Word: oxygenate
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...world?breathed easier, but Mission Control knew that the burn was only a stopgap measure. The calculated splashdown area was not only far away from any U.S. recovery ships, but it would also take 74 hours to reach?perhaps longer than the LM's dwindling supply of water, oxygen and electricity would last...
...time to 63 hours and drop the astronauts in the 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...
...many important decisions, ordering the astronauts to turn off a fuel cell, check their thruster rockets, and power down the guidance and navigation systems. Though he may well have anticipated the worst, Kranz never faltered or showed signs of panic. "We've got a bad situation in the oxygen tanks," he told the Manned Spacecraft Center's deputy director, Christopher Kraft, "one that I think is uncontrollable...
Lunney, a lean and sandy-haired veteran of twelve years with NASA, was equally poised. Without loosening his tie or raising his voice, he swiftly executed a series of critical moves. As life gradually ebbed out of the service module's vital oxygen tanks and fuel cells, he ordered valves closed, switches turned off, and countless other emergency procedures. When it became all too clear that Odyssey would have to be evacuated, he made sure to check the lunar module's own critical functions-guidance, oxygen, power-before directing the astronauts to begin their "lifeboat mode" inside Aquarius...