Sunday, April 3, 2011

See You on the Other Side

OK, for those of you who are so lame that you haven't seen one of the best movies EVER...Apollo 13, "See you on the other side" is NOT in reference to life after death, as my son thinks.

The Apollo 13 mission was launched on April 11, 1970, and was the third Apollo mission intended to land on the moon. The craft was successully launched toward the Moon, but the landing had to be aborted after an oxygen tank ruptured, severely damaging the spacecraft's electrical system. This is where Tom's other famous line, "Houston, we have a problem," came from. The flight was commanded by James A. Lovell (Tom Hanks). While Lovell and his crew were experiencing great hardship caused by limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water and the critical need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system, engineers on the ground were scrambling to find a solution to get them back home safely.

I don't understand physics or gravity (other than something that goes up must come down), but part of the engineers plan was to sort of catapult the craft around the moon by using the gravitational pull of the earth. As they were catapulting, the crew would lose complete contact with Houston. So, right before they were to make the move, and not knowing if they would regain communication, Tom Hanks said, "See you on the other side."

There is your history lesson for the day, son. Don't you wish I was a college professor?

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