Original Newspaper

17th April 1970

Apollo 13 Re Entry final hurdle for Mission control Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, John Swigert

Apollo 13 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 failed two days into the mission

The crewmembers of the Apollo 13 mission step aboard the USS Iwo Jima, after splashdown and recovery operations in the South Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970. Exiting the helicopter from left to right are Fred Haise, James Lovell and John Swigert.

Apollo 13 was NASA's third moon-landing mission, but the astronauts never made it to the lunar surface. An oxygen tank explosion almost 56 hours into the flight forced the crew to abandon all thoughts of reaching the moon. The spacecraft was damaged, but the crew were able to seek cramped shelter in the lunar module for the trip back to Earth, before returning to the command module for an uncomfortable splashdown. 

The mission stands today as an example of the dangers of space travel and of NASA's innovative minds working together to save lives on the fly. The Apollo 13 mission celebrates its 50th anniversary this year on April 11.