It does make it very clear, you know, what can happen if you do have... the right people, the right skill mix, that are trained and they're assembled in this team and they work together under the right leadership. You know, what a miracle can happen. And that's what was the case of Apollo 13.
I cycled on a crew assignment as the backup commander on Apollo 16 and would have flown Apollo 19 on a return mission to the moon. However, the last few missions of the Apollo Program were canceled for budgetary reasons. So I lost my second opportunity to land on the moon.
I think you jump into things without thinking ahead very much because I had never been in an airplane - even in a commercial airliner. I had never flown at all. I just wanted to be commissioned, to be a commissioned officer.
I immediately loved flying from my first flight and knew that in some way it was going to be a part of my future career!
As a military pilot and a test pilot, handling unusual situations and aircraft malfunctions was part of the business.
My biggest emotion on Apollo 13 after the oxygen tank explosion was disappointment that we had lost the landing.
All at once the cockpit lit up with a sort of white glow because your entry was at 25,000 miles an hour and it was ionising some of the first particles of air you had. So it was kinda a little bit like being inside a weak neon bulb.
Obviously I'd like NASA to follow their charter - the exploration of our solar system and beyond. I'd like to see people someday go to Mars.
I've had a good career, some good experiences.
