" OKAY,HOUSTON,WE'VE HAD A PROBLEM, HERE. " Astronaut Jim Lovell
Those seven words signaled a singular, terrifying episode in man's quest to explore space.
On April 13, 1970, American astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert sped toward the moon at high velocity in their Apollo 13 spacecraft, when a tank in the service module, which was filled with liquid oxygen, exploded as a switch was flipped to stir it's frigid contents.
The side of the craft was torn to shreds. Only the most basic life support systems in the ship's command module survived the blast.The very lives of three brave voyagers were in the balance, as millions of people on earth watched in helpless horror as the story unfolded.
In the days that followed, the finest and most facile minds at NASA,THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS & SPACE ADMINISTRATION, improvised the technology and tactics that would bring the trio of daring space explorers safely home from their abortive mission to the moon.
It was, in the turbulent 1970's, yet ,another instance in which Americans shared their collective concerns, and satisfied their respective need to know, by turning to network television news. In an odd way, millions of people were brought together by this ordeal in outer space.
Posted below , from the ROBATSEA2009 YOU TUBE SITE,is a clip from NBC-TV's , flagship newscast, THE HUNTLEY-BRINKLEY REPORT, telling the electrifying story of the Apollo 13 nightmare, as it was happening, thousands of miles aloft.
Anchor Chet Hunley solos anchors, with David Brinkley off that night. Two NBC NEWS war horses, John Chancellor and Frank McGee bring calm and clarity to the chilling story of a crisis in space. Enjoy!!!!!:)
It's my understanding that at the time of this newscast, David Brinkley was enroute to Houston to anchor his half of the "Huntley-Brinkley Report" from there for the rest of the flight.
ReplyDeleteNormally, Roy Neal was NBC's "Man in Mission Control" during the Apollo program, but after the explosion that incapacitated the service module, he began doing reports on a "pool" basis for all the networks, so NBC flew in Chancellor from New York to replace Neal as their own reporter at Mission Control.
Chancellor and McGee were co-anchormen for NBC's live coverage of Apollo 13.