Apollo 13 Post Explosion NASA Press Conference on April 13th, 1970 (50-years ago tonight) at 11:13 p.m. EST, with
Christopher Columbus Craft Jr., Deputy Director
James Alton McDivit7, Apollo Program Office Manager
Sigurd Arnold Sjoberg, MSC Director of Operations
in the small briefing room, MSC Houston News Center.
They answered a question I always had. The LEM had only 45-hours of oxygen for two people, yet they needed 80 hours oxygen for three people.
It turned out that the 45-LEM-hours O2 included three depressurizations to walk on the moon, in which all oxygen in the LEM cabin at each time was lost with each pressurization. The journey home didn't require even one depressurization.
When you listen to the mission control tapes directly after the explosion, the first hour included a bit of chaos of trying to figure out exactly what happened and what was lost, what they still had left. Surprisingly, by this two-hour mark, they not only understand the problem enough to have it contained it but also secured a way home.
Impressive bunch of engineers.
