Latest news with #XIII
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
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: Utah judge's ruling on school choice program overlooks key facts
My parents had to pull my sister and me out of our private school in Utah after we were no longer able to afford it. Attending Intermountain Christian School (ICS) gave us a strong academic and faith-based foundation, and it was heartbreaking to leave a place that felt like home. Eventually, my parents found the next best option for us — charter schools. We thrived in those schools, but had we had access to a school choice program such as the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program, we could have considered all our options — and possibly stayed at ICS. Now, Third District Judge Laura Scott's recent ruling on the school choice program has delivered a devastating blow to nearly 10,000 students — mostly from low-income families — who want better educational opportunities. She ruled that the Legislature cannot create schools and programs that are not 'open to all the children of Utah' or that are not 'free from sectarian control,' echoing the Utah Education Association's argument that it 'diverts' funding from public schools. But the ruling misses the point — the program is open to all Utah families, and any family can apply. It also doesn't defund public education, nor does it promote sectarian control — language rooted in the Blaine Amendment tied to Article X. And under Article XIII, which outlines the management of public funds in Utah, the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program operates as an education savings account (ESA), giving a portion of existing per-pupil funding to families instead of directly to private or religious schools. The remainder of the funds go back to students who remain in public schools. In this case, Utah students receive $8,000 each, which is around 84% of the state per-pupil funding of $9,552. That means more money for fewer students who choose to remain in public schools. It's a win-win for every child, no matter which path their family chooses. After all, even choosing to attend a public school is a form of school choice. While opponents often label all school choice programs as vouchers, that's not the case here — the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program doesn't send funds directly to private schools, but it gives families the flexibility to choose and customize their child's education, making it constitutionally sound. In fact, many states with the Blaine Amendment, which limits public funding for private and religious schools, have these ESA programs. Take Arizona, for example — in Niehaus v. Huppenthal (2013), the Arizona Court of Appeals upheld the state's ESA program, ruling that it did not violate the state's Blaine Amendment because the funds were directed to parents, not to private or religious schools directly. This followed a ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court that struck down two school voucher programs. At its core, the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program honors the principle that parents — not the government — know what's best for their children. Whether that means attending a public school, a private school, a microschool or homeschooling, families deserve the freedom to choose the environment where their child will thrive. This program places those nearly 10,000 students in limbo, uncertain if they will be able to access the education they need. When education funding follows the student rather than the system, families gain the power to seek the environment that best supports their child's needs. The Utah Fits All Scholarship Program embodies this principle, ensuring no family is left without options simply because of their income or ZIP code. I've been a staunch supporter of school choice since high school, when National School Choice Week first launched in 2011. Today, I'm grateful to advocate for it as an education policy analyst and reporter, helping families nationwide find the learning environment that best fits their needs. If Utah truly wants to put students first, it must defend the Utah Fits All Scholarship Program. It uplifts families, expands opportunities and reflects the diverse needs of our communities. When a school doesn't meet a child's needs, families should have the freedom to direct their education dollars elsewhere. The immediate priority should be helping families whose scholarships are now on hold, so their children can continue to have an education that meets their needs.
