What is the origin of "Houston, we have a problem?" during Apollo 13?

Question

I looked this up on wikipedia, and apparently it's a misquote of "Houston, we've had a problem". But does anyone know why they call out Houston? Is that where the main headquarters were?

Answer 1

Yes, all the radio conversation with the Apollo 13 crew were from NASA's Johnson Space Center, the mission HQ in Houston. That's not the "main" HQ for NASA, which is the administrative center in Washington DC.



From the official transcript:

CC is Capsule communicator (CAP COMM) in Houston

LMP is Lunar module pilot, Fred Haise, Jr.

CDR is Commander, Jim Lovell, Jr.

Mission time stamps are day/hour/minute/second since launch.



02 07 55 19 LMP Okay, Houston - -

02 07 55 20 CDR I believe we've had a problem here.

02 07 55 28 CC This is Houston. Say again, please.

02 07 55 35 CDR Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a MAIN B BUS UNDERVOLT.

02 07 55 42 CC Roger. MAIN B UNDERVOLT.

02 07 55 58 CC Okay, stand by, 13. We're looking at it.

02 07 56 10 LMP Okay. Right now, Houston, the voltage is – is looking good. And we had a pretty large bang associated with the CAUTION AND WARNING there. And as I recall, MAIN B was the one that had had an amp spike on it once before.

02 07 56 40 CC Roger, Fred.

Answer 2

The re-entering Apollo cpasules followed a trajectory that was determined by gravity and aerodynamics. It was unpowered. That means they had a reasonable idea where the capsule would come down several hours or even days before it actually did. It's pretty much the same way they knew that the spacecraft would swing round the Moon even though they fired it off a few days before that happened. Think of it this way: if you aim a cannon at a particular elevation and you know how the cannonball behaves in flight, you can put a mark on the ground where you think it should land, and evey time you fired that cannon at that elevation the cannonball would land more or less where you made the mark. It's physics.

Answer 3

The lift off was in Florida but they communicated back and forth from their head quarter at Houston. The liquid oxygen tank on board has to be stirred every so often and when they tried to do so it exploded. They stir the liquid oxygen with a heater inside the tank. What happened was when they were on the launch pad the lift of was delayed. The liquid tank can not stay full of oxygen for an extended time on the launch pad, so they purged it to an external tank with the help of the tanks internal heater. But at one time the heater was left on after purge and the insulation on the heater burned off because there was no liquid oxygen in the tank to keep the heater from overheating. The tank was then filled for the launch and after launch was successful the heater was turned on and the bare heating element ignited the oxygen.

Answer 4

The Johnson Space center is located in Houston and is the control. So when they say, "Houston, we have a problem," they are pointing out Houston because they have all the information about the shuttle.

Answer 5

The control base thing was in Houston, Texas

Answer 6

Yes; the Apollo missions, and earlier space missions were controlled from the command centre in Houston.

Answer 7

Nasa is still in Houston as far as I know.......Launch from Cape Kennedy Florida and communicate through Houston. try gooogling

Answer 8

The Control is in Houston

He was allerting the guys on the ground that there was a fault.

Answer 9

dude, you have to watch Apollo 13; such a good movie. I just finished watching it :-)



you can watch it here:

http://watch-movies.net/movies/apollo_13/