Editing Apollo 13 (section)

=== Reentry and splashdown ===

Despite the accuracy of the transearth injection, the spacecraft slowly drifted off course, necessitating a correction. As the LM's guidance system had been shut down following the PC+2 burn, the crew was told to use [[solar terminator|the line between night and day]] on the Earth to guide them, a technique used on NASA's Earth-orbit missions but never on the way back from the Moon.<ref name = "Cass 3" /> This DPS burn, at 105:18:42 for 14&nbsp;seconds, brought the projected entry flight path angle back within safe limits. Nevertheless, yet another burn was needed at 137:40:13, using the LM's [[reaction control system]] (RCS) thrusters, for 21.5&nbsp;seconds. The SM was jettisoned less than half an hour later, allowing the crew to see the damage for the first time, and photograph it. They reported that an entire panel was missing from the SM's exterior, the fuel cells above the oxygen tank shelf were tilted, that the high-gain antenna was damaged, and there was a considerable amount of debris elsewhere.{{sfn|Orloff & Harland|2006|pp=370–371}} Haise could see possible damage to the SM's engine bell, validating Kranz's decision not to use the SPS.<ref name = "Cass 3" /> The crew then moved out of the LM back into the CM and reactivated its life support systems.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-029C |title=Apollo 13 Lunar Module / EASEP |publisher=[[NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive]] |access-date=July 9, 2024}}</ref> 

[[File:Apollo13 splashdown.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Spaceship contacts ocean under parachute|Apollo&nbsp;13 splashes down in the South Pacific on April 17, 1970]]

The last problem to be solved was how to separate the lunar module a safe distance away from the command module just before reentry. The normal procedure, in lunar orbit, was to release the LM and then use the service module's RCS to pull the CSM away, but by this point, the SM had already been released. [[Grumman]], manufacturer of the LM, assigned a team of [[University of Toronto]] engineers, led by senior scientist [[Bernard Etkin]], to solve the problem of how much air pressure to use to push the modules apart. The astronauts applied the solution, which was successful.<ref name="G&M">{{cite news|title=Bernard Etkin helped avert Apollo 13 tragedy|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/bernard-etkin-helped-avert-apollo-13-tragedy/article19735265/#dashboard/follows/|access-date=September 7, 2019|newspaper=The Globe and Mail}}</ref> The LM reentered Earth's atmosphere and was destroyed, the remaining pieces falling in the deep ocean.<ref name="LM-ALSEP" /><ref name=impact>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/apollo_impact.html|title=Impact Sites of Apollo LM Ascent and SIVB Stages|website=NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive|access-date=August 27, 2019}}</ref> Apollo&nbsp;13's final midcourse correction had addressed the concerns of the Atomic Energy Commission, which wanted the cask containing the plutonium oxide intended for the SNAP-27 RTG to land in a safe place. The impact point was over the [[Tonga Trench]] in the Pacific, one of its deepest points, and the cask sank {{convert|10|km|mi nmi|sp=us|0}} to the bottom. Later helicopter surveys found no radioactive leakage.<ref name = "Cass 3" />

Ionization of the air around the command module during reentry would typically cause a four-minute communications blackout. Apollo&nbsp;13's shallow reentry path lengthened this to six minutes, longer than had been expected; controllers feared that the CM's heat shield had failed.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Did Ron Howard exaggerate the reentry scene in the movie Apollo 13?|first=Joe|last=Pappalardo|url=http://www.airspacemag.com/need-to-know/did-ron-howard-exaggerate-the-reentry-scene-in-the-movie-apollo-13-17639496/|magazine=[[Air & Space/Smithsonian]]|publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]|location=Washington, D.C.|date=May 1, 2007|access-date=September 8, 2019}}</ref> ''Odyssey'' regained radio contact and splashed down safely in the South Pacific Ocean, {{Coord|21|38|24|S|165|21|42|W|type:event|name=Apollo 13 splashdown}},{{sfn|Apollo 13 Mission Report 1970|p=1-2}} southeast of [[American Samoa]] and {{convert|6.5|km|mi nmi|abbr=on}} from the recovery ship, [[USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2)|USS ''Iwo Jima'']].{{sfn|Orloff & Harland|2006|p=371}} Although fatigued, the crew was in good condition except for Haise, who had developed a serious urinary tract infection because of insufficient water intake.{{sfn|Cortright|1975|pp=262–263}} The crew stayed overnight on the ship and flew to [[Pago Pago]], [[American Samoa]], the next day. They flew to Hawaii, where President [[Richard Nixon]] awarded them the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], the highest civilian honor.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39764154/the_philadelphia_inquirer/|title=Heroes of Apollo 13 Welcomed by President and Loved Ones|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer|location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|date=April 19, 1970|via=Newspapers.com|page=1}}</ref> They stayed overnight, and then were flown back to Houston.{{sfn|Apollo 13 Mission Report 1970|p=10-5}}

En route to Honolulu, President Nixon stopped at Houston to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to the Apollo&nbsp;13 Mission Operations Team.<ref name="nixon">{{cite web|title=Behind the Scenes of Apollo 13|url=https://www.nixonfoundation.org/2016/04/behind-scenes-apollo-13/|website=Richard Nixon Foundation|access-date=June 27, 2019|date=April 11, 2016}}</ref> He originally planned to give the award to NASA administrator [[Thomas O. Paine]], but Paine recommended the mission operations team.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/241054|title=Remarks on Presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team in Houston.|publisher=The American Presidency Project|access-date=December 27, 2017}}</ref>