Apollo 13 Part 2

Because the Lunar module had a different system to operate on, it had its own set of oxygen and power supply. The problem they were facing was that the lunar module was only designed to carry a maximum of two passengers, with enough oxygen and power to two days. This is NASA was forced to go into an innovative mode of thinking. At this point they knew that landing on the moon was an impossible feat for the mission in its current state, so that was officially canceled. The main focus of the mission now was to return the three astronauts in tow to earth.

NASA needed to devise a plan and quickly. They were the one who instructed the astronauts to temporarily abandon the command module to stay in the cramped quarters of the lunar module. Again this was only designed to accommodate two astronauts with an oxygen and power supply capacity for two days. At this crucial point in time, they were a frightening four days out from earth. After careful calculations, NASA scientist formulated an ingenious strategy for return to the earth. Instead of forcing the module to turn around, using much of the remaining power supply, they came up with the idea to keep heading for the moon and instead orbit the moon and use its gravitational pull to slingshot the module back towards earth. This plan saved crucial time on the return trip to earth.

At this point, the astronauts needed to conserve every bit of power they could. They had as main gauges turned off as the realistically could, they turned all the lights off, and the only time they used a large sum of power was when they powered up the lunar module rockets for a four and a half minute burn-off, cutting 24 critical hours off the return time.

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