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 The Apollo 13 crew took this photo of the Moon from the Lunar Module. | |
| Mission type | Crewed lunar landing attempt |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 1970-029A |
| SATCAT no. | 4371 |
| Mission duration | 5 days, 22 hours, 54 minutes, 41 seconds |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft |
|
| Manufacturer |
|
| Launch mass | 101,261 pounds (45,931 kg) |
| Landing mass | 11,133 pounds (5,050 kg) |
| Crew | |
| Crew size | 3 |
| Members | |
| Callsign |
|
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | April 11, 1970, 19:13:00 UTC |
| Rocket | Saturn V SA-508 |
| Launch site | Kennedy LC-39A |
| End of mission | |
| Recovered by | USS Iwo Jima |
| Landing date | April 17, 1970, 18:07:41 UTC |
| Landing site | South Pacific Ocean 21°38′24″S 165°21′42″W / 21.64000°S 165.36167°W |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric |
| Regime | Cislunar |
| Flyby of Moon (orbit and landing aborted) | |
| Closest approach | April 15, 1970, 00:21:00 UTC |
| Distance | 254 kilometers (137 nmi) |
| Docking with LM | |
| Docking date | April 11, 1970, 22:32:08 UTC |
| Undocking date | April 17, 1970, 16:43:00 UTC |
  Left to right Lovell, Swigert, Haise, 12 days after their return. | |
Apollo 13 was the seventh mission of NASA's Project Apollo. It was the third lunar-lander mission with a crew. Jim Lovell commanded Apollo 13. The other astronauts were Jack Swigert and Fred Haise.
The craft launched successfully toward the Moon, but two days after launch a faulty oxygen tank exploded. It damaged the Service Module. It lost oxygen and electrical power. There was a very large chance that the astronauts would die before they could return to Earth. They were very short on oxygen. Oxygen is not just used to breathe; on the Apollo spacecraft it was used in a device called a Fuel cell to generate electricity. So they saved their remaining air by turning off almost all their electrical equipment, for example heaters. It became very cold in the spacecraft.
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