Would you fly on Apollo 13? Or do you have Triskaidekaphobia?
Would you launch on the 13th Apollo mission at 13:13 Military time? Maybe you don’t subscribe to Triskaidekaphobia, the irrational fear of the number 13. It is Pronounced TRIS-kye-DEK-a-FOH-bee-a in case you want to say it. Could the fear of 13 have been a factor in renaming the Shuttle missions?
After STS-9, the mission number was changed. The thirteenth shuttle mission, Space Shuttle Challenger, was renamed to STS-41-G. See note on how to shuttle missions were assigned numbers.
The number 13 actually may have helped public attention on the Apollo mission. You may not be afraid of the number 13, but there are a lot of Americans that are afraid. So afraid, that many buildings lack a 13th floor. Some airlines lack a row 13. Some people don’t want to go out in public on Friday the 13th. So launching Apollo 13 at 13:13 Military time might have helped spark some interest. The subject came up in the newspaper articles.
Wait, Had America lost interest in Space?
America had lost interest in Space? Had the glamor worn off of the first giant leap for mankind? The Americans had won in the space race to land people on the moon and safely return them. The US had done it not once, but twice already.
Questions started to be raised about the importance of the programs. For the average citizen in the USA, did the landing of a man on the moon make a difference to their daily life? Would landing 4 more mean anything different?
Apollo 13 barely made the front page. The US was preoccupied. The nation’s newspaper reflected the mood of the country.
The focus had shifted to the Supreme Court, the conflict in Vietnam and teacher strikes in Minneapolis. The Apollo missions were covered, but fighting for space on the front page with other domestic and international issues. NASA faced budget cuts with uncertainty regarding the future of human spaceflight.
NASA needed to have a more cost-efficient way to get to space. But, the American public seemed more interested in Triskaidekaphobia than the Apollo mission itself.
Maybe Apollo 13 was jinxed.
Maybe there was something to the fear of 13. One of the Apollo 13 crew, exposed to Rubella needed to be replaced at the last minute.
Ken Mattingly lost his seat after being disqualified due to exposure to rubella. The other two crew, Jim Lovell and Fred Haise were immune. NASA decided to split up the crew. “Rookie Makes First Team and Apollo Hops Off Today” read the headline in the Fort Myers News-Press April 11th newspaper. Astronaut John L Swigert Jr. took over as command module (CM) pilot and the mixed crew was set to go to the Moon.
Apollo 13 mission, already in jeopardy from a last-minute medical disqualification dodged the bullet. The decision to a swap out one of the original crew at the last minute gave the go-ahead for a 2:13 launch. Jim Lovell and Fred Haise in just a few days would descend to the surface of the moon in the lunar module (LM). The last moment changes brought attention to the program, along with Swigert’s tax returns… A cartoon appeared in the newspaper depicting an astronaut being tapped on the back from the IRS.
On April 12th, the Miami Herald reported “Astronaut’s Wife Not Superstitious”. Maybe Triskaidekaphobia helped the novelty of the Apollo 13. It seems like Triskaidekaphobia did spark public interest since the papers ran sections surrounding the superstition of the number 13 related to Apollo 13. Astronaut wives were asked if they had any concern regarding the launch time of 13:13 Central Military time. NASA Administrator Thomas Paine even shared a summary of his conversation with the spacecraft commander Jim Lovell Jr. about the number 13 superstitions.
Apollo 13 did launch at 13:13 military time. The spacecraft, atop a Saturn V Rocket, lifted off from Kennedy Space Center and ascended into the sky. The crew reported at 5 1/2 minutes after liftoff they felt a little vibration. The center engine of the S-II stage shut down two minutes early. NASA determined that the mission could still go on and the remaining four engines burnt 34 seconds longer than originally planned to compensate. Additionally, the S-IVB third stage burn lasted nine seconds longer to put Apollo 13 on course to the Moon.
On a broken ship they fought to survive
April 13, 1970, at 10:06 PM EST, the unthinkable happened.
The newspaper coverage included the Apollo routine activities for a routine mission. Attention intensified overnight. America went to bed not thinking much of the mission. America woke up, learning the challenges. The front page of the Chicago Tribune reads in bold letters:
“MOON LANDING CANCELED AFTER FAILURE OF POWER”
One of those routine activities resulted in a disaster. The stir of an oxygen tank with a damaged wire caused an explosion. The contents of the two SM’s oxygen tanks vented into space. Without oxygen, the astronauts would not survive. The spacecraft also needed oxygen for generating electric power. The loss of power rendered the SM’s propulsion and life support systems. The Apollo spacecraft required some power for reentry. NASA had the crew shut down all nonessential items to conserve its remaining resources for reentry.
The crew took refuge in the LM. They used the LM as a space lifeboat. Without reentry shielding, the LM could not survive the heat generated when entering the Earth’s Atmosphere. There was nothing left for NASA to do except sort out how to bring the crew home alive. Being so close to the moon, the crew instead went into survival mode. The crew was fighting to save their lives.
Fear of 13 changed the number system for Shuttle flights?
The NASA website stated that the unconventional number sequence put in place to address an increasingly complex launch manifest. Former astronaut Paul Weitz had a different recollection.
He indicated that NASA Administrator James Beggs’ triskaidekaphobia drove the numbering change.
“He didn’t like the number 13. So he didn’t ever want any mission numbered 13, so we went through this system.” The belief that Begg’s triskaidekaphobia prompted the was so widespread that the astronauts who flew on STS-41C(what would have been STS-13), created their own “Black Cat” mission patch. STS-41C(AKA STS-13) crewmember, James “Ox” Van Hoften recalls, “We flew around with our STS-13 patch on, and that was a lot of fun. We ended up landing on Friday the 13th, so that was pretty cool.”
the original designation, STS-13;
and landing under a black cat, given that April 13th was a Friday the 13th.
The U.S. Space Shuttle program STS referred to the official name, the Space Transportation System (STS). Up through the 9th flight, the missions were numbered sequentially.
Starting after STS-9, each shuttle mission was assigned a code. For example, STS-41-B would have been STS-10. The first digit indicated the federal fiscal year. (so 41-B was scheduled for FY 1984). The second digit indicated the launch site. 1 represented the Kennedy Space Center. Although never used, 2 indicated Vandenberg Air Force Base. The letter “B” indicated the second planned launch for the year.
According to the NASA website, the anticipated greater frequency of launches of the Space Shuttle launches from two sites drove the numbering change. The NASA plan included up to 50 launches per year utilizing both Vandenberg AFB launching Shuttles into a polar orbit and Kennedy launching them into an equatorial orbit.
So, are you afraid of the number 13? Would you fly on Apollo 13 in offered, not knowing the issues that it would face?
About The Author
Bill D’Zio
Co-Founder at WestEastSpace.com
Bill founded WestEastSpace.com after returning to China in 2019 to be supportive of his wife’s career. Moving to China meant leaving the US rocket/launch industry behind, as the USA and China don’t see eye to eye on cooperation in space. Bill has an engineering degree and is an experienced leader of international cross-functional teams with experience in evaluating, optimizing and awarding sub-contracts for complex systems. Bill has worked with ASME Components, Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) for use in launch vehicles, satellites, aerospace nuclear, and industrial applications.
Bill provides consulting services for engineering, supply chain, and project management.
Additional reading and sources:
www.hq.nasa.gov › alsj › A13_MissionReport
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/behind-the-space-shuttle-mission-numbering-system
www.newspapers.com (good source for old newspaper)
