Apollo 13

History's A Disaster

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11d ago 22:13

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A routine moon mission that no one was watching turned into the most gripping survival story in spaceflight. We open on the quiet confidence of Apollo-era repetition, then snap into crisis as a routine cryogenic stir triggers an explosion that cripples the spacecraft and forces a complete rewrite of the plan. Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise retreat into the lunar module—built for two days on the Moon—and turn it into a four-day lifeboat while Mission Control, led by Gene Kranz, invents procedures on the fly.
Together, we trace the pivotal moments that kept the crew alive: the square-peg CO2 fix crafted from plastic bags, cardboard, and tape; the brutal power and water rationing that turned the cabin into a 38-degree freezer; and the manual navigation burns aligned to Earth’s day-night edge and the stars. We unpack the reentry gamble—powering up a frozen command module on a shoestring, hoping the heat shield survived the blast—and the relief of parachutes over the Pacific. Then we dig into the investigation that found the root cause: a damaged oxygen tank, voltage mismatches, and overheated components that transformed small oversights into a catastrophic chain reaction.
The conversation draws out the leadership and engineering lessons that still matter: why redundancy saves lives, how to solve with constraints, and how training and structure turn panic into procedure. Expect vivid storytelling, technical clarity, and takeaways you can use—from crisis management and systems thinking to team communication under stress. If space history, engineering problem-solving, and high-stakes decision-making light you up, you’ll feel right at home here.
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Facebook: historyisadisaster
Instagram: historysadisaster
email: [email protected]

Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/

Chapters

1. Setting The Stage: Apollo Mania Fades (00:00:00)

2. Meet The Crew And The Plan (00:00:41)

3. Early Launch Anomalies (00:04:21)

4. The Broadcast And The Bang (00:05:29)

5. Lifeboat Strategy: Powering Down Odyssey (00:06:41)

6. CO2 Crisis And The Square Peg Fix (00:08:21)

7. Power, Cold, And Water Rationing (00:10:45)

8. Manual Navigation And Critical Burns (00:12:26)

9. Reentry Risks And Unknown Heat Shield (00:13:18)

10. What Really Caused The Explosion (00:15:06)

11. Design Changes And Training Overhaul (00:17:22)

12. The “Successful Failure” Legacy (00:19:25)

13. Sign-off And Listener Requests (00:21:34)

53 episodes

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Apollo 13

History's A Disaster

published 11d ago

MP3•Episode home

Send us a text

Facebook: historyisadisaster
Instagram: historysadisaster
email: [email protected]

Special thank you to Lunarfall Audio for producing and doing all the heavy lifting on audio editing since April 13, 2025, the Murder of Christopher Meyer episode https://lunarfallaudio.com/