Word: swigert
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...moment, the men seemed relatively safe. Swigert remained behind in the blacked-out command module, breathing oxygen from the lunar module through a ten-foot-long oxygen hose cannibalized from Haise's space suit. Lovell and Haise meanwhile stood guard over the lunar module's vital systems. Although Apollo 13 was still very much in trouble, there was one consolation: if the accident had to happen, it had occurred when the astronauts and Mission Control could do something about it. Had the service module become disabled later in the mission?during the lunar landing or afterward, when Aquarius had been...
Picking up speed under the increasing pull of the earth's gravity, Apollo was now rapidly approaching its narrow re-entry slot. To make sure of a precise reentry, Lovell and Haise fired one more brief burst from Aquarius' thrusters. Swigert meanwhile took up his post in the command module pilot's seat. Looking out of the window, he commented: "That earth is whistling in like a high-speed train...
...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...
...customary cigars as a heartfelt message flashed on a big screen: WELCOME BACK. A few minutes later, NASA's Tom Paine arrived with greetings from President Nixon ("Wonderful team. A job well done"), who also smoked a splashdown cigar in Washington. An especially apt comment came from J. Leonard Swigert, the astronaut's father. Sipping champagne with reporters in his Denver home, the 67-year-old doctor said: "It was a wonderful beginning and a beautiful landing. But I wouldn't give you two hoots for the interim...
...JOHN L. SWIGERT JR., 38, command-module pilot, has very little in common with the man he replaced beyond the fact that both are bachelors. Ken Mattingly is serious and studious. Swigert is a not-so-secret swinger with the reputation of having a girl in every (air) port. Swigert's favorite ploy, his friends say, is to invite girls to his apartment to see what he claims are his moon rocks. For all his bachelor antics, however, Swigert is a highly skilled former Air Force flyer and civilian test pilot with degrees in mechanical engineering, aerospace science...