From the recording Apollo XIII
In April of 1970, after two successful moon landings, a third but ill-fated mission to land men on the moon, Apollo XIII, blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida at 13:13 Central Standard Time. "Triskaidekaphobes" would soon be "doubled-down" as two days into the mission, on April 13th, an explosion completely crippled the spacecraft while it was more than 200,000 miles away from Earth. The miracles that the crew, along with Ground Control in Houston, accomplished over the next couple of days, which ultimately got them home safely, remains NASA's "finest hour". This is my attempt at re-creating this event through music, and oddly enough, my first attempt at Rap : )) Strap in, as the lyrics are coming at you like a meteor shower!
Lyrics
Apollo XIII music and lyrics JRRothrock April 13, 1990
Apollo XIII continued Kennedy’s dream, throwing three more men at the moon.
Early on, in the flight, everything going right, but fortunes would change very soon.
At 55 hours and 55 minutes, the crew felt a heavy vibration.
The explosion that followed would make this Apollo the focus of every nation.
"…alright, Houston… we’ve got a problem…"
The situation they’d face as gases vented to space, was a problem that had no solution.
With oxygen lost, failing power, the cost. CO2 could reach lethal pollution!
The “ground control” team struggling for a scheme to gain any hopes for survival...
...and for what it is worth, they could get back to Earth, but the problem was, "dead on arrival".
With "Command-Module" dead, the three of them fled...
...from an area that would grow more precarious.
A haven was found in the compact surrounds of Lunar-Module, the tiny “Aquarius”.
It would be their lifeboat and with hopes though remote, the one vessel left that could deliver.
For the next couple days... they were drifting in space...
...in this can where they’d tremble and shiver.
Ground crew plans evolving, intent upon solving equations with unfailing persistence.
With waning resources, they revised the courses... and then prayed to the Lord for assistance.
Miracles would transpire as the ship was rewired... to recharge the lost battery power.
Any hopes to survive, to get home alive, saw the odds minimized by the hour.
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With batteries low, they would give it a “go”, firing engines to gain realignment.
Knowing power consumed, brought them closer to doom...
...left to perish in their metal confinement.
A plan was devised as they fired through the skies, using gravity to sling them around…
…the moon.
To return they would need one more burn if they ever to set foot on the ground.
But soon they would learn that in-order to burn they must manually fix engine alignment.
The debris left outside gave the stars place to hide, so, no tools to complete the assignment.
They were tired and spent, but they were hell-bent to give every last ounce they could muster.
They adjusted the slope, and with only blind hope, they accelerated by firing the "thruster".
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The most dangerous task had yet to be asked, the reentry to Earth’s atmosphere.
The precision of flight, getting angles just right on the shoulders of ground engineers.
If you hit it too "slight", you skip off in the night and forever be lost in Creation.
If you come in "too hard", you’ll in seconds be charred, and trigger your incineration.
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Every nation, all size, had their eyes on the skies. For a moment, mankind in "communion".
On the ground far below, eyes searched for the glow to identify a pending reunion.
"Transmission... blackout."
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…………………………………………THERE THEY ARE!!!