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"Farewell Aquarius And We Thank You" by Mark Karvon, link.

"On April 13, more than 200,000 miles from Earth, Apollo 13 experienced a catastrophic explosion of their #2 oxygen tank in their Service Module. The explosion critically damaged the spacecraft and the Command Module's ability to sustain human life. Over the next 3 days, Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert, with support from NASA on the ground, fought to bring their spacecraft home. Lunar Module Aquarius was used as a lifeboat which not only provided life support but also propulsion and guidance to bring the men home.

Aquarius was designed to bring two men to and from the surface of the moon and provide shelter for the astronauts during the lunar exploration. Its purpose was never realized but the ship performed admirably to bring the astronauts home. As the spacecraft neared Earth, Aquarius could not make the journey through the atmosphere and had to be jettisoned. Astronaut Joe Kerwin working CAPCOM spoke the following sentiment, 'Farewell, Aquarius, and we thank you.'

Aquarius carried the SNAP-27 (System for Nuclear Auxiliary Power). There was some concern over where the cask containing the plutonium oxide would end up. The last course correction on the way back from the moon ensures Aquarius would burn up over the Pacific Ocean. The impact point was over one of its deepest points in the Pacific - the Tonga Trench. The cask came to rest approximately 6 miles deep. No radioactive leakage was found on later surveys.

Astronomy sampler. The Gate Beautiful. 1903.

"How to find north without a compass." Elementary map and aerial photograph reading. 1944.

NASA’s Orion spacecraft is seen as the agency’s Landing and Recovery team, along with U.S. Navy personnel work to recover the spacecraft into the well deck of USS John P. Murtha in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, Saturday, April 11, 2026. NASA’s Artemis II mission, which took NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth, splashed down at at 5:07 p.m. PDT (8:07 p.m. EDT).

Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls).

Date: April 11, 2026