In the process of human exploration of the universe, surprises and dangers are often present. In the face of the vast space, human beings appear to be too passive, and once an accident occurs, it is inevitable that there will be a disaster of life and death. But in the history of American spaceflight, there was one "most successful failure", which was Apollo 13. When the spacecraft entered space to complete the docking work and was preparing to land on the moon, it suddenly exploded, and the three astronauts in the cabin took 4 days to escape back to Earth at the moment of life and death. Why did Apollo 13 explode? #全能创作家 #
Apollo 13 was executed in April 1970 with the participation of three astronauts---- Jim Lovell, Fred Hayes and Jack Schweigert. It was the third manned lunar mission in the Apollo program. From July 1969 to December 1972, the United States carried out seven manned lunar missions, Apollo 11 to 17. Of these, six successfully landed on the moon, and this was the only one that failed. With such a rich flight experience, why did Apollo 13 explode gracefully?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > astronauts experienced the handover of life and death in a short period of time</h1>
On April 11, 1970, at 13:13 p.m. Houston time, the Apollo 13 spacecraft successfully lifted off and successfully entered the intended orbit. On its journey to the moon, it was safe along the way. The astronauts also conducted a televised broadcast with the ground on the spacecraft, where they greeted the audience happily and said goodnight to the audience at the end. In this way, people think that this flight must be very smooth. Even the three astronauts kept saying something pleasant to pass the time, and even began to discuss whether to step on the left foot or the right foot first when they reached the moon.
After dozens of hours of flight, Apollo 13 completed the conversion docking. Just as the spacecraft was preparing to land on the moon, an accident occurred. At 21:08 on the night of April 13, a loud explosion was heard from the spacecraft. This made the astronauts, who were already in a relaxed state, tense up at once, and they didn't know what was happening. So they overcame their panic and looked around. But the alarm lights in front of them were all on, and the voltage readings and the air pressure readings in the liquid oxygen tank were constantly decreasing. They had to report the situation to the ground, and Jack Schweigert told ground controller Houston that they were in trouble.
At first, the staff at the ground control center thought that it was just a fault in the circuit and that only the circuit break switch could be reset to solve the problem, so they didn't worry too much. In fact, the problem was far more complex than they thought.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > Apollo 13 liquid oxygen tank no. 2 exploded</h1>
Apollo 13 was a three-cabin spacecraft consisting of a lunar module, a command module, and a service module. The service cabin, which is mainly used to provide oxygen and water, is the problem. There were two boxes in the service module that stored liquid oxygen, and the second of them exploded, thus affecting the oxygen and water of the entire spacecraft. At the same time, it is a liquid oxygen battery that can play a role in generating electricity, so its explosion also has an electrical impact. When astronauts face the problem of lack of oxygen, lack of water and electricity, the only way to save their lives is to rely on the lunar module to return to Earth.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="13" > astronauts activate the lunar module at critical juncture</h1>
However, Apollo 13 did not schedule this super-unexpected contingency plan in advance before liftoff, and the astronauts did not learn how to activate the facilities on the lunar module in an emergency. Therefore, astronauts can only enter complex numbers step by step into the computer of the lunar module under the guidance of the experts of the ground control center. Even if they lose a wrong number, they will face the threat of death.
Finally, just when the amount of oxygen in the command module could only allow them to survive for five minutes, they finally activated the function of the lunar module. The astronauts then switched the power supply in the command module to the storage battery in the lunar module. In order to avoid some unnecessary power consumption, the astronauts also turned off some electrical equipment. The ship then entered super power saving mode, and the function consumption became one-fifth of the original.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="16" > how should Apollo 13 return to Earth? </h1>
Although the power supply problem has been solved temporarily, at the same time, the astronauts face a more difficult problem, that is, how to return to Earth? Will they just turn the course and drive back?
At this time, the spacecraft has become closer and closer to the moon, and under the pull of the moon's gravity, if the way of directly reversing the course and driving back to the earth is adopted, it will not only consume all the fuel left in the spacecraft, but also is likely to crash directly on the surface of the moon. After all sorts of considerations, the Ground Control Center finally decided to use the "gravitational slingshot effect", that is, to use the planet as a power booster, using the planet's gravitational field to accelerate the spacecraft and directly throw it to the next target.
At this time, the most important thing for Apollo 13 to do is not to fly directly back to Earth, but to continue to fly to the moon, and make a large circle around the moon, and when the spacecraft appears again on the dark back side of the moon, it will immediately start the engine of the lunar module and throw the spacecraft into the return orbit. But it's also very risky, because Apollo 13 was a lunar spacecraft, and it was not designed with it in mind that it would fly around the moon with a heavy command module and service module. Moreover, the fuel in the current lunar module can only support one flight, and if there is a mistake, it means that the three astronauts will never be able to return to Earth.
In this way, the three astronauts embarked on a big adventure with the last glimmer of hope with a nervous mood, but fortunately the final result did not disappoint. Apollo 13 successfully flew to Earth at a speed of 8,700 kilometers per hour, and the astronauts breathed a sigh of relief.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="22" > astronauts cleverly solved the problem of hypoxia in the cabin</h1>
Finding a way to return to Earth, the astronauts then had the problem of insufficient oxygen. The oxygen in the lunar module was originally only used by two astronauts for two days, but now the oxygen needs to support the three of them for four days. And at this time, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the lunar module rises sharply, and the air filter in the command module is not compatible with the lunar module, and if the air problem is not solved, they may die of suffocation before they successfully return to Earth.
At the moment of the outbreak, the engineers of the ground control center urgently discussed countermeasures, and they decided to make a bold attempt to use the existing materials of Apollo 13 according to local conditions. Under the guidance of ground controllers, the astronauts used cardboard, tape and plastic pieces torn from the flight manual to make a simple version of the adapter, which was successfully configured with the air filter, and the carbon dioxide concentration in the lunar module finally returned to normal values.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="26" > astronauts landed safely in the Pacific Ocean</h1>
After all the problems have been solved, the astronauts will have to think about how to return to Earth. But the lunar module, as the name suggests, was designed to land on the moon, can it be used to fly back to Earth? In addition, there is no navigation system in the lunar module, and it is undoubtedly difficult for astronauts to accurately find the landing point without any reference objects. As a last resort, the astronauts returned to Earth by manual navigation. Using the sun as a reference, they determined the position of the Earth. As the ship approached Earth, they abandoned the service module and lunar module and crossed the atmosphere through the command module. Eventually, three red and white parachutes landed safely in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with a command module.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="28" > Apollo 13 oxygen tank is actually a problem product? </h1>
The explosion of Apollo 13 caused confusion, what exactly was the problem that led to the disaster? According to the investigation, the culprit turned out to be the No. 2 oxygen tank in the service cabin. And this oxygen tank turned out to be a "problem product", it was originally installed in Apollo 10, but it was accidentally damaged during the installation process. Later, after the successful launch of Apollo 10 with a new oxygen tank, the old oxygen tank was repaired, retested, and finally installed on the Apollo 13 spacecraft.
However, during the pre-flight test of Apollo 13, the oxygen tank could not be drained, so the controller decided to open the heater inside the tank to eliminate the remaining oxygen. After 8 hours of heating, although no abnormality is visible on the outside of the oxygen tank, the insulation layer of the guide inside the tank has actually been destroyed. After entering space, this section of guidance short-circuit ignited the insulation and triggered an explosion.
Thankfully, this failure has been hailed as the "most successful failure" in the history of spaceflight, and it has brought many enlightenments to future lunar exploration projects. Although the mission cost hundreds of millions of dollars, it was a failure in terms of mission purpose. But in terms of significance, this mission was an extraordinary success!