Latest news with #Smylie
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Ed Smylie, Nasa engineer whose quick thinking saved the lives of the Apollo 13 crew
Ed Smylie, who has died aged 95, was an American engineer who led the team at Nasa which saved the imperiled crew of the crippled US moon ship Apollo 13 from suffocating in their own exhaled carbon dioxide. With typical Nasa engineers' disdain for superstition, Apollo 13 was launched from Florida on April 11 1970 at 13:13 hours (Mission Control, Houston time). It planned to make America's third lunar landing, in the undulating highlands at Fra Mauro crater, amid increasing public apathy about the space programme. Two days later, on the evening of April 13, as they were closing a live television broadcast an oxygen tank exploded with a loud bang and disabled their craft. The shaken crew radioed home the legendary understatement usually misquoted as: 'Houston, we have a problem.' The moon landing was abandoned, and the crew of James Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise manually navigated around the Moon on to a course back to Earth. Their primary spacecraft, the command module, was no longer viable, but the lunar lander was available to provide limited power and propulsion. Had it not still been attached the crew would have been doomed. Remaining oxygen supplies were adequate, but a few hours later Smylie and his team suddenly realised that another issue would soon become critical for survival – carbon dioxide. Exhaled in the crew's breath, this gas has to be filtered from the cabin atmosphere by lithium hydroxide canisters. High concentrations cause confusion, reduced brain function, loss of consciousness and eventually death by asphyxiation. There were plenty of square canisters in the now powered-down command module, built by North American Aviation, but they were not compatible with the cylindrical ones in the lander, built by Grumman. The need to swap them over had never been envisaged. Smylie and two colleagues worked through the night to devise a method to make the command module's canister fit the lander's receptacle. First, he asked for a list of miscellaneous items aboard Apollo 13, the only things the astronauts had available with which to cobble together something that might work. When he saw duct tape on the list, Smylie breathed a sigh of relief: 'I felt like we were home free. One thing a southern boy will never say is: 'I don't think duct tape will fix it'.' The final contraption also involved a sock, the flight plan binder, hoses from their space suits and a plastic bag. After testing at Mission Control, assembly instructions were radioed up to the bemused crew. When they switched it on, carbon dioxide levels began dropping immediately. It was the ultimate solution for fitting a square peg into a round hole. In a memorable scene from the 1995 film Apollo 13, a character based on Smylie empties a box of duct tape, plastic bags, hoses and other items on to a table, then holds up the Command Module's square canister and the lander's round one. 'We've got to make this fit into the hole made for this,' he says, then gestures toward the pile of junk, 'using nothing but this.' Smylie was later described by Time magazine as an 'improvisational genius'. Robert Edwin Smylie was born on December 25 1929 to Robert Smylie and Leona, née White, at his grandparents' farm in Mississippi; his father managed an ice-making plant. After service in the US Navy he took bachelors and masters degrees in mechanical engineering at Mississippi State University and later earned a masters in management from MIT. After a period with Douglas Aircraft, he joined Nasa in 1962 as head of life systems, then became head of the environmental control systems branch at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. He rose to chief of crew systems division, his role during the Apollo 13 emergency. He later assumed more senior posts at Nasa headquarters in Washington. For his service to the space programme, particularly his role in saving the Apollo 13 crew, Smylie and his team received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Richard Nixon. Ed Smylie married June Reeves in 1954. They had two daughters and a son but divorced; his second wife, of 41 years, Carolyn Hall, died in 2024. His children survive him along with two stepchildren. Ed Smylie, born December 25 1929, died April 21 2025 Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Boston Globe
19-05-2025
- Science
- Boston Globe
Ed Smylie, who saved Apollo 13 crew with duct tape, dies at 95
'They are men whose names simply represent the whole team,' Nixon said at a ceremony at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. 'And they had a jerry-built operation which worked, and had that not occurred, these men would not have gotten back.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Soft-spoken, with an accent that revealed his Mississippi upbringing, Smylie was relaxing at home in Houston on the evening of April 13 when Lovell radioed mission control with his famous (and frequently misquoted) line: 'Uh, Houston, we've had a problem.' Advertisement An oxygen tank had exploded, crippling the spacecraft's command module. Smylie, who lived five houses down from Haise, saw the news on television and called the crew systems office, according to the 1994 book 'Lost Moon' by Lovell and journalist Jeffrey Kluger. The desk operator said the astronauts were retreating to the lunar excursion module, which was supposed to shuttle two crew members to the moon. 'I'm coming in,' Smylie said. Advertisement NASA official Donald K. 'Deke' Slayton showed other NASA officials the apparatus that Robert 'Ed' Smylie and a team of engineers created for the Apollo 13 rescue effort. NASA/NYT Smylie knew there was a problem with this plan: The lunar module was equipped to safely handle air flow for only two astronauts. Three humans would generate lethal levels of carbon dioxide. To survive, the astronauts would need to somehow refresh the canisters of lithium hydroxide that would absorb the poisonous gases in the lunar excursion module. There were extra canisters in the command module, but they were square; the lunar module ones were round. 'You can't put a square peg in a round hole, and that's what we had,' Smylie said in the documentary 'XIII' (2021). He and about 60 other engineers had less than two days to invent a solution using materials already onboard the spacecraft. The crisis is depicted in Ron Howard's 1995 blockbuster film, 'Apollo 13,' starring Tom Hanks as Lovell, Kevin Bacon as Swigert and Bill Paxton as Haise. Onscreen, a character inspired by Smylie dramatically dumps rubber tubes, garment bags, duct tape and other materials onto a table. 'The people upstairs handed us this one,' the character says, 'and we gotta come through.' In reality, the engineers printed a supply list of the equipment that was onboard. Smylie with a command module used during the Apollo space missions. MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY/NYT Their ingenious solution: an adapter made of two lithium hydroxide canisters from the command module, plastic bags used for garments, cardboard from the cover of the flight plan, a spacesuit hose and a roll of gray duct tape. 'If you're a Southern boy, if it moves and it's not supposed to, you use duct tape,' Smylie said in the documentary. 'That's where we were. We had duct tape, and we had to tape it in a way that we could hook the environmental control system hose to the command module canister.' Advertisement Mission control commanders provided step-by-step instructions to the astronauts for locating materials and building the adapter. In between steps, they joked about taxes. (It was, after all, April.) 'OK, Jack,' one of the commanders radioed. 'Did anybody ever tell you that you got a 60-day extension on your income tax? Over.' 'Yes,' Swigert replied. 'I think somebody said that when you are out of your country, you get a 60-day extension.' The adapter worked. The astronauts were able to breathe safely in the lunar module for two days as they awaited the appropriate trajectory to fly the hobbled command module home. They landed in the Pacific Ocean with plenty of time to file their taxes (thanks to the extension). 'We would have died had their solution not worked,' Haise said in an interview. 'I don't know what more you can say about that.' Robert Edwin Smylie, who was known as Ed all his life, was born on Dec. 25, 1929, in Lincoln County, Mississippi, on his grandfather's farm. His father, Robert Torrey Smylie, delivered ice and later managed an ice-making facility. His mother, Leona (White) Smylie, oversaw the home. After serving in the U.S. Navy, Smylie studied mechanical engineering at Mississippi State University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1952 and a master's in 1956. He pursued a doctorate at UCLA but didn't finish. In 1962, he was working at Douglas Aircraft Co. in California when President John F. Kennedy announced plans to send astronauts to the moon. 'I was a young engineer and just wanted to be there and help make it happen,' Smylie said in a NASA oral history. He applied for a job at the space agency in Houston, initially working in the environmental control section. He eventually became chief of the crew systems division, which was responsible for the life-sustaining equipment used by Apollo astronauts in space. Advertisement Smylie always played down his ingenuity and his role in saving the Apollo 13 crew. 'It was pretty straightforward, even though we got a lot of publicity for it and Nixon even mentioned our names,' he said in the oral history. 'I said a mechanical engineering sophomore in college could have come up with it.' Smylie's marriage to June Reeves in 1954 ended in divorce. He married Carolyn Hall in 1983; she died in 2024. In addition to Steven, his son, he is survived by his daughters, Susan Smylie and Lisa Willis; stepchildren Natalie and Andrew Hall; 12 grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren. Smylie's lifesaving invention was a seminal moment in the storied history of duct tape, the jack-of-all-trades tool kit item. 'Duct tape has come to enjoy a kind of heroic and ever more pervasive presence in American life,' Tisha Hooks observed in 'Duct Tape and the U.S. Social Imagination,' the dissertation she wrote at Yale University in 2015. 'From the Apollo 13 mission to the broken basement pipe,' she wrote, 'duct tape is there.' This article originally appeared in
The Advertiser
12-05-2025
- Sport
- The Advertiser
'Going after it': Aussie young gun pumped for US major
Elvis Smylie will lean on superstar stablemate Min Woo Lee and Australia's other golf heavyweights in an audacious bid for PGA Championship glory in North Carolina. Already believing he belongs and intent on becoming a "global player", Smylie is feeling anything but overawed ahead of his US major championship debut on Thursday. "I feel like my game has gone to the next level after playing in Europe," said the young lefthander, who earned his DP World Tour card with victory at the Australian PGA Championship last November. Victory at Royal Queensland relinquished Lee of the Joe Kirkwood Cup he won in 2023 before breaking through for his maiden PGA Tour win in March. After following in Lee's footsteps at home, Smylie now hopes to nab some tips about how to play Quail Hollow from the world No.25 as well as major-winning compatriots Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith, who are also in the field. "Planning to have a practice round with a couple of the Aussies. Hopefully Min will be one of them and then Adam, Cam, Jason, yeah, whoever's available," Smylie told AAP. The son of former Australian tennis star Liz Smylie made his major debut at last year's British Open and, while he missed the cut by two shots, the classy left-hander is also drawing confidence from matching Lee's 36-hole total and beating his buddy by five shots in round two at Royal Troon. He knows he's got the game and grit to compete with golf's big boys - and is relishing the opportunity to prove it. "When I look around and see the names I've played against, Rory McIlroy was in the field at the start of the year in Dubai," Smylie said. "Jon Rahm and Adam Scott and world-class players that I've grown up watching on TV and then to be able to be competing against them, in the same tournament, I feel like I really do belong. "I don't really get overwhelmed too much. I more think of this as an opportunity to see how good my game is against these guys. "I played a practice round with Adam Scott last year at the Open and he was by far the most impressive ball striker. "His ability to be able to shape shots left, right, high, low, he can do anything with the golf ball. "So just visually seeing their games, I know know that I'm not too far away because I know that mentally I'm very gritty. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going kind of thing, I quite embrace that. So this will be another great learning curve to see where my game's at again. "I want to be playing against the best players in the world. I want to be playing in majors and I want to take my game globally." Also excited to be reuniting with super-coach Ritchie Smith, the esteemed mentor who guides the likes of Min Woo and Minjee Lee and fellow major winner Hannah Green, Smylie is targeting more than just making the cut at Quail Hollow. "I'd love to play all four rounds of the major. I think that's a realistic goal for me," he said. "And then once we can get through those first two rounds well, then it's just about really embracing what you're feeling and just going after it." Elvis Smylie will lean on superstar stablemate Min Woo Lee and Australia's other golf heavyweights in an audacious bid for PGA Championship glory in North Carolina. Already believing he belongs and intent on becoming a "global player", Smylie is feeling anything but overawed ahead of his US major championship debut on Thursday. "I feel like my game has gone to the next level after playing in Europe," said the young lefthander, who earned his DP World Tour card with victory at the Australian PGA Championship last November. Victory at Royal Queensland relinquished Lee of the Joe Kirkwood Cup he won in 2023 before breaking through for his maiden PGA Tour win in March. After following in Lee's footsteps at home, Smylie now hopes to nab some tips about how to play Quail Hollow from the world No.25 as well as major-winning compatriots Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith, who are also in the field. "Planning to have a practice round with a couple of the Aussies. Hopefully Min will be one of them and then Adam, Cam, Jason, yeah, whoever's available," Smylie told AAP. The son of former Australian tennis star Liz Smylie made his major debut at last year's British Open and, while he missed the cut by two shots, the classy left-hander is also drawing confidence from matching Lee's 36-hole total and beating his buddy by five shots in round two at Royal Troon. He knows he's got the game and grit to compete with golf's big boys - and is relishing the opportunity to prove it. "When I look around and see the names I've played against, Rory McIlroy was in the field at the start of the year in Dubai," Smylie said. "Jon Rahm and Adam Scott and world-class players that I've grown up watching on TV and then to be able to be competing against them, in the same tournament, I feel like I really do belong. "I don't really get overwhelmed too much. I more think of this as an opportunity to see how good my game is against these guys. "I played a practice round with Adam Scott last year at the Open and he was by far the most impressive ball striker. "His ability to be able to shape shots left, right, high, low, he can do anything with the golf ball. "So just visually seeing their games, I know know that I'm not too far away because I know that mentally I'm very gritty. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going kind of thing, I quite embrace that. So this will be another great learning curve to see where my game's at again. "I want to be playing against the best players in the world. I want to be playing in majors and I want to take my game globally." Also excited to be reuniting with super-coach Ritchie Smith, the esteemed mentor who guides the likes of Min Woo and Minjee Lee and fellow major winner Hannah Green, Smylie is targeting more than just making the cut at Quail Hollow. "I'd love to play all four rounds of the major. I think that's a realistic goal for me," he said. "And then once we can get through those first two rounds well, then it's just about really embracing what you're feeling and just going after it." Elvis Smylie will lean on superstar stablemate Min Woo Lee and Australia's other golf heavyweights in an audacious bid for PGA Championship glory in North Carolina. Already believing he belongs and intent on becoming a "global player", Smylie is feeling anything but overawed ahead of his US major championship debut on Thursday. "I feel like my game has gone to the next level after playing in Europe," said the young lefthander, who earned his DP World Tour card with victory at the Australian PGA Championship last November. Victory at Royal Queensland relinquished Lee of the Joe Kirkwood Cup he won in 2023 before breaking through for his maiden PGA Tour win in March. After following in Lee's footsteps at home, Smylie now hopes to nab some tips about how to play Quail Hollow from the world No.25 as well as major-winning compatriots Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith, who are also in the field. "Planning to have a practice round with a couple of the Aussies. Hopefully Min will be one of them and then Adam, Cam, Jason, yeah, whoever's available," Smylie told AAP. The son of former Australian tennis star Liz Smylie made his major debut at last year's British Open and, while he missed the cut by two shots, the classy left-hander is also drawing confidence from matching Lee's 36-hole total and beating his buddy by five shots in round two at Royal Troon. He knows he's got the game and grit to compete with golf's big boys - and is relishing the opportunity to prove it. "When I look around and see the names I've played against, Rory McIlroy was in the field at the start of the year in Dubai," Smylie said. "Jon Rahm and Adam Scott and world-class players that I've grown up watching on TV and then to be able to be competing against them, in the same tournament, I feel like I really do belong. "I don't really get overwhelmed too much. I more think of this as an opportunity to see how good my game is against these guys. "I played a practice round with Adam Scott last year at the Open and he was by far the most impressive ball striker. "His ability to be able to shape shots left, right, high, low, he can do anything with the golf ball. "So just visually seeing their games, I know know that I'm not too far away because I know that mentally I'm very gritty. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going kind of thing, I quite embrace that. So this will be another great learning curve to see where my game's at again. "I want to be playing against the best players in the world. I want to be playing in majors and I want to take my game globally." Also excited to be reuniting with super-coach Ritchie Smith, the esteemed mentor who guides the likes of Min Woo and Minjee Lee and fellow major winner Hannah Green, Smylie is targeting more than just making the cut at Quail Hollow. "I'd love to play all four rounds of the major. I think that's a realistic goal for me," he said. "And then once we can get through those first two rounds well, then it's just about really embracing what you're feeling and just going after it." Elvis Smylie will lean on superstar stablemate Min Woo Lee and Australia's other golf heavyweights in an audacious bid for PGA Championship glory in North Carolina. Already believing he belongs and intent on becoming a "global player", Smylie is feeling anything but overawed ahead of his US major championship debut on Thursday. "I feel like my game has gone to the next level after playing in Europe," said the young lefthander, who earned his DP World Tour card with victory at the Australian PGA Championship last November. Victory at Royal Queensland relinquished Lee of the Joe Kirkwood Cup he won in 2023 before breaking through for his maiden PGA Tour win in March. After following in Lee's footsteps at home, Smylie now hopes to nab some tips about how to play Quail Hollow from the world No.25 as well as major-winning compatriots Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith, who are also in the field. "Planning to have a practice round with a couple of the Aussies. Hopefully Min will be one of them and then Adam, Cam, Jason, yeah, whoever's available," Smylie told AAP. The son of former Australian tennis star Liz Smylie made his major debut at last year's British Open and, while he missed the cut by two shots, the classy left-hander is also drawing confidence from matching Lee's 36-hole total and beating his buddy by five shots in round two at Royal Troon. He knows he's got the game and grit to compete with golf's big boys - and is relishing the opportunity to prove it. "When I look around and see the names I've played against, Rory McIlroy was in the field at the start of the year in Dubai," Smylie said. "Jon Rahm and Adam Scott and world-class players that I've grown up watching on TV and then to be able to be competing against them, in the same tournament, I feel like I really do belong. "I don't really get overwhelmed too much. I more think of this as an opportunity to see how good my game is against these guys. "I played a practice round with Adam Scott last year at the Open and he was by far the most impressive ball striker. "His ability to be able to shape shots left, right, high, low, he can do anything with the golf ball. "So just visually seeing their games, I know know that I'm not too far away because I know that mentally I'm very gritty. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going kind of thing, I quite embrace that. So this will be another great learning curve to see where my game's at again. "I want to be playing against the best players in the world. I want to be playing in majors and I want to take my game globally." Also excited to be reuniting with super-coach Ritchie Smith, the esteemed mentor who guides the likes of Min Woo and Minjee Lee and fellow major winner Hannah Green, Smylie is targeting more than just making the cut at Quail Hollow. "I'd love to play all four rounds of the major. I think that's a realistic goal for me," he said. "And then once we can get through those first two rounds well, then it's just about really embracing what you're feeling and just going after it."
West Australian
12-05-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
'Going after it': Aussie young gun pumped for US major
Elvis Smylie will lean on superstar stablemate Min Woo Lee and Australia's other golf heavyweights in an audacious bid for PGA Championship glory in North Carolina. Already believing he belongs and intent on becoming a "global player", Smylie is feeling anything but overawed ahead of his US major championship debut on Thursday. "I feel like my game has gone to the next level after playing in Europe," said the young lefthander, who earned his DP World Tour card with victory at the Australian PGA Championship last November. Victory at Royal Queensland relinquished Lee of the Joe Kirkwood Cup he won in 2023 before breaking through for his maiden PGA Tour win in March. After following in Lee's footsteps at home, Smylie now hopes to nab some tips about how to play Quail Hollow from the world No.25 as well as major-winning compatriots Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith, who are also in the field. "Planning to have a practice round with a couple of the Aussies. Hopefully Min will be one of them and then Adam, Cam, Jason, yeah, whoever's available," Smylie told AAP. The son of former Australian tennis star Liz Smylie made his major debut at last year's British Open and, while he missed the cut by two shots, the classy left-hander is also drawing confidence from matching Lee's 36-hole total and beating his buddy by five shots in round two at Royal Troon. He knows he's got the game and grit to compete with golf's big boys - and is relishing the opportunity to prove it. "When I look around and see the names I've played against, Rory McIlroy was in the field at the start of the year in Dubai," Smylie said. "Jon Rahm and Adam Scott and world-class players that I've grown up watching on TV and then to be able to be competing against them, in the same tournament, I feel like I really do belong. "I don't really get overwhelmed too much. I more think of this as an opportunity to see how good my game is against these guys. "I played a practice round with Adam Scott last year at the Open and he was by far the most impressive ball striker. "His ability to be able to shape shots left, right, high, low, he can do anything with the golf ball. "So just visually seeing their games, I know know that I'm not too far away because I know that mentally I'm very gritty. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going kind of thing, I quite embrace that. So this will be another great learning curve to see where my game's at again. "I want to be playing against the best players in the world. I want to be playing in majors and I want to take my game globally." Also excited to be reuniting with super-coach Ritchie Smith, the esteemed mentor who guides the likes of Min Woo and Minjee Lee and fellow major winner Hannah Green, Smylie is targeting more than just making the cut at Quail Hollow. "I'd love to play all four rounds of the major. I think that's a realistic goal for me," he said. "And then once we can get through those first two rounds well, then it's just about really embracing what you're feeling and just going after it."
Perth Now
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
'Going after it': Aussie young gun pumped for US major
Elvis Smylie will lean on superstar stablemate Min Woo Lee and Australia's other golf heavyweights in an audacious bid for PGA Championship glory in North Carolina. Already believing he belongs and intent on becoming a "global player", Smylie is feeling anything but overawed ahead of his US major championship debut on Thursday. "I feel like my game has gone to the next level after playing in Europe," said the young lefthander, who earned his DP World Tour card with victory at the Australian PGA Championship last November. Victory at Royal Queensland relinquished Lee of the Joe Kirkwood Cup he won in 2023 before breaking through for his maiden PGA Tour win in March. After following in Lee's footsteps at home, Smylie now hopes to nab some tips about how to play Quail Hollow from the world No.25 as well as major-winning compatriots Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith, who are also in the field. "Planning to have a practice round with a couple of the Aussies. Hopefully Min will be one of them and then Adam, Cam, Jason, yeah, whoever's available," Smylie told AAP. The son of former Australian tennis star Liz Smylie made his major debut at last year's British Open and, while he missed the cut by two shots, the classy left-hander is also drawing confidence from matching Lee's 36-hole total and beating his buddy by five shots in round two at Royal Troon. He knows he's got the game and grit to compete with golf's big boys - and is relishing the opportunity to prove it. "When I look around and see the names I've played against, Rory McIlroy was in the field at the start of the year in Dubai," Smylie said. "Jon Rahm and Adam Scott and world-class players that I've grown up watching on TV and then to be able to be competing against them, in the same tournament, I feel like I really do belong. "I don't really get overwhelmed too much. I more think of this as an opportunity to see how good my game is against these guys. "I played a practice round with Adam Scott last year at the Open and he was by far the most impressive ball striker. "His ability to be able to shape shots left, right, high, low, he can do anything with the golf ball. "So just visually seeing their games, I know know that I'm not too far away because I know that mentally I'm very gritty. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going kind of thing, I quite embrace that. So this will be another great learning curve to see where my game's at again. "I want to be playing against the best players in the world. I want to be playing in majors and I want to take my game globally." Also excited to be reuniting with super-coach Ritchie Smith, the esteemed mentor who guides the likes of Min Woo and Minjee Lee and fellow major winner Hannah Green, Smylie is targeting more than just making the cut at Quail Hollow. "I'd love to play all four rounds of the major. I think that's a realistic goal for me," he said. "And then once we can get through those first two rounds well, then it's just about really embracing what you're feeling and just going after it."
