HUTCHINSON, Kan. — In light of the postponement of the Apollo 13 50th anniversary celebration that was scheduled for early April, the Cosmosphere decided to present a series of fun facts regarding the No. 13.
The fear of the number is called triskaidekaphobia. For those who suffer from the fear of the No. 13, the flight of Apollo 13's Odyssey would not have been for them.
Here are just a few facts from the Apollo 13 mission with an eerie correlation to the number 13:
* Mission was Apollo 13
* Launch occurred at 13:13 hours (Houston)
* The explosion in the Service Module happened on April 13
* Splashdown occurred at 13:07 (Kennedy Space Center)
* 13 nations immediately offered to provide NASA with rescue ships and aircraft
* The first names of the astronauts on Apollo 13 (James, Fred, and Jack) add up to 13 letters
* The sum of the whole of the launch date (4/11/70 or 4+1+1+7+0) adds up to 13
* The spacecraft launched from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39, which is 3 x 13
* Even the disease that Ken Mattingly was exposed to that kept him from the mission, German Measles – has 13 letters