It was April 17, 1970 when the crew of the Apollo 13 mission found themselves in a rather complicated situation, as well as dangerous, but thanks to an Omega Speedmaster they managed to save themselves.
After taking a tour of the Omega Museum in Bienne (a video of which will be released on our YouTube channel) we can say that we have almost experienced the sensation that the astronauts experienced during the famous 14 seconds that allowed the return to Earth.
The history of Apollo 13
Number 13 doesn’t boast such a positive reputation. It may have been chance or an unfortunate series of events that made this mission truly difficult. After Apollo 11 and 12, 13 was the third favorite for landing, but during the flight there was an explosion inside the module that forced the astronauts to abandon the mission.
To return to the land the crew had to transfer from the main module to the lunar one, named “Aquarius”, which was intended precisely for the landing, but the return was a real undertaking. 4 days of travel in which they reached the furthest point from the earth ever reached by man.
The emergency and the famous 14 seconds of fuel burn
The lunar module was not designed to have the entire crew on board for such a long period, the astronauts had to shut down all non-essential onboard systems, including digital timers and heating. To return to land they had to take a very specific trajectory but during the journey they drifted away about 70 nautical miles.
It was in this case that the Omega Speedmaster came into play. Without deviating the trajectory to return to the correct course, they would have bounced into the atmosphere without having a chance to make a second attempt, getting lost forever in space. To get back on track, they calculated the need for 14 seconds of fuel burn, which they were only able to measure thanks to their Speedmaster.
Finally on April 17, 142 hours and 54 minutes after launch, Apollo 13 landed safely in the South Pacific.
The Silver Snoopy Award
Later that same year, on October 5, 1970, OMEGA received NASA’s “Silver Snoopy Award” – in gratitude for his contribution to successful manned space flight missions. When this prestigious award was established, Snoopy was chosen as NASA’s unofficial mascot for his ability to play down in difficult situations. It would have highlighted the success of the mission and represented a “watchdog” for in-flight safety.
Since then, Omega has created several versions of the Speedmaster Snoopy to celebrate this important mission, featuring the classic Charlie Brown Beagle from the Peanuts comic. Each of these watches not only celebrates the mission but recalls the precision of Omega watches that allowed an emergency not to turn into a disaster.
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