Apollo 131995

Gene Kranz:
Okay, people! Listen up! I want you all to forget the flight plan. From this moment on, we are improvising a new mission. [Kranz turns on an overheard projector and the bulb burns out] How do we get our people home? [drawing with chalk on blackboard] They are here. We turn them around? Straight back? Direct abort?

Bobby Spencer:
Yes! Gene...

MOCR Engineer:
No, we can't do that...

Jerry Bostick:
No, sir. No, sir! We get them on a free return trajectory. It's the option with the fewest question marks for safety.

Gene Kranz:
I agree with Jerry. We use the moon's gravity to slingshot them around.

Bobby Spencer:
No! The L.E.M. will not support three guys for that amount of time!

Larry Strimple:
It barely holds two.

Bobby Spencer:
I mean, we have got to do a direct abort. We do an about face, we bring the guys right home right now.

Larry Strimple:
Get them back soon, absolutely.

Jerry Bostick:
We don't even know if the Odyssey's engine's even working, and if there's been serious damage to this spacecraft...

Ray Teague:
They blow up and they die.

Bobby Spencer:
That is not the argument! We are talking about time!

Ray Teague:
Oh, come on! I'm not going to sugarcoat this for you!

Gene Kranz:
Let's hold it. Let's hold it down. Let's hold it down, people. The only engine we've got with enough power for a direct abort is the S.P.S. on the service module. From what Lovell has told us, it could have been damaged in an explosion, so let's consider that engine dead. We light that thing up, could blow the whole works. It's too risky. We're not gonna take that chance. Now the only thing the command module is good for is re-entry, so that leaves us with the L.E.M., which means free return trajectory. Once we get the guys around the moon, we'll fire up the L.E.M. engine, make a long burn, pick up some speed, get them back as soon as we can.

Alan Glines:
Gene, I'm wondering what the Grumman guys think about this.

Grumman Rep:
We can't make any guarantees. We designed the L.E.M. to land on the moon, not fire the engine out there for course correction.

Gene Kranz:
Well, unfortunately we're not landing on the moon, are we? I don't care what anything was designed to do. I care about what it can do. So let's get to work, let's lay it out, okay?