that splash down would be at 9:13p.m., Houston time, April 17th.As they neared the Moon, Mission Control came up with a second course correction. They would burn the engines for an additional 263.4 seconds. This would increase the velocity by 861 feet per second. This would cut 9 hours and 6 minutes off of the return time and put splashdown in the mid-Pacific Ocean at 12:07 p.m., Houston time, April 17th. This made recovery easier since ships were already deployed in the Pacific.This final course correction was scheduled for 8:41 p.m., April 14th. Apollo 13 rounded the Moon in its 77th hour of flight and headed back toward Earth at 7,064 feet per second.At 12:07.41 p.m. CST, April 17th, in sight of the U.S.S. Iwo Jima, the Odyssey came through that atmosphere and landed into the ocean below. It took less then an hour for the crew to be removed and flown back to the carrier by helicopter.The main power system for the Apollo spacecraft was contained in Bay No. 4 of the service module. Power at 28 volts, direct current, was supplied by three fuel cells. Oxygen was stored in a semiliquid state in two tanks mounted next to each other on a shelf in Bay 4. Hydrogen, kept in the same state, was stored in two tanks below the self.In zero gravity, fluids don't flow very well unless pushed by something. The method used was to boil it to build up the pressure in the tank. Each tank contained a heater coil, a thermostatic switch, and electric fans to stir up the mixture and promote even flow. "The thermostatic switch was designed to open and shut off the heating elements when the temperature reached 80F." Each tank held 326 pounds of oxygen under pressure of 865 to 935 pounds per square inch. Although every tank had a bust pressure of 2200 pounds per square inch, and a relief valve that would dump oxygen when the pressure reached 1000 pounds, these safety measures could not prevent an explosion from a rapid build-up of pressure if a ...
