Apollo 13 Explodes: NASA Saves Three Astronauts

An oxygen tank exploded aboard Apollo 13 at 9:07 PM Houston time on April 13, 1970, and three astronauts suddenly found themselves 205,000 miles from Earth in a spacecraft that was dying around them. Commander Jim Lovell, Command Module Pilot Jack Swigert, and Lunar Module Pilot Fred Haise watched their instrument panel light up with warnings as oxygen vented into space, taking with it the electrical power and water supply that kept the command module alive. Lovell's calm report to Mission Control became one of the most famous understatements in history: "Houston, we've had a problem." The explosion ruptured oxygen tank number two in the service module and damaged tank number one, which slowly bled its contents into the void. Without oxygen to feed the fuel cells, the command module Odyssey lost electrical power within three hours. Flight Director Gene Kranz ordered the crew to power down Odyssey and move into the lunar module Aquarius, which became their lifeboat for the four-day journey home. Aquarius was designed to support two men for 45 hours; it now had to keep three men alive for 90. Mission Control engineers improvised solutions to problems nobody had anticipated. Carbon dioxide levels rose dangerously because Aquarius carried round filter canisters while Odyssey's were square. Engineers on the ground built an adapter using only materials available aboard the spacecraft, cardboard, plastic bags, and duct tape, then talked the crew through assembly. The crew endured temperatures near freezing, severe water rationing, and sleep deprivation as they swung around the far side of the Moon and aimed for Earth. Aquarius carried them home. On April 17, the crew jettisoned the damaged service module, transferred back to Odyssey, and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. NASA classified the mission as a "successful failure," a catastrophe transformed into a rescue by engineering brilliance under pressure. The investigation revealed that the oxygen tank had been damaged during ground testing and that a series of small oversights had combined into near-catastrophe.