Skip to main content

50 Years on – how Apollo 13's near disastrous mission is relevant today

When an oxygen tank blew during the 1970 Nasa moonshot, the successful rescue mission was thanks to Nasa organisation, not improvisation

Eighteen months ago, I was combing through the Apollo 11 mission logs, looking at the timelines and events for something unique that we might focus on to celebrate the 50th anniversary of humankind’s first landing on the moon. Last year, that idea became the BBC World Service podcast 13 Minutes to the Moon.

As the series drew to a close, it became clear that there was unfinished business. Some of the flight controllers who had been present for the Apollo 11 landing had also worked on another, arguably more dramatic, endeavour – the ill-fated flight of Apollo 13.

Continue reading...

from World news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/38avgU7

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Killers at Glastonbury 2019 review – anthemic headliners triumph

Pyramid stage Brandon Flowers and co – with a little help from the Pet Shop Boys, Johnny Marr and the pyrotechnics department – provide one of those special Glastonbury Moments Catch up on Saturday highlights on our liveblog A band that obviously have nothing in common musically with Stormzy, the Killers nevertheless share a problem: before they play, a shadow hangs over their headline performance. One rumour circulating around the audience is that they were the third choice for the Saturday night headlining slot, drafted in after big name heritage artists declined to sign up. Whether that’s true or not, something about Brandon Flowers’ demeanour onstage, at least initially, suggests a man who isn’t entirely sure how things are going to pan out. “At the end of this show, I don’t want anyone to say ‘They got away with it,’” he offers, early on in the band’s set. “I want people to look up to this stage and say: ‘Those are the sons of bitches that did it.’” Certainly, you’re stuck by...