4/17/2005:
After a harrowing journey, Apollo 13 made it back from space on this date 35 years ago. Astronaut Tony England of West Fargo was in the control room when the Apollo crewman spoke those famous words, “Houston, we have a problem.”
NASA turned to England for help, and he and several other engineers scrambled to design a CO2 scrubber the astronauts could duplicate in space – and one that, of course, would work. When it was time to tell the stranded crew how to build their own device, it was England who talked them through the process. When the Apollo 13 made it safely back to earth, England was eager to see the actual scrubber the crew constructed. It was identical to the lab model he and the engineers had designed.
Dakota Datebook written by Merry Helm