The Pearland Library, a branch of
the Brazoria County Library System, will host Sy Liebergot, Apollo 13 flight
controller, at 7 p.m. on September 18 in the branch’s meeting room. Liebergot
will talk about the Apollo 13 mission, during which an oxygen tank in the
service module exploded while he was at one of the consoles in Mission Control.
His autobiography, “Apollo EECOM: Journey of a Lifetime,” will be available for
purchase, and refreshments will be served by the Pearland Community Friends of the Library.
Liebergot will give a presentation
called “Apollo 13: The Longest Hour.” It is non-technical and intended for the
general public. It lasts about one hour, and it is accompanied by slides,
audio, and video. Liebergot will speak about what it was like to be an EECOM
(Electrical, Environmental and Consumables) flight controller in Mission
Control when the cryogenic oxygen storage tank exploded. At first the multiple failures flashing across his screens seemed far too overwhelming to be anything
but instrumentation failure. The spacecraft and its crew, 200,000 miles from
Earth and hurtling in the wrong direction, had less than three hours of life
left in the command and service modules.
Liebergot has an interest in space
knowledge preservation, and he is the only Apollo era flight controller
regularly speaking to the public. The final Apollo moon mission celebrates its
40th anniversary in December. Liebergot’s professional career spans the entire
Apollo lunar program, the Skylab missions, the Apollo-Soyuz project, the early
space shuttle flights, and the International Space Station program.
Liebergot has lectured about his experiences
extensively. Among his appearances in 2012, he was the Engineering and Science
Day keynote speaker at Louisiana Tech University in April. He was interviewed
by Japan’s NHK in July. He will appear at the Museum of Flight in Seattle later
in September, and he will be a celebrity lecturer on the Crystal Cruise ship
“Serenity” in November while it sails from Lisbon, Portugal, to Barcelona,
Spain. In the past, he has spoken at many venues, including Utah State
University, the London Science Museum, and the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. He has also appeared in the PBS documentary “Apollo 13, To the Edge
and Back,” and he served as the on-camera host for the documentary “In the
Shadow of the Moon” produced by the CBS affiliate in Austin.
A feature film portraying many of
the events Liebergot will discuss will be shown in the meeting room at 2 p.m.
on September 22. In this film, which stars Tom Hanks, Sy Liebergot is played by
Clint Howard. Liebergot also served as an advisor
to the film.
The Pearland Library is located at 3522 Liberty Drive in Pearland.
For more information, contact the branch at 281-652-1677.
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