: Bill Paxton
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan
Barbara Lovell: Mary Kate Schellhardt
Susan Lovell: Emily Ann Lloyd
Henry Hurt: Xander Berkeley
Fred Haise, Jr.: Taylor Caldwell
CAPCOM: Brett Cullen

Minute 049: Gotcha Sep 20, 2018

Show notes

GUEST: CLASSICS PROFESSOR CHARLES CHIASSON

Jim Lovell continues his narration of the TV broadcast from Apollo XIII, as “Honkey Tonkin'” by Hank Williams plays in the background.

“Well, folks, as you can probably tell, ” says Lovell, “the Aquarius isn’t much bigger than a couple of telephone booths. The skin of the LM in some places is only as thick as a couple of layers of tin foil, and that’s all that protects us from the vacuum of space.”

Fred Haise does several somersaults in the cabin of the Lunar Module.

“We can get away with this because the LM is designed only for flight in outer space,” continues Lovell.

Haise spins a flashlight, sunglasses, a cassette tape, and a ball of aluminum foil in the cabin, while sticking his tongue out at the camera.

“Fred Haise,” says Lovell, “Renaissance Man. Okay, we’ll head back up the tunnel now, back into the Odyssey — ”

Lovell floats back down the access tunnel.

“Alright,” says Lovell, “we’ve returned to the Command -”

Haise twists a lever labeled “CABIN PRESSURE VALVE” in the Lunar Module. There’s a loud bang.

“Standby one, Houston,” says Lovell, looking around nervously.

Gene Kranz looks at his console.

“Gotcha!” says Haise, laughing.

“Ah,” says Lovell, “Houston, that bang you heard was Fred Haise on the Repress valve. He really gets our hearts going every time with that one.”

Lovell turns toward the camera.

“Okay,” says Lovell, “we’re about to close out the -”

IN THIS MINUTE:

Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon
Fred Haise: Bill Paxton
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan
Gene Kranz: Ed Harris

Minute 048: Forgot to File Sep 19, 2018

Show notes

Fred Haise is demonstrating orange juice in zero gravity. “Lemon Tree,” sung by Trini López, begins to play.

In Mission Control, Marilyn Lovell is talking to Henry Hurt.

“Do they know they’re not on the air?” asks Marilyn.

“We’ll tell them when they get back,” replies Henry.

“Uh, well, if – if anyone from the- uh, from the IRS is watching, I, uh, forgot to file my – my – my Ten Forty return. I mean, I meant to do it today but –” says Jack Swigert.

“That’s no joke!” says EECOM, “They’ll jump on him!”

The Flight Director smiles and exhales cigarette smoke.

“Well, folks,” says Fred Haise, “Let’s head on down to the Lunar Excursion Module! Follow me!” Fred floats down the access tunnel to the LM.

“Now, when we get ready to land on the Moon,” narrates Jim Lovell, “Fred Haise and I will float down this access tunnel into the Lunar Module, leaving Jack Swigert in -”

“EECOM,” says Gene Kranz, “That – that stir’s going to be on both H-Two and both Oh-Two tanks, is that correct?”

“–spacecraft will remain connected,” continues Lovell.

IN THIS MINUTE:

Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks
Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon
Fred Haise: Bill Paxton
EECOM White Team: Clint Howard
EECOM Gold Team John Aaron: Loren Dean
Marilyn Lovell: Kathleen Quinlan
Barbara Lovell: Mary Kate Schellhardt
Susan Lovell: Emily Ann Lloyd
Blanch Lovell: Jean Speegle Howard
Henry Hurt: Xander Berkeley

Minute 047: Spirit in the Sky Sep 18, 2018

Show notes

“Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum begins to play. Haise spins the cassette player in zero gravity.

Fred Haise’s children, watching in the visitors’ gallery at Mission Control, laugh. Mary Haise smiles.

Jim Lovell looks displeased. “That was supposed to be the Theme to 2001, in honor of our Command Module, Odyssey, but there seems to be a last-minute change in the program.”

“When I go up there on Nineteen, I’m going to take my entire collection of Johnny Cash along,” says CAPCOM.

In a corner of the viewing room, PAO Henry Hurt is looking at a group of TV monitors. None are showing the broadcast, but are airing shows such as I Dream of Jeannie, Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Bewitched, and a game show.

“Where’s their broadcast?” asks Marilyn.

“Hey Marilyn,” replies Henry. “All the networks dumped us. One of them said we made going to the Moon as exciting as a trip to Pittsburgh.”

In a nursing home, Jim Lovell’s mom, Blanch, is trying to watch the broadcast.

“My son is supposed to be on!” she says to another resident. “He’s in outer space.”

“This is all the channels we get, Mrs. Lovell,” explains an orderly, changing the channels but not finding any Apollo broadcasts.

“It’s that damned TV Guide again,” says Blanch. A Samsonite commercial featuring a gorilla throwing a suitcase around a cage appears on screen.

Meanwhile, Fred Haise is demonstrating orange juice in zero gravity.

IN THIS MINUTE:

Minute 046: Stupid Beatles Breaking Up Sep 17, 2018

Show notes

GUEST HOST: STAR WARS MINUTES’ PETE THE RETAILER

Barbara Lovell is having an argument with her mother about…

“the stupid Beatles breaking up!” says Susan Lovell.

“They’re not stupid! You’re stupid!” shouts Barbara.

“Barbara! Barbara!” says Marilyn, “I know you’re in mourning…”

“I’m not going, Mom!” says Barbara. “Dad won’t even know if we’re there!”

“The whole world is going to be watching this broadcast, young lady, and so are we,” replies Marilyn, pulling a red and white polka-dot dress out of Barbara’s closet.

Later, at the Mission Control Center, Jim Lovell appears on the video monitor.

“Okay,” says Lovell. “Good evening, America, and welcome aboard Apollo Thirteen! I’m Jim Lovell, and we’re broadcast to you tonight from an altitude of almost two hundred thousand miles, away from the face of the Earth, and we have a pretty good show in store for you tonight. We are going to show you what life is like here in the vast expanse of space…”

Mission controllers aren’t paying much attention to the video screen. Marilyn, Barbara, and Susan Lovell sit in the visitors’ viewing lounge. One of the flight controllers turns his head to watch baseball player Jimmy Wynn rounding third base on a baseball broadcast from a nearby monitor.

“The first thing we’d like to do is provide you with the appropriate background music,” continues Lovell. “So, uh, hit it there, Fredo.”

“Hello world!” says Fred Haise, as he presses the PLAY button on his cassette player. “Spirit in the Sky” by Norman Greenbaum begins to play. Haise spins the cassette player in zero gravity.

IN THIS MINUTE:

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GUEST: ACTOR BRETT CULLEN

GUEST: CLASSICS PROFESSOR CHARLES CHIASSON

GUEST HOST: STAR WARS MINUTES’ PETE THE RETAILER

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