Posts: 35
From: Marion, Iowa
Registered: Jul 2019

posted 11-09-2019 12:40 PM               

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After the Apollo 13 crew released the Aquarius, did Fred Haise or Jack Swigert say "She sure was a good ship"? I've read a number of accounts and transcripts online, and some attribute the quote to Haise while others attribute it to Swigert.

I've also read at least one transcript that reports Swigert as saying "She sure was a great ship."

So I thought I'd ask those here — who said it, and what exactly did they say, good or great?

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

posted 11-09-2019 01:31 PM               

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You can listen to the audio here. The quote is, "She sure was a good ship."

I believe it is Jack Swigert. Less than a minute later, capcom Joe Kerwin refers to Jack by name.

The confusion here may be because Bill Paxton, as Fred Haise, delivers the same line in the movie "Apollo 13."

Posts: 35
From: Marion, Iowa
Registered: Jul 2019

posted 11-09-2019 02:06 PM               

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Thanks for that audio link.

And you're absolutely right about the waters being muddied by that scene in the movie — one website cites the movie line as being "from Fred Haise, verbatim from the NASA transcript."

Posts: 260
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2004

Posts: 1758
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002