Starship Asterisk*

Damage to Apollo 13

Explanation: After an oxygen tank exploded and crippled their service module, the Apollo 13 astronauts were forced to abandon plans to make the third manned lunar landing. The extent of the damage is revealed in this grainy, grim photo, taken as the service module was drifting away, jettisoned only hours prior to the command module's reentry and splashdown. An entire panel on the side of the service module has been blown away and extensive internal damage is apparent. Visible below the gutted compartment is a radio antenna and the large, bell-shaped nozzle of the service module's rocket engine. On April 17, 1970 the three astronauts returned safely to Earth.

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13 Things that Saved Apollo 13
http://asterisk.apod.com/vie ... 31&t=19099

WOW! Tom Hanks was right!! They really did have a problem, a REALLY BIG problem!!

At this point in time, I have a much deeper appreciation of the Apollo 13 situation and that they made it safely back home than I did when it was actually happening.

Is this service module still floating around somewhere between the Earth & Moon?

Having mentioned it, what is the average life of such space junk?

Why aren't there any stars in this photo?

sahari wrote:Why aren't there any stars in this photo?

Because stars are too dim to see in photos taken in sunlight.

agulesin wrote:Is this service module still floating around somewhere between the Earth & Moon?

The SM was jettisoned just before reentry in order to view and photograph the damage. So it was on the same general path as the CM and LM (the LM was jettisoned shortly after the SM). I would assume the SM reentered shortly before or after the CM, and burned up.

Having mentioned it, what is the average life of such space junk?

This is very atypical space junk. It wasn't in Earth orbit. Material in orbit around the Earth has a lifetime of decades or less in low orbit, and tens of thousands of years or more for high orbit. Old Apollo stuff that was dumped between the Earth and the Moon can bounce between orbiting either, or the Sun. Because of perturbations such paths are not very stable, so lifetimes before colliding with something are probably on the order of decades.

WOW---I remember that so well--a mix of faith in the ability of NASA --fear for the astronauts and to some extent for the program--and a sense of unreality because of the popular buzz about this being #13 fueled by the movie "Marooned" ---We spent a lot of time holding our breath !