As it Happened - Apollo 13 "Houston We've Had A Problem" 

+MyBrookes1 Well, one thing that helped was that the crew didn't actually know they were leaking oxygen until control had already identified and found a solution to the problem an hour later. The assumption was that they were just leaking fuel which was okay because they had the lunar module to get them home. Below I put together the events and exchanges that went on at houston (you can hear them better if you lower the crew's audio channel which i think is right speaker). You can definitely hear the tensions in the room. As it progresses flight control starts getting progressively annoyed at everyone around him and starts making sarcastic quips. Aside from this though, even if he dismisses someone he still takes their suggestions under advisement. This proved to be good because otherwise Ecom wouldn't have discovered the oxygen leak at all or how to fix it as he had to beg the flight controlman to repower the oxygen sensor. the Ecom guy is the real hero here, but the Flight control directer is the professional because eventhough he was annoyed and made jabs at those around him, he his professionalism helped keep these people alive. It is hilarious hearing him lose his shit on GNC at the end though right after they solved the oxygen problem. at 17:10 they first find out something is venting, and control tries to figure out what it is. at 18:30 Flight control lets control room know that the lunar module still has fuel so don't worry too much. This is followed by a broadcasting that there is only a fuel problem. at 29:00 Ecom and Flight control start arguing because Ecom is worried he can't see oxygen sensors and want them to waste some power so he could see oxygen levels because he suspects they have lost cells. Flight com decides this is a waste of resources. Crew mentions that the venting is causing them to pitch and roll. Ecom asks for power again, but gets shot down again until someone else supports him. at 35:00 they see that the pilot is using thrusters to try to combat the pitch and roll. Control tries to have backroom use a model to see where the random thrust is coming from in the hopes of identifying what tank is venting so they know what it is. at 39:00 Backroom determines where the thrust is coming from and asks to test this by direct RCS control but a discussion of power overtakes the conversation and they order the vessel powered down before resuming and ordering the pilot to do the thruster test. at 44:20 Ecom tries to convince flight control to isolate oxygen tanks. Flight control is baffled by this idea, but the Ecom convinces him its a good idea for re-entry to isolate it (re-entry is not for days a way at this point, so its understandable for flight control to not be seeing that far out). at 49:40 Ecom discovers that heating oxygen tank 1 produced no pressure change (meaning its venting), tries to convince Flight control to waste more power turning on fans to the tank to confirm this. at 50:30 Backroom has determined the thrust caused by the venting had disappeared. at 51:00 Ecom confirms oxygen tank 1 is has practically no pressure left, suggests crew evacuate to lunar module. Argument erupts as flight control is annoyed they are losing focus of the initial problem, but has back room determine the survivability of living in the Lunar module. at 54:00 crew confirms what backroom determined 4 minutes ago about the venting being stopped. at 59:00. The crew starts reading off gauges to see if there is an instrument problem while flight control is still primarily worried about having enough fuel and power remaining for the mission. Interesting sarcastic exchange between control and backroom about it. then sarcastic exchange between flight control and capcom. (turn off right sound balance to turn off the guage readings, so you can hear houston better) at 1:01:00 While the crew is giving gauge readings, Ecom finally figures out and convinces flight control that they are losing oxygen.  at 1:04:00 Ecom determines that the oxygen is leaking through fuel cell 3. at 1:05:20 Capcom informs the crew that they have an oxygen leak and to shut off fuel cell 3. At which point the crew pieces it together and confirms that that is what control is trying to tell them. Flight control loses his shit with GNC for bringing up useless information.

+MyBrookes1 They had more right stuff than average humans. #simpleanswer

MyBrookes1 There was an interview with Ken Mattingly where he has a couple of key quotes. The first was when Glynn Lunney's team came on board just after the accident. Mattingly says that he had witnessed " The most magnificent display of personal leadership he's ever witnessed" by Lunney, the flight director taking over for Kranz. Even the movie script writer lamented not featuring Lunney more, but for the time constraint. The other quote is in regards to Mattingly being taken off 13. He's said that it was the best thing that could've happened due to the conditions in the LEM. He said he would've shut down, where as Swiggert performed brilliantly. Fred Haise has said he had never been more miserable. So it was a case of the right guys that were sent up.

you said it. they were professionals and had to be. they knew they were in trouble but with their extensive training in simulators which they do several times they knew that no emotion would help in getting them home. just cool calmness got them through it.

I guess they were aware that "bouncing off the walls" and shouting at each other wouldn't have solved the problem - it would have made it a lot worse. Not that that makes it any less impressive.

typical hollywood

There is a problem with portraying these kinds of things is that you're not watching a documentary; you're watching a fiction based on history.

add to that that the movie took some "artistic license". It was still better than SpaceCamp (yeeeeesh)

It took a lot of artistic license. The argument in the LM about throwing the switch never happened and never would have happened. Swaggert was an expert on the CM. Haise would never have questioned him.

Let's not forget that we got an slightly edited version the crew and Houston; no coverup; nothing wrong; just standard military air ops;

If only they'd known it was coming, they wouldn't have talked over it, spoiling the moment.

3:41 But I still can't decipher what they said here

@@Gabriel-he6ih Lovell said "we got a Main Bus B undervolt" while at the same time mission control said "we see a hardware restart"

Christopher U.S. Smith Gene Kranz is a wise man; that advice can be used on any problem one may need to solve

I guess that means he wants his team to rely on the data they have before them.

well it speaks of experience, immense experience, situations that have been exacerbated by ‘wishing to do well’ or ‘good intentions’ but little insight, patience or wisdom

My Gf told me this when I found bumps on my...nvm

and "what have we got on the spacecraft thats good?'

Zoomer30 I believe that the company that made the thermostat were informed to change the specs of the thermostat but it never got changed....if memory serves correctly...Also that tank was scheduled for Apollo 10 originally

#LittleThings

Thanks for the explainer but I'm still confused.

@@SpenserRoger In a nutshell, the "drop" the tank took unknowingly knocked the drain pipe lose. So they had to use the heater after the test (about 2 years after the drop) Which had a bad thermostat. If the drop had not happened, even with a bad thermostat, the tanking test would have been fine and the heater would not have been used on the ground. If the heater was used in space, again, no issue since it would be on much lower spacecraft power. Add to that the gauge that was pegged at the the max temperature allowed, had that been able to show higher temps the ground crew would have been able to see the tank was getting to hot and stopped it. At that point, Apollo 13 would be have been postponed until they could have replaced the entire tank, which is what they should have done. Lovell had that option when the tanking issue started during the test, but Apollo crews knew every flight was at risk of being cut. He felt it was safe (naturally no one knew about the thermostat issue)

Bro you are a detective or what? Thanks for the info.

these guys were very brave calm communications my God if it was me up there i bet i have a panic attack and out of control thanks for this video upload

***** yeah i guess if i went up there i will packed up a nice cyanide pill just in case hahahaha you never know what could happen up there

***** should be 100 million watching/listening to this!!

***** well if you ran out of oxygen, then that would do you in.

+lunarmodule5 Thank you for doing this. I think there is alot of room for other 4 box, w/ audio on other nasa missions. I need to know how accurate your showing of the DSKY, onboard video/ news video/ is all specifically ON TIME LINE> That is what will make any further production worth while and valid. If I can help, advise. Thanks.

TheNaomeister Resets can work wonders, provided the equipment being monitored didn't fail.

@@ChristopherUSSmith Which is why the NGC was built to restart itself on any problem. Very quick reboot too, so quick Apollo 11 could land while the computer rebooted multiple times.

@@johncrowerdoe5527 Well, calling it "rebooting" is a bit of a misnomer. But yes, it could very quickly resume tasks after a watchdog timer reset.

The O2 surge tank was part of the CM (not SM) that would be needed for re-entry (after disconnecting from SM) , that's why Gene got confused.

Most leaders these days never admit error no matter what

True, but they did tease him afterward and even presented him with a cake decorated with the words "I don't understand that, Sy" at the party after the crew got home. Being flight director, he probably should have known the surge tank was in the CM :P But yes, Kranz was a phenomenal flight director.

did you even read the specs of the Saturn V?

@@jayxtreme6 You didn't get the joke?

they made them go home and mty them bethore im sure there withes would ov abliged sorry about spelling i Englishman but no good with that shit never lisned at school thats why a aint no astronaught lol

They balanced it with the weight of mission control's balls.

I got the joke,this is a period when men though on their feet and didn't reply on computers for everything.

+theproplady I think because so many problems happened at the same time including the fuel cells, the Co2 vents, the oxygen tanks that they couldn't think which gas and fuel was leaking, so they didn't want to risk doing anything with burns and engines incase it was the fuel, so think they needed to be 100% before they did anything

Gene never spoke to the astronauts but I agree he was a smooth operator

Seemed even at end of video they just speculated a O2 line ruptured going into fuel cell three. No one so far on messages has speculated the tank actually exploded.

A lot of gasses in service module. Fuel, oxygen, nitrogen, helium. Last two for pressure. While knowing something leaking they don’t know what. Seems power loss also affected instruments in tanks.

The opening explains that this isn't in real time. Did you bother reading it or just skip ahead looking for cool special effects?

ru-vid.com/group/PLC1yaZz2qeGrj_-TCMeupfzRUmf6CysdF

They would have been a lot more panicked if they didn't have the LM attached and in good shape. As has been pointed out so many times, if this had happened at ANY point after PDI they would have been more or less screwed. They would certainly have died without the LM.

Welcome!

We always got our space coverage from Wally and Wally on CBS. ;)

dont even entertain the thought.

I don't think it's insanity or stupidity, I think it's actually malice. They want to undercut the achievement for some reason.

People of this ilk have a hard time facing reality in their own lives.

I dont think they are worthy of attention, dont ever bother with that people.

@@williamlinington9166 I would have said "People of this ilk have a hard time facing reality in their own BORING and INSIGNIFICANT lives."

DD Brock you are most welcome DD

Tough and Competent.

Yeah, it's so weird coming from the film to this. Tom Hanks sounded professional, scared, but trying to inhibit the fear to get the information to mission control. The real Captain Lovell just sounded annoyed. Like he was thinking "Goddamn, why'd it have to be our mission that fails?" No fear in his voice whatsoever.

​@@Crowbars2Yeah, actors make it WAY more exciting for sure. 😂 This was a YAWNER. 😵‍💫

That's pretty much all astronauts do, check lists! Go watch space shuttle cockpit landings and you can see checklists plastered all over the front window. Anything happens , there's a checklist . However, one has to salute the creative thinking in finding away to fit the it filter using among other things duct tape, but that was done on earth

@@jacobjorgenson9285 yeah very easy anyone can do it … hmm

Update - "massive sets of TITANIUM balls of these men"

Under rated comment.

🤣🤣🤣

universalchiro 🤣

I do alright with stirring food, but then our microwave keeps showing a Main Bus B undervolt. That really sucks...@@richardkirk5098

Yes.

M Zach yes swigert says it first, then Lovell repeats it when CAPCOM asks. It’s the same in the movie :)

Well it’s changed to present tense but other than that

M Zach no it was Jim Lovell

Julian Jamison no it’s Swigert, Lovell repeats it...

Thanks for your comments Paul - I am glad the video has been interesting.

You were 13 years old and it was Apollo 13.

coincidence? I think not! great job, Danny! (peladophobian reference, look him up on youtube)

@@aSStronaut111 I know right?!

Lucius Zedaker U R Welcome Lucius - thanks for the comment

yeah. this is what some proper military training, real pilots that had been in combat or stress situations, not just desk jockeys. One has to experience adrenalin, momentary fright, then recover and just keep on thinking and processing things. Oh and being prepared, practice, rehearsal, know and understand the system you are using. Don't Panic. Bouncing around the walls and yelling won't accomplish anything. You will just be right back where you started but with more time elapsed

Thanks Jack

Been sick with the new Corona. Or whatever they are spraying. Your uploads are so soothing. You can switch off and just listen. Thank you friend.

whorayful Thanks whorayful - It was a labour of love putting this one together.

whorayful Well, they knew they had "zero" and dropping readings, they knew that the mission was scrubbed. So they immediately evaluated the amount of oxygen, electric power, fuel, and water remaining. The lunar module is one tough little ship.

They've all almost died in jets a bunch of times probably, so that does help.

Thanks for your comments Ben...and am glad you have enjoyed the videos... regards LM5

welcome!

Donald Thomas hi Donald - am glad you liked the presentation - the entire Apollo 13 mission is available on the channel also. regards Lm5

You are most welcome Pepe - Cool MOCR and astros? Did you expect anything else! ;-)

Tim Woods "These guys talkin' about bangs and shimmies doesn't sound like instrumentation to me."

10:30

"You close the valves you can't open them again you can't land on the moon with only one healthy fuel cell!" "Gene, the Odysee is dying. From my chair here, this is the last option"

Its amazing how much of the movie consists of actual quotes... Ironically Kranz’s most famous line “failure is not an option” was never stated during the mission. However Gene liked it and the delivery so much that he made it the title of his autobiography. He is as much a legend as any astronaut...

When you know everything is FUBAR.

Hi Matt - the Apollo 11 series will be similar to this...in that the FD loop is included...regards LM5

You gonna leave Apollo 12 off that list like SCE to AUX didn't happen or the fact that it's 3 best friends on an interstellar road trip?! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

It was impressive. As Jim Lovell once said - there was nowhere to go, if you did get upset and starte bouncing around you would find yourself back where you started, so it was a better choice to try and work throught the issues.

Of course he was absolutely right. Thank you for uploading all of these wonderful videos. Hopefully it will inspire the next generation to become steely eyed missile men once more!

Theres always that to hope for!

Medal of Honour is for sacrifice in battle. I believe the entire MOCR was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom? Or something close to that. One of the higher civilian honours.

+joemacneil2 Welcome Joe !

Glad you liked it Babe

Thanks for the comment - currently in the process of doing the entire Flight Director Loop

And people were already bored of it....tv stations wwerent even covering it anymore Seems nuts to me as well

As a project manager Gene is my greatest inspiration.

Na, There toward the end Kranz was losing it. When Capcom requested more instrumentation Kranz brought in an Alto sax and a snare drum.

Only flight control hears it all. The rest only hear capcom, and their own communications with flight.

Test pilots!

It's especially remarkable for someone my age who had the film as the first point of reference for the event. It's really nothing like the dramatics depicted in the movie.

Steven Grandey Not to mention using an unapproved shortcut turning on the tank heaters to boil off the O2 from the fueling test prior to launch. Because the thermostat was fused by the higher voltage, the temperature went much much higher and burned the wiring insulation. When enough O2 was converted from cryogenic slush to gas, and the tanks were stirred, *BOOM* . The tanks were stirred several times more than normal because the O2 tank 2 pressure read "off scale high" several times before the explosion.

The oxygen tank that failed was multipurpose. It was fuel cells and breathing air, as well as propulsion.

@@104thDIVTimberwolf And water for drinking and cooling the components.

I’ve seen the moon landing deniers berating the Apollo 11 crew, as they weren’t “sufficiently jubilant” at the press conference after they returned. My response is 1) they weren’t chosen for their bubbly personalities. They were fighter / test pilots. And 2) that’s how men behaved in mainstream America in the 60’s. Things are very different now. And 3) I can’t imagine how it would feel to do all that, walk on the moon, and a few days later be in a press conference. All these guys are a model of how to act and communicate under pressure, as well as how to handle a press conference. If you watch the full conference, they actually do laugh and joke around some. Your comment just reminded me of all that :) And yes, they are all heroes

I panic more when I burn the chicken.

Glad you got the headphones on! It definitely makes a difference! Thanks for your comment

That would be terrifying to see

Lucius Zedaker accuracy is my muddle name ;-) lol

Well yea they were trained for that

and your dad made you get up and do it so he wouldn't have to get out of his chair, well, mine did anyway! 🤭

Brammy007a Hi Brammy - and the other thing is often mistaken is that Jim said those words first, but it was Swigert first, and Jims quote after Lousmas response is also often mis-quoted - Jim says "Ah Houston, We've had a problem" - thanks for someone else realising the real words, which I think is important. Kudos to you sir.

Brammy007a as for the overdramatised manula burn, that comes over if you have watched the video for Apollo 13 I put up on the full mission series. Yes it was tense, yes it was by eyeball, but it wasnt as dramatic as people think. Still. that takes nothing away from the crew performing a manual burn that had never been practiced or attempted before.

The film "partially" gets it right. Swigert in the film says, "hey, we've had a problem here", THEN Jim says the line, followed up with him reporting the Main Bus B Undervolt.

Sue Smith while funny, I would like to point out that this wasn’t an option either... If you don’t stir the tanks the oxygen will coagulate on the tank, stopping flow... They would have to be stirred... There was really no way to prevent this once the ship went up with a faulty component...

I agree Sue! After the explosion you wonder if the crew thought much of the fact that they stirred the tank as the cause because almost 2 minutes passed between flipping the switch and the explosion.

Tanks should be shaken, not stirred.

@@jonneexplorer Stir the tanks by hand!!!!!

Another 20/20 hindsight scream - for a different catastrophe - would be "Don't try to miss that iceberg!!"

Doug Eberline yeah

Well, it's a movie... what do you expect? ;)

And they didn't dramatize it as much as some filmmakers would have. Ron Howard didn't take as much artistic license as many would have.

I wonder what this would be if Apollo 13 was directed by Michael Bay

I think the explosion would have been nuclear-sized. Imagine the lens flares if JJ Abrams got involved...