Apollo13

CREW 

PRIME CREW:                                                                    BACKUP CREW:                                                         

Commander- James A. Lovell, Jr.                                                               Commander- John W. Young

Command Module Pilot- T. Kenneth Mattingly II                                           Command Module Pilot- John L. Swigert

Lunar Module Pilot- Fred W. Haise, Jr.                                                        Lunar Module Pilot- Charles M. Duke, Jr.

CREW AT LAUNCH:                                                             SUPPORT CREW:

Commander- James A. Lovell, Jr.                                                                  -Vance D. Brand

Command Module Pilot- John L. Swigert                                                         -Jack R. Lousma

Lunar Module Pilot- Fred W. Haise, Jr.                                                           -Joseph P. Kerwin

-President Nixon awarded the PRESIDENTAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM to the crew and the Apollo 13 mission operations team for their actions during the missions.

-The original command module pilot for this mission was T. Kenneth Mattingly II, but due to exposure to measles he was replaced with his backup 2 days before launch.

-Lovell, 42, was the worlds most travelled astronaut, he had 3 missions and 572 spaceflight hours of experience.

-Lovell participated in Apollo 8, the first mission to circle the MOON, and flew 2 Gemini missions including a 14-day endurance run.

 -The entire crew had test flight experience before they became astronaunts, meaning they were used to dealing with in flight problems. That experience would come handy on Apollo 13.

-On the evening of April 13, when the crew was 200,000 miles from Earth and closing in on the Moon, mission controller Sy Liebergot saw a low-pressure warning signal on a hydrogen tank in Odyssey.

-Lovell, Haise, and Swigert returned safely in the Pacific ocean on April 17. The spacecraft design was reconifigured with better wires and an extra tank, and subsequent mission did not face the same problem.

-At 55 hours, 46 minutes, as the crew finished a 49 minute TV broadcast showing how comfortably they lived and worked in weightlessness, Lovell said, "This is the crew of Apollo 13 wishing everybody there a nice evening, and we're just about ready to close out our inspection of Aquarius and get back for a pleasant evening in Odyssey. Good night." Nine minutes later, oxygen tank no. 2 blew up, causing the no. 1 tank to also fail. The command module's normal supply of electricity, light and water was lost, and they were about 200,000 miles from Earth.