Apollo 13 was a successful failure. This is because the astronauts had to duck a mission to overcome the obstacles they faced. Apollo 13 was a successful failure because it was a mission to the moon, with many challenges along the way, as well as surviving the free fall back to earth, safely.
In the beginning, Apollo 13 and it’s three astronauts had a mission to go to the moon so that they could sample moon dust. They launched the rocket and were on their way. Everything was going as planned, and they were excited about finally getting to start their mission. The text has told us,”Mission Control asked them to perform a routine task: Turn on the fans inside the oxygen tanks...Swigert completed the job...there was a loud bang...it was a catastrophe.”(pg.8)
Next, nobody had any idea what had happened. But, an oxygen tank broke and that is what caused the explosion. The Odyssey began filling up with co2, a poisonous toxic air. They had to find a way to fix it. The text says that the ship kept drifting off course, so it was as if the astronauts had to learn to fly all over again.(pg.9) How
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Then, they decided to use the LEM as a lifeboat. The text says,”The LEM had it’s own supply of power, oxygen, and water. The astronauts would climb through the LEM and stay there until they approached earth.”(pg.9) When they are ready to come into the earth’s atmosphere, they will climb back into the Odyssey. Now they were ready to come back to earth. “They were about to face the most perilous part of their ordeal.”(pg.9) The Odyssey, surprisingly, had no trouble powering up. But, if the heat shield failed, the ship would burn up. They would either be alive, or dead in four minutes. The people on earth waited. After five minutes, the space control though† for sure the astronauts were not coming back. But then the astronauts were in the air coming towards earth. That is what you call a successful