In recent times, the Apollo moon shots have to lay claim to be the greatest engineering feat of them all. And for sheer urgency and engineering ingenuity, it would be hard to beat the success of ground controllers and crew in returning Apollo 13 safely to Earth after its oxygen tank exploded. We are surrounded by amazing engineering, from digital watches to computer chips, from the machines that perform DNA sequencing to food preparation and packaging.

In a cookie production line I once saw, cookies were emerging from an oven at random moments and in no particular position on a wide moving belt. Actuators beneath the belt shuffled the cookies into neat lines in the direction the belt was traveling. Different actuators then created perfect rows across the belt while preserving the lines. Correctly arranged in a grid, the cookies were ready for packaging. I know it sounds absurd, but I couldn’t stop watching this and marveled at how a few clever maneuvers got the cookies exactly where they needed to be. It was the kind of engineering I dreamt about as a child.

Engineering today is as exciting as it has ever been. There are new materials for every available purpose — the miniaturization of engineering known as nano-technology is opening whole new vistas; information technology is simply indispensable. If you want to create and make the world a better place, this is as good a time as any to become an engineer. Give it a shot.

Apollo 13 liftoff

All photos this page
courtesy of NASA.

Apollo 13 mission controllers thinking together to devise strategies to return the astronauts safely to earth.

Damage to the Lunar Module caused by explosion of oxygen tank.

Interior view of the Apollo 13 Lunar Module (LM) during the trouble-plagued journey back to Earth. This photograph shows some of the temporary hose connections and apparatus which were necessary when the three astronauts moved form the Command Module to use the LM as a 'lifeboat'. Astronaut John L. Swigert Jr., command module pilot, is on the right. On the left, an astronaut holds in his right hand the feed water bag from the Portable Life Support System (PLSS). It is connected to a hose (in center) from the Lunar Topographic (Hycon) camera. In the background is the 'mail box', a jerry-rigged arrangement which the Apollo 13 astronauts built to use the Command Module lithium hydroxide canisters to purge carbon dioxide from the Lunar Module. Lithium hydroxide is used to scrub CO2 from the spacecraft's atmosphere. Since there was a limited amount of lithium hydroxide in the LM, this arrangement was rigged up to utilize the canisters from the CM. The "mail box" was designed and tested on the ground at the Manned Spacecraft Center before it was suggested to the Apollo 13 crewmen. Because of the explosion of one of the oxygen tanks in the Service Module, the three crewmen had to use the LM as a 'lifeboat'. NASA caption. Scan by Kipp Teague.

Successful splashdown!
The result of engineering teamwork at its best.