A team of engineers from the University of Toronto that helped the Apollo 13 mission return to Earth safely 40 years ago was honoured by the Canadian Air and Space Museum on Tuesday.
The four surviving members of the team were presented with a Pioneer award from the Canadian Air and Space Museum for helping to save the three American astronauts who were aboard the damaged spacecraft.
Apollo 13 was supposed to be the third manned mission to the moon. After an oxygen tank ruptured on the craft high above Earth, however, the goal quickly changed to rescuing the crew.
"We were in the middle of a routine in the running of our department when we got a phone call," said Philip Sullivan, who was a member of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies at the time.
He and four other colleagues in his department were asked by a NASA contractor to make recommendations on how to separate the spacecraft's lunar module from the command module -- which was crucial to bringing the crew home safely.
"They were worried about the shockwaves causing damage," Sullivan said.
The group had four hours to calculate how much pressure would be needed to ditch the lunar module without endangering the astronauts.
At the time, Sullivan said they weren't aware of the crucial role they were playing in the rescue.
"The truth of the matter is we didn't know the eyes of the world were on us. I can remember knowing that I was adapting calculations from my experience, hoping that there were other people checking them because we knew this was a very serious issue," he told CTV News Channel.
"We found out only later that apparently we were the only group outside NASA that was called upon to give opinion on this."
Historic rescue
The Apollo 13 saga, which began 40 years ago on Sunday, remains one of the most compelling of the space age.
On April 13, 1970, the craft shuddered due to an oxygen tank rupture, caused by a fault in the electrical system. The glitch also disabled the service module, which provided life-support and thrust for the entire craft.
Not long after, crew member John Swigert radioed Earth, saying: "Houston, we've had a problem."
With the craft's electricity failing and both oxygen tanks non-operational, the fate of the astronauts was dire.
To save the mission, American officials proposed using the lunar module as a "lifeboat" that would allow the crew to preserve the command section and its small amount of supplies for re-entry.
The lunar module had to stay attached for a time because of its precious power reserves, but would need to be severed from the rest of the craft before the crew re-entered the atmosphere.
Normally, undocking the modules would be completed through rocket blasts. But the rupture had rendered those mechanisms inoperable. Instead, it was decided that pressurized tubes, which held the units together, could also be used.
On April 16, the builder of the lunar capsule contacted the Canadians, asking them to ensure that the risky maneuver was actually possible.
"It was sort of a rock-and-a-hard-place situation," said Barry French, another of the University of Toronto engineers who helped make the pivotal calculations.
"We all worked on different parts of the problem," he said on Canada AM. "We finally gave them an answer about four o'clock. They said that was fine… And then that was it -- we'd done what we could."
"We later learned that they used that calculation," he added. "And we woke up, heard that they were safely down, and felt vastly relieved of course."
With files from The Canadian Press
