Join FunTrivia for Free: Hourly trivia games, quizzes, community, and more!
Fun Trivia
Ask FunTrivia: Questions and Answers
Answers to 100,000 Fascinating Questions
Welcome to FunTrivia's Question & Answer forum!

Search All Questions


Please cite any factual claims with citation links or references from authoritative sources. Editors continuously recheck submissions and claims.

Archived Questions

Goto Qn #


What two word phrase signaled the end of the Apollo 13 disaster?

Question #111014. Asked by star_gazer.
Last updated Feb 14 2017.

Arpeggionist star
Answer has 3 votes
Arpeggionist star
20 year member
2173 replies

Answer has 3 votes.
"Houston, 13", spoken by Jim Lovell as the CM of Apollo 13 reemerged from radio silence upon entering Earth's atmosphere. At that point, the struggle was over, and the words signaled that from that point on there would be no struggle landing in the ocean and ending the mission.

Nov 24 2009, 12:13 PM
gonnzo
Answer has 5 votes
Currently Best Answer
gonnzo
17 year member
766 replies

Answer has 5 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
I would say "Okay,Joe." They were the first words heard from the crew following the re-entry communications blackout, which lasted just over seven minutes.(Link for official NASA transcript below.)

"[The first word mission control had that the astronauts were safely back into the earth's atmosphere came through the Patrick AFB aircraft, ARIA No. 4, commanded by Lt. Col. Lawrence L. Brown and assisted by Maj. Harry D. Platt and Maj. Forney D. Yeargier. It should be noted however, that ARIA acquision did not necessarily mean the crew was alive, but was an indication that the CM (Odyssey) had survived the reentry heat.]

JSC PAO: "Coming up now on three minutes until time of drogue deployment. Standing-by for any reports of acquisition. (pause) We got a report that ARIA 4 aircraft has acquisition of signal."

[At about 25,000 feet during entry, the forward heat shield is jettisoned to expose the earth landing equipment (all the parachutes, recovery antennas, beacon light, sea recovery sling) and permit deployment of the parachutes.]

(loop)

Flight: "Capcom, just advise them, standing by."

CapCom: "Odyssey, Houston. Standing by. Over."

Swigert: "Okay, Joe."

CapCom: "Okay. We read you, Jack."

JSC PAO: "That was Jim Lovell responding with the 'Okay, Joe.' (pause) Correction there, that was command module pilot Jack Swigert."

CapCom: "We're looking at the weather on TV, it looks just as advertised. Real good.""


myweb.accessus.net/~090/as13.html#splash no longer exists
link http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/mission_trans/AS13_TEC.PDF


Response last updated by gtho4 on Feb 14 2017.
Nov 24 2009, 4:42 PM
avatar
star_gazer star
Answer has 3 votes
star_gazer star
22 year member
5236 replies avatar

Answer has 3 votes.
Okay, Gonzo!

Reentry began at 11:53 AM. Communications went out as they always did during a reentry. Four minutes later, CAPCOM Joe Kerwin began to hail the spacecraft, continuing to do so for over another minute while tensions in Mission Control mounted. Finally they heard Swigert: "OK Joe!" Kranz pumped his fist in the air there were cheers in the room, something that almost never happened. Kerwin replied: "OK, we read you Jack."

Odyssey continued its fall, and then Swigert announced: "We got two good drogues!" The parachutes were deploying correctly. The recovery vessel, the assault carrier IWO JIMA, was standing by in the recovery zone; the crew of the vessel saw the capsule coming down, only a few hundred meters away.

link http://www.vectorsite.net/tamrc_22.html

Nov 24 2009, 5:45 PM
free email trivia FREE! Get a new mixed Fun Trivia quiz each day in your email. It's a fun way to start your day!


arrow Your Email Address:

Sign in or Create Free User ID to participate in the discussion