I think you can see that The Puss, Pinky and Tuxedo are just thrilled to have us home. My, that just warms my heart!
We are reliving our Space Geek Day in Huntsville by watching the 1995 movie Apollo 13.
Apollo 13 was intended to be the third manned lunar-landing mission, part of Project Apollo under NASA in the United States. The crew members were Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module pilot John L. "Jack" Swigert, and Lunar Module pilot Fred W. Haise.
It launched on April 11, 1970 at 13:13 CST. Two days after the launch, an electrical fault caused an explosion in a Service Module oxygen tank. The explosion also damaged the other oxygen tank or its plumbing, resulting in a complete loss of the 2 oxygen tanks, as well as electrical power. The command module remained fully functional on its own batteries and oxygen tank - but they were sufficient only for the last hours of the mission during re-entry and landing. The crew shut down the Command Module and used the Lunar Module as a "lifeboat" for the return to earth. Despite great hardship caused by severely limited power, cabin heat, and potable water, the crew successfully returned to Earth and the mission eventually became known as a "successful failure", meaning that, although the crew failed to meet their objective, they had survived the trip and returned to Earth. A radio transmission from Lovell during the mission, "Houston, we've had a problem," spawned the misquoted phrase in popular culture, "Houston, we have a problem."
It was a blessing that we had no problems on this fine trip these last 8 days. As my nephew said to us on our first motorcycle trip, "There's nothing like exploring our country on two wheels!" I said that to myself many times this trip...during rain, sleet and fog...it was a wonderful ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment