“Houston, we have a problem.”
And with that the world braced itself for the absolute inevitability of a very tragic end.
Apollo 13 routinely launched on April 11, 1970. Two days after the launch, the Apollo spacecraft was crippled by an explosion, caused by a fault in the oxygen tank. The explosion damaged the Service Module, resulting in a loss of oxygen and electrical power forcing the crew to use the Lunar Module as a “lifeboat” in space. The command module systems remained functional, but were deactivated to preserve the vehicle’s capability to reenter Earth’s atmosphere.
Back on earth, the world waited with the full expectation that the astronauts aboard Apollo 13 would run out of air; would suffocate and die as heroes lost in space.
But then, hope.
Then hope, wrapped up and presented in the non-negotiable orders of mission project manager, Gene Krantz, insisted it was a force to be reckoned with and it persisted ruthlessly—until.
Imagine.
When failure is a possibility, but definitely not an option then you’ve got no choice but to conjure up real hope. And, it is only under the severe stress of limitation and the unwillingness to abandon hope that the lines that define are redefined, ideas are reshaped, connections rewired, and our relationship to the reality of what is possible, shatters.
“Failure is not an option!” was his battle cry as he dared anybody not to believe that he would get those men back home alive. “Forget the flight plan,” ordered Kranz. “From this moment on we are improvising a new mission. How do we get our men home?”
“Working the problem” and against the most incredible odds, Gene Krantz demanded that the wheel be re-invented. “I don’t want to know what anything is for. The question now is, what can it do?”
Dealing with all of the scientific, tried and truth considerations, when nothing seemed like it could work, he forced the renegotiation of old ideas, conventional wisdom, typical talent and presumptive skill. Under his direction, his crew set out to figure out, transferring systems from one capsule to the other and adapting each operation to match the emerging demands of this mission of precious life and imminent death.
