Apollo 13

Recently I got an opportunity to see a Tom Hanks movie Apollo 13, It is a movie which is a realistic dramatization of NASA’s mission. Because of mechanical problems, Apollo 13 failed to reach the home and was almost lost. The movie builds great suspense and is deeply absorbing. It shows men solving problems with intelligence, skill, teamwork, and bravery. It shows human dedication and perseverance that they won't give up, even though hopes from other people seems to increase. The movie also shows the process of preparing for space travel in the 1970s. It raises issues of loyalty to individuals on the team against the need for loyalty to the team as a whole.

Apollo 13 illustrates an abundance of leadership values and principles-

• The role that Ken Mattingly played in saving the mission, even when bad luck prevented him from being on the spacecraft, shows that even if you cannot be on the first team, you can still perform an essential role, save the day, and become a hero. Each of the astronauts, in his own way, is a positive role model.
• Another good example of leadership lies in the successes of bringing the crew back: the clear objective in this instance was to prevent the death of the crew, and highlights a sort of ‘Commander’s Intent’ directive where the leaders of Mission Control, namely Gene Kranz, the lead flight director. From his position, he directed the people underneath his command to come up with solutions to the numerous problems, acting as an intermediary, collecting information and making a decision based on what he knew at the time. The responsibilities of the people below him were with specific issues: determining the extent of the problem, then the solution to either fixing it, or minimizing its impact on the event. These items included the supply of oxygen and trying to figure out exactly how to conserve power because of a reduction in supply, how to scrub the CO2 out of the ship’s atmosphere, how to accomplish burns and ultimately, bring the crew home safely. The end result was the return of Jim Lovell, John Swigert and Fred Haise. They owe their lives to good organization and leadership on the part of NASA and the flight control teams.

                                

•   Lovell, commander of the 1970 Apollo lunar mission, faced several leadership challenges, the majority of which were well orchestrated.  One such leadership challenge occurred early in the scenes of the movie when the flight surgeon grounded Ken Mattingly, the originally slated mission pilot, as it was believed that Mattingly had contracted the measles.  Jim Lovell, as the mission commander, had to make a difficult decision, continue to prepare for the mission with the back-up pilot, Jack Swiggart, or scrap the mission in hopes of a future mission.  Ultimately, the mission commander had to make the call to remove the pilot from the crew and continue to train for the launch.            

The following examples from movie illustrate the Wildland Leadership Values and Principles-

1.Duty-

During the initial moments after the explosion on Apollo 13, Mission Control was working furiously to make sense of what was happening. New failures and alarms were occurring with each moment, and every engineer on duty was desperately trying to make sense of the tide of information. Kranz, as Flight Director, had the responsibility of understanding what his men were telling him and figuring out how to keep the crew safe and the mission on track

2.Respect-

“WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, SIR, I BELIEVE THIS IS GONNA BE OUR FINEST HOUR.”

One moment is a scene where one of the NASA executives shows up, complaining about the negative consequences that this potential disaster could have on the company’s reputation. The NASA director responds, “I know, this could be the worst disaster NASA has ever faced.” Gene Kranz (played by Ed Harris), the head of mission control turns towards the director and very directly says, “With all due respect, sir, I believe this is gonna be our finest hour.”

3.Integrity-

Just 72 hours before the scheduled launch of Apollo 13, Ken Mattingly was removed from the mission and replaced by Jack Swigert from the back-up crew as Command Module Pilot. Charlie Duke, also from the back-up crew caught the measles from one of his children, and exposed Mattingly the only other member of either the prime or back-up crews who were not immune to the disease. If Mattingly were to come down with the measles, he might contract it while alone in the Command Module while Jim Lovell and Fred Haise were walking on the Moon.