Apollo 13 Launch: 55 Years Ago

NASA astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert launch aboard the Apollo 13 spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 11, 1970. The mission seemed to be going smoothly until 55 hours and 55 minutes in when an oxygen tank ruptured. The new mission plan involved abandoning the Moon landing, looping around the Moon and getting the crew home safely as quickly as possible. The crew needed to go into “lifeboat mode,” using the lunar module Aquarius to save the spacecraft and crew. On April 17, the crew returned to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa.

Image credit: NASA