On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 lifted off from its launch pad at Kennedy space center. On board were:

The mission was to fly to the moon and do some exploring and various scientific experiments. Three days into the flight, on April 14th, at a distance of about 200,000 miles from the earth, Apollo 13’s mission changed dramatically. Instead of a mission to the moon, it became a race for survival for the 3 astronauts on board. Let’s examine how the crew and mission control used problem solving strategies to get the 3 men back to earth alive.

Part of problem solving is decision making, so let’s take a brief look at what goes into making a decision. The process of decision making is “Deciding Among Various Alternatives”. This begins with the preparation stage where you identify your goals. The original goal for the mission was to fly to the moon.... due to some unforeseen circumstances, the goal changed.

Part of problem solving is decision making, so let’s take a brief look at what goes into making a decision. The process of decision making is “Deciding Among Various Alternatives”. This begins with the preparation stage where you identify your goals. The original goal for the mission was to fly to the moon.... due to some unforeseen circumstances, the goal changed.

Part of decision making is actually carrying out the decision. Apollo 13 took off; everything went well on the way to the moon. Since this was the third visit to our planet’s companion, it had almost became a routine flight, until a loud noise, accompanied by malfunctions in the electrical system and a short blasts of the control thrust'ers led the astronauts to believe they might have been struck by a meteorite.

From one moment to the next, the routine was interrupted and everyone switched to problem solving mode. In order to determine what the problem was and to find a course of action to solve it, the crew and mission control had to use critical thinking. They asked themselves 4 important questions.

The next question was “which part of the problem appears to be the most critical to finding a solution”? It turned out that the electrical power was the most crucial asset needed in order to survive, but this was also the most limited asset.

Lastly, they looked at what information could be ignored. One would think that knowing about the amount of oxygen available was the most important information they would need in order to survive, but the lunar module had enough oxygen to get re-pressurized after each surface excursion. The fact that there would not be any extra-vehicular excursions on the moon meant that the lunar module would not lose its oxygen pressure at all. Therefore the information about the amount of oxygen available became the least important, for the time being. However, the goal of the mission had changed from going to the moon, to bringing the astronauts back to earth alive.

First, they worked as a team. The crew in space worked with mission control and the engineers on earth to find the best possible solutions. You need to know… Assembling a team with the knowledge required to understand the product or process is essential however knowledge about the product and process is not enough. Ensuring your team has the problem solving skills required to build an effective framework of problem solving while under pressure and a short timeline is essential in today’s competitive market. Time was the most crucial element in determining which decisions they had to make. Since this was such a huge problem they used another strategy. They broke the problem down into smaller, more manageable pieces (and assigned specific assignments and tasks to various staff based on their experience and expertise). For example, they had to find the best alternative to reverse the course of Apollo 13 back to earth. The sub-problem was the spacecraft was already in the moon’s gravitational sphere of influence. To use the service module’s engine to reverse course did not make a lot of sense. In addition to that, it was not clear if the engine had suffered damage from the explosion, so they opted for the circumlunar free return option. This used the moon’s gravitational pull like a slingshot to propel Apollo 13 back towards earth. They used charts, drawings and calculations to determine the course of the craft and the precise timing of firing the engine to provide the boost needed to propel them all the way back to earth. Breaking the big problem down into smaller one’s is a great problem solving strategy.

Although they had enough lithium hydroxide canisters on board the command module, the square cartridges would not fit in the lunar module, which took round cartridges. So they used another critical thinking strategy called “taking another perspective”. They literally were “thinking outside the box”. The engineers on earth came up with the solution of adapting the square command modules canisters to the round lunar module fittings. They called it “the mailbox” since that is what the final modified CO2 scrubber unit looked like.

By eliminating components that were not absolutely necessary and by refining the sequence of the power up, they were able to reduce the overall power requirements to a level that allowed them to successfully power up the command module. After the systems in the command module were up and running, Lovell, Swigert and Haise moved from the lunar module and prepared for reentry. They first jettisoned the service module. As the module floated away, the crew saw the extent of the damage for the first time. Then they separated from the lunar module, which had been their lifeboat for the last 4 days. It was time for the dangerous last phase of the mission; reentry into earth’s atmosphere. On April 17th, 1970, after a perilous 6 day flight through space, Odyssey finally splashed down into the south Pacific. The crew was picked up by the aircraft carrier Iwo Jima. Apollo 13 was a great example of how critical thinking and the various strategies of problem solving were used to bring the 3 astronauts back to earth alive.