Word: odyssey
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...South Pacific about 600 miles southeast of Samoa. It was what engineers typically call a "trade-off"?not the fastest possible journey home, but one that would save fuel for later course corrections, not strain the remaining Aquarius oxygen, electricity and fuel supplies aboard, and set Odyssey down within easy range of the prime recovery ship Iwo Jima, already in the area...
About 30,000 miles from earth, the astronauts began preparing for their final separation maneuver. Climbing into Odyssey, they switched on its oxygen tanks and batteries and sealed the hatch shut. Then the crew exploded the small bolts connecting the command module with the LM. Propelled by the release of air in the connecting tunnel, the Aquarius drifted rapidly away, its lifeboat function reliably and amply fulfilled. "LM jettison," reported Apollo 13. "O.K.," replied Mission Control. "Farewell, Aquarius, and we thank...
With its normal heat-producing systems shut off to conserve electricity, the Odyssey's temperature dropped to nearly 40°. Had it continued to fall, the command module's chemical propellants might have thickened to the point where control thrusters would no longer have been able to perform the critical re-entry maneuvers...
...minutes later, Apollo 13 began its novel separation procedures. Again hitting the thrusters, Lovell forced Aquarius against the command and service modules. Almost simultaneously, Swigert fired several explosive bolts, detaching the service module from Odyssey. Lovell also fired the LM's thrusters again. The "push-pull" tactic shoved the service module away from Aquarius and Odyssey, enabling the astronauts to see the disabled module for the first time. It was an incredible sight. The module had lost an entire 15-foot-long panel covering Bay 4, and a tangle of wiring and debris trailed out of the gaping hole. Using...
...monitoring stations lost contact with Odyssey as it was enveloped by ionized gases formed by the heat of reentry. For three minutes and 38 seconds, the world anxiously waited to learn whether the astronauts had survived the final portion of their perilous voyage. Finally, the answer came. Responding to a call from one of the rescue planes, Apollo 13 replied: "O.K., Joe." A few seconds later, the descending spaceship hove into view of the TV cameras on the Iwo Jima's decks about four miles away. Under billowing white-and-orange main chutes, the spacecraft drifted slowly downward, headed...