Launch of Apollo 13

Apollo 13 was the seventh crewed mission of the American Apollo programme and was intended to be the third Moon landing, in the Fra Mauro highlands. About two days after launch, an oxygen tank in the service module exploded, cutting off power and water and forcing the crew of James Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise to abandon the landing. They used the lunar module as a lifeboat while engineers on the ground devised ways to conserve power and remove carbon dioxide. The spacecraft looped around the Moon on a free-return path and the crew landed safely in the Pacific. An inquiry traced the accident to damaged wiring and a faulty thermostat in the tank, and the mission came to be seen as a triumph of improvisation.

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