Entry 1
The crew of Apollo 13 is in grave danger. One of the two oxygen tanks has broken down. The electricity will soon be gone if we don't do something about it. As i looked through the damage reports the situation seemed to darken even more. An explosion had ripped through the most important pieces equipment on board, now the ship and its crew was hurtling away from Earth at 2,000 miles per hour. The only bright side of this situation was that the crew and their protective shell was untouched. Now their lives are in my hands. If I don't figure out a way to fix this, and fast, they may not see their home planet again. The rules and mission procedure are no longer important, only the lives of the crew are now. One bad decision on my part and there goes the entire mission. Already it's spiraling out of control, if I make the wrong move it's gonna crash. Everything is up to me now; what must be done, who to seek help from, and most importantly, what am I going to do to save these peoples lives?
~Flight Director Kranz
Entry 2
This situation only seems to be getting worse. According to the Flight Officials the problems are indeed accurate and not just a glitch in our systems. Our communication officer has confirmed that an on board computer is showing a major glitch, our communications officer has reported that the ship has switched antennas...not quite sure at the moment why, but it has. The crew aboard the ship has confirmed that one oxygen tank was empty, two of the three fuel cells are generating absolutely NO electricity, two panels supplying power to the ship were losing voltage, and on top of that Lovell reported that they were venting something out inside of space... very much suggesting that there was a rupture in the oxygen tanks. Looking around i can see Mission Control is in danger of panicking, just by looking at the fear and hopelessness on the faces around me. I need to stop this growing panic before it spirals out of control. I'll have to figure out something that will calm everyone down and get things moving, something to motivate the team to start working towards saving the crew's lives.... I think i'll call Chris Kraft, need to fill him in on what's happened, get him down here motivating people and giving input on what should be done. The decisions are still completely up to me though...whatever decision I make will affect the lives of the crew aboard the Apollo 13...their lives are in my hands...I cannot fail.
~ Flight Director Kranz
Entry 3
The Odyssey went down, the crew is in the LEM. We've bought time but only a little. Now it's time to get down to business and see about getting our crew home to Earth. Everyone around me is worried and afraid, but they have no idea how i feel. One wrong word from me and the precarious situation we're in will shatter in to a thousand pieces and it will be all my fault. To be in charge of everything, where your word is law, to have peoples lives in danger and their only hope is you....it's nerve wracking. I just need to keep calm, make sure everyone else is calm, only focus on what needs to be done to save the crew. Until the crew is home safely i will not give up on getting them here. I will do everything within my power to get them home safely.
~ Flight Director Kranz
~ Flight Director Kranz
Entry 4
Just had a meeting in room 210 with the Tiger team. Talked to them about keeping the LEM running in full power, the amount of water, battery power, oxygen, sun checks, Earth checks, moon checks, and what ocean this will put us in. So many things to figure out, vital information needed, information i need to keep the crew alive and well now that we've bought some time. I need strategies, solutions, and valid information. I will have NO guesswork on this. Lives are at stake. And those lives are in my hands. Failure...is not an option.
~ Flight Director Kranz
~ Flight Director Kranz
Entry 5
It's time to take unseen measures. I've decided to recruit Bill Peters and John Aaron to assist in this crisis. Both are incredible; Peters has a lot of experience while Aaron is exceptional at his job. Both excel in their area of expertise and I think will greatly benefit our actions in saving the crew of Apollo 13. Sometimes I think i surprise Mission control with my choices, but it needs to be done and i feel these people will help the most. Everyone has a different opinion on what i should have the crew do, Slayton, Faget, and Kraft all have different opinions of what needs to be done. Listening to their opinions i determined what to do, I don't think they agreed with me very much but they trusted my orders. We just might get the crew home in one piece... we have hope, and that's what matters most.
~ Flight Director Kranz
~ Flight Director Kranz
From the perspective of the Astronauts
If "The race to save Apollo 13" was written to show the purpose of how the astronauts felt, then we would have known more about their feelings and how they saw this disaster. We would have heard their personal thoughts on this, how they felt about the situation, if they were afraid, what they thought of the orders they were given, and if they believed in Eugene Kranz to save their lives. Instead of listening to what Mission Control was doing to save the crew, we would have heard what problems they were going through. We would have heard how they performed their duties, and how they felt while performing them. We would have heard about the fear they felt when they realized something was wrong with the ship. We also would have heard about how they found out there was a problem with the ship.
A few others things would have changed as well. The dialogue would have been between the crew of the Apollo 13, we would have heard what they said to each other, if they fought or got short tempered with each other. We also would have heard about how they reacted to having to stay awake for a long time performing tasks where they couldn't afford to make mistakes. We would have heard about the pressure they felt about having to do everything quickly and perfectly. We also would have heard of any hardships the crew had during their time in the Odyssey and the LEM. We also would have heard about the stress they felt when they re-entered Earth's atmosphere for splashdown.
A few others things would have changed as well. The dialogue would have been between the crew of the Apollo 13, we would have heard what they said to each other, if they fought or got short tempered with each other. We also would have heard about how they reacted to having to stay awake for a long time performing tasks where they couldn't afford to make mistakes. We would have heard about the pressure they felt about having to do everything quickly and perfectly. We also would have heard of any hardships the crew had during their time in the Odyssey and the LEM. We also would have heard about the stress they felt when they re-entered Earth's atmosphere for splashdown.