“Houston, we’ve had a problem” interview with Fred Haise, Apollo 13 astronaut (254)

Cold War Conversations

Fred Haise was one of the three astronauts on the ill-fated Moon mission when a design fault caused an oxygen tank to explode mid-mission putting the Apollo 13 crew in mortal danger on April 13th, 1970. This was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon.

Now as you can imagine I’m genuinely excited to be speaking with one of the Apollo astronauts. Fred and I talk about his life and his almost accidental entry into flying. We cover his admission into the astronaut programme, the family impact, and as you can imagine go into some detail about his experiences on the Apollo 13 mission.

Many of you will know of this mission via the Film “Apollo 13” starring Tom Hanks, and Fred shares his views on the film and corrects some of the inaccuracies.

Buy Fred's new book Never Panic Early: An Apollo 13 Astronaut's Journey and support the podcast here https://amzn.to/3DvCRzN

0:00 Introduction

6:14 Fred Haise's journey to becoming an astronaut and role in Apollo 11

16:39 Selection and preparation for Apollo 13 mission

32:41 The Apollo 13 crisis: the explosion, aftermath, and survival

51:21 Critical maneuvers to correct trajectory back to Earth

1:03:42 Activation of the command module and return journey

1:11:12 Splashdown and immediate aftermath

1:18:48 Analysis of Apollo 13 film and Fred Haise's book 'Never Panic Early'

1:25:17 Episode extras, acknowledgment of financial supporters, and closing remarks

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I am delighted to welcome Fred Haise to our Cold War conversation…

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