HOUSTON, WE’VE HAD A PROBLEM
Born Robert Edwin Smylie, on a snowy Christmas Day in 1929 at his grandfather’s farm in Lincoln County, Mississippi, he was always known as ‘Ed’.
His father, Robert, ran an ice producing plant. His mother, Leona White, was a homemaker.
The family philosophy was never to throw anything away – there was always some other use for it. Anything broken had to be repaired. Ed became a very practical boy.
He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1952, with a BSc in Mechanical Engineering.
Ed joined the US Navy, before going back to his Alma Mata for a Master’s degree in the same subject (1954). Whilst he was studying, Ed also taught other students.
That same year, Ed married June Reeves. They had three children: Steve, Susan and Lisa. The marriage eventually ended in divorce.
Ed went to work for Douglas Aircraft and was involved in the design of the iconic DC-8 aircraft.
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced there would be a manned mission to the moon before the end of the decade. He said his target was, “Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.”
Ed immediately applied to join NASA and was accepted. “When President Kennedy announced the lunar programme, I wanted to be part of it.”
He became Head of the Environmental Control section. Their task was to ensure the safety for each Apollo flight, checking the space craft, the suits the astronauts wore, the air systems, the filters and temperature regulation. Ed had to have an overview of any potential danger.
To this end, Ed ensured there was a comprehensive list of absolutely everything that was on board each Apollo mission.
Ten days after Ed joined NASA, John Glenn made history, when he became the first man to orbit the earth.
At one point, Ed worked with his equivalents from the Soviet Union on a joint Apollo / Soyuz mission.
Ed remarried to Carolyn Hall, and gained two stepdaughters.
Ed was the chief aeronautical engineer for the infamous Apollo 13 flight in April 1970, when the mission got into serious difficulties.
Apollo 13 was intended to be the third manned landing on the moon. The three astronauts were Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, who was a close neighbour of Ed’s.
Ed was off-duty and was watching the live television broadcast of the space mission when there was a loud bang. An oxygen tank had exploded. Jim Lovell sent a radio message from the rocket. “OK Houston, we’ve had a problem.”
Ed immediately rushed into work.
The serious difficulties were that the crew were forced to leave their command module and move into the lunar module. This was the vehicle in which they had been supposed to land on the moon.
The rocket’s scrubbing system started to fail, which meant it lost the capacity to provide breathable air for the astronauts. The connection to the command module which provided air had broken.
The crew had enough oxygen to last just two days, and the carbon dioxide levels were building up rapidly.
Ed said, “The lunar module isn’t built for three people – or a return trip to earth.”
The world watched with bated breath as Houston tried to find a solution to the problem. If they failed, the astronauts would die.
After calling for a list of everything on board, Ed worked out how to solve the crisis.
He created a device using a sock, a binder, cardboard, plastic bags and hoses from the astronaut’s suits. The most important component was duct tape.
Ed hadn’t realised there was any duct tape on board, but as soon as he learned the astronauts had it, “I felt like we were home and free; one thing a southern boy will never say is, ‘I don’t think duct tape will fix it.”
He said that the makeshift device he had created was like, “A square peg in a round hole”, stating that it looked like a school science project.
Ed radioed instructions to the astronauts on how to build it. Once created, it immediately gave them more air to breathe because the hose (stuck in place with tape) hooked up to the command module. The carbon dioxide level also reduced.
Ed had saved the lives of all three astronauts. On their return to earth, Fred Haise said, “We would have died had their solution not worked. What more can you say about that?”
Time magazine called Ed, ‘An improvisational genius’.
He refused to take credit for this. “A mechanical engineer sophomore could have come up with it.” Ed always insisted it had been a collaborative effort that had given them, “Our fifteen minutes of fame.”
After the successful return to earth of Apollo 13, Richard Nixon awarded the whole operations team the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In his speech, Nixon mentioned Ed and his assistant, James Correale, in person.
Later, Ed moved to Washington DC to work at NASA’s headquarters, before becoming Deputy Director at the Goddard Space Centre in Maryland.
At Goddard, he developed the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System. Up to this point, any spaceship orbiting the earth, could only communicate with ground stations based in different countries around the world. If a foreign government was hostile, it could withhold vital data – making tracking the craft and communication very awkward.
Ed’s invention meant all tracking could be based in one place, cutting out the need to involve other countries. This system is still used by all international space programmes today.
He was also heavily involved with the early phases of the Space Shuttle programme.
To reward him for his work, Ed and his wife Carolyn, were invited to lunch at the White House by President Ronald Reagan.
Ed retired in 1983, taking up executive positions with various companies. However, he remained working as an independent space consultant.
There was a successful movie, ‘Apollo 13’, directed by Ron Howard, released in 1995. Ed was not a named character in the film despite his vital role in real-life.
When Ed properly retired in 2000, he spent his time gardening with Carolyn, boating on a nearby lake, cycling through state parks or on the golf course.
Carolyn predeceased Ed. They had been married forty-one years.
Ed died at his home in Crossville, Tennessee.
Fred Haise is the sole remaining survivor of the crew of Apollo 13.
RIP – Rescuing Imperiled Pioneers
