Charles Apple

One month from today will mark the 40th anniversary of the famous incident in space in which we nearly lost three moon-bound astronauts when their oxygen tank exploded 200,000 miles from Earth.

Here’s a look at the side of the Apollo service module, showing where the explosion took place:

This picture was taken four days later, as the astronauts prepared to re-enter the atmosphere after they had taken the fast lane by looping around the moon and slingshotting back to Earth.

You all know the story — if you’re too young to remember it (I was eight years old) then you at least remember the movie starring Tom Hanks as mission commander Jim Lovell. Here, the real Lovell admires coverage of his adventure in the Honolulu Star Bulletin (dig the groovy spot-color infographic downpage):

Both of these photos come from the NASA archives. And, like most government-funded photos and art, they’re completely copyright-free.

The actual dates you might shoot for:

April 11, 1970
2:13 p.m. EST - Apollo 13 launches from Cape Kennedy.
April 13, 1970
10:08 p.m. EST - Oxygen tank in the Apollo 13 service module explodes.
April 17, 1970
1:03 p.m. EST - Apollo 13 returns to Earth.

To answer questions you might have, going in:

Yes, Apollo 13 was launched at the 13th minute of the 13th hour of the day. But only if you go by Houston time (Central Standard Time). Apollo missions — like shuttle missions today — are launched from Florida. Which is in the Eastern time zone.

Yes, Apollo 13’s O2 tank exploded on the 13th of April. No, it was not a Friday — it was late on a Monday evening.

Yes, Apollo 13 was labeled 13. But it was, in fact, the seventh manned Apollo mission and the sixth manned launch of the Saturn V rocket.

No, none of the Apollo 13 astronauts ever flew in space again. Fred Haise was scheduled to fly on Apollo 19, but that mission was cancelled.

Resources you might find helpful:

• Find a quick overview of the Apollo 13 mission here.
• Find a detailed chronology of the Apollo 13 mission here. You’ll have to convert actual time stamps from Greenwich Mean Time (now called Universal Time) and Mission Elapsed Time.
• Find a detailed chronology of the accident itself here. Make sure you pay attention to the note at the top telling you how to convert Mission Elapsed Time to Central Standard Time.
• Find technical drawings of the Apollo spacecraft here.
• Find a PDF paper on the guidance and navigational challenges following the Apollo 13 accident here.
• Download a PDF copy of the original Apollo 13 press kit here.
• Find an MP3 recording of the technical backroom discussion during and immediately after the accident here.
• Find a high-rez version of the Apollo 13 mission emblem here.
• Find a gallery of the best Apollo 13 photos — yes, including high-rez — here.
• Find a much larger gallery of Apollo 13 photos here.
• Find an enormous archive of every photo taken of the Apollo 13 training and mission here.
• Read about bloopers and scientific errors folks have spotted in the movie Apollo 13 here.
• Buy a copy of Lost Moon by Jeffrey Kluger and Jim Lovell — the book on which the Apollo 13 movie was based — at Amazon.

And if you come up with a cool graphic or presentation for your paper or web site, send it to me. I’d love to post it here.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 11:24 am and is filed under Graphics, News design, Resources. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.