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Apollo 13

Apollo 13 (April 11–17, 1970) was the seventh crewed mission in the Apollo space program and the third meant to land on the Moon. The craft was launched from Kennedy Space Center on April 11, 1970, but the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank in the service module (SM) ruptured two days into the mission, disabling its electrical and life-support system. The crew, supported by backup systems on the lunar module (LM), instead looped around the Moon in a circumlunar trajectory and returned safely to Earth on April 17. The mission was commanded by Jim Lovell, with Jack Swigert as command module (CM) pilot and Fred Haise as lunar module (LM) pilot. Swigert was a late replacement for Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella.

This article is about the 1970 spaceflight. For the film based upon it, see Apollo 13 (film). For other uses, see Apollo 13 (disambiguation).

Mission type

Crewed lunar landing attempt (H)

NASA

  • CSM: 1970-029A
  • LM: 1970-029C

4371[1]

5 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes, 41 seconds[2]

44,069 kg (CSM: 28,881 kg;[3] LM: 15,188 kg)[4]

5,050 kilograms (11,133 lb)[5]

3

  • CSM: Odyssey
  • LM: Aquarius

April 11, 1970, 19:13:00 (1970-04-11UTC19:13Z) UTC[6]

Saturn V SA-508

Kennedy LC-39A

USS Iwo Jima

April 17, 1970, 18:07:41 (1970-04-17UTC18:07:42Z) UTC

South Pacific Ocean
21°38′24″S 165°21′42″W / 21.64000°S 165.36167°W / -21.64000; -165.36167 (Apollo 13 splashdown)

April 15, 1970, 00:21:00 UTC

254 kilometers (137 nmi)

April 11, 1970, 22:32:08 UTC

April 17, 1970, 16:43:00 UTC

A routine stir of an oxygen tank ignited damaged wire insulation inside it, causing an explosion that vented the contents of both of the SM's oxygen tanks to space.[note 1] Without oxygen, needed for breathing and for generating electric power, the SM's propulsion and life support systems could not operate. The CM's systems had to be shut down to conserve its remaining resources for reentry, forcing the crew to transfer to the LM as a lifeboat. With the lunar landing canceled, mission controllers worked to bring the crew home alive.


Although the LM was designed to support two men on the lunar surface for two days, Mission Control in Houston improvised new procedures so it could support three men for four days. The crew experienced great hardship, caused by limited power, a chilly and wet cabin and a shortage of potable water. There was a critical need to adapt the CM's cartridges for the carbon dioxide scrubber system to work in the LM; the crew and mission controllers were successful in improvising a solution. The astronauts' peril briefly renewed public interest in the Apollo program; tens of millions watched the splashdown in the South Pacific Ocean on television.


An investigative review board found fault with preflight testing of the oxygen tank and Teflon being placed inside it. The board recommended changes, including minimizing the use of potentially combustible items inside the tank; this was done for Apollo 14. The story of Apollo 13 has been dramatized several times, most notably in the 1995 film Apollo 13 based on Lost Moon, the 1994 memoir co-authored by Lovell – and an episode of the 1998 miniseries From the Earth to the Moon.

Lovell practices deploying the ALSEP during training

Lovell practices deploying the ALSEP during training

The Apollo 13 launch vehicle being rolled out, December 1969

The Apollo 13 launch vehicle being rolled out, December 1969

The "mailbox" at Mission Control during the Apollo 13 mission

The "mailbox" at Mission Control during the Apollo 13 mission

Lunar Module Aquarius after it was jettisoned above the Earth

Lunar Module Aquarius after it was jettisoned above the Earth

Mission Control celebrates the successful splashdown

Mission Control celebrates the successful splashdown

The crew on board the USS Iwo Jima following splashdown

The crew on board the USS Iwo Jima following splashdown

The crew speaking with President Nixon shortly after their return

The crew speaking with President Nixon shortly after their return

Replica of the lunar plaque with Swigert's name that was to cover the one attached to Aquarius with Mattingly's name

Replica of the lunar plaque with Swigert's name that was to cover the one attached to Aquarius with Mattingly's name

The crater created by the S-IVB's impact, as photographed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, 2010

The crater created by the S-IVB's impact, as photographed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, 2010

Adamo, Daniel (2009). (PDF). Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly. Vol. 16, no. 4. ISSN 1065-7738.

"The Elusive Human Maximum Altitude Record"

(PDF). Washington, D.C.: NASA. 1970. 70-50K. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Apollo 13 Press Kit

(PDF). Washington, D.C.: NASA. 1971. 71-3K. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Apollo 14 Press Kit

(PDF) (Report). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 1975. JSC-09423. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Apollo Program Summary Report

Barell, John (2016). . Balboa Press. ISBN 978-1-5043-6651-9.

Antarctic Adventures: Life Lessons from Polar Explorers

Benson, Charles D.; Faherty, William Barnaby (1978). (PDF) (Report). NASA History Series. Washington, D.C. SP-4204. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations

Brooks, Courtney G.; Grimwood, James M.; Swenson, Loyd S. Jr. (1979). (PDF). NASA History Series. Washington, D.C.: Scientific and Technical Information Branch, NASA. ISBN 978-0-486-46756-6. LCCN 79001042. OCLC 4664449. NASA SP-4205. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft

(2019). Shattered Dreams: The Lost and Canceled Space Missions (eBook ed.). Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-1-4962-1422-5.

Burgess, Colin

(1995) [1994]. A Man on the Moon: The Voyages of the Apollo Astronauts. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-024146-4.

Chaikin, Andrew

Compton, William David (1989). Where No Man has Gone Before: A History of Apollo Lunar Exploration Missions. NASA History Series. Washington, D.C.: NASA.  1045558568. SP-4214.

OCLC

(2013) [1972]. Thirteen: The Apollo Mission that Failed. New York: Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4804-6221-2.

Cooper, Henry S. F. Jr.

Cortright, Edgar M.

Driscoll, Everly (April 4, 1970). "Apollo 13 to the highlands". . 97 (14): 353–355. doi:10.2307/3954891. JSTOR 3954891.(subscription required)

Science News

Flight Control Division (April 1970). (PDF). Houston, Texas: NASA Manned Spacecraft Center. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Mission Operations Report

Gatland, Kenneth (1976). Manned Spacecraft (Second ed.). New York: MacMillan.  978-0-02-542820-1.

ISBN

, ed. (2010). Guinness World Records 2010. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978-0-553-59337-2.

Glenday, Craig

Hacker, Barton C.; Grimwood, James M. (2010) [1977]. (PDF). NASA History Series. Washington, DC: NASA History Division, Office of Policy and Plans. ISBN 978-0-16-067157-9. OCLC 945144787. NASA SP-4203. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022. Retrieved April 8, 2018.

On the Shoulders of Titans: A History of Project Gemini

(1999). Exploring the Moon: The Apollo Expeditions. London; New York: Springer. ISBN 978-1-85233-099-6.

Harland, David

Houston, Rick; ; Aaron, John (2015). Go, Flight!: the Unsung Heroes of Mission Control, 1965–1992 (eBook ed.). Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-8494-4.

Heflin, J. Milt

(PDF). Washington, D.C.: NASA Office of Public Affairs. 1970. EP-76. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Houston, We've Got a Problem

Kranz, Gene (2000). . New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-7432-0079-0.

Failure Is Not an Option: Mission Control from Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond

Larsen, Curtis E. (May 22, 2008). (PDF). NATO RTO Symposium ATV-152 on Limit-Cycle Oscillations and Other Amplitude-Limited, Self-Excited Vibrations. NASA Johnson Space Center. Norway. RTO-MP-AVT-152. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

NASA Experience with Pogo in Human Spaceflight Vehicles

Lattimer, Dick (1988) [1983]. . History-alive series. Vol. 1. Foreword by James A. Michener (2nd ed.). Gainesville, Florida: Whispering Eagle Press. ISBN 978-0-9611228-0-5. LCCN 85222271.

All We Did Was Fly to the Moon

(2019). Reaching for the Moon: A Short History of the Space Race (eBook ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-24516-5.

Launius, Roger D.

Lovell, James A. (1975). (PDF). In Cortright, Edgar M. (ed.). Apollo Expeditions to the Moon. Washington, D.C.: NASA. SP-350. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

"Chapter 13: "Houston, We've Had a Problem""

Lovell, Jim; Kluger, Jeffrey (2000) [1994]. Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.  978-0-618-05665-1.

ISBN

Mission Evaluation Team (September 1970). (PDF). Houston, Texas: NASA Manned Spacecraft Center. MSC-02680. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Apollo 13 Mission Report

Morgan, Clay (2001). (PDF). Houston, Texas: NASA. SP-4225. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Shuttle–Mir

Orloff, Richard W.; (2006). Apollo: The Definitive Sourcebook. Chichester, UK: Praxis Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-387-30043-6.

Harland, David M.

Orloff, Richard W. (2000). (PDF). NASA History Series. Washington, D.C.: NASA History Division, Office of Policy and Plans. ISBN 978-0-16-050631-4. LCCN 00061677. OCLC 829406439. NASA SP-2000-4029. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Apollo by the Numbers: A Statistical Reference

Phinney, William C. (2015). (PDF). NASA. SP-2015-626. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 9, 2022.

Science Training History of the Apollo Astronauts

; Cassutt, Michael (1994). Deke! U.S. Manned Space: From Mercury to the Shuttle (1st ed.). New York: Forge. ISBN 978-0-312-85503-1.

Slayton, Donald K. "Deke"

(2003). The Moonlandings: An Eyewitness Account. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-03535-4.

Turnill, Reginald

All NASA mission transcripts

(PDF) NASA, April 1970

"Apollo 13 Technical Air-to-Ground Voice Transcription"

NASA reports


Multimedia