Captain James Lovell speaks at Morehead Planetarium

Captain James Lovell came back to Morehead Planetarium on Thursday to give a talk on his multiple space flights and the notorious Apollo 13 flight to kick off the N.C. Science Festival.

In addition, Morehead Planetarium announced details about its multimillion-dollar renovations to the facility, including a remodel of the inside of the building.

Lovell has flown many space flights, but the Apollo 13 was like no other, and Lovell had to say five words that almost every American knows: Houston, we have a problem.

In 1970, after rerouting on the way to the moon for a space landing, an oxygen tank exploded causing the crew to return to Earth before completing their mission.

“During our training, Fred Haise always liked to have a little fun because in the lunar module there was a device that you could turn and it would give a hiss bang — had to do with the environmental system,” Lovell said. “And when I first heard that bang, I thought that was Fred, you know, trying to make some little laughter going on again or being a wise guy, and I went to look up at him, but I could see from his expression — he had no idea what was going on.”

Lovell trained for extensive periods in the Morehead Planetarium, studying the stars in order to point out their locations in case the on-board guidance and autopilot failed.

“Then I started to look at the instrument panel and my eyes happened to focus on the instruments that told me the condition of two huge liquid oxygen tanks stored away in the back part of the spacecraft, called the service module. When I glanced at the gauge of one of those tanks the needle read zero — when I glanced quickly at the other guage on the second tank I could see the needle start to go down ever so slowly and something that you would never see on a normal use of the oxygen on a flight to the moon and that’s when that old lead weight went down to the bottom of my stomach,” Lovell said.

From April 7 to April 23, Morehead Planetarium will host the N.C. Science Festival. Jonathan Frederick, director of the festival, said the festival wants to bring science to areas across the state that don’t necessarily have STEM opportunities.

Over the next two weeks, NC Science Festival will hold multiple events — including stargazing and nature hikes.

“Well, we’re in the inspiration business, so we really want to see attitudes about science become more positive,” Frederick said. “... I think there’s a little bit of, you know, hype that you know people hate science — we found that people actually love it, they may not love science homework, but they actually love science events, science field trips — they like doing all those fun things so we want people to have a more positive association with science and with scientists.”

At the unveiling of Morehead’s new renovation project, Gov. Roy Cooper gave his support for science and signed a proclamation in regards to STEM education.

“Now, therefore, I, Roy Cooper, governor of the state of North Carolina do hereby proclaim April 2017 as STEM education month in North Carolina and commend its observance to all citizens,” he said.

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