Gibson - Houston70: The Miracle Journey of Apollo 13

Thursday

9 April, 1970

Two days before launch

Jim Lovell

James Arthur Lovell Jr. was the commander of the Apollo 13 mission in April, 1970; the mission intended to be the third NASA mission to land astronauts on the surface of the Moon. Prior to the Apollo 13 mission, Lovell had flown on the Gemini 7 and Gemini 12 missions, and had been the command module pilot of the Apollo 8 mission - the first Apollo mission to put a manned spacecraft in orbit around the Moon.

Jim Lovell @JLCDRApollo13

After two years of meticulous preparation and training, we are now just two days away from setting off for the Moon.

Jim Lovell @JLCDRApollo13

I for one could not feel more ready for this. Im sure Fred Haise and Ken Mattingly feel just the same.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

Apollo 13: a new and dangerous voyage to one of the oldest areas of the Moon and the riskiest lunar landing yet attempted, lies ahead for Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Ken Mattingly.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

Just 2 days to go now before the launch of this the third mission to land men on the surface of the Moon. Unlike its two predecessors, Apollo 13 is going into very rugged, lunar highland areas.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

The lunar module Aquarius will stay on the Moon for 33 hours, during which time astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise will take two long moonwalks.

Jules Bergman @JBABCNews

Apollo 13 will attempt to land in Frau Mauro, a rough, hilly highland area similar to the foothills of the Rockies.

Jules Bergman @JBABCNews

The area is littered with debris from a mammoth meteorite impact, offering chunks of the Moon 5 billion years old.

Wally Schirra @WSchirraNASA

Lovell and Haise will conduct scientific experiments, set up a scientific base station, and hopefully send back the first color television pictures from the Moons surface.

Wally Schirra @WSchirraNASA

Ken Mattingly will be circling overhead in the command ship.

Jules Bergman @JBABCNews

To solve the mystery of whether the Moon is dead or has a hot core like the Earth, Haise will drill three 10-feet deep holes with a battery-powered electric drill.

Jules Bergman @JBABCNews

Haise will then slip a series of heat measuring devices in two of the holes to detect the precise temperature differences beneath the surface.

Jules Bergman @JBABCNews

The third hole will be used to collect a sample of Moons crust from 9 or 10 feet below the surface.

Jules Bergman @JBABCNews

On the second moonwalk, theyll hike two miles to a high-rimmed crater to get pictures and samples to see how it got there and what has happened to it.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

If it all seems routine, if it seems to lack the wild suspense and drama of Apollo 11, perhaps theres a lesson for all of us in men who are willing to press on, facing new dangers for new learning, even if they werent there first.

Jim Lovell @JLCDRApollo13

On my way now to see Deke Slayton, Director of Flight Crew Operations. Something of great urgency seems to have come up.

Walter Cronkite (1916-2009)

Walter Cronkite was best known as the main anchorman for the American CBS television news network during much of the Cold War in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Often referred to as the most trusted man in America, Cronkite was the face of American news during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy; throughout the American space program, Moon landings and the war in Vietnam.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

With just hours to go before lift off of Apollo 13, there is the possibility tonight that a case of German measles could delay the flight of Apollo 13.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

NASA says that one of the backup crew, Charlie Duke, was exposed to a child with the disease at the weekend.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

Two of the three members of the prime crew, Lovell and Haise, have been found to have immunity to the disease. The third, command module pilot Ken Mattingly, does not.

Deke Slayton @DSDrctrFlghtCrwOps

I had some very bad news to deliver to the Apollo 13 crew. Charlie Duke has the measles and all the crew have been exposed to it. We believe Ken Mattingly may have caught the disease.

Wally Schirra @WSchirraNASA

The NASA doctors fear that with the measles incubation period, Ken Mattingly would develop the disease during the time he is alone and in control of the command module.

Wally Schirra @WSchirraNASA

There is therefore the possibility of a delay, or of replacing Mattingly with one of the backup crew members.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

The disease only lasts for a few days, but for Mattingly those would be the wrong few days. If they have to postpone the flight until the next possible launch date, it would cost close to a million dollars.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

The only way doctors could guarantee that Mattingly will not get sick during the mission would be if he got sick before and recovered.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

For the past 2 days, everyone has been watching Mattingly closely hoping he would get sick, but so far hes refused to cooperate.

Wally Schirra @WSchirraNASA

A postponement of the flight would amount to a million-dollar case of measlesthe most expensive case of measles in the history of the world.

Wally Schirra @WSchirraNASA

One of the backup crew, Jack Swigert, is being given extra simulator time to increase his readiness should he replace Mattingly, but there is considerable resistance to breaking up the crew.

Wally Schirra @WSchirraNASA

This is a crew that has trained together for two years. A final decision has to be made by Friday night.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

Meanwhile, the countdown goes on and the weather outlook now is good. Ken Mattingly has been briefing Jack Swigert (a 38-year-old civilian bachelor space rookie) on the flight plans.

Walter Cronkite @WCronkiteCBSNews

Swigerts job would be to fly the command module while Lovell and Haise are on the Moon.

Jules Bergman @JBABCNews

If NASA go ahead and replace Mattingly with Swigert, he will have only 48 hours to try to develop the kind of teamwork with the other crew members that normally takes monthsquite an assignment.

Wally Schirra @WSchirraNASA

As mission commander Jim Lovells personal feelings are likely to be that the flight should be delayed a month to allow Mattingly to fly. But he is well aware of the huge costs and logistics that would be involved in such a delay.