Failure Is Not an Option”: An Oral History of Apollo 13

In April 1970, the crew of the Apollo 13 became the most talked-about people on Earth after a malfunction en route to the moon left three astronauts stranded 200,000 miles from home. It was one of the biggest media stories of the decade, with audiences around the world glued to their TV sets and radios.

That’s not how I remember it.

The author of this article probably wasn’t even born in the 1970’s, or he’d know there were many big media stories.

The Beatles broke up, there was the massacre at the Munich Olympics, the Supreme Court issued the Roe v. Wade decision, President Nixon resigns due to the Watergate scandal, Elvis Presley died, Pope John Paul II is elected, the Three Mile Island nuke plant malfunctions, and the Iran Hostage Crisis begins.

A bunch of other stuff happened too, but those events were all the subject of movies.

One of the few people who missed the [Apollo 13] saga that captivated the world? Ron Howard.

I missed it too.  I distinctly recall news commentators concerned that when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, it might sink in the loose lunar regolith.  I don’t have any memories of the Apollo 13 malfunction covered in Ron Howard’s excellent movie.

I wasn’t sentient until I was 12 years old or so.  I didn’t shit myself and could move normally, but wasn’t paying much attention to anything or having any deep thoughts.

Look at my buck teeth and untroubled demeanor.

I was aware that Poncho was about as good a dog as you could find.  Poncho was our dog, but he wasn’t a pet in the modern sense.  In 1970, it was different.

Poncho was a part of the family.  He had is own friends and pursued his own interests.  He was an outside dog, but was brought inside occasionally.  If we were going to screw around in the woods or play with friends, Poncho would come along if he didn’t have anything else planned.

When the Mills Creek housing development was being built nearby, we started finding empty sandwich bags laying around.  Poncho was going back to the construction site, and grabbing the bag lunches that the carpenters had brought.  We thought that showed a lot of initiative.

Poncho was smart.  He would look both ways before crossing the street, and always found his way home.  There was one incident where Poncho was missing for several days.  The neighbor kid had seen him in the woods, running with the pack.  Poncho wasn’t lost, he just wanted to take a walk on the wild side.

Poncho could take care of himself, which was good, because nobody else was taking care of him.  We knew that veterinarians existed, but that’s where dogs and cats were taken to be put down.   Poncho would occasionally get a bath or knots cut out of his fur, but no actual medical attention.  It worked out fine, but that meant that nobody’s dog had been spayed or neutered.

We considered that to be a feature.  There were always puppies around.  Someone always wanted a cute puppy. 

It was unsettling when dogs would mate.  We weren’t watching for it, but when two dogs were stuck together, butt to butt, even a kid is going to notice that something ain’t right.  An adult would throw a bucket of water on the two dogs, and the situation would resolve itself.

I’m still not entirely clear on the mechanics of the dog mating mishap, what went wrong  and what would happen if we didn’t have a bucket.  I’m not going to research this.

We all liked having enough puppies around, that it wasn’t considered a bad idea to try juggling a couple of them.

Looking at that photo, I wonder if anyone had a beagle back in the day.  Sparky is the best dog for me, but he wanders off following a scent trail.  He doesn’t pay much attention, and would get lost.  I like to think that Poncho and Sparky would be friends who go off on nutty adventures.

Looking at the photo, I also notice that my brother Davy resembles Wendy from Alien: Earth.

I’m not saying that they are doppelgängers, but they do look like they go to the same barber.

The point is that in 1970, there was more going on than just Apollo 13, so it’s great that Ron Howard made a good movie about it so we can catch up on what we missed.