Failure is Not an Option

I admit, it took me a while to think of a blog name.  I wanted it to truly represent who I am and what I will write about.  Those who know me well would acknowledge that I have a diverse array of  interests, and am fiercely passionate about many of them.  Music, for instance, is one of the most important aspects of my life.  I wish music played during monumental (well, and all other) moments of my life, as if in a movie or Broadway musical.  Music calms me, inspires me, moves me, and, I believe, defines me.  Whether I am singing myself or listening to music, it is a constant force in my life.  And then there is my love for space.  This began in 1995, when my parents first showed me “Apollo 13.”  I wasn’t familiar with the mission until seeing the movie, but it instantly struck a chord within me.

Apollo 13 launched at 13:13 CST April 11, 1970, scheduled to enter the moon’s gravity April 13, 1970.  This was to be the third manned spaceflight to land on the moon, carrying astronauts James Lovell (commander), Jack Swigert (command module pilot), and Fred Haise (lunar module pilot).  By this third scheduled lunar landing, Americans no longer found spaceflight exciting, but considered it routine.  Can you imagine that?  Just a routine event, taking three Americans some 220,000+ miles from earth using a computer that, though incredibly complex for its time, would be considered archaic in today’s advanced technological world.  None the less, excitement was hard to come by for this Apollo mission destined for the Fra Mauro highlands.

Just before the 56 hour mark in the mission, following a television broadcast that was largely ignored by the media and American public, a routine stir of the oxygen tanks resulted in a loud bang that rocked the spacecraft and generated multiple warning lights.   “Houston, we’ve had a problem.”  The astronauts became aware of a gaseous substance being vented from the spacecraft when Commander Lovell looked out the left hand window.  That was it.  This wasn’t a computer issue, but indeed a crisis that would make survival, not a moon landing, the first priority.  The substance escaping from the service module was oxygen gas, and the necessary supplies of water, electricity, and light were also compromised.

But at no point did anyone give up; no one stopped trying.  All efforts were shifted to survival.  Gene Krantz was the flight director for the white Mission Control team (there were three: red, white, and blue).  He is probably most famous for uttering the words, “Failure is not an option.”  THAT is the legacy of this mission, and THAT is why Apollo 13 inspires me.  Sure the movie is fabulous, and Tom Hanks is my favorite actor.  But Hollywood aside, this story is incredible.  It is a story of people in space and on earth who refused to accept defeat.

“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’”

Creativity flowed abundantly during this mission, from procedures to survive in the lunar module with three men for four days, to fitting the command module oxygen scrubbers for the lunar module (of course one is round, one is square).  They weren’t just following procedure number A41B12, they were brainstorming and believing beyond all doubt that these men would return safely.  That is incredible to me, to see what these brave souls did when forced to rely on intelligence, instinct, and a dream of safe passage for three friends 200,000 miles away.  The citizens of the world, after previously dismissing this mission as run-of-the-mill, became captivated by this story of a fight for survival.

So after pondering my various interests, the many things I would like to write about, general beliefs and philosophies about life, I was able to decide on something that must be in the title.  Odyssey.  The name of the command module for Apollo 13; the poor crippled ship that turned a “routine” moon landing into a spectacular tale of  inspiration, teamwork, and survival.  Every time I watch the movie, I tear up when Odyssey splashes safely into the ocean at the end of the mission.  The mission was called a successful failure, in that the astronauts did not achieve the primary objective of landing on the moon, but did return safely to earth.  I believe the mission achieved these unspoken objectives: to inspire us all, create unity in a common goal, and to believe that anything is possible.

 

Source: http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html

And likely “Apollo 13” (Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger) and “A Man on the Moon” (Andrew Chaikin) which are burned in my brain. 🙂