Apollo 13

[Orionid]

10 grudnia 1969 NASA ogłosiła miejsce lądowania  LM Aquarius (Apollo 13) na Księżycu - Fra Mauro , które było zlokalizowane 177 km na wschód od lądowania LM Intrepid (Apollo 12)

Start był zaplanowany na 12 marca 1970 z załogą:
Dowódca James A. Lovell (CDR)
Dowodzący modułem LM Thomas K. Mattingly (CMP)
Pilot LM  Fred W. Haise (LMP)

Trwały też przygotowania do misji Apollo 14, której początek był zaplanowany na lipiec 1970 roku.

50 Years Ago: Apollo 13 Preps for 3rd Moon Landing
Dec. 12, 2019


Planned Apollo 13 landing site in the Fra Mauro region, in relation to the Apollo 11 and 12 landing sites.

As 1969 drew to a close, an historic year that saw not just one but two successful human lunar landings, NASA continued preparations for its planned third Moon landing mission, Apollo 13, then scheduled for launch on March 12, 1970. The prime crew for Apollo 13 consisted of Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Thomas K. Mattingly, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Fred W. Haise, backed up by John W. Young, John L. “Jack” Swigert, and Charles M. Duke. On Dec. 10, 1969, NASA announced the selection of the Fra Mauro region of the Moon as the prime landing site for Apollo 13, located about 110 miles east of the Apollo 12 touchdown point. Geologists favored the Fra Mauro area for exploration because it forms an extensive geologic unit around Mare Imbrium, the largest lava plain on the Moon. Unlike the Apollo 11 and 12 sites located in the flat lunar maria, Fra Mauro rests in the relatively more rugged lunar highlands. The precision landing by the Apollo 12 crew and their extensive orbital photography of the Fra Mauro region gave NASA confidence to attempt a landing at Fra Mauro.


Early morning rollout of Apollo 13 to Launch Pad 39A.

Workers in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) stacked the three stages of Apollo 13’s Saturn V in June and July 1969. They topped the rocket with the Apollo 13 spacecraft, comprising the Command and Service Modules (CSM) and the Lunar Module (LM) inside the Spacecraft LM Adaptor, on Dec. 10. Five days later, the Saturn V exited the VAB and made the 3.5-mile journey out to Launch Pad 39A to begin a series of tests to prepare it for the launch of the planned 10-day lunar mission. During their 33.5 hours on the Moon’s surface, Lovell and Haise planned to conduct two four-hour Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) or spacewalks to set up the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP), a suite of five investigations designed to collect data about the lunar environment after the astronauts’ departure, and to conduct geologic explorations of the landing site. Mattingly planned to remain in the CSM, conducting geologic observations from lunar orbit including photographing potential future landing sites.


Left: Apollo 13 Commander Lovell trains on the deployment of the S-band antenna.
Right: Apollo 13 LMP Haise examines one of the ALSEP packages.

During the first of the two EVAs, Apollo 13 Moon walkers Lovell and Haise planned to deploy the five ALSEP experiments, comprising:

- Charged Particle Lunar Environment Experiment (CPLEE) – flying for the first time, this experiment sought to measure the particle energies of protons and electrons reaching the lunar surface from the Sun.

- Lunar Atmosphere Detector (LAD) – this experiment used a Cold Cathode Ion Gauge (CCIG) to measure the pressure of the tenuous lunar atmosphere.

- Lunar Heat Flow Experiment (LHE) – designed to measure the steady-state heat flow from the Moon’s interior.

- Passive Seismic Experiment (PSE) – similar to the device left on the Moon during Apollo 12, consisted of a sensitive seismometer to record Moon quakes and other seismic activity.

- Lunar Dust Detector (LDD) – measured the amount of dust deposited on the lunar surface.

A Central Station provided command and communications to the ALSEP experiments, while a Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator using heat from the radioactive decay of a Plutonium-238 sample provided uninterrupted power. Additionally, the astronauts planned to deploy and retrieve the Solar Wind Collector (SWC) experiment to collect particles of the solar wind, as did the Apollo 11 and 12 crews before them.


Left: Haise (left) and Lovell during the geology field trip to Hawaii.
Right: Lovell (left) and Haise during the Hawaii geology field trip.

Apollo 13 astronauts Lovell, Haise, Young, and Duke participated in a geology training field trip between Dec. 17 and 20 on the Big Island of Hawaii. Geologist Patrick D. Crosland of the National Park Service in Hawaii provided the astronauts with a tour of recent volcanic eruption sites in the Kilauea area, with the thought that the Fra Mauro formation might be of volcanic origin. During several traverses in the Kilauea Volcano area, NASA geologists John W. Dietrich, Uel S. Clanton, and Gary E. Lofgren and US Geological Service geologists Gordon A. “Gordie” Swann, M.H. “Tim” Hait, and Leon T. “Lee” Silver accompanied the astronauts. The training sessions honed the astronauts’ geology skills and refined procedures for collecting rock samples and for documentary photography.


Apollo 14 CSM shortly after arriving in the MSOB.


Left and right: Apollo 14 LM ascent and descent stages shortly after arriving in the MSOB.

Preparations for the fourth Moon landing mission, Apollo 14, continued as well. At the time tentatively planned for launch in July 1970, mission planners considered the Littrow area on the eastern edge of the Mare Serenitatis, characterized by dark material possibly of volcanic origin, as a potential landing site. Apollo 14 astronauts Commander Alan B. Shepard, CMP Stuart A. Roosa, and LMP Edgar D. Mitchell and their backups Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans, and Joe H. Engle had already begun training for their mission. At KSC’s Manned Spacecraft Operations Building (MSOB), the CSM arrived from its manufacturer North American Rockwell in Downey, California, as did the two stages of the LM from the Grumman Aerospace and Engineering Company in Bethpage, New York, in November 1969. Engineers began tests of the spacecraft shortly after their arrival. The three stages of the Apollo 14 Saturn V were scheduled to arrive at KSC in January 1970.

John Uri
NASA Johnson Space Center
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-apollo-13-preps-for-3rd-moon-landing

[mss]

Flaga, która nigdy nie dotarła na powierzchnię Księżyca

A technician holding the American flag that flew aboard Apollo 13.

[Orionid]

50 Years Ago: Apollo 13 Launch Date Reset
Jan. 13, 2020

Following a highly successful 1969 that saw four Apollo missions including the first human Moon landing, 1970 began on a less rosy note. On Jan. 4, NASA Administrator Thomas O. Paine announced the cancellation of the final Moon landing mission, Apollo 20, due to reductions in the agency’s budget. The schedule for the remaining Moon landing missions would be stretched out, lengthening the interval between flights from four to six months. Scientists examining the samples returned from the Moon actually preferred the longer gaps between flights since it allowed them more time to analyze the results and better plan future missions to increase the scientific return from the program. As the first step in that rescheduling, on Jan. 7 NASA announced the delay of the launch of Apollo 13 from March 12 to April 11. The Saturn V rocket topped with the Apollo spacecraft had rolled out to Launch Pad 39A the previous December where workers began tests on the vehicle. The prime crew of Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Thomas K. Mattingly, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Fred W. Haise, backed up by John W. Young, John L. “Jack” Swigert, and Charles M. Duke, continued to train for their 10-day mission planned to include a landing in the Fra Mauro region of the Moon. (...)


Apollo 13 astronauts (left to right in white flight suits) Mattingly, Haise, and Lovell in the life raft after emerging
from the boilerplate Apollo capsule.


Apollo 13 LMP Haise during EVA simulation

(...)
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-apollo-13-launch-date-reset

[Orionid]

50 Years Ago: Apollo 13 Two Months from Launch
Feb. 11, 2020

The Apollo 13 prime crew of Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Thomas K. Mattingly, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Fred W. Haise, and their backups John W. Young, John L. “Jack” Swigert, and Charles M. Duke, continued to train for their 10-day mission planned to include a landing in the Fra Mauro region of the Moon. Engineers continued to prepare their Saturn V rocket and spacecraft at the launch pad for the April 11, 1970, liftoff and completed the Flight Readiness Test of the vehicle on Feb. 26. All six astronauts spent many hours in flight simulators training for the mission while the Moon walkers practiced landing the Lunar Module and rehearsed their planned Moon walks.


Left and right: Plot of the first and second EVA traverses at Fra Mauro.

One of the greatest challenges astronauts faced during a lunar mission entailed completing a safe landing on the lunar surface. In addition to time spent in simulators, Apollo mission commanders and their backups trained for the final few hundred feet of the descent using the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) at Ellington Air Force Base near the Manned Spacecraft Center, now the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Used to simulate the flying characteristics of the Lunar Module (LM) Bell Aerosystems of Buffalo, New York, built three copies of the LLTV for NASA. The first vehicle, LLTV-1, was lost in a crash in December 1968, and Apollo commanders trained using LLTV-2 until managers cleared LLTV-3 for flight in January 1970. Both Lovell and Young completed several flights in February 1970. Due to scheduling constraints with the LLTV, LMPs trained for their role in the landing using the Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF) at NASA’s Langley Research Facility in Hampton, Virginia. Haise and Duke completed training sessions with the LLRF in February.


Left: Young after an LLTV training flight.
Middle: Duke practicing LM egress during a KC-135 parabolic flight.
Right: Duke rehearsing unstowing equipment from the LM during a KC-135 parabolic flight.

The Moon walking astronauts also rehearsed the Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) they planned to conduct on the lunar surface. During parabolic flights aboard NASA’s KC-135 aircraft that simulated the low lunar gravity, the astronauts practiced exiting from the LM and descending the ladder to the surface. On the ground, they rehearsed the Moon walks, setting up the American flag and the large S-band communications antenna, and collecting lunar samples. Engineers improved their spacesuits to make the expected longer spacewalks more comfortable for the crewmembers by installing eight-ounce bags of water inside the helmet to provide them with a way to remain hydrated.


Left: Lovell (at left) and Haise setting up equipment as well as the American flag and the S-band antenna.
Middle: Lovell (at left) and Haise practice collecting rock sanples.
Right: Young (at left) and Duke training to collect rock samples.


Left: Haise (at left) and Lovell practice lowering the ALSEP experiments from the LM.
Middle: Lovell (at left) and Haise practice setting up the ALSEP experiments.
Right: Lovell (left) and Haise practice drilling for the Heat Flow Experiment.

(...)
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-apollo-13-two-months-from-launch

[Orionid]

Pamiętny przelot nad Księżycem w spektakularnej animacji NASA [WIDEO]
26 lutego 2020, 17:30

NASA w spektakularny sposób przypomniała o zbliżającej się wielkimi krokami 50. rocznicy pamiętnego trzeciego lotu załogowego na Księżyc - misji Apollo 13, charakteryzującej się szczególnie dramatycznym przebiegiem. W oparciu o zobrazowania działającej od 2009 roku sondy Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, specjaliści z Goddard Space Flight Center stworzyli kilkuminutową wizualizację przedstawiającą nieplanowany przelot załogi po ciemnej stronie Srebrnego Globu.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center opublikowało swój materiał w poniedziałek 24 lutego br. - w ciągu kolejnych dwóch dni wizualizacja uzyskała na platformie Youtube blisko 500 tys. wyświetleń. Przedstawia ona (w rozdzielczości 4K) przyspieszony przelot nad niewidoczną z Ziemi stroną Księżyca po rzeczywistej trasie, jaką przebyła załoga misji Apollo 13 kilka dni po starcie z Ziemi, podjętym 11 kwietnia 1970 roku.

Wideo stworzono z wykorzystaniem animacji komputerowej i rzeczywistych danych obrazowych, aby jak najwierniej odtworzyć spektakularny widok Księżyca, który astronauci Apollo 13 mieli okazję podziwiać podczas swojej niebezpiecznej podróży po niewidocznej z Ziemi stronie Srebrnego Globu. Użyte do produkcji filmu zobrazowania zbierał od 2009 roku sztuczny satelita Księżyca, sonda NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Wizualizacja w rozdzielczości 4K przedstawia wiele różnych widoków powierzchni Księżyca, poczynając od momentu zasłonięcia Ziemi przez tarczę Księżyca, a kończąc tam, gdzie Apollo 13 ponownie nawiązał kontakt radiowy z centrum kontroli na Ziemi. Przedstawiona jest również trajektoria swobodnego powrotu oraz pełny, szczegółowy widok różnych rejonów Księżyca na tej ścieżce. Ukazywany w wizualizacji przebieg zdarzeń został przyspieszony (nie są wyświetlane w czasie rzeczywistym), by zmieścić cały kilkudziesięcio-minutowy przelot w zaledwie kilku minutach. (...)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilifg26TZrI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilifg26TZrI</a>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ilifg26TZrI&feature=emb_title

https://www.space24.pl/wiadomosci/pamietny-przelot-nad-ksiezycem-w-spektakularnej-animacji-nasa-wideo
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13537

[Orionid]

Isle of Man marks Apollo 13 50th with new 'One Giant Leap' stamps


The Isle of Man Post Office's new "One Giant Leap, Exploring the Moon and Space" postage stamps celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission and the exploration that followed. (Isle of Man Post Office)

February 21, 2020 — A former NASA manager who was in mission control on the night that Apollo 13 "had a problem" has worked with a small seabound kingdom's postal service to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the famed mission on a new set of postage stamps.

George Abbey, who before becoming director of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston was a member of the Apollo 13 mission operations team in April 1970, collaborated with the Isle of Man Post Office to create "One Giant Leap, Exploring the Moon and Space," a limited edition set of eight stamps. The postage features a photo of the Apollo 13 mission control room and scenes from the four successful lunar landings that followed the ill-fated mission to the moon.

"The history of human spaceflight remains an interesting topic to humankind and being able to share these fascinating images with the world fills us with pride," said Maxine Cannon, general manager of Isle of Man Stamps and Coins. "We are very grateful to George Abbey and NASA; their support was of vital importance in the creation of this captivating stamp collection."

Set for release on Wednesday (Feb. 26), the "One Giant Leap" set also includes stamps for the Skylab orbital workshop, space shuttle and International Space Station. The new set is a follow up to the Isle of Man's "One Small Step" stamps issued in April 2019 to honor Apollo 11 and the missions that led to the first moon landing in July 1969. (...)

(...) http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-022120a-isle-of-man-apollo-giant-leap-stamps.html

[Orionid]

W kosmicznym muzeum Cosmosphere w Hutchinson w stanie Kansas trwają przygotowania do świętowania 50. rocznicy lotu Apollo 13. To tam właśnie znajduje się moduł dowodzenia Odyssey.

Apollo 13 50th anniversary exhibit to launch new space rental service

March 9, 2020 — Hutchinson, we have a new space exhibit rental program.


The Cosmosphere's "Apollo 13: A Mission of Survival" traveling exhibit, featuring the world's highest resolution photo op with the Apollo 13 command module Odyssey, is the first offering of the SpaceWorks Exhibit and Artifact Rental Program. (Cosmosphere)

The Cosmosphere space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas is expanding its existing SpaceWorks restoration and replication division to include a new line of space artifact rentals and display fabrication services. The program is launching with a new traveling exhibit timed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 13 mission in April.

The "Apollo 13: A Mission of Survival" exhibit includes rarely seen images and objects from the problem-plagued flight that nearly stranded astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert in deep space. The display will also include a unique chance to behold the Apollo 13 command module up close without visiting the Cosmosphere. (...)

"Apollo 13: A Mission of Survival," employs large display panels and authentic artifacts from the Cosmosphere's collection to recount details from "NASA's most successful failure." (...)

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-030920a-cosmosphere-spaceworks-exhibit-apollo13.html

[Orionid]

50 Years Ago: Apollo 13 One Month to Launch
March 11, 2020 John Uri NASA Johnson Space Center


Left: Mattingly describing his lunar orbit trajectory to reporters.
Right: Apollo 13 astronauts (left to right) Lovell, Mattingly and Haise holding their mission patch following the preflight press conference.

One month remained until the launch of Apollo 13, NASA’s third planned lunar landing mission. The prime crew of Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Thomas K. “Ken” Mattingly, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Fred W. Haise, and their backups John W. Young, John L. “Jack” Swigert, and Charles M. Duke, continued to train for their 10-day mission scheduled to launch on April 11, 1970. During the mission, Lovell and Haise planned to make a landing in the Fra Mauro region of the Moon to conduct geologic surveys and set up scientific experiments during two spacewalks while Mattingly remained in lunar orbit conducting photographic surveys of the Moon. In a change from previous lunar missions, the Saturn V rocket’s S-IVB third stage used to propel the spacecraft out of Earth orbit and toward the Moon was sent on a trajectory to deliberately impact on the Moon instead of being sent off into solar orbit. The impact of the rocket stage would be detected by the seismometer left behind by the Apollo 12 astronauts and provide information about the Moon’s interior. Similarly, the Lunar Module’s (LM) ascent stage would be sent on an impact trajectory once no longer needed after the astronauts had returned from the lunar surface.

First Mattingly on March 9, then the entire crew on March 14, met with the press to describe their planned mission in detail and answer reporters’ questions. Mattingly described a major change from the two previous lunar landing missions – once in lunar orbit, the Service Module’s propulsion system would perform a descent orbit insertion burn, placing the Command and Service Module (CSM) still docked with the LM into an elliptical 8-by-66-mile orbit. This maneuver conserved LM propellant for the descent, improving the chances for the needed pinpoint landing for optimum science results. The astronauts displayed their mission patch that included a painting of three horses symbolizing the three crewmembers and the mission name and number. Instead of their names, the patch bears the Latin motto “Ex Luna, Scientia,” meaning “From the Moon, Knowledge,” stressing the increased emphasis on scientific return from the mission. The crew revealed the call signs for their spacecraft they planned to use during the mission – Odyssey for the CSM and Aquarius for the LM.


Left: Map of the Apollo 13 landing site in the Fra Mauro region of the Moon.
Right: The plaque with the astronauts’ signatures that was mounted on the leg strut of their LM Aquarius.

One of the greatest challenges astronauts faced during a lunar mission entailed completing a safe landing on the lunar surface. In addition to time spent in simulators, Apollo mission commanders and their backups trained for the final few hundred feet of the descent using the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) at Ellington Air Force Base near the Manned Spacecraft Center, now the Johnson Space Center in Houston. On March 9, Lovell completed demonstration flights of the LLTV for assembled reporters and afterwards answered their questions.


Left: Apollo 13 Commander Lovell at the controls of the LLTV during a training flight.
Right: Lovell speaking with reporters assembled to cover his LLTV flight.

The U.S. Navy and NASA designated the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) as the prime recovery ship for Apollo 13. Under the leadership of its skipper Capt. Leland E. Kirkemo, Iwo Jima’s sailors and U.S. Navy Frogmen began training for the recovery of the crew and the spacecraft. Procedures to maintain biological isolation of the crew to prevent any possible back-contamination of the Earth with lunar pathogens remained essentially unchanged from Apollo 12. Although scientists found no evidence of lunar microorganisms in any of the Apollo 11 and 12 samples, because Apollo 13 would visit a different area of the Moon and out of an overabundance of caution, managers decided to maintain the quarantine procedures. Following splashdown, a Frogman would briefly open Odyssey’s hatch and hand the crewmembers clean overalls and respirators. Once properly attired, the astronauts would egress onto life rafts and be lifted one by one onto a helicopter using a Billy Pugh net and transported to the Iwo Jima. Along with a NASA flight surgeon and an engineer, the three astronauts would enter the Mobile Quarantine Facility (MQF) awaiting them on the ship. Once offloaded at port in Hawaii, a transport plane would carry the astronauts in the MQF back to the Manned Spacecraft Center, now the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where they would enter the Lunar Receiving Laboratory to complete their three-week quarantine.


Left: Sailors aboard the USS Iwo Jima practicing recovery operations with a boilerplate Apollo capsule.
Right: Frogmen and sailors practicing recovery operations with a boilerplate Apollo capsule.

(...)
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-apollo-13-one-month-to-launch

[Orionid]

Z powodu pandemii koronawirusa (COVID-19) publiczne wystąpienia żyjących uczestników lotu Apollo 13 zostały przełożone

NASA visitor centers, museums close as coronavirus precaution

March 16, 2020 — Many of the NASA visitor centers and space history museums located across the United States have now temporarily closed as a public health precaution, supporting the effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. (...)

In addition to the museum closures, several galas celebrating the 50th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 13 mission have now been postponed.

Apollo 13 events, including appearances by Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, planned by the Cosmosphere for April 4; at the San Diego Air & Space Museum on April 11; by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation at Kennedy Space Center for April 18; and at the Cradle of Aviation Museum in New York on April 23 have been deferred to later dates still to be decided. A gala hosted by the INFINITY Science Center has been postponed from March 21 to Oct. 17.

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-031620a-coronavirus-covid19-nasa-museums.html

[Orionid]

Apollo 50th @apollo_50th 16 mar 2020


Apollo 13 astronauts James A. "Jim" Lovell, Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr., speaking to Professor Leon T. "Lee" Silver of the California Institute of Technology during a geology field trip to Black Canyon Crater Field, Verde Valley, Arizona, yesterday and today.
#Apollo13
#Apollo50
https://twitter.com/apollo_50th/status/1239648491632095232

[Orionid]

50 Years Ago: Apollo 13 Three Weeks Before Launch
March 19, 2020 John Uri NASA Johnson Space Center

With only three weeks remaining before their April 11, 1970 launch, the Apollo 13 prime crew of Commander James A. Lovell, Command Module Pilot (CMP) Thomas K. “Ken” Mattingly, and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) Fred W. Haise, and their backups John W. Young, John L. “Jack” Swigert, and Charles M. Duke, continued training for their 10-day Moon landing mission. During the flight, Lovell and Haise planned to make a landing in the Fra Mauro region of the Moon to conduct geologic surveys and set up scientific experiments during two space walks while Mattingly remained in lunar orbit conducting photographic surveys of the Moon. Lovell, Haise, Young and Duke completed their last geology field trip, Lovell and Young trained for the Moon landing itself, and all six spent time in the spacecraft simulators rehearsing various phases of the upcoming mission. Preparations for the next flight, Apollo 14, also continued, while halfway around the world, the Apollo 12 astronauts and their wives were nearing the end of their goodwill tour with several stops in Asia.


Left: Haise (left) and Lovell during the geology field trip to Arizona.
Right: Duke (left) and Young during the geology field trip to Arizona.

The Apollo 13 astronauts’ final geology training trip March 15 and 16 resembled a simulation more than just field instruction. The United States Geological Service had created an artificial crater field at Black Mesa outside Flagstaff, Arizona, making it an ideal site for lunar traverse training. Lovell, Haise, Young and Duke, accompanied by a team of geologists, used the same equipment they would on the Moon during their spacewalks and had open communications links with astronaut Anthony W. “Tony” England acting as capsule communicator in Mission Control at the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now the Johnson Space Center in Houston. During the simulated traverses, the astronauts reported their observations, took photographs and collected samples just as they planned to do on the lunar surface.


Left: Young after a flight in the LLTV.
Right: Mattingly celebrated his 34th birthday at KSC.

Apollo mission commanders and their backups practiced for the final few hundred feet of the descent using the Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) at Ellington Air Force Base near MSC. Lovell completed his LLTV training missions earlier in March and Young flew several flights in the second half of the month. All the crewmembers spent time in the Command Module and Lunar Module simulators at MSC and at Kennedy Space Center (KSC). While at KSC on March 17, between simulator runs several employees helped Mattingly celebrate his 34th birthday, complete with birthday cake.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-apollo-13-three-weeks-before-launch

[Orionid]

Apollo 50th@apollo_50th 11:18 PM · 23 mar 2020
Concept art of Apollo 13 astronauts James A. "Jim" Lovell, Jr., and Fred W. Haise, Jr., exploring the Moon. Art by Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical.
https://twitter.com/apollo_50th/status/1242214042191552512