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Apollo 13: an adapter was only part of the solution

In April 1970, Apollo 13’s crew needed carbon-dioxide removal equipment from one spacecraft to work with another. The canisters did not fit the same system. Engineers on Earth built an adapter from counterparts of items available onboard, tested it, and sent instructions to the astronauts.

8–10 min

Questions you could explore

  • What made a workable design different from a workable set of instructions?
  • Why did testing matter even when the materials were simple?

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