"Houston, we have a problem."
This simple and short quotation is frequently used to announce an emergency situation, of course, in a poetic and novelic way.
This quotation is in fact a misquote. The acutal quote is “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here”. However, due to the convience of the shortness of the misquote, people commonly prefer the misquote over the acutal one.
This quote is spoke by American Astronaunt Swigert during he and his crew’s famous Apollo 13 mission to the moon. “Houston” in this quote, as many of you already guessed, is the name of the captial city of the State of Taxes. City of Houston and Florida Key are two of the NASA space shuttle launching sites, and for Apollo 13 mission, Houston was the main command center. Mr. Swigert was then trying to communicate and report the problems to Houston command center.
Before we can actually understand the full meaning of this quotation, we need to look at the background:
Apollo 13 was an American space mission, part of the Apollo program. It was intended to be the third mission to land on the Moon, but instead is famous for the critical malfunction it suffered and its difficult but successful return home.
When Apollo 13 was 321,860 kilometers (199,990 mi) from Earth, an oxygen tank in the service module exploded. The only solution was for the crew to cancel their planned landing, swing around the Moon and return on a trajectory back to Earth. However, because their command/service module "Odyssey" was severely damaged, the three astronauts had to use the lunar module "Aquarius" as a crowded lifeboat for the return home. The four-day return trip was cold, uncomfortable, and tense. But Apollo 13 proved the program's ability to weather a major crisis and bring the crew back home safely.
(source: Wikipedia online.
www.wikipedia.com )
As many of you know, Apollo 13 was later made into a popular movie bearing the same name with the mission. “Houston, we have a problem”, the popular version misqote, was first spoken by the actors in that movie. It was a classic moment, and people memorize it along with that misquote the actor said. Because most of people get to know the story of Apollo 13 from the movie rather than from the boring and long NASA official reports, the misquote becomes very popular and takes the place of the acutal quote.
For Reference, below is the acutal records of Apollo 13 mission right before and soon after the sever problem happened. It is officially taken from NASA.
Detailed Chronology of Events Surrounding the Apollo 13 Accident
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Events from 2.5 minutes before the accident to about 5 minutes after. Times given are in Ground Elapsed Time (G.E.T.), that is, the time elapsed since liftoff of Apollo 13 on April 11, 1970, at 2:13 PM Eastern Standard Time (EST). 55:52:00 G.E.T. is equal to 10:05 PM EST on April 13, 1970.
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55:52:31 - Master caution and warning triggered by low hydrogen pressure in tank no. 1
55:52:58 - CapCom (Charlie Duke): "13, we've got one more item for you, when you get a chance. We'd like you to stir up the cryo tanks. In addition, I have shaft and trunnion .....
55:53:06 - Swigert: "Okay."
55:53:07 - CapCom: ".... for looking at Comet Bennett, if you need it."
55:53:12 - Swigert: "Okay. Stand by."
55:53:18 - Oxygen tank No. 1 fans on.
55:53:19 - Oxygen tank No. 2 pressure decreases 8 psi.
55:53:20 - Oxygen tank No. 2 fans turned on.
55:53:20 - Stabilization control system electrical disturbance indicates a power transient.
55:53:21 - Oxygen tank No. 2 pressure decreases 4 psi.
55:53:22.718 - Stabilization control system electrical disturbance indicates a power transient.
55:53:22.757 - 1.2 Volt decrease in ac bus 2 voltage.
55:53:22.772 - 11.1 amp rise in fuel cell 3 current for one sample
55:53:26 - Oxygen tank No. 2 pressure begins rise lasting for 24 seconds.
55:53:38.057 - 11 volt decrease in ac bus 2 voltage for one sample.
55:53:38.085 - Stabilization control system electrical disturbance indicates a power transient.
55:53:41.172 - 22.9 amp rise in fuel cell 3 current for one sample
55:53:41.192 - Stabilization control system electrical disturbance indicates a power transient.
55:54:00 - Oxygen tank No. 2 pressure rise ends at a pressure of 953.8 psia.
55:54:15 - Oxygen tank No. 2 pressure begins to rise.
55:54:30 - Oxygen tank No. 2 quantity drops from full scale for 2 seconds and then reads 75.3 percent.
55:54:31 - Oxygen tank No. 2 temperature begins to rise rapidly.
55:54:43 - Flow rate of oxygen to all three fuel cells begins to decrease.
55:54:45 - Oxygen tank No. 2 pressure reaches maximum value of 1008.3 psia.
55:54:51 - Oxygen tank No. 2 quantity jumps to off-scale high and then begins to drop until the time of telemetry loss, indicating failed sensor.
55:54:52 - Oxygen tank No. 2 temperature sensor reads -151.3 F.
55:54:52.703 - Oxygen tank No. 2 temperature suddenly goes off-scale low, indicating failed sensor.
55:54:52.763 - Last telemetered pressure from oxygen tank No. 2 before telemetry loss is 995.7 psia.
55:54:53.182 - Sudden accelerometer activity on X, Y, Z axes.
55:54:53.220 - Stabilization control system rate changes begin.
55:54:53.323 - Oxygen tank No. 1 pressure drops 4.2 psi.
55:54:53.500 - 2.8 amp rise in total fuel cell current.
55:54:53.542 - X, Y, and Z accelerations in CM indicate 1.17g, 0.65g, and 0.65g.
55:54:53.555 - Master caution and warning triggered by DC main bus B undervoltage. Alarm is turned off in 6 seconds. All indications are that the cryogenic oxygen tank No. 2 lost pressure in this time period and the panel separated.
55:54:54.741 - Nitrogen pressure in fuel cell 1 is off-scale low indicating failed sensor.
55:54:55.350 - Telemetry recovered.
55:54:56 - Service propulsion system engine valve body temperature begins a rise of 1.65 F in 7 seconds. DC main A decreases 0.9 volts to 28.5 volts and DC main bus B 0.9 volts to 29.0 volts. Total fuel cell current is 15 amps higher than the final value before telemetry loss. High current continues for 19 seconds. Oxygen tank No. 2 temperature reads off-scale high after telemetry recovery, probably indicating failed sensors. Oxygen tank No. 2 pressure reads off-scale low following telemetry recovery, indicating a broken supply line, a tank pressure below 19 psi, or a failed sensor. Oxygen tank No. 1 pressure reads 781.9 psia and begins to drop.
55:54:57 - Oxygen tank No. 2 quantity reads off-scale high following telemetry recovery indicating failed sensor.
55:55:01 - Oxygen flow rates to fuel cells 1 and 3 approached zero after decreasing for 7 seconds.
55:55:02 - The surface temperature of the service module oxidizer tank in bay 3 begins a 3.8 F increase in a 15 second period. The service propulsion system helium tank temperature begins a 3.8 F increase in a 32 second period.
55:55:09 - DC main bus A voltage recovers to 29.0 volts, DC main bus B recovers to 28.8.
55:55:20 - Swigert: "Okay, Houston, we've had a problem here."
55:55:28 - Duke: "This is Houston. Say again please."
55:55:35 - Lovell: "Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a main B bus undervolt."
55:55:42 - Duke: "Roger. Main B undervolt."
55:55:49 - Oxygen tank No. 2 temperature begins steady drop lasting 59 seconds indicating a failed sensor.
55:56:10 - Haise: "Okay. Right now, Houston, the voltage is--is looking good. And we had a pretty large bang associated with the caution and warning there. And as I recall, main B was the one that had an amp spike on it once before.
55:56:30 - Duke: "Roger, Fred."
55:56:38 - Oxygen tank No. 2 quantity becomes erratic for 69 seconds before assuming an off-scale low state, indicating a failed sensor.
55:56:54 - Haise: "In the interim here, we're starting to go ahead and button up the tunnel again."
55:57:04 - Haise: "That jolt must have rocked the sensor on -- see now -- oxygen quantity 2. It was oscillating down around 20 to 60 percent. Now it's full-scale high."
55:57:39 - Master caution and warning triggered by DC main bus B undervoltage. Alarm is turned off in 6 seconds.
55:57:40 - DC main bus B drops below 26.25 volts and continues to fall rapidly.
55:57:44 - Lovell: "Okay. And we're looking at our service module RCS helium 1. We have -- B is barber poled and D is barber poled, helium 2, D is barber pole, and secondary propellants, I have A and C barber pole." AC bus fails within 2 seconds.
55:57:45 - Fuel cell 3 fails.
55:57:59 - Fuel cell current begins to decrease.
55:58:02 - Master caution and warning caused by AC bus 2 being reset.
55:58:06 - Master caution and warning triggered by DC main bus undervoltage.
55:58:07 - DC main bus A drops below 26.25 volts and in the next few seconds levels off at 25.5 volts.
55:58:07 - Haise: "AC 2 is showing zip."
55:58:25 - Haise: "Yes, we got a main bus A undervolt now, too, showing. It's reading about 25 and a half. Main B is reading zip right now."
56:00:06 - Master caution and warning triggered by high hydrogen flow rate to fuel cell 2.
(Source: NASA.
www.nasa.gov)
