Space Rocket History Archive

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**Space Rocket History Archive**

The history of early space exploration.

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Continue Listening to Space Rocket History on the Main Feed Jan 31, 2025

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Continue Listening to Space Rocket History on the Main Feed.

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Space Rocket History #273 – Apollo 13 – Free Return – Part 3 Dec 30, 2024

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Lovell toggled the “master arm” switch to On and glanced around to see if everything else was in order. Guidance control was set to “Primary Guidance”; thrust control was on “Auto”; engine gimbals were enabled; the propellant quantity, temperature, and pressure looked good; the ship was maintaining the correct attitude.

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Space Rocket History #272 – Apollo 13 – Free Return – Part 2 Dec 30, 2024

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Aquarius, can you see any stars yet?

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Space Rocket History #271 – Apollo 13 – Free Return – Part 1 Nov 30, 2024

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Kraft wanted to fire the descent engine now, get the ship back on its free-return slingshot course, and when it emerged from behind the moon and reached the PC+2 point, execute any maneuvers that might be required to refine the trajectory or increase its speed.

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Space Rocket History #270 – Apollo 13 – The News Breaks Nov 30, 2024

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Cronkite did not look good. He called Schirra over and thrust a sheet of wire-service copy at him. Schirra scanned the text hurriedly, and with each sentence his heart sank. This was bad. This was worse than bad. This was . . . unheard of. He had a thousand questions, but there wasn’t time to ask……

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Space Rocket History #269 – Apollo 13 – “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” – Part 4 Oct 31, 2024

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EECOM, Sy Liebergot looked away from his monitor; the end, he knew, was at last here. Liebergot, through no fault of his own, was about to become the first flight controller in the history of the manned space program to lose the ship that had been placed in his charge.

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Space Rocket History #268 – Apollo 13 – “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” – Part 3 Oct 31, 2024

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As near as Lovell could tell, it would be a while before the ship’s endgame would play out. He had no way of calculating the leak rate in the tank, but if the moving needle was any indication, he had a couple hours at least before the 318 pounds of oxygen were gone.

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Space Rocket History #267 – Apollo 13 – “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” – Part 2 Sep 29, 2024

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By the time Flight Director Kranz heard Lovell’s report, of “Houston, we’ve had a problem. ” three controllers had reported related problems. Kranz was wondering which problem Lovell was reporting, as he started relaying the long list of warning indications from the spacecraft displays.

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Space Rocket History #266 – Apollo 13 – “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” – Part 1 Sep 29, 2024

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Swigert: I believe we’ve had a problem here!

CapComm: This is Houston. Say again, please.

Lovell: Houston, we’ve had a problem.

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Space Rocket History #265 – Apollo 13 – Translunar Coast – The Calm Before the Storm Aug 31, 2024

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As Lovell prepared for the thruster adjustments, Haise finished closing down the LEM and drifted through the tunnel back toward the command module and Swigert threw the switch to stir all 4 cryogenic tanks.

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