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EXPLORATIONS - 'Houston, We've Had a Problem Here': The Survival1 of Apollo 13By Marilyn Rice Christiano and directed by Paul Thompson

Broadcast: Wednesday, August 30, 2006

ANNOUNCER:

EXPLORATIONS -- a program in Special English by the Voice of America.

(MUSIC)

American astronauts in Apollo Eleven landed on the moon July twentieth, nineteen sixty-nine. A second landing was made four months later. Both flights were almost perfect. Everything worked as planned. Everyone expected the third moon-landing flight, Apollo Thirteen, would go as well as the first two. But it did not.


Apollo 13's damaged service module2, as seen from the command module, after an oxygen tank exploded

Today, Shirley Griffith and Sarah Long tell you the story of Apollo Thirteen -- the flight that almost did not come home.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Apollo Thirteen roared into space on Thursday, April eleventh, nineteen seventy. The time was thirteen-thirteen, one-thirteen p.m. local time.

Navy Captain James Lovell was commander of Apollo Thirteen. He had flown on Apollo Eight, the first flight to orbit the moon.

The two other crew members were civilians3 -- John Swigert and Fred Haise. Apollo Thirteen was their first space flight.

VOICE TWO:

The Apollo Thirteen spacecraft was like the earlier Apollos. It had three major parts. One was the command module. The astronauts would ride to the moon in the command module and then ride back to Earth in it. It was the only part of the spacecraft that could survive the fiery4 return through the Earth's atmosphere.

The lunar module was the second part. It would carry two of the astronauts to the moon's surface. It would later launch them from the moon to rejoin the command module.

The third part of the Apollo spacecraft was the service module. It had a rocket engine that the astronauts fired to begin circling the moon. They fired it again to break out of moon orbit for the return flight to Earth. The service module carried tanks of oxygen for the flight, and the fuel cells that produced electricity and water the astronauts needed to survive.

VOICE ONE:

There was what seemed to be a minor5 problem during the ground tests before launch. Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen. The oxygen was the fuel that provided water and electricity for the command module. One of the oxygen tanks failed to empty normally during the ground test. Engineers had to boil off the remaining oxygen by turning on a heater in the tank.

Commander Lovell said later he should have demanded the oxygen tank be replaced. But it seemed to be fixed6. So no change was made.

VOICE TWO:

After launch, Apollo Thirteen sailed smoothly7 through space for two days. Controllers on the ground joked that the flight had gone so well they did not have enough to do.

That changed a few hours later. The first sign of trouble was a tiny burst of light in the western sky over the United States. It looked like a far-away star had exploded.

VOICE ONE:

Near the space center in Houston, Texas, some amateur8 star-watchers were trying to see the Apollo spacecraft through telescopes. One of the group had fixed a telescope to a television set so that objects seen by the telescope appeared on the television screen.

The spacecraft was too far away to be seen. But suddenly, a bright spot appeared on the television screen. Over the next ten minutes it grew into a white circle.

The observers on the ground had no reason to believe the white spot they saw was made by the spacecraft. They thought it was a problem with the television. So they went home to bed.

VOICE TWO:

It was not a problem with their television. It was a serious problem with Apollo Thirteen.

It happened a few minutes after the three astronauts completed a television broadcast to Earth. The astronauts heard a loud noise. The spacecraft shook. Warning lights came on. Swigert called to Mission Control, Houston, we've had a problem here.

The number two oxygen tank in the service module had exploded. The liquid oxygen escaped into space. It formed a huge gas ball that expanded rapidly. Sunlight made it glow. Within ten minutes, it was almost eighty kilometers across. Then it slowly disappeared. The cloud was the white spot the observers in Houston had seen on their television.

VOICE ONE:

The loss of one oxygen tank should not have been a major problem. Apollo had two oxygen tanks. So, if one failed, the other could be used. But the astronauts soon learned that the explosion had caused the other oxygen tank to leak.

The astronauts were three hundred twenty thousand kilometers from Earth with little oxygen, electricity and water. Their situation was extremely serious. No one knew if they could get the spacecraft back to Earth, or if they could survive long enough to return.

VOICE TWO:

The astronauts and the flight control center quickly decided9 that the lunar module could be their lifeboat. It carried oxygen, water, electricity and food for two men for two days on the moon's surface.

But there were three astronauts. And the trip back to Earth would take four days. The men greatly reduced their use of water, food and heat. And they turned off all the electrical devices they could.

Back on Earth, space scientists and engineers worked around the clock to design and test new ideas to help the astronauts survive.

VOICE ONE:

Getting enough good air to breathe became the most serious problem. The carbon dioxide the astronauts breathed out was poisoning the air. The lunar module had a few devices for removing carbon dioxide. But there were not enough to remove all the carbon dioxide they created.

Engineers on the ground designed a way the astronauts could connect air-cleaning devices from the module to the air system in the lunar module. The astronauts made the connector from a plastic bag, cardboard10 and tape. It worked. Carbon dioxide was no longer a problem.

VOICE TWO:

Now the problem was how to get the astronauts back to Earth as quickly and safely as possible.

They were more than two-thirds of the way to the moon on a flight path that would take them to a moon landing. They needed to change their flight path to take them around the moon and back toward Earth. They had to do this by firing the lunar module rocket engine for just the right amount of time. And they

had to make this move without the equipment in the command module that kept the spacecraft on its flight path.

Five hours after the explosion, flight controllers advised firing the rocket for thirty-five seconds. This sent the spacecraft around the moon instead of down to it. Two hours after Apollo Thirteen went around the moon, the astronauts fired the rocket for five minutes. This speeded up the spacecraft to reach Earth nine hours sooner.

VOICE ONE:

The lunar module was extremely uncomfortable. The astronauts had very little to drink and eat. But the cold was the worst part of the return trip. The temperature inside the lunar module was only a few degrees above freezing. It was too cold for them to sleep much.

They used the electrical power in the lunar module to add electricity to the batteries of the command module. They would need the electrical power for their landing.

VOICE TWO:

The crew moved back to the command module a few hours before landing. They turned on the necessary equipment and broke away from the damaged service module. As the service module moved away, they saw for the first time the damage done by the exploding oxygen tank. Equipment was hanging from a huge hole in the side of the module.

One hour before landing, Lovell, Swigert and Haise said thanks and goodbye to their lifeboat, the lunar module. They separated from it and sent it flying away from them.

VOICE ONE:

Now, the command module of Apollo Thirteen headed alone toward Earth. It fell through the atmosphere. Its parachutes opened, slowing its fall toward the Pacific Ocean, near Samoa.


A helicopter recovers the Apollo 13 crew after splashdown

Ships and planes were waiting in the landing area. And thousands of millions of people around the world were watching the live television broadcast of the landing. People everywhere cheered as the cameras found the spacecraft floating downward beneath its three parachutes. They watched as it dropped softly into the water.

The Apollo Thirteen astronauts were safely home.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:


NASA officials celebrate the return of Apollo 13

This Special English program was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano and directed by Paul Thompson. Your narrators were Shirley Griffith and Sarah Long. This is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another EXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America when we finish the story of the Apollo moon landing program.



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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 survival lrJw9     
n.留住生命,生存,残存,幸存者
参考例句:
  • The doctor told my wife I had a fifty-fifty chance of survival.医生告诉我的妻子,说我活下去的可能性只有50%。
  • The old man was a survival of a past age.这位老人是上一代的遗老。
2 module iEjxj     
n.组件,模块,模件;(航天器的)舱
参考例句:
  • The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
  • Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。
3 civilians 2a8bdc87d05da507ff4534c9c974b785     
平民,百姓( civilian的名词复数 ); 老百姓
参考例句:
  • the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
  • At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后,至少有300名平民下落不明。
4 fiery ElEye     
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的
参考例句:
  • She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
  • His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。
5 minor e7fzR     
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修
参考例句:
  • The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
  • I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。
6 fixed JsKzzj     
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
参考例句:
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
7 smoothly iiUzLG     
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地
参考例句:
  • The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作,所以工作进展顺利。
  • Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。
8 amateur 1xjzR     
adj.业余的,非专业的;n.业余爱好者
参考例句:
  • He made an amateur attempt to build a cupboard.他很外行地试做了一个碗柜。
  • Although Tom's only an amateur he's a first-class player.虽然汤姆只是个业余爱好者,但却是一流的高手。
9 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
10 cardboard DTGyB     
n.硬纸板,卡纸板
参考例句:
  • She brought the shopping home in a cardboard box.她将买的东西放在纸箱里带回家。
  • There is a sheet of stiff cardboard in the drawer.在那个抽屉里有块硬纸板。

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