A spaceship with shards and pieces breaking off of it

ART BY GARY HANNA

Disaster in Space

Three astronauts were sailing towards the moon on April 13, 1970, when a massive explosion tore off one side of their spaceship—and left them stranded 240,000 miles from home. This is the gripping true story of how ingenuity saved the astronauts of Apollo 13 from catastrophe.

By Lauren Tarshis

From the Issue

Learning Objective: Students will identify problems and solutions in a nonfiction article about a famous space mission.

Lexile: 800L-900L, 600L-700L

Guided Reading Level: U

DRA Level: 50

Core Skill: Problem and Solution,

Topics: Technology, Science,

UP CLOSE

Problem and Solution

As you read, look for the huge problem three astronauts faced and how they solved it.

The three astronauts of Apollo 13 were doomed.

That’s how it seemed on April 13, 1970.

Commander Jim Lovell and officers Fred Haise and Jack Swigert were speeding through space when a violent explosion rocked their spacecraft. The blast tore apart one side of their ship. Within minutes, half their oxygen supply had bled out, and the ship’s power was draining fast.

Without power and oxygen, the astronauts would soon suffocate. And they would be stranded in the forever blackness of space.

Apollo 13 was supposed to be a research mission to the moon. Now it would be a fight for survival hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth.

A Mission to the Moon

Two days earlier, Apollo 13 had blasted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. Lovell, Haise, and Swigert were strapped inside their small spacecraft, which was perched atop a 360-foot-tall rocket packed with millions of pounds of explosive fuel.

Five, four, three, two, one . . .

With a deafening roar and a brilliant flare of fiery gas, the rocket catapulted Apollo 13 into the sky. It streaked through the air at 24,000 miles per hour—14 times the speed of a bullet. The force strained the astronauts’ hearts. It stretched back the skin on their faces until it seemed the skin would rip away from their skulls. The men felt that their bones could shatter.

But this was normal. In fact, the launch was just about perfect.

Soon the astronauts had left Earth and were cruising toward their destination. Their mission was to land on the moon and explore a hilly section called Fra Mauro. The 240,000-mile journey would take three days, and it would not be a luxurious ride.

The astronauts were crammed into Apollo 13’s command module, a car-sized capsule, nicknamed Odyssey. It was part cockpit, part sleeping cabin. Meals were pouches of dried food, prepared by adding warm water and kneading for three minutes. There were no showers, no sinks, no toilets. (The astronauts urinated into bags and then released their urine into space through a hatch. Solid waste was sealed up in odor-proof plastic bags to be brought back to Earth.) And, of course, there was no gravity to hold the astronauts—or anything else—down. Floating in their jumpsuits, the men looked like big fish stuck in a tiny tank.

But Lovell, Haise, and Swigert were thrilled and honored to be on this mission, and they were confident they would succeed.

After all, they had a team of brilliant flight engineers supporting them back at Mission Control in Houston, Texas. Like hovering parents, these engineers monitored every detail of the flight, from the ship’s position in space to each astronaut’s heartbeat. The astronauts and Mission Control stayed in constant contact.

Two days into the journey, the mission seemed flawless. There was no sign of the catastrophe to come.

A Space Race

Only 15 years before the launch of Apollo 13, the idea of humans traveling through space was the stuff of science fiction. But by the early 1960s, both America and Russia were racing to be the first country to put a human in space.

Leading America’s efforts was a new government agency called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA hired hundreds of brilliant scientists and engineers. They perfected rockets powerful enough to blast into space. They designed new aircraft. And they began training astronauts, 20th-century Christopher Columbuses who would journey into the vast and uncharted frontier of space.

The space program became a source of enormous pride to Americans. And there was no moment more triumphant than on July 20, 1969, when American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human on the moon. Some 600 million people around the world tuned in to the TV broadcast to witness Armstrong’s boot making its mark on the moon’s sandy surface.

In the months after Armstrong’s celebrated step, however, something unexpected happened: Many Americans lost interest in space travel. After a decade with dozens of successful missions, space travel had come to seem rather ho-hum.

That is, until 55 hours and 53 minutes into the Apollo 13 mission, when disaster struck.

A Catastrophe

Man in a white shirt and red tie looks upward as a man dressed the same way sits beside him

FRAMEPOOL

Flight director Gene Kranz.

On April 13, 1970, Lovell, Haise, and Swigert were preparing for the moon landing, which was about a day away. To get to the moon’s surface, they would use a second spacecraft: the lunar excursion module (LEM). The LEM and Odyssey were latched together like LEGO bricks. When Apollo 13 started to orbit the moon, the LEM would detach and be used as a shuttle to and from the moon’s surface.

The astronauts had just finished an inspection of the LEM when Mission Control asked them to perform a routine task: Turn on the fans inside the oxygen tanks. With a flip of a switch, Swigert completed the job.

Seconds later, there was a loud bang. The spacecraft moaned and shuddered.

“Houston, we’ve had a problem,” Lovell said.

In fact, it was a catastrophe.

At first, nobody knew what had happened. Lovell suspected a meteor had hit them. Actually, faulty wiring in an oxygen tank had triggered an explosion. The blast drained the spacecraft’s power and sent the oxygen supply blowing into space. Within hours, there would be no air left to breathe, and Odyssey would be dead.

News of the accident spread around the world. Few believed the astronauts would survive. But aboard Apollo 13, there was no time for grim predictions. The three men knew rule number one in an emergency is to focus on the problem. Worry and panic do not get you closer to a solution. And so the astronauts got to work.

New Problems

At Mission Control in Houston, flight director Gene Kranz gathered his engineers. These men knew Apollo 13’s systems better than they knew their own bedrooms. Now they would do everything in their power to bring the astronauts home. Soon both Kranz’s team and the astronauts had come up with the same idea: to use the LEM as a lifeboat.

The LEM had its own supply of power, oxygen, and water. The astronauts would climb through a hatch into the LEM and stay there until they approached Earth. Then they would climb back into Odyssey for the final plunge through Earth’s atmosphere, during which the ship would be superheated to 5,000 degrees in the thickening air. (Unlike Odyssey, the LEM was not equipped with a heat shield. If the astronauts attempted to enter Earth’s atmosphere in the LEM, they would be incinerated.)

The astronauts had barely settled into the LEM when a new problem cropped up. The journey home would take four days, but the LEM didn’t have enough power or water to last that long. So the astronauts turned off all but the most necessary systems, including the heat. Outside, the temperature was 280 degrees below zero. Soon the men were shivering. But the cold was the least of their worries.

Every minute, it seemed, new problems arose. The ship kept drifting off course. The LEM’s air filters stopped working, and the air became toxic with carbon dioxide, the gas humans exhale with every breath.

With many systems damaged or powered down, the engineers had to use their ingenuity to find creative solutions. The days passed. The astronauts barely slept. Neither did the NASA engineers back on Earth. The LEM became cluttered with trash and full urine bags that floated through the air. Meanwhile, on Earth, people crowded into churches to offer prayers for Apollo 13.

Free Fall to Earth

Apollo 13 approached Earth on the morning of Friday, April 17. The astronauts were about to face the most dangerous part of their journey.

What if Odyssey’s electrical system couldn’t be powered up? What if Odyssey’s heat shield had been damaged in the explosion? What if the parachutes had turned to blocks of ice and didn’t open?

Incredibly, the astronauts had no trouble powering up Odyssey. But what about the heat shield? If it failed, the ship would burn up.

The world would know the fate of Apollo 13 in four minutes. That’s how long communication with Odyssey would be blacked out as it fell to Earth.

“Gentlemen,” Lovell said. “We’re about to re-enter. I suggest you get ready for a ride.”

The men tightened their seat belts as Odyssey began its 25,000-mile-per-hour free fall to Earth. Through the small windows, all they could see was fiery red.

At Mission Control, the command room was packed with engineers and visitors. Nobody spoke. The room was completely silent.

The minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes.

Four minutes . . .

NASA’s Joe Kerwin tried to make contact. “Odyssey, Houston standing by, over.”

Nothing.

“Try again,” Kranz barked.

“Odyssey, Houston standing by, over.”

Still nothing.

Five minutes.

Some engineers fought back tears.

Then, a voice crackled over the radio.

“OK, Joe,” said Swigert.

At Mission Control, joy and relief flooded the entire room. Kranz pumped his fist.

Inside Odyssey, Lovell, Haise, and Swigert watched the sky outside the windows turn from angry red to soft pink and finally to blue. Their speed slowed as the air thickened.

Pop.

Odyssey’s parachutes opened.

The ship floated down to Earth, feather-like. It came to rest in the warm waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The Apollo 13 mission was over, a failed mission that would go down in history as one of NASA’s greatest successes.

Lovell looked at Haise and Swigert. “Fellows,” he said, “we’re home.”

^{Text copyright Lauren Tarshis}

Multimedia

video (1)

Behind the Scenes: Disaster in Space

In this fascinating video, author Lauren Tarshis reveals the fascinating information she learned about the early days of space exploration while researching her article. Originally created for Disaster in Space, Februrary 2017.

Read Story

Behind the Scenes: Disaster in Space

Slideshows (1)

<p>Our interactive vocabulary slideshows help unlock challenging vocabulary words with great visual and audio support.<br> </p>

Read Story

Our interactive vocabulary slideshows help unlock challenging vocabulary words with great visual and audio support.

More About the Story

Skills

problem and solution, vocabulary, close reading, text features, mood, supporting details, inference, cause and effect, main idea, author’s craft, drawing conclusions, explanatory writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose

The article describes NASA’s Apollo 13 moon mission, during which an explosion threatened the lives of three astronauts. It also provides background on the early days of NASA’s space program.

Structure

The article weaves together informational and narrative passages and uses cause/effect, problem/solution, and descriptive structures. It is not chronological.

Language

The article includes challenging academic and domain-specific vocabulary (e.g. catapulted, ingenuity, module, orbit), as well as similes and rhetorical questions.

Knowledge Demands

Knowledge of NASA and the science of space exploration will be helpful.

1. Preparing to Read

Preview Vocabulary (15 minutes)

Preview words with our vocabulary slideshow, which adds visual support to definitions. Follow up to confirm understanding with our vocabulary activity.

Highlighted terms: catapulted, cockpit, engineers, uncharted, orbit, detach, meteor, atmosphere, incinerated, ingenuity, agonizing

Set a Purpose for Reading (5 minutes)

Call on a volunteer to read aloud the Up Close box on page 5.

2. Close Reading

Read and Unpack the Text (45 minutes, activity sheet online)

Ask students to read the article independently or in small groups.

Have students answer the close-reading and critical-thinking questions in groups.

Close-Reading Questions

Look at the illustration, headline, and large words in white on pages 4-5. What mood (or feeling) do they create? (text features/mood) They create a mood of fear and suspense. They make the reader wonder what happened and whether the astronauts survived.

What major problem is presented in the first section of the article? (problem and solution) The first section explains that in April 1970, a big explosion seriously damaged the Apollo 13 spacecraft, endangering the lives of the three astronauts on board.

Lauren Tarshis writes that the mission to the moon “would not be a luxurious ride.” How does she support this statement? (supporting details) Tarshis supports this statement with unpleasant details about everyday life on Apollo 13: The astronauts were squeezed into the car-sized command module, and they had to eat dried food, go without showering, and store their solid waste in bags.

Reread the last three paragraphs of “A Space Race.” What can you infer about how the Apollo 13 disaster affected Americans’ view of space travel? (inference) You can infer that the Apollo 13 disaster recaptured Americans’ interest in space travel by reminding them how daring and dangerous it could be.

According to “A Catastrophe,” what caused the explosion on the Apollo 13 spacecraft? What dangers did it create for the astronauts? (cause and effect) The explosion was caused by broken wiring in an oxygen tank. It drained the spaceship’s power and oxygen, which meant that the ship would soon stop working and no air would be left for the astronauts to breathe.

What is the main idea of the section “New Problems”? (main idea) The main idea is that a series of other problems occurred after the main problem of the explosion, requiring the astronauts and Mission Control engineers to calmly think up creative ideas to solve them.

How does Tarshis create suspense in the last section of the article? (author’s craft) Tarshis begins by stating that the astronauts were about to face “the most dangerous part of their journey.” She includes questions about everything that could go wrong. She then explains that the astronauts’ fate would be known in four minutes and counts out the minutes one by one.

Critical-Thinking Question

What qualities did the Apollo 13 astronauts and Mission Control engineers show in their responses to the explosion? How did these qualities help bring the astronauts home? Explain using evidence from the article. (problem and solution) In their responses to the explosion, the astronauts and engineers showed bravery, calm, creativity, and persistence. For example, both groups developed the innovative idea to use the LEM as a lifeboat. They stayed up around the clock finding fixes to problems like the spacecraft’s loss of power. Keeping calm, working hard, and thinking outside the box allowed the astronauts to find solutions to seemingly unsolvable problems.

What lessons might NASA have learned from the Apollo 13 disaster? (drawing conclusions) NASA likely learned the importance of planning for failure. It’s not enough to prepare for a mission; you have to prepare for all the different ways the mission could go wrong. NASA also likely learned that teamwork and quick thinking are essential in an emergency.

3. Watch a Video

Show our video “Behind the Scenes: Disaster in Space,” in which author Lauren Tarshis answers questions students may have about her article.

Have students complete the video activity.

4. Skill Building

Featured Skill: Problem and Solution

Distribute our problem and solution activity and have students complete it in small groups. They can then respond to the writing prompt on page 9.

A Note from Lauren:

I used many primary documents to research this article. I was most fascinated by the “Apollo 13 Press Kit,” a rich document created by NASA before the mission. It includes every tiny detail about the mission. Show it to your students!

Differentiate and Customize

For Struggling Readers

Help students visualize how the astronauts solved their problems by examining the spacecraft image on pages 4-5. Using the numbers and key, discuss when the astronauts were in each part of the craft and why.

For Advanced Readers

Have students do further research on Apollo 13, finding at least three new details about how astronauts and engineers responded to the disaster. They should include these details in their response to the writing prompt.

For ELL Students

Although 11 vocabulary words are highlighted in the article, ELL students will likely encounter other words they don’t know. Guide them through the article section by section, circling unfamiliar words. Discuss the words and their meanings in a group.

For Partner Reading

Pair students to read the article together. Have them take turns reading sections aloud and helping each other correct mistakes and monitor for comprehension.

Text-to-Speech