Bent Bird

And now, to our continuing coverage of NASA's first manned mission

since the explosion of Apollo 23.

Two-and-a-half hours ago, Apollo 24 launched from Cape Kennedy

to relieve Captain Edward Baldwin,

who has been stranded on the moon for 159 days.

The crew is now preparing to fire the ship's engine once again

for what is called the translunar injection, or TLI,

which will send astronauts Wilson, Liu, and Slayton

out of Earth's orbit toward the moon.

Okay, Houston, ball's lined up. We're ready for translunar injection.

Roger, Deke. Copy, 24 is ready to burn for the moon.

So, how'd you like the ride so far?

No doubt in your mind, when this Saturn lifts off, it hauls ass.

I thought you'd like that.

Will you look at that sunrise?

24, Houston. Word from here is you are go for TLI.

Copy. Osprey is go for TLI.

24, Houston. Spacecraft is all yours.

Roger, Gordo.

Okay. We are in operating mode.

Let's go high bit rate. Record.

Forward. Command reset. EMS mode to normal.

EMS mode to normal.

S-II SEP lights coming on.

Right on time.

Okay. You've hit the burn window. Looking great.

Okay.

Let's go to the moon.

Five seconds to ignition.

Five, four, three, two, one.

Ignition.

Houston, 24. We have a failure to ignite.

Master alarm, master caution lights and tone.

Nothing's breaking off, but we seem to have a bent bird here.

Okay. We'll take the dump on your data and see what's gone south.

Well... we're not dead.

I should've gone with the blue pinstripe suit. It was more dignified.

No. No, no.

You made the right choice.

It's the last set of clothes I'm ever gonna buy him.

That's it.

Right here.

You know what?

I'm gonna drop these off at the funeral home.

No, that's all right. I can do it. Thank you.

You need to go and train for 25. I got it.

Karen...

let me do this for you, please.

Okay?

-All right. -Okay.

Jesus.

-Who is that? -It's just Marge--

-Trace, who's here? -It's Marge, and Gloria, and Cecilia Liu.

Look, they just thought that today would be a good day to be together.

You know, Deke's finally on his way to the moon,

and they'll be able to relieve Ed in a few days.

And then Ed will be home--

No, I'm not up for that. I'm not up for that.

I don't-- I'm not-- I just wanna go back to bed.

I don't... want them here. I just... wanna go back to sleep.

I need them to leave me alone.

Just-- Ed and I both just need to be left alone.

Okay.

You don't have to worry about entertaining them.

They're just here to hang out.

Pick up the phone...

maybe make you something to eat if you're hungry.

You just rest, baby. Okay?

It's all you gotta do.

Pre-ignition sequence looks normal.

We saw good precool and pressurization in the S-IVB tanks.

But no spark. Like the ASI is stone-dead.

Might be a grounding fault outside the CSM.

Heck, we've looked at just about everything else.

Well, we better come up with something. Ed's been up there too long already.

Amen, brother.

You got something for us, Gordo?

That's affirmative. We've identified the problem.

Flight control computer's got a bad board in the control circuit.

The bad news is it's in the Saturn instrument unit,

and it can't be repaired.

Shit!

You're gonna need a new one.

Well, bring us one.

It's funny you mention that. Someone's gonna do just that.

Who?

This is our payload. The Saturn V flight control computer.

One of several computers aboard the spacecraft.

It lives way up here in the Saturn instrument ring

on the third stage of the launch vehicle.

And once we rendezvous with Apollo 24,

I'll keep station as we link the two ships with a tether and diagnostic cable.

And then connect the new computer to their instrument ring.

Now, the instrument ring is 22 feet across.

The unit is 18 feet from the only access point, which is this door.

So we will need to enter the ring, cross it,

and then swap out the old FCC for the new one.

Do you really think you can pull this off?

They're our best option. They've already got the skill set to do this.

Spent the last year doing EVA training for the orbiting observatory.

Not to mention our ride is stacked on pad 39-B right now.

Then why are we not sending you to the moon?

Well, our booster isn't powerful enough to break Earth orbit.

It's a Saturn IB, not a V, sir.

Bingo. Now,

Deke will have a live video feed back to MOCR in case you all got any questions.

Harrison Liu, on 24, will be assisting me.

Then let's do it.

You leave for the Cape tomorrow morning. Launch in two days.

Thank you, sir.

You got into the Kennedy School?

Were you searching my room?

No. I was just changing the sheets, and this fell on the floor.

Pero, why didn't you tell me?

Because I'm not sure if I wanna go.

What?

Aleida, after all the sacrifices we made to get here...

Your mother's dreams for you and how hard you studied...

Just wanna throw it all away?

I'm not throwing anything away, Papa. The kids at my school, they go to college.

It's because of this boy. Anthony.

He talked you out of this.

He doesn't even know about it. I just wanna stay with my friends.

No, you don't want to leave him.

Do you think Ms. Madison got to where she is by chasing boys?

This isn't Mexico.

The people here actually have fun sometimes.

You don't understand how things work in America.

I understand very well how things work in America.

You're grounded.

Hey.

You just got off console, and you're in here getting hammered?

It's a ginger ale.

Right.

Tell her, Pam.

It's true.

I offered to make him a Shirley Temple, but he wanted it neat.

All right. Why am I here?

I wanted to talk to you about something.

Don't worry. It's good news. It's really good.

I had sort of a breakthrough, Dani.

Dr. Marsten, he--

You're still seeing that shrink?

Gordo, you know that if they find out--

If they find out what? That I'm a liar?

I am a liar.

What are you talking about?

I've decided I'm not gonna keep secrets anymore.

I want the world to know what really happened up there.

So, you want to make an honest man of yourself by exposing me as a liar?

No.

I want to tell the truth.

The people should know that you're the real hero, not me.

I know the truth, all right?

That's all that matters.

I broke my arm to save a fellow astronaut who was going through a rough patch.

I'm proud of that.

Yeah, and I'm proud of you too. And I'm grateful.

Then keep your mouth shut.

Because if you breathe a word about what really happened

out of some misguided sense of justice,

you know damn well they will ground me.

And I have worked too hard to get here, Gordo.

Don't you dare take that away from me.

Karen?

Sweetheart? Look what I brought you. My corn bread.

Come on. Here, you have got to eat something.

Just a few bites at least. Come on.

Thatta girl.

Karen, maybe you need to take a shower, come out, and join the rest of us.

Gloria's here. Cecilia is here. And everyone would love to see you.

Okay.

You just give a holler if you need anything.

All right.

You know I'll only be gone for a few days, right?

Danny...

you sure you don't wanna talk about it?

Hon, you haven't said a word since Shane...

Is that...

He forgot it here.

Honey...

I know how close y'all were.

Please tell me how you're feeling.

You wanna talk to Pastor Callanan?

-No. -Why not?

He smells like onions.

All right, how about this?

How 'bout when I get back, we go to Galveston? Just you and me.

What about Dad and Jimmy?

Yeah, I think they'll be fine without us for a few days. What do you think?

Yeah.

Yeah, all right.

Come here.

I love you, baby.

Love you, Mom.

Your supervisor, Mr. Reilly, thinks the world of you.

Says he wishes he had 20 more custodians like you.

Mr. Reilly has been very good to me.

Do you enjoy working here, Mr. Rosales?

Well, yes.