This Is the Problem Houston Had | Apollo 13

12-02-25

Episode Transcription

00:00 Hey man, hey, what's up, fiddle off, so short, really short. We've been doing too long episodes lately. These episodes have been way too long, way too long, going to cut them down or shorter fiddle off. That was it. What's the topic? I love that I'm because what's gonna have a Robert's gonna play that the fiddle off music and then we're going to talk for a second here and then he's going to run the intro right now. I say the topic first 00:24 I've ever heard of Apollo thirteen Apollo thirteen. Wow, we're going to the moon. Ha, it's crazy. Okay, so we went to the moon, came back and then but the whole reason we did that was to uh because we wanted to beat Russia there and we did it with public funds. That's why people I'm just going through all the potential rants. It's going to happen like we're going talk about how Elon wants to go to space. Why aren't people so excited about Elon going to space? We were not doing with tax dollars. I'm not going to cheer on a billionaire. We went to the moon together. That was the whole point fiddle off 00:52 it's close. I guess that is close. All right, we're gonna have ah beat those Russian 01:02 Then we saw the lizard eatin' the cheese! Out of context quotes. Out of context quotes. Out of context quotes. Now I saw that lizard eat the cheese. Stronger than the moon! Out of context quotes. of context quotes. Things I learned last night. 01:33 So the ball of that's the theme song. You know, and then there's like some out of context quote that's like, whoa, the lizard ate the cheese, you know, and it's like kind of listen to find out what that man, what he says there. Yeah. All right. Well, I don't know if Jen wants to be here. Why would you say that? I want to be here. 02:01 all right, so a bother to ask me fifty four minutes from now. If I want to be here though, my answer will be no, I will. If we're here fifty four minutes, I hope we're not. I pray to God and we're not at this rate. We will be that was time we've spent talking about. So a ball of thirteen all right close. This was not the first. The first of the moon was a pall, eleven 02:31 so which feels late. Well, we had to try a bunch. Yeah, that's a big trip. That's a hard. That's a hard thing to pull off, which I will say. Oh shoot a bunch of moon land fakers are going to find this video. No, I will say it is interesting. Never mind. So a paw eleven happens. They go to the moon land on it, come back. Everyone's like well, Paul in nineteen sixty nine sixty nine. Yes, yeah, 02:59 ah and then we do Apollo twelve and then Apollo thirteen rolls around. We're like we're going to do it a third time and everyone's like you've done this twice. I don't know if I'm really care anymore. ah I don't know if that was at the sentiment. eh I don't think that was a sentiment, but here's what happened. So they but Apollo thirteen is like a famous Apollo. That's what I'm saying. Apollo eleven famous because they walked on the moon for the first time. Yeah, right. Apollo thirteen famous for what we're about to talk about. Yeah, I know I'm not gonna spoil it. Apollo twelve kind of slept on 03:29 yeah. I'm really honest. I don't remember what like what's what's significant about Apollo twelve. We went to the moon. Yeah, you're right. I guess uh it was the sixth crude flight in the second to land on the moon, so it did actually land on the man. Okay, that's what I thought. I thought they did yeah, but yeah, we don't talk about it because it's it's yeah. So you know, it like are gonna make it back yeah and so a paw thirteen they they uh 03:58 this was a April 11, 1970 and what's interesting about this is almost in what nine months after the Apollo eleven flight right, which is pretty crazy. I didn't realize how close how close together these work as twelve happened in the middle there to yeah, but this was, think it was one those things where they were. I mean if Apollo eleven hadn't made it to the moon, you know they were going to keep trying yeah. 04:24 They had, think they, I think I read somewhere that they contract like 15 of these flights to the man. So NASA had a lot of plans to pull it off. But by this point I, and I do wonder, we're now in 1970 and Kennedy's speech was by the end of the decade. And so now we're in a new decade. As everyone's like, we're onto the next thing. We don't care anymore. No, there was, I did see a lot of reports talking about it because they televised the launch, the launch happened. The viewership was not crazy on the launch. There was a later point in the flight. 04:53 where they actually televised from within the space module and like they like had the crew just kind of talking about what life is like in space and they did a little, a little segment of the show in there and no network picked it up. No major network picked it up because they're like, that's not interesting. No one cares. As I do think there is something at this point where people started to the fact that no major network wanted to pick up that segment tells me that there was 05:22 that the public was not as interested anymore. And I do think it's like we did it. We got there. We beat the Russians. Like we pulled it off. We did it again. And it's like, how interesting is it to do it a third time? Like now it's sort of become a little routine, you know? So this wasn't like a huge event yet, but it launches on April 11, 1970 and the launch is decent. There was an engine that cut off a little early, but other than that, like 05:51 Got to space, no problem. Right. And I should show you the crew. I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. Here's our crew. ah 06:04 Yeah. 06:07 Yeah. 06:10 it is the basic. It's from the Apollo thirteen movies. It's Tom Hanks and the guy from Twister, the guy from his whose name I know, but I can't think of it right now. Paxton Bill Paxton yeah and then Lieutenant Dan. So how early out close because it was this was a power thirteen directed by the movie. Was it directed by the same person did force Gump? 06:38 I because what every time I see movies it's like oh you cast the same people. It's usually like the same yes, you know, because they're like yeah, we've got the unless Tom Hanks was like yeah, we should get Lieutenant Dan yeah yeah. I don't know if it was hold on. pulling up the yeah director Ron Howard did Ron so Bill Paxton is in this movie and he's also in the what year was the original twister ninety five yeah. Was it ninety five it was sometime in the nineties 07:07 Yeah, that was a massive hit yeah yeah and you know I grew up in tornado alley, so not this re by the way. Okay, interesting was this close to win for sky. I mean this is obviously close to when force come came out because like they look the same age. Yeah, it was a year later. Yeah, see that's what saying. So they were in the same movie back to back crazy right. I said the same agent maybe so who's the real crew? Oh, you want to know something funny about this 07:38 is I was scrolling through on Google images really quickly before pulling this in and you and this is the real image and I didn't I didn't full screen it. I just saw a bunch of astronauts with the same background and I was like this looks like a better picture. I want to take that one. Oh, you didn't do that on purpose. My question is when it went up, did you realize I didn't even look and then you laughed and I'm like what's he laughing at and I'm like looking at I'm like what's funny about these astronauts and then I saw Tom Hanks. I was like oh 08:07 Oh, I did the cast. This is the cast. This is not the real. 08:19 okay. So this is the real crew which looks nothing like them. Here's the background is similar. The man here's what I love is I love that Hollywood did a thing through the the nineties where they were just like we don't need the we don't need actors to look like the original people at all. Yeah well, it's because none of these guys are hot go back to the other one. Describe, describe which of these guys you think is hot 08:45 let's hear it to guy in the middle as a really hot forehead, just like me guy on the right is a really hot forehead, just like me got on the left great lips. They all do have large foreheads, don't they? They do. Yeah, that is interesting. I think it's a nineties thing and me being a product of the nineties also big forehead. Yeah, okay, so so this is the actual crew. Sorry about the confusion. Yeah James level junior 09:15 John Swigert and Fred Hayes are their names and that's not their names. Oh, okay, try it again. James leveled junior James Arthur level junior okay, ah and then ah sorry uh John L Swigert junior and Fred Hayes. 09:40 Okay, I don't know what you're doing. saying go back to the other one, the Tom Hanks picture. 09:51 Uh huh. And then go back to the original one and tell me their names again. 09:59 Cause you're wrong. 10:02 James level, John elsewhere. Who's knows that Fred Hayes? Okay, Fred Hayes level. They're on there guy in middle is not swigger. 10:16 Why you saying that? Because his uniform says Mattingly. 10:23 Ah interesting and go back to the other picture. You can see a clearer the better picture of them. 10:29 the better picture. Okay, okay. I see what you're saying. was like, what are you talking about? I can't believe you can read that. What are you talking about? I can yeah, it's got the letter M and then adding Lee after it. So who is mattingly? I don't know. Hold on. I want to make sure you get your facts straight. 10:49 Yeah, I'm pulling this up. Give me a second. Oh, this makes sense. so oh 10:58 Ken Mattingly, Thomas, Ken Manning Lee. This makes sense. Okay, so he was originally scheduled to fly on fall thirteen, a father team, but he was replaced by Jack Swigert because he got measles. Oh okay, yeah, so maybe so I guess this photo must have been taken before the actual trip. Okay, when they were scheduled to do it and then he got over nineteen, what's interesting is in the movie. I guess they were like yeah, we're gonna 11:24 much forget about the guy getting measles and not send him on the trip. I don't understand. It's been a long time since I've the movie. It was that a plot line in the movie did maddingly like not make it on the trip and then they send someone else. I don't know because that's a pretty big star to cast to just back. Sorry, you're not going to make it on the trip. Well, I'm sure it's sick. Well, isn't the I mean the most of the movie takes place pre launch right? That's I don't remember the movie that much. I guess I don't remember the movie. I mean I remember the sea. I remember the end of the movie. Yeah, yeah, I don't 11:53 now I got to look at the cast. If you've not seen the movie maddenly did it. That's the spoiler. He did it the whole time. It was him. Okay, yeah. So they did do that and Kevin Bacon played swagger. That's what I'm saying. Okay, okay. So they did do that. Yeah, interesting. I'm yeah, but I'm like you're showing a picture and maddingly is who we're looking at. Yeah, well, it's because I was I just I saw this picture. I was like this looks like they see the budget astronaut. Okay, 12:20 so he was a bunch of astronauts sure. I don't know their names yeah. No, we've got level and haze and then maddingly who then gets measles and replaced yeah yeah with swinger. Yes um and so ah one of these guys hold on to me. Let me go back over here to my notes. Now you've got me all. I'm not sure who's who now hold on. I think it was 12:44 Do you need glasses because I can read the TV from here, but you can't read your computer from there. I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just asking. Do you know my mom didn't let me get a while you look at this up? Did you know why my mom did not believe me when I was in sixth grade and I was like hey, I can't see and she was like no. Yes, you can. You just want attention. You know your friend Dalton got glasses and now you want glasses and I was like she's over here and I was like 13:10 okay, right. I couldn't see it that gum thing. I literally was like sitting there, but I literally I remember the day I convinced her where I was like mom, I cannot read the time on the VCR. I like there's a little clock there and I can't read it. It's too blurry and she was like no, yes you can. I said I can't read the clock and it finally took one of my teachers telling her hey Jaron can't read the board. Yeah, yeah for her to be like oh oh you're right. I guess I've been 13:39 gas lighting my kid for a year. My poor blind child, so level level is the one I was looking for. Yeah, he is the only he's the main character. Yeah, he's the only one who did uh to Apollo missions. He did Apollo eight, which was not one of the ones that landed yeah and then this Apollo thirteen, but so he's the only one here who's got experience being in space, being in space, yeah, which 14:06 I guess is not a common thing like I because I ended up having to pull up the whole list of astronauts who've done this. It looks like pretty much everyone, at least on the Apollo missions, only did one mission, which is interesting. A lot of them went and did other missions after that, but for the Apollo program, it was just one uh so over is one. Okay, ah so they take off. They go to space and the take off. The whole process was normal. It pretty normal, yeah, relatively smooth. Yeah, they make the course 14:35 course corrections and they they do this broadcast that no network wanted to pick up. I think they ran out like PBS or something and in the broadcast. What's interesting is people recounted what they saw on this broadcast. They said it was very strange because it was like watching a bunch of really smart people behave like teenagers because they just like we're showing you around the cabin um being what's up guys. Here's my crib. 15:03 Really? They were just like playing jokes on each other, like pranking each other. It's like they would talk at like one of them would be talking about other things while the other two would be messing with them in the background was what that broadcast was. And one of the things is one of the guys kept doing this like a valve release, which was really loud. Like you could release this valve and it was just a normal like procedure that they would do. But it was like this loud bang every time you would release this valve. And so they'd be sitting there talking and they do release the valve and they'd be like, and like startling them, you know? And so this, this whole 15:32 broadcast happens, everything's whatever, it's fine, whatever, right? Nobody watches it. Nobody cares. Nobody listens. Okay. They, they are now in the air for 56 hours in the flight, uh, headed towards the moon. Uh, and while, uh, out of the blue, they hear this explosion. And so everybody thinks, uh, Oh, it's this guy playing this prank with that fuel release or that valve release that thing again. But, uh, he's like, swear that wasn't me. I didn't do anything there. 15:59 So they start checking all the gauges, checking to see what's going on. They realize that their oxygen gauges are all like just plummeting. And so this is where we get uh the famous line. They uh transmit there's a transmission that gets sent back and he says, Houston, we have a problem. And Houston is like, OK, what's the problem? And they say, hey, all of our oxygen lines are rapidly dropping. And we we just heard an explosion. And Houston's like, 16:29 it's probably fine. You're probably okay. We're not going to send you to the eye doctor or anything. Just don't worry about it. Everything's fine, uh but like what do you, I mean, what's the other option is turn around? Well, yeah, yeah, you could turn around because they've got thrusters on there so they could reverse course. But what they say is like, we got it. We're to have to take like a diagnostic of what's going on and figure out what's happening here. So they started doing, they sent up a bunch of tests. They start doing all these tests long for short. Eventually what they're able to discover is they see 16:59 uh some sort of gas that is venting into space from the main part of ship. So I'll show you a diagram of this actual model. So it was made up of a couple segments. So you have the actual lunar lander, which is the part that looks almost like a spider that you see in all those fake studio footage from Apollo 11. And then you see the command module. So during the actual flight, they were in the command module. uh 17:29 you see that that little cone in the middle. That's where they were. That's where they were. They were sitting in the command module behind it is the service module and so there they have the actual engine and then this big box that has oxygen tanks, water, all the just different services that keep them alive. I support systems and okay that and within there, there are a few large oxygen tanks that have more than enough oxygen to get them to the moon and back uh and what had happened here is one of those oxygen takes blew up 17:58 uh and started venting oxygen out into space uh and also damaging a bunch of the other components within the service module. And so what they end up discovering after running a bunch of tests to start to figure out what's really going on is they're down to one oxygen tank. So oxygen is going to run out in the service or in this command module very quickly. Also, uh their water lines are damaged and their temperature control system is damaged. So temperature is going to begin dropping. 18:28 very soon as well. Sure. 18:32 Hey, join us on Patreon if you want this to be ad free and also there's a bunch of other perks you get to all episodes are ad free. You get next week's episode right now and you get to do monthly hangouts with me and Tim. Like we really look it's like a virtual just hangout room and we play games together. We talk we have show and tell sometimes we've made a lot of good friends through this and so it's a really good time to do that. So either way, please share the episode. Tell somebody about it. These are all those ways to help us grow the show because we love doing it. We want to keep doing it. So thanks for being here. 19:06 So ah they really back to Houston to try to figure out what the best course of action is going to be here because this is a long trip to get to the moon and back right. ah How long does it take? I believe is a three day trip one way uh and so they are fifty six hours into this trip. So they're close to the moon at this point. They're two days in to the trip and so really they kind of have a decision to make. Do they turn around to the pull pull you turn turn on the thrusters and try to make it back? 19:36 What they end up deducing there is that with the amount of fuel that they've got, they probably wouldn't make it back to the earth uh within enough time. And so they're going to have to come up with something a little bit more creative to actually get them back there. So the people back in Houston are doing all these calculations nonstop trying to figure out how are we going to get them back here. And they end up deciding to do uh the, like, guess, colloquial term for this is like a slingshot method. And so what they're going to do 20:05 is they're going to take them ah to the moon slingshot around the back of the moon and use the moon's gravity to propel them back towards the earth and then it's going to shoot them back and then they'll be able to turn the fuel back on. And so what you can see in here is the different parts where they can actually turn around if they're going to turn around and they've passed it okay and so they have to okay. So if we're are we at nominal to yellow coasts that word is that where we're at 20:33 I don't know where they're at in this. I don't know if this is from this exact event. I believe so okay, em and so they have to actually make it to the moon at this point and swerve around the backside of the moon and then get slingshot it back to earth. If they if they want any shot of making it here, the problem is I don't understand why they don't have enough fuel. If they're going to go to the moon, well there comes a point where you're not actually burning any fuel anymore. You're coasting 20:59 all the way to the moon and that's what nominal to coast is yeah. CIC you're the gravitational pull of the moon to pull you in versus actual fuel burn okay, ah and so what they can do is they can use essentially the same concept where then they will use the gravitational pull the moon to shoot themselves around the back side of the moon, shoot back to earth and catch the gravity of the earth and then they would only have to use fuel in that middle line there okay to get them back into earth. ah 21:27 The problem is they don't have enough oxygen for this right or the whole thing before and so they say okay. Well, what we're to have to do is we're going to have to crawl into the actual um lander module and so the what the lander so the little spider part lunar module yeah yes ah and so the lander module that's what it's called. It's a lunar lander 21:55 don't get out of here. Tim, one of us believes that we did this. I do too. I believe we did this. I just think that we saw something we should have. I just think we got there and we're like oh, we weren't supposed to we land on the moon and we saw the lizard eating the cheese. There it is. I contest. Well, yeah, I don't roll your eyes at me. Tim, we're twenty minutes into this. have twenty minutes left. 22:25 Okay, so so uh they make they start on this trip and they crawl into the lunar lander and they have they have more oxygen in the lunar lander. Is that what no, so the interesting thing about the lunar lander is there's two days oxygen supply nowhere near enough supply to get them back to earth. They do have their suits in their their walking suits to like actual go out and do uh their moon walks, but there's not days worth of oxygen within those suits. 22:55 There are a couple extra like personal oxygen tanks in the lander module as well, but there's not it. The long story is there's not enough oxygen. There's right enough for two days and some extra oxygen. There's also not enough food. There's just an there's not enough food, not enough water. This is a bad situation all around and there's also the the temperature control system is not going to last long enough. So they're going to have to get in those suits. So well, they they they 23:24 I thought about getting in the suits, but the problem with that is that would be too hot. They were afraid they would overheat in these suits, which is interesting to me. I feel like it'd be. I feel like you could retrofit those suits in some way either freeze to death or be a little uncomfortable. a little too hot. 23:42 I hate just being so stuffy. It's just a little too hot. thing about being cold is you can always put on more layers, but the thing about being hot, you know, is that it's like you got to take off. All you got to do is keep taking off layers and eventually you run out of layers. So I'm saying yeah. So uh so they then uh they they're in this lunar module and they have to try to figure out, how are we going to survive? They know they don't have enough oxygen, but there are these 24:10 little components that they have in both sets of both modules where that can help grant them a little bit more oxygen. They're not really tanks, but they're like filter filtration systems that will help modulate the CO2. Right. The problem is in for some, for whatever reason in the lander, it's this big round component, but in the uh actual control module is the square box thing. 24:40 Sure. And so they couldn't transfer them between the two. And so they were going to run out of it in the lander. uh And this is what is considered the first hack ever is the which is very strange to me. They had to from whatever items that they could find on both the lander and the control module, create their own little component that would actually fit to modulate the CO2. 25:09 for them to be able to survive within the ship or within the lander module. And so there was a crew back in Houston that was doing all the math and looking through everything that they had and saying, okay, well, you can pull this wire from this thing because we don't really need that. You can pull this shell from over here and we're going to put them together and they were just kind of walking them through how to build a new co to component to help them survive. That's crazy. Yeah. And so and this of course took hours and uh 25:36 but they managed to figure this out, and so I think a lot of lessons were learned on this trip because ah they learned that they needed a lot better redundancy plans because this is like yeah we're we're on the razor razor razor's edge with this whole trip ah and so how many astronauts have died from non explosions? Do we know like obviously like while they were on a mission yeah like obviously like the challenger is a different situation yeah, but like 26:07 Do we know? Is that a good question? That's a good question. Yeah, let's find out twenty one. I've died wow for accidents, during missions, but I bet a lot of those. bet those are included in the I bet that includes the numbers of yeah, so in seventy one there was a soya soyas so yes. Is that how you pronounce that? I don't know eleven where all the crew members died because of depressurization. Okay, there was a challenge or explosion 26:35 and then there was the Columbia that disaster right and so that was, mean that's the majority of it. Apollo one, there was a fire on a launch pad test that they were in there and three of them were killed. A cosmonaut died on reentry, which is essentially a fire. would say um and then yeah, but that's, that's, that's what I'm wondering. Those kinds of things like the depressurized thing because 27:05 launch failures are different than yeah him reentering and dying. That's what I'm wondering those guys. Yeah, we've but like there was that movie where the astronaut floats off into space. Has that ever actually happened? Have we ever lost someone to space? I don't know. Actually, I don't think I have 27:24 have we lost any Astros to space? I mean this is yes, some have died in space, but I don't I don't know if anyone were like died during a space walk because that like would be the worst way to go where you're just floating away from the space station stuff. Yeah, and you just you're just because eventually I think you're you probably 27:52 would lose pressurization before you would lose oxygen. You think so? Yes, in the suit. Yeah, I think at a certain point your head would probably just pop. Okay, what a way to say that buddy. There's fourteen year olds to listen to this chill. Okay, sorry. Oh my gosh, I had with a horror movie that you just 28:14 Okay, well, sorry to bring that down. That made me so mad. We have ten minutes left. 28:23 Okay, so golly they they put together with game be like the space monsters would get you like what do you like freaking? Why would I say? Why would I just lie? We lied when we said we went to the moon. None of it matters. Sorry, sorry. You would you would get very sad and you would die from it. 28:44 Yeah, you die of the sadness of missing your family. Say that out there. I go, you die of the sadness and also stop, stop, stop, stop. Okay, so so it's taken a couple of hours to build a component to regulate the oxygen in the thing. Yeah, yeah, the co2 specifically carbon dioxide. Yeah. And so what's what's interesting? Yeah, this is largely described as the first hack and this was interesting reading into this because 29:13 a couple of years ago. mean, it's the first hack, but I'm still out here. Oh my gosh. A couple of years ago, like everybody started calling things hacks. Yeah. Uh, and I remember a lot of people being annoyed cause like, that's not a hack. Like you're just breaking stuff and calling it a hack, but it's interesting because this is, uh, this is regarded as the first hack, but it wasn't like it genuinely was like they just took a bunch of stuff and MacGyvered it together to get it to work. Um, and 29:42 I think I also had always just kind of assumed like hacking was like breaking into a system and like getting it to do something you wanted to do. That's like you're not authorized to allow it to do well. I think in the technological space hacker was short for hijacker, but we stopped using the word hijacker. Was it? Is it really yeah because you're hijacking the system, you're taking control of another system. That's what that would be. 30:12 and I think we just shortened it to hacker as then you hacked in. No hack is not shortening. I'm not saying it's short of hijacker. I'm saying we instead of calling it hijacker yeah, it's not like we were like oh, that's too long. Let's just call him hacker yeah interesting hijack is a combination of the words Hitchin Jack and it's from people stealing horse horses. Yes or sitting a car. They would hitch and Jack a car and hijack is putting that together. 30:41 Hack comes from the term Hackney, Hackney, which was a horse that was easy to ride and available for hire. But I don't understand why that would end up becoming hack. Interesting. I don't know. Maybe you're right. Interesting. I don't know. Oh, my gosh. Just Google this. And that's so interesting. Oh, wow. I just looked it up. Oh, wow. Oh, my gosh. It's called the first person I know. It's in Jack's because it's near the horses. 31:15 So anyway uh 31:32 you do that stuff all time. First of all, you cannot do pops like that. It's too aggressive. You do that you pop into that microphone. I never, I've I've never, if you let these episodes go over an hour, you start popping. I'm telling you what I've never once popped. There's not been a single pop hitch and jack sounds like a really cool trendy bar that would open. Yeah, that does actually so hey hitch and jack. 32:02 No, give me your other hand. You psycho. What are we gonna? What are you? We like? Yes, I thought you were gonna high five. Yeah. Why would I go like? Because this is the easier hand at this one. gotta like reach up underneath this thing. We, we, what are you trying to do? You don't know how to do anything, man. You're like I five too slow. 32:29 Oh, here I am. 32:34 That's how you talk, dude. Just high five me, just high five. That's okay, I'll it. Just high five me. Oh yeah, so it's it's called, well, it's pretty crazy because it's called a high five because it's a combination of like how high your hand is, it's five fingers. 32:56 it's like if you hold your five fingers really high, that's why they call it a high five. That's pretty cool. So anyway, that's what you do. Thanks for that genuine laughter. I'm so happy to be here. So okay, so they need to hack. They've they've literally taken pieces from different components. Yes and just 33:25 force the tour. Okay, force it or and that's pretty crazy that there's just nerds on the ground being like okay, yeah, yeah, just pull this cable, pull this cable, do this thing together. You know, like that's wild yeah and yeah, yeah, that is wild that they have like a that deep of an understanding of what is up there and they also probably have the other eleven there. You know, I'm talking about like they're maybe but but they're like they're different and so it's 33:51 they're there, but it's not like this is like you've got four Honda Accords and you'd be like that's true. That's true, I'm sure like if like you know if you got a ninety six Honda Accord and you have my Honda Accord, the steering wheel is still a steering wheel. I mean, I guess you know saying like yeah like some of the essential some of the hones are probably I don't think they've changed them that much. Yeah, that's quite true. That's yeah. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not a rock. It's what year is your Honda Accord? I don't have a Honda Accord or your civic. That's my bad. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, two thousand four 34:21 I'm really glad that you drew this distinction there before answering the question. I'm really glad that you wasted a whole forty seconds on. don't have an accord. I have a civic. Civic is cooler. So sitting is a little bit more punk rock, so they were around the moon and when they got her, how does that, how do who did the calculations for that because this is a did they calculate that before like they were like okay, okay, yeah, so that's a good question. So they did have calculations for that and okay, that's what I'm wondering because when they plan the route yeah, they plan this situation where it's like okay, 34:49 If we need to abort we can abort here if we have a fuel issue we can abort here But what we're going to do is we're to get to this part We're going to coast catch the gravity of the moon and then we're going to come into orbit the lander is going to drop and the lander is going to land the Control module is going to stay in orbit and what's actually pretty crazy about the plan is when they take off They have to time it exactly to where they're going to meet the orbit because they dock back on that control module and then the control module goes back to earth ah and so 35:18 there's a lot of math that goes into this and it's pretty impressive. The thing is when all this happened, they got thrown off the regular would be if we ever did it. They got I don't know. I'm trying to be the guy now. I'm trying to be your I'm trying to I'm trying to a loss my brain worm, so that's what I'm saying. Yours died, so I put one in so they got thrown off the trajectory. So now they had to I mean look at that. You're telling me that that like look at this graph right now. Both those circles are flat 35:47 they don't look very round to me proof. Yeah, all so their idea is that we can over so they're going to enter orbit of the moon anyway. Yes, yes, yes, and so is then they're going. Okay, instead of orbiting and actually following around once we hit this part of the orbit, you're going to gas it yeah and then and then you essentially reverse this where you you have the rest is engaged until you can coast back to earth and then you're going to catch earth's gravity and yeah and then 36:15 the coast in which how far I mean like the moon is in Earth's gravity. Yes, you know and so like that's how far the gravitational pull of the earth is. That's crazy. Yes, yeah, it's pretty nuts and so essentially yeah. You just think about how like gra I just yeah, that's nuts. The gravitational pull the effort it takes to fight the gravitational pull. You know saying like I mean dude the friggin 36:43 think about it. You're stronger than the moon right now. The moon can't do that. You know I'm means to try to do this for thousands of millions of years. 36:59 can't do that. That's why I say in the gym, okay, mood can't do that. Lunker alarm, Lunder alarm, this guy's stronger than the moon. I whatever is stronger than the moon out of context quotes. So they just put me saying out of context quotes. It's just me doing it in different like out of context. 37:28 It's just me doing it in different ways and it's just that you gotta say what I don't in there. It's just mine out of context quotes. 37:39 So they do the sleep shot. I saw that lizard eat the cheese. It's like another one you can use. It's just you saying out of context quotes over and over again. And then the weird lizard thing. Wow, I got to keep listening for that weird lizard thing. 38:01 wow, I sure should listen to this hour and a half long episode, so I could find out what that lizard thing was all about. So they're all the way back to earth. We're engineering your your attention span. We're just putting out a contest quotes in the intro to get you to listen further into the episode. That's the whole idea. So they play the intro twice so it can fit all these in. This is a really long intro. 38:31 Hey, if you love the show, a great way to serve support is by getting some merch. We got lots of great stuff. I'm going to showcase some of it right now. This is like our little tilling QVC. You can get a it's not a call. It's a podcast sweatshirt. Very sweet. The nice thing about this is no one knows what podcast you're talking about. So you wear it in public and you can tell them about your lord and savior to a podcast. We also got the this is one of my favorite things we've ever made. The fiddle off fest hoodie. It's got uh the devil. 39:00 playing a fiddle. It's not really the devil's a skeleton. And then all of the bands on the back of it like it's a festival. But spoiler alert, these aren't bands. These are jokes from episodes. So worth checking out. And this is one of my favorite things we've ever done. This is for the real fans. This is an old one. We've got a Tim Stones get well quick trick shirt. And it's very cool. We've got some really good designs. Darren is good at designing stuff. So support his dream. No one will hire him as a designer, but you can by buying his merch. 39:28 It's our merch, but it's his designs. so leave a comment, say, Jared, you're good at this. um We like your art. He really needs it. He needs your support so bad. Please make him feel better about it and buy some merch. It helps make this show keep happening. You can tell people about how much you love this show with it. So. 39:52 Did you hear? Did you hear what I said? Yeah, you're to do a two minute merch ad. wasn't a two minute merch ad. Oh, Jaren's a good designer. Give him a high five. Make him feel good about his art. 40:06 and then you're going to make them listen to two minutes of ads. We got to do all that and then it's going to be like back to school this fall like 40:16 I don't want to be. I hate there's skippable ads. They're not skip. They are skippable. Yeah, you too premium leave all this in that 40:30 because the point where now they're going to have to eject from the service module. Okay, get back to earth and so when they get back to her, you're saying that when they hit the moon, they're going to get rid of the command module part and then they're going to take that back to back almost all the way to earth. Okay, there's a point where to re enter. They cannot have that on on their configuration anymore. So what has happened to the rest of these things? Do we just let him go to space? Is what they're out there somewhere really? Yeah, and so we actually and I believe 41:00 this is a real shot that they they captured from on board of the module after they released. So they decoupled and that's when they saw like the extent of the damage. Oh wow and so they were like dang. We could have died. uh We could have been a part of that explosion, but instead we survived and now so do we have other images of this stuff floating around in space? Not that I'm aware of your sing yeah, and so what's interesting is like there's a lot of trying. I it's it in it, but I guess it becomes like Bigfoot where it's like it's out there. Yeah, I mean space is a big place 41:30 but we do have a lot of trash that's just kind of floating around the earth, a lot of stuff in orbit as it is starting to become a more common thing where our satellite isn't there a tesla in orbit there is didn't he do that yes like didn't he just think it's an orbit though. I think he shot it outside orbit. I think it's just floating across the in that crazy where she's like yeah. I think I'm gonna as a promo. I'm just gonna litter in space yeah. 41:55 Yeah, I like the idea that somewhere along the line because that thing, I mean, it's probably gonna last a long time. ah I like the idea that years and years from now, some new civilization propped up somewhere and that Tesla just crashes into kills. Whatever life is on that planet. All of the Yeah, the dinosaurs got wiped out by an ancient Tesla. I was more thinking it was like they were like, what is this? 42:24 No, how did this get here and they're trying to figure out how it like how we figured out? No, whole planet destroyed. It's because of the battery. The lithium ion batteries are explosive and then as they die like these billionaires, it's crazy. They know what billionaires are big fan. So this should be an Irish pub. 42:49 So by this point ah this went from something where people didn't really care to the whole world like really, really was interested in what was happening here. Yeah, because it's like these guys could. I mean it's it's the it's the submarine. Yeah, exactly. It's the whole thing of like these guys could not make it. Yeah. Breaking news. Tragedy. That's that's the news to the seventies. That's exactly the seventies and eighties is kid kidnapped. Is it yours? Look around your living room. Look around your living room. It might be your well. It's somebody's yeah. If you see your kid could have been yours. m 43:19 Yeah. So telling up at nine o'clock, make sure to tell your kids could have been you. Turns out the news anchor was kidnapping kids for years for the news interest for content. 43:32 that's crazy. I like the idea of an influencer who's covering the news and making it happen. I mean that's nightcrawler. That's the premise of nightcrawler. You're right. That is a movie. That's a movie that tom hanks was in 43:49 yeah, it's tom Hanks, the go twister, you you're running out of time, but I cut you off. Okay, shoot. So now this is the thing we're all over the world, like literally all over the world. People are watching and tuning. Yeah, I know what's happening to them. We even the Russians are like go America, kinda. I don't know about Russia, but I do know like we have records of people like throughout India and like in Australia, like where they're holding these like wire vigils. Oh, like to like like 44:18 route them back to earth basically, and what's interesting is they then not if there wasn't enough challenges to begin with coming back into earth is not an easy thing yeah, because if you just go straight in you're going to burn up in the atmosphere, and so there's an angle you have to approach where you're not going to get hot or too hot, but there's also an angle where if you are I mean it's the same thing like if you're climbing a mountain you have to go back and forth yeah you know you can't the most efficient way and easiest way to get up the mountain is to 44:47 to swerve back and forth instead of like people will post pictures all the time. Like why is this road so curvy instead of just straight up and it's like oh because you're dumb but also but also if you it's like that, but if also you didn't do that you blew up. Well, that's what I'm saying is that like the energy you know yeah would be like the the energy that would be pushing against you. Yes, it's so much stronger if you go head on than if you have an angle. Yeah, it's like when you drop something in a pool 45:15 If you watch, it'll go like this through the waves to like down to the bottom instead of just. Yeah, you know, I mean, if that's how air works. That's how. Yeah. And so but the problem is if you angle that too far there, they were trying to angle the approach to where they would land in the Pacific. But if you angle that too far, you would hit the water and it would start to bounce on the water like a like you're skipping rocks and then it would blow up. And so they had to get the math just right where we came in at the right angle. 45:44 but they're coming in in a damaged module and so it's like their ability to pilot this thing was it doesn't have a parachute that once we get to a certain it does it does but your angle you still have to get that angle right yeah because when you're coming in from that kind of altitude space a little being just a few degrees off you're in a completely different part of the world yeah so they saw to get the math right but the problem is the control surfaces were so severely damaged 46:11 where literally like you could turn the, I, they're not technically yolks or joysticks or whatever they were, but you could turn the yoke one way and it would turn the other way. able to steer. Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. you turn, you turn things one way and it goes the other way and same thing. Like every direction is going the opposite direction because so severely damaged. And so they actually had a thing where two of them were controlling this and they were responsible for different directions. And so one of them was looking up and down. The other one was looking side to side. 46:41 and because it was so complicated to steer this thing to get it in the right and one of them was just sitting there two people steer this thing and then one of them is just like I hope we find the bunny ears for the broadcast because they break at each other. remember they're doing all the Nixon's thing. No, he's doing bunny ears on them. He's like he's like oh look at these losers. He's doing impressions. I am not a crook. You know I was like trying to get moved like 47:08 that is something that they talk about is like they were. They threw out this whole trip. We're like joking around with each other, messing with each other. He like still hits that release. I thought it was still funny. I thought it was a funny time to do that and so they come into earth guys. Look 47:32 The lizard eating cheese. It's hard to believe that's up here. And so there's a segment during reentry for about four minutes where because of the amount of heat, the communications cut off. And so Houston can't hear from the actual module. And this is a normal thing. This is expected, but at about four minutes you expect to be able to hear from them again. And so the time for reentry came, this is on every channel on TV. Everyone watching it. 48:01 Everyone's waiting to hear from them. Four minutes go by, nothing. Four and a half minutes go by, nothing. Five minutes go by, nothing. Six minutes go by, nothing. ah And then finally, what happens is they've got the cameras out in the Pacific Ocean somewhere on a boat, just scanning the sky, trying to get a visual of this thing. And then they see the module with the big red parachute floating down. And at the same time where they capture it on camera to see the module, they get the first radio transmission back from them saying like, we've made it through, like we're 48:31 in our final descent. ah So they get there, they get the boat out, they pull them out of this. And what's wild is they had such a lack of food, it was so cold, uh and they had such little water, they were drinking two liters, or not two liters, two milliliters a day, was there allotment of water for each of them? And they had no food. They exhausted all their food. And so they each lost about 30 pounds in this return trip, which is like three days. 48:59 And so like the situation was so dire that they like it's hard to imagine how you can lose that much weight that yeah. But they survived. They made it back. And now we have that return module uh is in a museum in Kansas City or not Kansas City but in Kansas. Oh wow. And so that makes sense. This makes sense that it's in Hutchinson Kansas. Yeah. Are you sure it's in Hutchinson Kansas. Yeah I'm sure. 49:25 why I mean this picture is why is it in Hutchinson, Kansas? There's a space museum there. Oh okay, yeah, it's kind of like so it's kind of like answer. My question at all right. Well, okay, cool cool. I was gonna make sure that I'm not the dumb one here. So why is it a hutch? Well, there's a space museum there. Yeah, I can see the space museum Tim. I'm looking at a picture of it right now. Oh yeah, wow, there's a space museum in Hutchinson. Oh, that's why they put it there. There's a space museum there. Somebody there was a space museum there. 49:51 No, I don't know. Hey, why is there a? Why is that in Hutchinson, Kansas? Because that's where the city's museum is and the space museum is in hutchinson, Kansas, because there's just a guy there who owned a lot of space. Definitely put it in. Look, I think that that's possible that it was just somebody famous there or somebody rich there. He was like, like space. Let's do it. It's also possible that let's see here there could there is hutchinson, Kansas, where that giant painting is as well. Is that hutchinson 50:20 I don't know. I know exactly what you're talking about. I don't know where that is. You know what talking about. If you drive to Denver on that on seventy yeah, there's a gigantic the world's largest one of those like you know pull over. Look at the world's largest painting yeah, it's there yeah, you know now that I'm like thinking about it. I think um they're one of the astronauts is from Kansas. I don't know if he's from Hutchinson now 50:49 Yeah, I don't know why it's in hudges and that's interesting. Someone I was really in there. What really happened is someone just funded it and yeah, that's how that happens. It's just like in over them park. We have a nine eleven memorial and over them park. Why is that there like it? What? How did this end up in overland park? We went nine eleven memorial yeah and there's on the highway. There's signs that say nine eleven memorial. This exit is very weird and so but yeah, it's just somebody funded it. Okay yeah, 51:17 and whoever I mean we was like I got to get that thing. I don't know which which shuttle do we have in La the yeah. I don't know. I don't know which one's in La. Look it up. There's a shuttle in La. I forgot to put space shuttle Los Angeles. I bet we could find it that's because there's a space in endeavor. That's right. Yeah and it's like standing up and then they've built the building around it pretty cool. That is neat. That is very neat. Can you go inside it? I don't know. We need to go. We need to go 51:47 Yeah, that's where you know anyway. Cool, that's wild yeah, so they survived. They made it back. This is where the Houston. have a problem came from yeah. They actually said Houston. There's been a problem, but the movie said Houston. We have a problem and so that's what's famous yeah, so yeah. Thanks Tom Hanks. Wow, flubbed the line. Honestly, bite of it and Houston. We have a problem. 52:16 Tom. The line is and he's like you know what I don't care. I have only drinking two milliliters of water to prepare for this role. I have starved myself to try to do this. The line is now used to we have a problem and director who've directed for us comp who's from Hutchinson Kansas is why this is there and who also painted the largest painting 52:41 This is a podcast that we just talked about how they went to the moon. This is a podcast full of misinformation. Is there anything else you want to say? No, I feel good. All right, fiddle off then hey, thanks for please share this episode. This is a good episode. Please share this episode with somebody that would help us a lot. Also check out the dear moon project. There's a guy who's like wishes and a bunch of artists like Steve Aoki to the dark side of the moon. That'll really inspire them to make exciting fun art. What a weird like rich people don't know how to be rich. That's making me mad. 53:10 All right, rich people just don't know how to be rich anymore. They used to build railroads. They spill libraries and now they're like, let's send state Steve Aoki to the moon. Huh? Anyway, join us on Patreon and we'll see you next week for things I learned last night.


The Apollo 13 mission began as a routine trip to the moon. At first, many people barely paid attention. NASA had already reached the moon twice by then. But everything changed when an explosion put three astronauts in danger. What started as a quiet mission soon became one of the most dramatic rescue efforts in space history.

The Calm Start of Apollo 13

NASA launched Apollo 13 on April 11, 1970. The plan was to reach the moon, land, explore, and return safely. The crew included Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert. They had trained for years. By the time of this flight, both NASA and the American public felt confident.

Life inside the spacecraft seemed normal. The astronauts even filmed a broadcast to show people what life in space looked like. But no network aired it. People believed Apollo 13 would be predictable and straightforward.

They were very wrong.

“Houston, We Have a Problem”

Fifty-six hours into the mission, everything changed. The crew heard a loud bang. At first, they thought it was a joke, but then they saw the oxygen levels dropping fast. One of the oxygen tanks had exploded.

This moment led to one of NASA’s most famous messages:
“Houston, we have a problem.”

The explosion damaged oxygen systems, water lines, and temperature controls. The spacecraft quickly became unsafe. NASA had to find a way to get the astronauts home before they ran out of air, water, and power.

NASA’s Apollo 13 Crisis Plan

Mission Control worked nonstop. Engineers studied every inch of the spacecraft. They had to find solutions using only the limited items on board.

To survive, the astronauts moved into the lunar module. It was only designed to support two people for two days, not three people for four days. They needed more oxygen. NASA discovered that the carbon dioxide filters from the main module were the wrong shape. They were square. The filters in the lunar module were round.

This led to an important space “hack.” NASA guided the astronauts in building an adapter using tape, plastic bags, and pages from a flight manual. It worked. It kept them alive.

Racing Around the Moon for Survival

Turning around wasn’t possible. The spacecraft did not have enough fuel. NASA decided to use the moon’s gravity like a slingshot. Apollo 13 swung around the far side of the moon and began its long path back home.

Temperatures dropped. Water ran out. The astronauts drank only two milliliters a day. All three lost about 30 pounds during the return. Still, they stayed focused. They joked with each other and kept working.

Meanwhile, millions of people around the world waited and watched.

The Final Test: Re-Entry

Re-entry was the most dangerous part. The command module was damaged, and the angle had to be perfect. If it were too steep, the spacecraft would burn. If it were too shallow, it would skip off the atmosphere like a stone on water.

As Apollo 13 hit Earth’s atmosphere, all radio contact went silent. NASA expected this blackout to last four minutes.

But four minutes passed.
Then five.
Then six.

Finally, a voice broke through. The crew had survived. Soon after, cameras spotted the parachutes drifting toward the Pacific Ocean.

Apollo 13 was safe.

How Apollo 13 Changed NASA Forever

The Apollo 13 emergency pushed NASA to strengthen its safety systems. It also changed how engineers planned missions. Backup systems became more reliable. Training became more detailed. Apollo 13 proved NASA’s skill, teamwork, and creativity under extreme pressure.

Today, the Apollo 13 command module can be seen in a museum in Kansas. It stands as a reminder of one of NASA’s greatest rescues.

A Story of Skill, Courage, and Teamwork

Apollo 13 never landed on the moon, but it became one of NASA’s most important missions. It showed the world that even in the face of disaster, people can solve seemingly impossible problems. The bravery of the crew and the creativity of the NASA engineers turned a near-tragedy into a story of hope.


Things I Learned Last Night is an educational comedy podcast where best friends Jaron Myers and Tim Stone talk about random topics and have fun all along the way. If you like learning and laughing a lot while you do, you’ll love TILLN. Watch or listen to this episode right now!

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Sources

Apollo 13 – Wikipedia


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