“Apollo 13’s Moon Orbit” and “Cher gets Moonstruck” - This Day in History – Apr 11th

Apollo 13 attempts 3^rd Lunar Mission

Back in 1970, NASA’s Apollo 13 3^rd lunar mission and geological experiments was attempted with astronauts James A. Lovell, Fred W. Haise, and John L. Swigert.  Their destination was to the Fra Mauro highlands of Earth’s natural satellite. These men faced a life or death situation on this journey towards the moon when their oxygen tank exploded which caused loss of power and life support.  This mission became an objective to keep these men alive and to get them safely back to home on Earth.

History.com stated, “For the next three days, Lovell, Haise, and Swigert huddled in the freezing lunar module. Haise developed a case of the flu. Mission control spent this time frantically trying to develop a procedure that would allow the astronauts to restart the CM for reentry. On April 17, a last-minute navigational correction was made, this time using Earth as an alignment guide. Then the repressurized CM was successfully powered up after its long, cold sleep. The heavily damaged service module was shed, and one hour before re-entry the LM was disengaged from the CM. Just before 1 p.m., the spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere. Mission control feared that the CM's heat shields were damaged in the accident, but after four minutes of radio silence Apollo 13's parachutes were spotted, and the astronauts splashed down safely into the Pacific Ocean.”

A movie was developed in 1995 based on this horrific adventure for these three astronauts which starred actors Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton.

Cher gets “Moonstruck,” with Academy Award

Back in 1988, entertainer, Cher who previously worked alongside ex-husband Sonny Bono, in the duo singin group, Sonny and Cher,” won her first Oscar for her role of Loretta Castorini in the movie, “Moonstruck.”

According to history.com, “Directed by Norman Jewison, the last film featured Cher as a widow who falls in love with her fiance’s brother (played by Nicolas Cage). At the 60th annual Academy Awards ceremony, Moonstruck won in three categories, including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress (Olympia Dukakis) and Best Original Screenplay. To pick up her golden statuette, Cher did not disappoint, wearing a black mesh Bob Mackie with strategically placed sequins barely covering key areas of her famously sculpted body.”

All History facts provided from the link below:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/phil-mickelson-wins-first-major-at-masters?catId=10