The Old Sailors Tool That Saved Apollo 13

In the 1700s, sailors used sextants to navigate the seas. Centuries later, these old-timey tools saved the day on not one, but two of the Apollo missions! Hosted by: Reid Reimers SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It s called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Kevin Carpentier, Eric Jensen, Matt Curls, Sam Buck, Christopher R Boucher, Avi Yashchin, Adam Brainard, Greg, Alex Hackman, Sam Lutfi, D.A. Noe, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, Scott Satovsky Jr, Charles Southerland, Patrick D. Ashmore, charles george, Kevin Bealer, Chris Peters, Ron Kakar ---------- Like SciShow? Want to help support us, and also get things to put on your walls, cover your torso and hold your liquids? Check out our awesome products over at DFTBA Records: http://dftba.com/scishow ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow ---------- Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVCNS2jQQ6g http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ArchimedesSpiral.html https://timeandnavigation.si.edu/navigating-space/challenges https://wehackthemoon.com/tech/space-sextant-navigates-moon-missions https://www.space.com/8193-caused-apollo-13-accident.html https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/ap13acc.html http://astronomy.com/news/2018/06/the-story-of-the-apollo-sextant https://timeandnavigation.si.edu/multimedia-asset/apollo-sextant-and-eye-piece https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/apollo/apollo-13/apollo-13.html http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a13/AS13_TEC.PDF Image Sources: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_13_Hasselblad_image_from_film_magazine_62-JJ_(cropped).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo13_splashdown.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_13_Saturn_V_during_rollout.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_13_Service_Module_-_AS13-59-8500_(cropped).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_13_timeline.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2010-06-11_CSM%26LM.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_13_liftoff-KSC-70PC-160HR.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo13_tank2.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sextant.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Using_sextant_swing.gif https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_8_Lovell_at_Guidance_and_Navigation_station.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_breadboard_space_sextant_model.agr.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Original_Apollo_13_Prime_Crew_-_GPN-2000-001166.jpg#/media/File:The_Original_Apollo_13_Prime_Crew_-_GPN-2000-001166.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_CM_Sextant_at_Draper_Hack_the_Moon_exhibit.agr.jpg https://www.usgs.gov/media/images/quintant-sextant-or-lattice-sextant https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:British_Museum_Marine_Chronometer.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Archimedean_spiral.svg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Agc_view.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dsky.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo8_Prime_Crew_(landscape_crop).jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jim_Lovell_official_1966_portrait.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seasonearth.png https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:From_Day_Into_Night.jpg https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a13/AS13-62-8929HR.jpg https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/image/spacecraft/apollo_csm_diagram.gif