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On April 11, 1970, at 7:13 p.m. UTC, Apollo 13 lifts off. In the command module pilot’s seat sits a man who, just a few days earlier, was still on the backup crew. Just under 56 hours after launch, he is the first to report to Houston that something is wrong on board. The Team Principle of the Bench says: a team’s strength shows in the people who can step in. Jack Swigert’s story shows what an organization has to do beforehand to make that possible.
Two Crews for One Flight
Situation
John “Jack” Swigert is born on August 30, 1931, in Denver, Colorado. He earns his pilot’s license at 16. He studies mechanical engineering, flies for the US Air Force and the National Guard, and works as a test pilot. In April 1966, NASA selects him for its fifth astronaut group. For Apollo 13 there are two complete crews. The prime crew: James Lovell as commander, Ken Mattingly as command module pilot, Fred Haise as lunar module pilot. The backup crew: John Young, Jack Swigert, Charles Duke. Both crews train together.
Connection to the team principle
NASA keeps a second man with identical training for every seat. That is expensive: three highly qualified people practicing for months for a flight they will most likely never make. A bench always has an up-front cost – and its value only becomes apparent when something goes wrong.
German Measles, One Week Before Launch
Situation
Seven days before launch, Charles Duke of the backup crew comes down with German measles; he caught it from a friend of his son’s. Because both crews had trained together, all of them had been exposed to the virus. Of the five other astronauts, only one has no immunity from an earlier infection: Ken Mattingly. NASA does not replace the entire crew, only this one man. Shortly before launch – two or three days, depending on the source – Swigert takes Mattingly’s place.
Connection to the team principle
This shows why joint training matters. Swigert has to fit into a trio that has practiced for months as a crew without him. It is only conceivable within a few days because he knows the same procedures. Research supports this link: in two experiments with 45 and 49 teams, Michelle A. Marks, Mark J. Sabella, C. Shawn Burke and Stephen J. Zaccaro found in 2002 that cross-training builds shared mental models of team interaction – a common understanding of how members work together – and that better coordination links this understanding to team performance. The study’s results on how deep the training needs to go were mixed.
56 Hours After Launch
Situation
On April 13, 1970, a routine stirring of an oxygen tank ignites a fire in damaged insulation; the tank bursts. Twenty-six seconds later, Swigert is the first to radio Houston that they’ve “had a problem.” Lovell repeats the message. The crew powers down the command module and uses the lunar module as a lifeboat – a scenario that had been planned for but was considered unlikely.
Connection to the team principle
In the crisis, the replacement is not a guest but a full member of the crew. He reports, he works through the procedures alongside the others, he shares responsibility for the outcome. A bench that is only good for normal operations is no bench at all. The standard for the backup is the same as for the starter: he has to perform on the worst day too.
The Return – and the Man Who Stayed Behind
Situation
On April 17, 1970, the capsule splashes down in the South Pacific. The next day, the crew receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Ken Mattingly never gets German measles. He later flies on Apollo 16. Swigert leaves NASA in 1977. On November 2, 1982, he is elected to the US House of Representatives with 64% of the vote; he dies of cancer on December 27, 1982, before he can take office.
Connection to the team principle
In hindsight, the swap was medically unnecessary – Mattingly stayed healthy. Still, the decision was possible because an equally qualified man was ready. That is the quiet benefit of a bench: it lets you decide cautiously without jeopardizing the mission. And it is not a one-way street: those who step back today fly later – Mattingly went to the Moon on Apollo 16.
Key takeaways
Key Lessons
- Have stand-ins go through the same training as the regular team, not an abridged version.
- Let the first and second string practice together. That is the only way someone can join a well-attuned team at short notice.
- Make targeted swaps: often it is enough to replace one person rather than overturn everything.
- Measure your bench by how it performs in a crisis, not in normal operations.
- Tell whoever has to step back when and where they will get their chance again.
Summary
NASA had a second man with the same training for every seat on Apollo 13. That is why it could swap out a single crew member shortly before launch. Jack Swigert moved up and, a few days later, was part of the crew that brought a badly damaged spacecraft back to Earth. A team’s strength shows in the people who can step in – and in the work that has gone into them beforehand.