alternatehistory.com

Apollo 13's return to Earth and breakup over the Caribbean five weeks after bouncing off the atmosphere and missing Earth by 2,500 miles came as a great surprise to everyone, as most projections had the spacecraft either bouncing off the atmosphere or coming in too steep and breaking up during the reentry attempt. What if the initial projections had come true and the spacecraft had been doomed to wander space forever or immediately suffered a breakup? Alternatively, could Apollo 13 have somehow have executed a more rapid skip reentry that could have reduced stress on the heat shield (highly likely to have been damaged in the explosion) and potentially have allowed the crew to successfully return to Earth?
Top