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  Apollo 13 Investigation Panel CSM scale model

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Author Topic:   Apollo 13 Investigation Panel CSM scale model
Andy Anderson
Member

Posts: 87
From: Perth, Australia
Registered: Dec 2009

posted 06-02-2013 10:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Andy Anderson   Click Here to Email Andy Anderson     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was wondering if anyone knows anything about the model(s) that were constructed for the Apollo 13 Investigation Panel based on photographs like the frequently published images 8464 and 8501 to resolve the damage to the service module?

What size was it, does it still exist...

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 43576
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 06-03-2013 02:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
There is a scale model of the damaged service module at the Kansas Cosmosphere, but I do not recall if it is was sourced from NASA, built for the filming of "Apollo 13" or originates elsewhere.

space1
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Posts: 861
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002

posted 06-03-2013 05:46 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for space1   Click Here to Email space1     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The Kansas Cosmosphere model is a much more recent model fabricated by an exhibit company for the Cosmosphere (probably at the time of the Apollo 13 restoration), based on comments by Max Ary some years ago.

Andy Anderson
Member

Posts: 87
From: Perth, Australia
Registered: Dec 2009

posted 06-03-2013 07:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Andy Anderson   Click Here to Email Andy Anderson     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Yes! I should have mentioned the Cosmosphere model in my first post, which is a great model, but seems to lack the detail and level of damage and burning that the earlier 1970 NASA one seems to have. It is difficult to tell what detail the NASA model actually has, as the images available of it have been lit in the same manner as the returned photographs of the service module which never was observed with a direct view into the damaged area.

Also, although there was no positive determination that O2 tank 2 was still there it seems unlikely that the tank was broken in half as depicted in the Cosmosphere model.

I thought that to get a good representation, the NASA model would have been of a large scale, but I suppose it suffered a similar fate as the Apollo 11 "first step onto the moon" video.

dabolton
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Posts: 419
From: Seneca, IL, US
Registered: Jan 2009

posted 06-03-2013 09:42 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for dabolton     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Post-Apollo 13, were the crews provided any additional ability to look back towards the SM? mirrors or such.

Andy Anderson
Member

Posts: 87
From: Perth, Australia
Registered: Dec 2009

posted 06-03-2013 09:58 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Andy Anderson   Click Here to Email Andy Anderson     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
No. As far as I am aware, there were no plans after 13 to observe the service module with mirrors or a camera up on the HGA, or suchlike.

The Cortright Commission of course proposed a number of changes, which ultimately involved moving the fans from the O2 tanks, changes to the materials used in the tank, a 400 Amp Hr battery in the Service Module, extra water in the CM, changes to the C&W in the CM and in the MOCR, etc. and bringing forward some things that were scheduled for the "J" mission like extra cryo tanks.

I think the later missions even got more blank paper in the checklists to write changes on!!!

I read somewhere, that there were people who thought some of this expensive redesign was unnecessary, and all that was really required was to change out the incorrectly rated "2 bit" thermostat with one that would work on KSC GSE power.

I suppose after you have an expensive investigation like that (which included building, expensive large scale models of the CSM), you need to justify it somewhat by significant changes.

In any case I don't think the money saved from the already rapidly dwindling NASA budget would have help keep 18 and 19. The experience of Apollo 13 also didn't help the decision to cut the last two missions which was a double whammy for Fred Haise who would have commanded 19.

All times are CT (US)

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