Sunita Williams still stuck in space but NASA's Apollo 13 'successful failure' offers hope: The story
situation on Boeing's Starliner brings back the memory of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) “successful failure" mission that stunned everyone 54 years ago.Marred by an explosion on a spacecraft, three astronauts were left "swinging around the moon", over 2,05,000 miles away from Earth. The year was 1970, the mission was Apollo 13 and the US' third attempt to land on the Moon, near the crater Fra Mauro, had turned into a survival challenge for the crew.‘Houston, We’ve Had a Problem’ – the phrase that has now become famous was radioed from Apollo 13 to Mission Control upon a catastrophic explosion that dramatically changed the mission.
Three things were "absolutely necessary" for the survival – team work, good leadership and initiative to think out of the box.Before delving into Apollo 13's incredible journey back to Earth, meet the heroes behind the safe landing of the three-membered crew. The three astronauts who battled for their life in space were Jim Lovell (Hanks), Fred Haise (Paxton), and Jack Swigert (Bacon).Commander Jim Lovell and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise were scheduled to land on the Moon in the lunar module Aquarius on April 15 and explore the Fra Mauro region for 33 hours.
Command Module Pilot Swigert was supposed to remain in lunar orbit in the command module Odyssey. The crew would have returned to Earth on April 21.Will astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, who are spending overtime on Boeing's Starliner capsule, ever return from space?Earlier this week, a report cited sources as saying that Starliner's latest targeted return date is July 6.
Read more on livemint.com
