Apollo 13’s Lost Lunar Landing Aimed for April 15 at Fra Mauro Crater

Summary: Apollo 13’s lost lunar landing aimed for April 15 at Fra Mauro Crater in the highlands northeast of Mare Cognitum on the southwestern near side.

North American Rockwell Corporation artist’s concept depicts Apollo 13 lunar module in descent to Fra Mauro landing sit; NASA ID S70-31898: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library

Apollo 13’s lost lunar landing aimed for April 15 at Fra Mauro Crater, a heavily worn feature located on the southwestern near side in the highlands northeast of Mare Cognitum (Sea That Has Become Known).

The Apollo 13 mission’s launch Saturday, April 11, 1970, at 19:13 Coordinated Universal Time (2:13 p.m. Eastern Standard Time) from Florida’s Cape Canaveral numbered as the Apollo space program’s seventh manned mission and tallied as the third lunar landing mission. The crew comprised Commander James Arthur Lovell Jr. (born March 25, 1928), Command Module Odyssey Pilot John “Jack” Leonard Swigert Jr. (Aug. 30, 1931-Dec. 27, 1982) and Lunar Module Aquarius Pilot Fred Wallace Haise Jr. (born Nov. 14, 1933).

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) press kit, released Thursday, April 2, expressed times according to Eastern Standard Time (EST). Timetables also included Ground Elapsed Time (GET) to indicate time duration. GET counts forward in hours, minutes and seconds (hhh:mm:ss) from Range Zero, the last integral second prior to liftoff.

The press kit itemized Aquarius’ lunar surface touchdown as scheduled for Wednesday, April 15, at 9:55 p.m. EST (Thursday, April 16, at 14:55 UTC). GET would be 103:42.

The mission events schedule placed depressurization for Apollo 13’s first extravehicular activity (EVA) at 2:13 a.m. EST, Thursday, April 16 (07:13 UTC; 108:00 GET). Commander Lovell’s first step onto the lunar surface was scheduled for 2:29 a.m. EST (07:29 UTC; 108:16 GET). Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Haise was expected to step onto the lunar surface at 2:40 a.m. EST (07:40 UTC; 108:27 GET).

The distance covered during EVA 1 was maximized at approximately 5,000 feet. Commander Lovell and LMP Haise’s traverse ran between Doublet Craters and Star Crater.

Re-entry into Lunar Module Aquarius signaled the end of the mission’s first extravehicular activity. Pilot Haise was slated for re-entry at 5:56 a.m. EST (10:56 UTC; 111:43 GET). Commander Lovell’s re-entry was set for 6:11 a.m. EST (11:11 UTC; 111:58 GET).

An interval of 15 hours 47 minutes was allowed between Commander Lovell’s re-entry from EVA 1 and depressurization for EVA 2. The second extravehicular activity’s depressurization was planned for 9:58 p.m. EST, Thursday, April 16 (02:55 UTC, Friday, April 17; 127:45 GET).

EVA 2 was planned to maximize at 8,700 feet. The traverse out was logged at 4,500 feet. The traverse in was calculated at 4,200 feet. The second extravehicular activity’s trips visited Cone Crater, passed Weird Crater and rounded Triplet Craters.

Commander Lovell was expected to return to the lunar surface at 10:11 p.m. EST, Thursday, April 16 (03:11 UTC, Friday, April 17; 127:58 GET). LMP Haise was set to step back onto the lunar surface at 10:20 p.m. EST, Thursday, April 16 (03:20 UTC, Friday, April 17; 128:07 GET).

LMP Haise’s re-entry into the lunar module was planned for Friday, April 17, at 1:41 a.m. EST (06:41 UTC; 131:28 GET). Commander Lovell’s transfer of samples into the Aquarius, with LMP Haise’s assistance, was projected to begin at 1:48 a.m. EST (06:48 UTC; 131:35 GET). Commander Lovell was set for re-entry into the lunar module at 1:54 a.m. EST (06:54 UTC; 131:41 GET).

The lunar module’s liftoff from the lunar surface was projected for Friday, April 17, at 7:22 a.m. EST (12:20 UTC; 137:09 GET). The rendezvous sequence between Aquarius and Odyssey was scheduled for completion at 10:40 a.m. EST (15:40 UTC; 140:27 GET). With docking at 10:58 a.m. EST (15:58 UTC; 140:45 GET), Commander Lovell and LMP Haise would rejoin CMP Swigert in the Odyssey.

The Apollo 13 mission was scheduled to end with splashdown Tuesday, April 21, at 3:17 p.m. EST (20:17 UTC; 241:04 GET). Splashdown was expected to take place south of the equator, in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The press kit noted: “After the spacecraft has landed, the crew will put on clean coveralls and filter masks passed in to them through the hatch by a swimmer, and then transfer by helicopter to a Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) on the USS Iwo Jima” (page 5).

A catastrophic oxygen tank problem occurring in the spacecraft's Service Module approximately 55 hours 54 minutes after launching from Florida, however, drastically altered the Apollo 13 mission’s itinerary. The perfectly planned lunar landing at and exploration of Fra Mauro were aborted as the Apollo 13 crew and NASA focused on a safe, timely return to Earth. Splashdown occurred Friday, April 17, at 18:07:41 UTC (1:07 p.m. EST) in the South Pacific Ocean.

NASA did not abandon the goal of landing north of Fra Mauro Crater. The site served as the landing site for the Apollo 14 mission, which successfully explored and sampled the area in February 1971.

The takeaway for Apollo 13’s imaging of Mandel’shtam Crater during the spacecraft’s flight over the moon’s far side is that the mission’s 50-year-old, black-and-white photographs clearly reveal the distinctive crater and some of its satellites along the oblique view’s horizon.

Photographic illustration of Fra Mauro area shows scheduled traverses planned for the Apollo 13 mission’s two extravehicular activities (EVAs); red dot (intersection of black, red and yellow lines) indicates lunar module’s (LM) landing site; red line indicates path of EVA 1; black line shows EVA 2 path; yellow line denotes possible extensions of each traverse; red dots marks observing and sampling points of interest; NASA ID S70-30828: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

North American Rockwell Corporation artist’s concept depicts Apollo 13 lunar module in descent to Fra Mauro landing sit; NASA ID S70-31898: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-S70-31898;
NASA Johnson (NASA Johnson), CC BY-NC 2.0 Generic, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasa2explore/9351226211;
Apollo 50th @apollo_50th, via X (formerly Twitter), March 20, 2020, @ https://twitter.com/apollo_50th/status/1241118826080505856

Photographic illustration of Fra Mauro area shows scheduled traverses planned for the Apollo 13 mission’s two extravehicular activities (EVAs); red dot (intersection of black, red and yellow lines) indicates lunar module’s (LM) landing site; red line indicates path of EVA 1; black line shows EVA 2 path; yellow line denotes possible extensions of each traverse; red dots marks observing and sampling points of interest; NASA ID S70-30828: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States; may use this material for educational or informational purposes, including photo collections, textbooks, public exhibits, computer graphical simulations and Internet Web pages; general permission extends to personal Web pages, via NASA Image and Video Library @ https://images.nasa.gov/details-S70-30828;
via NASA @ https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/amf-s70-30828/

For further information:

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Godwin, Robert, comp. and ed. Apollo 13: The NASA Mission Reports. Burlington, Canada: Apogee Books, 1971.

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Fra Mauro.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/2007

International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN). “Mare Cognitum.” USGS Astrogeology Science Center > Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. Last updated Oct. 18, 2010.
Available @ https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3670

Lovell, Jim; and Jeffrey Kluger. Apollo 13. First Mariner Books edition. Boston MA; New York NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

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Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-362/contents.htm

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Apollo 13 Third Lunar Landing Mission. Press Release No. 70-50. April 2, 1970.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/specials/apollo50th/pdf/A13_PressKit.pdf

Orloff, Richard W. “Apollo 13 The Seventh Mission: The Third Lunar Landing Attempt.” Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference: 135-157. NASA History Series. Washington DC: NASA Headquarters Office of Policy and Plans, 2000.
Available @ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029.pdf

Shepard, Alan; Deke Slayton; Jay Barbree; and Howard Benedict. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America's Race to the Moon. Atlanta GA: Turner Publishing Inc., 1994.

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 13: Facts.” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Missions > Apollo 13.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo13-facts.cfm

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. “Apollo 13 (AS-508).” Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum > Missions > Apollo 13.
Available @ https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo13.cfm

U.S. Geological Survey. Color-Coded Topography and Shaded Relief Map of the Lunar Near Side and Far Side Hemispheres. U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series I-2769. Page last modified Nov. 30, 2016. Flagstaff AZ: U.S. Geological Survey Astrogeology Science Center, 2003.
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