Apollo 13: NASA's "Successful Failure"
Special | 59sVideo has Closed Captions
Apollo 13 suffered an accident while en route to the moon, but safely returned to earth.
Apollo 13 launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on April 11, 1970. Just three days into the mission, a routine oxygen tank "stir" caused a damaged oxygen tank inside their service module to rupture. This explosion crippled the spacecraft, however Apollo 13 miraculously returned to earth safely thanks to the combined efforts of the astronauts and NASA's mission control.
Apollo 13: NASA's "Successful Failure"
Special | 59sVideo has Closed Captions
Apollo 13 launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on April 11, 1970. Just three days into the mission, a routine oxygen tank "stir" caused a damaged oxygen tank inside their service module to rupture. This explosion crippled the spacecraft, however Apollo 13 miraculously returned to earth safely thanks to the combined efforts of the astronauts and NASA's mission control.
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Disaster struck on April 14th, 1970 when a routine "stir" caused a damaged oxygen tank inside Apollo 13's service module to explode.
Apollo 13 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on April 11th- its destination was the moon's Fra Mauro crater.
The explosion inside the service module crippled the spacecraft, robbing the astronauts' chance of landing on the moon.
Mission Control worked round the clock to keep astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise alive inside Apollo 13's lunar module Aquarius, which became a makeshift "lifeboat."
Apollo 13 is known as a "successful failure" in that the astronauts safely returned home despite not landing on the moon.
Failure certainly was not an option in bringing Apollo 13 back home.
