Apollo 13

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A routine moon mission that no one was watching turned into the most gripping survival story in spaceflight. We open on the quiet confidence of Apollo-era repetition, then snap into crisis as a routine cryogenic stir triggers an explosion that cripples the spacecraft and forces a complete rewrite of the plan. Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise retreat into the lunar module—built for two days on the Moon—and turn it into a four-day lifeboat while Mission Control, led by Gene Kranz, invents procedures on the fly.

Together, we trace the pivotal moments that kept the crew alive: the square-peg CO2 fix crafted from plastic bags, cardboard, and tape; the brutal power and water rationing that turned the cabin into a 38-degree freezer; and the manual navigation burns aligned to Earth’s day-night edge and the stars. We unpack the reentry gamble—powering up a frozen command module on a shoestring, hoping the heat shield survived the blast—and the relief of parachutes over the Pacific. Then we dig into the investigation that found the root cause: a damaged oxygen tank, voltage mismatches, and overheated components that transformed small oversights into a catastrophic chain reaction.

The conversation draws out the leadership and engineering lessons that still matter: why redundancy saves lives, how to solve with constraints, and how training and structure turn panic into procedure. Expect vivid storytelling, technical clarity, and takeaways you can use—from crisis management and systems thinking to team communication under stress. If space history, engineering problem-solving, and high-stakes decision-making light you up, you’ll feel right at home here.

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Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:01):
Apollo 11 was the most famous spaceflight ever.
Everyone knows Buzz Aldrin andNeil Armstrong's name.
They became celebritiesovernight as the first men to
walk on the moon.
Space was new and exciting, andeveryone was watching.
A year later, not so much.
When Apollo 13, the third lunarmission launched, not so many

(00:25):
people gave a shit.
Been there, done that, time forsomething new.
However, that would change 56hours into the mission when
disaster struck, and all of asudden, everyone was interested
again.
So, what happened?
I'm Andrew, and this isHistory's A Disaster.

(00:52):
We're going back into spacetonight to look at the Doomed
Apollo 13 mission.
And this mission was fuckedright from the start.
One thing after another seemedto go wrong before disaster
finally struck, dooming themission and leaving three
astronauts desperately trying tomake their way back to Earth.

(01:13):
And tonight's episode is broughtto you by the Breathe Deep
Oxygen Bar.
Feeling lethargic?
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(01:35):
McNair Boulevard in downtownScoby.
The Apollo 13 mission, commandedby veteran astronaut Jim Lovell,
with command of module pilotJack Swiggart and Lunar Module
Pilot Fred Hayes, was initiallyconsidered routine by both NASA

(01:55):
and the public.
So much so that after Apollo 11and 12, no one really cared that
much.
While 11 and 12 were highlytelevised with millions of
people watching, 13 would notget as much attention.
Media viewed Apollo 13 as lessimportant, so while it was
televised, it didn't get thesame attention the previous

(02:18):
missions had.
Apollo 13's original missionprofile was ambitious yet well
rehearsed.
The plan was for the astronautsto land in the Frau Marl
Highlands, an area of extremescientific interest due to its
geological composition and thepotential to provide insights
into the moon's formation.

(02:39):
They thought it possiblycontained material ejected from
the formation of the ImbriumBasin, one of the Moon's largest
impact craters, so it would makea great place to take geological
samples.
Commander Jim Lovell, making hisfourth spaceflight and second
lunar mission, brought extensiveexperience to the mission.

(03:00):
At 42, he was NASA's mostexperienced astronaut.
Jack Swigard, 38, was alast-minute replacement for Ken
Mattingley, who had been exposedto measles and was grounded as a
precautionary measure just daysbefore launch.
And nothing against Jack here,since NASA always has highly

(03:21):
trained backup crew members forsituations like this.
But replacing Ken was the firstbad omen of the doomed mission
to come.
Fred Hayes, 36, was making hisfirst spaceflight, but he had
extensive experience as a testpilot and lunar module
specialist.
The mission plan called for afour-day journey to the moon,

(03:43):
followed by Lovell and Hayesdescending to the lunar surface
in the lunar module Aquarius,while Spligart remained in lunar
orbit aboard the command moduleOdyssey.
The surface mission was supposedto last 33.5 hours, during which
they would conduct twomoonwalks, deploy scientific
instruments, and collectgeological samples.

(04:04):
The total length of the missionwas planned for 10 days.
Apollo 13 lifted off from LaunchComplex 39A at Kennedy Space
Center at 213 on April 11, 1970,aboard a Saturn V rocket.
The launch started off great,although a minor fuck-up

(04:25):
occurred.
At 5.5 minutes after liftoff,the crew felt a little
vibration.
Then the center engine of thesecond stage rocket shut down
two minutes early.
This caused the remaining fourengines to burn 34 seconds
longer than had been planned.
And the third stage rocket hadto burn 9 seconds longer to put

(04:46):
Apollo 13 in orbit.
So, really not getting off to agreat start here, but most
launches never go completelyperfect, anyways.
The first two days of themission went as planned.
They performed the translunarinjection burn, which separated
them from the third stage rocketand docked with the lunar module
as planned.

(05:07):
They conducted routine systemchecks, navigation updates, and
course corrections while headingtoward the moon at increasing
speeds.
The spacecraft's trajectory wasprecise and all systems appeared
to be functioning perfectly.

(05:29):
On the evening of April 13th,roughly 56 hours into the
mission, the crew was settlinginto the routine of deep space
flight.
They had just completed aroutine television broadcast
showing viewers around thespacecraft, demonstrating the
experience of weightlessness andexplaining various systems.

(05:50):
After the broadcast ended at9.07 Houston time, the crew
began preparing for bed.
However, less than a minuteafter the broadcast ended, the
shit hit the fan, 200,000 milesfrom Earth and fast approaching
the moon, when Mission Controlrequested that the crew perform
a standard cryo stir of theoxygen and hydrogen tanks.

(06:13):
These cryogenic fluids neededperiodic stirring to prevent
stratification and ensureaccurate quantity readings.
Jack Swiggart activated theswitches for the procedure, and
moments later the crew felt avibration and heard a loud bang
that echoed through thespacecraft.
Warning lights soon startedpopping up on the consoles.

(06:34):
As Swiggart made his now famouscall to mission control.
Okay, Houston, we've had aproblem here.
Confusion erupted in MissionControl as flight director Gene
Kranz asked for clarification.
Jim Lovell repeated moreemphatically, Houston, we have a
problem.
A chain of events involvingdesign flaws and other fuck-ups

(06:57):
led to oxygen tank number two inthe service module exploding.
The explosion blew a hatch offthe service module, damaged
oxygen tank number one, severedfuel cell power lines, and
compromised the service module'sability to provide life support
for the command module.
Within minutes, the crew waslosing oxygen, electrical power,

(07:20):
and water.
The planned lunar landing wasimmediately abandoned as NASA
was now forced to figure out howto bring the crew home alive.
The command module Odyssey wasrapidly losing its life support
capabilities, which meant thecrew now needed to shut down all
non-essential systems topreserve power for re-entry.

(07:42):
The lunar module Aquarius,designed to support two men for
two days on the lunar surface,would now have to serve as a
lifeboat for three men for fourdays.
So things are not looking goodat this point.
The decision was made to movethe crew into the lunar module.
It would have to make due astheir new temporary home.
This would require them poweringdown the command modules to

(08:05):
preserve its battery power forthe eventual re-entry while
rapidly bringing the lunarmodule systems online in a
configuration they had neverbeen designed for.
The procedures for this did notexist and had to be developed on
the fly with the lives of thethree crew members on the line.
Engineers and astronauts on theground worked frantically to

(08:27):
devise new checklists andoperational procedures.
Gene Kranz, the lead flightdirector, established the
mission's new priority with hisfamous declaration, Failure is
not an option.
He organized his team intogroups to begin addressing the
critical problems.
Power conservation, lifesupport, navigation, and

(08:49):
re-entry procedures.
The white team under Kranz'sleadership, along with the gold
and black teams under GlennLooney and Gerald Griffin,
worked around the clock inshifts to ensure there was
always someone working on theproblems.
And things just kept gettingworse for the astronauts.
Carbon dioxide levels in thelunar module began rising

(09:10):
dangerously as the CO2scrubbers, originally designed
for two men for two days,quickly became overwhelmed with
the addition of a third man.
The command module used squarelithium hydroxide containers and
the CO2 scrubbers.
However, the lunar module usedcylindrical containers because

(09:32):
apparently someone was slackingin standardizing the equipment
at NASA.
The square canisters would needto be modified to work with the
round receptacles in the lunarmodule.
Engineers on the ground had todevise a solution using only
materials available on thespacecraft plastic bags,

(09:52):
cardboard, tape, and variousfittings.
The next four days were ashowcase of problem solving at
its finest.
The carbon dioxide scrubberproblem was solved through an
adaption designed by engineersat Johnson Space Center.
Working with identical materialsto those available on the
spacecraft, the ground teamdeveloped a procedure that

(10:13):
allowed the crew to build anadapter using plastic bags,
cardboard from their flightplans, tape, and those different
fittings.
The jury-rigged modificationsworked perfectly, maintaining
safe CO2 levels for the rest ofthe flight.
The next major problem was powerconservation.

(10:37):
The lunar module's batterieswere designed to provide power
for the short lunar surfacemission, not for the extended
journey home.
Every amp had to be carefullymanaged with non-essential
systems shut down and powerbudgets calculated to the
minute, which would make it along cold flight home since

(10:57):
heating was considerednon-essential.
The temperature in the lunarmodule plummeted as low as 38
degrees.
In the tight confines of thelunar module, their spacesuits
would have made things worse.
On top of limited mobility, theywould not have been able to use
the cooling system, so theywould have quickly overheated in
the big bulky suits.

(11:19):
The next major problem waswater, or the lack of it.
It was estimated that the crewwould run out of water about
five hours before they made itback to Earth.
They had to conserve water.
They cut down to six ounces eachper day, which is just a fifth
of their normal intake.
Instead, they drank fruit juice,ate hot dogs, and other wet pack

(11:43):
foods when they ate it all.
The crew became dehydratedthroughout the flight and set a
record that stood up throughoutApollo.
Lovell lost 14 pounds, and thecrew lost a total of 31.5
pounds, nearly 50% more than anyother Apollo crew.
Not sure if that's a record tobe proud of or not.

(12:03):
Yay, we nearly died, but look atall the weight I lost.
All of that, plus a kidneyinfection for Fred, and they
still landed with 28.2 pounds ofwater, which is about 9% of the
total available.
To get home, they would have tomake two critical engine burns
using the lunar module's descentpropulsion system.

(12:26):
The first was performed on April14th and was designed to speed
their re-entry by about 10 hoursand ensure they would not miss
Earth entirely.
The second burn on April 15thwas a minor course correction to
ensure they would land in thePacific Ocean where recovery
ships were waiting.
These engine burns would requireextreme precision.

(12:49):
The lunar module's guidancecomputer had not been designed
for these maneuvers, and itsnavigation system was not
properly aligned after theexplosion.
The crew had to perform manualnavigation using the Earth's
Terminator, which is that linebetween day and night, as a

(13:12):
reference, while maintaining thespacecraft's attitude by visual
reference to the stars.
Meanwhile, on Earth, the mediawas finally paying attention to
the Apollo mission.
The drama of Apollo 13 capturedglobal imagination in a way that
the routine success of previousmissions had not.
Television networks providedcontinuous coverage, and people

(13:36):
around the world followed everydevelopment.
Nothing like a potentialcatastrophe to bring people
together.
Once they finally made it backto Earth, they would now face
their biggest hurdle, re-entry.
The crew had to power up thecommand module after days of
cold shutdown, a procedure thathad never been attempted and for

(13:58):
which no checklist existed.
Engineers at Mission Controlworked with simulator teams to
develop the startup procedures,which had to account for the
spacecraft's unusualconfiguration and limited power
availability.
And the greatest unknown of allthis was whether the command
module's heat shield had beendamaged by the explosion or not.

(14:20):
If the shield had been fuckedup, the crew would never survive
re-entry.
There was no way to inspect theshield, and the crew would not
know until they attemptedre-entry whether their
spacecraft could protect themfrom the 5000 degree Fahrenheit
temperatures of atmosphericentry, so they had no other
choice but to go for they wouldeither burn up or not.

(14:43):
The final separation from theservice module gave a shocking
view of the extent of thedamage.
As the service module driftedaway, the crew could see that an
entire panel had been blownaway, exposing the internal
structure.
The site confirmed how bad theexplosion was and raised
additional concerns aboutpotential damage to the command

(15:05):
module's heat shield.
Fortunately, they would survivere-entry and splash down safely
in the Pacific Ocean nearAmerican Samoa on April 17th at
12.07 Central Time.
The landing was remarkablyprecise, just 4 miles from the
recovery ship USS Iwo Jima.

(15:26):
The crew had survived 142 hoursand 54 minutes in space under
unheard of conditions that hadpushed them to their limits.
The Apollo 13 Accident ReviewBoard, established immediately
after the mission, conducted athorough investigation into what
caused the explosion.

(15:46):
The investigation revealed achain of events dating back
years before the flight,involving design flaws,
procedural oversights, andquality control failures.
The root cause was traced tooxygen tank number 2, which had

(16:07):
been damaged during groundtesting at the factory in 1968.
The tank had been dropped about2 inches during removal from
Apollo 10's service module andjust slapped right into Apollo
13.
I'm sure it'll be fine, right?
More critically, the tank'sinternal thermostatic switches
were designed for 28 volt DCpower.

(16:29):
However, between 1968 and 1970,NASA had upgraded to 65 volts.
So the Kennedy Space Center'sground equipment had been
upgraded to operate at thehigher voltage.
During ground testing, whentechnicians attempted to empty
the tank, the higher voltagecaused the thermostatic switches

(16:50):
to weld shut.
The tank could not be emptiedthrough normal procedures.
So the technicians used thetank's heater to boil off the
oxygen.
And the heater, of course, wasrated for 28 volts and reached
temperatures exceeding 100degrees Fahrenheit by the 65
volt equipment.

(17:11):
So it was just a tad bit aboveits design limit of 80 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Just a little bit.
This extreme heating damaged theTeflon insulation on the wires
inside the tank.
During the cryo stir on April13th, the damaged wires created
an electrical arc that ignitedthe Teflon insulation in the

(17:32):
pure oxygen environment.
Do you know what happens whenyou put a spark in a pure
oxygen-rich environment?
That's right, you get a hugeexplosion.
The resulting explosion waspowerful enough to blow out the
entire panel of the servicemodule and damage everything
around it.
The investigation, obviously,revealed multiple failures in

(17:54):
NASA's quality controlprocesses.
The voltage incompatibilityshould have been caught during
design reviews.
The tank dropping incidentshould have triggered more
thorough inspections, not just,oh let's just roll it in the
next one.
The high temperature readingsduring ground testing should
have raised red flags.
Each failure individually mighthave been alright, but put them

(18:18):
together and they snowballedinto a much bigger catastrophe.
The Apollo 13 accident led tosignificant changes in
spacecraft design andoperational procedures.
NASA implemented over 100 designmodifications and procedural

(18:43):
changes before the next mission.
The oxygen tanks were completelyredesigned with new thermostatic
switches, additional sensors,and improved wiring.
The tanks were also repositionedto reduce the risk of both tanks
being damaged simultaneously.
A third oxygen tank would alsobe added to future missions,

(19:05):
along with an extra battery andadditional water supplies.
The changes increased thespacecraft's weight but provided
crucial redundancies that couldprevent a similar crisis.
NASA also improved its qualitycontrol processes, implementing
more rigorous testing andinspection procedures.
Except apparently on things likeO-rings, since those aren't

(19:29):
important at all.
Just ask the crew of thechallenger.
But perhaps most importantly,the accident led to enhanced
crew training for emergencyprocedures.
Astronauts began trainingextensively for contingencies
like power conservation, CO2scrubber improvisation, and
emergency navigation procedures.

(19:51):
Apollo 13 became a cornerstoneof NASA's crisis management
training, influencing proceduresthat are still used today.
Despite not achieving itsprimary objective of landing on
the moon, Apollo 13 madesignificant contributions to
space exploration knowledge.
It provided valuable data onspacecraft systems under extreme

(20:14):
conditions and demonstrated theimportance of redundancy in life
support systems.
The improvised solutionsdeveloped during the crisis
became part of NASA's standardemergency procedures.
The mission also contributed tounderstanding of crew's
psychology and performance understress.
The crew's ability to functioneffectively despite exhaustion,

(20:38):
dehydration, and extreme stress,provided insights that informed
crew selection and training forfuture missions.
Medical data collected duringthe mission helped NASA
understand the physiologicaleffects of extended stress in
the space environment.
The technical innovationsdeveloped during the crisis,

(20:59):
particularly the CO2 scrubberadaption, became legendary
examples of engineering problemsolving.
The solution demonstrated thevalue of having diverse
materials available onspacecraft and the importance of
crew training in improvisationand adaption.

(21:20):
And that was the successfulfailure of the Apollo 13
mission.
A failure, at least in myopinion, that contributed more
to the scientific community thanif they would have actually
landed on the moon.
Thanks for listening, and if youliked the show, please consider
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(21:41):
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Take care of yourself out there.

(22:01):
Chase that dream.
Live for today, because tomorrowis never guaranteed.
Thanks and goodbye.