Minute 053: A Quadruple Failure

EECOM is looking at his monitor and can’t believe the readings. “– reading a quadruple failure? That can’t happen!” says EECOM. “It’s gotta be instrumentation.” “Let’s get that hatch buttoned,” says Lovell to Swigert as they diagnose the problem in the Command Module. “Maybe the LM got hit by a meteor.” “That tunnel’s really torquing with all this movement,” says Haise. “Uh, Houston, we had a pretty large bang there, associated with the Master Alarm?” Swigert puts the hatch in the tunnel. “S–t, it’s Main Bus A,” says Haise. Another set of alarm lights, above the MET indicator showing “0565513,” begin to light up. “Houston,” says Haise, “We have a Main Bus A undervolt, now two – -it’s reading twenty five and a half. Main Bus B is reading zip right now. ”  The CM shakes. “We’ve got a wicked shimmy up here!” Back in Houston, Kranz looks at his flight controllers. “EECOM, GNC,” says Kranz, “These guys are talking about bangs and shimmy up there. That doesn’t sound like instrumentation to me.” “You are breaking up, Thirteen,” says CAPCOM as Swigert continues to try and secure the hatch to the LM tunnel. Lovell is having difficulty riding the flight controls. “Can’t get this hatch to seal!” says Swigert. “Yeah, just – just  stow it,” says Lovell. “If we’d been hit by a meteor, we’d be dead by now. Gonna try to get us out of this lurch.” “Houston, you’re still in the mud,” says Haise, “did you say switch to Omni Bravo?” “Roger that,” says CAPCOM. Swigert tumbles into the tunnel. “Roger,” says Haise, “And the signal strength on the high-gain is-” “It’s fighting me here, Jack!” says Lovell. “We keep flirting with gimbal lock!” “Odyssey,” says CAPCOM, “We need a confirmation — what systems do you have down?” “Okay, Jim,” says Swigert, “SM RCS, Helium One, A and -” IN THIS MINUTE: Jim Lovell: Tom Hanks Jack Swigert: Kevin Bacon Fred Haise: Bill Paxton Gene Kranz: Ed Harris EECOM White Team: Clint Howard TELMU White Team: Jim Meskimen CAPCOM: Brett Cullen Flight Surgeon: Christian Clemenson