Main content

Mission control help Apollo 13’s cold, exhausted astronauts survive deadly CO2 levels. Nasa’s doctor is worried about their health and turns to Marilyn Lovell. Will she step in?

Nasa mission control helps Apollo 13’s cold, exhausted astronauts survive deadly carbon dioxide levels in the spacecraft. The constant troubleshooting to stay alive has taken its toll, and the crew of Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise are at the limits of human endurance. Back home in Houston, the Nasa flight surgeon is so worried about the astronauts’ lack of sleep that he turns to Marilyn Lovell with an unusual request.

For a film about how the crew made the makeshift CO2 adaptors: www.bbcworldservice.com/13minutes

Presented by Kevin Fong.

Archive: Nasa

Starring:
Jim Lovell
Merlin Merritt
Anthony England
Ed Smylie, courtesy of the Johnson Space Center Oral History Project
Fred Haise
Marilyn Lovell
Ken Mattingly
Charles A Berry
Joe Kerwin
Gerry Griffin

Written by Kevin Fong and Chris Browning

Theme music by Hans Zimmer and Christian Lundberg for Bleeding Fingers Music.

Produced by the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio Science Unit for the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ World Service.

Available now

35 minutes

Clip

Broadcasts

  • Wed 8 Apr 2020 02:32GMT
  • Wed 8 Apr 2020 08:32GMT
  • Wed 8 Apr 2020 12:32GMT
  • Wed 8 Apr 2020 14:32GMT
  • Wed 8 Apr 2020 15:32GMT
  • Wed 8 Apr 2020 21:32GMT
  • Wed 8 Apr 2020 22:32GMT
  • Sun 12 Apr 2020 18:32GMT

Featured in...

Season 2: The Apollo 13 story

Season 2: The Apollo 13 story

Jump on-board a doomed mission to the Moon. Apollo 13: the extraordinary story

Season 1: The Apollo 11 story

Season 1: The Apollo 11 story

How the first moon landing was saved. The story of the people who made Apollo 11 happen

Podcast