Video by James Bell
By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
Three members of the Apollo 13 moon mission shared their story of the ill-fated mission that occurred 46 year ago this week to a packed house Wednesday during the latest installment of the Sebelius Lecture Series at Fort Hays State’s Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center.
The Apollo 13 mission — deemed a “Successful Failure” – was the seventh manned mission in the Apollo space program and was the third intended to land on the moon. But an explosion in an oxygen tank sparked the famous words “Houston, we’ve had a problem,” and changed the mission from a lunar landing to a “get-home situation.”
The harrowing five days in space captured audiences around the world as Apollo 13 Commander James Lovell, Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise and Command Module Pilot John “Jack” Swigert attempted to return to earth safely. And many more generations got a chance to see what the astronauts when through in the 1995 drama by the same name, starring Tom Hanks and Kevin Bacon.
Many question just how accurate was the big-screen portrayal? According to Lovell, Haise and Flight Control Director Gene Kranz, it was fairly accurate.
Lovell, who co-wrote the book “Lost Moon,” which was the inspiration for the film, said the movie in general was very accurate.
He said that director Ron Howard did take some artistic license in some places to help to emphasize something that was really occurring.
Lovell said Howard and the crew, “Picked the things that would show well and be understood on media, to the general public.”
Among those incidents is the argument over who was to blame for the explosion in the oxygen tank. Kranz said they were going through final preparations before the astronauts were to go to sleep and stirring the cryogenic tanks, which caused the explosion, was the last step.
In the movie, Haise, played by Bill Paxton blamed Swigert, played by Bacon, for the explosion. Lovell said that never happened but was left in the movie to show the astronauts were facing extreme fatigue and anxiety.
The crew was also more accepting to Swigert being moved to the main crew – from the backup crew – in place of Ken Mattingly as the crew was exposed to the measles. The group said the issues were more with Mattingly’s family and friends already having scheduled to come to the launch and Swigert’s friends and family unable to make it to Houston in time for the launch.
The backup crew had the same training as the main crew and both Lovell and Haise had served on the backup crew for Apollo 11.
Kranz said the movie portrayed the mission well and the problems they encountered well. He said the scenes involving the simulators to solve the electronic profile problems were a stretch. Instead they used paper and pencils because the simulators were too valuable.
Lovell said he took away from the whole incident that you “must have a positive attitude.”
“We could’ve balled up into a fetal position waiting for some miracle to happen,” Lovell said, “and we’d still be there.”
Kranz and Haise both agreed that leadership was what they took away from the incident, and Kranz said leadership throughout an entire organization is extremely important.