Page 157 - (DK) I Can’t Believe It! 2

IT CAN’T BE TRUE! 155

Apollo 13’s mission was to orbit the Moon
69 miles (111 km) from its surface, traveling
the same distance as previous Apollo Moon
missions. Some crew members were going to
land on the Moon’s surface. When an explosion
disabled the spacecraft, however, the mission
changed. The spacecraft had to be sent on
a new, longer path around the Moon, just
to get the crew home safely. 2. Apollo 13 flew
164 miles (264 km)
past the Moon before
swinging back on
The distance its return path.
from Earth
reached by
Apollo 13 is
equivalent
to 10 circuits
of Earth’s
equator.

MISSION CONTROL
1. The craft was 204,000
miles (329,000 km) from In the Apollo 13 Service
Earth and 55 hours into its Module, a fan in an oxygen tank
flight when an explosion
crippled the Service Module’s short-circuited, causing the
fuel, power, and oxygen tank to catch fire and explode.
supplies. The mission to Mission controllers on Earth
land on the Moon had worked out that they could use
to be aborted. the Moon’s gravity to bring the
craft back on course for home.

Outer space Deep-space probes
Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11,
Voyager 1, and Voyager 2
were launched in the 1970s.
All are still speeding away
Pioneer 11 Pioneer 10 Voyager 2 Voyager 1
last signal last signal current signal current signal from Earth and through
space, although the Pioneer
87.4 AU from Earth probes are no longer sending
109.2 AU from Earth signals back to Earth.
Solar System boundary
116.7 AU from Earth
141.3 AU from Earth

US_154_155_309600_ICBT_Apollo_Into_space.indd 155 19/12/17 2:36 pm