Apollo 13 Failure

“One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” These were the first words said on the moon by Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong. The Apollo program was a series of rocket launches by nasa to get us to our moon, starting with Apollo 1, and leading through to 13, in this essay, you will learn about 3 of the missions. To start, apollo 1 was the fateful beginning of the program. Three astronauts, Virgil Grissom, Edward white and Roger Chaffee were onboard doing a final preflight test. Under a seat, a wire was stripped bare. Movement caused the wire to short, causing a blaze. The seat caught fire extremely quickly, as the test was being done in 100 percent oxygen. This causes fires to burn extremely quickly and violently. The hatch couldn't have opened because of the extra pressure from the fire in the cabin, so they
Apollo 13 was an ordinary launch, but disaster was near. Things weren't even going well pre-launch, as one of the crew members had contracted german measles, so he was left behind and replaced. They launched, and everything seemed to being going smoothly. The astronauts held a 49 minute TV broadcast, but 9 minutes later, an explosion shook the craft. Oxygen tank two blew up, causing number one to fail. They say gas venting out of the side of the ship. Also, ⅔ of the power cells had failed, so everything noncritical was turned off. Because of the failures, they had to conserve water and watch carbon monoxide levels. There wasn't enough power to purify water, so it was estimated to run out 5 hours until earth re-entry. Carbon Monoxide was also a problem, as the filters were broken and the extra ones from the lander were not compatible with the cockpit. They fashioned an adapter with tape, cardboard and plastic bags. Eventually, they made it home safely. Apollo 13 was a disaster, but thanks to clever people at mission control and an atent crew, everyone made it home