Why did Apollo 13 take 4 minutes for reentry?

As the Apollo 13

Apollo 13
Apollo 13 is a 1995 American space docudrama film directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris, and Gary Sinise.
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crew re-entered the Earth's atmosphere there was a blackout period where they couldn't communicate with mission control. The blackout period was supposed to last three minutes, but it lasted 90 seconds longer, leaving those at mission control unaware if the crew were going to make it home safely.

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Why did Apollo 13 re entry take so long?

Because they were a little shallow on their re-entry angle, so took a longer flight path into the atmosphere.

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Why did Apollo 13 take so long to come out of radio blackout?

For the Apollo 13 mission, the blackout was much longer than normal because the flight path of the spacecraft was unexpectedly at a much shallower angle than normal.

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How long did it take Apollo 13 to reenter?

Ionization of the air around the command module during reentry would typically cause a four-minute communications blackout. Apollo 13's shallow reentry path lengthened this to six minutes, longer than had been expected; controllers feared that the CM's heat shield had failed.

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How fast was Apollo 13 traveling on reentry?

Apollo 13 presently 4,075 nautical miles out from Earth. Velocity now showing 24,619 feet per second. We're less than 27 minutes now from time of entry into the Earth's atmosphere. With less than half an hour to go, they are now at 7,547 km away and speeding in at 7,504 m/s.

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Apollo 13 | Re-Entry and Splashdown

34 related questions found

Do astronauts pass out during re-entry?

The lack of gravity astronauts encounter during spaceflight makes returning to the force of Earth's gravity a little disorienting. And when they return to Earth, they faint. A new study published Friday in Circulation, the American Heart Association's journal, has identified a way to avoid that.

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How hot did it get inside Apollo 13 during reentry?

With the electrical systems turned off, the temperature approached about 34 degrees Fahrenheit prior to entering the atmosphere.

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Did Apollo 13 returns safely?

With the world anxiously watching, Apollo 13, a U.S. lunar spacecraft that suffered a severe malfunction on its journey to the moon, safely returns to Earth on April 17, 1970.

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How much sleep did the Apollo 13 astronauts get?

From the Apollo 13 Mission Report ( 8 Mb ), "The crew reported sleeping well the first 2 days of the mission. They all slept about 5-1/2 hours during the first sleep period. During the second period, the Commander, Command Module Pilot, and Lunar Module Pilot slept 5, 6, and 9 hours, respectively.

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How did Apollo 13 survive reentry?

The command module was dying, quickly. But the lunar lander, docked to the command module, was intact. Under the direction of Glynn Lunney, the flight director whose shift followed Mr. Kranz's, the Apollo 13 astronauts scrambled into the lunar module, which served as their lifeboat.

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Why do you blackout during reentry?

When a spacecraft travels through the atmosphere at speeds much faster than the speed of sound – say, during reentry – the friction between its surface and the surrounding air forms a plasma sheath, leading to a communication blackout lasting up to 10 minutes.

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Why didn't Apollo 13 reach the moon What was the mishap on their way?

Apollo 13 was NASA's third moon-landing mission, but the astronauts never made it to the lunar surface. During the mission's dramatic series of events, an oxygen tank explosion almost 56 hours into the flight forced the crew to abandon all thoughts of reaching the moon.

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Did the Apollo 13 crew survive the launch?

The command module of Apollo 13 entered Earth's atmosphere and splashed down on target on April 17 at 1:07 PM Eastern Standard Time. The mission has been referred to as a successful failure, in that all the crew members survived a catastrophic accident.

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How did Apollo 13 go to the bathroom?

An curved arrow pointing right. There was no bathroom on the Apollo missions. Instead, NASA astronauts peed into a roll-on cuff, and pooped in bags that they kneaded, rolled up tight, and took back to Earth.

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What did the Apollo 13 crew eat?

Their menu, however, was limited to rather unpalatable gelatin-coated food cubes, freeze-dried items, and paste squeezed from tubes. By Gemini, scientists had improved space food substantially in taste and texture, but it was still freeze-dried or dehydrated, there wasn't great diversity in options.

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How long was black out on Apollo 13?

As the Apollo 13 crew re-entered the Earth's atmosphere there was a blackout period where they couldn't communicate with mission control. The blackout period was supposed to last three minutes, but it lasted 90 seconds longer, leaving those at mission control unaware if the crew were going to make it home safely.

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What would happen if Apollo 13 failed to return home?

"They would have missed the Earth and died a lonely death in space when their oxygen ran out," Chaikin said in the narration, with initial editions including the erroneous information. "Even more chilling," he added, "their bodies would never have returned, because Apollo 13 would have circled in space forever.

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How many of the 12 men who walked on the moon are still alive?

Twelve men walked on the Moon during six Moon landings of the Apollo program between July 1969 and December 1972. All landed on the surface only once, and five missions consisted of two or more surface EVAs. Four of them are alive as of January 2023.

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Who called Apollo 13 a successful failure?

Today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Apollo 13 mission that never made it to the moon, the one where Commander Jim Lovell uttered the phrase “Houston, we've had a problem.” NASA calls the mission a “successful failure,” because even though an explosion crippled the primary spacecraft two days in, Lovell ...

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Do astronauts feel heat on reentry?

You're inside the air that's being ripped apart as you're re-entering the atmosphere. Very little feeling, no shaking, no vibration, but you just see the heat that's being generated by the space shuttle entering the atmosphere.

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Why does reentry have to be so fast?

The reason for the fast speed is to counteract gravity pulling things back to Earth. When the shuttle or any other object is put into space the moment the rocket engines are shut down the shuttle or any object starts falling back to Earth at 33 feet per second per second due to gravity.

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How fast is reentry speed?

It is usually moving parallel to the ground, at a speed of about 7 km/sec or 17,500 miles per hour. The reentry can occur at any time of the day. These reentries can often look like shooting stars (meteors) with a bright central body followed by a long, dazzling tail and often break into numerous fragments.

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Why is reentry so hot?

During re-entry, the shuttle is going so fast, it compresses the air ahead of it. The compression of the air layers near the leading edges of the shuttle is quick, causing the temperature of the air to rise to as high as 3000 degrees Fahrenheit! Being in contact with the shuttle, it heats the shuttle's surface.

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Is it hot inside a space suit?

The suit is equipped to regulate an astronaut's temperature as he or she endures the extreme heat of 250 degrees Fahrenheit in the Sun and -250 degrees Fahrenheit in the shadows. The suit must also be able to regulate the air inside to make sure the astronaut can breathe.

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Do astronauts feel weak when they return to Earth?

It's normal for astronauts to feel dizzy or faint when they come back to Earth. It's similar to what happens to people on Earth when they stand up quickly after sitting or lying down. The blood rushes away from the brain and your blood pressure drops temporarily.

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