Apollo 13 · April 1970
Apollo 13: Bring Them Home
A tank fails 200,000 miles from home. Power, air and time are all short.
- Ages
- 13 to 15
- Time
- About 20 minutes
- Shape
- 3 decisions and a defense
Part 2 of 3 in the series Engineers on the Line
The situation
In April 1970, Apollo 13 carried three astronauts toward the Moon in two linked spacecraft, Odyssey and Aquarius.
Years before launch, one oxygen tank had been dropped and later damaged in a ground test. No one caught it. About 56 hours into the flight, a routine stir of the tanks set off the damaged wiring, and the ship lost power, oxygen and water.
Your teen works as a systems analyst: where could one hidden fault spread, and what would each fix have cost?
The background and the choices come from the historical record. What really happened is shown only after your teen writes a defense.
What it builds
Mapping how parts of a system depend on each other, and telling where a fault starts from where it spreads.
Using evidence
Backs each claim with a specific fact from the simulation.
Seeing ripple effects
Traces second- and third-order effects through the system.
Judging risk
Names likely and severe risks and how to reduce them.
Making a clear argument
A clear claim, reasons, and an answer to the best counter-argument.
Subjects it touches: History, Science, Engineering. It sits beside your core curriculum; it doesn't replace it.
Try the first decision
A short preview. It has no AI and saves nothing. Want two minutes with the background first? Try a mission free
Decision 1 of 3 · Preview, no AI, nothing saved
Before the flight, oxygen tank No. 2 and its neighbor shared one bay in the service module, wired and plumbed close together. A damaged switch inside tank No. 2 went unnoticed because routine checks weren't built to find it. You are mapping where a single hidden fault could grow into something bigger.
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