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Tuesday 13 April, 2010 - 08:00 AM EDT

Space Anniversary: Apollo 13 and Omega Moon Landing

James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise. Also: Omega Speedmaster




40 years have gone by since the Apollo 13 crew members’ cheated death by overcoming a spacecraft malfunction while on their way to the moon. While Fred Haise Jr., part of the crew, is now building a science museum in Mississippi, Captain James Lovell, who lives in Lake Forest, is telling his beat-the-odds story in hopes of inspiring perseverance.

Apollo 13's three-man crew (the third member, Jack Swigert, died in 1982) blasted off from Cape Kennedy on April 11, 1970. An oxygen tank ruptured two days later. The astronauts were forced to scrap their moon mission.

Gerald Griffin, also a flight director, said the men working with him on Apollo 13 felt they were only in the right place at the right time when they guided the spacecraft back to Earth. Kranz said while guiding Apollo 13 back to Earth, he relied on a "gut feeling." "I believed in my team," he said. "I believed in my spacecraft."



Apollo 13 was to be the third mission to land on the Moon. An explosion in one of the oxygen tanks crippled the spacecraft during flight and the crew were forced to circle the Moon and return to the Earth without landing. Apollo 13 was launched on Saturday, April 11, 1970 at 13:13 CST on a Saturn 5 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. "Houston, we've had a problem," said astronaut Jack Swigert and Commander Jim Lovell both radioed back. Running out of oxygen and power, the crew used the lunar module as emergency quarters. They made it back safely on April 17. The drama was captured, you'll recall, in the 1995 Tom Hanks movie Apollo 13.





The Apollo 13 crew members were:

1. James A. Lovell (Commander)
2. John L. Swigert (Command Module Pilot)
3. Fred W. Haise (Lunar Module Pilot)

The back up crew were:

1. John W. Young (Backup Commander)
2. John L. Swigert (Backup Command Module Pilot)
3. Charles M. Duke, Jr (Backup Lunar Module Pilot)


Apollo 13 (1995)



The film Apollo 13 was based on the real events of the worst NASA’s tragedy. Back in 1971 when NASA planed to send out people to the Moon for a lunar mission, they had chosen astronauts Jim Lovell, Frad Haise and Jack Swigert. Even they launched into outer space successfully; a slight fault from inside space module caused an explosion that turned the exploration into a survival test the whole crew of Apollo 13. While Loveel, Haise, and Swigert were trying to survive in space, the workers at NASA were trying to figure out a way of getting the astronauts home safely.

Many Omega Speedmaster watches are seen during this movie as many of the characters wore one, including Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) and Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon).
[ Click here to read complete article ]





Possible Related Links:

[ Apollo 13: Watches in Movies ]

[ Man on the Moon: 40 years - Omega Speedmaster ]

[ Omega's Official Website ]


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Omega's Watches at Interwatches!

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