Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the launch of the Apollo 13

On April 11, 1970, the Apollo 13 took off from Kennedy Space Center. It was to be the third lunar landing in the Apollo Space Program, taking place just nine months after the landmark Apollo 11 mission that landed the first man on the moon.

The ship’s crew, made up of commander Jim Lovell, lunar module pilot Fred Haise and command module pilot Jack Swigert had completed a strenuous preparation for the mission which was to allow them to land on and explore the moon’s Fra Mauro highlands and later return safely to earth. Fifty-six hours after take-off however, an explosion in the oxygen tank in the service module of the ship obliged them to cancel the lunar landing and focus instead on the far from guaranteed mission of returning to earth alive.

Through a true collaborative effort which required the full engagement of the astronauts with the team of experts in Mission Control in Houston, an improvised flight plan was implemented including a quick loop around the moon to put the astronauts on the right trajectory for Earth. Piloting the smaller lunar module instead of the damaged command module, the astronauts worked for 86 stress-filled hours with their team on earth to implement and continually revise contingency plans to conserve resources that would allow all three crewmembers to return to earth alive.

Grappling with life threatening conditions and uncertainty, the astronauts and NASA flight control team of the Apollo 13 made history when the lunar module splashed down in the South Pacific Ocean on April 17th, four days after the explosion that changed the course of their mission.