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reads all true
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t
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b ts

The incredible
true story
of three
astronauts
fighting
for survival
240,000 miles
from Earth.

BY LAUREN TARSHIS
APOLLO 13

1 The command module,

nicknamed Odyssey

AS YOU
READ

2 The service module, site

of the explosion

GARY HANNA

3 The LEM, used to shuttle

the astronauts to and from
the surface of the moon

SCHOLASTIC SCOPE DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017

Think about the challenges the

astronauts faced.

he three astronauts of
Apollo 13 were doomed.
Thats how it seemed
on April 13, 1970.
Commander Jim Lovell
and officers Fred Haise and Jack Swigert
were speeding through space when a
violent explosion rocked their spacecraft.
The blast tore apart one side of their ship.
Within minutes, half their oxygen supply
had bled out, and the ships power

was draining fast.

SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017

PSSSSST!
Without power and oxygen, the

MISSION CONTROL

miles per hour14 times the speed

capsule, nicknamed Odyssey, that

astronauts would soon suffocate.

of a bullet. The force strained the

was part cockpit, part sleeping

And they would be stranded in the

astronauts hearts. It stretched

cabin. Meals were pouches of

forever blackness of space.

back the skin on their faces until

dried food, prepared by adding

it seemed the skin would rip away

warm water and kneading for

monitored every detail

a research mission to the moon.

from their skulls. The men felt as

three minutes. There were no

of the flight, from

Now, it would be a fight for survival

though their bones might shatter.

showers, no sinks, no toilets. (The

the ships position

astronauts urinated into bags,

in space to each

and then released their urine

astronauts heartbeat.

into space through a hatch. Solid

The astronauts and

Earth and were cruising toward

waste was sealed up in odor-proof

Mission Control stayed

in constant contact.

Apollo 13 was supposed to be

hundreds of thousands of miles

from Earth.

But this was normal. In fact, the

launch was just about perfect.
Soon the astronauts had left

A Mission to the Moon

It was from this room in Houston, Texas, that engineers

communicated with Apollo 13s astronautsand helped
them get home. Inset: Flight director Gene Kranz.

their destination. Their mission

plastic bags to be brought back to

blasted off from Floridas Kennedy

was to land on the moon and

Earth.) And, of course, there was

Space Center. Lovell, Haise, and

explore a hilly section called

no gravity to hold the astronauts

journey, the mission

Swigert were strapped inside

Fra Mauro. They were to gather

or anything elsedown. Floating

seemed flawless. There

their small spacecraft, which was

samples of the moons sandy dirt

in their jumpsuits, the men looked

was no sign of the

perched atop a 360-foot-tall rocket

and 4-billion-year-old rocks.

like big fish stuck in a tiny tank.

catastrophe to come.

explosive fuel.
Five, four, three, two, one . . .
With a deafening roar and a

First, though, the astronauts

had to get there.
The 240,000-mile journey would

But if space travel was

uncomfortable, Lovell, Haise, and
Swigert never complained. They

take three days, and it would not

felt thrilled and honored to be on

brilliant flare of fiery gas, the rocket

be a luxurious ride. The astronauts

this mission, and confident they

catapulted Apollo 13 into the sky.

were crammed into Apollo 13s

would succeed.

It streaked through the air at 24,000

command module, a car-sized

After all, they had a team

of brilliant flight
engineers supporting

THE
LAUNCH

Apollo 13 lifts
off for the moon.

them back at Mission

Control in Houston,
The
astronauts
are in here!

Texas. Like hovering

parents, these
engineers

NASA VIA CNP/NEWSCOM (MISSION CONTROL); FRAMEPOOL (GENE KRANZ)

packed with millions of pounds of

Two days into the

NASA (THE LAUNCH); BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES (ASTRONAUTS)

Two days earlier, Apollo 13 had

A Space Race
Only 15 years before the
launch of Apollo 13, the idea of
humans traveling through space

sign that the U.S. had fallen

behind.
In the following years,

was the stuff of science fiction.

America caught up with Russia

Then, on October 4, 1957, Russia

and launched its own satellites.

shocked the world by successfully

Soon the two countries were

launching a satellite, Sputnik 1,

racing toward a new goal: to put a

into the vast and uncharted

into Earths orbit.

human being in space.

frontier of space.

At the time, America and Russia

Leading Americas efforts was a

new government agency called the

and Russia sent dozens of men into

were sworn enemies. The countries

National Aeronautics and Space

space; most came back alive and

were vying to become the most

Administration (NASA). NASA hired

well. There were tragic accidents,

hundreds of brilliant scientists and

though, like the deaths of three

Many Americans

engineers. They perfected rockets

Apollo 1 astronauts in a launch-pad

saw the launch

powerful enough to blast out of

fire in 1967.

of Sputnik

Earths orbit. They designed new

as a national

aircrafts and developed cutting-

humiliation, a

edge technologies. And they

THE ASTRONAUTS

From left to right: Jack Swigert, Jim Lovell, and Fred Haise.
Americas first astronauts were all white men. Prejudice
and discrimination kept women, African Americans,
Latinos, and other groups out of many professions through
the 1970s. Space exploration was one of them.

SCHOLASTIC SCOPE DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017

Over the next decade, the U.S.

(then part of the Soviet Union)

powerful nation on Earth.

Odyssey is also the

name of a famous
ancient story about
a perilous voyage
across the sea.

Something Unexpected
The space program became

began training

a source of enormous pride to

astronauts,

Americans. And there was no

20th-century

moment more triumphant than

Christopher

when, on July 20, 1969, American

Columbuses who

astronaut Neil Armstrong

would journey

became the first human

SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017

home would take four days, but

THE AGONIZING WAIT

The days passed. The astronauts

the LEM didnt have enough power

barely slept. Neither did the NASA

or water to last that long. So the

engineers back on Earth. The LEM

astronauts turned off all but the

became cluttered with trash and

most critical systems, including

full urine bags that floated through

the heat. Outside, the temperature

the air. Meanwhile, on Earth,

on the moon. Some 600 million

was 280 degrees below zero. Soon

people crowded into churches to

people around the world tuned

the men were shivering. But the

offer prayers for Apollo 13. Outside,

in to the TV broadcast to witness

cold was the least of their worries.

they scanned the sky, wondering if

Every minute, it seemed, new

the astronauts could make it home.

The entire world was drawn into the drama of

Apollo 13. For the families of the astronauts, the
wait was especially brutal. Here, Jim Lovells wife
(striped dress), children, and friends watch news
reports about what was happening on the ship.

Armstrongs boot making its mark

on the moons sandy surface.

problems arose. The ship kept

In the months after Armstrongs

drifting off course. The LEMs air

Free Fall to Earth

celebrated step, however,

filters stopped working, and the

something unexpected happened:

air became toxic with CO2, the gas

the morning of Friday, April 17.

Many Americans lost interest in

humans exhale with every breath.

The astronauts were about to face

space travel. At the time, the U.S.

With many systems damaged

had big challenges at home. The

or powered down, the engineers

Vietnam War was claiming the

had to use their

lives of thousands of U.S. soldiers

ingenuity to find

every year. Millions of people

be detached and used as a shuttle

would be no air left to breathe,

their power to bring the astronauts

To correct the

the government spend billions of

to and from the moons surface.

and Odyssey would be dead.

home. Soon, both Kranzs team and

spacecrafts position,

the astronauts had come up with

they instructed the

The astronauts had just finished

News of the accident spread

an inspection of the LEM when

around the world. Predictions

the same idea: to use the LEM as a

astronauts to fire the

solve here on Earth? Besides, after

Mission Control asked them to

were grim. Few believed the

lifeboat.

engine in short bursts.

a decade with dozens of successful

perform a routine task: Turn on

astronauts would survive. But

The LEM had its own supply

missions, space travel had come to

the fans inside the oxygen tanks.

aboard Apollo 13, there was no

of power, oxygen, and water. The

the engineers designed

seem rather ho-hum.

With a flip of a switch, Swigert

time for dismal predictions. The

astronauts would climb through

a fix for the air filters

completed the job.

three men had spent thousands

a hatch into the LEM and stay

using materials on

of hours training for this trip.

there until they approached Earth.

boardcardboard

bang. The spacecraft moaned and

They knew rule number one in

Then they would climb back into

from the flight manual,

shuddered.

an emergency is to focus on the

Odyssey for the final plunge through

duct tape, and tubing

Earths atmosphere, during which

from extra spacesuits.

mission, when disaster struck.

A Catastrophe
On April 13, 1970, Lovell, Haise,
and Swigert were preparing for the

Seconds later, there was a loud

Houston, weve had a

problem, Lovell said.
In fact, it was a catastrophe.

problem. Worry and panic do not

get you closer to a solution. And so
the astronauts got to work.

moon landing, which was about

At first, nobody knew what

a day away. To get to the moons

had happened. Lovell suspected

surface, they would use a second

a meteor had hit them. Actually,

spacecraft: the lunar excursion

faulty wiring in an oxygen tank had

flight director Gene Kranz gathered

module (LEM). The LEM and

triggered an explosion. The blast

his engineers. These men knew

Odyssey were latched together like

drained the spacecrafts power and

Apollo 13s systems better than

LEGOs. When Apollo 13 arrived in

sent the oxygen supply venting

they knew their own bedrooms.

the moons orbit, the LEM would

into space. Within hours, there

Now they would do everything in

SCHOLASTIC SCOPE DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017

Scanning the Sky

At Mission Control in Houston,

BILL EPPRIDGE/THE LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION/

GETTY IMAGES (LOVELLS FAMILY)

53 minutes into the Apollo 13

NASA - APOLLO/SCIENCE FACTION/GETTY IMAGES (AIR FILTER);

ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES/ABC VIA GETTY IMAGES (JULES BERGMAN)

there were so many problems to

That is, until 55 hours and

the most perilous part of

their ordeal.

creative solutions.

were living in poverty. How could

dollars a year on space travel when

Apollo 13 approached Earth on

To clean the toxic air,

This is the
makeshift
air filter.

the ship would be superheated to

5,000 degrees in the thickening
air. (Unlike Odyssey, the LEM was
not equipped with a heat shield. If
the astronauts attempted to enter
Earths atmosphere in the LEM,
they would be incinerated.)
The astronauts had barely
settled into the LEM when a new
problem cropped up. The journey

THE DRAMA

Right: Jules Bergman

of ABC News shows
viewers an Apollo 13
model. Top: The filter
the astronauts
made to keep
themselves
from being poisoned to
death by the toxic air.

SCOPE.SCHOLASTIC.COM DECEMBER 2016/JANUARY 2017

THE LANDING

The Apollo 13 astronauts

moments after landing in the
Pacific Ocean. Note how small
the command module is!

NASAs Joe Kerwin

tried to make contact.
Odyssey, Houston
standing by, over.
Nothing.
Try again, Kranz
barked.
Odyssey, Houston
standing by, over.
Still nothing.
Five minutes.
Some engineers
fought back tears.
Then, a voice crackled
over the radio.
OK, Joe, said
Swigert.
At Mission Control,
joy and relief flooded the

Gentlemen, Lovell said.

Were about to reenter. I suggest

What if Odysseys heat shield had

you get ready for a ride.

been damaged in the explosion?

The men tightened their seat

entire room. Kranz pumped his fist.

Inside Odyssey, Lovell, Haise,
and Swigert watched the sky
outside the windows turn from

What if the parachutes had turned

belts as Odyssey began its 25,000

angry red to soft pink and finally to

to blocks of ice and didnt open?

mph free fall to Earth. Through the

blue. Their speed slowed as the air

small windows, all they could see

thickened.

Incredibly, the astronauts had

no trouble powering up Odyssey.
Even with frozen wires and walls

was fiery red.

At Mission Control, the

Pop.
Odysseys parachutes opened.

dripping with condensation,

command room was packed with

the electrical systems were soon

engineers and visitors. Nobody

feather-like. It came to rest in the

humming.

spoke. The room was completely

warm waters of the Pacific Ocean.

But what about the heat shield?

If it failed, the ship would burn up.
The world would know the fate

silent.
The minutes ticked by with
agonizing slowness.

The ship floated down to Earth,

The Apollo 13 mission was over,

a failed mission that would go
down in history as one of NASAs

of Apollo 13 in four minutes. Thats

One minute.

greatest successes.

how long communication with

Two minutes.

Odyssey would be blacked out as it

Three minutes.

Swigert. Fellows, he said,

fell to Earth.

Four minutes . . .

were home.

Lovell looked at Haise and

WRITING CONTEST
The Apollo 13 mission was called a successful failure. Why might that be? Explain. Be sure
to use text evidence to support your answer. Send your response to APOLLO 13 CONTEST.
Five winners will each get One Small Step by P.B. Kerr. See page 2 for details.

10

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BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES (THE LANDING)

What if Odysseys electrical

system couldnt be powered up?