Club contact: Andrew Grant
andygrantrwg@yahoo.co.uk
September 2026 – update
In September we had an interesting talk by Chris Johns
“Houston we have a Solution”
In his talk Chris used some music and clips from the film Apollo XIII which he felt had accurately shown the Apollo Mission failure and the amazing action by the crew to recover and return safely to earth. Following the promise of President Kennedy to land on the moon by 1970 the interest and success of the first landing in 1969 and following missions was enormous. When it was the turn for Apollo XIII this received a lesser interest until on day 4 of the mission when an Oxygen tank exploded. The first report of this problem lead to the famous words “Houston we have a Problem” but this talk would rather focus on the Solution. The 3 crew members were Jim Lovell as Commander, Jack Swigert as Command Module Pilot and Fred Haies as Lunar Module Pilot. Only Jim Lovell had been in space before but all had extensive experience with NASA and the Airforce. 56 hours into the mission when Apollo XIII was 180,000 nautical miles from earth and when Haise was shutting down the Lunar Module after testing the systems, NASA sent instructions to change the attitude of the craft to facilitate photography of a Comet. Earlier a pressure sensor in one of the oxygen tanks appeared to be malfunctioning so NASA requested the stirring of the oxygen tanks to de-stratify the contents for more accurate pressure readings. Shortly after this there was a loud bang, a flow of gas could be seen escaping together with a lot of particles around the outside of the craft. The lack of oxygen would mean fuel cells dying quickly and the mission changed to getting the crew back home safely. The lunar module had charged batteries and full oxygen tanks for use on the lunar surface, so Nasa directed that the astronauts power up the LM and use it as a “lifeboat”.
The LM carried enough oxygen, but that still left the problem of removing carbon dioxide, which was absorbed by canisters of lithium hydroxide pellets. The LM’s stock of canisters, meant to accommodate two astronauts for 45 hours on the Moon, was not enough to support three astronauts for the return journey to Earth. The CM had enough canisters, but they were of a different shape and size to the LM’s, hence unable to be used in the LM’s equipment. Engineers on the ground devised a way to bridge the gap, using plastic covers ripped from procedure manuals, duct tape, and other items available on the spacecraft. NASA engineers referred to the improvised device as “the mailbox”. The procedure for building the device was read to the crew by CAPCOM Joseph Kerwin over the course of an hour, and was built by Swigert and Haise; carbon dioxide levels began dropping immediately. Lovell later described this improvisation as “a fine example of cooperation between ground and space”.
The return to earth involved looping the moon and calculating the changes to the motor burns manually using navigation based on the stars. They landed successfully in the Indian ocean but had endured hard conditions of temperature and nutrition losing 14 Kg of body weight between them. Many lessons were learnt about how small things can have major consequences but their success relied on facing reality, working as a team and the intense training and courage of the individuals.
Please contact me for any further information at the e-mail address above or on 02920252422.
Although our membership is growing, we still have room for new people and I would be glad to hear from any interested parties. We meet on the second Thursday of each month at the Llanishen Golf Club in Cardiff at 10am for coffee before starting the meeting proper at 10.30am. Lunch is available at the club and the great majority of the members stay for this excellent value meal.
Please note the e-mail address above is not hyperlinked so please enter my address manually.
Andrew Grant (Secretary)