Born in Boston in , Franklin became at 12 years old an apprentice to his half brother James, a printer and publisher. He learned the printing trade and in More than , Yugoslav officers and soldiers were taken prisoner. Only Germans Alexander Dubcek, the communist leader who launched a broad program of liberal reforms in Czechoslovakia, is forced to resign as first secretary by the Soviet forces occupying his country.
The staunchly pro-Soviet Gustav Husak was appointed Czechoslovak leader in his place, Khmer Rouge troops capture Phnom Penh and government forces surrender. The war between government troops and the communist insurgents had been raging since March , when Lt. Lon Nol had ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk in a bloodless coup and proclaimed the establishment of A raw and It was set Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox.
Heavy eruptions of the Tambora volcano in Indonesia are letting up by April 17, The volcano, which began rumbling on April 5, killed almost , people directly and indirectly. The eruption was the largest ever recorded and its effects were noted throughout the world. CO2 levels were approaching dangerous levels when Mission Control designed a system using plastic bags, cardboard, and duct tape that allowed Aquarius to successfully use lithium hydroxide canisters from Odyssey.
The crew used the engines on Aquarius to make three trajectory correction maneuvers that were needed to reach the landing zone in the Pacific Ocean. When Odyssey entered Earth's atmosphere, it was unknown if the explosion had damaged the spacecraft's heat shield; fortunately, it was undamaged. Because of the low cabin temperature, atmospheric humidity had condensed, covering the cabin interior with drops of liquid water that fell as rain during the reentry.
Despite these dangers, the crew landed safely near Samoa six days after the mission began. A post-mission investigation revealed that the explosion was a result of a change made to the spacecraft design in , when the heaters in the oxygen tanks were changed from 28 volts to 65 volts. Unfortunately, the switches in the tank that exploded were not changed to handle the higher voltage, resulting in unrecognized damage during a ground test two weeks before the launch and ultimately in the short circuit during flight.
The spacecraft was damaged, but the crew was able to seek cramped shelter in the lunar module for the trip back to Earth , before returning to the command module for an uncomfortable splashdown.
The mission stands today as an example of the dangers of space travel and of NASA's innovative minds working together to save lives on the fly. The Apollo 13 mission celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 11 , and a statue to commemorate their survival was unveiled earlier this year. At age 42, Lovell was the world's most traveled astronaut when he joined the Apollo 13 mission, with three missions and spaceflight hours under his belt. Lovell participated in Apollo 8 , the first mission to circle the moon, and flew two Gemini missions — including a day endurance run.
Prior to the Apollo 13 mission, 36 year-old Haise served as the backup lunar module pilot for the Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 missions. Haise was a fighter pilot in the U. He was selected for the manned space program in , at the same time as Swigert. Apollo 13 was Haise's only trip to space. Apollo 13 was Swigert's first trip to space, at age He had been part of the support crew for Apollo 7 and was initially Apollo 13's backup command module pilot. He was asked to join the crew 48 hours before launch time after the original command module pilot, Ken Mattingly , was exposed to German measles.
Apollo 13 launched on April 11, The Apollo spacecraft was made up of two independent spacecraft joined by a tunnel: orbiter Odyssey, and lander Aquarius. The crew lived in Odyssey on the journey to the moon. On the evening of April 13, when the crew was nearly , kilometers , miles from Earth and closing in on the moon, mission controller Sy Liebergot saw a low-pressure warning signal on a hydrogen tank in Odyssey. The signal could have shown a problem, or could have indicated the hydrogen just needed to be resettled by heating and fanning the gas inside the tank.
That procedure was called a "cryo stir", and was supposed to stop the supercold gas from settling into layers. Related: This stunning 4K video re-creates Apollo 13's perilous trip around the moon. Swigert flipped the switch for the routine procedure.
0コメント