Topic: Apollo 13: Astronauts' fate if rescue failed
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-25-2010 11:11 AM
Analytical Graphics video release
A New Chapter in History: AGI Revisits Apollo 13 on its 40th Anniversary
April 2010 marks the 40th anniversary of Apollo 13's historic space flight. In honor of the occasion, AGI and noted space author Andrew Chaikin teamed up to tell a part of the story that they unearthed and validated with the help of original mission personnel.
This animation is narrated by Chaikin, author of "A Man on the Moon." In the video, he explains how he and AGI engineers used STK software to analyze data from Apollo 13. In doing so, they came up with information that challenged conventional wisdom. Most history books had long speculated that if the Apollo 13 crew had not been able to bring their stranded craft safely back home, they would have orbited Earth indefinitely. Using AGI's STK software to reenact the event, AGI and Chaikin learned that the crew's fate would have been far different.
posted 03-25-2010 11:37 PM
I supposee that in this scenario, the tragedy is lessened only a little since our heroes would be coming home and have a funeral in a sense. I wonder how the American public would have reacted that day. Almost a double trauma — one when the crew perished and the second when they returned.
gliderpilotuk Member
Posts: 3400 From: London, UK Registered: Feb 2002
posted 03-26-2010 07:49 AM
Fascinating research and great graphics.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 43576 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 1:00 p.m. CDT (1800 GMT)
50 years ago, the flight and ground crews of Apollo 13 overcame formidable obstacles to return three imperiled astronauts safely to Earth after an onboard explosion. 20 years ago, AGI and our partner, Space Exploration Engineering (SEE), analyzed the mission data. What we found was startling.
Using STK Astrogator – the orbit maneuvering tool we created together – AGI and SEE determined that had Apollo 13's rescue mission failed, the spacecraft would have been thrown into a fatal orbit. Five weeks after the explosion, it would have tumbled into Earth's atmosphere. That analysis differed greatly from published accounts that the spacecraft would have missed Earth by 40,000 nautical miles and orbited indefinitely.
Please join AGI and SEE for this special event, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 13. We'll discuss our recreation of the mission with STK Astrogator, the astonishing alternative conclusion we discovered, and how our team worked to resolve this mystery with two key NASA personnel from the Apollo 13 mission - lead flight director Gene Kranz and lead retrofire officer Chuck Dietrich.
posted 04-10-2020 06:37 PM
I would hope that on the day Odyssey burned up in the atmosphere, there would have been a memorial service, perhaps in Arlington National Cemetery.
posted 03-25-2010 11:11 AM
advertisement