Skip linksSkip to Content
play
Live
Navigation menu
  • News
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • US & Canada
    • Latin America
    • Europe
    • Asia Pacific
  • Middle East
  • Explained
  • Opinion
  • Sport
  • Video
    • Features
    • Economy
    • Human Rights
    • Climate Crisis
    • Investigations
    • Interactives
    • In Pictures
    • Science & Technology
    • Podcasts
play
Live

In Pictures

Gallery|Space

In Pictures: 50th anniversary of Apollo 13’s dramatic mission

Moon mission launched on April 11, 1970, had to be aborted after one of its oxygen tanks ruptured.

Members of the Apollo 13 crew leave the launch site after finishing a count down demonstration in the Apollo 13 spaceship, March 26, 1970 at Cape Kennedy in Florida. Leading the astronauts is Fred W.
Members of the Apollo 13 crew leave the launch site after finishing a countdown demonstration in the Apollo 13 spacecraft on March 26, 1970 at Cape Kennedy in Florida. Leading the astronauts is Fred W Haise, with command pilot James A Lovell in the middle and Thomas K Mattingly in the back. [AP Photo]
Published On 11 Apr 202011 Apr 2020
facebooktwitterwhatsappcopylink

Astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert boarded the Saturn V rocket on April 11, 1970. They were the crew for the Apollo 13 mission to the moon.

Lovell served as the commander of Apollo 13, Haise the lunar lander pilot and Swigert, a last-minute replacement for another astronaut who had been exposed to German measles, the command module pilot. Lovell and Haise would have been the fifth and sixth men to walk on the moon.

But on April 13, disaster struck.

The astronauts had almost reached the moon when they heard a bang and felt a shudder. One of two oxygen tanks in the service module had ruptured. Within seconds, Houston’s Mission Control saw pressure readings for oxygen tank B plunge to zero.

From that point onwards, the mission was no longer to land on the moon but to make it back to Earth alive. The astronauts were 322,000 kilometres (200,000 miles)from Earth when the explosion happened.

On the ground, flight controllers went into crisis mode, racing to come up with a rescue plan. They immediately ordered the command module Odyssey shut down to conserve what little power remained, and the astronauts into the lunar module Aquarius, now a lifeboat.

Aquarius was designed for two astronauts for two days – all three crew members would need to spend four days inside the module.

The carbon dioxide overload, from breathing, threatened to kill them.

Engineers scrambled to figure out how to convert the square air-purifying canisters in the dead command module into round ones that would fit in the lunar module.

Advertisement

Their outside-the-box, seat-of-the-pants solution, using spacecraft scraps, worked. But it was so damp and cold in the lunar module that the astronauts could not sleep. Condensation covered the walls and windows, and the temperature was close to freezing.

Dehydrated and feverish, Haise had the roughest time during the six-day ordeal, contracting a urinary tract infection.

On April 17, the astronauts managed to power up their condensation-soaked command module, and the spacecraft decelerated into the atmosphere.

Communications were down as the astronauts made their daring re-entry. But finally, three billowing parachutes appeared above the Pacific.

The three men made it safely back to Earth as the world watched what had become a gripping real-life drama.

The tank explosion later was linked to damage caused by electrical overheating in ground tests.

Apollo 13 commander James A. Lovell Jr., is shown during a press conference before the space craft blasted off on its ill-fated journey to the moon, April 11, 1970. With the mission aborted, the astro
Apollo 13 commander Lovell at a news conference before the spacecraft blasted off on its ill-fated journey to the moon. [AP Photo]
Advertisement
FILE - In this April 11, 1970 file photo, the Saturn rocket carrying the Apollo 13 spacecraft lifts off the launch pad at Cape Kennedy, Fla. It really is rocket science and it really is hard. North Ko
The Saturn rocket carrying the Apollo 13 spacecraft lifts off the launch pad at Cape Kennedy on April 11, 1970. [AP Photo]
Astronaut Thomas Stafford, left, and Donald Slayton, Director of Flight Crew Operations, puff on big cigars and applaud as the Apollo 13 made a successful splashdown, April 17, 1970, Houston, Tex. Oth
Astronaut Thomas Stafford, left, and Donald Slayton, director of flight crew operations, puff on big cigars and applaud as the Apollo 13 made a successful splashdown on April 17, 1970, in Houston. [AP Photo]
The time is 1:00 p.m. Est, and all eyes are focused on the television screen in Grand Central Station in New York City, April 17, 1970 watching for the safe landing of the Apollo 13 astronauts in the
The time is 1:00pm EST, and all eyes are focused on the television screen in Grand Central Station in New York city, April 17, 1970, waiting for the safe landing of the Apollo 13 astronauts in the Pacific. [J Spencer Jones/AP Photo]
James A. Lovell III breaks into broad smile as he watches his dad climb out of Apollo 13 command capsule. Young Lovell, 15-year-old cadet at St. John?s Military Academy, watched the space recovery on
James Lovell III breaks into broad smile as he watches his dad climb out of the Apollo 13 command capsule. [Paul Shane/AP Photo]
Safely aboard the prime recovery ship, USS Iwo Jima, astronauts James Lovell, squatting, and John Swigert, inspect the Apollo 13 command module that carried them to a safe spl ashdown in the South Pac
Safely on board the prime recovery ship, USS Iwo Jima, astronauts James Lovell, squatting, and John Swigert, inspect the Apollo 13 command module that carried them to a safe splashdown in the South Pacific. [AP Photo]
Advertisement
Apollo 13 commander James A. Lovell Jr., left, opens the astronauts televised news conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Tex., April 21, 1970 by saying ?I?m not a superstitious man? all
Apollo 13 commander James A Lovell Jr, left, opens the astronauts' televised news conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, April 21, 1970 by saying: "I'm not a superstitious man," alluding to the number 13 and the trouble that befell the flight. With Lovell are the other crew members, Command Module Pilot John L Swigert, center, and Fred W Haise, Lunar Module Pilot. [AP Photo]


    • About Us
    • Code of Ethics
    • Terms and Conditions
    • EU/EEA Regulatory Notice
    • Privacy Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Cookie Preferences
    • Sitemap
    • Work for us
    • Contact Us
    • User Accounts Help
    • Advertise with us
    • Stay Connected
    • Newsletters
    • Channel Finder
    • TV Schedule
    • Podcasts
    • Submit a Tip
    • Al Jazeera Arabic
    • Al Jazeera English
    • Al Jazeera Investigative Unit
    • Al Jazeera Mubasher
    • Al Jazeera Documentary
    • Al Jazeera Balkans
    • AJ+
    • Al Jazeera Centre for Studies
    • Al Jazeera Media Institute
    • Learn Arabic
    • Al Jazeera Centre for Public Liberties & Human Rights
    • Al Jazeera Forum
    • Al Jazeera Hotel Partners

Follow Al Jazeera English:

  • facebook
  • twitter
  • youtube
  • instagram-colored-outline
  • rss
Al Jazeera Media Network logo
© 2025 Al Jazeera Media Network