InkSlinger - Learning Writing Through Storytelling & Imagination Curriculum Connections
Activity #2
NCTE/IRA English Language Arts standards
• Have students research a catastrophic world event that they are interested in.
Essential Question Think of a time when you were challenged to solve problems quickly and creatively, under stressful circumstances. What did you learn from that experience, about yourself and your resources?
Activity #1 • Discuss the Essential Questions. • As a class, read the story Apollo 13 on page seven of the magazine. • Have students write about a stressful situation in which they had to solve a problem quickly. • Encourage students to reflect on what past experiences prepared them for that moment and speculate on how that stressful time will prepare them for future potential crises.
APOLLO 13
NASA’s most experienced astronaut is James (Jim) Lovell. He commanded the most successful failure of all other NASA programs: Apollo 13. But don’t forget the flight director who worked so hard to bring Jim and the two other astronauts on Apollo 13 home, Gene Kranz. This story begins two days before launching from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On April 9, 1970, the crew of three, Jim Lovell, commander, Ken Mattingly, command module pilot, and Fred Haise, lunar module pilot, were split up because they suspected that Ken Mattingly had measles. Ken’s replacement, Jack Swigert, was the new pilot for the command module, the Odyssey. On April 11, 1970, the Saturn V rocket, which carried the Odyssey, took off from Cape Kennedy, Florida. One booster was lost, but Jim only said, “I think we’ve had our glitch for this mission.” On April 13th, two days into the journey, all was well when, at 10 p.m. EST, the crew finished a broadcast (that wasn’t actually aired). Then, seven minutes later, as Jim, Jack and Fred were about to turn in for the night, a routine call came in for Jack, asking him to stir the oxygen. He flicked the switch and – BOOM – the Odyssey shook along with the Aquarius, the lunar excursion module. “I looked at Fred Haise and he didn’t know what was going on. Then I looked at Jack Swigert, and his eyes were as wide as dinner plates,” Jim said, years later. “Houston, we have a problem!” Jim cried over the radio. The explosion was caused by a wire shorting out and causing one oxygen tank to explode, damaging the other one and leaving only one intact. This was not confirmed by mission control until Jim looked out the window and saw ice floating out the window of the spacecraft. Mission control ruled to close one of the oxygen tanks in order to store oxygen. This didn’t work out, and all the oxygen still leaked out. They only had one tank to get them back home. One option was to abort the mission, turn around, and use all the fuel to get back into Earth’s orbit. This was ruled out because if they fired up the command module engine, it could explode. The other option was to “shoot the moon” using the moon’s gravity to slingshot them back to Earth. This option would primarily use the Aquarius (the lunar excursion module) and its
• Have students write a short story putting themselves or a character they create into that event. • Remind them to consider how they/their character behaves, reacts, solves problems, and what kind of tools or traits they/their characters need to survive. • Be sure to keep in mind a person/character’s need for spontaneity, creative problem-solving and resourcefulness, just like the Apollo astronauts! ★★ Submit reflections and stories to KidzEra for possible publication! Be sure to include the submission form on page three of the magazine with student submissions.
limited oxygen as a lifeboat. The Aquarius was only meant to last two people for two days — they had three people for six days. With only one oxygen tank, it was impossible to do this rescue mission without a carbon dioxide scrubber, which converts carbon dioxide to oxygen. But there was a design flaw: the Aquarius had a square peg filter, but for the Odyssey, it was a round hole. After hours of seemingly impossible work, it seemed that it couldn’t be done. With literally seconds left, in what seemed like their darkest hour, a solution was found: using a plastic bag (for moon rocks), cardboard, suit hoses and duct tape, they got the square peg into the round hole. Next, they had to get home. After a tantalizing pass by the moon and their intended landing spot, the Fra Mauro Highlands, it was time for a 33-second manual steering burn. This meant that two people, Jim and Fred, would have a control stick. Fred had the up and down control, and Jim had the side-to-side control. They each had to keep Earth in their window for 33 seconds. This was easier said than done. The Earth was dancing in their windows and they had no way to be exact, because powering up the computer would take up too much power, which they needed for re-entry into Earth’s orbit. Right before re-entry, they realized they were coming in too shallow, which meant they would bounce off the atmosphere or burn up because they didn’t have the module’s heat resistant tiles headfirst. As they detached from the Aquarius (the lunar excursion module) and the service module, they got a firsthand look at the blown out panel and the many burn marks on the ship. Back in the Odyssey (the command module), Jack and Jim took the handles for manual re-entry. To put this in perspective, if the Earth were a basketball, and the Odyssey were a tennis ball, it would be like hitting a sheet of paper, sideways, from 14 feet away. At the time of re-entry, there was an ionized atmosphere around the ship, meaning it was a ball of fire and had no radio contact for an estimated three minutes. “Houston to Odyssey, do you copy?” After four minutes and no response, everyone thought Jim, Jack and Fred were history. Then came the voice of Jim, “Copy that. It’s good to be back home. This is Apollo 13 signing off.” On April 17, 1970, at 1:07 p.m., the Navy aircraft carrier USS Iwo Jima picked them up. They were safe again, back on Earth. Article submitted by: Ryan W., Age 12, Helen Keller Middle School, Easton, Connecticut