Full Text of SR1084 101st General Assembly
SR1084 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | SENATE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Apollo 13 mission was manned by 38-year-old | 3 | | Command Module Pilot John Swigert, 36-year-old Lunar Module | 4 | | Pilot Fred Haise, and 42-year-old Mission Commander James | 5 | | Lovell; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, The Apollo 13 spacecraft Odyssey was successfully | 7 | | launched from the Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970 and | 8 | | was intended to be the third Apollo mission to land men on the | 9 | | moon; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, The Odyssey successfully docked with the Lunar | 11 | | Module Aquarius on April 11, 1970; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, When the spacecraft was 200,000 miles from Earth | 13 | | on April 13, 1970, a cryogenic oxygen tank stir was conducted; | 14 | | unbeknownst to the crew, this caused a fire in one of the | 15 | | spacecraft's oxygen tanks due to faulty wiring; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Moments after the cryogenic oxygen tank stir was | 17 | | conducted, the crew heard a large bang that was accompanied by | 18 | | fluctuations in electrical power and firing of attitude control | 19 | | thrusters; this prompted Commander James Lovell to state to the | 20 | | NASA command center "Houston, we've had a problem"; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, This accident damaged key components of the | 2 | | spacecraft, including the power and oxygen supply, rendering it | 3 | | unable to complete its planned landing on the moon; instead, it | 4 | | placed the lives of the crew in jeopardy and necessitated | 5 | | emergency procedures in order to safely return the astronauts | 6 | | to Earth; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Following the accident, it was determined by | 8 | | mission control and Flight Director Eugene Kranz that the | 9 | | mission would abort by looping the spacecraft around the moon | 10 | | and using the Lunar Module Aquarius as a lifeboat; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, In order to expedite the return to Earth, a burn | 12 | | of the Lunar Module Descent Propulsion System lasting four | 13 | | minutes and twenty-three seconds was conducted by the crew | 14 | | using the sun and moon as navigational aids; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, The Lunar Module carried enough oxygen to support | 16 | | the crew during their return journey but could not sufficiently | 17 | | process the carbon dioxide produced by the three astronauts, | 18 | | requiring engineers on the ground to devise a way to adapt | 19 | | filters from the Command Module to work on the Lunar Module; | 20 | | and | 21 | | WHEREAS, During the return flight from the moon, the crew | 22 | | members lost 31 pounds between them, endured temperatures as |
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| 1 | | low as 38 degrees Fahrenheit, and were rationed to .2 liters of | 2 | | water per day, per person; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, The crew successfully powered up the command | 4 | | module from full shutdown, jettisoned the Lunar Module | 5 | | Aquarius, and splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean on | 6 | | April 17, 1970, despite concerns about possible damage to the | 7 | | spacecraft's heat shield; and | 8 | | WHEREAS, All members of the Apollo 13 crew were awarded the | 9 | | Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President Richard Nixon, | 10 | | with the mission being deemed a "successful failure" by the | 11 | | public, highlighting the resolve and ingenuity of NASA and its | 12 | | astronauts to confront and overcome a crisis; therefore, be it
| 13 | | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL | 14 | | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare April 11, | 15 | | 2020 Apollo 13 Day in the State of Illinois to commemorate the | 16 | | 50 year anniversary of the mission launch and safe return of | 17 | | all three crew members to Earth.
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