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98 – Apollo 13
42 Plays6 days ago
Jeff tells the incredible true story of Apollo 13, the near-disastrous NASA mission that became one of the greatest survival stories in space exploration history.
What was meant to be a routine lunar mission quickly turned into a life-or-death crisis when an onboard explosion crippled the spacecraft. Astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert were left stranded in space, relying on ingenuity, teamwork, and ground support to make it home alive. Jeff also connects the lessons learned from Apollo 13 to the future of space exploration, including Artemis II, NASA’s upcoming mission aimed at returning humans to the Moon.
Visit us on Linktree for the collection of links, Instagram, or email us at jeffandsamshow@gmail.com.
Sources
- NASA – Apollo 13 Review Board Report (50 Years Later)
https://www.nasa.gov/history/50-years-ago-apollo-13-review-board-report/ - Wikipedia – Apollo 13
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_13 - YouTube – Apollo 13 overview
https://youtu.be/69LDSL-9--g?si=-6O0okO2ecYx9uXp - Wikipedia – Katherine Johnson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Johnson - Wikipedia – Fred Haise
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Haise - Wikipedia – Jim Lovell
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Lovell - Wikipedia – Jack Swigert
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Swigert - Wikipedia – Ken Mattingly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Mattingly - NASA – Apollo 13 Mission Overview
https://www.nasa.gov/mission/apollo-13/ - Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – Apollo 13 Story
https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/apollo-missions/apollo-13 - NASA – Katherine Johnson
https://www.nasa.gov/katherine-johnson/
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Transcript
Introduction and Catching Up
00:00:00
Speaker
Hi Sam. Hi Jeffrey. And welcome to the Jeff and Sam show. I'm Jeff. And I'm Sam.
00:00:24
Speaker
welcome to the jeff and sam show i'm jeff and i'm sam How are you, Sam? I'm great. How are you? could not be better. Yeah? Yeah. like Really?
00:00:36
Speaker
Really, I couldn't. Day off yesterday, day off today. it's like, it's it's good's good. It's good. Yeah. I love that for you. How are you? What's up?
Annapolis Adventures
00:00:45
Speaker
Oh, well, I was just, oh, so terribly ill yesterday. Um, so I'm recovered. Oh, good. doing much better. Um, did you do anything after you felt better yesterday? with Any? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, i went out to, ah Annapolis, which was fantastic. And I don't know if it was the Naval Academy's prom or if it was something graduation or if it was some other ceremony, but you know,
00:01:12
Speaker
I'm getting on in my years now. So going out late is not really my style. but Whatever. So we went out probably seven-ish, I think, is like a good time. right um And you could just see as the night progressed, like the whole scene was shifting.
00:01:31
Speaker
And it was at one point we turned around. We were like, whoa, whoa, this is this is changed. The lights. turned down there's strobe lights and a dj and all those young people from the naval academy okay they need to have a dj they need to have strobe lights but you know what's funny is where we were it wasn't the you would see the sailors come walking in and then they would look at who was on the dance floor and then they'd be like nah and they'd turn because the people on the dance floor were like
Drinks and Fun Stories
00:02:04
Speaker
Slightly older. I would say they were probably around my age and there were definitely some that were significantly older. I love it. I love Annapolis.
00:02:15
Speaker
Coincidentally, Annapolis is in my story. Oh, nice. Poppy, cream soda. Oh, is it lovely? It is. I love cream soda. I do too. Yeah.
00:02:27
Speaker
Cheers, Claire. Yeah. ah Yeah. So that was good. That was lovely. And it was just such a wonderful night. And the rain like that blew through a couple of times.
00:02:39
Speaker
um Can you open this? Oh, because your pretty fingernails? Your pretty fingernails. I'll open it for you. What are you drinking? I'm drinking a high noon tall boy I thought my girl needed a high noon this week, so there you go. That's a tall one, too. That's a lot of high noon in that can. It is indeed. That's like that's like a morning, noon, and night.
00:03:06
Speaker
So did i ever tell you about the time that I went to Annapolis with Jess and Josh? No. Two of my friends. Maybe. and we were in Annapolis. We walked around the governor's mansion in that little square. and then we were looking at the Thurmond Marshall. Mm-hmm.
00:03:28
Speaker
Like statue and I'm saying that wrong. mar Marshall Thurmond. Something. Board of Education. yeah Yes. God, doing this off the cuff. I can't remember names. We're really good at this. They're a good Marshall. Yes. Boom. Did I say that?
00:03:44
Speaker
I don't know. Because I said it in my brain. Yeah, we were stuck on Thurmond out loud. Well, and then I just kept going to Thermos and then I went to this whole Never mind. going. Yeah. So we were at the Thurgood Marshall statue, and there was a tornado in the distance. Okay? Now, I am from a place in this country, Alabama, that has a a lot of tornadoes. And so I'm like, that thing is way over there.
00:04:14
Speaker
But the other people in the group were like, oh, my God, we should, like, take cover. The only reason I wanted to take cover was because maybe it was going to hail, you know? Those do tend to hurt. So we went to the top of the Capitol building steps.
00:04:30
Speaker
And we're standing there. And security, the Capitol police people, they came. And I thought they were going to ask us to go away. And there was only like six of us on the stairs.
00:04:41
Speaker
But no, they were like, you guys should come in. Because there's a tornado. and We were like, ah okay, say less. We'll be happy to. we went in the Capitol. They closed these big metal doors behind us, and they basically ignored us while we were in there.
00:05:00
Speaker
So we got like a little tour of the Capitol building on our own. In the midst of an a tornado. It was tiny. That's where I saw my first tornado too. Really? Well, so then... um We were like sneaking around a little bit in there. Don't this. We went up some... Don't say this. Yeah. Anyway, so eventually... were heavily watched. Security came and
TV Shows and Trivia
00:05:27
Speaker
they were like, you need to get down to the basement now. Oh, no. So we were down in the basement standing by this
00:05:35
Speaker
um speaker of the house by their office, whoever that was. And then we left. Then we went to the Naval Academy where i parked. And... um There were tree branches down, and so did a little damage, but that was my... A wee bit. That was kind of a fun experience that we had. That's awesome. Yeah.
00:05:56
Speaker
Annapolis is just the best. I was looking at buying out Annapolis. Mm-hmm. well However, maybe last year, I don't know. And I love it out there. I do indeed. do, too.
00:06:07
Speaker
i do, too. Beautiful, beautiful. And Dockside, there's a little restaurant called Dockside that I love to go to. see Old, old little restaurant. They have quite a few of those old little places in Annapolis. Yeah. Do you know that I heard someone one time call it Annapolis? You probably need to come a little closer to that microphone.
00:06:26
Speaker
Maybe the microphone. Because I thought I heard you say Annapolis, but. Well, I mean, let me tell you. Somebody did say Annapolis, and it like stopped me in my tracks. Who said Annapolis? don't want to tell you.
00:06:36
Speaker
Actually, you don't know them, but I'm not going to say it on the in the microphone. But. Were they kidding? No, no. Oh. I love it. No, no. It was not. I was like, ah oh, you're dumb.
00:06:52
Speaker
It's a beautiful city. Yeah. so yesterday off, today off, last night I was watching TV. What were you watching? Oh, my God.
00:07:03
Speaker
This show called All of Us Are Dead or All of Us Are Gonna Die. What does that sound familiar? Let me tell you what. You know I'm into horror. of Gonna Die. Wait, is that the one that you were watching at work?
00:07:15
Speaker
No. Oh. Dear God, You said no. Your whole body just reacted. Oh, my God. the show All of Us Are Dead, that's the name of the show. All of Us Are Dead. South Korean zombie apocalypse show on Netflix. What?
00:07:29
Speaker
Yeah. it's Well, I watched it because it was horror, you know? ok ah How does it compare to like... World War Z or any of the 28 days, 28 years, very,
00:07:45
Speaker
korean um I don't know. i think the South Korean people, they do horror in a way that like, it's just off the chart. It like plants itself in your brain. And this is a Netflix show. And so, um it's like a, it starts out, i don't know, it kind of seems corny. It takes place in a high school.
00:08:08
Speaker
oh no. Yo. And then suddenly, it is so good. The acting is amazing. And the, Zombies are fast.
00:08:19
Speaker
Not the zombies that are fast. I hate those ones. Give me give me the crawlers all day, every day. So I'm watching that. And then Kim calls my sister. and Back tap.
00:08:30
Speaker
Yeah, back tap. And then we started talking and it was like the best ADHD conversation ever because we hopped from one subject to another subject to another subject. And one of the subjects was friends, the show.
00:08:46
Speaker
And if you know Kim, what you do, you know she is like your sister, like you, about she's my be friends. And so I was asking her, i don't know, were playing trivia over the phone.
00:09:02
Speaker
Friends trivia. Friends trivia over the phone. And I can't find the question that I asked her because I asked five questions and she missed one. What? It was a very hard, very like um obscure kind of thing. And so you can't. Maybe because she's seen it so many times, it's just like a factoid that has fallen out of her brain holes. That's exactly it.
00:09:28
Speaker
But some of the questions. Now, you me to ask you one? Sure. Okay. Let's see. But also, I want to pause you for a second because I want you to know that I have a PodTalk sticky note in my phone and there's stuff on it.
00:09:45
Speaker
What? I fucking remembered to put PodTalk stuff on it. You remembered to add stuff? Yeah. Okay. I'm gonna ask you easy ones. Just, I'm gonna do three. ok I'm gonna do two easy ones, okay? Okay, well you see, now I'm like hyping myself up and getting nervous and I feel like sweating. No, the easy ones are meant to build your confidence up, okay?
00:10:09
Speaker
Who said, o my god. Janice? Right, okay, perfect.
00:10:20
Speaker
The second one, who says, I know.
00:10:26
Speaker
I
00:10:31
Speaker
You're there. I mean, all of them say it at one point. No, there's one character that says it because she is so like... Monica. Yeah, Monica. And then who said this?
00:10:45
Speaker
I'm not great at advice. Can I interest you in a sarcastic comment? Or could I be wearing any more clothes? Could I be wearing any more clothes? Could I be wearing any more clothes? Joey.
00:10:58
Speaker
Chandler. Well, no, Joey says, could I be wearing any more clothes? well joe Chandler says, these I'm not great at advice. Yeah, but Joey says, could I be wearing any more clothes? This is my favorite quote from Friends. That's a bold statement. I don't really watch. i'm not a Yeah, Friends was my sister. That was my sister. I was a Will and Grace person.
00:11:17
Speaker
Really? But my favorite one that Phoebe Buffay said, I wish I could, but I don't want to. You do say that frequently. I fucking love it. Anytime I invite you to something. i wish I could, but i I don't want to. I'm good. I don't do stuff. Yeah. Yeah. So that was basically our 45 minute conversation last night. love that. Dancing from one thing to another.
00:11:39
Speaker
um Here's one for you. And this is the game winner. What is the TV guide addressed to Joey and Chandler's house? have no clue.
00:11:52
Speaker
I didn't really watch it that much. I mean, I watched it, but like I don't know trivia for it. Text came and asked her. And then we can just, when she responds.
00:12:04
Speaker
So yeah, we did that. We did the Will and Grace. um What is the TV guide? Who is it addressed to? To Joey and Chandler's house or apartment? Somebody is listening to this and they're screaming the answer. They really are. And I'm telling you, they are screaming it because of how the question is asked in the show.
00:12:25
Speaker
But also, um a friend of mine, I'm coming to realize, is kind of just our kind of people and is a big Friends fan. And...
00:12:36
Speaker
It came out last night that she has a cat named Rachel after Rachel. Oh, shut up. Luckily, it is not a hairless sphinx. Thank But i just I thought that was awesome.
00:12:50
Speaker
And this is where I like know my shit is. OK, if you ever need somebody to drink with, I'll drink with you.
00:13:01
Speaker
If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I'll drink with you. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I love to drink. That's great. ah Karen from Will and Grace. My favorite. she is She's ah quite the lady.
00:13:13
Speaker
So that is all I got. What you got? I got um i got a few things. think Oh, my God. I'm so blown away. I mean, first things first. Yeah.
00:13:28
Speaker
There
Sports and TV Show Exploration
00:13:29
Speaker
are rumors, bopping around out there in the world, that Aleksandr Ovechkin might be done playing. What sport does he play?
00:13:41
Speaker
Tennis?
00:13:44
Speaker
Hockey, obviously I know that one. So if he is really done, then like that's it. Kim said, see that far away Kim said, Miss Chanandler Bong.
00:13:55
Speaker
Mrs. Chanandler Bong! Mrs. Chanandler Bong! um That's so funny. I adore her. um Yeah, so I mean, that's kind of really depressing, you know? he's He's broken so many records, and he's so close to breaking a couple more.
00:14:14
Speaker
Did he break the big one? The big one? The all-time goal scored? ah Yes, and he 11 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky's other record for goals scored, and that's the combined regular and postseason goals, which is 1,016, I believe. is he going to break it?
00:14:35
Speaker
Well, not if he doesn't come back. oh
00:14:40
Speaker
How does that make you feel? don't want talk about it anymore. It was in your notes. I know, but I don't want to talk about anymore. um However, comma. ah The new guys on the team. There's a bunch of rookies, and they're pretty much all-stars, and I kind of fucking love it because watching them in the past 10 games that they played, obviously we didn't make playoffs.
00:15:02
Speaker
Fuck the Flyers. But... but they were really good. We looked like a really good team. So, you know, like, you know, it's a new era, so that's fine.
00:15:13
Speaker
Um, and then I got a few shows that I'm watching because I don't know if you know this, but I'm a wee bit ADHD. So I'm currently bouncing between you starting to watch Narcos made me realize that this is kind of on the same track. Um,
00:15:31
Speaker
I was told to watch The Wire, which is another older one. Oh, yeah, I've heard of that. It's based out of Baltimore. How old is that show? Like it's early 2000s? 20-something. Yeah. 2002. That is the one that when I go on Reddit to look for certain shows to watch, The Wire always comes highly suggest I mean, it's a good show. I have been very pleased with the suggestion.
00:15:57
Speaker
um Another one that I stumbled upon, ah Long Bright River. Have you seen that one? So that one's got Amanda Seyfried in it. Oh, I love her. it's Right? Yeah. Yes. And then i can't, I don't know the name of the guy that's in it, but he's, you'll recognize him. um But it's like eerie, chilling, kind of dark, mysterious.
00:16:20
Speaker
Like there's like secrets in the past. but like Is it a limited series? I believe so. There's only, i think, three seasons. The best. And then The Hunting Party on Netflix. Have you seen that one?
00:16:33
Speaker
I don't know. it sounds familiar. Well, I'm kind of obsessed with the main character. The female, whew, love it. The Hunting Party. Yeah, so it's about this...
00:16:45
Speaker
ah This like prison that was housing like the world's most dangerous serial killers. Yes. They somehow escape. And so this group of individuals from like all different things come together to hunt those killers. And it's good. It's good. I mean, it's not the best, but it's good. But also, it's really nice to watch. And I think you'll like the guy, the main lead.
00:17:05
Speaker
He's nice to look at, I think, okay for you. Well, you know my type. Yeah, he's not entirely along that line, but he's i think he's got a thing that you would like. Okay. um And then also just started watching today while I was packing a show called Imperfect Woman. Have you heard of it? Uh-uh.
00:17:27
Speaker
So good. It's on Apple TV. You're watching new stuff. I am. I don't even know how to respond to that. You just head scratched. like like does like It's usually just Sons of Anarchy. Yeah. Sons of Anarchy or Criminal Minds or the same old shit. Different day.
00:17:42
Speaker
My mom used to watch Criminal Minds on repeat. Yeah, what's wrong with that? Nothing, because I do it too. yeah It's like a comfort show to me. Yeah, so there's a whole lot of, like, have you seen those posts that are like, if your comfort show is this or this or this, and she, and she like cycle out like, psychologically analyzes what that says about you, and it's really startling, and I don't know if I should be concerned about it, but when all of the shows that she's reviewing that time are on my, like,
00:18:10
Speaker
Duh. I could quote it. Does it say something bad about you? yeah All the shit I watch is bad. It doesn't say something bad. It just says it says things about you. somebody Somebody suggested to me the other day i like a...
00:18:24
Speaker
A love story? Who? Who? I don't know. I don't remember this, but I was like, um. They were drunk. No. Or high? I don't know. were they in a psychotic break? Or both. I said, I don't do lovey-dovey shit.
00:18:36
Speaker
I need horror. Did you ever watch ah Hard Eyes? That's, it's a love it's a last movie. But it's also horror.
Reality TV and Listener Engagement
00:18:43
Speaker
it's a It's a great slasher. I think it's the new generation. i think that they're going to try and like keep bringing that back. I'm here for it. I will go watch anything horror. I don't care. Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:53
Speaker
Um, yeah. Love story. Please. I'm not watching a love story. Ugh. Right? I need blood and guts and slashers. No, but on a more woohoo note, you know I don't watch reality shows at all. Ever.
00:19:08
Speaker
and Well, you did. So, the one show Not to call you out on your shit. but the one show that I like is called I Kissed a Girl. And it was on Hulu and it was like two, three years ago. First season came out and it's like yeah They throw a bunch of lesbians with like from all over the UK with all sorts of accents into a villa in Italy.
00:19:32
Speaker
And then you're like, of course I'm going to watch this because they've all got accents and they're lesbians. And it's in Italy. um yeah so they might be coming out with a season two.
00:19:47
Speaker
So you think going to watch it? Duh. Duh. Yeah, you will. Listen, never will I ever do that whole Bachelor trend or the Love Island shit. No. Never going to. I don't give a fuck about anyone's life. I don't care. I'm not going to follow anyone.
00:20:01
Speaker
Don't care about who's doing who, who's doing what to who. no i don't want to see. It's always they they will edit it to make it look like the right worst fucking people. And they do. And they bring out the worst in people. Although when I was get paid to do to behave this way. Oh, God. When I was in Hawaii, the very last two weeks I stayed in Hawaii, I stayed with friend of mine.
00:20:20
Speaker
Very educated. Oh, very smart. I think I've told this on here. yeah I don't know if you've told on here, but I know. And she was into 90 Day Fiancé. And the first night I go in, I'm like, and what the hell are you watching?
00:20:33
Speaker
Okay. And then one week later, I'm sitting on the floor with her eating popcorn watching 90 Day Fiancé. Yeah. I have never watched it since. It was a a glitch in the Matrix for me to watch that shit. It was a dark time in my past. Then Chantel had a break-off show or Chantay. I don't know. You're asking me? don't know. not asking. I don't care. Yeah.
00:20:54
Speaker
not mad Not my stuff. Nope. I don't care about i don't care about love for the dead, love for the autistic, love for the Mormons, love for the... I don't care. i think it's trash to like...
00:21:07
Speaker
It's all put those he all fake. It's all fake. And they're edited to look like the worst humans on earth. Or they really genuinely are just shit humans that behave poorly and they're okay with it. So shame. Shame.
00:21:20
Speaker
Shame. Shame. are There's none of that in lesbians. Are we ready? Yeah. I have a story for you. Tell me. I have a story. Tell me a story. We've done the Cheers Queers.
00:21:32
Speaker
Hey, if you're still with us, 20 minutes into this shit, ah rate us and review us Give us five stars. Oh, real quick shout out to ah Mindy, um one of our newer listeners. Okay. Love her. She came up to me the other day. was talking about it. um And I told her, i said, did you review us? And she goes, I haven't yet. And i was like, it Mindy, I will come for you. he will. He's getting violent. Watch out.
00:21:56
Speaker
You know me. So violent. So violent. thanks Okay, I'm excited to tell you this one. Tell me. It's also a big one. And it makes me nervous. Okay? It makes me nervous. Why?
00:22:08
Speaker
You'll see. Okay. Here we go.
Artemis II Mission and Apollo Reflections
00:22:12
Speaker
Do the dramatic throat clear. Stretch the mouth out. oh Okay, on April 1st, 2026, the Artemis II launched. Oh, yes. I was like, wait, that was just recently. What? This marked the first crewed flight to the moon in over 50 years.
00:22:31
Speaker
The mission of the Artemis II was a crew flight test with four astronauts to evaluate the performance of the Space Launch System rocket along with the Orion spacecraft and its European service module in deep space.
00:22:44
Speaker
You see why I'm nervous? I'm basically an astronaut now. Okay. Okay. So i I'm getting to a point. Okay. Okay. This crew was Reed Wiseman, 50 years old, the oldest person to travel around the moon, Victor Glover, 49, the first person of color, Christina Koch, 47, the first woman, and Jeremy Hansen, 50, Canadian, and the first non non-American to travel to the moon.
00:23:15
Speaker
Can I just say Gen X did the most with this? They're all Gen Xers represented. This mission broke a record for the most people in deep space at one time.
00:23:29
Speaker
And coincidentally, the crew on board the Artemis II proposed naming the crater on the moon Carol to honor Reed's wife, who passed away in 2020, as the bright spot on the moon. That's the sweetest thing, because when you first said Carol, I was like, tell me it's not Carol Baskin.
00:23:47
Speaker
Oh, God, no. You went to the, yeah, no. went to the dark side. But Carol sounds like a lovely, lovely And she passed away, so she is now the bright spot on the moon, on the backside of the moon.
00:23:58
Speaker
The crew would receive wake-up calls for mission control every day of the flight. This is a NASA tradition since the Apollo missions. It consisted of music designed to keep the crew on a steady rhythm and boost morale and inspirational speeches recorded to specific specifically the they were recorded for the flight.
00:24:17
Speaker
The crew on the Artemis took several meaningful objects with them. One of the objects they took was a silk Apollo 8 mission patch. ah It's the original patch that traveled to the moon during the historic Apollo 8 mission.
00:24:30
Speaker
For the Apollo 8 mission, Jim Lovell served as the command module pilot. This patch was sent to the Artemis 2 crew from Jim Lovell's son. Now, Kim sent a message the other day that made me start reading about Jim Lovell. Oh,
00:24:46
Speaker
I'm telling you, and if you watch Apollo 13, just know at the very end, Tom Hanks is shaking hands with people, and the man that he shook hands with was Jim Lovell. Oh, yeah, I know.
00:24:58
Speaker
Lovell had more than 715 hours of spaceflight. He was the first astronaut to make four spaceflights. He was one of the astronauts to appear on live television broadcasts from space in Christmas of 1968.
00:25:12
Speaker
and described the moon as a desolate place while highlighting the stunning contrast of Earth rising in the distance. At that time, this was the most watched television program.
00:25:24
Speaker
It's estimated that of the maybe 3.5 billion people on Earth at the time, 1 billion people watched this broadcast. It's written about in my books, my Outlander books. Oh, really? Mm-hmm.
00:25:38
Speaker
Well, Jim Lovell is also known for saying something else, and that is, Houston, we've had a problem. So I'm going to tell you why he said that today, because I'm going to tell you the incredible story of the Apollo 13 mission.
00:25:54
Speaker
Truly, it is a survival story, and I didn't really understand that. I love this. Vince, remember I said then I had a story for Vince because I found out he was a big space nerd? We don't use that term.
00:26:06
Speaker
You're space nerd. Okay, here we go. May 1961. President Kennedy had a challenge to his nation and that was to land an astronaut on the moon by the end of the decade.
00:26:18
Speaker
NASA worked toward this goal incrementally. They sent astronauts into space during Project Mercury, Project Gemini, leading up to the Apollo program. The goal was achieved with Apollo 11 when Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the lunar surface while Michael Collins orbited the moon in the command module Columbia.
00:26:37
Speaker
The mission fulfilled President Kennedy's goal on July 24th, 1969. You are so giddy. i love it. I love everything about it I love space and I love this story. So with Kennedy's goal accomplished by Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 demonstrating that the astronauts would perform a precise landing,
00:26:57
Speaker
Apollo 13 was meant to demonstrate precision lunar landings and explore specific sites on the moon. There was a greater role for science on Apollo 13, especially for geology, something emphasized by the mission motto, which was ex luna scientia, or from the moon knowledge.
00:27:18
Speaker
So they were going to gather rocks and bring them back. You do love geology. Uh-huh, I do. It's April 1970, and America, we're in the throes of the Vietnam War.
00:27:28
Speaker
And on April 10th that year, the Beatles announced that they were breaking up. wow And this all overshadowed april our Apollo 13's launch.
00:27:39
Speaker
America had been to the moon a couple of times, so it was hard for people to be interested in this moonshot. yeah The astronauts were Jim Lovell, the commander, Jack Swigert, command module pilot, Fred Hayes, the lunar module pilot.
00:27:54
Speaker
Jim Lovell replaced Ken Mattingly just three days before the mission because Mattingly was removed because he had been exposed to the measles, which he never contracted. But bet he's okay with that. Apollo 13 was set to depart on on April 11th at 1.13 p.m. or military time, 13.13. It wasn't lost on Lovell's wife, Marilyn, that 13 wasn't the luckiest number. She would have preferred preferred them to skip to the Apollo 14.
00:28:22
Speaker
And that is in hospitals. I have worked. This is actually the first. This hospital where worked is the first hospital I've ever worked in that has a room 13. Yeah. I have never in the emergency department had a room 13.
00:28:33
Speaker
That's a, yeah. I agree with Marilyn. Maybe it should have just been called the 14th or Apollo 14. Or just Apollo again. The Mission Control in Houston, Texas, there was zero room for superstition.
00:28:47
Speaker
They're all knowledge, technology, and experience. Superstition, not a thing. Science. And to paint the picture of Mission Control, or the room where it was happening, the room was all computers, smelled like cigarettes, smoke filled the air, and the smell of coffee and even the smell of burnt coffee was in the air.
00:29:07
Speaker
there were two I love everything about it. Yes. There were 247 people working on the Apollo 13 mission. The vibe was we are better as a team than the sum of our parts.
00:29:20
Speaker
Meanwhile, it's the day before the launch, and Marilyn Lovell was at the beach house getting ready to send her husband off to space. She was taking a shower when her wedding ring slipped off of her finger and went down the drain.
00:29:34
Speaker
Literally, Marilyn, that was the universe screaming at you. And I will tell you this, i've never I didn't watch Apollo 13, never have seen it, until after I finished this story. Really? Really?
00:29:45
Speaker
It is so accurate. They even had Marilyn dropping her ring in the drain. Any any movie Tom Hanks does is going to be incredibly accurate. That man does not cut corners, and that man does not make shit up.
00:29:58
Speaker
Except for maybe Castaway. Never watched it, and it came out in 1995. just... that I grew up on that. So another cool fact was that for me, i went with Dead in February of 2010 to the...
00:30:13
Speaker
Kennedy Space Center to watch the launch of the STS-130. And so we're standing like five miles away from the launch of the shuttle. It was incredible. I mean, we're standing across a lake or a bottle lagoon or body of water. I don't know. think it's man-made, but it's, yeah, they... You could see, you could feel the blast coming at you across the water. It was incredible. It's such an extraordinary experience. It was very unbelievable. did you Have you seen one? Yeah. I have to ask my parents, but I can't remember.
00:30:53
Speaker
So the day of the launch, the crew, Lovell, Swigert, and Hayes, they're ready. They get in the elevator, and they take the 337-foot ride to the top of the Saturn rocket. And basically, that's a large bomb that they're now riding beside made out of oxygen and hydrogen. ah would die.
00:31:12
Speaker
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, liftoff. They're on their way. Immediately, something went wrong. One of the engines on the second stage of the rocket shut down. This forced Mission Control to make some really quick adjustments or calculations for the remaining engines.
00:31:27
Speaker
And within seconds, Mission Control said that Apollo 13 was good to go. Now, the astronauts, they had their finger on the abort button. Yeah. They thought every flight has something to go wrong, usually at the very beginning. Maybe this was that one thing to go wrong.
00:31:43
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. so on And on April 11, 1970, two hours, 35 minutes after liftoff, Apollo 13 fired its rockets and accelerated to 24,000 miles per hour and left the Earth's orbit headed for the moon.
00:31:59
Speaker
And space is no joke. There's something about it that, like, The emptiness. It's existential. ah gee It just makes me anxious. Oh, see, it makes me so calm.
00:32:12
Speaker
ah ah The space makes me calm. The ocean.
00:32:17
Speaker
I love the ocean. You know I love the ocean. But the idea of those people that deep dive, out here. Oh, yeah. The fuck? And you know NASA was created a deep space dive, and then they were like, this is too scary. go to space. Let's go to space. For me, it's the emptiness and the vacuum of it all.
00:32:34
Speaker
So if the ship's hull fell, the crew would die immediately. If the power fell, they could freeze to death. The oxygen, food, water all had to be managed properly. It was only three years before this that Apollo 1...
00:32:48
Speaker
um caught fire on the launch pad killing three astronauts. This is a high-stakes situation, which means that mission control is essentially a pressure cooker. So far, so good, though. With all those smells.
00:33:00
Speaker
I love it. Pressure cooker with all those smells. Cigarettes, burnt coffee. Sweating. You can see the sweat stains forming. Yes. The spacecraft had three parts. There was the cone-shaped command module where the men would ride, for the most part, to the trip to the moon, and then back to the Earth.
00:33:18
Speaker
The spidery lunar module was built to carry two astronauts to the lunar surface. And the critical piece was the service module, which contained the main engine and oxygen tanks.
00:33:29
Speaker
Seems important. a little bit. 55 hours and 11 minutes into the flight, the Apollo 13 crew beamed an image of the Earth back to the live TV to show America what it was spending its tax money on. It was sort of like a ah PR move. Hayes showed people what he would be sleeping on, sort of like a hammock.
00:33:47
Speaker
And with zero gravity, he kept bouncing up and down. it was very lighthearted. But back on Earth in America, nobody was really watching. One network had the Dick Cavett show on. Another network was showing some kind of ball game.
00:34:00
Speaker
People in the control center weren't even, they were even watching the game, the people in the control center, because everything was going good, right? Mm-hmm.
00:34:10
Speaker
Fred Hayes had a funny sense of humor. And on live tvs TV, Hayes turned a valve. And he knew that when he turned that valve, there would be a loud bang. And there was. And it scared Lovell.
00:34:23
Speaker
This is so something I would do. Side note. Let's fuck with people. anyone who thinks that he's kidding... No, it's totally something jeff and i would be in a space shuttle going to space, and he would be like, this seems like a good time to scare the shit out of my coworkers. So they all got a chuckle out of it, and after this, the crew signed out wishing everyone a nice evening.
00:34:43
Speaker
After that, Mission Control radioed up and asked the crew to do a routine check involving one of the liquid oxygen tanks. The Apollo had two of these tanks. It's literally the most precious resource on the shuttle. The two tanks provide oxygen and gas, and occasionally Mission Control had to make sure that the liquid didn't settle at the bottom.
00:35:02
Speaker
There were these fans and heaters at the bottom of the tank, so Mission Control asked the crew to turn on the fan... to make sure it we was circulating?...and the heat system to stir the oxygen up. All the crew had to do was just flip a switch.
00:35:15
Speaker
April 13th, and 200,000 miles from Earth, 55 hours, 53 minutes, and 18 seconds into the flight, Jack Swigert flipped the switch.
00:35:28
Speaker
Suddenly, there was a huge bang. They both looked at Hayes because of the prank that he had played, but they could tell that this was not Hayes because of the serious face that he was making. That bang was followed by...
00:35:40
Speaker
a loud metallic sound, sort of like metal twisting. Swigert radioed Mission Control, saying one of the most famous lines, Houston, we have a problem. Seconds later, Lovell repeated that message, saying, Houston, we've had a problem.
00:35:56
Speaker
Both of them sounded so calm. At Mission Control, every controller at every computer was seeing a problem with Apollo 13 for about the next 60 seconds. Mission Control was thinking it was something there was something wrong with the monitoring system and not the spacecraft.
00:36:13
Speaker
Yeah, because it was so going so haywire, right, that they were like, this can't be real. But the astronauts knew that it was a lot worse. And they even thought that maybe they were hit by an asteroid. Right. Minutes go by and Lovell stared at his panel. One of the oxygen gauges was emptying as he watched the second oxygen gaze gauge tickle down. or tick down lovell then looked took a look Lovell then looked out the window to see that the gaseous substance was leaking out of the rear of the spacecraft.
00:36:43
Speaker
The astronauts told Mission Control that the leak was coming out of window number one.
Apollo 13 Crisis and Resolution
00:36:49
Speaker
What had happened when Swigert flipped the switch to stir the liquid oxygen, there was some sort of faulty wiring inside of tank two, so that meant there was a spark, and the spark caused the tank of pure oxygen to blow up.
00:37:04
Speaker
I would die right then and there. This was one of the shuttle's main supplies of air and power. power Lovell realized that the gas escaping from the gauge in front of him and the needle going down was all in they were the same thing. And as soon as they would be oxygen exactly as soon they would be out of oxygen and power, all the while traveling 2,000 miles per hour into the great nothing of space.
00:37:31
Speaker
The odds that the astronauts getting home were very slim. Meanwhile, Marilyn Lovell arrived home after seeing the live broadcast at Mission Control. She was not aware of the problem yet.
00:37:42
Speaker
Suddenly people start coming over, her phone started ringing, astronaut Pete Conrad said that all these kind of countries were offering to help with the rescue. ah She had no idea what they were really talking about, but pretty soon like NASA called her and told her what was happening.
00:38:00
Speaker
And now, like suddenly, this is the biggest story on Earth. It went from like zero interest Just another launch. takes Captivating the globe's attention.
00:38:11
Speaker
This was no longer a mission to the moon for Apollo 13. It was a mission to get the men home safely. Between mission control and the astronauts, at first nobody wanted to tell each other that there was a very serious problem. They got over that. They were all immediately on the same page. Okay, we have a problem.
00:38:29
Speaker
What is the problem? How can we solve the problem? Lovell basically said, I'm kind of paraphrasing this, but we could freak out for 10 minutes, but then at the end of that 10 minutes, we would still have the same problem, right?
00:38:42
Speaker
So no freaking out. So now it's survivor mode. The first problem was the oxygen. The command module had made maybe minutes before it ran out of oxygen. So mission control started looking at the lunar module. That's the part of the spacecraft that looks like the spider.
00:38:59
Speaker
The legs of the spider, or the lunar module, were supposed to land on the moon. They would have to use the lunar module as the lifeboat. It had its own supply of air, water, and battery.
00:39:11
Speaker
But the side of the module was so thin. Essentially, yeah it was three sheets of aluminum. like aluminum paper, foil, three sheets, that's how thin it was. So if one of the astronauts accidentally kicked it with their foot, their foot would go through the damn thing. That would be you. I would accidentally do that. I'm so sorry.
00:39:30
Speaker
I just...
00:39:33
Speaker
They would have to live off the supplies in the lunar module, but the lunar module couldn't reenter reenter the Earth's atmosphere, and the command module was crippled. So essentially the astronauts would have to save whatever resources like air and power power on the command module for the final push through Earth's atmosphere.
00:39:52
Speaker
They decided to power down the command module and go into the lunar module and power it up. The lunar module that fits that's made for two. They're buying time until that exact moment that they need to get back into the command module and go back into the Earth's atmosphere.
00:40:09
Speaker
The command module was the only thing that had a heat shield. Without a heat shield, you'd burn trying to get back into the Earth's atmosphere. So they powered down the command module and they powered the lunar module up. But they were careful not to let the command module completely die. The command module's computers computers had critical data.
00:40:30
Speaker
The crew had to transfer it over to the lunar module and fast. And they were doing this by hand. Swigert was calling out numbers and Lovell was writing the numbers down. They had a conversion table. Lovell would call mission control and have them check his math.
00:40:45
Speaker
The crew got into the lunar module with just minutes to spare. Great. But there's another problem. How do they get back to Earth? They had two options.
00:40:56
Speaker
The first was to do something called a direct abort and go around the front side of the moon and be home in maybe two days. That was the quickest. But if it's not executed perfectly, they would crash into the fucking moon.
00:41:09
Speaker
The second option was to go completely around the moon and take between four to five days to get home. The problem with that one was that the lunar module was built for two people for two days, meaning that two people would have oxygen for two days. If they chose this option, it would mean that three men would be in there for four days.
00:41:32
Speaker
The math ain't mathin'. that They might run out of power, air, water. life In the end, it was the flight director at Mission Control who decided, go around the moon, take your chances, trust your crew.
00:41:45
Speaker
Crazy fact is, the lunar module was built to travel about 60 miles and to land on the surface of the moon. It was not built for this. But now they're using the Lunar Modules rocket in a way it's never intended to be used, and that is to send them around the moon and set the course for Earth, a quarter million miles away.
00:42:06
Speaker
i don't even understand that. Do you know what I mean? Yes. I don't even... a quarter million miles away. They're going to slingshot around the moon.
00:42:17
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's like... This is like, and I got this, my source for this story, my primary source was a Today Show interview with the astronauts, the two remaining astronauts and the mission control guy.
00:42:34
Speaker
And so this is basically all from Jim Lovell's mouth, right? April 14th, 21 hours after the explosion that crippled the shuttle, rounded they rounded the moon. At the same time this crew was fighting to get back to Earth, they had this opportunity see something. freaking out, man. They had this opportunity to see something incredible. They were sightseeing, Swigert said. Lovell became impatient.
00:42:58
Speaker
I mean, I'd have to sightsee too. You're going to live or you're going to die, but you are seeing the other side of the moon. You know what i mean? Listen, why do you think I travel as much as I do? God. Gonna live or die. Lovell became very impatient with the all the picks the pictures that they were taking.
00:43:14
Speaker
He said, quote, if we don't get back, you're not going to be able to get those developed. Fair point. Valid. Now, because they had turned off all the electricity, the temp on the inside of the lunar module started dropping. It would soon be the temp of a meat locker.
00:43:28
Speaker
They would be cold, thirsty, and hungry for four days. i do love a good meat locker. Mission Control was saying, yeah, you're going to be cold. You're going to be thirsty. You're going to be hungry. And it will be for four days. Because if you do anything differently, you're not getting home. if You're not feeling any of those things because you're dead. Exactly. So they decided, OK, we're doing it.
00:43:49
Speaker
They got out all the clothes they had. They each put three pair of underwear on. They ended up um rationing the food and the water. They would take three-minute naps and wake up feeling refreshed, as you do.
00:44:02
Speaker
love that. You're three-minute nap girl. That was the only sleep that they got. On April 15th, 30 hours after the explosion, something else threatens to kill them. This is like the ultimate survival. When I looked at it as a survivor story, i was like, oh my God, I'm obsessed. I mean, it is it really It's because it's against every odd. Unbelievable. Yeah. So 30 hours after the explosion, something else threatens to kill them.
00:44:29
Speaker
Their breath. Remember that the lunar module, again, we say it was built for two people with enough oxygen for ah two people. Its air purifiers were maxed out. The three of them were breathing out and they were creating so much carbon dioxide that it could eventually kill them.
00:44:46
Speaker
Now they would get more they could get more filters from the command modules, but those filters were square and it wouldn't fit into the round openings in the lunar module. So the engineers had to create an adapter that made a square pig square peg fit into a round hole only using what was on the spacecraft. This is like a horrible, horrible game. This is where, and I'll show you a picture of the contraption. i say Lawn Chair Larry comes to mind. Because they used three feet of duct tape to create this strange looking redneck contraption, which ended up working for the next two days and saving their lives. I mean, I've seen it, but like now the launch air air air thing makes sense. Yes. So Mission Control calls them and told them, stop throwing the urine out of the spacecraft.
00:45:32
Speaker
Mission Control didn't want any unbalanced force on the shuttle because they wanted the shuttle on the free return course through the atmosphere. Apparently, when you get rid of urine, it can change the course a little bit.
00:45:44
Speaker
All their math is saying, this is your weight, this is your course. Any deviation from that... Math, it's so specific. There's bags of urine floating around in space somewhere, maybe? I don't know.
00:46:00
Speaker
Now they basically all stopped drinking water. And once Fred Hayes was good and dehydrated, he got a little urinary tract infection with a fever. He had the chills. So the other two guys sort of hunkered around him to help him feel warm.
00:46:14
Speaker
And now Earth is in the window. Mission Control calls them to tell them that they are drifting and that they could miss the atmosphere by 60 to 8 nautical miles off of the trajectory.
00:46:26
Speaker
This meant they might come in toward the Earth too shallow and bounce off the atmosphere of the Earth. on the earth And this meant game over. They would be lost in space forever. Okay.
00:46:38
Speaker
So the engineers calculated the precise direction and the amount of rocket thrust needed to correct the course, and the crew had to make it happen by firing all rockets manually. At the exact specific moment. stering the siding Steering by sighting the Earth and the Moon through the windows.
00:46:57
Speaker
Nobody had ever done this before. Lovell was trying to keep the Earth from moving up and down. Hayes was trying to keep it from going sideways with his fever and his chills. He's like, I i don't know if it's me tremoring or the earth moving. Swigert was timing it with his watch because, of course, the shuttle's clock had stopped.
00:47:17
Speaker
Ain't that an insult to injury? like is Time just stood still. it's the I mean, i have a friend, an old man, that used to say, if it ain't one thing, it's two. It's two. Amen.
00:47:30
Speaker
The lack of sleep, the cold, the stress, and still with one mistake, it's over. No pressure. made so far. No pressure. There is a level of trust between the crew and mission control, though.
00:47:43
Speaker
There's an unimaginable level of trust. The crew, they made this tricky maneuver. Yeah. Friday, April 17th, hours from Earth, it is now time for their crew to hop back in the command module.
00:47:58
Speaker
Power that bitch up. The engineers had been working on how to start it back up. Usually a command module will be started with unlimited power. Never had a command module been shut down during a flight and have to be restarted with a battery.
00:48:13
Speaker
They had to get the power from the lunar module. This procedure was about 500 steps long. Mission control would tell them what they had to do, and they the astronauts would write it down on any spare paper that they could find.
00:48:28
Speaker
Somebody's forehead. my God. Back the hand. Some real ER nurse shit right there. the Paper towel. The command module started up fully. Now they're back in the command module.
00:48:40
Speaker
But that module had also been affected by the explosion. They noticed that an entire panel of the command module had been blown off. yeah And it was huge, and it sat beside the heat shield on the command module. Swigert said, you only worry about the things you can do something about.
00:49:00
Speaker
That's the damn truth. That is nothing truer has ever been said. They let go of the lunar module and they bid it farewell. They called it the Aquarius. Now it's Friday, April 17th after six days in space. And now the world is watching Apollo 13 as it plunges into the Earth's atmosphere.
00:49:20
Speaker
During reentry, the 5,000 degree fireball blacked out all radio transmission. And the crew is on their own for what is expected to be about four minutes.
00:49:31
Speaker
Longest four minutes of everybody's life. And it wasn't four minutes. It was longer. Five minutes and 27 seconds into the blackout, mission control gets the word that Apollo 13 is safe and it's in the water. They landed in the South Pacific by Samoa.
00:49:46
Speaker
It was cold in the capsule, and when they popped the hatch, the air was frosty that poured out, like a lot of steam come out. To this day, no astronauts have ever overcame so many obstacles to make it home alive. The Apollo 13 Review Board released a report in 1970 of the group's investigation into the incident that crippled the moon-bound spacecraft.
00:50:09
Speaker
The summary of the report found that, quote, the accident... was not the result of chance malfunction in a statistic statistical sense, but rather it was the result of an unusual combination of mistakes coupled with somewhat deficient and unforgiving design.
00:50:25
Speaker
It took a team of amazing people to get these astronauts back to Earth safely. And I love it when one story leads to another story. There's nothing better to me.
00:50:37
Speaker
Katherine Johnson was one of those people who made their return possible. Ooh, got chills. Johnson was an African-American mathematician, and she was known... as a human calculator.
00:50:48
Speaker
Her calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and subsequent US crewed space flights. The space agency noted her, quote, historical role as one of the first African-American women to work as a NASA scientist.
00:51:06
Speaker
In 1970, Johnson worked on the Apollo 13 mission, and when the mission was aborted, her work on backup procedures and charts helped set a safe path for the crew's return to Earth, creating a one-star observation system to allow astronauts to determine their location accurately.
00:51:24
Speaker
Katherine Johnson passed away in 2020. There's more to come about her. Of the astronauts, Fred Hayes is still alive. He served as a backup commander for Apollo 16, and in 1973, he was piloting BT-13, which had been converted to look like a plane from the movie Toro Toro when he had a crash landing. He suffered third-degree burns on over 50% of his body, but in 2022, Hayes wrote a book called Never Panic Early about his life and experience in Apollo 13.
00:51:56
Speaker
Jack Swigert got into a little trouble after Apollo 13. In 1972, there was something called the Apollo 15 postal covers incident where a number of Apollo astronauts, including Swigert, made agreements with West German stamp dealer Hermann Seeger.
00:52:12
Speaker
Basically, some astronauts had taken 400 items to space. These items were known as the Seeger covers. They were to be sold for a higher price later on. It was like merchandise scandal. Eventually, Swigert ran for Congress, and he would win in Congress, but he would die of cancer.
00:52:28
Speaker
he would pass away from cancer in December before he ever took the office. That was in 1982, I think. Jim Lovell's wife, Marilyn, died of natural causes on August 27, 2023 at the 93. She was phenomenal the strongest woman Lovell, Jim Lovell died August 7th, 2025 at his home in Lake Forest, Illinois at the age of 97. And they are both buried in at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
00:53:02
Speaker
Which brings me back to the Artemis II. On April sixth 2026, on flight day six of the Artemis II mission, NASA played a special recorded audio message for the crew that Lovell recorded before his death.
00:53:21
Speaker
He said in this message, I get so choked up reading this. Hello, Artemis II. This is Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood.
00:53:32
Speaker
When Frank Borman, Bill Anders, and I orbited the moon on Apollo 8, we got humanity's first up-close look at the moon and got a view of the home planet that inspired and united people around the world.
00:53:44
Speaker
I'm proud to pass that torch on to you. As you swing around the moon and lay the groundwork for missions to Mars for the benefit of all, it's a historic day and I know how busy you'll be, but don't forget to enjoy the view.
00:53:58
Speaker
So Reed, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, and all the great team supporting you, good luck and Godspeed from all of us here on Earth.
00:54:09
Speaker
And that is the absolutely incredible story of Apollo 13, who did what they had to do to return to Earth. And did they ever.
00:54:21
Speaker
And did they ever. ah ah i just i can't believe you hadn't seen that movie until just now. like Never wanted to watch it, didn't care that much about space stuff.
00:54:34
Speaker
It holds a very special place in my heart. Well, I watched it, and I i mean, the stuff that Jim Lovell said, the stuff that was in the articles that I read, it was exactly in Apollo 13. Yeah, I'm telling you, that's a Tom Hanks characteristic. Like, his movie is, he's just, I love Tom Hanks.
00:55:01
Speaker
But on another note, after the Artemis, There were a couple of people who asked some questions, right?
00:55:10
Speaker
When these fireballs... dody deep de do do you Anyway, when they crash down to Earth and land in the water, like, is there this massive, like, sizzle? Does the water boil? Do all the fish die? Like, it's a it's a burning ball of metal that's coming down and landing the ocean, right? So, like...
00:55:28
Speaker
That's a valid question. No one answers, right? I would assume so. Yeah, yeah I mean, yeah, you assume yes, because. But then, in case you were wondering, I think I've already told you this, but.
00:55:39
Speaker
There is a team that makes sure that the water in which these astronauts land is free of predators. Because what a kick in the ass it would be if you're like, yay, made it back. Get out of the capsule. a great white jumps up out. Fucking jaws.
00:55:59
Speaker
Yeah, so don't worry. It's predator free. They land in a place that is safe and secure. And the only thing in that water is the capsule and the people. Amazing.
00:56:11
Speaker
i mean, i was so into this story. that And... um Katherine Johnson? Yes. Oh, my God. The movie... um Hidden legends. Hidden figures. Hidden figures. I told you about that weeks ago. Yes, I know. That's why I knew. You're going to do it, right? That's why I knew that you were so would be so happy with me mentioning her. You're going to do her, though. Of course. And I could not mention, like, I was reading through some of the NASA.gov website, and she was listed as one of the people that helped.
00:56:44
Speaker
And I was like, oh, let me throw that gem in there for Sam, because she's going fucking love it. I swear, those ladies are just... oh Oh! I mean, the inspiration doesn't even cover it, right? I mean, astonishing, miraculous, magical, fan-fucking-tastic, and like all of these people.
00:57:05
Speaker
All of them. All of them were. The math that they the, like keep calm in situations, right? That's a thing that the ER does. It's a thing that some yeah ER nurses do.
00:57:19
Speaker
But like this is It's bonkers, and i just it it like gives me chills every time to think about the fact that these people are just, they get to go into the stars. you know Also, um Ken, the guy that was supposed to go up into space, but Jim Lovell, yeah yeah he, I mean, I guess he might have been a little bit hurt at first because he had been exposed to the measles, but he went into Mission Control, and he also played, what's his name?
00:57:49
Speaker
Ken Mattingly. yeah I think he also played a really big role in helping those guys get home too. I mean, and that's the thing though, is like it's a team, right? you there's there's a There's that feeling of betrayal, and but like you also know that, right? And it's happened many a time where astronauts have a heart condition and they have to get sat out or whatever it is. And so it's, I kind of know it's part of the job, right? And so, but, oh.
00:58:20
Speaker
I hope you liked it. I loved I knew you would love that. I knew it. Okay, that's it. That's it. Did we do our damage for the week? I think so.
00:58:32
Speaker
Okay, let's close this bitch out. Let's close it out. Honestly, Jeff, that goes into the Hall of Flames. That is my favorite. Hands down. Absolutely. No questions asked. I'm so glad you told that story. Now, would you say that you are a space nerd?
00:58:47
Speaker
You still would not say that? We're putting that on the record. We're not. I didn't say that. Okay. I like space. I love space. I think there's so many magical in me. you're not a space nerd? Okay. Okay, that's it. That's it for today. um Rate, review us, give us five stars. Mindy.
00:59:02
Speaker
Please. Mindy, what are you even doing? so She doesn't even care about us. What in the world? Doesn't that kind of look like space? It does. Yeah. But not really. But remember, we're here for a good time.
00:59:14
Speaker
Not a long time. Bye.