Minute 126: Expect to Regain Signal in Three Minutes

GUEST: NASA’S “IRON FLIGHT” DIRECTOR PAUL DYE Swigert, Haise, and Lovell ponder many thoughts as Odyssey falls into the re-entry corridor over the South Pacific. The heat shield begins to ionize, then blaze as the CM decelerates. Ionized gasses illuminate outside  the left window of the Command Module. Water rains from the control panel. “Flight, we have loss of radio contact,” says CAPCOM Mattingly. “Roger that,” replies Gene Kranz. “Expect to regain signal in three minutes,” says INCO. A countdown clock shows 000: 02: 59 “All depends on the heat shield,” says an engineer. The ionization is an incandescent white now. Water is leaking from the control panel. IN THIS MINUTE: Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell Kevin Bacon as Jack Swigert Bill Paxton as Fred Haise Gary Sinese as Ken Mattingly Ed Harris as Gene Kranz Ben Bode as INCO