An excellent example of the importance of facts based on real time information can be taken from the Apollo 13 mission to the moon. The first indication that the mission was experiencing difficulty was when James Lovell, the on-board commander of the spacecraft, noticed that they were venting something into space which suggested that one of the oxygen tanks might have ruptured. Shortly thereafter, there was more bad news:
Though a moon landing had been eliminated by the loss of the first oxygen tank and fuel cell, the second system should still carry the astronauts safely home. Lovell noticed, however, that the pressure needle for the second tank was falling as wellÂ…. Normally the tank should register 860 pounds per square inch (psi);
now it was approaching 300. The explosion had come at 9:07 p.m., and the clock was now just past 10:00 p.m. At that rate of loss, the spaceship would exhaust all of its electricity and air sometime between midnight and 3:00 a.m. (The Leadership......
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