Haise History

A Saturn V rocket launched Apollo astronauts James A. Lovell Jr., John L. Swigert Jr., and Fred W. Haise Jr., for what would have been the third manned lunar landing. The spacecraft achieved lunar orbit with no problems, and a rocket was fired to direct the craft towards the intended landing site, Fra Mauro hills. A warning light indicated that the pressure in on of the service module's hydrogen tanks was low. The hydrogen and oxygen tanks are the basis of the spacecraft's life support systems and fuel cell. Because it is difficult to get accurate pressure readings of hydrogen and oxygen inside the service module, the gas containers were equipped with heating wires to give the gases a "cryogenic stir," an attempt to get a better reading. Mission Control instructed the astronauts to stir both hydrogen tanks and both oxygen tanks, one of which was showing an impossible reading of more than full. A limitation in the warning light system at Mission Control made it impossible for the controllers to notice that one of the oxygen tanks was showing a dramatic increase in pressure. What had happened was that one of the cryogenic stirrers had become stuck in the on position during routine testing before launch, causing the oxygen tank to heat up and depleting all the oxygen. The results were nearly disastrous for the astronauts, whose vessel was now losing power quickly. The mission had to be aborted. The astronauts used the lunar module as a survival vehicle, a "lifeboat" in space, then switched to the command module for the risky reentry. Thankfully, the astronauts splashed down safely on April 17, 1970 after a mission duration of 142 hours, 54 minutes and 41 seconds.