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the duct tape

How duct tape helped bring Apollo 13 home

When Apollo 13's crew was slowly poisoning their own air, the fix came down to duct tape and a plastic bag.

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The real story

About 56 hours into the flight, some 200,000 miles from Earth, an oxygen tank in the service module exploded. The three astronauts moved into the lunar module Aquarius, built to support two men for about two days. Their breath soon raised carbon dioxide to dangerous levels, and the command module's spare lithium hydroxide canisters were square while the lunar module's sockets were round.

In Houston, a team led by engineer Ed Smylie built an adapter using only items known to be on board: plastic bags, cardboard from the flight plan cover, suit hoses, socks and lots of duct tape. Mission Control read the steps up by radio, the crew built the 'mailbox', and the CO2 levels fell. All three splashed down safely on 17 April 1970. Duct tape went on to fix a lunar rover's broken fender on Apollo 17.

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The facts we checked

  • In April 1970 an oxygen tank exploded about 200,000 miles (320,000 km) from Earth, most of the way to the Moon; Apollo 13's crew moved into their small lunar module to survive
  • Carbon dioxide began to build up; the spare air filters were square but the lunar module's sockets were round
  • Engineers on Earth invented a fix from duct tape, plastic bags, cardboard and hoses; the crew built it, and all three came home safely

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We checked every number and date on screen before the video was made.

Made by teodolist studio

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